harmony

You just made a projection whether consciously or subconsciously.

Steamer600, which assumes 200 innings for each starting pitcher, projects 2018 WAR of 2.9 for Rick Porcello, 2.6 for Drew Pomeranz and 2.6 for Eduardo Rodriguez: https://www.fangraphs.com/projections.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&type=steamer600&team=3&lg=all&players=0&sort=19,d Of course, Porcello is far more likely than Pomeranz or Rodriguez to pitch 200 innings this year. ZiPS ranks Pomeranz, Porcello and Rodriguez in that order in projected 2018 WAR: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2018-zips-projections-boston-red-sox/

Rick Porcello has posted 7.1 fWAR, valued at $57.4 million, in the first two seasons of his four-year, $82.5 million contract. The right-hander posted 2.0 fWAR, valued at $16.3 million, last year. FanGraphs Depth Charts project 2018 WAR of 2.5 in 29 starts for Porcello, 1.6 in 26 starts for Lance Lynn and 2.0 in 23 starts for Alex Cobb. Steamer projects 2018 WAR of 2.4 in 29 starts for Porcello, 1.3 in 26 starts for Lynn and 1.7 in 23 starts for Cobb. ZiPS projects 2018 WAR of 2.7 in 30 starts for Porcello, 2.1 in 31 starts for Lynn and 2.5 in 26 starts for Cobb. https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2717&position=P https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=2520&position=P https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6562&position=P Porcello is at least a year younger than Lynn and Cobb.

The Red Sox are scheduled to play 10 games in National League parks against the Marlins (2), Nationals (3), Phillies (2) and Braves (3): Boston Red Sox Schedule | Boston Red Sox WWW.MLB.COM The Official Site of Major League Baseball

Betweem 1996 and 2011 Washington State product Mark Hendrickson played parts of four NBA seasons as a power forward and parts of 10 MLB seasons as a towering 6-foot-9 pitcher: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/h/hendrma01.html https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hendrma01.shtml

Portland Trail Blazer shooting guard Pat Connaughton out of St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers, Massachusetts. The Baltimore Orioles drafted the 6-foot-5, 215-pound Connaughton as a pitcher out of the University of Notre Dame in the fourth round of the June 2014 draft: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=connau000pat Connaughton has averaged 6.2 points a game off the bench this year for the Trail Blazers: http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=22205819&ex_cid=espnapi_public I saw Connaughton throw out the first pitch at a Hillsboro Hops game in the short-season Northwest League.

And yet the San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins are among the teams that reportedly are in the running to sign free agents projected to land nine-figure contracts (the Padres already signed a $144 million deal).

We can probably agree that many factors may have limited the active market for J.D. Martinez. But the delay in the Martinez signing may highlight a health issue that was better known within the industry than in the general public. Or not. The Red Sox may have been more willing than many clubs to overlook a health issue because of the team's perceived need for a big bat. The 2017 drop in production following the departure of David Ortiz magnified that need. Let's hope J.D. Martinez is healthy and productive.

Huh? I did not bring cap space into the discussion but responded when you did.

The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs handed two free agents larger contracts than the one J.D. Martinez landed despite those players' reported nine-figure offers from other teams.

A small fraction of the 30 MLB teams have cap space concerns: http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/

There may be a reason that teams, armed with more inside information than most fans, shied away from J.D. Martinez. Or not.

Author Larry McMurtry once metaphorically compared Houston, with its muggy weather, to female genitalia (that's not the word he used). I've never been to Houston except in October 2016 when my Southwest flight stopped briefly at William P. Hobby Airport en route, coincidentally, to Boston. I grew up on the Mississippi River in Iowa so I'm no stranger to humidity (not to mention cold, snow and tornadoes). My wife, who is from Southern California, dreads summer trips to my hometown ... almost as much as she dreads the winter trips.

On my 1973 hitchhiking trip I ended up taking a ferry from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, where it was indeed 10 degrees cooler than Boston had been days before. If I recall, Maine was 10 degrees cooler as well.

Thank you for the correction on the humidity.

