Dominikk85

I agree it could make sense. But just for the optics that is something that only teams like the Rays do, traditional franchises, even the more progressive ones Usually don't do that because of optics, especially not a franchise with as strong of an owner influence as the sox have.

I can't see them dealing him when they are in a race for the playoffs and rodon is doing well. Now it might Actually make sense but teams just don't do that. Is he eligible for a comp pick if he leaves?

I think their new front office is definitely better than the old one, they have a pretty good farm system now and cherington build a good farm in Boston too before dombrowski was hired to cash in so he has a History of doing that. Now the pirates owner is still terrible of course.

Regarding extending him I would step on the breaks a little. Just a few months ago he was non tendered and he was hurt for about 2-3 seasons. Now he had 3 very good to good starts but this could still turn quickly, he could get hurt again tomorrow. Now of course this is true for any pitcher which means it is true for no pitcher (I. E you can't really consider it) but rodon's risk is certainly higher than other pitchers. Now if he dominates all season that might be different but I would wait and see a little

If Giolito, Lynn, rodon and keuchel are all doing well (and they make the playoffs obviously which I think they will) this is quite a good playoff rotation, (not dodgers or 2018 astros level but still one of the better ones)

In the regular season number 3 or 4 doesn't really matter, doesn't it? Now in the post season that is a huge question but then again it is some time until then and who knows what will happen until then both with performance and health. Right now I would give rodon the nod but a lot can happen especially since rodon has been hurt a lot. Hope he stays healthy and effective though, I would prefer keuchel who I think isn't as bad as he was this year but obviously not as good as last year (more of a 4.0 Era guy or so I think) to be the number 4 in the post season as that would mean the number 3 is better than that.

Red Sox probably ruin him, they haven't developed a starter in like 15 years

Would be nice to have him but with rodon emerging/coming back the way he did the sox don't really have a huge need for him. Obviously another front line starter would be nice but really the team has other needs, especially OF depth (not just LF, they also have no replacement for Robert and the often injury prone over 30 year old Eaton).

Nice hit by Vaughn. On inside pitches he is already pretty good.

Yes

Nice hit by moncada. Hopefully he gets it going soon. Still a bit worried about him as his EV and ISO is down last season and this too, wonder if it still is a longer term covid effect.

I agree. His arm is probably below average and he had some bad throws but that was a good play as he had to wait for the runner to pass and then throw on the run so he couldn't get much behind the throw

Rodon doesn't have good command today but he is battling pretty well and throwing 97 after 100 pitches is a good sign.

Mercedes should have caught it anyway but there also was no reason for nick to not throw a routine throw to yermin's chest. Need to support yermin here with good throws.

I said that by late spring already, the book on Vaughn is out, away, away away with an occasional brush back pitch in to keep him honest. He Really needs to work on hitting that as he won't get as many mistakes as he did in the minors. Right now he can't handle that but that is OK, young guys need to learn to adjust.

I think it is Really part of his framing to catch it so close. Higher chance of CI but you also give the ball less time to sink below the zone (make the low pitch look higher) or angle out of it. It is a trade off.

If he can hit 300 with a 350 obp I'm fine with that. He needs to tighten up his defense but I'm not worried about that either. I still would like him to become like a 6-8 Homer guy at least but if he really is a 1-3 Homer guy but the rest is good I'm fine with that. Yes, the power is a little disappointment so far as most prospect guys would hope he would get to 10-12 homers power but if everything else is in line that would be OK.

Well the alternative is developing pitching which can work but has a lot of attrition I.e. You must have a lot of pitching prospects to make it work which means you have less (top) hitters. That is why some teams like the epstein cubs have done the develop hitting and buy pitching approach. Disadvantage of course is it is expensive and you don't have much depth in case of injury.

Not many highly drafted catchers have worked in the last years. I wouldn't draft a catcher top5 overall, chances that you get a buster posey are slim (we have heard the next posey or "Joe Mauer with more power" a lot and it rarely worked) and also even if he works out a catcher only plays 4-5 times a week at best so you get less plate appearances than if you draft another position player. In fantasy thus I always take late guys for catching. On the other hand the average catcher has like a 90 wrc+ so you gain a lot by putting in a posey or grandal but then again you only get like 110-120 games per season which diminishes the value some. I can understand teams using a cheap defense first catcher and getting offense in other places albeit of course having a double skill catcher is a nice thing to have that separates you from other teams. But still if I'm a rebuilding team other things have priority, get a middle infielder, center fielder or front line ace to start your core.

That's why you usually use utility infielders and 4th outfielders to pitch and not highly paid stars or young top prospects.

I think from a pure winning standpoint position player pitching is not used enough. With a 6 run deficit in the 8th your win probability in an even match up is about 0.5%. Such a comeback does happen but basically it means you Win less than 1 in 100 of such games and saving the pen 99 times is probably worth more. There are other reasons to not do it like paying people in the stadium and people watching on TV, basically the quality of your product brand, but from a pure winning perspective teams are probably not tanking enough. I wonder if a team like the Rays which has no fans anyway will do that one day and radically tank games with big deficits using position players. That would probably cost you 2 wins over the course of a season but it would allow you to use your pen much more aggressively in the remaining games which would create extra wins.

I'm surprised they square it up at 2500 RPM for the FB so well even at 93.

Is there a way to see live in game spin rates? I wonder if his fb is not just slower but also having 100 RPM or so less than usual the way they are making contact with it.

LG not missing any bats today. Defense has not helped a ton either but red Sox also also really on Lucas.

Maybe more a Netflix drama series:). Definitely had some issues but in the end if he turns the corner on health and performance I don't care.