oldtimer

We have seen a tendency for confrontation and negativism on this site which to me reflects the new norms of social media. Easy to take strong positions and use crude language while remaining semi-anonymous. Today's terrible events in Moon's home state of Texas should remind us to stay civil and keep our arguments about different players and positions factual and constructive. We share a common interest and love for the Sox and all of us want them to succeed. Yes, we have different ideas of how to achieve that success, but lets all not get involved in name calling and nastiness. I am not aiming this at either Moon or Kimmi, who I think have kept their inputs on a high plane. Just think before you write a post!

Devers is too young to give up on his defense. It will improve, the question is "How much"? Anyway, I would expect 1st base might be a landing place for him while we will need to move someone else to dh.

Hidden meaning? The Yankees probably want some of them!

Our needs are what should drive our foray into the FA market. One RP Help at 2nd base Will Rameriz recover or is he on a downhill slide/ Do we need to get a DH to replace him? Power bat who could play 1st base, or if Devers moves to 1st a 3rd baseman Possible outfield replacement for JBJ Utility player overhaul Quite likely we can get 2 FA field players and a RP. Some choice from the list below might do it. I don't see how we can get Stanton but stranger things have happened. I like the idea of Moustakas for 3rd with Devers moving to 1st, providing contract terms are sensible. Someone like Brandon Kintzler as a RP might be suitable Nunez if recovered from the knee injury has shown he can fill in at 2nd and other infield spots Alternative to Nunez might be Cozart but that would mean moving players JD Martinez is a power bat, but without a real home defensively, unless he could play outfield (a real ?). Replacing JBJs 20 HR with 38 and with a higher OPS sounds good for the offense. Believe we can fill utility roles from our current 40 man roster people. I would go hard for Otani although it is a crap shoot, but I believe he can play outfield and pitch. Might be a generational talent.

I am expecting a storm of negativism regarding the Sox hiring of the new hitting coach Tom Hyers and his assistant Andy Barkett. This site seldom has a positive take on changes.

This site has its share of negative nellies who express their concerns crudely. We should be willing to give the moves a fair chance before filling the site with negative vibrations. LaRussa is a hall of fame baseball man abd ay well be a help in selecting coaches and players.

LaRussa is one of the top baseball men in the business. He is a great advisory pickup for the team in my view. This site is so negative about people like DD and LaRussa. Can't understand other than some like to say shocking things to rile things up.

Springer's defense didn't look that impressive but he did hit for power and was the WS MVP. Nothing to sneeze at. Bradley's hitting has been erratic and more often than not a slump waqiting to happen. Unless a new hitting coach can turn him around (I don't expect that), we are likely to see more of the same in 2018.

Any takeaways from the Astro's world series win and how they accomplished it? The Astros were in a position to draft very well over the last few years and got Bregman, Correa, Springer and Gurriel The Astros have an MVP caliber 2nd baseman in Altuve The Astros have an experienced and capable DH in Beltran The Astros spent the money and got the best SP (Verlander) available at the last minute The Astros got McCann who helped them a lot Interesting for those who claim lineup posiitioning doesn't matter. The Astros stacked their lineup with the first 5 doing the bulk of the damage. Also note they have a low strikeout rate. So, the Sox draft position will not allow them to build up the way the Astros have. We got Castillo and they got Gurriel. We on paper had better relief pitching and possibly better starting pitching top to bottom but they are the best hitting team and can make up for the pitching deficit. So we get Cora and hope that some of the hitting success of the Astros can be transferred to our young guys. Lets not get too wound up about power hitters with long uppercut swings. The Dodgers had those and they were striking out at a high rate against good pitching. Lets get contact hitters with some power, like Nunez.

This board is tough on any move or change made. LaRussa is a proven baseball man and having him to advise and support on acquisitions, both of coaches and players, can be seen as a plus. Perhaps he will have additional roles as well. Glad to see him join the team.

