CaliSoxFanViaSWside

Yes him too since I missed him when scanning the lists of players but the point was there are plenty of 2nd basemen. Adding Didi to the list just makes it 10 instead of the 9 who I mentioned.

I will agree that it's depressing given their lack of success in free agency and recognizing and developing talent on every level but I heard something from Dan O'Dowd the other day that for me really hit the nail on the head as far as the Sox or any teams success goes. He said the 2 most important things when building a good team are good young controllable assets and payroll flexibility. We know the Sox have both right now. because of the rebuild I don't think jeopardizing both of those things is prudent especially when teams like Tampa Bay and Oakland can continue to get good results with substandard budgets and a team like Pittsburgh destroys itself by trading young talent. I just think it's much wiser to operate more like Tampa Bay and hoard young talent than it is to screw with the payroll then throw away that talent on a 1 year player with only a scant or even zero chance of him being resigned. I know your idea is born from depression and hopelessness but right now our only options as fans is hope the controllable assets we have continue to find their way to success through their own hard work and dedication which takes it out of the hands of the lack of player development and recognition of talent.

Moose is fine for a backup part time option at 2nd base because he has good hands but he'd be a liability there full time because of his range. I don't expect Madrigal to be traded but he also might not be brought up for a month or longer. 2nd base is the one place that there are quality FA's who could play 2nd base better defensively on a part time basis and still contribute to a quality bench like Sogard, Dozier, Castro ,Kipnis, Kendrick ,Schoop, Asdrubal Cabrera,Gennett and my personal favorite Brock Holt who can also play OF.

I'd do that for Rendon but not even a Moose guy like me would do that.

I might have to add trading for rentals expecting them to resign because the Sox are just such a well run organization and Hahn and Co. really know how to assess talent. ?

I know a trade might be coming and I would be in favor of most upgrades. I think Grandal would be a very good acquisition. I'm just concerned that Grandal plus other areas of need push the payroll too high for this year when next year will give us more time to assess areas of true need , Right now with so many young players it's real hard to pinpoint exactly what we need .Yes we know we need LH balance and more power, OBP, and pitching . My true hope is that by adding the pitching and that Kopech etc will rise to become what we all hope they will. I also hope Rodon and Dunning can also show signs of adding to that strength from which we can deal from. Stopgap option in areas other than pitching might be the way to go as long as we find talent that has been good consistently (Moustaskas) or whose value isn't appreciated (Dickerson). Or maybe a guy who is only a year removed from being very good (2018 All-Star ) like Gennett, but stunk because of injuries but won't be 30 until May. They all should be much easier to sign then others but provide a lot of upside and depth . Undervalued. Right now there is very little to trade who isn't the part of the expected core and they really do need the time to show what they have. If we don't find that out such as with Collins and the others we just don't have the payroll to keep filling roles with free agents. Despite what you personally think of Collins he did go back down the the minors, made adjustments and showed he is capable of more not just with the bat but as a catcher too. Remember people thought we were selling high on Narvaez , one of our best OBP guys, and he turned around and went even higher and might go higher still. The Sox just cannot afford to abandon ship on the very reasons why they rebuilt. The board is filled with people telling us Collins won't make it, McCann is the same McCann he was in Detroit, our OF prospects won't make it . Remember all the doubters of Giolito and Moncada ? Stay the course , don't trade prospects, don't bail out Boston's problems , don't take on bad contracts , don't trade for rentals, Almost everything we need could already be here whether it's Collins,Mercedes or any one of Basabe, Rutherford, Walker, Gonzalez or Adolfo, Continue to look for talent in the minors who seem blocked by guys ahead of them in the majors and undervalued guys in the majors. Maybe one day we can find a Tatis or a Muncy or a Yordan Alvarez or Juan Soto or to a lesser degree Trauchman, Mercado and Luplow. . Right when some of these guys are starting to blossom is no reason to trim the garden . Let it grow into something beautiful and strong.. Time and time again we hear how development isn't linear. It's time we started believing that. How strong would the Sox look right now with Tatis and Semien or even Narvaez.

Please , it has nothing to do with a lack of competency and has everything to do with making the most of your payroll and letting the kids develop for another year. Collins isn't exactly the only one who will need time to show if he's any good. Robert , Madrigal, Kopech, Cease, Lopez ,Moncada, Eloy ,Giolito have 0 or 1 good year in the majors. The Sox aren't winning the World Series next year so testing the McCann/Collins duo is not a terrible thing. There's always JT Realmuto next year. I think half the board expects the playoffs next year by the way they post. If you put Collins in with the 8 young players I listed , that's 9 guys that we still know very little or nothing about. We all saw what Moncada , Giolito and Eloy are capable of and maybe they are capable of a lot more but that still leaves 6 others.

