harmony

If Trevor Bauer signs the rumored one-year contract the righthander could be a valuable commodity at the trade deadline. In a three-way deal at the trade deadline in 2019, a year and two months of Trevor Bauer netted the Cleveland Guardians Yasiel Puig, Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen, Victor Nova and Scott Moss while costing the Cincinnati Reds Taylor Trammell, Puig and Moss. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bauertr01.shtml#all_transactions_other

Perhaps the Red Sox should acquire low-cost, short-term assets in hopes that some will build up trade value to swap for prospects at the 2021 deadline. It's hard for a franchise like the Red Sox to step back for a(nother) year, but spending big money in hopes of fielding a competitive 2021 team might not be a wise investment.

Count me among fans of Christian Arroyo. San Francisco drafted Arroyo (#25) in the same 2013 first round as current Seattle players J.P. Crawford (#16), Marco Gonzales (#19) and Phil Ervin (#27), none of whom was drafted by the Mariners. That year the Red Sox and Mariners made forgettable first-round picks in Trey Ball (#7) and D.J. Peterson (#12), respectively. https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?year_ID=2013&draft_round=1&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round The Yankees drafted Aaron Judge with the 32nd pick.

Taijuan Walker and James Paxton will return to the up-and-coming Seattle Mariners. Or not.

Indeed. Brusdar Graterol pitched only one inning, throwing just 12 pitches, 11 for strikes, surrendering a single to Michael Brantley while striking out George Springer, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa (each on only three pitches): MLB Gameday: Astros 1, Dodgers 8 Final Score (09/13/2020) | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM Follow MLB results with FREE box scores, pitch-by-pitch strikezone info, and Statcast data for Astros vs. Dodgers at Dodger Stadium

FWIW the Los Angeles Dodgers, with baseball's best record, are sending righthander Brusdar Graterol to the mound tonight against the Houston Astros for first MLB start:

The 1998 Seattle Mariners went 76-85 with a club that included Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez and Randy Johnson. Even lefties James Moyer and Jeff Fassero posted bWAR of 5.6 and 4.1, respectively: https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/1998.shtml

If only Chaim Bloom could negotiate as well as Talk Sox posters! With all due respect, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman probably would have taken us posters to the cleaners with Red Sox fans so motivated to move David Price's contract.

The last maligned contract* of a Seattle third baseman was for Adrian Beltre, who in December 2004 signed a five-year, $64 million deal with the Mariners. Beltre posted 16.1 fWAR, valued at $88.3 million, in five years with Seattle, including only 2.2 fWAR, valued at $14.0 million, in his final season. Beltre left Seattle for a one-year, $9 million contract in Boston, where in 2010 he posted 6.4 fWAR, valued at $38.7 million. The future Hall of Famer played eight more seasons in Texas, where he posted 36.3 fWAR, valued at $276.2 million. Career trajectories are hard to project. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/adrian-beltre/639/stats?position=3B * on second thought the most maligned contract for a Seattle third baseman went in December 2009 to Chone Figgins, who in 308 games under his four-year, $36 million contract posted a negative 0.7 fWAR, valued at a negative $4.3 million

Whose preferered narrative would be supported by the 2020 fWAR of a negative 0.6 by J.D. Martinez and 1.3 by Kyle Seager?

Neither will maintain that pace but mvp78 noted that "Devers [] has bounced back considerably" in a minuscule sample.

Or not. In September Rafael Devers has posted 0.6 fWAR in nine games while Kyle Seager has posted 0.4 fWAR in six games: https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=3b&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2020&month=1000&season1=2020&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2020-09-01&enddate=2020-09-11

Rafael Devers will not be expected to settle for a Seager contract (which has been much-maligned despite Seager posting 18.2 fWAR, valued at $145.7 million, so far under the seven-year, $100 million contract, including 4.2 fWAR, valued at $33.5 million, in 149 games since the start of the 2019 season).

After this season Rafael Devers will have three years before free agency to prove that his 2019 season was not an outlier. FWIW this season the aging Kyle Seager had doubled Devers' fWAR in near-meaningless small samples of 43 and 42 games, respectively.

The Red Sox signed Rafael Devers as a 16-year-old in the Dominican Republic while the Seattle Mariners drafted Kyle Seager as a 21-year-old out of the University of North Carolina. Devers and Seager took different development paths.

Throwing out another Rafael Devers comp: Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager, who in December 2014 signed a seven-year, $100 million extension when he was three years shy of free agency. Devers, who this offseason will be three years shy of free agency, is three years younger than Seager was when the latter sgned his extension. When Seager signed his extension the third baseman had posted 13.8 fWAR, valued at $99.8 million, in 527 games. So far Devers has posted 8.3 fWAR, valued at $66.7 million, in 377 games.

And if Kyle Seager retired today he likely would have a higher fWAR than the entire career of J.D. Martinez.

The same can be said of valuation of any player. Jose Peraza could be worth more than Alex Verdugo going forward. Or not. Provided for J.D. Martinez and Kyle Seager were fWAR since the start of the 2019 season, fWAR for 2019 alone and career fWAR. Omitted were the fWAR for the near-meaningless small sample size of the 2020 season.

Turning to veterans, who has more value: Boston's J.D. Martinez or Seattle's Kyle Seager? According to Baseball Trade Values, Martinez has a median trade value of a negative $8.6 million and Seager a median trade value of a negative $13.5 million: https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/ Martinez, who is two-and-a-half months older than Seager, is owed $19.375 million each in 2021 and 2022. He may opt out after this season. Seager is owed $18 million in 2021 with a buyout of up to $3 million of a 2022 option of $15 million to $20 million (depending on incentives). In 185 games* since the start of the 2019 season, Martinez has posted 2.7 fWAR, valued at $21.6 million. In 149 games since the start of the 2019 season, Seager has posted 4.2 fWAR, valued at $33.4 million. Martinez posted a higher fWAR in 2019 with 3.2, valued at $25.7 million, in 146 games while Seager posted 2.9 fWAR, valued at $23.5 million, in only 106 games. In 1,107 career games*, Martinez has posted 23.6 fWAR, valued at $187.8 million. In 1,304 career games, Seager has posted 32.0 fWAR, valued at $245.2 million. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jd-martinez/6184/stats?position=OF https://www.fangraphs.com/players/kyle-seager/9785/stats?position=3B * not counting Thursday's 0-for-4, three-strikeout performance

Aristides Aquino hit seven home runs in his first 10 MLB games spanning the 2018 and 2019 seasons: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=aquinar01&t=b&year=2019

Bingo. September 10-20 of last year: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=lewisky01&t=b&year=2019 FWIW 6-foot-4, righthand-hitting Bobby Dalbec is two weeks older than 6-foot-4, righthand-hitting Kyle Lewis.

Who was the last player to hit six home runs in his first 10 MLB games?

Just two days after Pablo Sandoval laid the tag on Seattle's J.P. Crawford trying to stretch a bases-clearing double into a triple: MLB Gameday: Mariners 5, Giants 6 Final Score (09/08/2020) | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM Follow MLB results with FREE box scores, pitch-by-pitch strikezone info, and Statcast data for Mariners vs. Giants at Oracle Park

What evidence suggests the trade could be made without including Logan Allen? Negotiations typically include numerous permutations and the resulting trade represents the product of that give-and-take,

It's hard to believe the 2021 Red Sox will have more talent than the 2019 club that won 84 games. The Red Sox continue to be a fascinating franchise to follow.