notin

Also true. And certainly would have been nice. If that happened, It would have kept ERod down on the farm as depth, which would have worked out the same

Well one is injured and the other was juicing. Welcome to the top of the list, Sam Travis. ..

We spent or allowance on Chris Sale. Nothing to trade. Getting big name elite starters is great. But those guys fill a different role and aren't the guys you look at when trying to find your seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth options. That would be like having Buster Posey at catcher and bringing in Gary Sanchez as a backup. ..

My point was and still is he could/should have done both. It never had to be an either/or situation...

I bet the Yankee fans all said that when the team signed Aaron Small...

Oh the Sox are in EXCELLENT shape today. Sure they had a weak schedule, but they did what they had to and went 8-1. The Yankees also had a fairly light schedule and didn't fare nearly as well. Sure, nothing is clinched yet, but this start has been beyond phenomenal. I hope it holds. No more knee issues for ERod. Mo more elbow issues for Price. No more issues for Pomeranz. Sale must stay healthy, not that he was replaceable anyway. Because if we have to make a deadline deal, we don't have much to offer. Especially given our limited financial flexibility. I foolishly assumed Chavis would be good trade bait. Oh well. Maybe some team will really, really need Aneury Tavarez...

So is this idea finally put to rest? The Sox can certainly put together a good team without JBJ. But they have a better one with him...

Do we also pay attention to the "sarcasm alert"?

So we "added" the guys MIA from last year? Probably worth mentioning two of those "additions" are still out with injuries..

So the Sox only two prospects on the BA Top 100 list are injured and juicing? Hopefully this team won't need to make any deals in July...

I know that was the case last year, but there wan't so much buzz on it this year. Plus many veterans were waiting well into March and probably starting to worry about pitching at all. And really, there are still a few arms out there to be had. None of them are needle movers, but history does say you can get lucky with a pitcher. But more important in these type of deals, the Sox have absolutely nothing to lose...

I kept saying all along, sign a veteran pitcher or two to a minor league deal. 25 teams signed veteran pitchers to minor league deals this off-season. Of the 5 that didn't, 3 (Braves, Rockies, Twins) signed pitchers to major league contracts. Only two teams didn't bring a single pitcher into the organization - the Dodgers and the Red Sox. The Dodgers have a deep farm with 4 of their top ten prospects as pitchers who spent last year in AA or higher. From the Sox weaker farm, we have no pitching prospects who pitched AA or better last year, and only Sharwyn hitting that level this year. In fact, not only did the Sox not add a pitcher to the organization, we lost some depth in the foolish non-tender of Ben Taylor. But then, if we didn't DFA Taylor, the team would have been unable to acquire that cash they got for Deven Marrero. And, hey, we got Jalen Beeks for depth. And batting practice...

Sure, if we have something to give. What's the trade bait for a $9mill pitcher? Our best farm piece was Chavis, but not any more. I wonder how much value Travis has. And signing a pitcher or two to minor league deals in the winter doesn't preclude making deals later in the season. The more options you have, the more likely one of them works out...

And when did pitch counts become such a bad idea? The number of games lost by being cautious with starters is probably significantly less than the number list by reporting to replacement level or below pitchers. ..

We don't even know who will still be when Pedroia returns. The problem is probably best not worried about until then. It would suck to deal Bradley to make room for Pedroia, only to see Nunez go down and suddenly left field is manned by Holt. ..

In April, yes...

Mimi The concern for the starting five was only part of the issue. Another potentially bigger concern is the other end of the season. And even then, even if all the starters start every game from here on out, it doesn't mean having depth was a bad idea that was overblown. If your house doesn't burn down, was your need for homeowners insurance "overblown"?

So 8 games into the season and we know starter depth was overblown? I'm not sure if people get the idea of what depth is...

Are you actually arguing the manager does not know how to handle pitchers because he left the starter in for too long while he had an EIGHT RUN LEAD IN THE EIGHTH INNING?!?!!?

Exactly. But the gist of this thread seems to be just to unload him.

Not to mention, Blackmon has a career .971 OPS in Coors and a .750 OPS everywhere else. So unless the Sox move to Denver, how much of an improvement is Blackmon over Bradley and his career .723 OPS?

You make it sound like his defense is so easily replaced. Benintendi is nowhere near the same level of defense. Really, it would have to be someone from the outside if you want to improve the position. How do you suppose the Sox acquire that player? Internally? There isn't much. Rusney Castillo has shown himself to be a talented defender, but his offense has been sporadic in limited tries in MLB. But more important, he has also shown to be a reckless defender with a tendency to injure himself. And beyond him, the Sox don't have much else in the way of capable outfield depth, especially if your primary concern is offense. According to Fangraphs, from 2015 to 2017, only 7 centerfielders played better defense than Bradley and his 19.3 dWAR. Of those 7, only Lorenzo Cain provided more oWAR. AJ Pollock did provide slightly less defense and a significantly larger offensive contribution, but both players also tallied exactly the same 9.4 fWAR. (While Pollock did so in 300 fewer plate appearances, the margin for improvement might still not be as much as people think.) Now the Sox did pass on the chance to trade Bradley and his .467 OPS to the Dodgers for Yasiel Puig and his .476 OPS. Would THAT deal have made everyone happy? Are we .009 OPS points away from being satisfied? It's not broken. Ride out his slump and realize that even if Bradley was posting an OPS over 1.400, the Sox would not be much better than 7-1 right now....

He still contributes when he isn't at the plate. And, yes, I think his defense does make up for even his worst offensive stretches. I know it's easy to take his play in CF for granted and assume it doesn't make up for an 0 for 4. But that also could mean you're overestimating the importance of 4 plate appearances against being on thr field for 30-35 plays...

Are these banned substances so common players ingest them every time they eat a Big Mac or drink Country Time lemonade? Maybe I'm wrong but I have to think most if not all are isolated enough that any ingestion is intentional...

No but he can sand a canoe with his bacne...