A Realistic View at 2018: Part I

[moonslav59]

I see Holt starting the season in AAA, despite Pedey being on the DL. Marrero, Brentz and Swihart are all out of options, and Leon is the back-up catcher.

It seems weird to pay a guy $2M to be in AAA and be 3rd or 4th, at best, on any positional depth chart.

IMO, h only becomes $2M valuable, if Pedey never returns AND one or two from Hernandez, Marrero, Lin, Brentz and Swihart bombs out or gets hurt (which is certainly possible). notin makes a great point, though, and we certainly could have found a cheaper player like Holt at any point in a season or off season.

[sk7326]

At the end of the day, how many "super sub" players do you think the Sox are going to commit multiple millions of dollars to?

I think offering Holt arbitration may have done more to close the door on Nunez than many Sox fans want to believe. ..

Multi-millions, who knows? But in the eras of a 3-4 man bench, multipositional ability is important. I could see the Sox preferring to say give Swihart that whirl - and I'd agree with that.

[moonslav59]

Multi-millions, who knows? But in the eras of a 3-4 man bench, multipositional ability is important. I could see the Sox preferring to say give Swihart that whirl - and I'd agree with that.

Marrero can play 3 positions (SS, 2B & 3B)
Lin can play 4+ positions (SS, 2B, 3B & OF)
Hernandez can play 3 (3B, 2B & SS)
Swihart can play 2 now (C & OF) but can probably play 1B and maybe 3B/2B

If a 1Bman gets hurt, Travis can be called up.

Holt plays 7, but when 3 of your bench players play multiple positions anyways, we don't need the 7 position guy.

[notin]

Multi-millions, who knows? But in the eras of a 3-4 man bench, multipositional ability is important. I could see the Sox preferring to say give Swihart that whirl - and I'd agree with that.

Exactly. Holt, Swihart, Leon and Marrero. No room for Nunuz here..

[moonslav59]

Exactly. Holt, Swihart, Leon and Marrero. No room for Nunuz here..

...and if Pedey comes back, Hernandez will squeezze Holt, Marrero or Swihart out of a job.

(Then, there's Brentz.)

[notin]

I keep trying to forget about Brentz.

I know a lot of people want him to get a shot. But if Bradley goes down for 3 weeks, and he is the most likely outfielder to go down historically, then the Sox have to re-arrange the outfield to accommodate Brentz. And by the time those 3 weeks are up, I wonder how many fans will still be glad that Brentz finally got a shot....

[Spudboy]

I keep trying to forget about Brentz.

I know a lot of people want him to get a shot. But if Bradley goes down for 3 weeks, and he is the most likely outfielder to go down historically, then the Sox have to re-arrange the outfield to accommodate Brentz. And by the time those 3 weeks are up, I wonder how many fans will still be glad that Brentz finally got a shot....

Then again he may hit the shit out of the ball.

You do not know. No one does.

[notin]

Then again he may hit the shit out of the ball.

You do not know. No one does.

He won't. We do all know this or should.

He took 5 years to hit AAA pitching. Do you really think MLB is suddenly going to become easy for him? And while he did have some success his last time in MLB, it was carried by a very lucky BABIP and his xBABIP had him pegged as closer to a .218 hitter.

He won't hit the shit out of anything. Not on Fenway at least...

[Bellhorn04]

He won't. We do all know this or should.

He took 5 years to hit AAA pitching. Do you really think MLB is suddenly going to become easy for him? And while he did have some success his last time in MLB, it was carried by a very lucky BABIP and his xBABIP had him pegged as closer to a .218 hitter.

In 64, count 'em, 64 PA's. Kind of a small sample, no?

[moonslav59]

I keep trying to forget about Brentz.

I know a lot of people want him to get a shot. But if Bradley goes down for 3 weeks, and he is the most likely outfielder to go down historically, then the Sox have to re-arrange the outfield to accommodate Brentz. And by the time those 3 weeks are up, I wonder how many fans will still be glad that Brentz finally got a shot....

I agree, but he's going to get that 3 weeks, so we might as well discuss things on that premise.

[notin]

In 64, count 'em, 64 PA's. Kind of a small sample, no?

Yes. Small sample. But the larger point was that he spent 5 years in AAA before adjusting to the pitching at that level...

[mvp 78]

I keep trying to forget about Brentz.

I know a lot of people want him to get a shot. But if Bradley goes down for 3 weeks, and he is the most likely outfielder to go down historically, then the Sox have to re-arrange the outfield to accommodate Brentz. And by the time those 3 weeks are up, I wonder how many fans will still be glad that Brentz finally got a shot....

Moving Benny to CF isn't really rearranging the OF since he played there off and on in 2017.

[mvp 78]

In 64, count 'em, 64 PA's. Kind of a small sample, no?

Plus it was before he revamped his swing.

[mvp 78]

He won't. We do all know this or should.

He took 5 years to hit AAA pitching. Do you really think MLB is suddenly going to become easy for him? And while he did have some success his last time in MLB, it was carried by a very lucky BABIP and his xBABIP had him pegged as closer to a .218 hitter.

He won't hit the shit out of anything. Not on Fenway at least...

He did play less than half of the games from 2014 - 2016. That probably hurt his development, you think?

[Fan_since_Boggs]

OK, let's say that that one player the Red Sox are focused on is JD Martinez. Let's say the Red Sox sign him (for around J.Upton money) and L.Morrison. (1) The Red Sox wouldn't give up any draft picks. (2) The Red Sox would have the extra depth to block H.Ramirez's option. (3) The organization can handle one big contract (JD Martinez), maintaining enough flexibility for the Machado & Harper sweepstakes in next year's free agency. (4) As far as the lineup goes, I like the idea of giving Bradley a chance at leadoff with the hope that the spot will augment Bradley's OBP skills (increase his walk totals).

1b: Morrison/Ramirez
2b: Hernandez
SS: Bogaerts
3b: Devers
LF: Benintendi
CF: Bradley
RF: Betts
DH: Martinez
C: Vazquez

Lineup:
Bradley
Betts
Benintendi
Martinez
Morrison/Ramirez
Devers
Bogaerts
Hernandez
Vazquez