moonslav59

I think you're right about Bogey needing rest. It seems we've been giving a vet the day off two out of every three games. I'm not saying they didn't need it, but I keep thinking, "Okay, this is it. Everybody is rested, and now we can go 20 games in a row with everyone in the line-up!" But, no.

Why is it necessary to discuss what's necesary to discuss?

By Steve Adams | August 25, 2016 at 10:28am CDT The Red Sox have placed left fielder Andrew Benintendi on the disabled list following last night’s knee injury, the team told reporters, including Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). Benintendi, who was initially diagnosed with a left knee sprain, underwent an MRI this morning, and while the results are still being evaluated, the Sox felt it was a serious enough injury to warrant this move. Infielder Marco Hernandez is being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket in his place. Mastrodonato tweets that Chris Young will receive the majority of the at-bats in left field with Benintendi on the shelf, with Brock Holt getting some occasional time there as well as he bounces around the diamond. Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets that manager John Farrell said that the Sox are hoping this isn’t a season-ending injury for their standout rookie, but Abraham adds that said sentiment seems to be “more wishful thinking than anything.” Benintendi suffered the injury while attempting to get back to second base on what ultimately went down as a ground-ball double play. Benintendi had to be helped off the field after his ankle rolled significantly and his knee bent in an awkward direction (video link), though Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald tweets that his ankle is “fine.” Benintendi hasn’t been with the Sox long, debuting on Aug. 2, but his production will nonetheless be difficult to replace. In 74 plate appearances, the 2015 No. 7 overall pick is hitting .324/.365/.485 with a homer, six doubles and a triple already to his credit.

11 players per team x 30 teams = 330 players. 330 players with 170+ PAs. Here are the Sox rankings in wRC+ 1) Leon 179 3) Ortiz 169 25) Betts 137 44) JBJ 126 80) Bogey 118 85) Pedey 117 109) Ramirez 111 192) Shaw 95 232) Holt 86

It's just a slump. We still have 8 of our top 11 PA players with an OPS over .800. 10 out of 11 are over .700. Once Young and Leon pass Vaz in PAs, we will be able to say 10 out of top 10 PA players have an OPS over .700. Just because we go a couple games without scoring much, doesn't mean our weak link is our offense.

soxprospects.com has a page where they project the rosters for upcoming years. Here's what they have as of now: Pos 2017 2018 2019 SP1 Price Price Price SP2 Porc Porc Porc SP3 Pom Pom ERod SP4 Wri ERod Kop SP5 ERod Kop Wright RP1 Kimb Kim Smith RP2 Barn Smith Barn RP3 Ross Barn Owens RP4 Abad Owen BJohn RP5 Kelly Kelly TBall RP6 Hemb Wrig Work RP7 Elias BJohn Martin (DL Smith) Work C1 Vaz Vaz Vaz C2 Leon Swi Swi 1B Ram Ram Ram 2B Ped Ped Ped SS Bogey Bog Bog 3B Shaw Mon Mon LF Beni Beni Beni CF JBJ JBJ JBJ RF Betts Bet Betts DH Pablo Pablo Devers UT Holt Holt Holt IF Hern Hern Hern OF Young Shaw Travis

MLBTR reports... Both Ben Badler of Baseball America and Kevin Thomas of the Portland Press Herald reported that Moncada made several good plays at third base in addition to his contributions at the plate.

He has 4 HRs in his last 9 games started. I wish every slumping Sox player would slump like that. I'm not denying he's in a slump, but it's not quite as bad as it looks.

He's got 171 PAs. Let's say everything goes right. They move Leon up in the order, he plays every game and gets 159 PAs in the 37 remaining games. That gives him 330 PAs total. Let's say he walks just 10 times and bats .400 over the rest of the season. He'd end up going 60 for 150 and total 117 hits in 302 ABs. His final BA would be .387, Now add zero for 200 to get him to 502 PAs, he'd be 117/502 for a .203 BA. Not even close.

Haven't you heard? It was a move out of desperation! Protocol says they had to wait. They didn't.

I think with Espi gone, Groome stays. It might be 3-5 years for Groome to make it. He's only 18.

Hanigan is almost ready to come off the DL.

We don't really have a 40 man roster crunch. We have 39 players now, and could easily release or trade a couple more with no ill effects from this list: Bryce Brentz (although we are thin at OF depth) Bryan Holaday (once Hanigan is healthy) William Cuevas Williams Jerez or trade.... Fernando Abad Noe Ramirez Devon Marrero

