There is greater than zero logic in shifting bogaerts over and playing someone else in shortstop. If nothing els a place holder shortstop is easier to acquire. It depends on what you can acquire and whether you think Devers is ready.
That said moving bogaerts over increases the number of things that can go wrong, and lest we forget XB had his own second half slump last year so screwing with his comfort zone is playing with fire.
And moving Xander to 3B will ruin the left side of infield since he is an absolutely lousy 3B.
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx...eldingadvanced
If you think he's bad at SS, just look at the 3B numbers.
I'm seeing words like unbelievable and horrible just thrown around here. Those are all very relative terms. I liked Shaw through it all last year. A big (as in good sized third baseman) with power. Giving up on him is kind of like the way people tend to give up yearly on JBJ. Pomeranz was another bum too I guess until just recently. Horrible and unbelievable are the types of third baseman that have been yarded out to that position since the trade of Shaw. Fatso and the midget brigade. Eventually DD will get it right. They gave up too early on Shaw it kind of looks like.
Shaw was my "sleeper prospect" many years ago, but I guess I never really saw him as an answer to 3B. I saw him as a plus fielding 1Bman who might never hit well enough to play 1B FT.
I liked the trade, more out of my perception that our pen was our weakest (no weak) link. We had lost Uehara, Ziegler and Taz, and there was no way to know that Kelly's one good month to end the 2016 season was going to continue. Also, I don't think anyone expected Kimbrel to pitch like he did with the Braves. Barnes and Hembree and others have all done better.
In hindsight, the trade looks "unbelievably horrible" right now, but let's wait and see how Shaw finishes out the season. The Thornburg injury was not really foreseeable, but when judging by hindsight, GMs often look bad.
When looking at Iggy, the comp should not be Iggy vs Bogey or other SSs, it should be about Iggy vs our current 3B situation.
Clearly, Iggy at SS and Bogey at 3B is better than Bogey SS and Marrero/Lin 3B. We gain on offense (60+ points in OPS) and the improvement in SS defense, IMO would outweigh the drop in 3B defense due mainly to the sheer volume of plays at SS vs 3B, and Iggy's range is tremendous, which would allow Bogey to play a half step closer to the 3b bag.
His history is bad, but he was only given 10 games at 3B before the call-up. He only ended up with just over 400 innings at 3B from 2013-2014, so it's kind of hard to judge.
Your point is well taken. Going from 18th out of 20 at SS to #1 might not outweigh the loss we get on defense at 3B by too much. My hope would be that Bogey could improve more at 3B than he has shown at SS, but that could be a baseless hope, and if it ticks off Bogey, the scales tip the other way.
Again, I am not for trading for Iggy or moving Bogey to 3B this year.
I will say, I'd rather have Iggy at 3B than Lin/Marrero, but I wouldn't trade much to get him as a 3Bman.
Last edited by moonslav59; 06-26-2017 at 11:10 AM.
Note: Bogey ranked 49th out of 49 3Bmen from 2013-2014 in 3B UZR/150 at -31.8.
That's Pabloesque!
Pablo ranks 52nd out of 52 in UZR/150 from 2015-2017 (-21.8).
The lack of much 3B practice might account for some of Bogey's shortcomings at 3B but not all of it.
No, XB to 3B. Look, if we were hitting enough, I'd make that move in a heartbeat, but we not. Sox have had better offensive 2nd half numbers than 1st half #'s of recent years, but this year unfortunately, may prove different. We're all scrambling to try and fix 3B and the hitting woes, under very limited resources. We've all been in 'Spitball-mode for awhile now.
If Smith comes back fine, I think we should shop Kelly (plus see if there's a taker for Abad- he may be fine out of the AL East or in the NL), and maybe a far away prospect, plus taking on 1/3 of said target 3B's salary might... just might be enough to solve 3B (defense & offense, in one move, w/ out going over the LT Limit).
I would not trade Kelly. I'd say he's our back-up closer. We don't know how well Smith will pitch when he returns.
(Note: He hasn't even touched a ball in 10 days. He may not return this year.)
If we trade anyone, it will be prospects for a proven 3Bman or SP'er. Kelly would be someone you trade to a contender.