Here's a look at the latest out of Boston as everyone continues to digest yesterday's big story..
- The Red Sox absolutely had to make the deal, but they'll now be charged with the task of finding an outfielder, a starting pitcher, and maybe a first baseman and shortstop, writes Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Meanwhile, the Dodgers will have to hope that Carl Crawford is rejuvenated by the laid back environment of Southern California once he comes back from Tommy John surgery.
- Josh Beckett, who found himself as a lightning rod for criticism in Boston, said that it was time to move on from the BoSox, writes Scott Miller of CBSSports.com. Adrian Gonzalez expressed some "regret" about decisions made during his time in Boston, which Miller took to be a reference to the meeting that was called to discuss manager Bobby Valentine.
- At the press conference to formally announce the trade, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington explained that the club will continue to spend, but will do so with fiscal responsibility, writes Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com. "We're not limited in what we'll be able to explore," he said. "At the same time we need to be smart about it. We need to build a team and not be focused on one transaction or the other."
- Despite the trade, Cherington insists that 2013 will not be a "bridge year" and that the club will still look to contend, writes Tim Britton of The Providence Journal.
I would look to sign Ortiz, Ross, Pagan, and McCarthy to 2-year deals if possible. Then trade Ellsbury for a young Starting Pitcher or 1B.
I agree with trading Ellsbury but it’s hard to gauge his trade value and I’m not sure about signing McCarthy. The Sox need to get more proactive in terms of preventing injuries and simply staying away from injury prone players.
Yes, its hard to gauge Ellsbury when in 2 of the last 3 seasons in including this one has been marred by injuries.
Granted 2011 was fantastic and ’08 and ’09 had a combined 120 SBs. I think the trading team will have leverage only because he most recent seasons have been lost.
Boston’s in quite a weird situation with him. I think it’s best for Boston to keep him in 2013 and if he has a monster first half trade him to a contender looking for outfield help.
If he can avoid a freak situation I think he will be fine. And next year will determine whether or not we extend him.
I’d rather have them throw 4/$60 MM at Edwin Jackson than sign McCarthy. The guy’s tremendously underrated and still young.
He’s been in the league for 10 years, and his whip is over 1.4, and he walks everyone, until this year, but he’s in a pitchers park.
The Red Sox JUST got rid of a dumb contract for a pitcher. It would seem counter-intuitive to throw 4 years and 60 million at Edwin Jackson.
Would rather have beckett back at 15m over 2 seasons than Jackson at more than 2 and no way more than 10m, he is a ticking time bomb and always has been.
Anabel Sanchez is better and always has been since finally getting over the arm issues that plagued him up until 4 years ago.
Sanchez 9if Boston even does target any FA) is the sole one out there and only then since he shouldn’t command any type of long term (3-4+ seasons) or 15m+ AAV salary.
Should detroit offer Sanchez arbitration and Boston **not** end up with a top 10 protected pick next June? no way do they sign any FA, as their pick will still be top 15, higher than they have had for decades and when a team rebuilds (or smart ones) you don’t throw away the lotto on over priced gambles like Epstein did.
I just don’t really want Jackson this point for more than 2 seasons. I’d rather make a run at Sanchez or Dempster for like 2 years. Then maybe some prospects the Sox just received from the Dodgers ( De La Rosa, or Webster) will be ready.
I think only the top 8 picks this year are protected John.
This amazes me. If you feel that EJax may not have the mental make up to perform at a high level in Boston, then so be it. If you think it may take too much to sign him (i.e. something that pays him $15 mil + into his age 35 or 36 season) then that’s reasonable. However, if it’s based purely off of performance then I don’t see this “time bomb” you speak of.
2012:
2nd highest K/9 @ 7.74 (career high 7.78 and carer avg of 6.81)
2nd lowest ERA @ 3.72 (career low was 3.62 and career avg of 4.37)
3rd lowest FIP @ 3.99 (career low is 3.55 in 2011/career avg of 4.29)
2nd lowest BB/9 @ 2.82 (career lo is 2.79 in 2011/career avg of 3.56)
Since 2011:
349 IP-7.13 K/9-2.81 BB/9-44.5 GB%-3.76 ERA-3.73 FIP-3.79 xFIP
I think a 4/$52-5/$65 mil is a solid deal. That covers his age 29-33 seasons.
