Fan_since_Boggs

I don't know why you are so defensive of Kahnle. He changed the entire complexion of the game. When a team is down a run, they can do things to manufacture a run, but when a team is down 4 runs, the game is usually over. The game was competitive until Kahnle came in and gave up 3 runs. Kahnle pitched like crap; perhaps the pressure got to him. It is what it is.

I agree that Bradley could be traded for a blue chip especially in today's run prevention environment. But I disagree on Bogaerts. Right now, Bogaerts is a broken player. He may recover, he may not, but his trade value will reflect the fact that his future production is pretty uncertain. To top it off, he will be a free agent in a few years (limited team control) and he sucks at fielding. If he doesn't hit, he isn't all that useful and I'm not sure about his bat. Some guys don't recover--A.Craig was a pretty good offensive player who never recovered. There are more examples. You either trade Bogaerts when his trade value is way down or you hold on to Bogaerts and hope he can fulfill some of his offensive potential. The latter course of action makes more sense IMO. Dombrowski has made a lot of mistakes. I think the Sale deal is going to be a real killer in a few years. The Red Sox are going to need a starting 2b very soon, maybe as early as next season and Moncada could be 30-30 player (with a lot of strikeouts). I also think Kopech is going to be an ace. I don't want Dombrowski emptying out the farm system beyond what he has already done. Sure, trade for Stanton if the Marlins asking price is low; otherwise, live with what you have and sign M.Machado after the season.

They were only down 1 run when Kahnle came in and blew the game. Keep the game at 1 and the Yankees have a good chance to manufacture a run at some point. Instead, Kahnle gave up 3 runs and the Yankees now had to play for a big inning. The odds of that happening are much less than the odds of manufacturing one run. Kahnle lost the game for the Yankees yesterday. CC officially earned the L, but Kahnle was the real culprit.

But for how much longer? He is now 34 years old.

It is worth highlighting that if the Yankees kept Andrew Miller maybe they have a chance in games 6 and 7 when D.Robertson and Kahnle blow it. In return for Miller, the Yankees acquired two hyped prospects. Cashman has made some good moves, but the Andrew Miller trade haunted the Yankees postseason run. They needed a more dependable bullpen arm to go along with Chapman and didn't have it. the decline of Betances also hurt the Yankees quest.

Stanton wants out, wants to play for a contender. There is no evidence that Votto wants out. I would rather have Stanton, he is younger than Votto, but I'm skeptical the Red Sox can acquire him without giving up something like Devers or Beinintendi. Will the Marlins really move Stanton as a salary dump? If yes, I'm all in. If not, the Red Sox don't have the minor talent to acquire him.

I sometimes wonder if this had something to do with Farrell getting fired. This is the second year in a row where the Red Sox's SPs were awful in the playoffs. Maybe they need fewer innings during the regular season to keep them strong in October? I don't know. Sale threw 214.1 innings and we are now at the point where we are saying that is too much. Amazing how baseball has changed from the days of Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Gaylord Perry, etc.

You watch Verlander and Darvish pitch in the postseason and you can't help but wonder if the Red Sox would have been better off keeping Kopech and Moncada and acquiring a pitcher like Verlander or Darvish without giving up such great young talent. The Astros and Dodgers acquired Verlander and Darvish without giving up prospects like Moncada and Kopech. Sure, without Sale, the Red Sox probably don't win the division but where did winning the division get them? Sale helped them win a division but then, in turn, helped them lose in the ALDS. The Red Sox need more power in their lineup. Moncada is going to strike out a lot, but he would give them power at 2b for years to come. It also looks like the Red Sox are going to soon need a starting 2b--Pedroia isn't going to last forever and will likely need some work at DH to keep him fresh. In the meantime, Kopech looks like a stud. I'm skeptical things will end well for Dombrowski. He will likely leave the organization as a disgrace in a couple of years. He won't be fired, Henry won't do that to him, but if he doesn't win a championship over the next two years, his trades will likely haunt the Red Sox for years to come.