We need to be assuming Sandoval can't play third. He's refused to play first base and pouted when forced to. He is not a good enough hitter to DH. How the hell is he "a big part of our future?" What's Hnery going to say? "We don't see Pablo as being any help going forward." That being said, I do think Sox management is holding out hope Pablo can come back and play well. I think he's going to be only 30 next year, so there's still time for a big year or two. I'm not projecting that, but hope remains. I'd rather turn the DH position over to Blake Swihart than Pablo Sandoval right now. Or hell, turn it over to Leon and let Swihart and Vazquez battle for the catcher's job again. Or turn it over to Ramirez if Sam Travis looks ready to rock next Spring. There is just no actual spot for Sandoval anymore, thanks largely to the positive news from the development of our rookies. If I had to guess what next year's starting line-up would be, I'd go with Moncada at 3B, Shaw at 1B and HanRam at DH. Pablo could get time at 3B, 1B and DH, if he's in shape and doing well. Swihart or Vaz will start in AAA next year. The other will be Leon's back-up. As it is we have Moncada, Swihart and possibly Travis to figure out how to shoehorn into an already crowded lineup, our bench looks superb with Holt, Young, Hernandez (once Holt moves on), Shaw and Vazquez forming the core of a bench that should last us awhile with no need to make changes, and other talents like Mauricio Dubon who will also need chances to show their stuff. I agree. Our future and future depth looks very strong. There are much better investments of roster space on this team, right now, than Sandoval, and more good candidates than we have spots even without him. Agreed, but we won't cut him, and we can't trade him, until we see what we got next spring. I hope DD has the stones to stick to his guns like he did this year and say screw the money, let's build the best roster we can. That roster is absurdly unlikely to include Pablo "Goodyear" Sandoval. Unlikely, yes- impossible, no.

I agree. Like I said with Beni, the second Sox management thinks he's ready, I'd call him up.

I read how he had played 3B at 16, but nothing about him doing well there defensively. Maybe I missed it.

Agreed. If DD thinks Moncada can play 3B well enough to be a better overall choice than Shaw/Hill, I think he'll make the move. If not, his other values will make him a certain September call-up.

...the reports on his defense have been positive since he moved to the hot corner on August 12. I'm not doubting you, but what reports are you talking about?

I'd say it depends on where Moncada is defensively at 3B. His bat looks ready to me, but I'll leave that to Sox management. From the limited information I have, I'd say call him up the minute they think he's decent enough defensively. Certainly, I'd call him up September 1st as a PR'er, PH'er, possible DH (when needed) and maybe as a back-up 2Bman or 3Bman at least.

I agree. Kelly Owens and even O'Sullivan have been given a long enough chance to prove themselves worthy of continuing in a meaningful role. Elias has not gotten a long look, but I think Sox management has realized he has not been at the point of ML effectiveness to get a longer look. We've used 10 starters this year, including Elias' one start. We've used 18 different pitchers in relief, including Buch, Kelly, O'Sullivan and Elias in both roles. Barnes and Hembree have been given ample opportunity, due in part to major RP'er injuries, but they have done well enough to stick around, even when the injured have gotten healthy. I think that's a good thing going forward. Maybe Kelly and Elias eventually get their act together. Maybe Johnson makes an appearance this year. Maybe Kyle martin and some one else gets a September call up. On offense, I think they've done a good job managing the roster. I would have liked to have seen Beni get more reps in LF than he did before being called up, but it appears to have worked out well, so far.

77 AL SP'ers with 60+ IP (about 5 pr team x 15 teams) Sox ranking by.... WAR 6 Price 8 Wright 9 Porcello (Pomeranz ranked 28th out of 150 in MLB) ERA- 6 Wright 9 Porcello (18 Pomeranz out of 150 in MLB) 28 Price WHIP 5 Porcello (32 Pomeranz out of 150 in MLB) 19 Wright 22 Price Add ERod and Buch to these 4, and suddenly our rotation is looking sharp. 2nd Half WAR (143 starters with 20+ IP) 4) Sale 12) Quintana 13) Wright 17) Porcello 18) Lester 19) Price 20) Hellickson 33) ERod 34) Odorizzi 46) Lackey 56) Smyly 91) Miley 93) Moore 112) Pomeranz 120) Samardzja 142) Shields (Buch: DNQ as tonight's game not included)

So true, but not long ago, it was what if we DFA him?

ERA for the Second Half 3.21 Price (53 IP) 2.25 Porcello (52) 2.52 ERod (39) 4.23 Pom (38) 4.13 Wright (32) 3.00 Buchholz (27)

Even the Buch bashers must be starting to wonder "what if...?" Nice start, Clay. Just keep doing what you have to do, and who knows what might happen.

This is what Jeff Todd wrote: Henry also touched upon the status of injured and embattled Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval. The 30-year-old is an important part of the near future for Boston, Henry says. That’s self-evident to some extent, as Sandoval is owed $58MM over the next three seasons (including the buyout of a 2020 club option). But the Sox owner suggests that the organization has expectations that Sandoval can return to being the “supremely talented veteran and a proven winner” that the club signed up for in the first place. “This year and last were frustrating for him and frustrating for us,” Henry says of Sandoval. “We need him next year.” Sandoval’s importance is heightened by the fact that David Ortiz is set to retire after the year, Henry suggests. Big Papi is in the midst of an all-time age-40 season — he currently leads the league with a 1.050 OPS — and that obviously represents a more-or-less irreplaceable source of offense, though the free agent market does promise to offer several big bats. Sandoval certainly doesn’t look like a direct substitute, but a typical pre-Boston season from the Panda would go a long way toward making up for the loss.