He can get 15m anywhere he wants as long as hopefully isn’t in Boston YFS. They have had enough dangerous Sp contracts and him at 15m would be tilted towards a “lost cause” 4Y 15m AAv from the start it would be so dangerous. it’s why that even if they choose to look at a SP, would prefer they look at Sanchez for many reasons.. less milage, NOT a BORAS client, meaning less overall waste of time looking for a deal and sign faster. Even the BB-K rate for 2 people who have pretty much the same repertoire.. Sanchez walks fewer
Not that it will really matter as expect detroit to offer Sanchez arbitration, even though he is having a rough acclimation period to the AL.
no way on Jackson. I like McCarthy because I think the Sox could get him for 2-3 years and not more than $10M/year. Jackson would just be Lackey all over again.
Ellsbury is staying now as far as I am concerned, you know with that near 300 M we have to spend. McCarthy is a nice idea though.
Ellsbury is a guy that I would only trade if we get a really good return. I’d only pull the trigger if they got a solid young SP in return, for example Ross Detwiler. The best way to get a solid return for Ellsbury is to trade him to a team that will immediately sign him to an extension. I wonder if the Sox could trade Ellsbury/Morales for Morse/Detwiler.
I think Washington is set on having Morse at 1B next year. That trade may have some legs though.
Boras is not going to advise Ells to sign an extension and no team is going to bother signing him after an injury filled year when he has an OPS under .700 in his limited play. Right now he has 1 hr in almost 200 AB, so which is the real Ells, the one that hit 32 hrs last year or the one that never had more than 9 hrs previously? I think a smart GM is going to value him as a solid 15hr/30 SB guy who might give you 130 gms a year.
If the Sox value Ells based off of his 2011 season then I don’t think they are going to find any of the offers suitable. And I don’t see them selling low on Ells either.
With the guys they have coming up through the system I’d actually be a little bit surprised if Ellsbury stayed beyond next year. I like Ellsbury (I’ve been a fan since I saw him play in Portland), but I think they’d be best served letting him leave, getting the draft pick (or trading him for prospects), and using the money somewhere else.
Only way I see him leaving is if they go out and sign Hamilton, which I doubt will happen. Because then they could throw Bradley in center. I really do think they will bring Ells back if the price is reasonable, which it should be unless he beast modes it again.
I don’t think so – Bradley is nearly ready to take over CF, Kalish can play RF (and Brentz is nearly ready and also a RF, plus they have guys like Jacobs, De La Cruz, Hazelbaker, Hassan, Jerez in the lower minors), and you would be wasting a ton of either Ellsbury or Bradley’s value playing them in LF. Plus, unless Ellsbury has another monster year there’s no reason to believe that he’ll provide enough (or any) excess value over those guys to justify the difference in money, and if he does have a monster year he’ll get more money than they’ll want to spend on him.
The only way I see him getting extended is if they do it this offseason and take a gamble on him putting up more years like 2011.
Are you really ready to see you’re mighty Boston Red Sox strut out a OF combination made of 3 of Bradley, Kalish, Ross and Jacobs?
Well, two of those players aren’t actually ready for the majors (you also have to add Brentz to that list, so three who aren’t ready), so I’d have to say no right now. Also, unless they trade him, Ellsbury is still around for next year, but in the general sense, yes, I am.
I wouldn’t mind an outfield of Ross, Bradley, and Kalish (it wouldn’t be ideal, and it shouldn’t last any longer than it has too, but I wouldn’t hate it); and I would actually like an outfield of Jacobs, Bradley, and Brentz (assuming they live up to their expectations enough to actually warrant a starting job in the majors of course).
But most of that really wasn’t even what was important about my point. The most important factor is that Bradley and Ellsbury are both center fielders, and playing either of them anywhere else is a major waste of value, and given the fact that Bradley is projected to be better than non-2011 Ellsbury (and way cheaper), so unless Ellsbury is closer to his 2011 than the rest of his career I would actually prefer Bradley, and if Ellsbury is closer to 2011 than his average (which I actually think he may be), then he is going to price himself out of the range that the Red Sox should pay for him.
…upton…
Yes, also Upton
I see no reason to commit to Ellsbury long term just because they have the money freed up now. Ells is still a major health risk as his style of play has shown a propensity to lead to injury. Add in the fact that Boras is his agent and he is sure to market him based off of his 2011 season, which could be a career year, then you might have a hard time signing him to something other than a risky multi-year deal. I would much rather give more $$$ on a short term deal. If he can be had for 2/$20 plus incentives and an option then maybe (that was somewhat of an arb deal I threw out there. Not sure what he was paid in 2012).
i’d explore a trade to see if anybody’s feeling crazy, but the likely best-case scenario with ellsbury is to keep him and hope he plays great in 2012. and then let him walk
i see no extension scenario that’s favorable to boston
I’m with YanksFan. The Sox should either trade Ellsbury this off-season, or let him walk after 2013. He’s not going to be worth the money that Boras will be looking for. Stop getting so emotionally attached to the players. it blinds clear thinking.
