notin

Probably because Holt and Nunez are already holding down the fort. If either starts struggling like Devers or Vazquez, Lin starts to enter the conversation...

Asuaje was the starting 2B for the Padres for a while. But yes, most of these guys might have already peaked. Beyond those already mentioned, Dubon and Basabe (CWS) look like the best bets to me to become actual starting major leaguers...

Jete02 is a good example of the Token Yankee Poster on a Red Sox forum. I've rarely posted on a Yankee forum, but I did try it on ESPN.com way back when I was just starting, and that forum was A LOT less open-minded about fans from other teams. Their mods would ban anyone who didn't sing the praises of all things pinstriped...

Notin, too. Those big deals are usually way to expensive for players on the wrong side of 30. This off-season does have a couple very enticing possibilities that do not fit that mold in Harper and Machado, but I think Dombrowski already spent his allowance and won't be a participant. And, really, where he spent it (JD Martinez) shouldn't give any reason for anyone to complain about that....

Clever

I've never been on a Red Sox forum that didn't have a few Yankee fans. Would a Sox forum even be complete without one? They all will post negative Sox/positive Yankee commentary, and Sox fans do the opposite. And the truth is usually somewhere in the middle...

Not according to HIPPA

Yes. He also started that game for the Rangers where the team gave him 30 runs of support, which was the most runs scored by one team in a game since 1897...

Yes, but he will pitch other games. The rest of the staff isn't going to stay healthy all year.

If you're going to play the "honor the code" card, your teammate has to honor it too. You throw at his hip. You throw at his back. Anyway but the head. When you throw at another player's head, you're not retaliating. You're attacking. But then I'm not so sure this "code" is as big of a deal for MLB players as it is for high school and college. At this level, it's a career and a business and players on the other team are colleagues on some level and also fellow union members. And in some cases, friends...

I absolutely wouldn't agree. Some players? Sure. But in no way did they all agree. Some might have even agreed with Pedroia and, unlike you, were happy he saved Betts from a season-ending beaning

Marco Hernandez...

That's not "sell[ing] out his entire team." That's trying to prevent the whole ting from escalating. He was the only one in the entire incident to wind up getting hurt, after all. What if he simply did not want anyone else to get hit? If the Orioles' decided to retaliate by beaning Betts, who has absolutely murdered their pitching, is Pedroia still on your s*** list?

And of course, look who is in the picture with Abreu...

All I am saying is the metrics don't, although it appears some are using them to justify his defense. I haven't seen him catch in over 3 years and I barely remember what he looked like back then. While I think it speaks volumes that the Sox have not asked him to catch even when Vazquez and Leon were struggling heavily, I do think they at the very least need to get him at-bats. He's no Mookie and the plate and will never be one, but at least he has some potential that might show if he gets enough of a chance...

I thnk he can reach Tettleton's level of defense, which isn't the loftiest goal. Hatteburg would be fine, too. Does that mean Chris Pratt will play him in a movie?

I think he's kind of meh. I'd put his ceiling as LOOGY. But maybe he will turn into something special someday. I've been wrong before, like when I said Travis Shaw was a bench bat at best...

I hope Merloni is only speculating. But you are right that he would have much more information tan any of us..

mvp was being sarcastic...

I think it gets interpreted differnetly. While your version and mine of Machado's slide are similar, I think Pedroia simply wanted to stop the headhunting, especially if he felt Machado thought he put Barnes up to it. If that was the case, that makes Pedroia the target for Baltimore pitchers. A lot of fans might not like it, but stopping the headhunting is a good thing. Machado's slide wasn't that different - and actually less egregious - than many other slides he went into 2B with. We've all seen him take out slide into Pedroia the previous season while missing the bag but able to grab it with his passing arm (which was legal at the time). Certainly he wanted to collide with Pedroia; it's part of breaking up the double play. I don't think the spikes were necessarily intentional, and I do think he tried to help Pedroia up because, as a former shortstop, he knows what it's like to be on that side of the play as well. As for Bogaerts, he could have been referring to anything. There are so many incidents in clubhouses and so many conflicting personalities. It's a scene of 25 guys with massive egos who don't all like each other and never will, and a coaching staff trying to keep all that in check. Tension could come from a multitude of places. The worst tension usually comes from a consistent source, not a singular event. I'd think Bogaerts was referring to some other far more drastic change It's actually even hard for me to believe the team was even united against Pedroia after that comment. Much like on this board, the players themselves probably took it differently. Maybe a few were offended and maybe a bunch of others agreed with Pedroia. But this type of reaction can happen with any comment, and is probably more commonplace than most of use realize. I would be VERY surprised if Pedroia's comment had that much of a lingering effect, especially since the Sox pitchers continued to throw at Machado a couple more times that year... This strikes me, much like chicken and beer, as another of those incidents that was taken far more seriously by fans outside the locker room than by those in it...

Where is the dWAR coming from? I don't think the Defensive component on Fangraphs is straight dWAR. Swihart did have a defensive rating (or whatever) of 5.9 that year, but I thik it needs some context. His 5.9 ranked 18th out of 28 catchers with 300 plate appearances, all of whom had positive numbers. Swihart did rank dead last on Fangraphs in Defensive Runs Saved for all catchers who caught 500 IP or more that season with -16. B-R-com gave him -0.4 dWAR in 2015. Nothing in the metrics tells you he was a good defensive catcher that season...

No, but I am saying that had it been intentional, he very likely wouldn't have tried to help Pedroia up afterwards.

I think what it means is what the free agents were signing for and achieving with WAR, and using that valuation for non-free agents. It makes more sense than making it straight salary, but it still isn't a good feature...

https://www.mlbdailydish.com/2013/10/17/4849688/jose-abreu-rumors-astros-red-sox-white-sox-finalists

Really? I live in Chicago and the story when he signed was the White Sox acquired him by outbidding the runner-up Red Sox. Regardless, given the Cubans who came out at that time, teams probably should have withheld bidding on any of them. There were far more expensive busts than worthwhile contracts...