moonslav59

That's not what bothers me about HanRam. It's his up and down career and his possible loss of focus sitting on the bench all year.

I don't have serious doubts like some seem to, but not every player is cut out to .be a DH. HanRam could be made for DH, but he might also lose focus by not being in the field and lose some of his offensive focus and abilities. I think he's our best option at DH right now, but I am not sure of his further success. I never was a HanRam fan

Now let's look at the 40 man roster. Currently, we 39 players on the roster, and the following players will be free agents: Ortiz, Uehara, Tazawa, Ziegler and Hill. Buchholz and Hanigan have options. That creates 5-7 more slots plus the open slot already there. I think we can assume Moncada takes one slot. Here are the Rule 5 players for this winter (I highlighted possible players needing protection by adding to the 40-man roster): Luis Ax. Basabe, Danny Bethea, Ty Buttrey, Jamie Callahan, Carlos Coste, Allen Craig, Jake Drehoff, Jeff Driskel, Jeffry Fernandez, Pat Goetze, Reed Gragnani, Taylor Grover, Justin Haley, Juan Hernandez, Dedgar Jimenez, Raiwinson Lameda, Angelo LeClerc, Tzu-Wei Lin, Deiner Lopez, Austin Maddox, Kyle Martin, Mike McCarthy, Daniel McGrath, Simon Mercedes, Mike Meyers, Mike Miller, Yankory Pimentel, Tim Roberson, Javier Rodriguez, Jake Romanski, Dioscar Romero, Ramses Rosario, Robby Scott, Teddy Stankiewicz, Aneury Tavarez, German Taveras, JT Watkins, Jordan Weems, Jantzen Witte, Luis Ysla I doubt we add Romanski, even if we let Hanigan walk, but we might. Haley, Ysla and Stanki might be long shots. Martin might be the only guy I'm pretty sure will be added. We might risk losing Basabe, since he's not really close enough to ML ready for a team to commit to keeping him on their 25 man roster all year. He's got a lot of promise, so maybe we add him. This is a year, where I see little issues with protecting Rule 5 players or squeezing a promising player off the 40 man roster. In other words, the bottom of our 40 man roster is as weak as I've seen it in years. Not only do we seem to have plenty of room for borderline Rule 5 players, but we have several players already on the 40 man roster, that I do not feel have a whole lot of ML promise. They are (in reveres order of importance): Bryce Brentz Brandon Workman Noe Ramirez Williams Jerez William Cuevas Then, there are the Buchholz and Hanigan options and the possible DFA'ing of Pablo, Holaday and/or Abad. These are the sure "keepers": Betts, Bogaerts, Bradley Price, Porcello, Pedroia, Kimbrel Moncada, Benintendi, Swihart, Rodriguez, Wright, Pomeranz Vazquez, Shaw, Young, Leon, Smith Hernandez, Barnes, Holt Kelly, Hembree, Ross, Rutledge Johnson, Owens Elias That's only 27-28 sure bets. We'll probably keep these 7- making it 34-35 total. Jerez, Cuevas Sandoval, Workman Abad, Brentz, Holaday I'm sure we'll add 2-3 RP'ers and maybe a vet SP'er and OF'er plus maybe a corner IF'er/DH. There's 40.

I think the Sox will explode tonight...but not Hill.

I guess we see things differently on HanRam's defense. He's done better than I expected, but I expected bottom 5 out of 30 defense. He's pretty close to bottom 8 or 10, in my opinion. Even if we can agree he's average, Shaw has the best UZR/150 at 1B from 2015-2016. He's much better, defensively at 1B, than HanRam. I have faith in Moncada winning the 3B job by opening day or May. I do share your doubts about how HanRam would or could handle the DH position. I am not for acquiring a DH or corner IF'er unless something changes between now and season end- like Shaw stinks, HanRam stinks or there is a serious injury.

Yes, Rutledge would be major league dept at the minor league level. He still has two options left, so he's a keeper. I do agree that with Moncada added to the IF mix and Pablo's possible return, we will likely trade a back-up infielder by "throwing in" Marrero or adding more value to a larger package by trading Holt or Hernandez. I agree that Castillo has little of no trade value, but with just Brentz ML ready, I still see Castillo as part of the extended depth chart. I do think Pablo will be given a chance to make the ML roster, but I am not sure Sox management will go into the 2017 season without making any addition to the 3B/1B/DH mix. I don't see us adding Encarnacion, unless we plan on trading HanRam or Shaw, otherwise Moncada is squeezed. I guess with the uncertainty still attached to Moncada and Shaw, and HanRam still capable of pulling a 2015, adding someone like Encarnacion and keeping the other three is possible. This would then squeeze Swihart, Travis and anyone else with value at 3B, 1B or DH.

