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Post by jrffam05 on May 21, 2014 8:11:58 GMT -5
Agreed. Spending nearly 2 full seasons, while enduring 700+ PA at a sub .300 OBP rings of the Sox not giving up, for better or for worse anytime soon. I only thought a couple years back Middlebrooks was destined to become another Butch Hobson for the team, but now that would be a vast improvement. And he effectively took Jenny Dell away from us. What a jerk.
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Post by raftsox on May 21, 2014 8:43:14 GMT -5
In short: it might be close enough that any additional signing/trade causes them to go over the luxury tax, but this transaction alone doesn't look like it'll do so. Also remember that this ownership might be willing to pay luxury tax limit for the right addition at the right time. They may also trade Peavy and bring up one of the AAA starters for the second half. I'm inclined/hopeful that that's the plan since it's a clear need for 2015.
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Post by jimed14 on May 21, 2014 8:54:39 GMT -5
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Post by jmei on May 21, 2014 10:06:14 GMT -5
Reading his postgame comments it sounds like they've successfully destroyed Xander's confidence. I admit that this move makes them slightly better but I'm not convinced it's worth the collateral damage of screwing with the best prospect you've had in like 40 years. That said, if Xander's makeup is all it's cracked up to be he should be able to deal with it and not be making errors in the field because he's upset (something he basically admitted to after the game). This is going to sound insensitive, and in some ways it is, but he needs to suck it up. If he's going to be the player we want him to be, he's going to have to learn how to deal with adversity.
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Post by Guidas on May 21, 2014 10:08:31 GMT -5
Exactly. Plus, you're 21 and in the majors - hello!? We moved you to the cubicle on the left. Deal.
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Post by jimed14 on May 21, 2014 10:23:53 GMT -5
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Post by mgoetze on May 21, 2014 11:01:43 GMT -5
Uhm... all this is only true if Drew is out of options, right?
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Post by jimed14 on May 21, 2014 11:16:51 GMT -5
Uhm... all this is only true if Drew is out of options, right? You are right. I'm going to register www.howmanyoptionsdoeshehaveleft.com and keep it up to date on every player ever. I'll make millions.
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Post by jmei on May 21, 2014 11:18:38 GMT -5
No, I think OAW apply even if Drew does has options remaining (which he does).
ADD: this is basically the scenario that happened with Daniel Nava-- he didn't report right to Pawtucket and had to wait 48 hours for the formality of clearing OAW. I continue to maintain that no other team is going to break the gentlemen's agreement and claim Drew on OAW, so he'll definitely get his 7-10 days in the minors.
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Post by johnsilver52 on May 21, 2014 11:26:01 GMT -5
In short: it might be close enough that any additional signing/trade causes them to go over the luxury tax, but this transaction alone doesn't look like it'll do so. Also remember that this ownership might be willing to pay luxury tax limit for the right addition at the right time. They may also trade Peavy and bring up one of the AAA starters for the second half. I'm inclined/hopeful that that's the plan since it's a clear need for 2015. One for lester, maybe one for Peavy if they don't offer him a QO/trade him and possibly one for Doubrant if they don't get tired of his inconsistencies and move him over the offseason. Now is the time to do it when they have the talent at the AAA level, it could (figuratively speaking) never happen again for this team to have so many top SP prospects all nearly ready to break through and with the team struggling approaching the 1/3 mark, I am hoping they don't go out and just start making desperation rental trades. No issues with a 1y look-see at 2-3 of the starters, they are going to HAVE to anyway one way or the other. Was another reason wanted to see Cecchini called up. Drew was a desperation move also, just threw out 10m in cash, thank goodness didn't cost any of the top prospects. Sometimes being a large market team has drawbacks. A small market team (Rays, Oakland) that generally compete, but struggled at this point would not have to worry about throwing out big $$$ and top kids for rentals, a team like Boston? You got to worry as a fan. Take it in stride when every season isn't a WS champ, just enjoy them all.
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Post by jrffam05 on May 21, 2014 11:31:57 GMT -5
Uhm... all this is only true if Drew is out of options, right? You are right. I'm going to register www.howmanyoptionsdoeshehaveleft.com and keep it up to date on every player ever. I'll make millions. Brought this up on the Projo chat Comment From Justin F Does Drew have to go through waivers before he can start his minor league assignment? 12:28 Tim: So I'll try to explain this as best I can: Yes. 12:30 Tim: Since Drew isn't going on a rehab assignment, he needs to be placed on the active 25-man roster and demoted, as it were. He has an option, but it's been so long since he used his first option that he has to be placed on optional assignment waivers for 48 hours. Other teams can conceivably claim him, but there's a kind of gentleman's agreement that they won't. (Bard passed through OAVs last season before being claimed on waivers when he was DFAd.) Even if a team claims him, the Red Sox can pull Drew back; they'd just need to keep him on the big-league roster then, meaning he'd have to freshen up at the majors. Got it?
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Post by p23w on May 21, 2014 13:35:22 GMT -5
Reading his postgame comments it sounds like they've successfully destroyed Xander's confidence. I admit that this move makes them slightly better but I'm not convinced it's worth the collateral damage of screwing with the best prospect you've had in like 40 years. That said, if Xander's makeup is all it's cracked up to be he should be able to deal with it and not be making errors in the field because he's upset (something he basically admitted to after the game). This is going to sound insensitive, and in some ways it is, but he needs to suck it up. If he's going to be the player we want him to be, he's going to have to learn how to deal with adversity. Do the names Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Roger Clemens, Curt Shilling, Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra ring any 40 year old bells? Absolutely. Suck it up Xander, you are young, you are talented. Machado came up as a SS and due to the veteran Hardy, he transitioned to 3B and earned a "platinum" glove. Same age, same expectations. The real fly in the ointment has been Will Middlebrooks inability to adjust offensively, which, I suspect has had an adverse affect on his defense. That and the god awful trade of Morales for Herrera.
