Red Sox prospects

[Danzz]

Guys I doubt Hanley can play anywhere anymore - the guy lost his agility in a HUGE way. Not sure why, I can only guess but this isn't close to the guy who played a decent SS a few back!

He certainly doesn't have the agility of a SS, even a bad one. Maybe 1B but he would have to have worked out there from spring training. Hanley is still a hell of a hitter but I never liked the guy even in his prime. Even Cherington admitted that he was a bad signing.
Sandoval is another bad signing for the money they are paying him. You can live with him at 3B even though he can't go to his left at all. Fortunately at 3B there isn't a lot of room to cover to his left but somebody has make the fat ass lose 30 lbs. I haven't seen a good hitter swing at so many bad balls since Yogi Berra.

 

[60'sfan]

No easy answers with the Panda and Hanley. They were both bad signings. I think the best way out is to trade the Panda (if you can) and eat some salary and put Hanley on third. He has played 99 games there and although he was not great, he at least has some experience there. Not only is the Panda unable to go to his left but he cannot come in on bunts or slowly hit balls. I cannot remember one time this year when he threw out someone on a slow ground ball. He usually just ends up holding it. His batting skills at the plate have been steadily deteriorating. He is currently at career lows for BA, OBP and OPS. His ratio of walks per strikeouts is also at a career low.

I would definitely not try Hanley on first. He will just make the rest of the infield look bad. At third, he might be able to hit enough to offset his defensive weaknesses and get to the point that he is tradable. Long term, I don't want to see either on the Sox.

 

[zyron]

. Hanley is still a hell of a hitter but I never liked the guy even in his prime. Even Cherington admitted that he was a bad signing.
Sandoval is another bad signing for the money they are paying him. You can live with him at 3B even though he can't go to his left at all. Fortunately at 3B there isn't a lot of room to cover to his left but somebody has make the fat ass lose 30 lbs. I haven't seen a good hitter swing at so many bad balls since Yogi Berra.

He is at .8 offensive WAR for the year(-1.2 WAR overall, wow), that is awful. Especially with a .291 OBP while they are paying him almost $23 million a year for the next four years. Adding Sandoval at -.7 WAR with an $18 million salary might be, as a combo, the worst two free agent signings for one team of all time.

 

[Waquoit]

Doesn't all the young players mean that Farrell has to be replaced? He botched the Bogaerts situation last year, insisting he move to 3rd to make room for the horrible Steven Drew. He refused to give JBJ a decent chance. Bradley's thrived in Farrell's absence.

 

[Danzz]

He is at .8 offensive WAR for the year(-1.2 WAR overall, wow), that is awful. Especially with a .291 OBP while they are paying him almost $23 million a year for the next four years. Adding Sandoval at -.7 WAR with an $18 million salary might be, as a combo, the worst two free agent signings for one team of all time.

No question both have not had good years

Doesn't all the young players mean that Farrell has to be replaced? He botched the Bogaerts situation last year, insisting he move to 3rd to make room for the horrible Steven Drew. He refused to give JBJ a decent chance. Bradley's thrived in Farrell's absence.

Bradley thrived because he changed his hitting approach and style with Chili Davis.It had little to do with Farrell. JBJ just wasn't ready last year.
To be fair to Farrell, Bogarts didn't look like he had the range and quickness to be an everyday SS last year. He went to a camp and worked on his quickness all winter and we are seeing the results this year. He still only has adequate range but he is definitely good enough to play SS everyday. The Sox are looking strong up the middle for a lot of years to come if they can keep them all.
I'm not a huge fan f Farrell's approach to the game on offense. Sox players were taking too many pitches and that is fine if you can be a Boggslike 2 strike hitter. But there were too many players (Napoli comes to mind) that were not good 2 strike hitters and those batters needed to be swinging at strikes early in the count. This is the biggest difference I see with Lovollo.

 

[FartMan69]

Just curious how Betts is a "borderline all star"? Pretty sure every major league roster has a "Betts" on it.

Bump

 

[60'sfan]

Some are giving Lovullo credit for the Red Sox turn-around and he has done a pretty good job but I think that it is mostly Dombrowski. Not that he has engineered a lot of changes but rather he is someone who poses a threat to the organization. The Red Sox were too complacent under Farrell and Cherrington and had no fire in them. Since Dombrowski has arrived, they are clearly playing better and with enthusiasm. It is almost the same impact that George Steinbrenner had with the Yankees. Everyone knew that if they didn't play hard they could be dumped. I still remember the heart to heart he had with Jeter have his average fell to .280. Shortly after that Jeter caught fire.

