5GoldGlovesOF,75

Dichtomy of a forum during baseball season: posters continually discuss ways to improve their favorite team based on observed concerns while at the same time reminding themselves it's always still early. If it's not Only Spring Training, it's only April, and not yet Memorial Day, but not yet Fourth of July, and not even the trade deadline, and not yet Labor Day, and have a happy Halloween.

Wally just asked who stole his head.

Advance scouts are drooling at drawing Boston in the first round of the playoffs. They can just use openers to beat the Sox, and rest their entire starting rotation for the second round.

Worthy topic for an article. Some might dismiss RBIs as a lucky stat, because a batter is fortunate to get up with men on base... he still has to drive them in -- something Boston has struggled with all year. Coming through in the clutch may be a myth to some observers, but ballplayers always know there are certain guys more reliable than other stars (just like a reliever who can get the last three outs in the 9th). The focus on offense is fair, though Mayer's potential impact on the parent club should be more on stabilizing an inconsistent defense. Marcelo isn't going to bump Bregman, Story or Campbell, unless the latter moves to the outfield, which is also where Anthony is headed (we all like Campbell's bat, and we all know Mayer has a superior glove). Some major roster shuffling will have to happen before The Big Three of Campbell, Anthony and Mayer are starting in The Show together.

Giolito is right on target... to opt in: 13 walks, 18 hits in 17 minor league innings so far. Hope most is just residue from working on a new pitch.

There may be 2 giveaways: one is the B disguised as pinetar on the helmet; the other is his #...

Thanks, Hitch, for digging up these quotes. They're enough to make at least one Red Sox fan dizzy. "The club would lose a year on his arbitration if the 20-year-old won 2025 American League Rookie of the Year," Stiefel wrote. "It’s not exactly crazy to think Anthony would be in contention if promoted, so the smartest thing to do in their current state is to wait things out..." Right -- better not bring up Anthony too soon because he might be too good. Is that really the smartest thing? As for the guy on Red Sox Stats who boils it down to: "is Anthony in Boston for the next 60 games worth potentially losing his age-27 season?" -- he should pose this question to owners John Henry and Tom Werner (who are a combined 150 years old). Do the senior owners feel the Sox should do everything possible to win this season or worry more about six years from now, when 99% of their current players will either be playing for another city, fired, or retired? They certainly care about payroll, but what's the value to the franchise of winning another championship?

Maybe sportswriters are getting confused now that the Rookie of the Year gets credited with a year of service time. But there are no specifics for Rookie of the Year eligibility except having rookie eligibility. From MLB.com: "A player shall be considered a rookie unless he has exceeded any of the following thresholds in a previous season (or seasons): • 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues. • 45 total days on an active Major League roster during the Championship Season (excluding time on the Injured List). A player must have rookie eligibility to be considered for any MLB rookie awards -- such as the American League or National League Rookie of the Year Award -- or appear on any MLB Pipeline prospect lists." This kind of reminds me of when Manny was traded to LA in '08, went off for two months, and finished 4th in NL MVP. He only played 53 games for the Dodgers. That same summer CC Sabathia was traded to Milwaukee. He started 17 games for the Brewers and finished 5th in NL Cy Young and 6th in MVP.

Whitlock, Slaten and Chapman = Kirk, Spock and McCoy in the bullpen's landing party.

Just seems like a lot of stress over maintaining control of 99% of a workforce that won't even be working for the same company six years later. The Sox should worry more about the one guy who stayed, and they're obligated to pay $30 million a year through 2033.

Durn right he has strength -- enough to pump those inflated plastic dumb bells that power his grounders all the way to second base. I actually thought his repaired shoulder would let Masa rip away this season, but if he was really letting it fly in rehab you'd think the Sox would be showcasing him somewhere (instead of hiding him like a family member with issues they don't want at the holiday table for fear of disrupting an unfiltered grandparent). "Semi-happy"... that's us. The bottom half of a circle forms a smile that is always frowned down upon.

Very few players are still with their original team six years after making the majors. On the current Red Sox, it's (insert eeegads) Rafael Devers. So, correct me if I'm wrong: all these service time worries by clubs are about having to pay arbitration prices a year earlier? First year arbitration figures aren't even usually that exorbitant -- unless the guy's a total star... which any smart team should be looking to lock up to an extension anyway. If the player is worth it, orgs would gladly pay them earlier to avoid possibly losing them to free agency. It may be good business to manipulate the time clock, but it can also expedite an early exit from subsequent bitterness. Or, as fans this century have seen more than not, the Red Sox tend to overrate or at least overhype their own prospects.

