moonslav59

True, but I was responding to the statement that "it is a shame to have him as a 3rd DH, a 3rd catcher, a 5th OF'er. He's too good for that." Those current placements are dead on accurate. Of course, he has the talent and potential to move up in any of those three position depth charts, but right now that's where he sits. We could trade Leon (or less likely- Vaz) and Swihart could play vs most RHPs and maybe get some DH work, if he is showing some offensive skills, but I think he's going to have to work his way out of AAA to obtain a significant role on this team. The way the roster is constructed now, I really don't see him passing Leon or Vaz on the catcher depth chart, unless one of them flames out, or Vaz never rises above .650. That mnakes it tough on Swihart, because Sox management has said that catcher is where he will be next year. With Young as the 4th OF'er, I see Swihart as the 4th OF'er vs RHPs, which in my opinion is a better spot to be than 3rd catcher. All it takes is for one OF'er to get hurt, and Swihart could start FT. Young rates to be our DH vs LHPs and may sit vs RHPs in favor of Swihart. I don't see Swihart DH'ing, unless Pablo is playing 3B or has not earned the DH platoon with Young. I guess that is probably more likely than an OF'er or catcher getting hurt, but I'm not sure Swihart playing near FT DH is going to be a winning move by Sox management, at least for 2017. It's probably good he has 3 shots at a significant role on the 2017 roster. If the rosters go to 26 men, he might be "that guy", but if he doesn't play much, except to PH for our catcher late in games, I don't see him developing as he needs to do.

NOV. 28, 7:07pm: Despite the apparent concession from the ownership side on the international draft, the “desired effect” of “moving talks forward” has yet to occur, Rosenthal adds on Twitter. NOV. 29, 7:04pm: Following Olney’s report that the competitive balance tax is the “last big hurdle” to be cleared, Rosenthal reports (Twitter links) that the owners have proposed forfeiting draft picks as the penalty for going over the luxury tax limit, though the MLBPA is sensitive “sensitive to any adjustment that would cause [the] threshold to act as [a] de facto salary cap.” MLB Network’s Jon Morosi tweets that there’s some growing optimism about a deal being reached before the 12:01am ET deadline on Thursday. 10:45pm: Rosenthal tweets a quote from someone connected to the CBA talks: “There is very positive dialogue right now. More meetings to come tonight.”

He's not too good for that right now.

Rich Hill might make $50M/3 at age 36. The Yanks, Dodgers, Rangers and Astros are all in pursuit with the Sox and Orioles showing some interest according to Jeff Todd. If we got Hill, we could afford to trade a starter for something good (3B? DH?)

No quotas under the Trump regime.

If we don't get a really good RP'er or two, getting Beltran might not help much.

Even if you didn't count him as an ace, because we had Beckett & Schilling, I don't think many fans or experts thought he'd be a top 30 SP'er in MLB. There was some hope he might become one, but I don't think the majority thought he'd be an ace. He did kind of pitch like one in 2008, but that awful 5.0 BB/9 caused his WHIP to be over 1.300- no ace in my book. (BTW, his 6.9 H/9 led the league in 2008.)

I'd rather have Cespedes at $110M/4 than EE at $110/5 or whatever he ends up getting. (We could then trade JBJ or Beni for something really special.)

Mets To Re-Sign Yoenis Cespedes By Jeff Todd | November 29, 2016 at 1:11pm CDT The Mets have struck a deal to re-sign star slugger Yoenis Cespedes, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). It’s a four-year, $110MM deal, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Lackey was villified, then after he was traded, people came unhinged.

That's how I see it.

They ought to just slip laxatives in Pablo's clubhouse buffet.

I think a Pablo-Young DH platoon might work out well, but it forces 3B to be shared by just Shaw, Holt and Hernandez... not pretty. Shaw is a very good defensive 1Bman, so I don't see him DH'ing while HanRam plays 1B. I could see Young DH 55 games vs LH'd starters, Pablo vs 90 RH'd starters and HanRam vs 17 RH'd starters to get some rest without getting as many whole days off. On those days, Shaw plays 1B, and maybe Pablo plays a little 3B. The problem with 3B is that all of them bat left-handed. It would be nice if one could hit lefties well.

He may have been rushed, and that may have affected his long term career, but it's hard to know for sure.

