moonslav59

He's got 171 PAs. Let's say everything goes right. They move Leon up in the order, he plays every game and gets 159 PAs in the 37 remaining games. That gives him 330 PAs total. Let's say he walks just 10 times and bats .400 over the rest of the season. He'd end up going 60 for 150 and total 117 hits in 302 ABs. His final BA would be .387, Now add zero for 200 to get him to 502 PAs, he'd be 117/502 for a .203 BA. Not even close.

Haven't you heard? It was a move out of desperation! Protocol says they had to wait. They didn't.

I think with Espi gone, Groome stays. It might be 3-5 years for Groome to make it. He's only 18.

Hanigan is almost ready to come off the DL.

We don't really have a 40 man roster crunch. We have 39 players now, and could easily release or trade a couple more with no ill effects from this list: Bryce Brentz (although we are thin at OF depth) Bryan Holaday (once Hanigan is healthy) William Cuevas Williams Jerez or trade.... Fernando Abad Noe Ramirez Devon Marrero

We need to be assuming Sandoval can't play third. He's refused to play first base and pouted when forced to. He is not a good enough hitter to DH. How the hell is he "a big part of our future?" What's Hnery going to say? "We don't see Pablo as being any help going forward." That being said, I do think Sox management is holding out hope Pablo can come back and play well. I think he's going to be only 30 next year, so there's still time for a big year or two. I'm not projecting that, but hope remains. I'd rather turn the DH position over to Blake Swihart than Pablo Sandoval right now. Or hell, turn it over to Leon and let Swihart and Vazquez battle for the catcher's job again. Or turn it over to Ramirez if Sam Travis looks ready to rock next Spring. There is just no actual spot for Sandoval anymore, thanks largely to the positive news from the development of our rookies. If I had to guess what next year's starting line-up would be, I'd go with Moncada at 3B, Shaw at 1B and HanRam at DH. Pablo could get time at 3B, 1B and DH, if he's in shape and doing well. Swihart or Vaz will start in AAA next year. The other will be Leon's back-up. As it is we have Moncada, Swihart and possibly Travis to figure out how to shoehorn into an already crowded lineup, our bench looks superb with Holt, Young, Hernandez (once Holt moves on), Shaw and Vazquez forming the core of a bench that should last us awhile with no need to make changes, and other talents like Mauricio Dubon who will also need chances to show their stuff. I agree. Our future and future depth looks very strong. There are much better investments of roster space on this team, right now, than Sandoval, and more good candidates than we have spots even without him. Agreed, but we won't cut him, and we can't trade him, until we see what we got next spring. I hope DD has the stones to stick to his guns like he did this year and say screw the money, let's build the best roster we can. That roster is absurdly unlikely to include Pablo "Goodyear" Sandoval. Unlikely, yes- impossible, no.

I agree. Like I said with Beni, the second Sox management thinks he's ready, I'd call him up.

I read how he had played 3B at 16, but nothing about him doing well there defensively. Maybe I missed it.

Agreed. If DD thinks Moncada can play 3B well enough to be a better overall choice than Shaw/Hill, I think he'll make the move. If not, his other values will make him a certain September call-up.

...the reports on his defense have been positive since he moved to the hot corner on August 12. I'm not doubting you, but what reports are you talking about?

I'd say it depends on where Moncada is defensively at 3B. His bat looks ready to me, but I'll leave that to Sox management. From the limited information I have, I'd say call him up the minute they think he's decent enough defensively. Certainly, I'd call him up September 1st as a PR'er, PH'er, possible DH (when needed) and maybe as a back-up 2Bman or 3Bman at least.

I agree. Kelly Owens and even O'Sullivan have been given a long enough chance to prove themselves worthy of continuing in a meaningful role. Elias has not gotten a long look, but I think Sox management has realized he has not been at the point of ML effectiveness to get a longer look. We've used 10 starters this year, including Elias' one start. We've used 18 different pitchers in relief, including Buch, Kelly, O'Sullivan and Elias in both roles. Barnes and Hembree have been given ample opportunity, due in part to major RP'er injuries, but they have done well enough to stick around, even when the injured have gotten healthy. I think that's a good thing going forward. Maybe Kelly and Elias eventually get their act together. Maybe Johnson makes an appearance this year. Maybe Kyle martin and some one else gets a September call up. On offense, I think they've done a good job managing the roster. I would have liked to have seen Beni get more reps in LF than he did before being called up, but it appears to have worked out well, so far.

77 AL SP'ers with 60+ IP (about 5 pr team x 15 teams) Sox ranking by.... WAR 6 Price 8 Wright 9 Porcello (Pomeranz ranked 28th out of 150 in MLB) ERA- 6 Wright 9 Porcello (18 Pomeranz out of 150 in MLB) 28 Price WHIP 5 Porcello (32 Pomeranz out of 150 in MLB) 19 Wright 22 Price Add ERod and Buch to these 4, and suddenly our rotation is looking sharp. 2nd Half WAR (143 starters with 20+ IP) 4) Sale 12) Quintana 13) Wright 17) Porcello 18) Lester 19) Price 20) Hellickson 33) ERod 34) Odorizzi 46) Lackey 56) Smyly 91) Miley 93) Moore 112) Pomeranz 120) Samardzja 142) Shields (Buch: DNQ as tonight's game not included)

So true, but not long ago, it was what if we DFA him?

ERA for the Second Half 3.21 Price (53 IP) 2.25 Porcello (52) 2.52 ERod (39) 4.23 Pom (38) 4.13 Wright (32) 3.00 Buchholz (27)

Even the Buch bashers must be starting to wonder "what if...?" Nice start, Clay. Just keep doing what you have to do, and who knows what might happen.

This is what Jeff Todd wrote: Henry also touched upon the status of injured and embattled Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval. The 30-year-old is an important part of the near future for Boston, Henry says. That’s self-evident to some extent, as Sandoval is owed $58MM over the next three seasons (including the buyout of a 2020 club option). But the Sox owner suggests that the organization has expectations that Sandoval can return to being the “supremely talented veteran and a proven winner” that the club signed up for in the first place. “This year and last were frustrating for him and frustrating for us,” Henry says of Sandoval. “We need him next year.” Sandoval’s importance is heightened by the fact that David Ortiz is set to retire after the year, Henry suggests. Big Papi is in the midst of an all-time age-40 season — he currently leads the league with a 1.050 OPS — and that obviously represents a more-or-less irreplaceable source of offense, though the free agent market does promise to offer several big bats. Sandoval certainly doesn’t look like a direct substitute, but a typical pre-Boston season from the Panda would go a long way toward making up for the loss.

That's what I said about HanRam last winter.

JBJ's BA has gone down, but I wouldn't say he's been "weak". I think he has 4 HRs in his last 7 starts.

I can see why they made the trade, but I still didn't like it at the time. I know Rutledge was on the 60 day DL, but Marco Hernandez is a switch hitter who apparently hits lefties well. I'd have given him a chance, but maybe he was hurt at that time. I'd have been fine sticking with Shaw, but I'd have dropped him down in the line-up vs lefties.

It's not out of the question, but we better not plan the roster around him being a FT anything.

Agreed, and I thought the same on opening day.

One option is to trade a big star before we let him walk. Make a choice who you want to keep, and then hope you guessed right.

Not that I'd even think about doing this, we can now field a team with all players having an .810 OPS or better: C leon 1B papi 2B ped SS bog 3B ram LF ben CF jbj RF bet DH young Playing Shaw at 3B does not bring it down too much (.758).

For now anyway, let's hope.