 

[The Viking]

Bogaerts and Betts are the first pair of Red Sox 22 year olds to reach base 200+ times in the same year since 1966 when Tony Conigliaro and George Scott did it.

Pretty damn impressive.

 

[mauconnfan]

Bogaerts and Betts are the first pair of Red Sox 22 year olds to reach base 200+ times in the same year since 1966 when Tony Conigliaro and George Scott did it.

Pretty damn impressive.

Tony C and Boomer - wow!

 

[The Viking]

Conigliaro was on his way to a hall of fame career. The youngest guy in AL history to reach 100 home runs. Then he gets beaned in the eye and the rest is history.

Playing the what if game, I think its safe to say that if he never gets beaned in the eye and Rice doesn't have his wrist broken just before the playoffs, that 1975 WS lineup would have had a cakewalk to a championship. Conigliaro would be 30 and still a factor, probably about 350 HR's or so under his belt at that point.

C Fisk
1B Yaz
2B Griffin?
3B Petrocelli
SS Burleson
LF Rice
CF Lynn
RF Evans
DH Conigliaro

Griffin, Burleson and Rico weren't much offensively but the others were all damn good. Heart of the lineup being something like Lynn/Rice/Yaz/Conigliaro/Fisk/Evans..plus you'd still have guys like Carbo and Cecil Cooper coming off the bench to hit for the bottom 3 in big spots.

Hell the outfield alone Rice/Lynn/Evans were 22, 22 and 23 years old. Geezus.

Oh well, what ifs.

 

[mauconnfan]

Tony C would have been mentioned up there with Yaz and Williams no doubt. Stud - really sad!

 

[Palatine]

Petrocelli and his Fenway swing hit 40 homers in 1969 and close to 30 a couple of other times.

 

[The Viking]

After 1971 his highest total was 15. In 1975 it was 7

 

[mauconnfan]

After 1971 his highest total was 15. In 1975 it was 7

Steroids

 

[The Viking]

it seems to be a n unwritten rule they are overhyped. I'm fine if they use as a means to trade for legit players, but having to see the effects of Swihart, JBJ, Matt Barnes, Travis Shaw, Vasquez, weeks, etc. is painful. What a mess.

It appears this original post may have been a bit hasty? Hopefully JSM has had a chance to see JBJ Swihart and Shaw all unleash holy hell in the new YS.

 

[The Viking]

Pretty sure every major league roster has a "Betts" on it.

Whoops

 

[Stainmaster]

Whoops

Give the Mets fan a break. He got a big head after this season.

 

[60'sfan]

It appears this original post may have been a bit hasty? Hopefully JSM has had a chance to see JBJ Swihart and Shaw all unleash holy hell in the new YS.

I'm not surprised at all by Betts and Bogaerts. I was confident that Swihart would be good but not this soon. Didn't see Shaw coming and JBJ has been a very pleasant surprise. Still not sure about Rusney.

On the pitching side, Eduardo looks solid. Did not expect this much from Henry Owens and I am sure that no one expected to see anything like this from Rich Hill. I am getting comfortable with Robby Ross Jr. I hope they keep him.

 

[Excalibur]

Just curious how Betts is a "borderline all star"? Pretty sure every major league roster has a "Betts" on it.

Bump . . .

 

[FartMan69]

Lol

 

[Stainmaster]

I bet someone wishes the Mets had a Betts on their roster right about now.

 

[FartMan69]

I bet someone wishes the Mets had a Betts on their roster right about now.

Was it here or on twitter where Met fans laughed at a hypothetical Harvey-Mookie deal? I mean that "Betts on every roster" take was wet garbage but laughing at that deal is all time Lawl.

 

[zyron]

Was it here or on twitter where Met fans laughed at a hypothetical Harvey-Mookie deal? I mean that "Betts on every roster" take was wet garbage but laughing at that deal is all time Lawl.

Not really, when that deal was talked about no GM in the game would have traded Harvey for him straight up.

 

[FartMan69]

Not really, when that deal was talked about no GM in the game would have traded Harvey for him straight up.

My whole post is in hindsight, just riding a high of seeing our young guns raking.

 

[60'sfan]

In the last couple of years when the Red Sox were finishing last, the temptation to trade one of their young players for someone who could help right away must have been pretty intense. But to their credit, they did the right thing and are now enjoying the ride.