harmony

And what team ranks second in the American League in runs scored despite playing home games in a pitcher-friendly venue?

Clay Buchholz is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class that is in the shop half the time while Wade Miley is a Toyota Camry that requires only routine maintenance. http://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability/most-and-least-reliable-cars-by-class/ If given the choice, the Seattle Mariners chose the Camry.

I suspect Seattle preferred Wade Miley over Clay Buchholz because the lefthander is younger, more durable, less expensive and under team control for more years. For what it's worth, over the four seasons from 2012 to 2015 Miley posted 10.0 fWAR and 8.1 bWAR while Buchholz posted 8.3 fWAR and 6.3 bWAR. If the Mariners had a choice between Miley and Buchholz, the decision was a no-brainer.

Yes ... I have used harmony on most baseball forums over the past decade. Best regards.

That "losing" Seattle club currently sits in first place, a half game worse than the Red Sox with the same number of losses, after fading in the final 10 days of 2015 to finish two games behind the Red Sox. This year Wade Miley is precisely on pace for 200 innings with 50 innings recorded in eight starts. Miley's ERA of 4.32 and ERA+ of 89 are nothing great but the lefthander had an ERA of 9.44 in his first 16.2 innings this year and has an ERA of 1.90 in 33.1 innings since. This Seattle fan was worried after watching this video of Miley blowup's with John Farrell last season: ... but was pleased this week to read USA Today quoting the lefthander describing his Seattle experience thus far: “This is the most fun I’ve ever had.’’ http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/bob-nightengale/2016/05/16/mlb-mariners-jerry-dipoto-robinson-cano/84448414/ Winning and chemistry invite a chicken-or-egg analysis, but I enjoyed this recent column by a Seattle blogger: http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2016/5/10/11648102/pedagogy-of-the-depressed

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/mariners-buchholz-miley-trade-redsox.html

The latest on Carson Smith: http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2016/05/17/carson-smith-still-managing-elbow-injury-which-has-limited-ability-to-recover-between-outings/

The Red Sox have scored 51 runs in winning the last four games. Last year's last-place Sox team scored 51 runs in four consecutive games Aug. 12-16 but lost two of the four games: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2015-schedule-scores.shtml

The early-season defensive metrics are interesting: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=cf&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0 ... but the samples are too small to be meaningful.

Sonny Gray is no Jose Quintana.

Michael Saunders plays for the AL East rival Toronto Blue Jays (and has since the start of the 2015 season). The Seattle Mariners, who on Sunday fell into a tie with the Red Sox for the league's third-best record, are currently in first place in the AL West with a 58.2 percent chance of advancing to the postseason, according to Cool Standings: http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx#ALW

Advanced metrics so far this season paint an interesting picture of David Price and Felix Hernandez, two 30-year-old former Cy Young Award winners who reportedly have suffered a drop in velocity this year: DP 7 GS, 6.75 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 2.95 xFIP FH 6 GS, 2.21 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 4.32 xFIP http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3184&position=P http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=4772&position=P The samples are too small to be particularly meaningful, but they're interesting nonetheless.

On a related topic, in a vacuum, whose contract is more valuable: that of 30-year-old David Price, who entered the season with seven years and $217 million on his contract, or that of 33-year-old Robinson Cano, who entered the season with eight years and $192 million remaining on his contract? Each raises the dangers of long-term contracts but should not be judged solely on his year-to-date performance.

A Cleveland club that many expect to advance to the postseason is highly unlikely to trade its ace (especially with the recent injury to Carlos Carrasco): http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx

Gregor Blanco will be a free agent at the end of the season. I doubt a few months of the 33-year-old outfielder has much trade value. I'm not a huge fan of Marco Hernandez and Brian Johnson but I would not trade both for Blanco.

The trade of Wade Miley -- last year's Red Sox leader in innings, starts and wins -- shortly after the David Price signing did not help the pitching depth.

The format has worked for years over at NYY Fans: http://www.nyyfansforum.com/showthread.php/135568-2016-Official-Regular-Season-Discussion-Thread