Timmy U

The AA outfield situation is interesting. Here's a reason to move Basabe to AAA: Charlotte's a much, much better place to hit. So while Basabe will be seeing a lot of breaking stuff and people pitching him backwards more, he'd at least be rewarded when he did hit the ball hard. Results in Birmingham sometimes don't reflect how well a guy's swinging it. That said, Robert, Basabe, Gonzalez, and Adolfo are the key guys here. Pick what's best for them and fill guys like Booker in as needed.

I think I have reached a point where I dislike the Ricketts family more than I dislike the Cubs. I call that maturity.

Steele Walker has nothing to do with Call. He’s not the reason the Sox thought Call was expendable. Call’s behind Luis Robert, Luis Alexander Basabe, and Luis Gonzalez both offensively and defensively in CF. And that’s just the guys named Luis. If you add in everyone else, Call was going to struggle to find AB’s in AA. That said, I think he has a decent chance to play in the majors and is a nice pick up on a salary dump for Cleveland.

Huh, I always heard the Ryno in that case was Prince Fielder. https://247sports.com/mlb/tigers/Board/103351/Contents/A-Rumor-Ill-Print-about-Prince-Fielders-Wife-Avasail-Garcia-70637487/

Good point. It also reminds me of the Shields trade. The only reason you trade your top 2 prospects for a reliever is cuz you think you're going to win now. No one thinks the Mets are going to win now except the Mets' front office. If they win the division, probably a good trade. If they don't, it's a potential disaster like the Shields trade. I'm thinking closer to the second outcome than the first.

Am I crazy or was Kevan Smith the Sox best pitch-caller? It seems like the rotation collapse coincided with Castillo’s return and that they pitched MUCH better when he was suspended.

That is what elite power looks like. Crushed it, but easy swing.

I think Cashman gets good value generally and this trade was no exception. I’d point out that the Sox all but had Jesus Lazardo for Robertson alone prior to the season, so dumping his salary and including Kahnle for Rutherford has to be considered somewhat disappointing. That said, Hahn got so much for Quintana that overall he had a good year.

Where the Sox are in the rebuild, it seems to me that signing Machado or Harper as a building block makes sense, but older guys like Happ or even Corbin seem like mistakes. There's a lot of downside on older pitchers and unless the Sox are somehow going for it this year, the upside would come in non-competitive years.

But what you want makes absolutely no difference to the outcome of the game. Why not root for the Sox, enjoy if they win and if they lose, take solace in the draft pick?

Isn’t he signed to a multi-year contract? In that case, moving on equals $$$. Sox will give him every chance before they do that.

Add in Burdi, Ruiz, Thompson, and Johnson, you got a chance for a cheap and effective pen.

You could cut Skole, Garneau, Tilson, etc. Sox roster is not brimming with top tier talent. Heck, I have seen enough Jeanmar Gómez to last a lifetime.

Frare has to be on the 40 over the offseason anyway. Cut Garneau.

We’ll see. He’s going to the AFL. I am trying to stay optimistic.

Sure, but I’ll take a Nate Jones career over Jeanmar Gomez, Juan Minaya, and Thyago Viera.

Don’t forget Burdi and Thompson

Imagine how competitive they’d be with an mlb bullpen.

It’s a shame cuz he’s been playing the best ball of his career, especially on defense. But I think Rondon is a pretty good back up. May be nice to see what he has for a couple days.

Roy Halliday and Cliff Lee both imploded and came back. Past results do not indicate future results, however.

Giolito’s one of my favorites, personality-wise, so I hope this improvement is real. My concern is he may not be athletic enough to remember/repeat his delivery next year. I wonder if his his below average spin rate means the 2 seamer is better than 4 seamer long term?

You’re right. I forgot about Burr. Why bring him up if he’s not going to get a chance? The race for third in the AL Central?

Dylan Covey has 12 losses? He didn’t even start the year in the majors. Amazing.

Minaya is bad, but what choices does Ricky have out there? Beyond Fry, no one has been particularly good. I will be so happy when the purposely bad bullpen days are over.

Seems like it’s built to be more grand and intimidating than enjoyable. Top deck is like watching game from observation deck of Empire State Bldg. Fans are into it though, which is fun. I actually prefer Citi Field. Too bad NL is so boring.