Nick

I was messing with the phrase 'big unit'....u know, bigly hands....not contradicting anything you said.

He's not quite the 'big unit'.

Make that 4 walks for Owens.....can anyone say 'command issues'? Everyone is pulling for him but his mechanics must just be horrible. He can't repeat his delivery and release. Ugh....

Oh geez, don't throw out facts....I was on a roll.

Owens....1 IP 0 Runs 1H 2BB 2K maybe at some point in distant future, he can turn into a Miller.

I forgot about Young....but what becomes of our OF depth?

Sam Travis with a 3 run shot.....he can hit major league pitching. He batted 3rd at IU, Schwarber batted 2nd. He was always a tough out. Sale pitched two innings without getting injured...good news.

Yep, I meant the Sox players. Cot's has 5 players each making $600K. Looks like we'll be $15M under the cap. Assuming we pick up Kimbrel's option, getting rid of Moreland will cover increases for both Kimbrel and Sale in 2018. $15-$17M under-cap amount will be needed to pay for 9 or so arbitration players. We're pretty much committed to Sam Travis for 2018.

Has anyone here seen contract #'s for pre-arb players other than $950K for Betts?

Should the Red Sox take a shot on Brett Lawrie? asks Overthemonster article. Pass. Why do we keep going back to injured players? It's time we figured out what we have with Hernandez and Josh Rutledge. At some point this year, I want to see platoon of Sam Travis at 1B. I'd much prefer natural 1B before Hanley. When you factor in defense, Travis/Moreland combo with Hanley at DH is better than Hanley/Moreland combo with Young at DH. I'd use Young resting our OF and pinch hitting for our catchers. He can always give few days off DH'ing for Hanley.

It would suck to give away $62M for a surgery at this point. That pretty much wipes out 2017 and 2018.

I think everyone pretty much agrees that it's going to be tough to replenish our farm system under the new set up. Couple that with the fact we should be drafting lower due to our expected success. We may get a surprise or two in lower rounds but more than likely that will be offset by flops in higher rounds. I'm not sure what the hell DD is thinking pronouncing our farm is still in good shape (rated #21 recently). It's not. For us to get anything coming back in a trade we need redundancy at some positions. I don't see that right now at any position. Our starters maybe good but not much depth behind any position except maybe at catching but how much can we get for Sandy or Vazquez? Probably not much. At best, Devers, Travis and Groome will replace open spots in our roster due to FA or lack of production (good news is that they will give us 18 years of team control). DD better find a way to keep current core group together until 2021 when Pedy retires. That's five more years. You start with having five quality starters. Looking back, 2015 starters were pitiful. This is a must, a quality starting rotation. I'm with Kimmi, our farm system is desolate.

Let's go back in time, shall we? I was so disgusted with our ball club in 2015 that only games I watched were the games that E Rod started after his call up. Was he perfect? No, but when he pitched well, he pitched like a #2 starter. I don't have the stats in front of me but my guess is that he pitched well 2 out of 3 starts. Not a bad pick up for half year of Miller. Last year, he was not physically 100%. That led to some bad habits. I recall a game where he only had two pitches and everyone sat on his fastball, which was in low 90's. Something was off. Lets' wait and see how he does in April. He's under team control for another 5 years. We need for him to succeed. He's got the stuff to be a #3 pitcher and I think that's his low floor (ceiling?)

Where's Espy?

Dumb question....why can't Price not miss any turns at start, limiting his innings or pitch count? Hell, pitch 2 innings, pitch 3 innings and so forth and stretch him out? Or pitch him out of bullpen?

Beni now 4-4, just homered.....and two doubles. How can he not bat 2nd for us?

Porcello pitched three strong innings today. Benni is right now 3-3 with 2 doubles. Kid can swing the bat. No worries.

Why do we want to keep picking up everyone else's trash? We got enough fat f***s already on the team.

Sox is now up 17-1 on the Rays. I contend this is typical Sox offense. They really feast on bad pitching, bringing up their offensive averages. Many here will say our offense is great. Is it? I wonder what the run differential in 2016 would have been if we capped the single game differentials at 5 runs, plus or minus either way. Thus if this game ends at 17-1, Sox would be given a credit for 6-1 win. Why the 5 run cap? Yep stupid logic, losing team can hit a grand slam and still be one run short with a 5 run deficit. My guess is that Sox win more 'huge' run differential games than losing them. 17-1 win combined with 5-2, 7-3, 2-1 loss becomes meaningless when you 'average' these 4 games. We've outscored our opponent 23-15, yet we're 1-3. If we capped it, it becomes 12-15, better explanation for going 1-3. Any math geniuses out there?

Per Sox Prospects on Devers Summation:*All-Star potential regardless of position due to his value at the plate. Potential to be a plus hitter for average with plus-to-better power. One of the most exciting young players in the system in years. Mature approach for his age, has shown the ability to handle aggressive assignments. Will stick at third base for the foreseeable future, but if his bat develops as projected, it would profile at first base.

My take away for Dalbec over last 12 months. Was not crazy about pitching, but he did what he was asked in college Always preferred wooden bat Changed his stance back to his Cape Cod days, opening up his stance. Offensively, it's just matter of making enough contacts (easier said than done), but there's no denying his power. I know that people here hate to talk about prospects as DH but there's really nothing wrong with it. Travis at 1B and Devers at 3B. Those two need to be in the lineup at some point. Groome is a must at this point. More than likely he's a replacement for either Sale or Porcello. I'm not sure if we can sign both of them when that time comes.

Beni, Beni, Beni....6 freaking years of team control.

Holt sucks.....only reason I wouldn't trade him is because we'd get nothing in return. At least the Phillies took $12M off of our hands for Clay. He made several miscues in outfield last year. Just because a guy 'tries' doesn't make him a good player. It's not T ball. Yeah, I appreciate that he gave the old college try but I rather not see him in OF, I'd take Travis over him at 1B, TODAY. I can't imagine he's our second best option at 3B, SS or 2B. Okay, he doesn't suck....he's a bench player and he's on the team only because he can be the third option at 7 positions if you count DH.

In reality, Pablo and Hanley's contract ends at same time, assuming 1 Hanley does not get hurt next two years and 2 Sox does not pick up option year on Pablo. They are both with us for next 3 years.