Hugh2

I understand that, but to further the clarification saying a guy is about average....isn't exactly the greatest argument in his favor. This isn't a knock against Holt, nor is it a cry to replace him in LF, I'm merely stating that it should be an option. This is a thread about roster moves and trade speculation no??? what does this team need? an improvement against LHP. We are currently 26th in BA against LHP, 24th in OBP and 25th in SLG% I was merely suggesting an upgrade in LF against LHP. Shaw can't hit LHP....now I'm not saying to take him out of the lineup now against LHP but if he still has horrible splits come July I'd consider plugging Holt at 3B vs. LHP. In that scenario I'm looking for a bat to put in left. I'm not necessarily even talking about Holt not being a starter. But depending on what's out there or if Castillo takes a step forward I would consider it. In that situation we would be better....what's wrong with making the team better???

He doesn't have to close the gap by hitting like a HOFer, if he improves his defense then it takes less of an offensive upgrade for him to close that gap. This is a kid rushed to the majors who was only last year a top 20 prospect in all of baseball. I'm not against the move, and am definitely pro Vasquez to Swihart right now....but Swihart has the potential. The team might of made the right decision to send him down...but moving him off the position is premature and a bit perplexing to me.

Holts career high OPS is .727, he falls off every year and until he doesn't I'm not going to think he will not. Anything short is just speculation. What we do know for a fact is that he can play average to better than average defense at almost any position and that is a void left unfilled by having him in LF. A .725 OPSer isn't exactly screaming "I need to stay here" in LF. This team could do better in LF, and Holt would go a long way to spell Shaw at 3B vs. tough Lefties. Again, I don't buy that a second half drop isn't coming. It would be nice but I just don't see him staying hot in the dog days of summer till October baseball. I'm fine riding the hot hand as well, but if we are still in this thing come trading deadline that should be priority....unless Price never puts it together and other injuries open up a huge hole elsewhere because LF isn't a big hole.

Everybody always thinks about the big move, sometimes it's the little ones that help win championships. We don't need a big time pitcher if....WHEN Price picks it up. If Buccholz/Kelly/Owens/ERod never step it up this year we may need a good back of the rotation starter. Also, I'd like to see a 3B depth option that can hit LHP, because Shaw looks lost out there vs. lefties. Holt has always had good reverse splits so he could see some time there if someone steps up in LF like Castillo but in the absence of that another outfielder should be in the cards as well.

up/down guy. Looking at his career it looks like he's had some good stints in the MLB and other times he's been horrible. Hopefully he can at least keep us in the game and not tax the bullpen.

Sullivan is a place holder for E-rod/Kelly. I want to put Johnson B. in there but I have no ideal where he is on his rehab....time to do some digging.

Erod hasn't exactly had the greatest results in AAA so far but to be fair this is effectively his ST. After a very rough first inning in his last rehab start he did retire 13 of the last 14 batters he faced. Inherently I think they would like to give him more time........but I'm not sure who else they have to match up with Owens spot next week. It will be interesting to see what they do.

I agree, draft is all about process and judging one is stupid. The same process that brought the team Trey Ball brought us Andrew Benintendi (although ultimately the book is still open on both of them) I'd say you're right about trades as well, and that must partially be due to the fact that you're often trading for a known commodity such as Giancarlo Stanton, there is a book on him. There's not much of a book on a draft prospect, we can read baseball america but odds are teams know more about the guys they are looking at than they do. However there is a lot more information out there for me, you and the media to look at the guys a MLB player gets traded for.

I agree, but you need a large sample for hindsight, and I think you need to judge a process and not individual decisions. For example, if a team has drafted on average more MLB talent than any other team in baseball over the course of a certain period of time it is kind of nonsensical to complain about one draft pick or even one bad draft. But you are absolutely correct that both teams need to feel like they've won the deal, and for that to happen it also has to hurt on both sides as well. You're not getting quality back without giving up quality.

Well I'm happy this board has this level of insanity, I guess I just assumed the mix between ideals, rational, and rationality would be the same over here. I'm still learning, although I believe even over there most people were willing to give him more time.

Exactly, trades should always be evaluated at the time they were made. Everyone can tell you now that it was a good ideal to buy Apple stock 10 years ago but not everyone would have 10 years ago!!! I think there is real value to an evaluation process, and investing in a good scouting department, but at the end of the day.....no one has a crystal ball and you can't scout everyone.

Well then, this place should be better for my sanity.

If you evaluate trades in a vacuum you can build any narrative you want if you pick the right trade. Trades almost always end up being lopsided because sometimes none of the prospects develop into good players and sometimes they all do. If you look at the aggregate of major deals, it appears the team acquiring young talent seem to make out better in the long run. That doesn't mean you should ever trade prospects for talent thought because you're also trading future value for present value and a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow.

