moonslav59

He's got great stuff. Maybe ML stuff already but with serious control issues. I'm not counting on him either for 2017, but how many of us expected O'Sullivan to get 4 starts (then Pomeranz 13), when we had what we thought was a very deep SP'er situation: Price, Porcello, ERod, Kelly, Buchholz, Owens, Wright, Johnson, Elias and maybe even a stretched out Barnes. That's 9 or ten guys we had ahead of O'Sullivan, and he was starting for us in early May! I'm not trying to compare O'Sullivan to Kopech. Sean was 28 and had more experience, but if Kopech is doing well, as I expect he will be, then we might see him in August or September, if needed. Hopefully, we won't exhaust all these options by then: Porcello, Price, ERod, Wright, Pomeranz, Buchholz Owens Johnson Elias Haley

Me too, and I think Leon's presence will help him and the team in many ways.

I think there's a chance we see Kopech later this year, but as a starter only. I'd guess 2018 is more likely, but you never know what might happen.

You know the hot stove is dead when we spend pages and pages on Pablo.

Let me add this to the mix -- when was the last time a big acquisition of an ace for the Red Sox actually work as advertised? To me, there hasn't been one since the Schilling trade. And as much good as he did for us, Schilling was brought in to pitch behind Pedro and be our #2 starter and big playoff horse behind our ace so he may not even count Price is the only ace we've acquired since Schilling. so I'm not sure what your point is. Lackey wasn't an ace when we signed him.

If we could also sign Beltran, I think I'd do it: trade JBJ, Moncada, Swihart, Owens & Hembree for Quintana, Robertson & Frazier. We'd be way over the luxury limit, so we'd probably trade Buchholz for a good RP'er to save some tax money. Maybe we'd try and trade Pablo and save $6-9M a year that way.

Here's an old story on Pablo visiting the Sox in Tampa this year: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/clubhouse_insider/2016/08/pablo_sandoval_visibly_in_better_shape_says_hes_learned_his Some nuggets... Pablo Sandoval looks terrific. ... Sandoval has been working out six days a week with minor leaguers at the Red Sox’ complex in Fort Myers. “One of the things I put in my mind that I have to work,” said Sandoval, who looks like he’s lost a good chunk of weight during his recovery. “I learned a lot of things about this surgery so I had to work hard to be on the field as on soon as possible. “My shoulder is not back to normal but I feel a lot better, started doing a lot of things in the field. Starting hitting ground balls, started playing catch, handling the ball. There are a lot of things I’ve been doing, working out, doing things so I can get better and better every day.” Sandoval’s size may have weighed heavy on the minds of Red Sox fans, but those in the front office have been mostly quiet when asked to discuss it publicly. One of his former trainers told the Herald in April that Sandoval has an eating problem and “needs a babysitter” to help him stay in baseball shape. Sandoval did not directly answer questions about that on Wednesday, but he openly admitted to some regrets about how this season played out for him. “It’s tough, but you learn your lesson from all the mistakes you make,” he said. “You’re human, you make mistakes. You have to put all the things in the past. So you have to work out and have good people around you to support you every single day. I’ve got that situation already, with my family around to support me every single day. Sandoval said he feels “way different” than he did in spring training, when his poor defense at third base and inconsistent plate approach left him on the bench to start the year. “It depends how you feel, how you want to handle things,” he said. “Now that I learned my lesson, I have to prove myself that I can do a better job out there.” Sandoval said the birth of his son three months ago has been inspiring him to come back. “That’s one of those things every time I wake up, looking at him, I want to do everything for him so he can see me back on the field and play baseball,” Sandoval said. “That’s the thing I put in my mind every single day.” “I’ll do whatever,” Sandoval said. “I’m just going to come here the best I can. I just want to do the best things I can do on the field, do the things I know how to in baseball, have fun. I want to prepare myself to be ready for next year. “I know I can put more pressure out there and do a better job out there,” he said. “Things happen for a reason. I’m happy but not I’m not satisfied with the things I’m doing. I’m going to keep working hard, continue my rehab and be better for next year.” Sandoval is making $17 million this year and is under contract to make $17 million in 2017, $18 million in 2018 and $18 million in 2019 with a club option for $17 million ($5 million buyout) in 2020. “Pablo is a supremely talented veteran and a proven winner,” Red Sox principal owner John Henry said in an email to the Herald last week. “He knows exactly what he needs at this point in his career. With Papi leaving we absolutely need Pablo to return to the form we’ve seen in the past. This year and last were frustrating for him and frustrating for us. We need him next year. “I think a lot of people wrote off Hanley last year. He’s an extremely important part of the offense and the defense now.” Sandoval said he’s never been so motivated. “I miss the game,” he said. “I watch every single day, I miss those guys but sometimes you have to put yourself in the situation, in the right situation to be better.”

