Jack Flap

Count me in for a team here in Raleigh or somewhere close by.

He is an okay baseball player, I guess.

Some fans always seem to scoff when teams make "dumpster dive" minor league signings, but Butler's cameo this month shows the value of having a guy like that in the organization when you need him. I'm glad he got his moment of glory for us, however brief...I hope he gets a WS ring out of it and is still showing up to all the championship celebrations years from now the way guys like Cesar Crespo and Phil Seibel still come to all the 2004 reunions.

The funny thing is that Bailey and Hanrahan were All-Star caliber closers before we traded for them. Both had their warts and wouldn't be confused with Craig Kimbrel at top form, but it's not like Cherington was trying to throw any old s*** out there and hoping it worked out (which is the way some are making it sound). Those acquisitions failed primarily due to injuries.

I can't think of a more exhilarating and satisfying regular season series in recent memory. What a tremendous four days of baseball.

Cool idea, but I think his schedule is going to be full playing James Bond.

Not the sort of July 31st surprise I was hoping for...hopefully it's something very short-term.

Dombrowski apparently said the team thought it had a deal in place for a relief pitcher (reportedly Kelvin Herrera), but the other club changed its mind. I'm curious what this trade would have looked like. I'm surprised we didn't grab a reliever, but it is what it is, I guess. Pearce, Eovaldi, and Kinsler makes for a pretty successful trade season, IMO. Maybe we can grab another arm in a waiver deal next month (especially if we're already over 237 regardless).

Leon isn't eligible for free agency until after 2020.

The Blue Jays got a lot more for Osuna than I ever would have guessed, and best of all (as you mentioned) made him someone else's problem. Kind of a shocking trade from the Astros' perspective (which they're rightfully getting torched for)...and I'm glad it wasn't us who made it, no matter how talented he may be.

I agree that our pen is pretty good as constituted. Could we get better? Sure...but given that almost any move we make at this point is going to take us over $237M (if we aren't already), I don't think the FO is going to take that leap for just anyone. Right now it just seems like we're being connected to every reliever on every bad team just because. Like, does bringing in Brad Ziegler or Fernando Rodney really improve us? Is anyone really thirsting for Bud Norris here? I hope if another move is made, it's for a real difference maker, not someone who's not any better than what we already have. If we're not getting a legitimate stud, I'm probably fine with standing pat at this point.

By ERA+ (which adjusts for league and park differences), Lester is at 140 for the year vs. Price at 111. Lester's FIP and other metrics aren't so pretty, though.

If we needed an outfielder, I'd be happy to roll the dice on him rebounding in August-September.....but we don't.

I don't see how it's an "overpay"...you're going to have to give up something, even for a rental, and we're not really hurting for guys with middle relief potential. I've been asking for an upgrade at 2B, and I like this one a lot. Nice move.

We traded for Eovaldi before they got Happ...not that it really matters, I think. We filled a need, and so did they. I think there's more we could do if we so choose, but not out of any need to "counter" Yankee moves.

Jerry Crasnick ‏Verified account @jcrasnick Two prime Brian Dozier landing spots came off the board when the #Dbacks picked up Escobar and #Brewers traded for Moustakas. #RedSox have been mentioned as a possibility because of Pedroia's health, but Boston's focus remains the bullpen. Dozier to Boston "highly unlikely.'' Meh.

Wasn't Mazz always whining that we wouldn't trade prospects under Cherington? Now he whines that we don't have any? LOL.

I think this was confirmed to be a paper move, not an actual promotion...that would be nuts. Still, he's been getting great results in Lowell and is definitely one I'm keeping an eye on.

Good post.

I don't know, there seem to be a lot of fans out there with fetishes for trading JBJ and/or moving Mookie back to second base. I'm sure someone can come up with a way to shoehorn Harper into our lineup...

Without trying to get into another "cliff"/"DD killed the farm" discussion... MLB Pipeline's midseason update to the top 100 prospect list features two former Red Sox farmhands - Michael Kopech at #13 and Logan Allen at 90. Kopech has a 4.28 ERA and 1.36 WHIP while walking over 5 batters per 9 in Triple-A - he's got a great arm, obviously, but is not someone I'm shedding tears over trading for possibly the best pitcher on the planet. Allen would be nice to have right now, and it's still kind of a bummer that he was the third piece in that deal. That said, would anyone really take that trade back now if they had the chance? Other than that, all the prospects Dombrowski traded are either in the majors and scuffling (Margot, Moncada), hurt (Espinoza), or not top 100 material to begin with (Basabes, Dubon, and so on), so even if you could go back and rescind all of his deals, whether our farm would really look much better than it does now is highly dubious. The main reason our system sucks this year is that we've graduated a lot of impact talent in recent years (Benintendi, Devers) and have largely failed to replace it, which is an issue that dates back before Dombrowski...the changes to the old system that allowed us to throw our financial weight around in the draft and international market to land better players have a role in this. We were in the penalty box for international amateur signings for a couple of years due to the money we spent bringing in Espinoza, Moncada, and others - and then had what prospects we were able to sign taken away one of those years due to tomfoolery in the foreign market. We've also suffered a rash of injuries and general bad luck beyond any GM's control (Groome TJ surgery, Chavis' PED suspension, a potential stud catcher in Daniel Flores suddenly passing away from cancer), and though recent drafts have brought in some interesting talent, much of it is still too raw and far away to be counted on for anything yet. All of which is just to say that I think blaming our current thin farm on "Dombrowski trading all the prospects away" is an overly simplistic way of looking at the situation.

Some of y'all will get into arguments over the silliest things, and then go to great lengths to keep those arguments going over multiple pages. But to each their own, I guess. Please note this post was not directed at any person in particular...

I don't think you have to be a "stat geek" to recognize that we have gotten subpar production from several positions despite our great record. I'm not overly concerned about C and 3B, but 2B to me is an obvious spot for an upgrade, even a modest one (hopefully in addition to, not instead of, a setup man).

I don't think they'll go over for just anyone, but if we can make a legitimate upgrade, I don't think the luxury tax should stand in the way. This is a historically great team with a real shot at a championship, and ownership knows this. The loss of 10 spots in the draft (probably the difference between picking 30th and 40th overall, or something along those lines) really wouldn't be earth-shattering. And I guess I disagree that we couldn't make a significant upgrade at second...personally, I'm tired of seeing Nunez and his negative WAR playing almost every night.

24 hours later, I like this even more. It looks like we got one of the better arms available on a very thin SP market - and (not that this alone is reason to make a move) denied the Yanks someone they also could have used . Time will tell what Beeks turns into, but I don't think he's someone we should exactly be broken up over losing. The fact that it's a 1:1 deal mitigates this risk significantly as well. Good job, Dave.