The Red Sox have Ellsbury’s replacement working up down at AA right now in Jackie Bradley Jr. All indications are that JBJr will be a find CF defender and a fine hitter, and will cost only a fraction of what Ells would cost.
The Red Sox next trade? A proposal…. with the Cincinnati Reds
To the Reds:
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, James Loney, Mike Aviles, and Jon Lester
To the Red Sox:
Todd Frazier, Sean Marshall, Mat Latos
Don’t see why the reds would do that.
Me neither seeing as Cinci has a good C prospect, and a much better 1B than Loney.
The Reds have no need for any of them.
Living up to your first name wasn’t that hard for you.
If the Reds agreed to that, Walt Jocketty should be fired on the spot.
Yes thank god the first of the insane redsox trades. Why in the world would the reds want a bunch if backups and salty? They have no need for salty with messoracco who profiles to he much better than salty and Loney makes no sense when they have votto. And latos is a legit top of the rotation starter. One of the worst trades I have ever seen
” latos is a legit top of the rotation starter”
Since when?
Since he finally moved out of a stadium where nobody can hit, to a stadium where hitters have a chance and in half a season has matched his career total for HR allowed??
Lester has proven himself before.. Maybe Latos had best actually accomplish something out of petco.
boston might move some pieces and Salty is one, but it won’t be for middle relievers that the sox have a BP full of and several more at Pawtucket they don’t even have the roster space for and a few they have on the current roster have better numbers than Marshall, making less than 2.4m
Have you seen the home stats of Mat Latos this season? He’s been very good at home compared to the road. That Petco thing is getting way overblown. Outside of his last start he has been great since May.
Just saying. Boston doesn’t need to find an outfielder. We have Kalish, Nava, Pods isn’t terrible. I think we’re fine in the outfield.
Nava and Podsednik are 4th or 5th outfielders at most.
I love Nava as a bench option though.
I don’t. He’s defensively limited to LF, and what good is a backup left fielder? In the NL where he could be a pinch hitter he might make sense, but in the AL where he would be a 4th outfielder who can only play LF, he has little value.
They have enough warm bodies to cover the OF. But that’s not the same thing as finding a stud LF-er in the mold of a Williams, Yaz, Rice, or Manny. And IMO that’s what the Sox need to find, though not immediately. In theory, Hamilton could fit that mold, but at high cost and great risk.
Time to correct the mistake of hiring Valentine, as well.
Sox were aweful with Francona too. I don’t know why everyone thinks it’s all Valentine’s fault, although I don’t think he’s a good manager.
I don’t think it’s all Valentine’s fault, either. I just think he wasn’t the right hire at the time.
Yea, not a good hire. There were quite a few better candidates.
Sox were awful with Francona too? Man, you have a REALLY high standard. Not even two world series titles are enough…
You know I meant recently.
The whole point of this deal was to give Valentine the credible backing of ownership.
Short Stop and Outfield will be filled internally. Hello Bogaerts and Bradley! Just a matter of getting a pitcher and a first baseman.
Neither is ready. Bogaerts (example) is the youngest player in the AA eastern league, lets not rush a kid who has only 3 weeks of AA experience and Bradley is exhausted from being worked beyond any amount of games he has ever played at SC in his 1st pro season. Bradley and Barnes may be ready by the end of next year, but Bogaerts is pushing it.
More realistic kids who could be able to help are SP Drake britton and Brandon Workman, also possibility of Bryce Brentz.
Yeah haha they are coming but not too soon. Maybe September call ups if they have smooth seasons.
Leonard.. I’d love to see all those kids this September, but we just won’t. No reason to add them to the 40 man roster yet.
We might get to see Wilson and Carpenter, *possibly* Drake britton since he has been on the 40 man for a couple of seasons, but probably all as far as the top prospects go since Iglesias and Lin already been called up.
Wouldn’t it be nice though to see Bogaerts and Bradley in September a few games? if not for using a 40 man roster space a season early, we probably would, but they probably have kids lined up who they want to protect in the rule 5 draft that will be added and we just won’t.
Edit:
or this sept at least as you mentioned.. Maybe NEXT Sept!!
