He's hit RHPs better this year, so it's hard to say now, that he should only face LHPs.
Since Beni struggles vs lefties, maybe that still should be the plan for the second half of 2017.
I can't see Young being offered a contract this winter. I doubt Brentz is in the 2017 picture, but if he is, it will be (IMO) as minor league depth.
He's not on the 40 man roster currently, so he will have minor league FA rights this winter. I'm pretty sure someone will give him a better shot at making their 25 man roster than we can. We may just go with Holt as our 4th OF'er or sign a cheap FA that can back up 3B and maybe 1B while giving us LF depth.
Note: other minor league FAs:
Jesse Barfield, Brian Bogusevic, Bryce Brentz, Dan Butler, Ryan Court, Jacob Dahlstrand, Matt Dominguez, Shawn Haviland, Williams Jerez, Kyle Kendrick, Deiner Lopez, Heiker Meneses, Edgar Olmos, Mike Olt, Mitchell Osnowitz, Jhonny Peralta, Tim Roberson, Jose Sermo, Aneury Tavarez, Herny Urrutia, Elih Villaneuva, Marcus Walden, Jordan Weems
I'm sure I've read somewhere that Lin has played CF. I would love to see him take the spot of Holt.
Lin to me looks to be bit more athletic than Holt. Little quicker. He comes cheap and we need to make choices to lower our payroll for non essential personnel BECAUSE WE FUCKED UP WITH PABLO.
I must say I am enjoying this season, even if my team didn't upgrade at the break. That being said, this is my post from 2017 predicting the 2020 closing of the window. Bradley and Sale fell off, which is why Sale signed for less money and Bradley is staring a DFA in the face. Bogey extended at cheap money for the sox. Kimbrel went packing. The sox did next to nothing in the draft and development range outside of getting Casas who is a long ways off. This 2019 team is seeing what a lack of depth and development gets you. Nobody to deal off for parts, no rookies to bring up to bolster the team's weaknesses. The sox farm is considered so bad that they are 30th in baseball with a "wide gap" between them and the 29th ranked team. The sox looked for pen options at the deadline, but teams had no interest in their minor leaguers due to either lack of production, ceiling, or proximity.
This is why I am glad Cashman didn't pay the insane prices being asked of him. When you deal off major talent for short term upgrades, you end up with a window and a cliff. The sox haven't had a cliff like this one in the Henry era. Theo and Cherries ALWAYS maintained a solid farm system. Even if the sox took a step back in farm rankings due to promotions, they were only a year off before the next wave replaced their losses. Yes, the sox spent 3 glorious years in last place since 2003, but during that time elite talents like Bogaerts, Betts, and Devers were making their way steadily up the chain or graduating to the club. Shrewd moves like dealing Miller for E-Rod helped replenish the depth and add to the team on graduation. The problem you have now is that DD shot the load and either graduated or traded every prospect with a pulse. He then brought in a development team that has failed immensely and the sox 2 scouting directors who have been utter disasters. The sox then spent a wild amount of money on players and extended others leaving them with no financial wiggle room for years to come. This leaves the sox in their current predicament. Farm is too bad to deal for any major upgrades, cap is too close for the sox to spend. Without a drastic deconstruction of some sort, the sox are staring at a prolonged and protracted rebuild.
One of the only ways I can foresee the sox jump starting this process is to actually lose enough to miss the playoffs this season and sell Betts. One year may not garner the type of return he would have a couple years back, but his return would be pretty substantial to a team with literally no depth. The only way that happens, though, is if the sox miss the POs by a wide margin. DD isn't the type to blow it up unless it is painfully obvious he needs to do that. If the sox win the WC or miss it by a game or 2, that may embolden DD to sell off whatever assets he has left to make one last push, which will deepen the cliff once Mookie leaves or gets paid.
Last edited by jacksonianmarch; 08-02-2019 at 02:47 PM.
Hal sucks
The cliff came early, and even outspending everyone by tens of millions when including taxes & Castillo couldn't keep the nice run we had going.
Trying to play it half way will only prolong the recovery.
We will need to be bold this winter. Reset the tax sooner not later. Keep the young core and blow up the rest.
[QUOTE=Bellhorn04;1273506]Specific moves in mind?[/QUOTbE]
Sign nobody but maybe Holt & Leon at min. Trade JBJ and someone else to get under the tax line. Extend Betts after 2020, start the clock over on the luxury tax and hope we draft well after a down season in 2020.
Trading Betts will return depth to the farm, but it doesnt fix the fact that $77 mil AAV is stuck in your rotation between 3 guys who aren’t even 1-2’s in Price, Sale and Eovaldi and it will stay that way for 3 more years.
My bet is DD rides with this squad for one more hurrah and the Sox probably do achieve more than 2019 just based on them being managed better in ST and likely not playing deep into October. But I doubt the Sox reach title contention in 2020. But I bet DD thinks they will