LOL ... I would be surprised if the Seattle Mariners would have any interest in Blake Swihart. I was crucified on this forum a year ago when I suggested the Red Sox would be happy if Swihart's age 25 season last year would approach Mike Zunino's age 25 season the previous year. Swihart and Zunino each peaked at No. 17 on Baseball America's Top 100 prospect lists. Like Zunino the year before, Swihart was starting his age 25 season in Triple A after a stint as a starting catcher at the MLB level. In 2016, Zunino posted a wRC+ of 138 games at Triple A before posting 1.2 fWAR in only 55 games at the MLB level. In 2017, Swihart posted a wRC+ of 47 in 53 games at Triple A and an fWAR of 0.0 in six games at the MLB level. Meanwhile, Zunino in 2017 posted an fWAR of 3.6 in 124 MLB games despite being sent down to Triple A for 12 games. Mookie Bett was the only Red Sox hitter to exceed Zunino's fWAR in 2017. We can only hope that Swihart can match Zunino's age 26 season.

The Seattle winters are wet (and this week even snowy) but the Emerald City has far better weather than Boston during the baseball season. Here are the average monthly precipitation totals (in inches) and average high temperatures: March: BOS: 4.33, 45; SEA: 3.70, 54 April: BOS: 3.74, 56; SEA: 2.68, 58 May: BOS: 3.50, 66; SEA: 1.93, 65 June: BOS: 3.66, 76; SEA: 1.54, 70 July: BOS: 3.43, 81; SEA: 0.67, 76 August: BOS: 3.35, 80; SEA: 0.87, 76 September: BOS: 3.43, 72; SEA: 1.42, 71 October: BOS: 3.94, 61; SEA: 3.46, 60 It's the humidity that can make the Boston summers oppressive. As a 17-year-old hitchhiker from Iowa, I made my first trip to Boston during a heat wave that I remember as 100 degree temperatures with 99 percent humidity*. My second trip to Boston came in August 2010 when my friends and I encountered torrential rains in Rhode Island driving up to Fenway Park from New York. The exceedingly polite usher wiped the rain off of our bleacher seats at Fenway. On my final trip to Boston a cold rain drenched me at the Head of the Charles Regatta in October 2016 before the skies cleared and the temperature plummeted the following day. Boston is a fine city but the weather is not my cup of tea. * an internet search revealed that the high temperature in Boston that day in July 1973 was 95 degrees with 71 percent humidity:(

FanGraphs projects 2018 starting pitching WAR of 16.4 for the Yankees and 15.9 for the Red Sox: https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=9#SP https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=ALL&teamid=3#SP With Yankees holding a healthy 7.4-to-3.9 edge in relief pitching WAR. The Red Sox and Yankees are projected with a hitting WAR of 28.0 and 27.1, respectively.

Deja vu. http://insider.espn.com/blog/buster-olney/insider/post?id=9159 Just kiddin'

Welcome back, tom-uk (one of my fiercest critics).

If the Red Sox fall out of contention in either of the next two years the Sox have veteran pieces who can be flipped to replenish the farm.

The $22 million AAV is nice for the luxury tax calculation but my understanding is that if J.D. Martinez opts out after two seasons the combined $6 million difference in the two-year AAV of $25 million will be added to the 2020 luxury tax calculation when the Red Sox will be looking to re-sign or replace Chris Sale, Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Rick Porcello. That's where the crunch may come.

Mitch Moreland is guaranteed $13 million, plus performance bonuses, over the next two seasons and as a recently signed free agent cannot be traded without his consent until June 15. https://legacy.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/al-east/boston-red-sox/

On the topic of defensively limited right-handed hitters best-suited for the designated hitter slot … J.D. Martinez is five months younger today than Hanley Ramirez was when the Red Sox signed the latter to a four-year, $88 million contract with a vesting option for a another year (that coincidentally would bring the total to $110 million over five years). Martinez has posted 6.0 bWAR and 5.6 fWAR in 239 games over the past two seasons while Ramirez had posted 8.9 bWAR and 8.5 fWAR in 214 games in the two seasons before he signed with Boston. In the 2014-15 offseason MLB Trade Rumors had projected Ramirez with a six-year, $132 million contract while this year MLB Trade Rumors projected Martinez with a six-year, $150 million contract. You never know how these free agent contracts will play out.

Tony Watson has signed with the San Francisco Giants: