harmony

This year lefthanded hitters have posted a .172/.226/.207/.433 line in 62 plate appearances against James Paxton (although Jackie Bradley managed two of the four Red Sox hits last night).

Neal Cotts, a 37-year-old lefthander with a 4.04 ERA at Triple A this year, is no James Paxton. This year in his larger sample size at Double A Portland, Devers posted an OPS of .993 against righthanders and .793 against lefthanders (and then 1.075 and .958 in the smaller sample at Triple A Pawtucket).

Good for my fantasy team and for my favorite team.

When James Paxton is on, like he was last night, the lefthander would likely make Rafael Devers look foolish at the plate. The Red Sox probably made a wise decision is having Devers debut against righthander Felix Hernandez, who has been hittable this year, surrendering 69 hits in 62.2 innings this year. Lefthanded hitters have posted a .327/.374/.533/.907 line in 115 plate appearances against Hernandez this season.

Thank you. I forgot that.

Baseball America's midseason prospect rankings had Yankee infielder Gleyber Torress at No. 3 and Rafael Devers at No 6: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2017-midseason-top-100-prospects-july-7/#JPJmDOuQYQi9Tvvm.97 This year Torres appeared in 32 games at Double A before his promotion to 23 games (and counting) at Triple A. Devers, who is a month or two older than Torres, appeared in 77 games at Double A and nine games at Triple A. In a perfect world each would get more seasoning at Triple A. However, the Red Sox have a pressing need for Devers while the Yankees have no specific current need for Torres (despite the recent injury to Starlin Castro). Each club has probably made the right decisions to date under contrasting circumstances.

Baseball America's midseason prospect rankings had Yankee infielder Gleyber Torress at No. 3 and Rafael Devers at No 6: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2017-midseason-top-100-prospects-july-7/#JPJmDOuQYQi9Tvvm.97 This year Torres appeared in 32 games at Double A before his promotion to 23 games (and counting) at Triple A. Devers, who is a month or two older than Torres, appeared in 77 games at Double A and nine games at Triple A. In an ideal world each would get more seasoning at Triple A. However, the Red Sox have a current need for Devers while the Yankees have no specific current need for Torres (despite the recent injury to Starlin Castro). Each club has probably made the right decisions to date.

Mitch Moreland has an OPS+ of 99 in 3,135 career plate appearances, including an OPS+ of 96 in 373 plate appearances this year and an OPS+ of 88 in 503 plate appearances last year. Moreland's hot start in his first 61 games with the Red Sox was most likely the outlier.

Huh?

The minor league career slash lines for Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers: XB 1623 PA, .296/.373/.489/.862 RD 1714 PA, .296/.354/.482/.836 https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=bogaer001xan https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=devers000raf

From FanGraphs columnist Jeff Sullivan (a frequent critic of the Mariners): http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/mariners-get-david-phelps-who-is-good/

Some Red Sox fans place too much trade value in a fringy prospect such as 23-year-old Sam Travis, who failed to make Baseball America's Top 100 prospect list, John Sickel's Top 200 prospect list, MLB Prospect Watch's Top 100 prospect list and Baseball Prospectus' Top 101 prospect list: http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/top-100-prospects-updated-may-11/#jBgo67UVt7SXEGLj.97 https://www.minorleagueball.com/2017/2/13/14598358/top-200-mlb-prospects-for-2017-minor-league-ball http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2017?list=prospects http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2017-midseason-top-100-prospects-july-7/#q6gMY15kpSV3sBXi.97 In January Travis reportedly landed at No. 98 on Keith Law's ESPN prospect list (which is hidden behind a pay wall).

If the roles were reversed, would the Red Sox trade four-plus years of righthander Heath Hembree to the San Francisco Giants for first base prospect Chris Shaw? Hembree and Strickland are same-sized 28-year-old righthanded relievers who come with four more years of team control. Since the start of the 2016 season Hembree has posted an ERA of 3.04 and an ERA+ of 147 in 81 appearances while Strickland has posted an ERA of 2.65 and an ERA+ of 153 in 111 appearances. Over that period Hembree has posted 0.9 fWAR while Strickland has posted 1.4 fWAR. Edge to Strickland. The irony is that the Giants drafted Hembree while the Red Sox drafted Strickland. Sam Travis and Chris Shaw are MLB Prospect Watch's eighth- and ninth-ranked first base prospects: http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2017/?list=1b This year as 23-year-olds in Triple A, Travis has posted a wRC+ of 109 in 186 plate appearances while Shaw has posted a wRC+ of 119 in 195 plate appearances. Travis makes more contact while Shaw has more power. The John Sickels scouting reports from last December: https://www.minorleagueball.com/2016/12/29/14119404/boston-red-sox-top-20-prospects-for-2017 https://www.minorleagueball.com/2016/12/20/14025292/san-francisco-giants-top-50-prospects-for-2017

Hunter Strickland is not a rental. The San Francisco Giants would demand more than a fringy prospect for four-plus years of an established reliever. FWIW, the Giants have one-time All Star first baseman Brandon Belt signed through 2021.

The Red Sox play their next six games in the Pacific Time Zone where the Sox are 1-3 this year after going 9-8 last year and 4-7 in 2015.

That's the point. The price goes up for an added year of team control.

I doubt a single prospect outside the Top 100 will be enough to land four-plus years of Hunter Strickland.

Hunter Strickland, who remains under team control for four arbitration seasons, will cost a bundle. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/strichu01.shtml

The Red Sox have won 13 of 19 starts (68.4 percent) by Chris Sale this year, including both starts against the Blue Jays, each at Toronto.

Last year 12 weeks of reliever Brad Zielger cost the Red Sox righthander Jose Almonte and second baseman Luis Alejandro Basabe, whom SoxProspects had ranked 18th in a Boston farm system that included Yoan Moncada, Andrew Benintendi, Anderson Espinoza, Rafael Devers, Michael Kopech, Sam Travis, Brian Johnson and Michael Chavis. Seattle will get a year and about 11 weeks of 30-year-old righthander David Phelps, who has posted 0.3 fWAR in 44 appearances for Miami this year after posting 1.9 fWAR last year. At the time of the Red Sox trade, Ziegler has posted 0.5 fWAR in 36 appearances for Arizona after posting 0.6 fWAR the previous year. This year the 37-year-old Ziegler has posted 0.0 fWAR in 34 appearances as Phelps' teammate on the Marlins.

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Thank you for the feedback.

MLB Prospect Watch ranked the minor leaguers No. 6, No. 16 and No. 22 (and unranked) if the middle-of-the-road Seattle farm system. Brayan Hernandez, the top-ranked prospect, is an outfielder, the same position as the Mariners' top prospects (Kyle Lewis and Tyler O'Neill) and three Seattle rookies (Ben Gamel, Mitch Haniger and Guillermo Heredia) who until recently had posted higher 2017 fWAR than Andrew Benintendi in fewer games (despite sharing outfield duties with Jarrod Dyson and his 2.0 fWAR). Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto has been quoted as saying he won't trade for rentals so David Phelps was a target with his team control through 2018.

I associate the f-word with 12-year-olds. Many folks outgrow that stage.

No complaint. I simply asked a question. I suppose you're communicating to the best of your abilities. Warm regards.