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to be fair, thjat was assuming not paying JD outright to play somewhere else and therefore required taking back a bad and available contract. I might have been one of those who suggested the type of deals you would have to take back to deal JDM, and I probably mentioned Davis (or not!!!) by name along with a couple others, trying to match up some money. But I never advocated actually trading the guy - just that any deal either meant paying him anyway or taking back crap. Per BTV JDM still has a trade value of -13.7 Other similar players Kenley Jansen (-14.8) David Price (-14.2) Gregory Polanco (-14.0) Mike Moustakas (-13.0) Randal Grichuk (-12.6) Aaron Hicks (-12.1) Not sure when these were most recently updated...

Fair point, although this exercise has still given me a lot more respect for his career as well as that of Jimmy Rollins...

Well, if we are going to be so literal about the name, then we have to get Barry Bonds in there now!! And with regards to All Star games, that oenalizes players from teams that have smaller fan bases. Chaves (again, 38.4 fWAR) lost in all Star game balloting Shea Hillenbrand in 2002. In 2002, Chavez won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, meaning he was regarded as the best hitting 3B and the best fielding 3B. But hey, the fans preferred Hillenbrand over him. And Hillenbrand was chosen over Chavez again in 2005, a season in which Chavez won another Gold Glove (an award Hillenbrand never won) but lost the Silver Slugger to ARod. So to sum up: Eric Chavez - 0 All Star games, 38.4 bWAR Scott Cooper - 2 All Star games, 6.2 bWAR Shea Hillenbrand - 2 All Star games, 6.3 bWAR Not buying into this criterion...

I only went as far back as 1970. Harrah did come up in 1969, but did not do much that year (1 plate appearance)...

The Tampa Way was more about moving players when other teams might actually still want them. JD's 2020 performance and his contract did not exactly put him atop anyone else's wish list...

I'm mad at myself for not coming up with this line first...

Are we certain the Sox did not try to move him but found no takers?

But Evans did golf left-handed so as to not mess up his swing. Given how odd his swing and batting stance were, one has to wonder what exactly he was afraid of doing...

All Star games? Come on! That's fan voting!! And the "every team" thing clouds it even further Eric Chavez played 16 years, won 5 Gold Gloves and had 38.4 bWAR, and played in 2 fewer all star games than Scott Cooper, who had 6.2 career bWAR. Is this really a criterion you are going to use?

An even harder line in choosing bWAR over fWAR? If we take both into account and simply add bWAR and fWAR: Fernandez - 88.8 Vizquel - 88.1 Rollins - 97.0 Tejada - 86.8 Reyes - 81.3 Garciaparra - 86.8 Fernandez over Vizquel is a really hard line. And then the Tejada selection makes less sense, unless you really like the number 86.8. Of course, using this criteria Toby Harrah (51.4 bWAR, 45.7 fWAR, 97.1 total WAR) becomes the most egregious omission at shortstop, just edging out Rollins...

Defesive metrics for Evans' career were pretty much non-existant, but he did win more Gold Gloves in the 1980's (5) than he did in the 1970's (3). But then I think the award was a little more of a popularity contest back then...

And how does Tejada (39.7 fWAR) get ahead of Vizquel?

Fernandez over Vizquel? Career fWAR Fernandez - 43.5 Vizquel - 42.5 I am fine with using WAR as HOF selection criteria, but you appear to have a pretty hard line with those two. Also does that mean you think Jose Reyes (43.8 fWAR) belongs in ahead of Vizquel and Fernandez?

So would you put Ozzie Smith in the Hall?

I do think a lot of them do. But hey, I did the same thing with my 3 person mock draft a few posts earlier. To be fair, Baseball America does use scouting opinions and have field researchers and probably pays scouting bureaus for more info. But I have a feeling some of these blog forums like Bleacher Report are a little less thorough...

He struggled until mid-August last year!!!

Despite their close career numbers, Rice was the better hitter. I look at Rice as the hitter you built a lineup around, and Evans as the guy you built around someone like Rice with. Evans was more well-rounded, but I like Rice better. Bu I still vote for Dewey to be in the Hall given the chance...

This team gets Chris Sale back in late 2021 hopefully, and then should have him back for 2022. If Sale is mostly back to form, he fills the biggest need on this roster. So why unload Martinez to create another need?

I don't agree, but not unreasonable. I'd put Vizquel in, too...

HEy, sometimes a guy just is not as healthy for a season as he was the year before. Any stretch last year where JD had a cold or a tummy ache was magnified because it was such a shortened season. And while he did hit .213, it was only in 211 at bats. The season was about 9 weeks long, and if he averaged just 1.5 more hits per week, the guy would have been hitting .275 and we would have never had this discussion. And if you give JD enough time, he can get those extra 1.5 hits per week. He just didn't get the chance last year.

The Red Sox as a team last year had only 524 IP. So 250 IP is approximately one half of their season total...

I get your point, and the Hall has probably ignored some great defensive players with weak bats. But sometimes - probably more political than anything else - a player carried by his defensive skillset does get in. For example, if I asked you which of these three players is NOT a Hall of Famer: Player A: Played 23 seasons and had a career OPS+ of 105 Player B: Played 19 seasons with a career OPS+ of 87 Player C: Played 15 years with a career OPS+ of 144 You'd look at those number right away and say "Lance Berkman is the one not in the Hall of Fame, and he probably shouldn't be. And both Brooks Robinson and Ozzie Smith deserve it more because their defense made them both better overall players despite them both possessing offensive skills that were average or below average." Which, of course, is the correct answer. (And also I would be impressed with how quick you got it.) But when you also point out that several elite defensive players such as Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen and Omar Vizquel also failed to get into the Hall this year, and for all of them it was their 4th chance, while better hitters who couldn't field like Edgar Martinez, Larry Walker, and Jim Thome were all elected over them, it does add a lot of merit to your point. Conclusion: If you are a great fielder who struggles at the plate, your chances are helped substantially if you can do back flips on the field...

I've herard otherwise about Davis, but I've never seen him play, and, let's be honest, even if I had, I am totally unqualified to tell if a college catcher could stick at that position up to the majors. If the book on him is - might not stick at catcher, than, yeah, I'd pass on him, too. At the number 4 pick, anyway. Maybe gamble on him in another round if he falls. But that makes the fourth pick all the more difficult. Fabian is a hot name, but he does seem to have a ton of strikeouts (albeit with a good amount of walks) and is only hitting like .236 against college pitching this year so far. No idea how he will be, either, although I have heard he is a good defensive player. I have a feeling the Sox will take one of the shortstops - Lawlor, Mayer or McLain. But I'd love to see them add a high upside arm...

His numbers on 0 days rest are atrocious...

Probably a factor. Along with Rusney Castillo. And in the case of Betts, while not a lousy player, the mega deal for Price may have been a factor? I want to count Eovaldi, too, although it looks as though Betts was already rejecting Sox offers before he was signed...