Yes, Beckett was an ace when we acquired him and pitched like one for 4-5 out of the 6 1/2 seasons here. Dice K was a number two at best- projected.

It's the way of the world.

We'd all love EE, but at what cost? How will getting what we want affect who we can keep or acquire later? BTW, some of the guys mentioned have less power and higher OBPs.

I think Moss might work out. (.791 career vs RHPs but .828 in 2016) If you pro-rate his 2016 numbers vs RHPs to 650 PAs: .223 47 98 (.303 OBP) Kinda like Chris Carter, but Carter can hit both sides about like that: 2016 prorated to 650 vs RHPs: .222 38 84 (.316 OBP) vs LHPs: .224 48 125 (.338 OBP) Not sure why you don't like Lind vs righties. He's got an .849 OPS career and can play 1B or LF. His .589 OPS vs LHPs is atrocious! Morrison's .762 career splits vs RHPs is not what we need. He's 29, so maybe there's a chance of upside. What are your thoughts on these guys? 1B/3B P Alvarez .801 vs RHPs 1B/OF Moreland .778 career vs RHPs 1B LaRoche .831 1B Morneau .886 (.717 in 2016) or just go with... Sandoval .835 vs RHPs (.744 in 2015) and try to find a 1 year 3Bman.

Here's what Ken Rosenthal is saying... The owners won’t insist that an international draft be a part of the next CBA, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). There is still disagreement regarding modification to the luxury tax system, he adds; it’s not clear whether the sides are simply haggling over where to set limits or, instead, considering larger changes.

I wish we could get past this Pablo thing, but I guess there's not much else to talk about.

Well, Cla was a college player drafted. He only pitched 32 innings his first year in the minors before jumping quickly to AA, AAA and then the majors in just his second year in professional ball. He never started a game at any level. However, he only pitched 3 innings that year with BOS before being traded for Mirabelli. He had a fantastic first season with the Padres: 1.07 ERA and 0.711 WHIP in 51 IP (2006). He never came close to that again. I'm not sure we can blame being rushed for his problems adjusting to MLB. He had a 3.50 ERA at age 24 in 80 IP.

I'd pass on Carter.

I'm very encouraged by our rotation. This is the first year in a while that I have not thought our greatest need was an ace. (I'd still kick the tires on Quintana, because those type of guys don't come available too often.) As I've shown in the past, we had 6 starters who pitched like aces for a half season last year, but only Porcello did for a full season. While that's super promising, it's also a little bit worrisome. Here are the numbers again: Rank by ERA- per half season (90 IP unless noted): 3rd Wright 61 first half (25th in WAR) 5th Porcello 59 second half (1st WAR) 5th Pomeranz 62 first half w/SDP (14th in WAR) 13th Price 81 second half (9th WAR) *16th Buchholz 67 second half (out of 135 starters with 40+ IP) --would have placed 7th if pro-rated to 90 IP. *19th ERod 73 second half (out of 85 starters with 70+ IP) --would have placed 9th if pro-rated to 90 IP 31st Porcello 83 1st half (31st in WAR) 50th Price 98 1st half (11th in WAR)

I doubt E-Rod has reached his ceiling. Sale has reached his ceiling, and his decline in velocity, along with his violent delivery, might suggest a future decline in production, if not something more. So, I don't see a production crisscrossing as an impossible scenario, but I wouldn't expect it to occur in 2017. E-Rod has way too much talent, and upside, for me to include him in a trade for Sale along with Bradley Jr and Moncada. I'd avoid giving up ERod, and I'd try harder for Quintana. The Schilling trade had an interesting story behind it. The Diamondbacks owners needed to move the contract. He took out loans to pay for Randy Johnson and Schilling's contracts and needed economic relief. The Yankees were involved in the trade talks too but they ended up signing Vazquez. The Red Sox were able to acquire Schilling without giving up a fair return due to the economics. I don't think that would happen today--the small market teams plan better or have more resources and thus aren't as compelled to trade a player without getting a fair return for that player. There really hasn't been many team-controlled aces traded recently, except rentals at the deadline.

We will have signed or traded for more salary by the time our killer Bs reach free agency. We will have to replace Porcello the year Bogey is free. That will not come cheap.