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Post by mgoetze on May 21, 2014 16:01:56 GMT -5
That and the god awful trade of Morales for Herrera. I mean they could DFA Herrera today and that would make me happy but what would you do with Morales? Have him start in place of Doubront so none of our prospects ever get a chance? No thanks.
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Post by moonstone2 on May 21, 2014 21:55:20 GMT -5
When Middlebrooks first went down Alex Spier reported that the Sox had no intetest in Drew. Two days resulting in the Sox longest losing streak since 2012 and suddenly the guy they said they didn't want a couple of days ago is signed. There are only a couple of possible explanations for this. #1 Spier is a bad reporter and reported based upon minimal or unreliable sources. #2 Spier was purposely misled by people he trusted. #3 Spier's sources are in baseball ops and they didn't make this decision. This feels to me like an ownership decision and not a baseball ops decision. If that's the case everyone should be troubled regardless of the merits of the decision. Or it could just be they were playing it close to the vest. Why would you tell a reporter such things to begin with when it could get in other players - Xander and Middlebrooks' - heads? Well they weren't playing it close to the vest as apparently they didn't even start negotiating till Sunday. Highly placed sources do tell reporters all kinds of stuff. It's an entire industry. Myself I am not quite sure why they do, but they do. The simplest explanation is that they didn't want him on Saturday, but for whatever reason wanted him on Sunday/Monday. To me Ben doesn't seem the type to quickly change his mind like that, but I could be wrong. And we should always remeber that ownership chose a manager in 2012 that neither the players nor the front office wanted. Larry Luccino is not above telling the GM to go sign a player because the team dropped a few games in a row.
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Post by moonstone2 on May 21, 2014 21:59:40 GMT -5
This is going to sound insensitive, and in some ways it is, but he needs to suck it up. If he's going to be the player we want him to be, he's going to have to learn how to deal with adversity. Do the names Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Roger Clemens, Curt Shilling, Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra ring any 40 year old bells? Absolutely. Suck it up Xander, you are young, you are talented. Machado came up as a SS and due to the veteran Hardy, he transitioned to 3B and earned a "platinum" glove. Same age, same expectations. The real fly in the ointment has been Will Middlebrooks inability to adjust offensively, which, I suspect has had an adverse affect on his defense. That and the god awful trade of Morales for Herrera. I am one who thinks they should have traded Hardy and made Ma chado the SS.
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Post by jmei on May 21, 2014 23:28:19 GMT -5
The simplest explanation is that they didn't want him on Saturday, but for whatever reason wanted him on Sunday/Monday. Well, Will Middlebrooks also suffered his finger injury Friday night and was put on the DL on Saturday. We still don't have a timetable for Middlebrooks' return-- if he's out for a month+, that would have motivated them to get a replacement pretty quickly.
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Post by jimed14 on May 22, 2014 9:42:08 GMT -5
I think keeping him away from the Yankees and Tigers probably played a part in signing him. It was getting pretty close to 6/1.
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Post by jrffam05 on May 22, 2014 10:24:00 GMT -5
Trade Stephen Drew for Jose Iglesias
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Post by amfox1 on May 22, 2014 12:49:25 GMT -5
(1) is the only potential falsehood I see. (2) is undoubtedly correct; Boras would likely have waited for the draft to set up an auction. It is way too early to say that (3) is false, although I understand that there is a group of posters on this site who would jump to that conclusion at this early date in the season.
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Post by elguapo on May 22, 2014 14:08:33 GMT -5
"Multi-year offers" could mean multiple one-year offers with an option from one team. It's not a high hurdle to surmount in agent-speak, and there are plenty of reasons that such offers could be relatively unattractive.
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Post by jimed14 on May 22, 2014 15:13:56 GMT -5
"Multi-year offers" could mean multiple one-year offers with an option from one team. It's not a high hurdle to surmount in agent-speak, and there are plenty of reasons that such offers could be relatively unattractive. Or from Japanese teams. I don't really listen to a word Boras says.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on May 23, 2014 10:04:13 GMT -5
Is the better plan is to station middlebrooks in AAA and let him heal/rebuild his value until september OR platoon Will? Thoughts?
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Post by grandsalami on Jun 9, 2014 17:13:43 GMT -5
Pete Abraham ?@peteabe 3m Also of interest: Farrell implied that a maximum 10-day minor league stint was negotiated for Drew. Ready or not, he was coming up.
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Post by godot on Jun 9, 2014 17:18:57 GMT -5
I am a Drew fan, but it was even clear to me that he would have some aches, pains, and minor injuries when he started playing again. Body just not ready. Even though he worked out, the several months away from competitive would create problems. The pressures and stress on the body is just not the same working out He also took some time getting back his stroke after coming back from injuries last year.
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Post by grandsalami on Jun 12, 2014 15:19:08 GMT -5
Jason Mastrodonato ?@jmastrodonato 4m Stephen Drew reaggravated oblique. May go for MRI tomorrow.
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