Considering that the Sox won't be able to sign an IFA over $300K for the next two seasons, I'm excited about the bonus pool drafting so high will net them and what they could potentially do with it.
They can trade portions of their IFA pool away to other teams, hopefully they can get a comp pick in the draft from somebody for some of that IFA cap space. Doubt it happens but that's my dream.
Maybe there is a loop hole they can find in the IFA bonus pool and they trade it to the yankees and visa versa so they get to spend more... Ya never know ... if they have a good enough lawyer.
<abbr>Ross thrown out of the game, arguing a checked swing. Thought he didn't go. Lol Ross tried to act like a big shot and kept trying to go after 1B umpire. </abbr>
Even the Seattle announcers said he checked his swing... geez it was great watching someone who cared too.
Have to say the jury is still out for me. Hernandez is truly amazing to watch, tremendous fun. But yes, Pedro is still the sun shining in the pitching sky - for now.
While the jury is still out on Felix, it may be awhile before it comes in as hardly anybody has seen him quite into pedro's taped up to the post in the dugout comedy... and the hundred other loosen up the team acts he came up with over the years!
Does this mean they used the lateness of the year to get a luxury tax break of 2 million a year or will it just be pro-rated to next year on at 12M per yr? Seems like a good deal if the get him at 10.3M if true.
I think a Castillo signing spells doom for Mookie and that really annoys me. Fenway's got such a big right field that you could make an argument for putting Castillo there, but Cespedes-Betts-Castillo doesn't seem very likely.
I believe the front office understands now just how this year compares to past years and green young players. If they get Castillo then the outfield barring trading Victorino would look something like this: Craig - Castillo -Cespedes with Victorino and Nava as the backups. They have the money for that and a lot is already sunken costs anyway. You will have Jackie and Mookie in AAA until someone gets hurt and then the better option at the time will be coming up and going down like Ellsbury did way back when they needed a quality player to mix it up in 07. That formula sure seems to me will be the most likely for next year. With Cespedes maybe gone at years end 16 will take care of itself.
Here's the real question. Does JBJ ever get a chance again to prove he's a starter for the Red Sox? Is his scouting report of having great OBP skills and a solid hit tool now look to be complete and utter garbage?
A strategy the sox used in the past was get a middle of the road veteran to fill in with the young player getting reps and enough playing time to take over if/when they deem him ready... Maybe they should go back and use that like they did with Coco and Ellsbury. Seemed to work then and it still could work for JBJ if he gets his feel back in AAA.
JBJ sent down? Last 2 games he was 3-6 bb and a sac fly. SSS obv. People questioning if Betts is a placeholder for Castillo because of Scott Lauber's tweet.
If you look at the quality on the team he was hitting against that might explain the teams decision to send him down. Sure looked like he was good at hitting against AAA pitching this week and that might be what they figure he needs to get some confidence back.
I'm actually hoping we land him now if it's for the right price. Even if he's worse in the infield, a versatile fielding 27 year old with upside is good enough for me. We don't need him to be Puig or Abreu to improve our team. His K numbers aren't nearly as bad as I thought, although the pitching in Cuba isn't great.
I heard the rumors yesterday were talking 6/50 could be the plausible top deal. The Sox have money and this coming year they need to show they are serious to the fans so maybe they (per their tradition) go shorter and higher. Wouldn't surprise me nor would I complain if they went 5/50 even to get him.
Could be even more right-handed next year. I think we could see Cespedes in CF with Victorino in RF and Craig in LF. Nava would be a perfect 4th OF given that lineup.
What I was thinking is Bradley slots immediately into the 4th OF role, if they don't come up with a guy over the winter to team with Cespedes/Betts.
In that case, Bradley is at Pawtucket and Craig is the 4th OF/1b/DH.
Is Victorino going to be ready before the all star break next year? Seems to me his surgery would take him out for quite awhile. My L4/L5 took me out forever. My wife's L3/4 she took a 3 months to go to a desk job and at a year she still wasn't 100%. Course he is an athlete and has better surgeons but still is it that much difference?
Oh here we go again. It's all mental. It's a good thing he's not as mental on defense. He must be a completely different person out there in the field.
It may not be mental is a possibility for sure. However it does lead to a confidence level and in the field he looks relaxed and full of confidence when he makes those long runs to catch a screamer out there.
At the plate he doesn't appear relaxed and confident isn't an understatement. That alone effects his hitting. To me you can bet he is getting tons of advise from the players and coaches but trying to input to much at once may be causing a lot of his disastrous season as it looks to be getting worse and worse. As to the physical aspect of his hitting, the way he is getting those jumps in the field and the amount of running shows he isn't to hurt ... doesn't that mean his decline is other than totally a physical problem?
Honestly, most free agents use what is essentially a modified blind bidding process. It really just means that the player/agent will solicit bids, won't shop offers around to other teams, and will accept the highest bid.
You might be partially right but we hear to much about what the bids are before hand from some of the media who claim to know...
That is unless it is Boras then the mystery team is always the highest bidder till the last day.
My favorite part about this whole Betts could take the spot easily thing, is the fact that we are all saying the same damn thing about JBJ just 2 years ago. Relax with that crap.
Betts is doing a whole lot better in the minors than Bradley did and at a younger age. Defense is great, but a guy with average defense and way above average offense is preferable to a guy with elite defense and way below average offense.
This is the way I feel too. I would much rather have a young Ellsbury out there than Jackie at this point. Betts, if played right could become that young Ellsbury with some extra work out there during this next year.
...so I can't watch the game at the moment, but I'm looking at the box score and liking Buch's performance. Two earned over six innings? Eight strikeouts to two walks? 8:1 GB/FB ratio?
Does he look as solid as the stats would indicate? Because it looks like a hell of a reason for optimism to me.
Not if you listen to all the whining online right now! lot of pitches through 6 is all you can really complain about though.
He still needs some work to get back to a quality pitcher.
He needs to be in AAA to close his holes in his swing and regain his confidence. As far as his glove being good enough to stay is a tough call. It depends on the other guys in our lineup. If we have seven or more hitters in the lineup then yes. I feel we have six productive hitters roughly. If we were contending he'd be needed as a forth outfielder and defensive replacement.
There is no need now to send him down at least until next spring it would seem to me. As I look at it he would lose an option year (this year's) if we send him down now? If the reports are true they are going after Castillo aggressively than we may need to send him down next spring at least to sort out the outfield logjam unless Jackie is just going to be the defensive outfielder with no bat for a year or two which would slow his development.
St. Louis gets to keep Piscotty and Grichuck and Taveras and all their shiny OF prospects...but have to trot a tired Lackey and/or broken Masterson out there for the playoffs.
I'm liking what Ben did at the deadline more and more. Hopefully Joe Kelly keeps up the solid performance and earns himself a rotation spot for next year.
On a more gameday related note, how many more poor starts before Buchholz loses his spot?
Both sides seemed to spend the same amount of time evaluating whether they were right for each other - about 5 minutes.
Didn't Theo go so far as to hire someone to follow Crawford extensively and report on him ... That would tell me they did a lot of research and evaluation before the signing. This article talks some about it anyway.
"Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said he employed "a bad figure of speech" when he said the Red Sox checked out Carl Crawford "as if we were privately investigating him" before signing the free-agent outfielder last December.
Crawford said Tuesday that he was "creeped out a little bit" when Epstein told him that the club had monitored him, not only on the field, but off the field, in the months before signing him."