Our Defense is Still Bad

[LDF]

And if you want to win, what kind of strategy is selling high? Should the Sox trade Sale, Abreu, Quintana? How will their trade value be any higher? Unless you like perpetual rebuilds, you build around good players. Eaton is a good player.

 

nice post,

 

sometime a need for a specific player for a position is needed, the other team knows this as well, so trading high was needed to get that player and skills set for the sox.

 

but a trade like that should be based on necessity

[Panerista]

And if you want to win, what kind of strategy is selling high? Should the Sox trade Sale, Abreu, Quintana? How will their trade value be any higher? Unless you like perpetual rebuilds, you build around good players. Eaton is a good player.

Agreed on this. Midseason, I might change my mind, but in the preseason it's way too early to talk about selling high. A team with this staff isn't a seller, period.

[Thad Bosley]

Selling high is a terrible strategy for winning.

I'd go so far as to say it's the polar opposite of trying to win. No thank you!

[elrockinMT]

I'm just glad people are being realistic.

 

Don't you mean fatalistic?

[napa_soxfan]

ZiPS came out yesterday, and August f**erstrom used it to point out how incredibly bad our OF defense looks, which reminded me that we didn't address it at all. Overall, we project to be 29th out of 30.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/previewing-...-team-defenses/

 

LF - Melky; BAD

CF - Eaton; Below average

RF - Garcia; EXTRA BAD

1B - Abreu; BAD

2B - Lawrie; BAD

SS - Saladino; Good!

3B - Frazier; Good!

C - Avila/Navarro; Solid and improved.

 

With Austin Jackson somehow still out there, and this team hurt so much by lacking what he does best, I just... I just can't believe this is what the lineup looks like. I want to believe that they're going to get this done. I mean, it's not like giving Jackson a two or three year deal is going to block ANYTHING coming up in the system, and what a difference it could make! The defense could instead look like (by the way, those assessments are my own; the projections actually make it look worse):

 

LF - Melky; BAD

CF - Jackson; Good!

RF - Eaton; Probably average or above

1B - Abreu; BAD

2B - Lawrie; BAD

SS - Saladino; Good!

3B - Frazier; Good!

C - Avila/Navarro; Solid and improved.

 

Crazy how much better that looks. Defense would still be the weakness of the team, but that group above is merely "below average." That feels like a state that may not sink the team.

 

I really apologize for being a downer lately. You guys know it's not usually how I am. But I just don't GET this. The only explanation is that ownership is being cheap, and I just keep glancing to the corner of my room and seeing my pitchfork there, gleaming dangerously in the wan sunlight that filters through my half-drawn curtains. And just... why is this happening?

 

[napa_soxfan]

LaRoche won a gold glove! My memory is dimmer and dimmer on last year, but did he play much 1st at all?? If he shaves that ZZ top beard, gets back on the field, Abreu focuses on hitting/staying healthy, could we improve both??

[GreenSox]

And if you want to win, what kind of strategy is selling high? Should the Sox trade Sale, Abreu, Quintana? How will their trade value be any higher? Unless you like perpetual rebuilds, you build around good players. Eaton is a good player.

So was Samardzija. Sure messed up the Cubs, didn't it.

And the Sox sure showed them when they bought high on Samardzija.

 

Selling high doesn't mean you sell every good player you have. But this team with its ongoing deficiencies needs to do some high-selling to get square, imo. Can't keep throwing ML Ready prospects at every mediocre veteran available. Some they threw at Oak last year are better players than the additions they made this year.

Edited March 2, 2016 by GreenSox

[caulfield12]

Let's say you do sell Eaton.

 

It's going to be quite difficult to find the major league equivalent of him on another team. Maybe, just maybe, the Marlins would trade Ozuna for Eaton, but is that really an upgrade?

 

It's more of a "change of scenery" deal for both teams, especially Miami.

 

Trading Eaton for prospects doesn't do much unless they're advanced players close to the big leagues...and then you're looking at success rate of maybe 25% at best in those types of trades.

 

Finally, you trade your younger/cheaper player for a veteran/more expensive player...you simply push the payroll up to the point where you can't make additions in June/July without offloading equivalent salaries and/or you impact the ability to pay for talent in an already shrinking pool of players the following offseason.