Hill is a free agent after this year. I left off all players not under team control next year. I, too, would put Shaw at 1B and HanRam at DH, but since I think HanRam is better than Shaw, I listed him as our best option at both positions. I guess I could have done that with Betts at every OF position and maybe even 2B, so I realize I was not consistent in my analysis. I think if Pedey gets hurt, I'd rather have Moncada at 2B than Holt, although I do think this is Holt's best position. Shaw could play 3B, HanRam 1B, and Young/Pablo/Swihart could DH. I erred not placing Swihart in the DH depth chart. I would, however, platoon Swihart with Young as my primary back-up for HanRam.

Platoon them at 1B. At least play Hernandez instead of Hill. How long are we going to stick with this guy?

If everybody was 100% healthy, which doesn't assume they'd be in top form, does anyone have a serious argument with my position by position projected major league depth chart going into 2017? C: Leon, Vazquez, Swihart 1B: Ramirez, Shaw, Pablo, Travis (Swihart?) 2B: Pedroia, Moncada, Holt, Hernandez, Rutledge SS: Bogaerts, Hernandez, Marrero, Holt 3B: Moncada, Shaw, Hernandez, Holt, Rutledge LF: Benintendi, Young, Swihart, Holt, Castillo (Moncada?) CF: JBJ, Beninetndi, Betts, Young, Holt RF: Betts, Benintendi, Young, Holt, Castillo DH: Ramirez, Young, Pablo, Moncada SP: Price, Porcello, Wright, Pomeranz, ERod, Johnson, Kelly, Owens, Elias, Cuevas (Kopech?) RP: Kimbrel, Smith, Kelly, Barnes, Ross, Hembree, Abad, Owens/BJohn/Elias, Martin, NRam, Workman, R Scott, C Shepherd, L Ysla, W Jerez

It was another tough night for the Sox. Unfortunately, Wright had to shake off some rust and that resulted in giving up a big 1st inning. After that, he settled down and looked like himself. He looked really good after that first inning. I actually feel good about Wright being back. The major story was how the lineup from the 5th through the 8th hitters did nothing until Hanley blooped a single in the 9th. I'm not usually one to bring up strikeouts, because I think they are over-rated, but 9 Ks in 13 ABs from the 5 through 8 hitters is sick! Pedey had 4 hits and a walk, Bogaerts had 3 hits, Mookie had 5 hits and both Ortiz and Holt had one hit each. In most cases this was righty on righty so the Royals pitchers could be hit. 13 hits from the first 4 hitters and only 3 runs scored....WOW! Our middle to bottom of the lineup just doesn't look good and pinch hitters Young and Hill looked weak as well. They do now, but our bottom of the order is probably the best in MLB over the full season. What can be done? The only thing I noticed again that might be corrected is that JBJ has gone to an uppercut swing. From the Ted Williams book on hitting, he advocated swinging on the same plane of the ball as it comes into the plate by gravity. JBJ's approach means he needs to be right on the ball to get good wood on it. He is something like 1 for last 15 or so. He needs to get over it soon to give this team some punch in the bottom part of the order. He is worrying me now. Let's hope he turns it around very soon. Leon gets a bye as he has been hitting of late. Hanley still looks bad at the plate and Shaw hit one ball very hard but to straightaway center. He still might add some punch. What else can be done? I don't know other than call ups. Tomorrow, they bust out against the league leader in ERA! Book it. The good news coming out of the Sox front office is that there is no structural damage to Beni's knee and it will only require the time for the swelling to go down and a rehab period. Great for the kid and good for the club. Maybe, Young can catch fire until Beni returns.

I'm still a Packer fan from my Milwaukee days. What can I say?

I'm not a racist. It was intended to shine the light on how many here in Texas use their bibles and view immigrants. Sorry to bum you out. I'm doing my best to change this state. I volunteer 5 days a week at a very low eco-dis school teaching ESL to Hispanic students.

Good point, but I have to add one more clarification: I've lived in the north (Maine, NY and Wisconsin) and I've lived in the South (Mexico & Texas). Way more people go to church down here every Sunday, but charity and doing good deeds seems to be lacking beyond those church doors. (I hope I didn't open a can of worms. It's just my observation after living down here for 9 years plus.)

Oh My God! I just soiled myself!!!!

I don't mean to sound like I'm defending the fatso. I hated the signing and hated even more his attitude coming into camp both years here. I will say that players have declined in their late 20's and then improved again. Some even go on to have very decent late careers. Either they changed their ways, learned something important and/or just matured. 30 is not too old to have a few more plus seasons, even for a player in a long decline pattern.

