Fan_since_Boggs

Not only have the Yankees not won s***, but they have pretty much outspent every team this decade and have no championship to show for it. That pathetic. But Brian Cashman is a great GM . . . . Yes the same Brian Cashman who built the biggest failure of all time: the 2004 Yankees. On the topic of the trade deadline, the Twins are for real and could make some noise in the playoffs but they need to add some things at the deadline, a starter and reliever would be nice. Looking at the Twins farm system, I suspect Lewis is off limits, but the Twins have some prospects beyond him that could attract some quality pieces. edit: Bumgarner would be a great acquisition for the Twins and the Twins have supposedly looked into him. The Twins have had problems getting it done in the playoffs and Bumgarner has a history of dominance in the playoffs. Hence, the Twins and Bumgarner would be a great fit. HOWEVER, I don't think the Giants are trading Bumgarner. They are still in the wild card hunt and have been playing much better baseball. The Giants might also be thinking about making Bumgarner a Giants player for life.

I don't know, but maybe his free agency will be similar to Dallas Keuchel? That is, no team will step up with a long term lucrative offer. With Keuchel, draft compensation was involved and that won't be the case with Porcello. Regardless, Keuchel was coming off a better year than Porcello and still couldn't get a long term deal.

I never said Rivera shoudn't make the HOF -- he is clearly the best closer of all time. I did say that Rivera's legendary contribution to the fall of the 2004 Yankees--the biggest losers in sports history--should have been enough to keep him below 100% in the voting. I totally reject the idea that a closer, even a closer as great as Rivera, can be compared to Ted Williams, or Babe Ruth, or Hank Aaron, or Willie Mays, and so forth.

I think the Red Sox best trade asset is Chavis or Dalbec. They are similar players--power and strikeouts--and I'm not sure if the Red Sox want to go into the future with both players in their starting lineup. Moreover, they are both corner infielders and the Red Sox already have a stud in Devers. I'm not convinced Chavis can handle second base defensively. If the Red Sox don't trade one of them now, it would make sense to trade one in the offseason for relief help.

Porcello has been so bad that his free agent market should be pretty depressed. It might not be a bad idea for the Red Sox to resign him to a team friendly one year contract as he reinvents himself next year, relying more on his 2-seam sinker. I would only do this if Porcello is willing to sign a one year bargain contract.

That is exactly why Rivera never should have received 100% of the vote. He didn't deserve 100%, he was part of the biggest choke job in the history of sports. In fact, he played a leading role in all of it. If Rivera did his job and didn't choke, the Yankees win in 4. Cooperstown should have a photo of the 2004 Yankees team--Jeter, Rivera, and the rest of the team--with a plaque underneath the photo saying "the biggest losers in the history of sports." Wow, this is a great idea! I'm going to write a letter to Cooperstown proposing this idea. Cashman should be in the photo too. After all, he put the HISTORIC 2004 team together. By the way, the 2004 Yankees won over 100 games during the regular season. You just never know what is going to happen in the playoffs. Cashman is going to trade for a starting pitcher, let's see if he can acquire something better than another Sonny Gray or James Paxton. Madison Bumgarner is the obvious choice, due to his postseason dominance, but the Giants might not move him.

Again, this is a bit extreme. The Red Sox have a strong foundation going forward into 2020--4 quality starters and a great offense--but the Red Sox do need to fix the bullpen issues and I realize they don't have a ton of resources to accomplish that. I can understand why you would take this position. It must bother you to remember the playoffs last year when the Red Sox kicked the living s*** out of the Yankees, completely destroyed them. And then you remember 2004, when the Yankees accomplished the biggest choke job in the history of sports, losing 4 games to the Sox after being up 3 games to none. The 2004 Yankees will go down in history as one of the most memorable teams, the biggest losers in the history of sports. No one loses after being up 3 games to none; the 2004 Yankees are the one exception. Let's face it, Yankees fans fear the Red Sox. Such fans need to exaggerate some kind of Red Sox decline in order to keep their sanity. For some strange reason, people constantly praise Brian Cashman. The truth of the matter is this: the Yankees have one of the highest payrolls in baseball year in and year out and yet haven't won a championship this decade. That is pretty pathetic and tells us that Brian Cashman isn't so great at his job. Let that sink in: the Yankees have more resources than just about every team in MLB, and thus have a distinct competitive advantage, and yet where is the championship banner for this decade? The Yankees better win a championship this year. If not, it will be another lost season for a mediocre GM and for an organization that defined itself in 2004 when they proved to the world that they were the biggest losers in sports history.