No no I meant Bogaerts and Bradley were prob arriving in Sept 2013 if all goes smooth during their 2013 season.
LOL. 2013 is what I meant. Sorry Leonard.
I am happy for Crawford. He needed to be out of Boston; he didn’t play all that well in their park, and he’s been bothered by injuries, both major and minor.
He is a sensitive black man, and while I hate to say it, that’s a tough thing to be if your team is the Red Sox and your position is outfield. Unspeakable things have been yelled at him during his short time in Boston. Most Sox fans are better than that-but even they will admit not all of them are. Mistakes were made. Carl Crawford should have never been offered that contract; Carl Crawford should have never signed that contract.
He will be much more comfortable in LA and I’m willing to bet it will show on the field.
Don’t make this about race, seriously. He was injured, and he played well in the 30 games he was back for us this season. I am sure Boston is not the only place where racist comments are thrown around, for god sakes he came from Florida its full of old bigoted retirees.
Forget all that “sensitive black man” garbage. He is being paid millions to do his job. It’s not like he is getting the type of treatment received by Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and countless others of yesteryear. Dude turned into a bum and got treated like one.
Hopefully he turns it around in LA, but racial treatment had nothing to do with it.
I didn’t read one word from @johnmiltonrocks:disqus that said Crawford played poorly BECAUSE of how he was treated. What he said was because of his POOR PERFORMANCE he was treated harshly and thus it may make it difficult to perform well w/ those thoughts on his mind.
Also, to say that he wasn’t treated as bad as players from the 50’s is a crock. That’s like saying racism doesn’t exist anymore because we have an African-American president. That didn’t stop people from questioning him if he was indeed an American right?
Crawford would probably be the last person to blame his performance on how he may have been treated but IF he was called racist derogatory names (and I’m not saying he was), then shame on you for trying to act as if it’s not a potentially traumatizing thing.
A black person that lived in the 50’s might have never flinched if called the “N” word. I guarantee you a black person today, if called that while walking down the street by a white person wouldn’t take as it easily as those from the 50’s.
DISCLAIMER: Please remember that I’m not saying he WAS called that by large numbers of fans (I’m sure there are one of two racist idiots in every stadium). NOR am I saying that Craw was effected bu that and thus performed poorly. BUT I can almost GUARANTEE you that a black athlete NOT performing up to his usual level will probably get it worse than those “grinders” and “scrappy” guys who have their struggles as well. It’s just different. And it’s not limited to just Boston, but Boston just happens to be a major market with a much smaller black population vs ones like NY,DC, LA, etc.
” Unspeakable things have been yelled at him during his short time in Boston”
What? Mickey Rivers used to have to wear a helmet while playing CF at Boston.. Not from words, but objects THROWN at him, reggie Jackson regularly got that abuse (verbal/thrown) for years. i don’t buy the excuse you gave at all, though Boston was for decades one of the most racist cities in the north.
Pumpsie Green? he might have had a reason for doing kind of bad from being vilified in the press and racist filled stands (google him, not going to waste typespace as to what importance Pumpsie was, only a pioneer in Boston) but that analogy you give is full of something that cannot be posted here.
Pedrioa
Ellsbury (Now likely to be extended)
Ortiz (Re-sign)
Ross (Re-sign)
Middlebrooks
Salty/Lavarnway
Aviles/Iglesias
I think that will be a solid enough base to add some FA’s to. We could add someone like Grienke or maybe someone more short term to add to Buc, Lester, De La Rosa, Doubront, and Morales? Then we got Alex Wilson/Tazawa/Mortensen/Kurkz getting ready to join the bullpen mix. I’m gonna miss Gonzo but I am pretty excited.
Kuroda is the guy who comes to mind for me. One year deal worth 10-12M. You know what he’s going to give you and he’s a bridge until the young guys are ready or a trade/FA is brought in.
I think all those things you mentioned make it less likely Kuroda will slip through NYY’s hands. Kuroda has said he wants to pitch for NYY, LAD, or in Japan too, and not many FA’s want to sign somewhere where they don’t have job security. ie. Nick Punto, Adrian Gonzalez.
Yeah, Kuroda isn’t signing with a team that just jettisoned a large chuck of its roster. Like Luke said, he’ll either go back to LA, resign with NY, or go to Japan. He has absolutely no interest in pitching for a team that’s not likely to contend.
Did he tell you that?