He's better than any setup guy we got. He had an off season, so maybe we can "buy low" on him. He had a WHIP of 0.932 in 2015 and under 1.10 the two previous years. (He was over 1.300 last year and makes $13M next year, so I don't think we need to give much to get a decent back-up closer.)

If we then added Beltran as DH and LF depth, we'd be looking sweet for the next 2 years anyways.

I think JBJ, Moncada, Swihart & Hembree would get us Sale and Robertson. I'd prefer Quintana & Robertson. Maybe if we added 5 years of Shaw & Owens each, we could get 1 year of Frazier added to the package.

I'm thinking JBJ, Swihart and Moncada (plus scraps) for Quintana, Robertson & Frazier

I'd love to see Sandoval gone and never wanted him in Boston ever. The only way othrt than an unlikely release is probably a bad contract swap. The "best" fit might be to Atlanta for Matt Kemp. If the Braves keepthe mmoney from SD and LA, they fill 3b, open a spot for Mallex Smith, and get Sandoval for about $11million per. The Sox get Kemp, not an ideal Fenway hitter but a better DH candidate than Sandoval or Shaw or Young.... Thanks for trying to bring the thread back to baseball.

That leaves our OF short. We could play Young FT in LF and move Beni to CF, but out depth would be only Holt and Swihart. If we signed Beltran, perhaps he could bridge us to Basabe or let Moncada try to play the OF.

From soxprospects.com... Christian Vazquez's (pictured, above) week started off slowly, as he went 0 for 7 with two walks over his first two games. He turned it around in his final two appearances, going 5 for 8 with a walk, including a walk-off home run on Sunday in the bottom of the 10th. The home run was his first extra-base hit in eight games with Santurce.

I have no sympathy for Pablo either, but I'm not writing him off just because he let us down. I'm not counting on him for even 1 AB, but I do think he has the inside track on winning the DH platoon job with Young or less likely- possibly winning the 3B job. It's too bad Pablo, Shaw and Holt all hit righties better than lefties.

That makes sense. That would be the two years.

Sorry, but I don't count 248 PAs as "plenty of reason" for anything but maybe hope. Here is a look at a larger sample size of Shaw's recent history- most at lower (and easier) levels than MLB. (Note: Shaw was not under aged at any of these levels.) .781 in 133 PAs at AA to end the 2012 season .736 in 529 PAs at AA in 2013 .954 in 208 PAs to start the 2014 season in AA .752 in 346 PAs to end the 2014 season in AAA .674 in 322 PAs to start the 2015 season in AAA then, .813 to end the 2015 in Boston in 248 PAs. .726 in 530 PAs in 2016. I'm not sure why so many seem to cling to the second half of 2015 and the first half of 2016 as what they think Shaw will or likely can give us in 2017. The vast majority of his career in AA and above is mediocre. .795 in AA in 870 PAs .715 in AAA in 668 PAs .754 in MLB in 778 PAs While .750 is not bad, it's not really a plus, and I'm not sure he can even give us .750 next year. My guess is, he will be closer to his .715 AAA numbers at best.

He might, but that eats up some of the money we may need to extend the big Bs.

I think we're set up pretty well. Our biggest need areas, like 3B and pitching, have the most high prospects within the system. I have high hopes for Basabe- not mentioned above, but you made a nice summary of our future outlook.

We don't have the money to extend anyone right now, including Pomeranz.

Who? Shaw? Not if he hits like 2nd half Shaw.

When are the international restrictions lifted from the Sox? I thought we got hit with 2 years.

I like Turner and Jensen, but I don't think we will pay what they want.

I'd like to stick to Red Sox baseball on this thread. I was hopeful the luxury tax might go to $210M next year, but it looks like it might be closer to $200M. With our luxury budget looking to be around $185M, we'll have some tough choices to make. Since Henry will be paying Castillo & Craig $22.2M this year "off the books" so to speak, I'm not sure how willing he will be to pay a %50 tax on anything over the new luxury limit. A few million will probably be okay, but I can't see us signing EE and a RP'er or two. We may not even want to sign Beltran and two good RP'ers. We may look for a cheap 3B bridge and use Pablo and Young as a DH platoon, or we could sign a cheap platoon DH and hope one of our in house 3Bmen rise to the challenge. Either of these would allow us to spend on the pen.

...but why the hell would you need to when you have one of the largest payrolls in the league? It's precisely the fact that we have one of the largest payrolls in the league that we look for ways to save as Henry is surely instructing his management team to do. People can cry all day about Henry's immense wealth and his ability to go way over the luxury tax (at %50 this year), but until we see it happen or he says he's willing to go way over, most of us are operating on the assumption that we will continue staying very close to the luxury limit like we have for many years. If the limit goes up to $200M, we'll have about $15M to spend without paying $1 on every $2 we spend. That's not even including what we are paying Castillo and Craig to not be on the 40 man roster and subject to massive taxations.