Spring Training 2018 Thread

[Kimmi]

I think some regression is possible for the Yanks, especially their offense. Stanton is a great pickup, you make that deal twice on sunday, but they did trade away the only guy in their lineup that hit .300 last season to get him. Just sayin’. Is Judge gonna hit another 53 HRs? I seriously doubt it. Pitchers started figuring him out in the 2nd half, Judge posted a .230/.393/.548 slash line with just 58 hits, 104 strikeouts from early July to season’s end. I see the Yanks with increased expectations going into this season, but a lot is riding on their youth.. and there’s a lot of it. That can be a good thing or a bad thing as far as expectations go. I tip my cap to most of their trades and FA signings these last few years. But my opinions come from a Sox fan who’s seen regression from so much of our own youth, some more than others, sometimes even slight injuries that ultimately cause regression. It happens. Barring any major injury(s) I like Boston’s chances to win the AL East. I think the Sox are more battle tested, more experienced, more calibrated.

Stanton was a great pickup for the Yankees for the short term. However, I wouldn't have done that deal, and certainly not twice on Sunday, because of the long term commitment. That said, I give Cashman a lot of credit for what he has done with the team in recent years. I have always felt that once he got free from under the grip of the old Steinbrenner and Levine, he could be an excellent GM.

In terms of regression, I do think that some of the Yankees players are due to regress. I also think that several of the Sox players are due to regress in the positive direction. If that makes me a homer, so be it. It's a tough job, but somebody had to do it!

[Kimmi]

Rick's going to be fine,

Yup!

[notin]

It is starting to look obvious that the Sox don't see him as being their first or second catcher moving forward. They wouldn't have him playing so much elsewhere if their plan was to catch him often. I still think that they will look very hard at this kid before giving him away. He is to talented and athlete just to give away.

Trading a player is not the same as "giving him away."

[notin]

It’s a negotiated portion of the CBA and if the player doesn’t like it, he has no legal leverage. Coming out of spring, you want to keep all your options open, hence a player who may have a future with your team who is out of options will stick while a better player with options will go. That might happen with Swihart, although I’d be very surprised if he supplants the better player. Swihart’s value is tied to his position. If he’s a catcher and he can hit a bit, then he’s got significant value. This is where Ben et al screwed the pooch. Swihart never should have been in the OF. His offensive ceiling was that of a replacement level LFer, it was fitting a square peg in a round hole. Now that most organizations maximize a player’s value, I anticipate that won’t happen again. Swihart should have been in AAA as a C and not in LF hurting an ankle. Now he’s out of options, lost development time and is still far from being passable as a big league catcher. I think he gets DFA’d and someone takes a chance On him only to DFA him again in the hopes of sneaking him into a AAA roster. His only hope of being a productive big leaguer is spending a healthy 2018 in AAA catching full time

Actually, no. On all fronts.

[cp176]

Trading a player is not the same as "giving him away."

Kind of a figure of speech notin but hey once again thanks for correcting me - right. For what you could get for Blake Swihart right now it would be akin to giving him away.

[notin]

Kind of a figure of speech notin but hey once again thanks for correcting me - right. For what you could get for Blake Swihart right now it would be akin to giving him away.

So you're saying no one would give anything up for him? (Possible, but we don't know what has been offfered.)

Or do you believe all the pre-season numbers despite years and years of watching player after player have a brilliant March only to follow up with an average to below season and a very short career?

We don't really know how good Swihart is, but what we do know is other teams seem to want him badly. If one makes a good enough offer - even if it is just a farm-building prospect - the Sox could and likely will consider it.

After all, while most people seem to agree we don't know how good Swihart is, a very big segment of them seem to have eliminated the possibility of "not very" and everything below it...

[Bellhorn04]

After all, while most people seem to agree we don't know how good Swihart is, a very big segment of them seem to have eliminated the possibility of "not very" and everything below it...

Unfortunately, not everyone can be a consummate cold-blooded logician like you, notin. Yes, there are far too many fans who tend to view their team's unproven quantities through Pollyanna's rose-colored spectacles.

[notin]

Unfortunately, not everyone can be a consummate cold-blooded logician like you, notin. Yes, there are far too many fans who tend to view their team's unproven quantities through Pollyanna's rose-colored spectacles.

And who thought - though they deny it now - that Pedro Ciriaco was the future at shortstop.

But really, on this team Swihart is slated to be a bench bat. Exploring dealing him for a starter, bullpen arm, or starting player down the road does make some sense. Especially for a player they do like for whatever reason. ..

[cp176]

Unfortunately, not everyone can be a consummate cold-blooded logician like you, notin. Yes, there are far too many fans who tend to view their team's unproven quantities through Pollyanna's rose-colored spectacles.

hmm - maybe to true but what the hey.

[cp176]

So you're saying no one would give anything up for him? (Possible, but we don't know what has been offfered.)

Or do you believe all the pre-season numbers despite years and years of watching player after player have a brilliant March only to follow up with an average to below season and a very short career?

We don't really know how good Swihart is, but what we do know is other teams seem to want him badly. If one makes a good enough offer - even if it is just a farm-building prospect - the Sox could and likely will consider it.