Generally, the new hitting coach (not Big Papi) will go along with Cora, who probably holds the view of the current Astro's. They are aggressive and may appreciate the idea of launch angle associated with home run hitting, etc. Watching the big swingers on both the Astro's and the Dodgers, they tend to loop their swings to achieve the high launch angles. Their timing has to be nearly perfect and against front line pitching the runs have been hard to come by in some of the games. It seems to be an all or nothing approach, strikeout versus power hit. I prefer Ted Williams old approach where during the swing, the bat maintained and angle that would describe the path of the ball as it naturally dropped. That way, the bat stays in the plane of the ball as it drops and the chances of making solid contact improve. I will like it if our batters get more aggressive but not if he go to these longer looping swings.

I'd keep Beni as a likely very solid player for us for years to come.

Funny, as a lot of them will probably be traded away.

Can't believe he would welcome the daily grind of the job or the travel. An advisory rule seems best for him.

This has little to do with the Sox other than how TV broadcasting is killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I decided to watch OSU and PSU match up in the college football game of the day. I am not an alum of either but I have to admit I rooted for PSU who lost in the end. The problem I had was the plethora of ads, which exceeded the broadcast both in time and intensity. Every conceivable excuse for an ad they blasted in. I muted all but couldn't help but see the flipping from one ad to another in few second bursts then on to another. After going through that, I vowed never to watch another FB game on TV unless they were one I held in great interest and the same will go for other sporting events. I have had way too much of the bad taste the TV networks subject us to. They must believe they have a totally captive audience.

I brought it up in the first place after reading a report that he was more likely to fit at 2nd then 3rd. They haven't done much to play him at 2nd yet, but it does make some sense. We have a need and he looks like an up and coming MLer. Getting a low cost player in the lineup with a good bat should be considered but the Sox would have to prepare him.

The Pablo contract is and has been very limiting to the team and the moves it could make. Still another year of that. And remember we had to move through the Craig deal and the Castillo deal which had to impact the decision making process involving JH. Hanley at least may have some remaining value but I would hope that his option does't vest. That $22 Million could help us going forward. Now we are also faced with the Price, Thornburg and Pedey uncertainties. We can hope that both will add some value for their money, but long term contracts, especially for pitchers are very risky. A reckless GM can screw up a franchise for years with just a couple of bad moves, even one as wealthy as the Sox.

When we do get around to the contract phase with new players or even dealing with extensions to those we have, I hope we rethink the lengths of the contracts we are willing to support. I'd rather not get a player than give them long term contracts, which often leave a team hobbled financially for years. My suggestion of length of contracts: 27 yrs old or less 7 years max. 28 to 30 yrs old 5 years max 31 to 33 yrs old 4 years max 34 to 35 yrs old 3 years max Over 35 years old 2 years max I would try to stay below the max contract lengths for players with injury histories and only take the max length for those who are above league norms for their positions. Pitchers are a special category and I would be even more reluctant to give long term contracts there due to their tendency to get injured. Let others take on contracts and get burned by them.

Clearly that was a known drawback when hiring Cora. We have to work around that issue. Maybe Cora has something lined up, I hope so.

I have been a fan of Pedroia all these year. He will have a difficult time making back into the lineup in 2018 and probably not much chance of that happening until the all star break. He will have to assess how he feels and whether or not he can contribute. From what I have heard of him, he is not a very communicative guy and may not be able to continue on in baseball as a coach or manager when his playing days are over.

You are a huge JBJ fan and are likely to be disappointed when he is traded. I think he is the most likely of the young players to be moved. He still has some value but probably can be replaced by equal or better.

His problem is an artifact of the way the Luxury Tax is set up and nothing more. The Sox are paying the money and he would no doubt get a chance to be our 4th outfielder except for the luxury tax considerations. I wonder how many other players have the same problem.

Thats fine with me. So with Carl Willis also leaving we will have major changes in the coaching. We have to wait for the World Series to end before Cora will have time to get his guys lined up.

The trouble with that is his hefty salary against the luxury tax, if he was to be a 4th outfielder.

Interesting article about a potential trade with the mariners for bp arm(s). Interesting read and may impact are overall traade plans. https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2017/10/25/16487712/mariners-red-sox-potential-trade-2018-bullpen-outfield