I’m honestly having a hard time seeing where they reinvest the money (at least right away). Some of it will, or could, go toward extensions and bringing guys back (although I’m still not sure they’ll extend Ellsbury), but they already have:
Rotation
Lester
Buchholz
de la Rosa
Doubront
Lackey
Morales
(and possibly Aceves if they didn’t decide to move him after he threw a fit)
Outfield
Ross (who they say they want back) LF/RF
Ellsbury CF
Kalish RF/LF
Infield
Middlebrooks 3B
Aviles/Iglesias SS
Pedroia 2B
Sands 1B (and possibly LF)
Saltalamacchia/Lavarnway C
Ortiz (have also said they want him back) DH
So they could possibly spend money on an outfielder if they aren’t comfortable with Kalish out there, a first baseman if they aren’t comfortable with Sands (I personally wonder about keeping Loney on a one year deal a la Beltre to see what he can do in a hitter’s park/division), and they could look to upgrade the rotation, but they would have to move at least one pitcher if they were going to do that.
And even the positions that could use an upgrade (particularly 1B) there really isn’t a lot out there this year to spend the money on.
With the 260MM in contract you guys just freed up I don’t see why not going after J.Hamilton. 1B definitely needs an upgrade, too, but very doable with the amount of resource you guys have. Trades can be explored with the top prospects that you guys got besides signing free agents.
I don’t think replacing 1B production is very easy right now despite the money they have; there just aren’t any good 1B available, and wont be for a long time.
I also don’t like the idea of adding Hamilton. Even ignoring the past drug issues (I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt), he has injury concerns, and is going to take a ton of money/years to sign. Having his production would be awesome, but there is huge risk involved.
I pretty much agree with everything you’re saying. I just don’t see how they can get close to AGon/Crawford production from reinvesting the $ they just saved. Looking at FA for the next few years, I just don’t see it. Greinke/Hamilton seems like a possibility, but not a good one, imo.
Well, since Crawford never gave the Sox much in terms of production, the Sox might be able to replace Gonzo’s production with a good LF and a good 1B, rather than all in a single player (like Gonzo). But short term, other than the risky option of Hamilton, there’s not much out there in the FA market for super productive corner OF-ers or 1B-men.
The production they got out of Crawford will be easy to replace (the theoretical production they might have gotten in the future isn’t as easy to replace, but that’s not what they need to replace), but I agree that Gonzalez’s production will be hard to replace. However, they don’t need to replace the production directly to make their team better; the roster flexibility, in my opinion, helps at least as much as the additional payroll – it allows them to upgrade their starting rotation, which was easily their biggest area of need, as well as finding a better fit for their outfield (how much Crawford, even an effective Crawford, really fits the team is pretty debatable), and gives them room to play their prospects, who are rapidly approaching the majors.
And it gives them the flexibility (both money and roster wise) to add the right players/contracts when they come along (even if that isn’t this offseason). The only valuable thing they actually lost was Gonzalez, and while there doesn’t appear to be a direct replacement for that production out of 1B, they now have two outfield spots to add players to help offset that loss (I agree that Hamilton is probably not the right move, but just in theory, they could now sign him for LF, which alone would offset the loss of Gonzalez’s production – they could also make trades, say for J Upton, which would help a lot to replace that production, and all of this on top of now having room/money to upgrade their rotation pretty significantly).
This is extreme (and not likely to happen), but they could add a Hamilton for LF and trade for Upton (since they have two outfield spots to fill now), as well as have two open rotation spots for possible upgrades (three if they dump Lackey on someone). Again, I’m not saying this is likely to happen (or that I even think it should happen), but they have the money and the roster flexibility now (and the additional prospects) to add Hamilton, Upton, Sanchez, McCarthy, and Headley or Morneau (Upton, Headley, and Morneau would obviously be contingent on their teams actually trading them, but just as an example – and if they do manage to dump Lackey they could add Marcum too).
Awesome. Now it shows up.
Let me throw out a couple of names to consider for 1st base….
From the Angels….Kendrick Morales, and/or the guy they have buried at AAA, C. J. Cron
From the Cardinals… Allen Craig and/or the guy they have buried at AAA, Matt Adams
From the Reds: ….. Todd Frazier, who has been filling in for Joey Votto
Each of the aforementioned would require a package of some kind but my point is there are guys out there who could do well playing 1B at Fenway.
Morales would be a good option, and Adams or Frazier could be alright, but the Cardinals aren’t trading Craig (and if they did it would take a ton to get him away from them) and Cron is in A ball (likely 2-3 years away from the majors).
You don’t see why not? Look harder.
