Hugh2

He needs all the help he can get. Maybe just getting on base and being able to do something productive on the offense side will help him swing for the fences better too. He needs to try something, the team is so much better when he's going.

I was joking, but the thought of a Jacoby Ellsbury throwing down a drag bunt and being half way down the line by the time his bat hits the ground is pretty exciting. Maybe Duran needs to learn to bunt.

I don't think his 5.21 ERA in Portland is inspiring too many folks about him performing any better up two levels in the bigs. He also walks a lot of guys. Love the K rate though, he could be more in a relief role. But like.......they're still starting him.

Personally I like the sac bunt when the bases are loaded, there are 2 outs and your 40 HR hitter slow as fudge is at the plate. Nothing gets me more excited.

Oh, I'm certain it is, but that doesn't mean an injury can't strike. Regardless, there's a difference between being hopeful about a clean bill of health than not being prepared for it. The pitching could use help, doesn't have to be high end it can be more depth but at the very least we need depth.

Yes, sacrifice bunting is stupid. I don't mind the main objective moving a guy to 2nd/3rd but you should also be trying to reach base.

Anyone who is willing to bet we have zero injuries on the pitching side thru seasons end has some serious balls.

I agree. I wonder what the "stats" say on it when a guy who is a good bunter sees the thirdbaseman playing deep and the batter is a burner.

I still want to buy pitching. Also, even if there was a strong correlation between workload increase and injuries that wouldn't mean that injuries wouldn't exist in the absence. Theres' more than one way to skin a cat, it's also true that there are more ways for something to go wrong.

X-Ray came back negative.

Figure of speech

No one likes bunting anymore because statistically it’s a bad decision. However, it also means teams are expecting it less. Sometimes you gotta do the opposite of what they say. If you’re not overplaying your hand you’re going to get better results.

The whole bullpen has been much better than I thought they were ealier this year. With Slaten stepping it up the Slaten/Whitlock/CHapman back end has been nails. Tyron Guerrero has been good, Weissert and Watson have looked better recently as well. Not great but fine for 6th inning guys and Jovani Moran has been really good lately. I'm sure they could still use a depth arm, or some talent with options.

I mean, we've been witnessing this for a few years now, especially in the modern game where pitchers pitch harder than they ever have. It's not just the risk of fatigue but how will that effect them the following season? Is Crochetts injury related to such? He went from 24 innings to 146 innings to 200 innings and now he's going to miss most of this year. Actually the more I research this the more confusing it becomes. There actually isn't any real hard evidence to support this. However, teams obviously really care about workload, I think there is more evidence that guys get fatigued. I still, even with lack of evidence of the correlation of injury and increased workload, believe starting pitching should be a priority. Because all our depth is gone. It's just gone. Right now our next starters up are. Bello/Wehunt and that's it. The next two guys in WOO are Raymond Burgos and Michael Sansone who would need to be added to the 40 man.

Maybe? or you roll with a 6 man rotation. Not for the whole season but teams employ that over a 1-2 month stretch much much more often than I realized until I looked into it. It makes sense. I mean if you're superstitious, wouldn't you be concerned with another Sox pitcher going down? pitchers go down like flies nowadays and we've ran through all our depth. We could also (or in addition to a starter) pick up another guy who has options who can go up/down.

Castillo has a 4.85 ERA in a down season, that's fine for a #5 guy. I don't need an ace I need innings. Having innings helps Gray/Suarez/Tolle/Bennett and the bullpen.

Here is a better way of looking at it. Here is our current rotation: Gray/Suarez/Tolle/Bennett/Sandoval. Whos is the next guy if one of them goes down? Bello? sure but you need an opener then who is next? Blake Wehunt? and again you have to consider these guys are going to get fatigued especially the ones pushing their innings limit. You need innings. And I would seriously consider a 6 man, which is not all too uncommon for a partial season in the big leagues nowadays.

Here are some facts. Since June 19th the offense. FWar - 15th HR's - 18th OBP - 16th RUNS - 8th Those are average numbers. Which is fine, because before June 19th they were dead last in every category. Pitching and defense can dominate games if the offense is good enough and not deadlast like they were in runs scored earlier this season. I'd expect the inverse to be true as well. If you have elite hitting, you don't need elite pitching, but you can't have bad pitching. I'm open to the Sox making more additions on offense if it fits the mold of the Mead trade. What does that mean? well they moved Early for another young player with 4.5 years of control; he wasn't a rental. Best place to make that upgrade is at catcher, which may be more realistic in the offseason. Pitching is what concerns me, we are witnessing how completely dominant this team can be when the hitting is good enough, but if that pitching takes a step back the team will seriously regress. Both Tolle and Bennett are either at or above their career innings pitched, Sandoval is coming off TJS, and your ace is not so young anymore. Don't get me wrong, Gray has been amazing, but the fact is he's pushing 37 and age always must be concerned when it comes to injury or fatigue risk. Your depth has been decimated, and what you have carries a TON of risk. The team doesn't need an ace, but it needs innings, it needs a serious innings eater. Crochet may be able to come back and help in the bullpen at some point, but the time has passed to be able to ramp him up to starting, unless he was coming back now (which he's not) I would entertain a rental at SS, and I would entertain a cost-controlled upgrade at Catcher, but I'd certainly be targeting pitching.

I don't need a stud, I need a guy to eat innings and not give up 10 runs. Castillo is still a fine BOTR guy, if the price is right I'd certainly be ok with trading for him.

I mean, you’re probably right, but it wouldn’t be the first time a player says one thing and by the time they’re traded and their ego takes a hit they reconsider. i figure Lindor is still a short stop, he’s fine there, but at some point his defense is going to to take a hit and he’s going to have to move. Father Time is undefeated

What does it matter if he was DFA’d? If he performs how he had this year so what? Every other team could have got him too but they didn’t. if he hits well, it’s a great trade, if early becomes an ACE and Mead becomes a pumpkin it will be a whole lot of egg of BreSLOWS face.

Yeah, I generally use it as a measuring stick. If BTV grades the trade as fair I don't think that's the end all be all because it certianly doesn't entertain how the teams feel and value the players. But if I plug the numbers in and one team is getting $60-$100 million in surplus value over the other I just know it's a trade that no team is going to entertain. It's a filter, and nothing more, and it's fun.

I would say the same thing MVP would, still would.....but it holds up surprisingly well. Outliers will always exist as teams value guys differently

I don't disagree, but when you compare the surplus value at the time of actual trades it's very much on a lot. So if someone posts a trade where one team is getting $60 surplus value it's almost certainly a bad trade. Could it happen? sure but BTV has held up better than that Lets do it with actual trades this deadline and see how much it can vary.

I think you're understimating how cheap the worse teams can be. Burger king was notorious for not spending a dime on market research of where to put their stores, they just looked at where McDonalds was going and set up shop as close to them as they could.