notin

Great. Can he maintain that .380 BABIP for a full season, too?

He’s saying Bird/Voit/Bird’s DL Replacement is your hole. Andujar was part of his solution by replacing them at 1b. Even without Machado, the Yankees could upgrade that position with Moustakas...

And if he doesn’t clear waivers, he can be one of those guys who goes from claim to claim to claim like at least one player does every year. So far, this year’s Claim Star is Parker Bridwell...

I think many have realized that long term mega contracts always go bad at some point and are, at best, a risky investment...

That's a bit of a crazy assumption to say the least, At best, it's a weak strawman argument. In the last 3 years, the OPS+ for Vazquez and Leon and Swihart 2016 Vazquez 55 Leon 122 Swihart 92 (74 PA) 2017 Vazquez 92 Leon 68 Swihart 75 (7 PA) 2018 Vazquez 46 Leon 37 Swihartv Total Vazquez 68 Leon 75 Swihart 65 (288 PA) I'm really not sure where all of this faith in Vazquez as the vastly superior hitter to Leon comes from. Leon has had the worst season of any of the catchers, but also the best (albeit fueled by an insanely high BABIP). Of course, Vazquez best year was carried by a .290 BABIP, which is about 40 points better than his career average as well. None of them are good hitters. Swihart has had the fewest opportunities and his best successes are getting further and further in the rear view mirror. But why does that deny him a chance when neither of the others has shown the ability to take command of both sides of the position in far, far greater chances? The Sox have 3 backup catchers on the roster and you're trying to make an argument that one of them is untouchable. The Sox could deal all 3 and let Juan Centeneo play 140 games and no one would notice the difference...

Well, he does have to trade someone. Chances are we use a 7 man bullpen, as it is the standard, and frankly, one area the Sox have allowed themselves to get weaker this offseason, With our 5 man rotation, that leaves 12 pitchers. With 9 starters, that leaves the Sox with 4 bench spots. Pearce, Holt, Nunez and one backup catcher. One. If Pedroia is on the DL, then we can fit both. But what if he isn't? If he can play, he will and he should. And if he can, someone has to go. Also, I don't think any of these 5 candidates for the bench have any options left. Sources disagree as to whether or not Holt has one, but it really doesn't matter. The Sox are NOT going to send Holt to Pawtucket to keep Swihart on the roster. Swihart is probably the likeliest candidate to be dealt, but he isn't going to bring much back. The Sox have tried that already and it's not like he has done much to make any GM re-think his opinion of Blake. Tht leaves the last option of simply releasing Swihart, which is certainly a possibility. But if Pedroia is on the DL, look at the Sox bench, They would have a 1B in Pearce or Moreland (whichever one was not starting ), a 2B/3B player in either Holt or Nunez (whichever one was not starting ), a backup catcher in Leon and ... another backup catcher in Swihart who has had limited experience with even more limited success at other positions. Do we want a bench with maybe a reserve outfielder? Or a defensively capable SS? JD Martinez right now is the fourth outfielder, but that doesn't help in-game replacements. If Cora ever pinch hits for, say, Bradley, do we his glove replaced in the field by Holt/Nunez/Swihart? Or if Bogaerts has to leave a game, who covers SS? I know this bench worked out fine last year, but that doesn't mean it can't be improved upon and made more capable. Defense is the primary expectation from bench players, since bench players who can hit are typically starters. Remember when Cora was forced to go deep into his bench in Game 3 of the World Series and we had a horrific offensively-challenged lineup featuring both Vazquez and Swihart? Like many Sox fans, I watched that whole game. But there was very rarely an inning where the Sox were coming up when I got excited about their chances to score. And that was a game in an NL park, where we did have one of our regulars on the bench and we still wound up with both Leon and Vazquez in the game for a long, long time...

January 26 Harper - still unsigned. No offer from Philly after saying they would make one 9 days ago. No real other rumors. Machado - still unsigned. Tough to keep track who is still involved or if any team still cares Kimbrel - still unsigned. Have there even been any rumors about interested teams? Keuchel - still unsigned. Like several others, not much in the way of rumors. Realmuto - still untraded. This is getting ridiculous, as it is two years running Moustakas - still unsigned. How much does he hate free agency?

There will be no Junichi Tazawa reunion. I am not crushed by this...

