Eddy Ballgame

Lol....Especially Miller, who is signed for 2 more years. Zero chance of that ever happening

This is about as realistic as that unicorn I hung out with during one crazy night in college. There is no way that he's going to DH, there's no way he's playing over 30 games in left as long as Bentintendi & Young are both healthy and and I'd love to know how he would catch 40% of the games as one of 3 catchers on the roster. I'm not sure where the 1st base thing is coming from, but I don't see it at all at this point. Swihart missed a lot of time this year. He needs to play every day and I'm not sure why your trying to turn a top young catching prospect into some strange super sub.

Top starting pitchers aren't exactly dangling from trees. There's nothing to get excited about in free agency and I don't see many teams itching to trade top of the rotation starters anymore. Who do you have in mind?

I understand your point, but it's never happened and it never will happen. It doesn't make any sense to do it. They need to find out what Swihart can do at this stage of his development. If he turns into BJ Surhoff, then great, but for now he needs to play every day at a position. The next Director of Player Development who thinks it would be a good idea to take a top young, very athletic prospect and make him a DH because it "might" be the best option for the big club, will be the first. I can't wait until they acquire an actual DH, so these crazy ideas of Moncada & Swihart DHing will go away.

Blake Swihart is a young catcher with exceptional athletic ability. He is going to play somewhere every day and field a position, whether it's Pawtucket, Boston or another organization. Why would a team take a player with his skill set and make him a DH at 24 years old? It would never happen. The Red Sox will acquire a player who will get the majority of at bats at DH. The revolving door thing doesn't work.

Buchholz has plenty of value, especially with a week free agent starting pitcher class. I'm sure they'll pick up the option and I have no doubt that they will at least listen if they receive any offers. I wouldn't be surprised if they shop him around, either.

Some people ard predicting he'll get 6/150. Even if the Sox traded Bradley or Benintendi, I'd still have no interest.

They'd definitely have to pay most of the freight, unless they take on another bad contract in return. They can't send him to Pawtucket & they won't waste a roster spot on him if he looks awful, either.

That's very possible. Shaw, Pablo & Ramirez could handle 1st & 3rd with the occasional turn at DH. Just have a hunch that one of Sandoval/Shaw won't be here opening day

I have nothing against Shaw, either, and he certainly has value. He's not going to hurt you at either corner position defensively, he's shown flashes of ability to hit MLB pitching and he's supposedly the anti-Middlebrooks when it comes to working on his game. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's back, but I just think that he's a guy who could thrive in a place like "Oakland." Shaw alone may not bring back a solid reliever, but he might good enough to be the centerpiece along with a minor league "arm."

I'm not sure Pablo has the mindset or the offensive talent to be the regular DH, especially after missing a full season. I think they'll aim higher. I have a feeling that if he isn't in good enough shape to take the 3rd base job, then he'll be gone. Just a hunch. You could be right.

I think they'll bring in a DH, whether it's Beltran, EE, Bautista or someone else. Just a guess, but I think Sandoval either wins the 3rd base job or he won't be here. I'd also guess that Shaw is moved in a trade this off season. I also have a feeling that they will pull off some type of blockbuster trade this off season that will generate some excitement to help offset the loss of Papi. I don't think they'll be in on Chapman, Jansen or Melancon, but I think that they'll make at least one significant move to improve the bullpen. I have a feeling that Koji will be back and it's not that far fetched that Tazawa comes back, either. My guess would be about a 40% chance Tazawa comes back. I think it's a given that Ziegler will sign with someone who has spring training near his home in AZ. I think that the White Sox will hold onto their core and try to compete, but I think the Royals could be a matchup for the Sox. I also have a feeling that this off season will be more interesting than most people think.

I disagree. Swihart/Moncada/Travis will either make the team as full time starters at one position, or they'll be in Pawtucket. They could obviously be traded as well, but they will certainly play every day somewhere. DH is out of the question. They could use Young/Sandoval in a DH platoon or maybe Young/Shaw, but there is no way you'll ever see 6 different guys get 100 at bats at the DH position. I think they'll sign a full time DH type either way, but you won't see a revolving carousel of players DHing.

I have no doubt they'll be in on EE, but I just have no idea if he'll price himself out of their plans. There are a lot of 1B/DH types available this off season, which could hurt him.

Beltran definitely makes sense for Boston, in my opinion. They obviously need a DH and Encarcion/Bautista may price their way out of whatever value the Sox put on them. There are a lot of 1st base/DH types available this offseason, though. If they think Chris Young could DH regularly against lefties, they could sign a Morales type as well. They definitely won't go with any kind of "revolving door" at DH, though. One guy will get the majority of at-bats or it will be a straight forward platoon.

No worries, it's clearly Todd Frazier, Dave Robertson & Jose Quintana trade proposal month for you. Try not to end every one with "Owens & Johnson," though. Mix it up a little.

There were rumors out there, but it seemed that everyone who reported them used words like "ridiculous, absurd & astronomical" when describing White Sox asking price. In other words, he really wasn't available.

It would've been nice to have both, though. The Sox offered Miller 4/32 while the Yankees signed him for 4/36. I'm not sure if the Sox were given an opportunity to beat the Yankees offer or if they would've been willing to, but in hindsight, I'm sure they would have now.

I found it interesting that Nick Cafardo wrote in a column this week that using closers in high leverage situations as opposed to just "closing," was John Farrell's idea when he was Sox pitching coach under Tito.

The defensive metrics never favored Stephen Drew, but players & coaches raved about his defense throughout his entire career. When he was in Boston, I saw a guy who seemed to make all the plays.

I wouldn't trade Marco Hernandez straight up for Iglesias right now. Did you ever think that the Sox saw something with this guy!?! He's also a long way from his ".300 batting average," consisting of mostly infield singles. The funny thing is, he beats out a lot of infield ground balls, yet he's one of the worst base stealers in all of baseball. Strange. He has missed an entire season due to injury, he got hurt again this year while putting up pretty pathetic offensive numbers, and regardless of how you interpreted that article, to me, it sounds like his manager isn't too keen on him.

I was joking. You are so hung up on this guy, that you can't tell the difference anymore. In 3 years, when he's playing weekend softball in Venezuela, maybe you can go visit him and watch him pout, I mean play.

I hope he saved that "Runner up Rookie of the Year" trophy, because I don't see much more "hardware" coming his way in the future....