And to think most Sox fans were all excited when we got him. If only some of us saw the 4 year decline, if only we saw the data on overweight players starting to decline 4 years earlier on average, if only the saw the front office was panicking....if only. But no, Pablo was such a great CLUTCH PLAYER!!!! Ok I'm sorry, I'm done being a dick.....but what really angers me is the next Pablo. There will come a time when there is a free agent we have to have and it too will be a horrible ideal. I've been a strong advocate for years of building a team from within and having patience and periodically through out the last few years there have been outcrys to trade almost every player from this team. Bogaerts is over rated and doesn't belong at SS we should have traded him while he had value!!!! Betts can't hit MLB pitching his value has crashed trade him!!!! JBJ will never hit MLB pitching, we held onto him for too long!!! Wright is a knuckle baller and doesn't belong in the league. Shaw should be packaged up for Mike Trout (ok...maybe a bit too sarcastic). If some forum arm chair GM fans ran this team....we'd have no young talent, a 250 million dollar payroll littered with Pablo Sandovals.

Wow, I didn't realize some of you guys were conspiracy theorists.

The nature of Pablos injury is no mystery at all and the fact that we don't know more is purely because we are not his doctor. There is nothing extraordinary or peculiar about that. Injuries are just as often not caused by some acute injury, they can often be brought on slowly from every day wear and tear from things such as sitting at your desk or walking with poor gait patterns. The smallest of things can be causing muscular imbalances that one day can lead to soft tissue injuries for seemingly no reason at all. I don't think there are really any questions to be asked that aren't based in some irrational belief that something sinister is going on. Again, why on earth would Pablo and his agent sign off on having surgery if they didn't need it??? would you do that for your job? Their really is zero logic there

I agree that scouting the stat line is a horrible ideal, especially when it is a small sample size and other things are not taken into account. Luck can have a huge factor, age to the level etc. Margot is about 6 years younger than the average AAA player. He's hitting the ball and has an insanely small SO rate, I suspect more power will come when the weather warms up. He's still just 21. Devers also has the lowest BABIP in the Sox system and his K and BB numbers are actually very very good and he's been hitting a lot of line drives. He's literally been hitting the ball at everyone and has had a bad bought of luck. Devers could also spend all year in Salem and still be one of the youngest players next year but I'd be willing to be he mashes the ball by seasons end. I'd actually put more faith in Devers hitting ability than Margot and I've heard from scouts who have actually seen him at the plate and not in a box score that he's getting much better at bats than his stat line would suggest. I would never put too much stock into the stats of A ballers who are 19-21 in early May.

I have a hard time believing Pablo would go along with that, and injuries can be very random and weird. I remember I tore my ACL once after I had been resting for months. I was literally squating up to 400 LB's for a month and when I got into my busy season I didn't get to work out as much but I was still getting some light cardio in 4-5 days a week. I tore my ACL literally getting up off the ground and just standing up. Perhaps it was injured from before and it was about to go any day who knows but that could make sense for Panda as well. Who knows exactly when or how it happen but odds are it wasn't just one movement that could have led to it...he could have had a small tear in it a year ago that has progressively become worse. Also, from his perspective he has zero incentive to get surgery if he didn't need to so I think the fact that he's having surgery confirms that he really was injured.

missed location, 2-run home run to tie the game in the top of the 9th???

If there is one thing Boston fans love it's a good comeback. Remember how quickly our love for Lackey came when he had that great year in 2013??? I was against the Pablo signing and won't get my hopes up but I sure would love to root for the guy.

This. I might be able to buy a phantom injury to send a guy down as it has allegedly happened before. But no player and his agent would ever sign off on having surgery if you didn't need it. The fact that he had surgery validates that he really did have a shoulder problem. Perhaps the rehab he will have to endure to come back will actually help him get back into shape and he can return to some level of productivity next year. It's plausible!!!!

This, but we do need to realize that the regulars on this board don't know and in their eyes we are just as guilty and to an extent we are. If he comes here and continues to be a troll then I'm sure he will either be banned (I'm not sure what the criteria is here to be banned) or he will just become well known as the local troll. I just blocked him.

Last year Bogaerts had 8 defensive runs saved while Iggy had 7.6. Bogaerts did get more innings though and Iggy had a UZR/150 of 3.1 to Bogaerts .9. Iggy is clearly the better defender but not by much. I think the gap between Bogaerts offense being better is bigger than the gap of Iggy's defense being better. When you add to the equation that Iggy has had injury problems in the past and seems to disappear in the 2nd half I think Bogaerts is clearly the better and more well rounded player.

Ok, I apologize, I'm done. I've identified babe for who he is...I'll step away.

Yes, which has nothing to do with what I said. You said 24/7 not me, I don't care if it's 24/5 2/7 8/24. That has nothing to do with my point...literally...nothing. Are you referring to the fact that other posters might spend more time in here than you? because that would make sense seeing how a Red Sox fan might have more time invested in talking about the Red Sox than Yankees troll might have in trolling but make no mistake you're a traveling troll. It's official.