This is a bit of an exaggeration. Going forward (or into 2020), the Red Sox have a championship caliber offense and 4 quality starting pitchers. Sure, the Red Sox need to find another starter, must rebuild a broken bullpen, and don't have a ton of resources to accomplish such things. But some teams have been able to fix their bullpen issues without spending a ton of money. Along with finding another starter, the Red Sox need to find starting rotation depth; I have less trust in Johnson, Velaquez, and Wright than ever before but maybe one of those guys will have a bounce back healthy season in 2020, adding depth to the rotation. Mata is a year or two away, but Houck might be able to contribute as a depth starter sometime next season.

The Red Sox could use Chavis in a trade for a SP while replacing Chavis next season with Dalbec. I wouldn't worry about the offense--the Red Sox should have one of the more prolific offenses in the game next year. The bigger problem concerns the bullpen and a starter beyond the top 4: Sale, Price, E-Rod, and Eovaldi.

I would hate to trade Benintendi on a down year. While I would be willing to move him, my asking price would be pretty high. I skeptical that teams are going to break the bank for him, though--he is a corner outfielder without a lot of power. As far as Leon goes, he is totally useless as a player and trade chip. Fact is, any team could have had him for 2.5 million and no one wanted him at that price. I'm open to trading Bradley, but where does next year's CF come from? The Red Sox have the offense. They need to rebuild the bullpen next year and they need to find another SP. The pitching staff has let them down this year, the offense is fine. I doubt Martinez opts out. I would definitely see what I could get for Chavis. I'm not sold on Chavis, a steroids guy, and his trade value at present might be as high as it will ever be.

informative article. I'll post the entire piece, since the Boston Globe can sometimes be difficult to access. I'm starting to think that Jimenez is the Red Sox's best prospect or will be in a short amount of time. Hard to say, since the Red Sox system is loaded with other great prospects like Casas and Mata.

It sounds like Cashner's option will probably not vest for next season. In case this hasn't already been posted: https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2019/07/andrew-cashner-contract-boston-red-sox-rhp-making-95m-in-2019-has-vesting-option-for-2020-based-on-innings.html

The Red Sox would be trading Benintendi low. What can you get for a .270 hitter with moderate HR power? The Red Sox are having a down year overall, like many teams coming off a championship. I would start planning for 2020 and I wouldn't give up any top prospects for rentals. Certain prospects should be off-limits in trades including Casas, Mata, Groome, Jimenez, and Houck. The two big questions for the Red Sox next year concerns who will be the 5th starter and how do the Red Sox fix their bullpen problems? Fortunately, Nunez will be gone next year and hopefully Leon will be gone too. Maybe the Red Sox can improve their 2020 bullpen through a couple of free agent signings?

The Red Sox have a 50-50 chance to obtain the wild card (4 teams--the Red Sox, Guardians, Rays, and A's--are fighting for two spots; there are actually 5 teams fighting for two spots if you believe the Rangers are for real). If the Red Sox obtain the wild card, there is a 50-50 chance they will lose the game. That's two 50-50 chances that the Red Sox will be eliminated before the real playoffs start. If the Red Sox win the wild card game, they will need to win two playoff series against teams that played better than the Red Sox in 2019. In this scenario, the Red Sox's chances of winning are considerably less than 50-50. The Cashner trade made sense in that the Red Sox didn't give up top prospects. It doesn't make sense for the Red Sox to trade top prospects for rentals. However, it might make sense for the Red Sox to move a top prospect for a player who will be under team control for a few seasons.

