Dominikk85

Both would be smart to take a deal. Madrigal will be in his late20s when he is a FA, Vaughn too. Especially for 1b/dh the market doesn't get better as they approach 30 so Vaughn should consider it. Depends on how good he becomes of course. If he hits his absolute ceiling and is like Paul goldschmidt (who averaged 5 war his first 6 years which is a 70fv) he can get a good deal at 29-30 and shouldn't take an extension. However if he hits like the median outcome which is like a 2.5 WAR player on average (55 fv) then maybe he should take that deal and sign for like 60M through age 32 or so.

Saw this tweet. Apparently a large majority of owners have asked Manfred to keep the 16 game playoffs. I would not like that, for 60 games the expanded playoffs are great but 162 games are going to be awfully long. Also it makes winning the division worthless, maybe at least you can give the top seeds a bye week like in football. Or you do away with divisions and do it like in nba.

That is a big discussion these days. Multi sports athletes often have advantages in coordination and athleticism over early specialization but there are also many early specialization guys who become great. Roger federer was a multi sport athlete but tiger woods specialized at age 4 or so:)

Wasn't tim a basketball player and picked up baseball as a teenager? Lorenzo cain was like that too, those guys are not traditional prospects and almost impossible to predict.

Something obviously is wrong with mazara (probably a mix of physical, mechanical and mental which can affect each other). Maybe he could fix it next year and hit his usual 105-110 wrc+ against righties while sucking against lefties and hitting 20 Homers but it probably is not worth the money finding out because there is no guarantee it gets fixed. EE is already sitting a lot recently, the sox have enough options with the two catchers at DH to only play EE against some bad stuff pitchers were he still can hit an occasional homer.

Mccann/grandal is a competent DH.

Sox won't move past those teams though as the last season would weigh much more on the position. Those teams would still stay near the bottom. Big winners would be the sox and padres who have good seasons and still get good picks (padres might even get a top10). Red sox would be the biggest loser being that bad and still probably only getting a mid round pick.

Shouldn't vaughn be mentioned as he very likely is a major leaguer?

I hope they do a combined record of 2019 and 2020 which could give the sox a pick in the 15 range (if they win 39 games this year they will end up with a combined 19-20 .500 record). That would be a huge break for the sox if they get like the 15th pick instead of the 28th or so.

how about giving dunning an opener? Dunning doesn't have monster stuff but he also doesn't walk guys and can handle the non elite hitters. So if you give him an opener and basically start his day against their number 5 hitter you can ease him into the day and maybe get him deeper into the game.

The angels have two very good candidates in trout and rendon. Sox also basically have 3 candidates. Apart from the sox and Angels guys of course nelson cruz is the 6th candidate. I think abreu, cruz and trout are the front runners but cruz could have an advantage if the sox and Angels guys are splitting votes with their teammates.

EE has been sitting 3 out of the Last 8 games, I think that is the way to go (semi platooning EE). Mazara I would platoon with engel.

Encarnacion isn't getting "all those ABs" anymore, he actually sat on the bench 3 of the last 8 games which is quite a lot considering his salary. RR has basically semi platooning EE the last two weeks and have the catchers hit more at DH.

He definitely must improve his control. He never will have pinpoint command like bieber or Hendricks but he must eliminate the big misses. It is ok to miss the zone by 3 inches as that can induce swing and miss but those big misses by a foot plus must be reduced. The stuff is there but the walks are a problem especially because that means he needs to throw some middle middle fastballs to avoid more walks which then can lead to multi run homers. He doesn't need to locate perfectly but he needs to throw strikes early in the count. Sometimes he does get away with it and his stuff helps with getting out of jams but at some point you will give up the 3 run homer if you always walk guys.

I also don't like the college second and third round picks. Better get a toolsy HS guy with a bad swing or control problems there who might bust in low A ball rather than taking the polished but limited college guy who performs in the low minors but then runs out of talent and the best case you get is like a 4th outfielder. I don't think the first round picks were that bad. Collins was a very good hitter in college and had some chance to become a non terrible catcher. Hasn't worked in the pros so far as collins walked and hit a few bombs but struck out a ton and didn't make many defensive strides. I don't think burger was that bad either, he raked in college and you can't plan injuries. Madrigal and vaughn both look at least like average major leaguers (2 war) with a good chance to be 3 WAR players. Crochet and kelly are hard to judge yet but there is potential.

I think it is OK that a broadcaster criticizes the team or manager but doing it while you are having a really good season might not be the smartest idea.

Well he did play in that league because he was not invited to camp. Obviously he would have preferred schaumburg right away and face top pitching prospects over facing guys throwing 87 in that league but that league was still better than just hitting in a cage and lift weights. I think him playing in that league showed the sox he is very motivated and maybe they even scouted him there and liked what they saw.

Increasing spin even can be bad for low spin guys. High spin is ideal but it is better to have low spin that average spin because movement is always relative to what hitters are used to so an average spin FB will look more straight than a low spin FB.

The magic continues. Still not walking (11th) and still striking out (11th) but first in ISO and wRC+

Yeah. Obviously you won't put up 10 runs every night against good pitching but even against good pitching you usually get a chance to put up 2-3 runs. You just need to be ready at the right time, there will be that situation with runners on first and second and two out and if you hit a bomb there it is 3 runs. You don't get as many chances though, if you strand bases loaded you likely won't get another chance unlike when you are facing KC and the tigers. The sox will strike out in the playoffs and the lowish OBP kind of lineup of the sox will create some cold games but they can also break out at any time and have that big inning.

The sox don't really need vaughn at DH this year. Even if EE is bad the mccann and grandal situation leaves you with a decent DH. Rotate EE with the two catchers though DH and you have a decent DH. Recently RR has been sitting EE quite a bit and let the catchers DH. Let EE only hit against lefties and soft tossing righties but put grandal in against the good stuff righties and let mccann catch those days.

Mazara has been disappointing compared to his prospect hype but obviously he isn't the hitter he is this year. Mazara has been a consistent 20 HR guy and an above average hitter against righties and for some reason he can't do that this year. Still you are right that you expect more out of a top10 overall prospect than a solid platoon hitter but still this year is clearly an anomaly for him.

That would be stupid. The next wave is not going to be as good as giolito, anderson, robert and moncada. Keep vaughn Down a month or so so you have him through 2027 but vaughn will be 23 and is a first baseman and that means he is 30 at free agency and that is not great for contract negotiations, can't compare that to a 20 yo middle if guy like tatis. Regarding kopech I would keep him down those two months or whatever you need for the extra year because he won't pitch more than 130 ip in 2021 anyway and that way you have him the second half and possibly playoffs.

Vaughn will not be called up this year so what would be the plan next year? I would prefer them sending him straight to AA to start next season and if he does well call him up after a month. Starting him on opening day makes no sense at all because then you should have called him up already as it is the same service time.

Timing definitely is right It Sucks for sheets, burger, rutherford but better them than robert, eloy and madrigal. Only one really hurt by this is Vaughn and he is not that much hurt because his bat was so advanced it didn't need much milb time anyway so his timeline isn't changed that much. Most likely without corona vaughn would be a September call up and now it is probably may of next year or so. That is not a huge loss of time.