harmony

Cesar Izturis Jr. has minimal trade value ... far, far less than the disreputable Jay Groome. The proposed trade is a salary dump that would merely give the Red Sox payroll space to fill more pressing needs, such as the bullpen, while shedding its third catcher with no options remaining.

Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager will undergo surgery on a tendon in his left hand: Kyle Seager has surgery, to miss April WWW.MLB.COM PEORIA, Ariz. -- Kyle Seager has been the most durable third baseman in the Majors for the past seven years, but that iron-man status hit a bump on Monday as the Mariners announced the 31-year-old was to have surgery to repair a tendon in his left hand on Tuesday and The Mariners could hope to trade the expiring contract of Eduardo Nunez upon Seager's return (as the Giants did with the Red Sox in 2017). Seattle reportedly is in a the market for a defensively adept catcher to complement bat-first Omar Narvaez. https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/mariners-still-looking-to-add-another-right-handed-hitting-catcher/ Jay Groome has a cavernous gap between his potential ceiling and his potential floor. http://soxprospects.com/players/groome-jay.htm The Mariners, who do not expect to contend this year, have a projected Opening Day payroll of $143.6 million, down from about $171 million last year:

For what it's worth, the New York Yankees have won 11 World Series titles in my lifetime. To my chagrin.

The Red Sox could clear about $7.5 million in payroll space by trading Eduardo Nunez, Sandy Leon and Jay Groome to Seattle for 19-year-old shortstop Cesar Izturis Jr.: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=izturi002ces In other words, a salary dump.

The Red Sox may face a defensively porous team in their season-opening series at Seattle if the Mariners have center fielder Mallex Smith and third baseman Kyle Seager on the disabled list. Instead of having Smith patrolling the expansive center field, the Mariners would likely go with a defensively suspect outfield of RF Jay Bruce, CF Mitch Haniger and LF Domingo Santana. The Mariners could relieve the logjam at 1B/DH by moving Ryon Healy to third base, where Healy has a UZR/150 of a negative 13.9 with a negative 4 Defensive Runs Saved in 900.2 innings. As a point of reference, Rafael Devers has a UZR/150 of a negative 7.2 with a negative 14 Defensive Runs Saved in 1,524.1 innings at third base.

Over the Monster columnist Matt Collins weighs in on Blake Swihart: https://www.overthemonster.com/2019/3/11/18259636/red-sox-catchers-blake-swihart-playing-time-sandy-leon-christian-vazquez

https://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-spring-training-record-regular-season-2011-2 https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/3/27/2905234/do-spring-training-records-matter https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2015/2/23/8088013/spring-training-win-loss-records-and-you-sanity-check

Jenrry Mejia missed three-plus prime years of his MLB career, including his age 26, 27 and 28 seasons. That's not telling anyone that it pays to cheat.

The potential closer:

The Los Angeles Dodgers have designated reliever Josh Fields for assignment: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fieldjo03.shtml https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/03/dodgers-claim-donnie-hart-waivers-orioles-dfa-josh-fields.html

Precisely how does a person do that? Steven Wright may well be a lying cheat but alternative theories exist.

The Oakland Athletics have lost presumptive backup catcher Chris Herrmann to knee surgery:

Perhaps Jenrry Mejia will replace Steven Wright on the 40-man roster. Seriously.

I don't think Steven Wright's $1.38 million contract is guaranteed yet: http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/non-guaranteed-contract

I don't think Steven Wright's $1.38 million contract is guaranteed yet: http://m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/non-guaranteed-contract

FanGraphs columnist Jay Jaffe discusses Craig Kimbrel and the Red Sox: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-separate-paths-of-craig-kimbrel-and-the-red-sox/

Monday's mail delivered my tickets to the Sunday afternoon game between the Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners on March 31. The Sox should have four regular-season games under their belts by the end of the month.

Over the past four years Xander Bogaerts has posted fWAR of 4.6, 4.8, 3.2 and 4.9 with Steamer and ZiPS projecting 2019 WAR of 4.1: https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12161&position=SS

Over the past three seasons Xander Bogaerts has posted 12.8 fWAR in 441 games while shortstop Jean Segura has posted 11.8 fWAR in 422 games over the same period. Segura signed a five-year, $70 million extension that started with his final arbitration season in 2018. In his first season in 2020 as a likely free agent Bogaerts will be only six months younger than Segura was when the latter started his extension. Bogaerts will be a free agent with no final arbitration season to buy out, but nine years and $216 million seems a bit high for Bogaerts. Or not.

Houston and Minneapolis have contrasting summer weather.

The Cincinnati Reds signed Jose Iglesias:

I remember standing outside Fenway Park in high humidity and near-100 degree weather in July 1973 as a 17-year-old hitchhiker who had grown up with the muggy summers of the Mississippi Valley. I remember driving with friends through a torrential rain in Rhode Island en route to a Red Sox game at Fenway in August 2010. The usher in the bleacher section at Fenway left a positive impression by toweling off our seats.

Off topic, but from Monday's MLB Trade Rumors chat with Tim Dierkes: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat-with-tim-dierkes-4747.html Would the Red Sox go there?

I prefer the drier summer weather on the West Coast to the muggy, rainier summer weather in New England.

I suspect the South and West produce more MLB players per capita than New England.