S5Dewey

I'm going to be surprised and disappointed if it's not at least 92, a division championship and an appearance in the ALCS.

I don't see Hanley being traded if he can adjust to the DH role. Instead I see Morland's option not being picked up and Sam Travis being the regular 1B. In addition to his offensive numbers he's also got good defensive numbers in the minors.

Yeah. He was surprisingly good IMO. He had good command of his pitches and appeared to be in control of every AB. He's been inconsistent in that he's had some outings when he stunk the place up and others -like on Tuesday - when he looked very good. I don't put a lot of stock in bad ST outings because I don't know what's going on with the pitcher. Is he trying out a new pitch he learned in the off-season? Or has he just plain lost the ability to pitch effectively? We'll learn more as ST goes on, but this strong outing gives reason for optimism.

And getting back to what I said originally, Selsky may have the best chance of any of them of getting called up if we need an OF'er. In spite of numerous opportunities Craig hasn't had "success" at the ML level since 2013. BTW, Selsky's father was a part of the first-ever ML Draft.

There's a certain amount of logic involved in ^that^. If he's not being candid about what he knows it's probably not because his situation is better than he's letting on. And those are the options.

IMO the two best outfielders we will have in the minors are Selsky and Castillo (assuming that neither of them make the 25). Selsky will be called up before Castillo because of the LT implications of adding Castillo to the 40 - which could be done with two strokes of a pen but would be expensive in terms of LT.

IMO the two best outfielders we will have in the minors are Selsky and Castillo (assuming that neither of them make the 25). Selsky will be called up before Castillo because of the LT implications of adding Castillo to the 40 - which could be done with two strokes of a pen but would be expensive in terms of LT.

IMO his biggest problem with making the Sox roster will be the LT issue. However, he could be good trade bait to help rebuild the farm system.

Tidbits from Spring Training that you may - or may not - know: Sandoval began the year 1-6 but has gone 9-21 since with 3 XBH's. IMO he's lookoing like the Sandval the Sox signed. Going into today's game Joe Kelly had faced 2 batters over the minimum over his last 9.2 Ip going back into last season. During that span his opponents are hitting .069 with 0 XBH's. This Sox are 33-5 in games when JBJ homers, going back to July of last year. Benintendi began the spring 0-8 but he's 11-22 with a 1.000 SLG over his past 7 games. Brian Johnson and Henry Owens have been optioned to Pawtucket today. Devers, Junior Lake and Jordan Procyshen were reassigned to minor league camp. Bogaerts has started all five games for the Netherlands - at third base. Steve Selski got a timely 2-run scoring double in the 8th today to drive in what turned out to be the winning run. IMO he'll be the first OF called up from Pawtucket if someone is needed - ahead of Castillo.

This sounds like David Price and his comments about his post-season pitching. "Yeah.. this is what happened and I've got to do better." Hey guys.. in the words of Bill Parcells, "Don't tell me about the pain, just show me the baby". I lost faith in Kimbrel last year when he couldn't find the plate with both hands and a flashlight and it's looking like more of the same this year. I used to say that I want my closer to throw the ball 100 mph. Now I'm saying I want my closer to throw strikes at 100 mph.

Well...not exactly. When Team USA played the Sox most (all?) of the Team USA pitchers were Sox farm hands.

I don't understand Price ' s apparent ambivalence. He's right in that fans don't care about him beyond a humanitarian standpoint. But it's the nature of the relationship. Price and all professional athletes are mercenaries. They're hired to play baseball. Along the way we may come to 'like' some of them but that's usually a product of how the conduct themselves on the field and how they contribute to non-baseball activities in tbe area. There's an old saying, To have a friend, be a friend. We're a tough town. If Price wants us to be his friends he has to earn that $31M as well as be a bit more affable. Or maybe he just needs a better PR agent.

Thanks. I...er...blew off yesterday's game to go to the ASun conference championship where I saw a monstrous dunk. If you haven't seen it yet, type 'FGCU dunk' into your browser. A 6'3" FGCU player went over a 7 ' North Florida player with a 2 handed tomahawk dunk that temporarily shut down the shot clock at both ends of the court. It's worth watching if you haven't seen it.

That seems like it should be doable, considering that there are no defenders in the areas he's bunting toward.

He is that, but he's also a doctor and might even be able to play one on television!

I'm not sure that "excited" is the word I'm looking for but I'm willing to listen. Does that count?

Sandoval is actually playing quite well this spring, or at least better than I expected. He's making the routine plays at 3b and is making solid contact with his bat. Nobody is ready to name the game after him and if he keeps performing at this level hell be overpaid but at least he's looking servicable as a 3Bman. That makes him a,pleasant surprise for me.

I see it as being exactly the opposite - hitting into the shift is playing into the plans of the opposition. The opposition is shifting to put more defensive players in the area where they anticipate the ball being hit so "hit it where they ain't". Bunting may cost a team a couple of HR's and a few more Xtra BH's over the run of a season but it will also prevent a lot of outs being made. The key is in doing it situatonally.

I hear and understand what you're saying, that a double is better than a bunt single. I sometimes approach baseball from the back side - the value of not making outs.

Max! Welcome! Long time, no see!!

True enough. And IMO you just made a case why Swihart will never be good enough to be a starting ML outfielder for the Sox.

Getting away from catching for a moment, one name I haven't seen here is Steve Selsky. The Sox picked him up off the waiver wire in January and he's been looking good this spring - good to the point where Farrell said that Selsky is the most surprising player he's seen this year. I wouldn't expect him to be on the 25 man roster but his being on the 40 wouldn't surprise me at all, competing with Castillo for the first call-up spot. (BTW, Castillo made a couple of nice catches in the OF yesterday and had a double down the LF line. The double was interesting because he fouled of 4-5 pitches, swinging late on all of them but then pulled a 91 MPH FB down the LF line. But he also looked pretty pathetic in his other plate appearance). Question about Rutledge: I know we got him off the Rule 5 Draft last year. Does he have to remain with the club forever to avoid being sent back to where he came from, or is he now a "regular" player now that he's in his second year here?

This is probably the best idea I've heard all day.

Yes. They do. For the past 15 or so years the Sr. Little League World Series was held less than an hour's drive from my home. To qualify to play in the Senior League a player has to be no more than 16 years old by a certain date, although the timing of the SLWS makes it possible for 17 year olds to play depending on their birthday. I can't count on both hands the number of young players I've seen come through the Sr League WS who went on to play MLB - inclucing Xander Bogaerts who was signed by the Sox within a couple of weeks after my having seen him play as a young 17 year old. It's a true World Series with four teams from the US as well as teams from Canada, Europe, Asia, The Phillipines, etc., all of whom have won numerous tournaments to qualify for the WS. But my point here is that these teams bring maybe a couple of hundred fans with them and believe me when I say that they CARE about baseball. While the number of fans isn't big at the same time many of them come from half way around the world (at their own expense) and many of them send broadcasters who do play-by-play over the internet in their own language. So yes... they care about baseball and national pride.

I don't understand what being clutch has to do with situational bunting but on the whole I agree with your post. Controlling a bunt's direction is almost as hard as hitting a line drive - which makes them about equal. The difference is that when a player is hitting against the shift and trying to square up he's trying to hit the ball into an overmanned defense whereas when he's trying to bunt he's trying to hit the ball into a vacant area. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that his chances of getting on base are better when the ball goes to an area with no defensive players in it than when he hits into the shift.