cabiness42

If I'm trying to build a championship team, I'd rather have the three studs than a roster full of guys who are marginally better than the rest of our guys.

I don't think anybody disputes that Semien has more of a future than Beckham. The question is where is the best place to have Semien right now. I think AAA has been the best place for him up to this date. Pehaps he will reach a point within the next month or so where it's time for him to face big league pitching again. At that point, it would be dumb to keep giving playing time at 2B to Beckham.

This is exactly why the two Sox are nowhere near the same position. Sale/Quintana is far better than Buchholz/Kelly. Abreu is better than Ortiz not to mention much younger.

Look at Seattle's DH numbers from this year. They are already having a lot of 1-for-30s in that slot. Dunn's worst month is still better than what they have.

DH - Somebody not currently in org C - Somebody not currently in org 1B - Abreu 2B - Semien SS - Ramirez 3B - Gillaspie LF - Somebody not currently in org CF - Eaton RF - A Garcia Bench - Flowers, Viciedo (possibly platooning at LF or DH), L Garcia, Sanchez/Danks SP - Sale, Quintana, Somebody not currently in org, Danks, Noesi/Carroll/Johnson RP - Putnam, Petricka, Lindstrom, Webb, Surkamp, Noesi/Carroll, Somebody not currently in org I think it's too early to speculate on exactly who fills the spots, but I see three position players, a starter and a reliever being guys not currently in the organization.

I blame Keppinger for this. After him, now every poster thinks the Sox should DFA every single guy they don't like.

When you DFA somebody, you pay them 100% of the salary they are owed but don't play for you. The only reason you do this is because you absolutely positively need their roster spot for somebody else. If the Sox decide they really want Semien to start playing over Beckham, they can option LGarcia to the minors, or perhaps Paulie gets a mystery DL trip until rosters expand September 1. Beckham is still hitting lefties very well, and if nothing else, he can platoon with Gillaspie at 3B.

It doesn't work like that. If you non-tender him, he becomes a free agent, and you don't get anything for him, not even a lottery ticket.

De Aza is almost certain to be non-tendered. He's not enough of an upgrade over Jordan Danks to justify the salary difference. I would think Beckham still has a tiny chance of turning things around before the end of the season and avoid being non-tendered, but very tiny.

Yes, they let teams do that. If you are the team that is selling the high priced veteran and getting the prospect in return, you probably don't need that prospect for any kind of stretch run for the current season. If you like the prospect enough but can't get him right now, you wait until the end of the season to get him.

The Sox don't have to dump Beckham to free up room for Semien. If the Sox want Semien to get major league time, they can option LGarcia to AAA, let Semien start at 2B, and make Beckham a platoon partner with Gillaspie.

I'm talking about when the Sox got Rios, not when they gave him up. Yes, b. requires the other players in the trade to have cleared waivers if they are on the 40 (or have been claimed by the other team, but I've never heard of a dual claim trade ever happening). There is a workaround in making the trade for a PTBNL, in which case the guy who hasn't cleared waivers stays with his current team until the end of the season and then goes to the other team to complete the trade. Sort of an, "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" kind of deal.

Not at all what I said.

Sox bullpen ERA = 3.89 Addison Reed ERA = 3.95 So yeah, I can see how the Sox would be so many games better by adding a guy with a 3.95 ERA to a bullpen with a 3.89 ERA

Maybe the Tigers should have traded for some relievers.

So here we are 30 minutes after the trade deadline and the Sox still haven't traded anybody. So what now? A. Any and every player on the 40 man roster can (and probably will) be placed on 'revocable waivers' sometime between August 1 and the last day of the regular season [though most players go on waivers within the first few days of August]. B. Every business day, teams get a list of all players placed on waivers the previous day. Teams have three business days to decide whether or not to put in a claim on any player. A claim potentially obligates a team to assume the entirety of the player's remaining contract, whether that be the rest of the current season or any number of future seasons. C. After three business days, players who were not claimed by any team have 'cleared waivers'. Players who have been claimed by one or more teams have the claim awarded to the claiming team with the worst record (based on the date the player was placed on waivers) within their own league. If none of the claiming teams are within their own league, then the claim is awarded to the claiming team with the worst record in the opposite league. 1. If a player clears waivers, the player's team is free negotiate with and trade him to any team they want at any time they want, just as though it were before the trade deadline. 2. If a claim is awarded, then the player's team may only negotiate with and trade him to the claiming team. The two teams have two business days to complete a deal. By the end of the two days, the player's team has three options: a. Reject the claim and retain the player until at least the end of the season when they are once again free to negotiate with any team b. Work out a mutually acceptable trade with the claiming team. c. Accept the claim and give the player and his entire contract to the claiming team (see Rios, Alex). That last line is what keeps teams from making claims on players with lots of money left on their contracts. Any time you make a claim on a player there is at least a chance you are stuck with his remaining contract. Danks is almost certain to clear waivers. Dunn is likely to clear waivers, but there might be a team willing to risk taking on the rest of his contract if they are desperate enough for hitting.

I'm not upset at the Sox that Dunn wasn't traded, but I do think there are several teams who are very dumb for not pursuing him.

Well, I don't know what all the busy was where you were, but it didn't seem to produce anything.

Maybe the answer isn't to trade Beckham, maybe it's to platoon him with Gillaspie at 3B.

John Danks is the poster child for "incremental upgrade, not a big piece."

40 minutes until first pitch.

Yeah, stupid opponents throwing their lefty starters on a Thursday when they're supposed to do it on Sunday.

Lefty starter, Gillaspie, Dunn and DeAza all sitting today.

Apparently the difference between being buyers and being sellers is somewhere between a 10% and 5% chance of making the playoffs.

I let the dog lick them clean.