Just so you know the f in fWAR means fangraphs while the b in bWAR means Baseball Reference.

And remember a lot of those 209 AB's were against rebuild pitching.

I'm pretty sure he means watching them run around the bases after a Castellanos double. You always get the green light on a double .

Positional versatilty is also injury/non performance insurance at 3 positions. If you sign EE then you better upgrade the bench too which adds to getting a pure DH cost unless you think Mendick/Leury is fine for long stretches.

That's not a reason to do it again especially when you are at a way different point in the rebuild.. That's just crazy. Last if season you had none of the prospects looking good. In fact Moncada and Gioilto looked terrible. Now they look great and so does Eloy while Robert and Madrigal will be up and Kopech will come back and Cease will get a full year. Another year of experience could benefit Lopez also for 2020.

I'm pretty sure projections for 2020 have Corey Dickerson, Avi Garcia and Castellanos all very close in projected WAR.

@thxfrthmmrs Great use of using 3 different signing classes to project various outcomes. Looks like your "I dig this" is closest to mine where you used Moose, Gardner and Wheeler while omitting Grandal. I do love Grandal but I'm afraid he might be one of those guys who takes longer to sign unless he gets 4/$80M right away just based on how he talks about setting the bar for all catchers worth. I prefer Dickerson in RF but that's splitting hairs. You also used Moose in that scenario which I think would make the team stronger in case of injury and makes the team more versatile without signing a DH. I know you used standard projected WAR and those did not change in the projections. I specifically am looking at the projections of Madrigal and Robert. I can easily imagine a 3/4 WAR from Robert considering his fielding should be above average and his bat can also be a plus right away especially if Eloy can get in his head because it seems pretty clear that Robert will be pitched too in much the same manner that they pitched to Eloy . With Eloy's help maybe Robert can make the adjustment sooner. Your " I Dig This" also gives a bigger role to Collins for better or worse because him succeeding would really make the Sox so much better in the lineup and with payroll. It also give more money to the bullpen. "I Dig This" also leave room to add more payroll for 2021.

If you paid any attention to my posts I've been pushing for Abreu to play more DH because of his fielding. It's the main reason why I don't want to pay for a DH and would rather build the depth with guys like Grandal, Collins and Moustakas who can all play 1st.

Aged well .

Didi will be fortunate to get half that.

It's basically all gone from this years pool money. Between who they did sign and what they traded away . If all the sources i was reading are correct it's possible they have slightly less than $500K left after I added up the cost of who they signed, how much they traded away and what the starting point was.

Oh i get that one. Puff the Magic Dragon.

I'm certainly not against Didi Gregorius. I've been pushing Moustakas and people seem to think he doesn't fit either even though I literally explained how he does fit. You have to remember people want the sexy names even though the Sox don't have the payroll for the sexy names at all positions. It's always like "Can't we do better than that ?" We all see the fit for who we want to see fit. People thought JDM was a perfect fit . I didn't and apparently neither did Boras and JDM. The next closest to a perfect fit is Grandal but there are just as many reasons not to go after him as there are reason to go after him. It's as if people have totally forgot what a bunch of stiffs we had playing last year and all of a sudden youngish potential 2-3 WAR guys aren't enough. Anyone you can get who might be had for a $10M AAV give or take a million who is undervalued without a QO needs to be seriously considered just as DJ LeMahieu last year. Moose, Dickerson, Gregorius or other names will provide depth and make sure we don't return to the star and scrubs lineup like we had before. We have the budding stars now just add the depth pieces and a very high quality starting pitcher and give it another year. There's no way the Sox have a shot at the playoffs in 2020 so why not just give the youngsters a chance to grow another year and see what we get this year from Robert, Madrigal , Kopech , Cease, Lopez, Rodon, Dunning , Collins along with the minor league OF's and Mercedes. If somehow enough of the youngsters do very well this year you can add at the All Star break.

Do you think my arguments for Dickerson are puff pieces ?

This means there's still hope for Vaughn, Collins and even Yermin Mercedes and Eloy to become the future 1st baseman.

Doesn't matter he was our ROY and will be our JDM playing LF next year. Next year he hit's .300 with 40 bombs if he can stay healthy. And Robert will be our ROY next year . Aong with Monncada that's a lot of star power in the lineup. Time to put some decent pieces around them and ditch the stars and scrubs mentality that we all knew didn't work before but all seem to be advocating we go right back to. Build depth.

That's also a lot of our pitching targets that will require giving up a pick. But I guess that means only one with a QO will be a target anyway. Weird to see Will Smith on that list. I have no idea what the Giants are doing.

I guess now he's a better option at one year than 3 or 4 years but he's never been a part of my plan nor has trading assets either . I think the price for 1 year would attract a few more teams so just like with Nimmo you'd have to beat the best offer so it's never going to be as cheap as you think.