SCCWS

He will be up to 40 games this weekend at AA and continues to ear it up. I would think he will get bumped up to Charlotte as they will only have about 30 games left so he finishes in AAA.

Putting the Abreu "lovefest" aside, what is happening w McCann? Has anyone noticed our 3 "all-stars's" performance since their trip to Cleveland. Must have been something they ate.

Severson has done wonders w Engel.

Seeme like Lopez and Gio have switched roles since the AS break.

In fairness, they seem to play pretty well against the Central which is certainly down. But these are big games for Minny.

He has been pretty solid since the break. Very encouraging.

PTATC: Will any consideration be given to the weather?. Obviously Chicago in April can be still wintery and Charlotte on average is 15+ degrees warmer. Obviously teams move around but overall will weather(cold) be a consideration?

I think in many of these cases, the GM 's feel for the future comes in to play. In this case, Boston knows Betts is coming up and Bradley is still a seesaw. So what DD thinks will happen w Betts affects keeping Benintendi. There is no talk in New England of Benintendi this week, It is mostly JD Martinez and Betts and whether either one will leave for FA FYI--Boston( I also spend time in Tampa) market has a totally different take. The media/fans rarely ever talk service time or contractual control. They always talk in a very limited view. I was watching a show last night and the host was laughing about a listing of Top 10 farm systems. He said Boston and New York never seem to make the cut but always seem to put winning teams on the field and continue to churn out players. I guess big market vs small market approaches. Some teams just spend big bucks to fill the holes their farm can't patch. Tampa baseball gets less attention than HS sports

I love fan trades. Living in Boston area I heard a fan say yesterday he would trade Benintendi to Chicago for Colome, Eloy, and Cease. Gives you an idea how the other side thinks. I doubt Benintendi is moved for many reasons. They are basically limited to a WC shot so I don't see them purging any top assets till offseason.

Only issue is the future of Eloy. He needs to play everyday. Is he a LF on a contending team or does he have to move to a less vulnerable spot. Would Eloy be as good as Abreu is now at !B? If Hahn feels Eloy has to move, then Abreu may be in the way. I would hope Abreu could go to DH and If Eloy has to move from LF then he go learn 1B.

But I do laugh when you see shots in the stands and you see numerous people looking at their phones instead of the game. I know it is everywhere not just athletic events. They are moving the netting for good cause because several children have been hit by foul balls. With so many looking at their phones instead of the game, I am surprised more adults haven't got hurt as well.

I just hope they find a young lefty to join them.

FWIW---NESN and NY Post have the same rumor. Red Sox chasing either Yates(SD) or Giles(TOR). https://nesn.com/2019/07/mlb-rumors-red-sox-showing-active-interest-in-these-two-star-closers/

The Red Sox are close on the luxury tax. They had to work cash considerations w Orioles to get Kushner. Betts is in the final year of his contract and Bradley's is also coming up. Benintendi being cheap and under control is very valuable to them. I am sure they would listen but I would think it would have to be MLB ready prospects since Benintendi does not free up cap space.

Indoor stadium

I would agree that he has the potential to be a 2. But this year( granted only 60% of season) he has been one of the top pitchers in baseball. I am not sure heaviest fastball determines being an ace. I think the real aces have a combination of control and a variety of pitches. When I think of aces, Lester has been an ace in the past and Verlander still may be. But they wouldn't be found in a list of top 50 hardest throwers although Verlander can hit 100 in some instances. Sale would be in the list and he certainly has control and variety. But when we talk post season, he seems to break down late in the year and is not as effective in October as he is during the season.

This is a big game for TB. They are trailing in WC after the solid start they had.

I don't think they will. They have a few options at IB so they may offer a salary dump but hopefully Hahn doesn't go in that direction.

Boston is 3 games back in WC with 1 team in front of them. We are 9 back w 4 teams in front. Love to see Boston miss out especially to an AL Central team. But they have more home games( where they have struggled) than any team in MLB left.

https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2019/07/boston-red-sox-trade-rumors-jose-abreus-availability-being-monitored-by-boston-a-few-other-clubs-report.html

You left out the year in the middle. His BA is trending up after last year and he is on pace to hit 37 HR( as of today). That would be a career high. He also could end up w a career year in stolen bases. He only needs 2 more. Hopefully RR will give him more green lights.

I agree that 81 wins-500 should be the goal next year. But that would not be contending for a WC. Probably 92-94 would be WC territory.

McCann may be having a career year. But he averaged .248 for 5 years in Detroit. He only hit .220 his last year. So something happened over the winter thru ST to turn his hitting totally around.

I only named Moncada and Anderson because they are the first 2 pieces of the rebuild. McCann has made as great an improvement as almost anyone in baseball. Leury is having a career year and Abreu is having a solid season. It is too soon to judge Eloy. I would assume they are the only positional players on this roster with the talent to survive the rebuild. Maybe I missed someone but I think it is hard to say from a talent standpoint that any of the rest should be performing better Many of them would be AAA talent on other teams. Overall, I think our batters strike out( 11 in MLB) too much and don't walk(30th) enough. That I would put on Severson. Moncada, McCann and Anderson's BA are all up 50 points. I got to think that is more than just a good morning.

In fairness, two key rebuild pieces, Moncada and Anderson, have shown progress under Steverson. We can't blame him for failing w some of the players he has been handed.