 

 

Which inevitably pushes you back to the trade front, where you don't have the quality depth (we have depth, sure, but high-caliber?) at any position to make significant additions...unless you believe that Erik Johnson is being targeted by multiple teams AND they're willing to give up quality for him.

 

Unless you want to take the risk of trading Rodon or Quintana, you're pretty much stuck.

Edited March 3, 2016 by caulfield12

[Jerksticks]

The Sox are in such an enviable position right now that selling high should be the last thing the FO is thinking. I wonder how many teams wouldn't trade positions with the Sox right now, from the FO all the way down to the lowest minor league ball club. I bet it's less than five. That's how damn good our next decade looks.

 

 

[oldsox]

So was Samardzija. Sure messed up the Cubs, didn't it.

And the Sox sure showed them when they bought high on Samardzija.

 

Selling high doesn't mean you sell every good player you have. But this team with its ongoing deficiencies needs to do some high-selling to get square, imo. Can't keep throwing ML Ready prospects at every mediocre veteran available. Some they threw at Oak last year are better players than the additions they made this year.

Spot on.

[southsider2k5]

So was Samardzija. Sure messed up the Cubs, didn't it.

And the Sox sure showed them when they bought high on Samardzija.

 

Selling high doesn't mean you sell every good player you have. But this team with its ongoing deficiencies needs to do some high-selling to get square, imo. Can't keep throwing ML Ready prospects at every mediocre veteran available. Some they threw at Oak last year are better players than the additions they made this year.

 

You are way overrating the players we dealt. Each of them has a fatal flaw that is probably going to keep them from being a quality MLB player, even if they spent time "starting".

[shysocks]

Everyone here would love to have Semien. You know this deep down in places you don't talk about at parties.

 

The rest of the guys I'll take or leave. I'll keep arguing that Josh Phegley sucks for the rest of my life if I have to. I'll write it on his Hall of Fame plaque.

[Eminor3rd]

I'll keep arguing that Josh Phegley sucks for the rest of my life if I have to. I'll write it on his Hall of Fame plaque.

 

lol, same.

[Kyyle23]

Everyone here would love to have Semien. You know this deep down in places you don't talk about at parties.

 

The rest of the guys I'll take or leave. I'll keep arguing that Josh Phegley sucks for the rest of my life if I have to. I'll write it on his Hall of Fame plaque.

 

he is no hero, thats for sure

[Dick Allen]

So was Samardzija. Sure messed up the Cubs, didn't it.

And the Sox sure showed them when they bought high on Samardzija.

 

Selling high doesn't mean you sell every good player you have. But this team with its ongoing deficiencies needs to do some high-selling to get square, imo. Can't keep throwing ML Ready prospects at every mediocre veteran available. Some they threw at Oak last year are better players than the additions they made this year.

If they hadn't traded him, and he pitched for the Cubs in 2015 like he pitched for them in 2014, it might have messed up the Cubs actually. But that is apples and oranges. If Samardjiza was locked into a contract like Eaton, he wouldn't have been traded.

 

I just don't understand your fascination with playing young players no matter how bad they are, but as soon as they show they may be decent, trade them for more young players. Rinse and repeat. Complain about the Sox record all you want. If you had your way, it would easily be far worse.

 

You made up the term hero worship on here, and I really like it. The problem is you hero worship players that haven't been hero worshipped since high school.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Dick Allen

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

Looking a little bit better now with AJAX industrial strength outfield cleaner.

[Eminor3rd]

Looking a little bit better now with AJAX industrial strength outfield cleaner.

 

Word.

 

/thread

[Bigsoxhurt35]

Melky Jackson Eaton is a lot better than Melky Eaton Garcia

[chetkincaid]

Just imagine if Hahn somehow shook Josh Reddick loose from the A's. You'd have Eaton - Jackson - Reddick.

 

That would be phenomenal.

[hi8is]

Just imagine if Hahn somehow shook Josh Reddick loose from the A's. You'd have Eaton - Jackson - Reddick.

 

That would be phenomenal.

Melky to DH.. LaRoche and Avi to?

 

A's would probably want Anderson or Fulmer, plus...

 

Yea.

[chetkincaid]

Melky to DH.. LaRoche and Avi to?

 

A's would probably want Anderson or Fulmer, plus...

 

Yea.

 

 

I know it's fantasy, but yeah... Melky to DH, Laroche waived and Avi included in the deal for Reddick. I'd consider Anderson if Reddick signed long term.