After all, while most people seem to agree we don't know how good Swihart is, a very big segment of them seem to have eliminated the possibility of "not very" and everything below it...

notin - When you ask a question couched in one of your statements, do really expect an answer or are you just expressing how you think others might feel.
I'm fairlly confident in saying that many teams in baseball would love to deal or steal if you will Swihart away form us. If there were offers even worth looking at, my bet is that we would have heard something about them. I would lump Swihart in with most of the rest of the guys on this team. There are very few of them that I feel are untouchable with respect to the right offer. Once again, doubt seriously that DD will be giving him away until we see what he is capable of. Might but I hope not and I doubt it.

[harmony]

So you're saying no one would give anything up for him? (Possible, but we don't know what has been offfered.)

Or do you believe all the pre-season numbers despite years and years of watching player after player have a brilliant March only to follow up with an average to below season and a very short career?

We don't really know how good Swihart is, but what we do know is other teams seem to want him badly. If one makes a good enough offer - even if it is just a farm-building prospect - the Sox could and likely will consider it.

After all, while most people seem to agree we don't know how good Swihart is, a very big segment of them seem to have eliminated the possibility of "not very" and everything below it...

I missed the report that other teams want Blake Swihart "badly."

http://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-...ever-be-higher

I guess a trade would take only one team that buys into the high end of the divergent 2018 projections for Swihart instead of many disturbingly low projections:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/p...wihabl01.shtml

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.asp...176&position=C

[moonslav59]

Maybe I'm being a homer for holding out hope that Swihart sees his value rise this season, either as a Sox player or in trade value.

I doubt we get much in trade right now, even if we turn it into a 2 for 1 trade that might help solve our mini-roster crunch problem that lies on the horizon with Pedey's return. Even if a GM values Swihart as highly as some of us do, I'm not sure the return in trade would be worth it.

I'm hoping we keep Swihart and see what he's got. Yes, we risk a second chance at trading him while his value has peaked (although this peak is lower than the one years ago), but with our catching tandem having a record of being horrendous on offense for long stretches, keeping a 3rd catcher/utility guy on the 25 man roster probably gives us more bang for the buck than any other bench player playing on a team full of full time players not needing replacement, except for maybe a late inning defensive type here and there.

Swihart will play more than whichever one we keep from Holt or Marrero. He may even play more than Moreland, if HRam is hot out of the gate. If Leon catches every 5th start, Swi may end up with more PAs than him, too.

I wouldn't trade Swihart, until Pedey returns, if ever.

[notin]

notin - When you ask a question couched in one of your statements, do really expect an answer or are you just expressing how you think others might feel.
I'm fairlly confident in saying that many teams in baseball would love to deal or steal if you will Swihart away form us. If there were offers even worth looking at, my bet is that we would have heard something about them. I would lump Swihart in with most of the rest of the guys on this team. There are very few of them that I feel are untouchable with respect to the right offer. Once again, doubt seriously that DD will be giving him away until we see what he is capable of. Might but I hope not and I doubt it.

If the offers aren't very good, that's fine. That's no rule that says Dombrowski has to accept any of them. I wouldn't go assuming you would hear about any worthwhile offers though. For example, it took months until before we heard the Indians offered Encarnacion for Bradley.

The bottom line is, Swihart is very tradable, and may never look this good again. And dealing him in the right deal could solve multiple issues. There is no reason to be so close- minded to the possibility. He might be the next Mike Zunino. But he also might be the next Eric Wedge. And if he is the next Wedge, people will blast Dombrowski for not dealing him at the right time, just like they did with Garin Cecchini and any other prospect who didn't live up to the hype. ...

[notin]

Maybe I'm being a homer for holding out hope that Swihart sees his value rise this season, either as a Sox player or in trade value.

I doubt we get much in trade right now, even if we turn it into a 2 for 1 trade that might help solve our mini-roster crunch problem that lies on the horizon with Pedey's return. Even if a GM values Swihart as highly as some of us do, I'm not sure the return in trade would be worth it.

I'm hoping we keep Swihart and see what he's got. Yes, we risk a second chance at trading him while his value has peaked (although this peak is lower than the one years ago), but with our catching tandem having a record of being horrendous on offense for long stretches, keeping a 3rd catcher/utility guy on the 25 man roster probably gives us more bang for the buck than any other bench player playing on a team full of full time players not needing replacement, except for maybe a late inning defensive type here and there.

Swihart will play more than whichever one we keep from Holt or Marrero. He may even play more than Moreland, if HRam is hot out of the gate. If Leon catches every 5th start, Swi may end up with more PAs than him, too.

I wouldn't trade Swihart, until Pedey returns, if ever.

"Might play more than Holt our Marrero" isn't much of a reason to keep him. And I'm sure Dombrowski feels that way too.

I do doubt he plays more than Moreland. Are you sorry of implying he will play better than Moreland? And hit better? I'm not much of a Midland fan, but that does seem a bit optimistic to me. ..

[Natick to NC]

Way to valuable to us more than anyone else ...Sandy or Vaz could very well get hurt and he can absolutely catch ...he had a good repoir with Porcello last night and Johnson he picked mannnny balls out in the dirt last night .I would bet you dollars to donuts that he makes this team easily .The bat is Quick as snot .Blake may very well break out verrrry soon .