I think Judge should throw to Castro instead of Didi. Castro was all set up for the throw. Going after the runner at 2b didn't make sense. Judge blew it--poor defense--and his offense has been inexcusable. Judge is the kind of player who puts up big numbers against lousy pitching and doesn't hit quality guys. He is a loser. Seeing the Yankees go to the bullpen early made me think how bad of a deal the A.Miller trade was. Cashman traded away a dominant reliever and, in return, got a hyped prospect in Frazer who has never produced big numbers, along with an SP prospect who is a middle of the rotation starter at best. Cashman has made some great moves, but the A.Miller trade was not one of them.

Votto doesn't want to leave the Reds. I don't think the Red Sox have enough minor league talent to acquire Stanton. Machado will cost bucks, but not prospects. JD Martinez is interesting, but I'm not sure where you play him?

No, Moreland plays 1b. The DH might be Pedroia but it isn't easy to evaluate that situation without knowing more about the medicals. My guess is that Pedroia won't last an entire season at 2b--he will need time in the DH spot in future seasons. It would be a mistake to sign someone to a bad contract just to add some HRs to 1b. You wait for Machado and hope that the offense will improve in 2018 with growth form guys like Devers and Benintendi (and a better year from Betts). The Red Sox did win the division, their offense was good enough for that. Their starting pitching failed them in the playoffs for the second year in a row. I'm not sure how the Red Sox address the starting pitching problems. I'm not sure why some guys are great in the postseason and other guys are Chris Sale and Rick Porcello.

I think Machado is the target and so you resign Moreland to a one year deal. Move Devers to 1b, sign Machado, AFTER the 2018 season. I think they go to war with pretty much the same team in 2018--they don't have enough realistic options to significantly upgrade the offense until Machado hits the market. Benintendi and Devers could make big strides in 2018, which would lead to an improved offense. Maybe they can do some research and try to figure out why some pitchers excel in the postseason and others are like Chris Sale. They should try to upgrade the rotation, but that will be hard to do. They need to manage Sale differently during the season to keep him strong for the postseason. They need to get Pedroia's health figured out. They may need to move him to the DH spot, which wouldn't be a bad idea as it would keep Hanley's dreadful option from vesting.

I'm not sure they had better alternatives anyway. Brock Holt would probably hit .050 if given an opportunity to play in the ALDS. As bad as Pedroia and Bogaerts were, if Sale and Kimbrel don't s*** in the bed, the Red Sox play a game 5. Sale and Kimbrel have a lot to answer for, especially Sale, but yeah, I've never seen Pedroia play this poorly and Bogaerts is a total mess offensively and defensively. Maybe he is the SS version of A.Craig, a guy who has some good years but then loses it and never recovers.

Two of the players Dombrowski emptied out the farm system for were total losers in the ALDS: C.Sale and C.Kimbrel. That hurts.

There is a lot that could go wrong with the trade. For example, Sale could go on the DL with an elbow issue in 2018, and go under the knife, while Kopech could develop into a dominant starter by 2019 and Moncada could be a perennial All Star. It'll take a few years before we can reach a definitive conclusion.

There is no doubt that Ben Cherrington totally screwed up the rotation. Dombrowski came in and tried to fix what Cherrington screwed up. I'm just worried that Dombrowski has made matters worse in the long term by trading away Kopech.....

Watching this series, watching the Yankees bullpen blow it, made me think of what a bad deal it was when Cashman traded away A.Miller for a guy who can't hit in Clint Frazier and a future bottom of the rotation starter in J.Sheffield. Bad work by Cashman. The Yankees need A.Miller NOW; instead, A.Miller is on the team that will eliminate the Yankees from the playoffs. Funny thing is, if Dombrowski made this dumb deal, Red Sox fans would criticize Dombrowski to no end. Cashman miscalculated. He thought the Yankees were a few years away from contending. Well....he was wrong....Cashman also made the mistake of giving Miller away for practically nothing. IMO, Frazier and Sheffield are like Fool's Gold, highly regarded prospects according to some people, but the Guardians knew these guys weren't that good, AND the Guardians have been excellent at evaluating talent.

n/m

Letting Kimbrel and Sale leave via free agency might be the best decision anyway. The bigger problem is putting a package together that would interest the Marlins. Dombrowski has pretty much gutted the farm system.

