harmony

That antiquated system of compensatory draft picks gave the Mariners only a single supplemental first-round draft pick when Adrian Beltre left the hitting-suppressed environment of Seattle for Boston. The Mariners used that pick to select righthander Taijuan Walker, who last offseason was flipped with Ketel Marte to Arizona for Jean Segura, Mitch Haniger and Zac Curtis. To borrow Kimmi's words: So it's not all bad.

Thank you for posting that link. I was on the opposite side as a hardcore Minnesota Twins fan one week shy of my 12th birthday. The Twins had entered the two-game, season-ending series at Fenway Park one game up on the Red Sox. Carl Yastrzemski and Harmon Killebrew started the weekend tied with the American League home run lead with 43 apiece but Yaz was awarded the Triple Crown after each homered once, both in Saturday's game. A month earlier I had witnessed a wild Twins game in Bloomington, Minnesota, against the defending World Series champion Baltimore Orioles: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN196708310.shtml

And the Colorado Rockies, who have a better record than the Red Sox, aren't trading Nolan Arenado.

What would a team need to offer to land Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who like Nolan Arenado has two more years of team control? Since the start of last season Arenado has posted 10.3 bWAR and 8.1 fWAR while Bogaerts has posted 5.7 bWAR and 7.4 fWAR. I doubt the Red Sox would trade Bogaerts for the equivalent of Jackie Bradley, Rafael Devers and Tzu-Wei Lin. Arenado should command a more substantial package.

From the Los Angeles Times: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/01/sports/sp-crowe1

Following his trade last week, Chris Sale made his debut for my fantasy team tonight.

I'm not Moon, but I offered this take on Blake Swihart earlier in this thread:

I wish I could agree. When David Price signed his seven-year, $217 million contract with the Red Sox the lefthander was two years older than Pablo Sandoval was when the latter signed a five-year, $95 million contract. Now in his third year Sandoval has never come anywhere near Price's solid 4.5 fWAR performance in 2016 but the salary and duration of Price's deal, coupled with lingering injury concerns, may make his contract more detrimental ... or not.

I have Miguel Sano in my fantasy league where this week I traded the retainable contracts of Wil Myers, Sean Newcomb and Amed Rosario for a three-month rental of Chris Sale.

Last November, in comparing Blake Swihart with Jarrod Saltalamacchia at a similar age, I wrote: "Swihart's performance in the first four months of 2017 should determine whether he has more, less or about the same trade value as Saltalamacchia had on July 31, 2010" when the Texas Rangers traded Saltalamacchia to the Red Sox for the humble package of Chris McGuiness, Roman Mendez, Michael Thomas and cash. http://www.talksox.com/forum/threads/17857-Swihart-To-Undergo-Ankle-Surgery/page6 In February I questioned projections that had Seattle catcher Mike Zunino outproducing Swihart this year (although I suggested that the Red Sox would be pleased if Swihart's age 25 season matched the age 25 season of Zunino in 2016 when Zunino started the year at Triple A). http://www.talksox.com/forum/threads/17652-Christian-Vazquez/page73 I doubt the Red Sox will trade-low on Swihart so the Sox are unlikely to break up the catching trio of Swihart, Christian Vazquez and Sandy Leon.

What players in the Red Sox organization have trade value, and how much trade value?

This year Rick Porcello has surrendered at least four runs in 10 of his 17 starts (at least four earned runs in nine of those starts). Last year Porcello surrendered at least four runs in only eight of 33 starts (at least four earned runs in only six of those 33 starts). The results were ERAs of 3.15 in 2016 and 5.06 so far this year while his per-game run support has fallen from 6.83 in 2016 to 4.06 so far this year.

I am a Mariner fan living in Oregon but I study the Red Sox the way someone studies a second language. I post at many baseball message boards, but frequently on Red Sox forums, starting in 2006.

In the sizable sample since the Red Sox won the 2013 World Series, the Mariners have a cumulative record of 288-277 while the Sox have a record of 285-278 (excluding the three postseason losses in 2016).

I believe the Seattle Mariners are 36-12 when they score four or more runs but 3-28 when they don't: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/2017-schedule-scores.shtml

To be fair, Mike Trout had an MLB career line of .220/.281/.390/.672 in 135 plate appearances when the Los Angeles Angels signed Albert Pujols on December 8, 2011.

This season the Red Sox rank sixth among 30 MLB team in batting average with runners in scoring position: https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/batting-average ... after ranking first by a wide margin last year.

To be precise, Drew Pomeranz has a 2017 salary of $4.45 million.

I suspect the Red Sox would be on the hook for 2019 option after a release because his new team would be obligated only for the league minimum. This assumes the Red Sox release Ramirez, no team picks up his contract, he signs for the league minimum with another team and the new club gives Ramirez enough plate appearances to vest the 2019 option. An unlikely scenario but possible.

I apparently picked the wrong week to bench Salvador Perez in my fantasy league.

Those are the only teams I checked. There may well be others.

The Houston Astros have nine position players, who have played at least 45 games each this year, with fWAR above replacement level: http://www.fangraphs.com/teams/astros The Washington National might be even better: http://www.fangraphs.com/teams/nationals The Seattle Mariners have nine position players with fWAR of at least 1.0 this year: http://www.fangraphs.com/teams/mariners ... but are below replacement level at first base.

For years I would gain 20 pounds in even-numbered years and lose 20 pounds in odd-number years ... until this year. I had been trail running four mornings a week and doing yoga, light lifting and stair-climber three mornings a week until I had three toenails removed nine weeks ago. Since then I had only ridden my bicycle occasionally until going on a Father's Day run with my daughters this morning. I am sore. Deteriorating hips should limit my future running. I'm on a wait list for a Learn to Row class and may resume lap swimming when my toes heal. I'm 23 pounds heavier now than I was when I ran my 15th and final marathon shortly after my 60th birthday in October 2015. Wishing everyone good health.

San Francisco third baseman Eduardo Nunez shares a birthday (June 15, 1986) with his until-recently Bay Area counterpart, Trevor Plouffe, whom the Oakland A's traded to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Like Nunez, Plouffe is a versatile third baseman who will be a free agent at the season's end. Nunez has a 2017 salary of $4.2 million and Plouffe a 2017 salary of $5.25 million. Nunez has been valued at 3.1 fWAR in 618 career games, including 1.1 fWAR in 63 games this year. Plouffe has been valued at 5.0 fWAR in 781 career games, including a negative 0.2 fWAR this year. Nunez has a UZR/150 of a negative 12.6 in 1,712.1 career innings at third base, including a negative 12.0 in 303 innings this year. Plouffe has a UZR/150 of a negative 4.5 in 5,105/1 career innings at third base, including a negative 1.4 in 418 innings this year. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6848&position=3B/SS http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7462&position=3B The Rays acquired Plouffe for cash or a player to be named. http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/rays-journal-veteran-trevor-plouffe-excited-for-fresh-start-with-rays/2327661