moonslav59

Plus, playing in college is a step up from HS. I'm not sure if this was the best time to bring him up, but since we didn't address the LF weakness at the deadline, I'm thinking how much worse can Beni be than Brentz? I don't fall for the "fragile ego" argument as much as many here seem to do. If Beni fails, and I hope he doesn't, and I hope he gets a legitimate chance, then he shouldl be fine after some time in AAA to start the 2017 season.

Nobody knows for sure why these two struggled. It might have just been a prolonged slump. We might have kept both back another year, and they still might have struggled their first full seasons. We will and can never know for sure. Plus, many felt it was the position change not the early call-ups that messed with these guys (not me). Yo-yo-ing JBJ didn't help either.

Please stop the lies. I said I thought he was very close to being ready and trusted Sox managment's decision on when that was. I said, "I'd call up Beni the second Sox management determines he's ready". We don't really know if Sox management has fully determined his readiness. They may have just decided he's at a point right now, ready or not, that is better than Brentz/Holt, which isn't saying much at all.

Why both to add one player?

Thanks. Looks pretty impressive. It just feels surreal to hear Yank fans talking prospects in a way not associated with "how can we trade them to get the missing piece? I still like our farm and if you look at our young core of Betts, Bogey, Bradley, Swihart and virtually everyone else, save Papi, in early to mid prime, we look set for the near and far future. Having 7 to 4 in top 100 prospects is nice, but we do have the highest two out of the 11 combined prospects, but the Yanks have come a long way in improving their future. BA Midseason Prospects http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/midseason-top-100-prospects/#5BjwYFSZ3IcupJm1.97 Red Sox 1) Moncada 9) Benintendit 41) Devers (should rise at end of year rankings) 93) Kopech (15 Espinoza got us Pomeranz) (39 Margot & 87 Guerra got us Kimbrel) Yankees 19) Mateo 21) Frazier 27) Torres 36) Sanchez 42) Judge 69) Sheffield 99) Kaprelian not listed: Tate & Rutherford MLB.com has Moncada 2, Beni 7, and Devers 23rd! Groome is 40th & Kopech 81st. They have Frazier 22, Torres 24, Mateo 25, Judge 30, Sanchez 37, Rutherford 62, Sheffield 93

Well said. With 19 of our last 28 games on the road, .we need to be in good position by September 2nd, when we head out to the west coast to play OAK, SD then come back east to TOR. Later we play at BAL 4, TBR 3 and NYY 3 before ending at home with 3 vs TOR. In between those long Sept road trips we play BAL 3 and NYY4 at home. Destiny should be in our own hands, even if it might be on the road. That brings us to the here and now. We still have 3 at SEA then 3 at LAD, then home for NYY and AZ. We then go on a big road trip to CLE 1, BAL 2, DET 4, TBR 4. Then home for KCR And TBR before the road trip mentioned above starting Sept 2nd. It's not going to be easy, but we can do it.

I love Devers and Swihart and think both can and should do great things going forward. To me, I'm not talking about trading them due to me thinking their value is lower than anyone else here thinks. I also think Swihart can be a fine catcher, and that's where his higher value is, but I just like Vazquez on defense much more. I realize we need to give something of great value to get great value in return, so I keep choosing these two guys as the headliners of any big package for a top quality SP'er. I realize it may not be enough of a start, teams will likely want much more, and we may end up saying no to everyone. In that case, I'm still fine with keeping everyone, but I still feel we need a top quality SP'er and two decent RP'ers this winter. With no good FA. With no good SP'ers on the FA market this winter, trading for one seems like the only solution. I'd rather trade Swihart, Devers and maybe Kopech and Travis than Beni or Moncada for two reasons: 1) They rate to be better going forward 2) They seem to slot well in LF and 3B/1B/DH- our two biggest non-pitching needs next year.

I think you're right about the weight limit thing, but we can still DFA him if he looks fat or out of shape. We may be able to outbid anyone for Sale or Quintana, but that doesn't mean we will or we should.

There is room for Devers, if we don't sign Encarnacion and Shaw ends up being a platoon and/or average corner IF'er. He also may not be ready until 2017 or 2018, and by then we'll be close to losing HanRam from the mix. I still don't see Swihart as our FT catcher. I think Vazquez is clearly management's choice and with Leon barely slowing down, I think Swihart may be our 3rd string catcher and then get plenty of PAs in LF and possibly 1B or DH. I'm also not convinced Moncada can become a plus fielder at 3B within a year or two, so he may end up in the OF or even DH until he shows he can do it. This could also create a slot for Devers, if just for a short term.

I don't see many other winter FA RP'ers that excite me, except Jansen, who won't be leaving LA.

I agree. I've always advocated he be given a full chance at a rotation slot. I'm glad he finally got his chance.

We could end up DFA'ing Sandoval to clear $19M from the luxury tax budget, but Henry is already paying Castillo and Craig big money to stay off the 40-man roster. That would give us close to $50M to spend and be near the luxury limit. We might sign Encarnacion to $25M x 6 years. We might re-sign Uehara ($6.5M x 2) and Ziegler ($3.5M x 2) That would leave us $15M for that mystery SP'er, or we could trade for Sale or Quintana and be under the limit.