Hamilton’s a major risk due to his age (32), drug related issues, and injury risks. If he were 4 years younger, the story might be different. But that’s just not the case.
No, Hamilton is a perfect example of the type of player the Red Sox should NOT go after… Too much risk for too much money and too many years.
Why don’t you put Josh Hamilton in there? I can see the Redsox going hard for him this offseason.
I don’t see it. I see Ellsbury/Ross/Ortiz coming back and then maybe Grienke/depth signings/bullpen guys. Everything else for 2013 at least I’m gonna guess will be coming internally kalish/iglesias maybe Brentz gets a spring training try out. After that the rest of the surplus cash will be for deadline moves and 2014.
I normally believe the DH position should be used as a position to rest position players on, but Big Papi is an anomaly, he’s good enough (I guess, I haven’t watched any stats) to warrant to keep him as a full time DH.
Offer him two years, then start using the DH to rest the Catcher and other position players. Just my take. Texas is a text book example on how to maximize the DH position IMO.
Ok, lets see your logic here.
First, having the luck of getting rid of two mammoth contracts, and a bunch of guys who were negative influences in the clubhouse, and underperforming (A-Gon played good, but not to his full potential in 2012).
Now you want to go after a guy who’s announced he want to be the highest paid player in baseball (which means he’s realistically get at least 25 mil per year, no team is crazy enough to pay him the asked 30 mil).
And a guy who’s known for his off the field issues. You want to bring him from the relative calm confines of Dallas to the hostile Boston media frenzy.
Let’s say he’ll get a six year deal. 150 mil in total. Deal ends in 2019, when Josh’s 39.
Again, what’s the logic?
I don’t really understand why people keep saying that Boston will need to add a SS now? First of all, they still have Aviles next year (although I really hope I don’t have to watch him play SS for another year) and they have Iglesias who, at this point, just needs to be given the job to see if he can handle it – they also have Marrero, Lin, and Vinicio at the lower minors, so if they do go get a SS it shouldn’t be a long term deal. And second, why is that tied to the trade they just made? They didn’t just lose a SS in the trade, so they don’t need one any more now than they did before.
Also, just as an aside, Keith Law actually said in an article he posted yesterday or the day before that Bogaerts has improved his defense this year and may actually defy earlier projections and stick at the position. If that’s the case, they really don’t need a SS.
i’ve been surprised by how widely it’s been assumed that bogaerts is a 3B at best. have you seen him in person much? only a few times myself (and i’m no scout), but i’ve never seen him look out of place. originally the speculation was that me might outgrow the position, not that he was clumsy or slow out there presently
granted he still could do that, but he’s certainly not bad out there now. given that iglesias looks like a future brendan ryan, i’d be in no hurry to move him to third
unless of course the current third baseman is traded in a deal for a certain right-fielder…
I’ve actually yet to see him in person, but from everything I’ve heard a lot of it was based on him potentially outgrowing the position. I don’t pay to subscribe to any of the national prospect guys’ stuff, so I don’t know what their in-depth analysis of him has been, but I know Chris Mellen at SP has said that the assumption that he will outgrow the position is based, in part, on the fact that he isn’t particularly smooth at the position to begin with and that he looks stiff there. So I suppose that if that is the case for the national prospect guys, and they are seeing him become a lot more fluid at SS, they could be starting to think that he could actually stick there despite the potential growth in body size.
i went back and read mellen’s latest review and it actually was pretty critical of his present ability, but it’s not clear how he’s grading him (e.g. relative to a fully developed MLB SS or relative to others at his age & stage of development)
middlebrooks, iglesias/marrero, webster, and brentz to arizona. iglesias/marrero to short and a stopgap to third until bogaerts is ready?
unless a trade like that happens, i don’t let iglesias or marrero block him
Yeah, I think Mellen has actually been the most critical of Bogaerts’ defense in particular (saying that if Bogaerts moves out of the infield it would be to LF and not RF because he doesn’t have the range for RF – which is weird to me since he’s a SS right now, but whatever).
I would do that trade with Arizona for sure.
Id like to see them resign Ross and possibly Ortiz and also sign Laroche on a one or two year deal. Maybe add another starter and some bullpen arms and Id be content with that offseason. No need to make any major moves unless they want to do it with trades.
No big ticket FA’s. Take a look at Marcum or Napoli or Harden if they are around. Sign up Ross. Maybe Kalish will do the job. Plenty of time. Might be another move or two before 8/31. Aviles has cleared.
First time ive ever read so cal being described as laid back.l