moonslav59

It is a lot to pay a RP'er, but we trade 4 prospects for the right to pay Kimbrel more per year than Miller got.

Shaw has the best UZR/150 at 1B over the last 2 years combined. That may make up for some of the projected lower-than-norm production at 1B. Travis may be a help later in the year, but I still have not given up hope on Pablo contributing at 3B/1B/DH next year, particularly vs RHPs. We could also see Swihart at 1B/DH. I'm counting on Young to be our DH vs LHPs next year, unless another OF'er is hurt or getting an off day. He is one of MLB's very best hitters vs lefties over the last 2 years combined.

Next year: 1) Beni (LF) 2) Bogey (SS) 3) Betts (RF) 4) Bustin' Pedroia (2B) 5) Bam-Bam (HanRam) (1B) 6) Bradley (CF) 7) Bomb-cada (3B) 8) Bandee Leon © 9) Blubb-oh PaBlo (DH) [/b]

You stole my "Boncada" nickname! Maybe Bomb-cada would be better.

We may end up DFA'ing Pablo and making him our new Castillo/Craig. His salary wouldn't count on the luxury tax, but Henry would still be paying that instead of a tax.

Me too, but I'd rather have Cespedes than Miller too.

Moon thinks we have $30M to spend....I think it's closer to $40M I could be wrong, but show me where I am... Under contract for 2017 (7 players): $30M Price, $22M H. Ramirez, $20.6M Porcello, $19M Sandoval, $13.75M Pedroia, $10.5M Kimbrell, $6.5M Young. TOTAL: $123.35M (Note: Castillo's$10.25M Castillo and Craig's $6.2M contracts do not count on the luxury tax budget, if they remains off the 40 man roster.) Options ( 2 players): $13.5M Buchholz and $3.75M Hannigan TOTAL: $1.3M (buyouts) 0 to $17.25M (giving both) Let's assume we say no and then count them as off-season options: Updated TOTAL: $124.65M Arbs (9 players): Bogaerts:$650K > ~$5.5M (1st of 3) Bradley: $546K > ~$3.2M (1 of 4) Pomeranz $1.35M> ~$3.5M (2 of 3) J Kelly: $2.6M>$2.7M (2 of 3 arbs) Ross: $1.25M> $1.7M (2 of 3) Holt: $606K > $1.1M (1 of 3) Leon: $minor > $1.1K (1 of 3) Rutledge: $minor> $850K (1 of 3) Workman: $540K > $600K (1 of 3) TOTAL ARBS: ~$20.35M TOTAL of 16 players: ~$145M (without Buch and Hanigan) The 24 other players on the current 40 man roster (listed by seniority on the roster): Wright, Vazquez, Brentz, Betts, Hembree, Barnes, Coyle, Swihart, Shaw, E Rodriguez, Marrero, N Ramirez, B Johnson, Owens, Jerez, Light, Hernandez, Carson, Elias, Holaday, Moncada TOTAL: ~$13M Grand Total: $158M (No Buch/Hanigan) Now, add the $12M for player benefits and our Luxury Tax Total is... TOTAL $170M That leaves us with about $19M to spend without going over the luxury limit as it is right now ($189M), however, the limit is expected to rise to over $200M and perhaps closer to $210M. That would mean we'll have between $30M and $40M, but if we keep Buch and/or Hanigan it will be less. That may appear like a lot of money, but finding a replacement for Papi (DH, 3B, LF or 1B) will not come cheap. We will probably also need 2-3 quality RP'ers and maybe a SP'er. If we don't try to spend big to replace Papi, we will probably sign an aging vet to 1-2 year deal who plays corner IF and/or LF (Beltran?).

E Rod is still young and is capable of becoming next Porcello. It we don't sign Encarnacion, I hope we go after Chapman. The next minute, Kimbrel would demand a trade.

True, but Cespedes had higher trade value than Miller. I'm still happy we have ERod.

Not really. We traded 2 months of Miller during a "lost season" for a promising starter. We could have signed Miller and had both. What Miller has done after free agency should not count against or for the trade.

Very true. We don't need to sign 3 closers to greatly improve our pen. We could use a solid #2 (making Smith our #3) and maybe a couple good #3-4 types. Maybe Kelly will prove he's good enough for one of those roles. Maybe Abad will settle down and show he can be our LOOGY, but I don't see his history as supporting that he be solidly, penciled into that role. I still have hope in Barnes and Hembree, but not enough to not want some reliable insurance against their failure. Although I do not think signing a big bat would be prudent, I think the Sox will look for the best shortest term deal they can find (Beltran?). That will eat up a sizable chunk of the luxury budget limit, but not enough to prevent the pen-building needed. The rotation upgrading will have to wait.

