True, but his minor league numbers are way ahead of Pablo's 3 year numbers. I'd let Pablo start off full time, but if he struggles vs LHPs, like I think he will, I'd use Holt as a platoon pretty quickly. The only way Hernandez or Dominguez get involved is if there is an injury or Holt sucks.Originally Posted by mvp 78
I've liked Hernandez since his Portland days. Sooner or later I think that he gets his opportunity either with us or with someone else. I just don't see him at third base. ss/2nd - or just as a utility guy for us. The only real difference I see between Holt and Hernandez is that Holt gets some outfield looks. I would like to see Hernandez get some regular playing time just to see what he can do. I think that he could surprise a lot of people.
No, it's really not stupid at all. If he were our ace, then sending him to AAA just because he has options would be stupid. But we are currently looking at him to fill a #4 or 5 slot in our rotation, which Pomeranz or Wright (or Buchholz until he was traded) could have filled just as productively.
If you risk losing a player that might really help the team, then you send the guy with options down, at least for a while.
All that said, trading Buchholz alleviates some of the backlog of pitching roster spots, so there is less of a need to send ERod down.
I've always been high on Hernandez. I even went so far as to suggest trading Holt, so Hernandez could play more. Maybe Swihart would be the 5th OF'er, but there's a lot of push back on that idea, understandably so.
The guys we risk losing are 1 or possibly two from these out of options pitchers: Abad, Hembree & Elias.
I'd rather put Barnes or Ross in AAA, if we really felt we needed to keep all three of them. Even Kelly has an option left and might be a better choice than ERod.
Kimbrel & Thornburg are locks, if healthy.
Kelly & Ross are probably the next tier with Barnes close behind.
Even assuming those 5 are in, we could probably have Pom in the pen, pick one of those three for the 7th slot and then get creative with the DL on the others.
This is assuming everyone is healthy, which is not likely.
If we have to trade Abad and/or Elias, I'm not going to lose any sleep.
According to Soxprospects.com, Elias has onr option remaining.
That website is not affiliated with the Sox, but their projected roster has Abad, Ross, and Hembree in Boston and Kelly and Elias starting in Pawtucket.
Personally I like Kelly better as a key reliever than a depth starter and its possible Soxprospects is just trying to make all the pieces fit, but that alignment is possible
I see Kelly as the 7th inning guy in the best case scenario, but he'd also make a good swingman IF he can get his control together.
It's a mere moment in a man's life between the All-Star game and the Old Timer's game.
-Vin Scully
I could have sworn soxprospect.com had Elias with 0 options a while back, when I checked.
That helps with the roster crunch and allows us to have some veteran starter depth on the farm.
I like Kelly in the pen as well, and I think he'll have to have a bad spring to start the year in AAA.
I think they're just making the pieces fit. And they did have 0 options for Elias. They must have learned something and updated. It happens.
I do think that - even with salary as a concern - it makes zero sense to run Buchholz out of town to accomodate Abad. But that alignment does take some urgency out of the bullpen roster crunch...
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DD thinks he's better than Wright. You pitch your five best. You are too obsessed with future. You are going to hold back a kid that's on same time line as Jon Lester?
Unfreaking believable. What game are you watching?
I think they're just making the pieces fit. And they did have 0 options for Elias. They must have learned something and updated. It happens.
I noticed another source still has Elias with 0 options:
http://www.rosterresource.com/mlb-boston-red-sox/
I do think that - even with salary as a concern - it makes zero sense to run Buchholz out of town to accomodate Abad. But that alignment does take some urgency out of the bullpen roster crunch...
I think the Sale trade made keeping Buch a too expensive luxury. I too doubt keeping Abad was a significant factor if pulling the trigger on Buch.
Personally, keeping Hembree is of more importance. He's better than Abad and has 3 years of team control.
Our pen is not so full of great pitchers that it wouldn't be significantly improved by adding Wright or Pomeranz. There is zero chance ERod starts the year in AAA, unless he's in a horrible funk or recovering from an injury sustained in ST'ing.
Wright or Pom are better than anyone in our pen, except for Kimbrel and Thornburg.
We're not sending ERod to AAA not only because he's too valuable, but because keeping Abad or Hembree on the roster is not that important.
The game where teams hold players back for a variety of reasons all the time? Just a guess.
The whole "best players make the team" does work for Little League. But - and this is not condoning it, but a fact of MLB - contracts and control rule the Show.
The Sox chose not to demote but Rodriguez, but if they did do it (and they still might depending how the off-season plays out) it would be to keep control of as many players as possible. This kind of thing happens all the time with all 30 teams.
It was the reason for the overblown Tommy LaStella Retirement Threat last season. (Maybe that wasn't as big of a deal in Boston as it was here in Chicago. If so, apologies for the hopefully not obscure reference.)
Probably true, but the off-season is still young. Untold bargains are sometimes found in January. As are crazy impulsive decisions
Bear in mind our decision-maker for the team is a guy who once lost a 33 year old DH for one season, and in order to replace him, signed Prince Fielder to a 9 year $214mill contract. And he signed Fielder to that deal on JANUARY 26, long after everyone else had given up bidding on Fielder.
So who knows? Maybe in mid-January Dombrowski, out of sheer boredom, inks Tyson Ross or Jon Niese or Ivan Nova or whoever to a 1 year $5mill deal just to break up the ennui.
I don't know why some are acting like this is such a black-and-white decision. Assuming everyone is healthy and looks strong in camp, would starting Wright and Pomeranz (both All-Stars in 2016) over Rodriguez out of the gate really be so indefensible?
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