Many saw ERod as our best bet to fill the #2 slot this season. Now, we just need him to be a reliable 5th starter. Unless Pomernaz and Wright "right the ship" soon, he may become our #3 starter by the end of the mnoth.

He struggles with the guilt he feels over emotionally harming the pitchers he faces.

I had Brentz being DFA'd long ago, so no complaints on this idea, although we are still short-handed in LF until Young comes back. Other options might be to ... make a waiver deal with Buchholtz DFA W Cuevas DFA M Martinez DFA W Jerez DFA N Ramirez

I trust Sox management's judgment of his emotional make-up. The kid is on a monster tear in AA. Brentz sucks. Holt is not a capable long term LF'ers. Maybe need trumped actual ML readiness, but I think Beni will be fine, even if he struggles at the plate this season..

Beni was a better fielder than Brentz day one in our system. It was just about his bat and emotional readiness in my mind. I said I was all for his call-up the second Sox management felt he was "ready". That day appears to have arrived.

Not at age 40, but Barry Bonds had an OPS between 1.278 and 1.422 every season between ages 36 to 39. He also had some big years at age 41 & 42, but never cracked 500 PAs those last two seasons.

Can someone list all the Yankee top 100 prospects now (with their rank number) plus the ones that used to be top 100 recently? Thanks in advance.

I'm glad it's happening. I assume Sox management thinks he's ML ready. I had felt he was very near ready, but it seemed like so many posters here appeared to know better. My other position was that they should begin giving Moncada reps at another position sooner rather than later, since he is blocked at 2B and near ML ready with his bat. I caught a lot of grief for just asking for him to start practicing another position. Well, shortly afterwards, Sox management began doing just that. Don't be surprised if Moncada gets called up in September as a PH'er, PR'er, back-up 2Bman and maybe spot DH.

I've been a big defender of Papi over many years. My thread titles "Rumors of Papi's Demise have been Greatly Exaggerated" was one of the longest running threads in BDC history. He's a living legend. I wish he'd come back for one more year, but he is in so much pain, I know I'm being selfish. Not many players can keep producing after age 33, 34 or 35. I understand the concerns about signing Encarnacion to a long term deal. Nobody has ever done what Papi has done at this age without the use of PEDs.

I think Sandoval's time in a Red Sox uniform is over and we have to look at his contract as a sunken cost. I am not counting on one PA from Pablo going forward, but I am not writing him off, and I think Sox management will allow him back to ST'ing with perhaps some sort of weight level or just make sure hes' in much better shape than this spring. Pablo is still young. If he has an ounce of pride under all that flab, he might light a fire and turn things around. IM ean, who wants to be remembered exiting MLB this way? I have not been impressed with Hanley. He is so hit and miss that I think we can do much better. If we could trade him and eat part of his contract, I would be for that. I totally agree. I even said last winter that even if HanRam had a .950 OPS this year. I'd trade him before his stock plummets yet another time (2017). The better the year he has in 2016, the less we'll have to pay on his remaining contract. Some one may take him, if we pay just $5-8M out of his 422M per year (X 2). Assuming Pablo is DFA'd,we'd have this within our system: 3B: TShaw, Moncada, Hernandez, Rutledge, Holt, Marrero (Pablo) 1B: TShaw, Travis, Holt, Swihart?, Holt (Pablo) DH: Moncada, Young, Swihart (Pablo) I see a lot of risk here. That's one reason we probably won't totally give up on Pablo, until he shows up at camp (or earlier, if he lets us weigh him over the winter. TShaw has the possibility of improvement as he is early in his career and he is Hanley's equal at ist defensively. Travis is another intriguing possibility but he has to come back from injury and show he can play at a major league level, something TShaw has already done. He still has not proven it to me yet. IS ee him as a platoon player until he shows he can hit both sides well enough to play everyday. Moncada at third is the likely choice of management. Whether he makes it remains to be determined. I sure many other clubs would love to have our problem with finding him a position. I'm not sure he can field well enough to play 3B until maybe 2017. As great of an athlete as he is, he may have to start at DH. I would use Holt and Hernandez as utility players as you never know when our infielders might need rest or get injured. I do think we need to trade for or FA sign a quality power bat for DH, whether he be Encarnacion or another possibility. Probably no one can match our loss with Ortiz leaving. I'd rather trade for a SP'er, but if wed o trade for a big bat, why not get somebody that can actually play a position well? With 5 current good starting pitchers, perhaps we can get a #1 in the FA market. We would need a #1 to go into any playoff race with an expectation of being successful. We should continue to strengthen our pitching development capability to see if we can develop another of our own kids. Other organizations are doing it so why can't we? There are no aces in the FA market this winter.

The injury probably had something to do with it, but injuries are part of the equation of decline in players going beyond age 32.

Thanks. I'm living down here in Texas and only read about things.

I'm not doubting you, but where did you hear this?