moonslav59

I could also see Moncada at 1B, if he struggles at 3B or LF.

I think Shaw actually started at 3B in college and was moved to 1B in the minors, but he still played a lot of 3B in the minors as well (22% of his games)

Last off season was the right time to do it. We're never trading Pedey, so 2B is just about as blocked as any position on any team in MLB can possibly be. We keep being forced to play people "out of position" due to lack of insight and forethought. We should prepare ourselves for a great prospect to rise quicker than we anticipate or some major injury or falling off a cliff by a regular occurs. Here are some recent instances of lack of forethought by Sox management on preparing players for positional chances (some worked out okay- others did not): Swihart in LF: It was obvious he would need to play other positions with the Sox once vaz got healthy, especially if he hit like he was projected to do. We knew e had potential weaknesses at LF, 3B and 1B. he should have been given a few reps there in the minors over the last year or two. (Note: I said this 2 years ago.) Betts in the OF: he should have been given OF reps long before he did. He ended up adjusting amazingly well, but what if he didn't? Everybody knew he'd never play 2B in Boston unless Pedey got hurt. HanRam at 1B. They should have given him a 1Bman's mitt last summer, when we were out of it. Bogaerts at 3B: he played 10 games at 3B in the minors, then was playing 3B in the playoffs for us! Inexcusable. (Note: this is not hindsight bitching on my part, I was calling for him to be at 3B that whole minor league seaons.) Now, it's Moncada. I'd also start playing Benintendi in LF at least 30-40% of the games, so he gets used to it.

Several players make the jump from AA to MLB, if their doing great. I'm not really going to count on Beninetendi or Moncada for this year, but I think Sox management will not look to replace Papi with Bautista or Encarnacion. I think they will hope Pablo and a mix of rotating players will fill the DH slot, and one or both of Benintendi and Moncada will provide some added spark to the offense. Sam Travis may also win a slot on next year's 25 man roster. Once papi retires, Holt's "flexibility" value is lessened on this club, and I think he'll be dealt away. I think we keep Hanigan and his option and trade Swihart (and others) for pitching. We'll probably have to make a big prospect package deal to avoid spending big on free agency to fill all of our pitching needs. I doubt we go too much over the luxury limit next year. I don't see henry as being OK with deals like Price and Kimbrel's contracts being added every winter (plus $6M for a platoon OF'er who only does well vs lefties not righties). The rise in the luxury budget limit will helps some, but not only are we losing Papi, but Uehara and Tazawa will be FAs as well. That's 3 significant roles to fill plus 2 SP'ers and another RP'er.

I never trust sportswriters for anything. I stopped valuing MVP, Cy Young Gold Glove Awards when the gave (I think it was) Rafael Palmero the GG awards at 1B when he was the DH most of the year.

I read somewhere that Lackey was not actually yelling at his players behind him for not making plays. He was yelling at himself, and his teammates understood this and has no issues with his antics. From the TV screen it looked like he was a douche, but in reality maybe he wasn't.

If your not on the 40 man roster, your salary does not count against the luxury tax. If the Sox pay your salary to be on another team's 40 man roster, I believe that counts against the luxury limit, like when we paid the Dodgers $3-4M a year after the Gonzo/CC/Beckett dump.

I'm still not worried about our offense. I think it's just a team slump coupled with coming up against a few pitchers having very good nights. I sill think our biggest needs are SP'er and RP'er.

Last year, there were only about 5 or 6 teams surely out of it by the deadline, and with parity the way it is and the wild card opportunity, I doubt there are many GM who view themselves as out of it next year. I know teams would love to have Espinoza and Devers, but with them so far away from MLB and their vale still somewhat speculaive, I'm not sure we'd get back what I think these two are worth. Now, I realize you have to give a lot to get top quality pitching under team control for 3+ years at a reasonable cost. I realize a package of Swihart, Devers, Travis, Kopech plus one or two from Lakins, Dubon, Chavis, Basabe, Light, T Ball.... might not get the type of pitcher both of us are wishing for, and maybe the need to add Espinoza or Benintendi is a sure thing. I'd have to see who the pitcher is, before I agree to that big of a futures dump. Concerning your list of 4 guys above, I'm not sure on the years of team control on these guys, but if it's 3 1/2 + years, I'd seriously consider offering Swihart, Espinoza or Benintendi, Devers and 2-3 others from my list above (basically anyone but Moncada). You are right about GMs valuing players much differently than us fans here. One example was the rumors of so many GMs calling about JBJ. Some fans severely devalued JBJ after just 500 PAs of poor offense at the ML level. GMs look beyond certain size sample sizes and listen to their scouts.

I'm thinking beyond this year, and am willing to trade some of our extended future (in prospects) for a solid pitcher under team control for 3 1/2+ years at a decent cost and age. Once Papi retires, we're going to have to find new ways to win, and improving our rotation significantly seems like the best way to do that. Getting a decent 4th starter type is never my idea of a good plan, and usually if he's just a 2 month rental.. I'm tired of the Jake Peavys (who was maybe a #3), Aaron Cooks, Franklin Morales, Zach Stewarts, Eric Bedards, Brad Pennys, John Smoltzs and Paul Byrds. These guys rarely make a difference.

