harmony

The Red Sox had walk-off wins on May 15 and June 23 and walk-off losses on May 28, June 12, July 28, August 24 and September 4: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2016-schedule-scores.shtml

I am surprised that 26-year-old infielder Deven Marrero remains on the 40-man roster given his .192/.239/.235/.475 line in 368 plate appearances at Triple A this year.

For what it's worth, Henry Owens is 24 years old: http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=owens-002hen

Has Jason Varitek or Scott Boras verified what advice Boras gave Varitek in the 2008-09 offseason when the Red Sox catcher ultimately settled for a one-year, $5 million contract? http://archive.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2009/01/31/charge_boras_with_wild_pitch_client_with_error_in_judgment/ Ultimately the player, not the agent, decides whether to accept or decline an offer. Judging an agent on the basis of one negotiation is akin to judging Mookie Betts' career on the basis of his four-strikeout performance in one game against the Yankees: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA201504100.shtml

I can't track down that statistic but here are career lines in so-called high-leverage situations: DO 1955 PA, .290/.386/.551/.937 EM 1749 PA, .313/.431/.511/.942 http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=ortizda01&year=Career&t=b http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=martied01&year=Career&t=b Ortiz has a slight edge over Martinez in career Situational Wins Added: http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/wpa_li_bat_career.shtml

But what about being down a run in the bottom of the 11th inning of the decisive fifth game of an American League Divisional Series? I get it that many would pick David Ortiz but I doubt the vote would be unanimous. Given their respective career strikeout rates -- 17.4 percent for Ortiz and 13.9 percent for Edgar Martinez -- Ortiz might be the likelier candidate to be the Mighty Casey [Who] Has Struck Out.

That's why it's a Hall of Fame, not a Hall of Baseball's Best Players. Edgar Martinez did what he could:

Any mention of Edgar Martinez should note that the career Seattle Martinez posted 68.3 bWAR in 18 seasons to the 54.1 bWAR posted in 20 seasons by David Ortiz. Just one factor to consider.

As points of reference, I offer the career bWAR of secondbasemen Dustin Pedroia, Chase Utley, Robinson Cano and Ian Kinsler: 32-year-old Dustin Pedroia, 49.4 bWAR in 11 seasons, two World Series, two World Series titles, one AL RoY, one AL MVP 37-year-old Chase Utley, 63.4 bWAR in 14 seasons, two World Series, one World Series title 33-year-old Robinson Cano, 60.3 bWAR in 12 seasons, one World Series, one World Series title 34-year-old Ian Kinsler, 51.5 bWAR in 11 seasons, two World Series, no World Series titles

Did I pick the wrong day to have Zack Greinke in my fantasy lineup?

To be precise, Seattle has 23 homes games and 26 road games remaining. The Mariners play the division-leading Texas Rangers four times at home and three times on the road. The M's play their next seven games on the road against the struggling Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels. The Mariners, who have won six straight since the disappointing split with the Red Sox at Safeco Field, now trail the Sox by one game in the Wild Card race.

For what it's worth, Clay Buchholz was Baseball America's fourth-ranked prospect entering the 2008 season: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/top-100-prospects/2008/265655.html

ESPN blogger Scott Lauber on John Farrell and the Red Sox: http://www.espn.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/50485/blame-the-players-not-the-manager-for-red-soxs-latest-implosion

Cool Standings still gives the Red Sox a 72.8 percent probability of advancing to the postseason despite their daunting schedule: http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx

Where is Nelson Cruz, whose contract resembles Adam Dunn's?

On the flip side, Seattle has come back to win two games after two gut-wrenching losses in which the Mariners blew a 6-0 lead (then up 6-3 going into the bottom of the ninth) on Sunday and could not protect a lead against the Red Sox going into the eighth inning on Monday. Every team needs to respond to disappointing losses.

Drew Pomeranz is 3-0 lifetime against the Seattle Mariners with a 1.21 ERA in 11 appearances, including two starts, covering 22.1 innings: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=pomerdr01&year=Career&t=p

Last month Seattle and Toronto swapped Drew Storen and Joaquin Benoit in a trade of struggling once-dominant relievers.

I may have picked the wrong day to bench Hisashi Iwakuma on my fantasy team.

I may have picked the wrong day to bench Hisashi Iwakuma on my fantasy team.

Going into tonight's game Hisashi Iwakuma had an ERA of 8.59 in eight career starts against the Red Sox: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=iwakuhi01&year=Career&t=p

The market for a starting pitcher differs from the market for a third or fourth outfielder.

For all their flaws, none of those players had posted a negative fWAR in the last two years until Prince Fielder dropped a negative 1.9 fWAR this season. Pablo Sandoval, with a 2015 fWAR of a negative 2.0 and a 2016 fWAR of a negative 0.2 in three games this season, is probably in a class of his own.

James Shields' team is responsible for only $22 million over the next two years in the likely event the righthander does not opt out of his contract following this season. Given the tight market for starting pitchers, Shields and his contract have significant value.

James Shields had far more trade value than Pablo Sandoval last offseason and the difference in value has widened this season. Shields remains under team control through 2019 (unless the righthander opts out after this season) with only a team option for the final year. At the time of his trade in June, the Padres were to pay about $30 million of the $57 million remaining on the Shields contract. Shields had a horrific start this season en route to his current fWAR of 0.4, but has an ERA of 2.94 over his last eight starts. ZiPS, Steamer and FanGraphs Depth Charts project fWAR between 0.5 and 0.8 over his final 11 starts this year. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7059&position=P Meanwhile, coming off a baseball-worst negative 2.0 fWAR in 2015, this year Sandoval underwent season-ending surgery after posting a negative 0.2 fWAR in only three games. ZiPS curiously projects Sandoval with 0.1 fWAR in 33 games the rest of the season. With nearly $60 million remaining in is contract after this season, Sandoval may have the worst contract in baseball. Any trade of Sandoval would require that the Red Sox add a player of significant value to offset Sandoval's negative value. An equivalent trade might be Hanley Ramirez (in the Shields role) for Prince Fielder (in the Sandoval role), a trade the Red Sox would never do. Would the Red Sox trade Ramirez for Shields? Would the Red Sox trade Sandoval for Fielder? Those are the tougher questions.