I hope Moncada wins the job. I'm too skeptical of Shaw as a FT'er. Travis will need time to rise. HanRam should DH, so we need a corner IF'er when Papi retires.

We have a starting catcher, until further notification. Vaz and Swihart are both fine as back-ups without any further development. The problem is, they could both use further development, and they wouldn't really get that as a back-up to the best catcher in MLB.

It's not Pedey's fault Beni forgot what they teach in Little League. What's he running to third for on a ball hit right to the SS- right in his easy field of vision!

We'll need him to show some semblance of being a decent ball player to have any chance to recoup a fraction of his remaining contractual cost. That means he has to play, at least in spring training. We can use Shaw at 1B and HanRam at DH to create more playing time at 3B for Moncada and Pablo. I have very little hope Pablo can be productive again, but there is still a chance. If he does well, then there are a number of ways he could have a "place" on the team: 1) Injury to corner IF'er or DH. 2) Moncada needs more time to learn 3B and starts 2017 in AAA. 3) Shaw plays 1B and HanRam DHs. (Note: Shaw has the best UZR/150 at 1B over the past 2 years combined.) 4) Shaw reverts to his low .700 OPS (or worse) he had in AAA. He becomes a bench or platoon player. 5) We trade HanRam. 6) HanRam stinks like he did in 2015. 7) Pablo shows up in good shape, plays hard and does better than Shaw, Moncada and/or HanRam. (Note: he used to be a plus defender, he's only 30 and he can at least be a productive platoon player vs RHPs only- not likely, but surely possible.

You mean thumping a bible on some wetbacks head? These guys are pretenders down here.

The new photos of him are very disappointing. Not that I enjoy looking at fotos of fat f***s, we down here in Texas we don't have access to this sort of kinky porn. Please provide the link.

5 years over .900 is pretty darn impressive, but he's 33. Even a 3 years deal would entail an expected decline, but this is his big pay day. He is going to want something mega-big and mega-long. Some GM will surely offer him 5 years, and then some other GM might go 6 or 7 or even 8 years! As much as I'd love to have E.E. take Papi's spot, I can't see going that large. There's also 2 other big reasons not to sign him: 1) Our biggest weakness is pitching not hitting, even with Papi retiring. 2) We already have 3 high-cost players that are probably better suited for DH than any other position: HanRam, Pablo & Young. On top of all this, we have to make room for Moncada at some point real soon. If he sticks at 3B, we'll have a hundred guys, some payed big bucks, vying for the 1B/DH job over the next few years. Why clog it up with a DH-only type player on the wrong side of 33? T Shaw HanRam Pablo Hernandez S Travis Holt Rutledge Chris Marrero Jantzen Witte ...and eventually Devers, Longhi, Ockimey and Dubon knocking on the door before EE's deal is over. Some of these guys are long shots, granted, but the sheer numbers almost guarantee two to three will do well enough to offset the cost of EE's contract.

We have won 10 of our last 14, and three of those 4 losses were by 1 run. Yeah, we lost two to the lowly Rays. Yeah, we have only scored 7 runs in our last 3 games (all on the road). Now, we go home for six games before a west coast trip followed by 3 at Toronto. We'll know a lot more after these next 15 games. At least we have two days off (Sept 1st & Sept 8th). Once we get to September 12th, we have 10 home and 10 away games: 7 vs NYY 7 vs BAL 3 vs TBR 3 vs TOR

Hanley who comes off the books in two years still owed 44 million, played a great first base, but maybe in his mind wants to DH. Not so fast. HanRam may be here for three more years. He has a $22M vesting option for 2019, guaranteed if he has 1,050 plate appearances in 2017-18 and passes club physical after 2018 season. Then you have Panda's albatross contact on top of that... I'll say it .I would rather have Beltran on a one year and club option if I go that route. They still have Castillo and Craig on the books more dead money. I'm hoping Buchholz pitches good down the stretch and pick up his option and trade him for a good prospect ( top5) in a teams farm system. It sounds funny but no great pitchers are out there on the F/A market. The teams get desperate.. I'd trade Buch for a decent single A prospect. IMO Carson Smith remains the biggest loss. When you win nobody notices, when you lose its noticed. His loss did hurt in many ways. if Panda is back and playing where does Juan Ed fit in. They just can put the money to better use. Some people might disagree.. I think Juan E. will want 5-7 years at mega-bucks. He'll get it. No thanks

Hernandez has been doing well in AAA, so maybe he can give us a plus at 3B, until Moncada is ready or September 1st arrives.