1) I view Fernandez as an ace, so we may be arguing semantics on ace vs solid #2. I view an ace as a top 30 MLB pitcher or a top 15 AL pitcher. That being said, I'd be fine with a solid #2, whcich might mean a top 20 out of 30 #2, so basically, I'd be fine with a top 50 pitcher or maybe even a top 75 pitcher that is young and is promising enough to get better. 2) We should make the playoffs by just adding a solid RP'er and dependable #4 SP'er, but if we are to seriously try for a championship this year, Papi's last year, then we'll need more than that to be one of the top 3 favorites.

Usually the team goal, from a management perspective, is to try and improve your weakest links, but this is not done in a vacuum. If we tried to improve on catcher offense, we'd likely lose in catcher defense (in the widest sense of the word), so although Vaz may never reach MLB positional "average" on offense with Vaz behind the plate, I think we will always have an overall plus due to the defense and intangibles Vaz brings with his game. As a general manager, I think the goal is to strive to improve your weakest links first. I do not think our weakest position is catcher. I think it is more like this: 1) #2 type SP'er 2) Solid RP'er 3) #4 type SP;er, even if just as insurance against ERod. 4) LF (Benintendi?) 5) Looking ahead after Papi retires- 3B/1B/DH (Moncada?) 6) Maybe just maybe offense from the catching position * *If we keep Swihart around, we can either have offense at the catcher position with him playing catcher, or if he plays LF and we have Hanigan or Leon on the roster, we can afford to PH for Vazquez as many games as we need.

Agreed. I have never said a word about Papi being clean. It's pretty obvious he did something while in the D. R. and probably afterwards as well- perhaps when it was not illegal.

He did rise to .475 and .500 his final two years with MN. Sure, one could use is big increase in SLG% as evidence for PED use, but many players improve their SLG% after age 25/26 without PED use. Note: Papi did hit 18 HRs in just 303 ABs in 2001 with MN and 20 HRs in 412 ABs in 2002 with MN. If you pro-rate those HRs to 600 ABs, he'd be close to 40 HRs, so it's not like hitting 31, 41, 47 and then 54 with Boston immediately after the move to Boston is wacky out of line. It's not like Brady Anderson's one year spike and return to oblivion.

I was talking about people arguing about "he said-she said" ad nauseum, not the Nomar-PED issue. Please try to keep up.

At least I'm whining about a baseball topic, instead of whining about a person whining.

I wish we could keep this thread about the Red Sox and not get into personal issues.

His Triple-A results really haven't helped his cause, though, and for me are more alarming than anything he's done or hasn't done in the majors. When JBJ lost his job and was demoted to Pawtucket, he raked all season long and basically forced them to give him another shot (and thank the gods he did); unless Rusney can find a way to do the same, I feel like his Red Sox career may be over. Well, the Sox have given some players a shot even after recent struggles in AAA. Understood, the circumstances were different as we were out of contention, but Travis Shaw as having a horrible season (.249/.318/.356/.674) in Pawtucket last year, and he was handed a FT role on the big club. He also had a pretty bad second half of 2014 at Pawtucket: .254/.329/.410/.739. I feel there must have been something more than just performance issues at AAA that led to the DFA. Maybe a big part was trying to get his contratc off the luxury tax budget, but maybe there's more.

There's nobody on this winter's FA list. You have to give to get, and sometimes it hurts to give alot, and sometimes you get it wrong. I'm fine with taking the long look and not trading Moncada, Swihart, Espinoza and Benintendi, but it's going to be hard to acquire a difference maker SP'er, stay near the luxury tax limit and be the favorites to win the championship this year or next (without Papi). The choice has to be made, and like I've said. I'm happy either way- just don't play it half way by trading just Devers and scraps for a two month rental of questionable top quality. I think when you look at our top 4 prospects, trading Swihart (with Devers) makes the most sense. Our biggest needs both now and going forward seem to be ,,, SP (Espinoza) 3B/1B/DH (Moncada) LF (Benintendi While Devers plays 1B, he's too far away. While Swihart apparently can play LF, his greater value is to a team that doesn't have a good catcher. Add Travis, Kopech, owens, Johnson, Chavis and so on and maybe we can get more than just a decent 2 month rental. We need to get a pitcher under team control for over 3 years.

Yeah, the next guy they ask for is JBJ. I doubt any other GM is really high on Holt, Hernandez or Marrero. I doubt any GM is high on Owens, Elias, Johnson or Sullivan. I doubt any contending team would trade an ace for Swihart, Devers plus any prospect not named Moncada, Espinoza or Benintendi. We might not even get an ace for Swihart, Devers and Espinoza (plus mid levels). Non contending teams don't seem to have an ace (no wonder- that's why they are non contending in the first place). I don't see many choices. Can you name a few?

It amazes me how he can be having his career best year with feet like that! WOW!

The guy is a legend.

I think the Sox are 13-13 in games not started by Price, Wright and Porcello. I'm not trying to say I have any confidence in these guys. We do need another starter for sure, but so far our bats have carried our weak starters. Unfortunately, they've come up short a few too many times when our big three are pitching (like tonoght.)

How easy was it to "replace" ERod? And with who? It was obvious Sox management felt between Kelly, Buch, Owens, Johnson, Elias and Wright, we'd end up with 2 decent starters. We ended up with one that is doing great and zilch after that. I guess we shouldn't complain, since Wright has been a miracle, but we still are in need of another starter due to ERpd's injury. One can easily argue that planning for injury would have been nice, but the fact remains. We need a starter.

IP/GS 6.9 Wright 6.6 Price 6.3 Porcello 5.8 League Avg 5.7 Buch 5.2 ERod 3.7 Kelly