notin

I did prefer Pomeranz for the pinch running role because he had more experience. The Padres even used him as one earlier that season. But people do make way too big of a deal of the decision to use Wright. A lot of managerial critics live in the realm of " that's not what I would have done and he needs to be fired for it!"

Supposedly Swihart is not being moved from catcher again. And it's just as well. He's more likely to be needed as a replacement for Vazquez or Leon than he is for Brentz, who won't even be in the majors any time soon. ..

As of now, even Bryce Brentz is in front of Castillo. ..

Is this even news? Don't most athletes do this stuff?

I dunno. Sounds like moonslav doesn't even think they could beat the Red Sox in a hockey game...

If they wait another year, he could be on the market at the same time ad Harper and Machado...

Also, former Expos' prospect Wonderful Terrific Mons III...

No love for former Sox farmhand Keith McWhorter?

The union does frown on downward restructuring. This is a good thing because it kept A-Rod off the Red Sox...

We already spent our allowance. But if I was GM of the Angels, I would try to trade New Jersey native Trout to the Yankees for a bunch of guys they got for breaking up last year's bullpen (Clint Frazier, Gleybar Torres, etc.) plus Gary Sanchez ( and maybe Brett Gardner to offset some cash).

Sooooo.... you're saying the Red Sox DON'T suck at hockey? Pretty sure the Maple Leaf do...

Price is one of my lesser worries on this staff. The real Rick Porcello is a bigger question mark. Is he really now a Cy Young caliber arm? Was this his one good season? My thoughts are he won't repeat. And instead he'll fall back somewhere in between 2015 and 2016. Given the vastness of that grey area, that's a crazy safe predictions. I do think he can and will be closer to 2016. But it wouldn't surprise me if that was wrong, either...

Pomeranz looks ready to break that streak.

Not that the Sox could or should get him, but I can't help but wonder why the Angels don't trade this guy. As awesome as he is, the Angels are still not only a bad team, but their farm system is so devoid of talent, I think I'm listed as one of their top 20 prospects. So they have no one internally to build around Trout with, and next season his salary jumps to $34mill, or about 1/6 of the pre-tax limit. Meaning they will struggle to build around him with outside players, too. So one of potentially the best players ever might be doomed to the obscurity of this MLB doormat for a huge portion of his career when he could be traded for a fortune in rebuilding pieces. Is this a good non-move by the Angels?

Also, A.J. Pollock

The unfortunate list needs to include former Mariners' prospect Logan Bawcom ("Balk home")...

They both suck at hockey

I have to think Castillo's career in Boston is over. At his salary, the mere act of adding him to the 40-man roster pushes the Sox ip against the limit. His best hope is to be traded in a bad contract swap to a team that needs a CF (Mets?) and has a player on a short deal they want to move whose salary would pushthe Sox to or over the limit such thst the tax they paid would be less than tthey're paying Castillo (Jay Bruce?) This deal might have more potential if Bruce wasn't awful. ..

Originally drafted by the Red Sox. At least I know Alvarez, Belt (as a pitcher), and Grandal were...

"Chock" was a one-time typo for "choke" that became a running joke at BDC, which is a welcome carryover. Well done in that regard, slash.

In the case of Batter X, you are talking anout one season worth of data broken down into small sample sizes. With post-season data, many look at it as one collective sample size of a few games spread out over many years.In Price's case, that means lumping in 2008 and 2009 in with 2016 as if they are all equally relevant. That's a long time ago, and not much is the same about Price is the same now as it was then. He's more experienced now, but also probably less fit. But typically the conclusion is "can't handle the pressure", which is sn insanely premature jump. Of course Slasher's initial postulate was that Price was equal to Buchholz, which is laughable. Even if we ignore actual performance, Price gave the Sox over 200 IP last year, which has many positive effects. Buchholz didn't do that for Boston once in 10 seasons. And it's not like they were bad innings. Price was also excellent after a rough June. Sure he didn't deliver on some expectations that might have been unreasonable to begin with. But he was still very, very good with some room to grow. And why the label of Price as a failure due to one post-season start and the subsequent coronation of Sale as the savior Price needed to be? Exactly what is it about Sale and his zero post-season starts that makes someone think he will fill this void?

So his season needed to be judged on 3 arbitrarily chosen regular season games that were no more significant t hann any other game plus one post-season appearance? Was Pedro judged this way after the 2003 ALCS?

And we all saw that same pitcher give up 6 earned runs in 3 IP in game one of that same series. You don't get to pick snd choose your outings when trying to define an ace if you believe he has the ability to induce ground balls or strikeouts at will. If you like highlighting post-season success to define an ace, fine. But Price only pitchedone such game for Boston. And his pprevious games with other teams wind up being a small sample spread out over too much time to really draw any actual conclusions....

But in that big second inning, the only really hard hit ball was that home run by Chisenhall that would have been a loud foul in 29 other ballparks. ...

Price was ine of the 10 best pitchers in the AL. If his post-season troubles are attributable to anything, it's probably that he throws over 200 IP every year and is more worn out come October. ...