You do realize everyone on planet Earth thinks the Sox need another reliver except DD, right? It;s not like we have a vote here or DD is coming to these boards for ideas (he isn't). The only thing I can say about the subject is DD does have a rather long history of building bullpens with limited resoruces. Acquiring Kimbrel the way he did was his least Dombreowki-esque move since coming to Boston. He has had mixed results. He started the relief career of Trevor Hoffman (who was a shortstop), and used closers like Rob Nen, Matt Mantei, Antonio Alfonseca, Braden Looper, and Fernando Rodney, none of whom were established closers at the time. But then he's also had his failures in the role as well, and made some flat out dumb moves like trying to use what was left of 39yo Joe Nathan. I doubt he is done, and his solution might look really stupid in March. But looking stupid in March really doesn't mean anything...

I think you're overestimating Vazquez' offensive skills. 200 points, which I assume you mean OPS? Last year Leon was one of the worst hitters in MLB last year. For all players with 200 or more plate appearances, he did have the 2nd worst OPS. But Vazquez was the 7th worst. Leon did have the lower LD%, but it was uncharacteristically low, and typically both players are around 24-26%. Both also typically have the same hard it %. As hitters, they are typically more equal than many seem to realize. The two are the same player. Why not actually give Swihart a chance? The Sox have had ample opportunities to trade him, and so far, DD has been reluctanct, probably becuase no one will give him anything. As a backup catcher, he might play 30 games a year, which is more than he will play as 3rd supersub off the bench. We've seen he can throw. His game calling and pitch framing probably need some work, but that goes for a lot of catchers. And right now the Sox bullpen is Barnes, Brasier, Hembree and 4 question marks. That's not a small hole we are talking about. The bullpen will pitch 600 innings a year, and those three might handle 180. That leaves 420 undetermined innings, with roles determined by the personnel we have. And 420 bullpen innings is more important than the 150-250 at-bats from the catcher spot you are worried about. (Yes the new reliever(s) won't have all 420, but there is a trickle down effect in their roles.)..

I would. And my reasons are simple. 1) Leon is as good defensively as Vazquez and Sale and Price work better with Leon. 2) While Vazquez should be a better hitter, the catcher bats ninth for this team anyway. 3) His AAV is actually the highest of the three 4) If the Sox are hellbent on keeping Swihart, at some point it needs to be justified with more playing time than a third string catcher typically gets. 5) I have a little faith in Swihart defensively and offensively. At least for now. 6) And most important, I think Vazquez can bring back a decent return...

Whoa!! Slow down, big spender!!! You're trying to trade four quarters for a dollar. While it works down at your local bank, it's not so efficient in MLB...

Who do you suppose has more trade value - Chavis or Vazquez?

Oh ye of little faith in Erasmo...

Trade Vazquez for an arm. Leon is essentially the same player and give Swihart a chance. And you might even get a decent reliever for Vazquez, unlike Swihart...

Did Greg Holland, Alex Wilson, and Nick Vincent all retire?

Apparently teams used to pool 31% of all their revenue, which includes gate and TV monies. Not sure if that number still holds true. https://library.fangraphs.com/business/revenue-sharing/

Not over Price. Eovaldi still carries a few question marks...

If Dombrowski stated the Sox goal is to stay under the highest limit, I wouldn’t consider that throwing Henry under the nus. It is the highest limit, after all. And we still have the highest payroll. If anything, it would really make me question his own moves earlier this off-season even more, however...

Brach and Strickland are both good pitchers, but there are other equal and potentially better options still available. And given his tendencies to acquire his former Tiger players, Justin Wilson and Alex Wilson wouldn’t surprise me. And he’s been linked to Kelley. Not to mention, Greg Holland, who actually pitched very well in Washington last year after his horrible start in St. Louis, doesn’t seem to be linked to any teams so far this off-season...

But I hope he has a sky high limit for one year deals...

Hence the “hold” statistic, which is basically a save before the final inning. In fact, there is no “blown hold” stat. If you surrender the lead in a hold situation, you get credited with a blown save...

I can only go by the quotes in the press. You yourself have said Henry shouldn’t mind paying the tax if it leads to making more money. And if you didn’t say that, you should have...

They also might put the fatter one in the Hall of Fame next to Harold Baines...

I’m pretty sure away teams do get 50% of gate revenue...