He just might. Imagine all the activities he could do in between ABs: make beaded bracelets, play the flutophone, read Zen (or Zinn), tie-dye t-shirts...

I didn't even try the math; I just googled today through the end of the season, and it said, 156 days left. If there are any loopholes, though, best to keep in mind that Theo Epstein lurks -- the GM who once wouldn't call Kris Bryant to the majors until there were exactly 171 days left, after Bryant was Minor League Player of the Year and then obliterated Spring Training.

Both Duran and Abreu are too valuable to sit, and Breslow has definite needs, so it doesn't make sense not to swing a trade. And they all have strikeout profiles: Duran, Abreu, Rafaela, Campbell, even Anthony -- but he is above the others because he's noted for more power and more patience, the combo that elevates the almighty OPS.

Ok. I read a team couldn't have more than one PPI player, in case one guy's Rookie of the Year, and another finishes 3rd in MVP -- so the Sox would only get one draft pick if say Campbell was ROY and Anthony finishes 3rd in MVP voting... ...like 1975 AL ROY/MVP Fred Lynn and 3rd in MVP Jim Rice.

Rookie of the Year loses a year and his team wins a draft pick... and the Players' Union agreed to this?

It's possible they're playing Campbell in CF to keep his bat in the line-up when they promote Mayer to play 2B. Anthony will be in LF -- Worcester's manager came right out and said that's what they're preparing him for. Anthony and Mayer have to play every day -- that factor could keep them in the minors until spots open up in Boston. Breslow doesn't have to trade one his current outfielders, but that surplus could help net reinforcements for the pitching staff, which is insufficient and inefficient beyond Crochet, Buehler and hopefully Bello. Losing Crawford and Fitts hurts, and they know they can't rely on veteran comebacks from Giolito, Hendriks or Sandoval. A true contender can't just keep sending down used-up pitchers and calling up fresh arms every other day for six months...

From https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/service-time: "A player is deemed to have reached "one year" of Major League service upon accruing 172 days in a given year." According to google math, from today's date until September 28 -- the Red Sox last scheduled game of the regular season, there are 156 days left in the 2025 campaign (the postseason does not count towards service time). Yesterday, Sox President Sam Kennedy said on WEEI, “Well, we just keep walking by Bres’ office saying, ‘Come on, man. What are we waiting for? Let’s go!’”

Boston never makes that trade. They can't risk confusing customers and fans of Fenway Park and the Polar grounds (thrown out after morning coffee). Imagine the advertising angst if Bryan becomes our new ace and FOX starts promoting a Sunday night telecast of Woo's Sox.

Of course not. Boston is sitting pretty. Plenty of time for openings to evolve. Potential trades to free up positions have been discussed by the media since last winter, and definitely on forums, but none demanded a deal this minute or in a couple of weeks or even at the deadline. Alex Mayes also posted an article on talksox the other day about possibly including Mayer as the centerpiece of another blockbuster for a top of the rotation starter. The Sox have other good shortstop prospects in the pipeline, so maybe one them can fetch some help for the pitching staff in a contending year. I just don't see an opt-out in the future of Story as suggested (or Bregman, either).

Or his culpability -- he has done nothing to prove he doesn't belong in the majors. Wait a minute; in four of the past five seasons, Mayer has a higher batting average vs. left-handed pitchers than vs. righties -- that's not down to MLB standards for a southpaw swinger. At least he spends long periods of time on the IL every year, just like big leaguers.

We don't have to... Going out on a limb here, noting that some posters have even dismissed traditional stats of evaluation like batting average, runs batted in, and wins (notice I didn't save saves for last).

Right now in the AL, the Red Sox are one of the 5 or 6 least weakest teams. And there's still time to get stronger.

Ok, but fielding is part of playing the pitcher position. I do like how you said ERA "tries" to measure... ex: reliever comes in and immediately serves up a meatball that finds a gap and scores an inherited baserunner all the way from 1st. Who gave up the run? I just have no tolerance for brutal throwing Es from a guy whose very job is to be the most accurate thrower in the ballpark. "I pitched great -- only one run scored on my own error," said the baseball player playing the pitcher position. When we were kids, it was reassuring to know the best player was always smack-dab in the middle of the diamond. And everyone on the pick-up teams had set positions: Billy Dee Williams was the pitcher, James Earl Jones the catcher, Richard Pryor the right fielder, etc.