harmony

The 2013 World Series champions were the last Red Sox team to win a series in Seattle.

I would drive up from Portland for a game but I’m in California for my daughter’s college graduation this weekend. Certainly a series of interest but should not define the season for either team.

I feel the same way about the Seattle Mariners, who this week opened a stretch of 13 games against the Angels (3), Red Sox (7) and Yankees (3) before the M's close out a 10-game East Coast road trip with four games in Baltimore. The Mariners could have lost all 17 games to drop to .500 but instead have beaten the Angels twice this week to move a half game up on the Astros and 6.5 games up on the Halos. The M's remain 2.5 games behind the Red Sox, whom they would meet in the Wild Card game if the season ended at this point (and if the Yankees took the AL East title by percentage points). FanGraphs currently gives the Mariners a 67 percent chance of advancing to the postseason for the first time since 2001 (despite a projected sub-.500 record the remainder of the season): https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds We should have a better idea of where the Mariners stand at the end of the month. BTW, I wish I could see the Red Sox play in Seattle this weekend but I'll be attending a family reunion in conjunction with my daughter's college graduation in California. I had hoped to see the Athletics host the Astros tomorrow afternoon but instead will attend yet another graduation celebration for my daughter. I still have hopes of seeing the Giants host the Marlins next Tuesday evening.

That's not a bad comp. Eric Filia's upside might be Daniel Nava.

Lefthander Roenis Elias, who has surrendered one run in six innings with the Mariners on four hits with four strikeouts and one walk, may replace Felix Hernandez in the Seattle rotation for the Red Sox series. The Red Sox are a modest 8-7 against lefthanded starters (and 38-15 against righties). More on Eric Filia: https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2018/6/12/17456274/a-shimmy-for-a-curve-mariners-send-eric-filia-to-boston-to-complete-the-roenis-elias-trade

The Red Sox acquired outfielder Eric Filia to complete the Roenis Elias trade: The nearly 26-year-old Filia, perhaps my favorite Seattle prospect, led UCLA to the NCAA title as a sophomore before a suspension for plagiarizing a philosophy paper. Filia, who was the 2017 Arizona Fall League batting champ, recently completed a 50-game suspension for testing positive a second time for a drug of abuse. The guy can flat out hit. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=filia-000eri&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=direct&utm_medium=linker-

Boston reliever Carson Smith reportedly is scheduled for shoulder surgery on Wednesday: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/06/carson-smith-to-undergo-shoulder-surgery.html#comments ... fueling speculation that the righthander could be non-tendered in the offseason.

I miss civil discussion.

I wonder who will pitch more innings this season: Carson Smith or one-time trade-mate Roenis Elias, whom I'm advocating for Thursday's start against the Red Sox (in place of struggling Seattle icon Felix Hernandez) in light of the Sox woes against left-handers. Elias, who relieved for four innings Saturday when Hernandez left after three innings, has pitched six innings at the MLB level this year (1.50 ERA) while Smith has pitched 14.1 innings.

Whom should the Red Sox trade for likely All Star second baseman Scooter Gennett? Would Andrew Benintendi and Rafael Devers be enough/too much for a year and a half of Gennett and two-and-a-half years of 26-year-old third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who led the National League in RBI entering Sunday's games with a line of .298/.379/.569/.948 in 211 plate appearances? I suspect that's what it would take.

Over the past 30 days the Red Sox rank 13th out of 30 teams in catcher fWAR. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2018&month=3&season1=2018&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

Scooter Gennett, who entered the season with four years and 71 days of MLB service, does not become a free agent until after next season. Jackie Bradley Jr. entered the season with three years and 150 days of MLB service but in part because of his former Super Two status Bradley's 2018 salary of $6.1 million tops Gennett's 2018 salary of $5.7 million.

The Reds would like Andrew Benintendi to come home.

Overall, the Red Sox are 12-10 against teams with records of .500 or above and 31-11 against teams below .500 while the Yankees are 18-7 against teams at .500 or above and 23-11 against teams below .500. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2018-standings.shtml#all_expanded_standings_E The strength of schedule should balance out in the end.

Thank you for correcting my negligent error. Earlier in the thread I corrected a post that said Rafael Devers was the youngest player at Salem. https://www.talksox.com/forum/threads/18688-Devers-struggles/page9 I mistakenly thought the error had been repeated. Mea culpa.

You're welcome. I welcome corrections to my negligent but infrequent errors.

To be precise, Rafael Devers would be the youngest hitter on the Salem roster this year: https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...gi?id=2f397929 ... although Salem has pitchers who are younger.

Don't overreact.

I miss the days of one division in each league followed by a best-of-seven World Series.

FWIW, Jed Lowrie has played 212 of Oakland's last 222 games.

To be precise, Rafael Devers would be the youngest hitter on the Salem roster this year: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=2f397929 ... although Salem has pitchers who are younger.

Rafael Devers' career high in strikeouts in one game is three, accomplished four times: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=deverra01&t=b&year=2017 https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=deverra01&t=b&year=2018

The split in Houston was important because the Red Sox so far have been tested infrequently against good teams. The Red Sox have a modest 12-10 record against teams at .500 or above but are a baseball-best 29-9 against clubs with losing records: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2018-standings.shtml The 38/22 split in games against losing teams and winning teams is not far off from the overall won/loss record of 41-19. At least the Red Sox are apparently taking care of business against the weaker clubs.

I'm glad you had a good time. I assume you're staying for the Astros' two-game series against the first-place Seattle Mariners on Tuesday and Wednesday. Not.