oldtimer

He is short for a 1st baseman. I think 5'10" and that is probably in shoes.

Probably the best explanation. Just as Pedey and Nunez may require surgery but whose talking about that now, especially when looking for players who may need to fill positions.

Michael Chavis is more suited to second base than third based on his physique and his arm. He is hitting well in the minors and is our 3rd ranked minor league player. I would think he is a candidate to come in and fill out the second base position. Then leave Bogey at short and get a third baseman. Believe Devers is out 1st baseman of the future. We will see how our new manager feels.

The definition of debridement is to get rid of the obvious issues and after that settles down, look again for structural issues. More may come of this.

Note, nothing so far on Pedey and nothing on Nunez. Both probably will be slated for surgery. Hanley, by my reading, may require additional surgery now the first phase has allowed the good doctor to see the shoulder condition.

These are very reaql c oncerns about both Pedey and Nunez.Then, thew Sox medical staff has not been very good at assessing injuriies either. Pedey is owed $14 mil next year and into the future. They will try to use him unless surgery eliminates him in 2018. Nunez was the best hitter on the Sox in 2017 for the time he was here until his knee injury. If he can do a fill in job plus backing up other positions we are in better shape. If he can't do it, we need to find a player like Cozart who can.

Some of our guys were having a difficult time with pitch recognition. When they would get down in the strike count, they were often fooled by sliders down and away. Thinking of Betts and Bogey in that case. Being down on the count just increased that tendency.

Funny, when I suggested Cozart as a good get last year you expressed concern that his hitting represented only one year of his career and that his norm might be below what we we seeing in 2017. Also he was slightly past his prime. I think Cozart would be an excellent get for the team and improve one of our positions. The alternative is Bogey stays at short and Cozart moves to 2nd or 3rd.

I agree that virtually no one has asked for all of these things together so misrepresenting it to be that way isn't helpful. If Pedey has surgery, he might well be lost for the season. Farrell was fired because despite our improvement, after 5 years, it didn't appear that the team could make the next jump with teams like Cleveland, the Yankees and the Astros already ahead of us. A reasonable approach to attempt to get better but the decision could go either way. The hitting this year saw many of the most important guys doing worse than expected. Chili Davis is not gone but probably will be as the new manager will want his own guys. A new hitting coach may well change the plate approach of some of the guys and perhaps Bogey will work to change his swing mechanics. I welcome the idea of a different hitting coach. Clearly changes to our infield need to be considered. Devers was horrible defensively this year so it is reasonable to think of a long term position for a guy who they expect to physically mature into a somewhat heavier player. He either needs to solve his defensive lacking or move to 1st base. Pedey could spend time on the DL or if he has surgery might sit for the year. In that caqse, we need a second baseman or supersub who can hit. Nunez was one but there are others. We definitely need a power bat in the lineup. Whether at 1st or 3rd is the question to be resolved. I think Bogey will do but his problems revolve around his offense. See new swing mechanics for him. If Cora comes in as manager we are likely to get a young manager who has Red Sox experience and recent exposure to the Astros way. Sounds good to me. He will have some say in retaining or replacing his coaching staff. Some of the current staff may also choose to take positions elsewhere. I hope that the dust settles on that early so they can form a cohesive team before the Spring Training. Finally, I would expect Cora (if him), Dombroski and the staff evaluate each player and decide who they keep and who will be traded or replaced and then take action accordingly. The pitching staff, long term catching, Center field, utility players all need futher consideration.

Beni has a chance of being an excellent player for the Sox for a long while into the future with improvements to his game expected. I can't see trading him away in any deal.

Amen to that.

When the player is a former star and making $13 mil/yr it further complicates things. Pedey deserves the benefit of the doubt but realistically can't be expected to play much more than 1/2 the season if he does recover enough to make a positive contribution while he is healthy. I am not against startig him and backing him up with a super utility player like a Nunez.

Maybe. Houston as a team is more aggressive. Take Altuve out of the discussion and they still tend to swing at the first pitch they like, not all the time, but more often than the Sox. Dusty Baker complained that his guys had been taking too many good pitches and putting themselves in holes. When you take two good pitches as a hitter, you are at a big disadvantage. I think we will have a new manager and probably a new hitting coach and they may well move in a different direction, especially since the leading managerial candidate is Cora of Houston.

Houston is a very good hitting team and tends to be aggressive at the plate. Altuve certainly will swing at the first itch if it is to his liking. Why not? A strategy of taking two for the gibber, to supposedly wear the starting pitcher down really just puts the hitter at a huge disadvantage. I generally agree, hitters should not become predictable as that also puts them at a disadvantage.

The talk about Chavis is that he is more likely to wind up at 2nd base than 3rd with his frame. 5'10" 210#s. If he does well in Arizona, maybe he can be looked at as a replacement with power.

A cleanup hitter or just about any hitter is struggling against Playoff pitching. One might help get us to the PO's but not help us advance. We almost certainly should keep Hanley in the DH role next season which means moving Devers (if that works) and finding a credible 3rd baseman for at least one year. Not so easy but I like the chances. Moving Bogey for one year and signing Cozart might work. Lot of moves though so it might not work. We do need to focus on 2nd as well since few believe Pedey can hold that job down for more than about 1/2 the season.

