Jack Flap

There were vague reports of character/makeup issues with Groome before the draft, and presumably the Red Sox looked into this and didn't see it as enough of a concern not to draft him. I trust the organization enough to know what's going on with him and act accordingly, but I can't recall hearing or reading anything negative about him since then, and I'm certainly not trading him just because of something his father did...

I agree with all the prior posts about Swihart...dumping him now for pennies on the dollar would be incredibly stupid. He was rushed to the majors, got hurt after being thrown into a new position on the fly, and has barely played in the past year. IMO he should be given every opportunity to get healthy and try to work his way back to where he was a couple of years ago. As for Pablo, he wasn't good enough to hold down a ML roster spot in June, and I don't see what's happened to make anyone think he's any more worthy of one today. Since he went on the DL, Lin has emerged and Marrero has played better, and those 3B reps in AAA really need to be going to Devers at this point. All signs seem to point to us just cutting ties...I don't blame the FO for being squeamish about writing off that much money, but it's a sunk cost at this point and you can't keep running him out there to the detriment of the team.

That's why I'm wary of these Pat Neshek rumors. He (or someone like him) would certainly help us, I just hope it doesn't cost us a prospect like Chavis. I mean, Bellhorn was a 3.7-win player in 2004, but I get your point.

Just personally, I wouldn't make either of those trades. I'd much rather have Frazier than Prado at this point, but I get the feeling that the asking price is going to be higher than I'd be willing to go. More and more I'm warming up to the idea that standing pat with regards to 3B wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Andrew Benintendi is a pretty nice buffet.

In fairness to Dombrowski, all of his costliest trades since joining the Sox (Kimbrel, Smith, Pomeranz, Sale, Thornburg) have been for guys with multiple years of control. I think trading Devers or Groome for a rental would be a bridge too far even for him...though it probably helps that the rental types who are out there (at least for third base) just aren't terribly appealing anyway. If I had to guess, I'd say those two guys stay put. I'm more concerned about us overpaying in secondary pieces for someone like Frazier or Prado.

Word!

That wasn't the point...

I'm just not all that into Prado (even at a discounted salary and with Phelps thrown in), so that still seems like a lot to me. Maybe I'm overvaluing some of our mid-level prospects and undervaluing Prado, but I just don't see him as a huge upgrade over what we already have at this point.

Lin was also having a breakout year in the minors when called up, hitting .302/.379/.491 in 184 PA in Portland (which dwarfs anything he'd done in previous years). Not that I think he'll repeat that in the majors long-term, but it certainly seems possible that he's turned some kind of a corner.

I think we pretty clearly have a "window" in 2017-19 where we have maximized our chances, after which we will face some uncertainty and the likelihood that our roster will look significantly different, but I don't really buy the subsequent "cliff" argument myself. This will still be an organization with a lot of money available to spend on improving the roster (particularly as contracts like Hanley, Pablo, etc. come off the books), and this year's draft and international class showed they should still be able to keep the pipeline of young talent flowing under the new rules. I think some people are making things a lot gloomier than they are in reality...the future is far from set in stone at this point, and if we're a bad team come 2020-21 it will be because we didn't play our cards right between now and then, not because it was somehow predestined. (And as much of a prospect-hugger as I admit to being at times, having Moncada, Kopech, Espinoza, and the others we've traded wouldn't guarantee us a thing in terms of the future...)

You don't say?

Lol.

To avoid beating a very dead horse, I'll just have to agree to disagree on this.

You seem to be saying that the difference between rolling with Marrero/Lin/other internal options and getting someone like Prado amounts to "sacrificing the season," in which case I'd have to disagree. Looking around at the options on the trade market, I see some guys who could be helpful, but no one who's anywhere close to a guarantee to lead you to the promised land. I think we make a deal if the details are right, but there should be no desperation here to overpay for an average player just to justify moves that have already been made.

Some updated midseason prospect rankings: Baseball Prospectus (top 50) (1 Moncada) 5 Devers (25 Kopech) 43 Groome Baseball America (top 100) (1 Moncada) 6 Devers (20 Kopech) (64 Espinoza) 87 Groome 96 Chavis

Few prospects offer a "guarantee of anything," and ones who do probably aren't going in a trade for a rental third baseman with a .782 OPS. Chavis, who's a back-end top 100 guy at this point (96 on BA's midseason list), seems like he'd be a pretty good get for the White Sox, and above that we don't have a whole lot to offer, assuming Devers and Groome are off limits. I can't speak to what the Yankees will or will not offer, but I just can't see Frazier bringing back any major pieces. Maybe I'm wrong. (For whatever it's worth, Jon Heyman proposed a trade of Frazier to the Red Sox straight up for Bryan Mata, with the White Sox paying $5 million of his salary.)

Any time you're talking about prospects, there's a certain degree of risk baked in - and when the prospect in question is a teenaged pitcher like Espinoza, that risk is even more significant. I don't think anyone has ever denied that. I just don't think that means you can't question whether we got enough for a prospect in a trade. That said, my stance on this has always been that if Pomeranz pitches like a #1/2 for us, I have no complaints about the deal. A couple of months ago there seemed to be little chance of that, but what he's done recently has been incredibly encouraging...hope he keeps it up.

I'm sold on going after Frazier, personally...he would seem to check all the right boxes for us, while buying Devers another few months of development time. A decent prospect or two from outside our top tier (say, someone like Ockimey and a lottery ticket arm from the lower levels?) would seem fair to me.

I've never been a fan of this trade, as most probably know by now, but if Pomeranz keeps pitching like this, I'm certainly going to have to reconsider. His numbers since the 5/20 dugout argument with Farrell (9 GS): 2.60 ERA, 3.05 FIP, 3.49 xFIP, 9.17 K/9, 2.77 BB/9. (That Espinoza is out of sight, out of mind at the moment doesn't hurt, either.)

No argument there, and if he was only signed for this season, I'd be fine with that. It's paying him and Sandoval something like $30-35 million per year in 2018 and 2019 when we have Devers ready and waiting that doesn't appeal to me.

With the team set to be sold at some point in the near future, the Marlins appear to be lining up for some significant moves at the deadline. As Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald reports, the Fish appear to be targeting a few organizations in particular as they look to shop their biggest contracts. Marlins scouts are taking a hard look at the systems of the Yankees, Red Sox, Brewers, Rockies, and Cubs, per the report. Whether that’s based upon demand coming from those organizations or instead Miami’s own interest in certain prospects isn’t entirely clear; obviously, plenty of other teams will likely end up engaging with the Marlins in what is shaping up to be an interesting deadline period. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/07/marlins-notes-trade-targets-volquez-sale-progress.html I don't really want anything to do with Prado, the Marlin we keep being linked to, but if they're serious about shedding payroll -- thinking crazy here, for a moment -- what about Stanton?

Xander noo!!!1

Well, it's July now, and Shaw shows no signs of slowing down... Buster Olney‏ @Buster_ESPN 45m45 minutes ago With two more hits and a homer today, Travis Shaw on pace for 38 doubles, 34 HR, 85 runs, 115 RBI, 53 walks, 13 SB. As bad as this trade looks for us right now, it's great to see him having this kind of success...he's been underestimated by a lot of people (myself included) over and over again and just keeps finding ways to exceed all expectations. I hope he goes on to have himself a nice career.

Same here. This may be heresy, but Donaldson is also 31 now and not having as brilliant a season as he has in years past. I would have to question whether that's someone you give up several (if not all) of your best remaining trade chips for -- though, having already established this 2-3 year window at great expense, Dombrowski may see it differently.