I'm not sure what the rush was when it came to resigning Sale especially after his problems/issues from last season. The Red Sox should have waited. If they waited, maybe the Red Sox go after Cole in the off-season rather than Sale. Cole is better than Sale and a little younger. Then again, Cole is going to cost a fortune in the free agent market. At one time, people heavily criticized the Price contract. Price morphed into a different type of pitcher and has been pretty effective and was most effective in the 2018 post-season. It is hard to complain about Price's contract after he helped carry the Red Sox last season in October. Likewise, it will take a few years to figure out if the Sale contract was a good idea or bad idea. Sale's decline does help expose what a useless bum Sandy Leon is. If they don't trust Vazquez behind the plate, the Red Sox need to find a starting catcher for 2020.

The A's have been coming on strong too. That's 3 decent teams in front of the Red Sox for the two Wild Card spots. And it goes without saying that the division race is over. The Red Sox could still win a Wild Card, but they not only need to accomplish that, they will need to win the Wild Card game, and then find a way to beat better teams in the subsequent playoff rounds, not to mention the tall order of defeating the NL team in the World Series. Maybe there is a 2% chance that the 2019 Red Sox--a team that is just a few games above .500--can accomplish such things? For whatever reason, MLB teams rarely win back-to-back championships nowadays.

As a fan, I've always been a realist and I don't believe the Red Sox are a championship caliber team this year. I know there are fans who take a different perspective--and will believe until the very end. To each his own. I'm curious about Price -- can that contract be moved or not? If it can be moved, I would jump on that opportunity.

I would like to see the Red Sox act as sellers at the trade deadline. Could the Red Sox trade Price? I'm not expecting a significant prospect for Price, just wondering if they could move the contract for a B prospect? I don't know. But Price's performance in the postseason last year definitely improved his trade value.

Excellent piece by Sherman. Though, I would be more impressed if it were written on the day of the trade, not after the fact. Of course, the Mets problems go back to ownership. The Wilpons hired an unqualified GM who got the job simply because he is golf buddies with the owners. The Wilpons can't properly distinguish a true baseball person from a charlatan like Van Waganan.

Bring back the Montreal Expos, same hat, same uniform, same logo.

Not looking good for the Mets. NY radio sports talk has finally caught up with reality and is criticizing Van Wagenen for the stupid Cano trade. It amazes me that people couldn't figure this out earlier. And now Van Wagenen is dumping a couple of Mets coaches as if that will solve the problem. LOL. Mr.Steroids Robinson Cano has an OPS+ of 81.

Boy, when the Red Sox kicked the Yankees ass last year in the playoffs, that really impacted you, didn't it? You now live in a fantasy world that everyone and their mother wanted to trade for Encarnacion but somehow the Yankees outbid everyone with a lottery ticket prospect. Back to reality: the Yankees acquired Encarnacion because GMs around the league weren't interested or offering very much for him and generally believe that Encarnacion isn't an overly valuable piece on a championship team.

There isn't such a thing as a panic button the year after you dominate baseball and win the World Series. The Red Sox are experiencing that "World Series hangover," the same thing that just about every other team experiences as well. This is why very few teams win back-to-back championships. The trade deadline is a tricky scenario for DD, however. The Red Sox should really be sellers, but they will be in the playoff hunt and so will probably be buyers. I would prefer to see the Red Sox act as sellers and begin reloading for next year. I don't see the Red Sox as having a championship team this year. In particular, they aren't as good as the Astros or Dodgers this year.

Missed that. Thanks.

Not only that, Encarncion has been on the trade market forever. It was well known that the Mariners wanted to move him right after acquiring him.