He's the only one I'd kick the tires on, but my guess is the money will be too high for someone his age, and I've heard he prefers playing out west, but winning a ring might change that preference quickly.

His "talent defensively" is limited to 1B only though.

Wonder why the Hill acquisition didn't fire him up.

Hardly dumb and its done by a LOT of managers. Hes not sweating. That's silly man. Let him sit, watch, and learn for a day. Ask questions. See how fast the MLB game moves. There is absolutely nothing dumb about doing this. They did it with Benni too. Its common practice. I don't disagree, but now this forces JF into another of his favorite rituals- sitting a player right after a huge game or during a red-hot streak. I suppose they could start Shaw at 1B, but HanRam is hot too. I suppose they could rest Papi or Pedey, but we have to play our best players so soon after a day off. So, we sit Shaw after one of his best games in months. I'm not saying we shouldn't in this case, but it just seems like this happens so often on this club.

Maybe Moncada's arrival has lit a fire under Shaw.

I can't believe they never really gave this kid a shot! Just kidding.

Red Sox Designate William Cuevas By Jeff Todd | September 2, 2016 at 3:13pm CDT The Red Sox have designated righty William Cuevas for assignment, per a club announcement. His 40-man spot was needed as the club purchased the contracts of lefty Robby Scott and top infield prospect Yoan Moncada. Cuevas, 25, received a brief major league promotion earlier this year, allowing six walks in the five frames he pitched. He has spent the bulk of the year at Triple-A, where he carries a 4.19 ERA over 131 frames. Trouble is, Cuevas wasn’t able to maintain the strikeout rate he had shown in prior years, as he K’ed just 5.8 batters per nine in that span. The 27-year-old Scott gets his first major league nod after turning in 78 innings of 2.54 ERA pitching with 8.4 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 at the Triple-A level. He’ll be joined by Moncada, who is considered by some to be the top prospect in the game. (Read more on Moncada’s promotion here.)

I teach middle school ESL as a hobby.

At least RP'ers don't get $20M x 6. I get your point, though, RP'ers are so fickle, maybe inexpensive mediocre quantity is a better bet than expensive high quality 2-3 RP'ers.

...and on the flip side, it's not like they woke up a couple mornings ago and thought suddenly, he's ready...ummm, do you think he's good enough to play 3B now?

All great points. I guess what I am having trouble with is the determination of when a player is ML ready and that is the only point when a new position should be tried. I totally get the protocol and why it is the way it is. Really, I do. However, when a player is on a meteoric rise and the club is thinking there is a significant chance the player may be called up the minute they think he's ready, then, as with what happened here with Moncada, they speed up the timetable, so the player can play his new position when he is called up. They must have known Moncada might be called up on September 1st weeks ago. Do you personally think they moved Moncada to 3B after some reps there as soon as they felt he was ML ready, or did they tweek the timetable just enough so he'd be called up September 1st after having what they determined was all the time he needed at 3B to be "ready". We're only talking days and weeks here, so being "ready" is probably not something that happens or is determined from one minute to the next. It's not like they say, "Oh, he went 5 for 5 today- he's ready now!" The word "ready" is so ambiguous due to the many levels of "ready" and the team "needs" factor that may over-rule "readiness". I actually was not expecting Moncada to play 3B with Boston this year, even after he started taking reps at 3B shortly after I suggested they do it. I thought the winter league and spring training was not even enough for him to be completely ready to play 3B any significant amount of time. His youth and lack of experience at high level baseball makes him playing 3B after just 10 games a little different than Bogey in 2013. Maybe he's more of an "athlete" than Bogey, but Bogey was a SS and had more time on the Sox farm than Moncada. Maybe I'm discounting Cuban baseball too much. I guess my real question is that if we knew he was coming up 9/1 to play 3B, I think they should have moved him to 3B earlier than 10 days, despite the protocol. We're not even sure he will play 3B a lot, but it looks like he will. I'm not pretending to know more than the Sox. maybe they watched him at 3B and said, "Wow, he is ready!" If that's the case, I have no issues.

There's lots of permutations, but this might work well... 1) Beni 2) Bogey 3) Betts 4) Pedey 5) JBJ v R/HRam v L 6) Moncada 7) HRam v R/JBJ v L 8) Leon 9) Shaw v R/Young v L

He's just here for defense and the ability to PH for Holaday late in games.

I still think Swihart ends up being traded, but with his injury and value uncertainty, maybe Vaz gets traded instead. I'd rather keep Vaz, but it's a close call.