Wow! I disagree with you in regards to JBJ. I think he would be best to trade now. I also love Pedey, but recognize he is on the downslide due to his injuries and the wear and tear of all those great years. I would prefer that we could find a top notch 2nd baseman and see it as a second priority behind finding a top not 1st/3rd baseman, depending on where we go with Devers. The problem is that Pedey is on the roster with a $13 mil salary for next year and on.

Last night's game between the Astros and Yankees featured two excellent starting pitchers not just throwers. The Yankee lineup is full of power hitters while the Astros have hitters who can also hit for power. The Yankees have the advantage in BP. Defense in a game like that is critical and the Astros make some good plays despite the error by Altuve. The entire infields for both clubs is solid defensively yet the Astros were able to manufacture a couple of runs with speed and just singles hitting. The point of relating my views of the game is that Moon had mentioned our own infield in 2018 as potentially being Devers and 3rd, bogey at SS, Pedroia/Nunez at 2nd and Hanley at 1st. I doubt if that infield would have made the plays that the Astros made last night and is something to really consider. Bogey doesn't have the greatest range, but he is probably the best of ours at this point. The discussion of moving Devers to 1st, finding a good 3rd base prospect that can hit and possibly thinking more about 2nd with a non-Nunez good fielder/hitter might be the best approach. Whatever we do, we need to work hard on getting on younger players to be more disciplined yet aggressive hitters and that involved new thinking by our coaches and manager. We have good speed on the team so we can manufacture runs if we can get on base.

The new manager will want to choose his hitting coach. I too would avoid Pedroia for the reasons you infer. Youk is also not the best choice. Being a good hitter is not the only qualification for being the hitting coach. Our younger players have talent, but all could use the assistance of a quality hitting coach.

Scouting report has Chavis with potential for 2nd base, perhaps more than 3rd.

I think the question is more about who will be backing up Pedey on the Sox in 2018. Unless he has a lot of trouble recovering from the leg injury, I assume he will play about 90 games. Who will the backup be for the remaining games. Nunez is most likely but has a bad leg as well and may also wind up being an expensive signing. We have Marerro, Holt, Lin and Hernandez who should be looked at as potential utility backups. There is also a possibility of Chavis being our 2nd baseman of the future so he might make the grade in 2018 and he could backup 3rd as well. Chavis is 5'10" and 210# is has some pop.

So who are on the list of replacements for Farrell? Ron Gardenhire a very experienced and successful 60 year old. DiMarlo Hale from the jays. A 56 year old who knows the players but doesn't soound like a mover or a shaker. Alomar jr. an inexperienced candidate but that doesn't mean bad Brad Asmus good baseball man with the Padres now but results were no so great. He is around 45 Jason Varitek would be inexperienced and on the younger side Doug Martinez of the Cubs. Alex Cora out of the Houston organization. Inexperienced but exposed to a forward thinking organization might bring some of that with him Others?

I can't see Ortiz wanting to travel with the team and commit for all those months of grind. Maybe he would be good at it, but I can't imagine he would be inclined to commit to the season.

Our infield starting player defense was generally mediocre to bad, with 1st base being the strongest of the lot. I agree with your assessment of Pedey. He was great, but time and injuries have left him a part time player and he skills are diminishing. Bogey is a serviceable SS but not a great defender. I have hopes that a different hitting coach will work closely with him too rework his swing and plate approach. He is 6'1" and 210 #s. He should have more power but needs to make changes to realize his offensive potential. i am hoping that will happen, but only if Bogey would commit to make changes. Devers was a major defensive liability. Your concept of having play winter ball at 3rd base is one way to see if he can make the improvement needed. His hitting is already fine. A secoond approach would be to assume he will mature into a heftier player and move him to 1st and have him learn the position over the winter. So we need a Nunez type player as a minimum and a 1st/3rd base power hitter. Beyond that we need to be open to alternatives. So basically in the infield we need help at 2nd, 1st as Moreland probably won't return and Hanley is not a full time 1st baseman. SS is questionable and probably isn't a priority and 3rd may need some help depending on how Devers is handled. i agree that the catching position is solid with Vaz. Leon is a good backup but might be replaced if the opportunity arises. I agree that the pitching is okay and we have the pieces to go forward. Whether Price's elbow stands up to the rigors of a full season will remain an open question. The outfield is another question mark in my mind. We have a very athletic group there now. Beni showed his youth in a lot of defensive throws that weren't so good, but otherwise we were very good defensively. JBJ is a very erratic hitter though and we wound up with him hitting 9th for a reason. He will turn 28 at the beginning of the 2018 season and has had the experience to define who he is as a hitter. I don't see him improving and would consider a trade if we could find a better player. Mookie could shift to center if needed and we could either add a CF or a RF. If we would spend the money, there would be some interesting candidates for the outfield. Utility positions need a complete reset as do some of the coaches. Whoever the new manager is will determine who he wants for coaches.

With the Yankees humbling the Guardians tonight we can see at least 3 teams ahead of us in the talent pool. We do need to make moves so anyone thinking we add one bat and stand pat in all other areas is just a wishful thinker. Where we have shown weakness we need to upgrade and do so in such a way that we don't give away the store for 2019, 2020.