oldtimer

The question on JBJ remains unsettled. He probably will have a hot streak at the plate, but when and for how long? He is at a point in his career where he has to perform or be surpassed.

Holt speaks of his decline after suffering the concussion and his inability to feel right until finding a new medication, which he is now taking daily. He says he feels much more normal now and that his spring training performance is reflecting it. I tend to agree with your assessent of Brock. That his versatility is not of as much value to us now that we have a DH who can play in the outfield, Hanley who can play 1st base and Nunez who is flexible and will be used in utility once Pedey returns. We also have Swihart who is going to make the roster and is quite versatile. That leaves Holt fighting for the one remaining roster spot with Marrero and that spot may also dry up when Pedey returns. As you point out, Brock is not the number 1 option in utility at any one position. If he regains his hitting stroke, as he believes he has, he could return to a 280 hitter with not much power but there is the question of whether his health will hold up on the long term. Brock has been a nice player and a good guy for the Sox, so it will be interesting to see how he is handled. Will the Sox look ahead to cover the inevitable injury bug, where one or more of our players gets laid up for 15 to 60 days? It appears that Marrero or Holt will be shopped and traded if possible.

Cora has said about Bogey that he was guilty of bad takes at the plate and that the coaches were working with him to avoid those. Cora seems to define bad takes as fastballs well in the strike zone early in the count and of course many of us were saying the same thing about him and also a few others on the team last season. It appeared to me that this was an artifact of JF and Chili Davis coaching and may have had a lot to do with the general decline of our offensive performance last year. Cora wants hitters to be more aggressive and not to take hittable pitches early in the count. I applaud that as it will give opposing pitchers something to think about before grooving the first pitch knowing our batters have been told to take the first one. We will see if Bogey has a resurgence in his batting average and possibly his power profile this year.

We are pretty much locked in for the 9 starters, assuming no injuries Cora is planning on Leon, Swihart and Moreland as the bench with one more spot available. Travis duplicates a position that we have covered, Lin is a Cora favorite but highly unlikely to make the 40 man so that leaves it between Marrero and Holt for the final position. Marrero is the better fielder at the short and third positions that might become a requirement unless Swihart can play 3rd. Nunez will be needed at 2nd until Pedey returns. (My guess for Pedey is sometime in June so there could be two months to get through before that. Perhaps things will become clarified by then but someone will have to get off the 25 man either through injury or other means. Despite Marrero's light hitting I would prefer him at this time.

Cora has expressed the view that it is great to have the advantage of extra ML caliber players and he intends to use them with a rotation not only including 1st base and DH but also in the outfield. That would mean that Martinez might be DH normally and Rameriz 1st base normally but Martinez might give the outfielders a rest some days while Moreland plays first and Rameriz is DH or both Rameriz and Martinez would be getting rest time as well. My view is that Moreland is an important part of the team and will get his ABs and field time. Also noting that Cora has been talking to Bogaerts about his bad takes at the plate last year. Meaning taking fastballs right down the middle. He wants Bogey to be more aggressive at the plate. Bogey in spring training is hitting better and maybe part of that is the advice he has gotten from the new coaching staff. Why didn't last years staff talk to him about that?

If JBJ continues to be the inconsistent hitter who tails off late in the year, I wouldn't bet on keeping him. Granted that he is an above average defensive CF, I would really like to see offensive production from him. There will be some hard choices coming up at the end of this season. Who to keep and spend money on and who to trade among our younger hoe grown players.

Honestly, I think you are harping on this but then you do have 14,430 postings and counting. Move on to a new subject and give us a break.

Still it would help us to clear the $22 million from our payroll. We may need cap space next year and he is the obvious choice for that.

This is a thread about talking about 2018 and yet we have gone on and on and on about what happen for the last several years. I would like to return to 2018 and there was a short article (Brown's Blog) about the 25 man roster for starting the season. Brown seems to think the starting team will include Devers, Bogey, Nunez and Rameriz around the infield. Subbing would be Moreland at 1st and there will be a question mark until Pedroia comes back of whether Holt, Marrero or Lin will make the team. The article says Cora really likes Lin's flexibility at 2nd, short and 3rd as well as outfield. Cora also like Swihart and can see him playing the corners and outfield as well as a third catcher. The outfield is set with Beni, JBJ and Betts and with Martinez subbing for JBJ and Beni on occasion. I think many of us would like to keep Hanleys PAs down so the flexibility of players would allow for that as Martinez is thought of as the primary DH. Behind the plate it appears that Leon and Vaz will be there and the pitching staff will like that. So it appears that we have set in stone: Hanley Nunez Bogey Devers Beni JBJ Betts Matinez Vaz Leon And: Swihart (unless traded for prospects or pitching) and one of not considering options: Holt Marrero Lin (Cora likes him) It appears Cora like flexibility so all of the potential utility players have that whereas Travis will stay in the minors and when Pedey returns one other player will become surplus. Two weeks to find that out.