I don't see how the Red Sox can acquire Stanton--Dombrowski already traded away too many of their promising prospects. The Marlins aren't going to want Bogaerts--he is too close to free agency and is coming off a down season.

The Astros are just better than us. When a team is superior, you need a starter to step up and carry your team to a few victories in a short series. Bob Gibson did this. Josh Beckett did this. Sale didn't do this, and, as a result, the Red Sox are going to lose. If Sale is dominant in game one, giving the Red Sox a victory, and is waiting for the Astros in game 5, the Red Sox would only need to win one more. Sale was our only hope. He was a disaster and now the better team will prevail. This is why Dave Cameron was right when he argued that the Red Sox shouldn't trade Moncada and Kopech for Sale. The Red Sox gave up too much for a short term upgrade. Dombrowksi "went for it" but that strategy carries significant long term risks. If Sale doesn't deliver a championship, you lose the deal by a wide margin. They will need to manage Sale differently next year, cut down on his innings earlier in the season so that he doesn't experience a Sept and Oct swoon. They still have two years to win with Sale, but Moncada and Kopech will likely outperform Sale in the long term, and, perhaps even in the soon-to-be near term.

This is what will happen. The Red Sox will play the Astros and win the series. Yankees win the wild card game and then go on to upset the Guardians. The Red Sox and Yankees play in ALCS. The Yankees go up 3 games to none; the Red Sox win the next four and move on to the World Series. I haven't figured out the NL yet--still working on it.

In terms of big free agent acquisitions, while I'm open to Hosmer after the 2017 season, the guy I really want is M.Machado after the 2018 season. He will be 26 at the beginning of the 2019 season and likely has huge years, perhaps MVP years, in front of him. Sure, he will want an enormous contract, but the Red Sox are a big market team and can afford that kind of contract. I don't know about his position, though. (1) Can he play SS full time? If he can play SS, he would be a huge upgrade over Bogaerts. (2) Assuming Devers has a strong season in 2018 defensively, I wouldn't move Devers off of 3b just to make room for Machado. But if Devers struggles defensively in 2018, they could move Devers to 1b. (3) Would Machado be open to playing 1b? He has had knee problems in the past, and a move to 1b might help him in this regard. (4) Machado to 2b and Pedroia to DH? Pedroia isn't going to last forever and the Red Sox may soon be in the market for a starting 2b. But Machado doesn't look like a 2b to me--he doesn't quite fit the profile. I know Machado isn't overly popular with Red Sox fans, but there is no denying his talent. The Manny Ramirez contract worked out well for the Red Sox, and Machado could be Manny Ramirez Part II, a middle of the order bat who leads the team to multiple world series titles.

I'm not sure if this has been posted already, but it sounds like the Red Sox weren't just blowing smoke when they accused the Yankees of using technology to steal signs: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/20608951/boston-red-sox-say-video-evidence-yanks-using-yes-camera-steal-signs If MLB penalizes the Red Sox by taking away draft picks, they will have to do the same to the Yankees.

You can steal signs within the white lines, that is acceptable, but MLB has to draw a line when it comes to using technology to steal signs. Problem is, if the league doesn't punish the Red Sox, teams will use technology for all kinds of in-game advantages, there is no end to the different possibilities, and so the league will likely come down hard on the Red Sox in order to stop it. I think the Red Sox will be fined and will lose draft picks. MLB has to make it hurt--and no one likes to lose draft picks. The Red Sox shouldn't have gone there. It makes this team less likeable.