Cora thinks Castillo can play at the major league level. His problem is the contract he signed makes him too expensive for the Sox and probably too expensive (in terms of luxury tax cap) for any other team. It is crazy that the agreements made between the players union and owners result in situations where a capable player can get sidelined just because of financial considerations.

To me it makes sense to try to unload players from our roster that don't project as being useful to the team this year and thereby increasing our luxury tax space. The idea of giving what we have as pitching staff an opportunity to succeed and pick up help later in the year if the team requires it. Sounds like a good plan unless our staff becomes fraught with injuries and the need arises much earlier.

Many of the reported cases were for minor infractions like parents being invited to lunch by an agent and no school involvement. Why throw them into the same category as where a coach discusses paying big money to an athlete to get them to attend their school. Clearly there are corrupting influences and they infect some of the football and basketball programs. You mention Duke for instance and they have a clean program as far as I know but the ESPN talking heads live by formenting controversy instead of reporting the true situation. Something great about young kids going out and playing their hearts out. I don't have the same feeling about the NBA players or games.

Any trade that we make should consider what we do if Bogeyor Devers happen to be injured. Some of our options are Nunez, Marrero and Lin. We need to keep at least one utility player who can play solid defense at those positions. Marrero and Lin can do that, Nunez can but is not as capable defensively.

Yes, but we will also lose the cost of Sandoval at the end of next year and the Hanley cost is gone at the end of this year or next. Couple those with a few likely trades of our existing talent and we will have a little more flexibility although arbitrartion raises will eat up a good deal of those savings.

Speaking of which, did you see where Trudeau did his best Ghandi imitation while visiting India? The guy is embarrassing.

I saw where he said he had gained from 175 to 185. On his frame that is a lot of extra power potential. Maybe 25 to 30 HR's this year.

Maybe someone is being Groomed for that this year. Hope so! It will be interesting to see where our 25 roster ends up.

I'm a big fan of March Madness, so I will be entertained for the next few weeks with that alone.

No concern for our starters getting going slowly. It is good to see Travis and Swihart off well as they are trying hard to make the roster. We probably will take one of Lin or Marrero so they also bear watching.

I wonder what the definitions of cheap wins and tough losses are. I will go back and look to see if they are defined. I would expect that a team that was 10th in runs scored and 27th in HR's would have a lot of tough losses. I looked the definitions up and they are as follows: First determine the starting pitcher's Game Score as follows: Start with 50. Add 1 point for each out recorded by the starting pitcher. Add 2 points for each inning the pitcher completes after the fourth inning. Add 1 point for each strikeout. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed. Subtract 2 points for an unearned run. Subtract 1 point for each walk. If the starting pitcher scores over 50 and loses, it's a Tough Loss. If he wins with a game score under 50, it's a Cheap Win.

Also, I would say the longer contracts will be offered to younger players while 30 and over are likely to see a cap at 5 years.

There was a report that Synderguard of the mets was already throwing 100 mph fastballs, so some pitchers get their velocity back ealy in the season.

I think the Sox do need a sub who can handle SS/2B/3B. Nunez could do it in a pinch but having a better fielder at those positions on the 25 man makes sense. In my view, that could be Marrero or Lin as Holt can be held in AAA. Those are the 3 backup options for opening day.

I agree that it makes sense to place our best overall hitter 3rd (not the most powerful). That's why I would put Nunez 3rd at the beginning of the season. I would swap Nunez and Rameriz in your given lineup, although Cora no doubt has other thoughts. Right now I think Vaz has shown himself to be a better hitter than either JBJ and Bogey. At the start of the season and against right handed starters I would consider the lineup of Betts, Beni Nunez JDM Devers Rameriz Vaz Bogey JBJ Once Pedey comes back, will Nunez look like our best hitter, and if so, do we take him out of the lineup to favor Pedey?

The usual statement made by JBJ, that this year he expects to be more consistent. Hope that doesn't mean a repeat of last year. The guy is a great defensive talent but preffy ineffective offensively for the major part of the season. i suppose there is a hope with Cora but how many years does it take for a guy to become a consistent hitter?