Sox at the Trade Deadline

[Jackbrit2]

Aceves was outrighted to Pawtucket right? and then he got mad down there and isn't he on the DL down there? What a mess...considering the Astros just let Veras go to the Tigers, it's nuts the Sox didn't see that one. I am ok with Uehara myself, and every time I see a Rangers lineup I am annoyed we didn't sign Beltre long term...need the left side of the infield if anything, Stephen Drew, ugh...I do like Napoli, but we really need to get him some batting help with all of those K's.

I have watched Napoli the last week or two at bat. His problem is he is stepping in the bucket and pulling his head out trying to hit pitches he wishes were inside but are in fact center plate or outside so he can't hit that pitch. If the pitcher makes a mistake and comes inside he makes good contact.

 

[Brahmsian]

Napoli's problem is hitting, not fielding. Belte's the other way around.

At catcher inconsistent hitting is a lot easier to take than inconsistent fielding..

 

[Brahmsian]

Napoli's foul-ups are LESS likely to come in crunch time than Beltre's were his one year here.

Not saying Napoli's a Gold Glove candidate, but I'll still take him ahead of Beltre. With no hesitation at all.

 

[#1BostonFan]

As long as they don't trade Middlebrooks or Bogaerts I wouldn't mind them making a move to help us win the WS this year.

 

[Hawkeye]

I am not sure I like this Peavy trade, the high salary and prone to injury make me hesitant to think we have the right piece of the puzzle...makes me also wonder just how bad Buchholz is, I think he was hurt but then seems to be a head case a bit now so not counting on him making it back til September if then.

Aceves was indeed outrighted: Alfredo Aceves Outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket, Now Off Red Sox? 40-Man Roster | Boston Red Sox | NESN.com

 

[Brahmsian]

Okay, his weekend he WAS outrighted, but I thought the reference was to an event earlier in the season.

Can't say I'm going to miss him. If we actually have traded away Iglesias I WILL miss him!

 

[General3110]

They keep saying that trading Jose won't hurt because of Bogarts and that he should be up with the club by the end of August. Am I missing something here like are they planning on trading Drew for some bullpen help and bringing Bogarts up to play SS and then Middlebrooks comes back up to play 3B? Wouldn't mind that move as I think Xander could probably play adequate enough defense compared to Drew but would obviously be an upgrade with the bat and if Will comes around and gets his swing back it could be huge for this offense. Can't wait to see what else may go down.

 

[Hawkeye]

hard to think they will just dump Drew and his huge salary, making what, 10 million this year? I think he owes some of that back with what he has done, but I would be surprised if they did make another move...oddly enough they could have packaged Ramirez with Peavy from the White Sox but with the talent at AAA I didn't think they would

Still I am not sold on our current situation on the left side of the infield

 

[rokketmn]

The Sox won't be trading Drew. If Bogaerts is brought up, it will be to play 3B, and maybe fill in at SS when Drew gets hurt again.

I don't see the Sox going with Middlebrooks at 3B and Bogaerts at SS unless injuries force them to.

I have to say that while not a big Peavy fan, I really like this trade. We get a solid mid-rotation starter in Peavy for this year and next, and all we sacrificed was Iglesias. Yes, the low level minor league prospects could turn into something good in 4 years or so, but we held onto not only our top 10 prospects, but our top 25 or 30. In fact, Montas was our #36 ranked prospect according to SoxProspects.com.

The Sox can now choose to send Workman down to the minors to continue starting or move him into the bullpen and provide a boost there. I would rather send Workman down and recall him in late August or September and recall Rubby De La Rosa to help the bullpen now. He is only pitching a few innings per start anyway in the minors.

Nice job by Cherington!

 

[Brahmsian]

It's possible Villarreal's problems in Detroit were due to poor coaching, but his stats to date look
like those of someone lucky to make the majors at all.

Let's hope he's not actually that bad if we are in fact now stuck with him.

 

[Brahmsian]

De La Rosa, some websurfing informs me, has walked 8 batters in his last 10 innings.

That makes him a candidate for DEmotion, not promotion.

 

[rokketmn]

De La Rosa, some websurfing informs me, has walked 8 batters in his last 10 innings.
While that is not ideal, he has been doing that as a starter, working multiple innings. If he is asked to pitch only one inning at a time, and use just 2 pitches, it could help his command. It worked for Daniel Bard before Bobby V totally screwed him up last season.

Besides, when you can bring it at 98-100mph, you can work around the occasional walk with K's. It doesn't seem that DLR profiles as a starter long term anyway.

 

[Brahmsian]

De La Rosa, some websurfing informs me, has walked 8 batters in his last 10 innings.
While that is not ideal, he has been doing that as a starter, working multiple innings. If he is asked to pitch only one inning at a time, and use just 2 pitches, it could help his command. It worked for Daniel Bard before Bobby V totally screwed him up last season.

Besides, when you can bring it at 98-100mph, you can work around the occasional walk with K's. It doesn't seem that DLR profiles as a starter long term anyway.

I'm a long-time believer in the idea that a heater without control is nearly, though not totally, worthless, however many or few innings you pitch. It only makes the homers you allow more likely to be multi-run jobs.

I much prefer Bill Lee types who are not blindingly fast, but can counted on to make the home plate umpire wave his right arm.

 

[rokketmn]

If I were Cherington, I would stand pat right now. Sure, we could use bullpen help, but hopefully we get Franklin Morales back soon. If anything, we should try swapping out Matt Thornton for a righty reliever. With Breslow, Britton, and Morales, we have enough lefties in the pen. We could use a more reliable righty to go with Tazawa, who has been pretty hittable the last couple of months.

We can use the farm system to influx youth in the roster in the latter part of August and September. Does anybody remember when we gave a kid named Papelbon some seemingly meaningless innings in 2005? It helped jump-start his career. We just need to give these young kids a shot.

Workman is at 120 innings overall, and his high was 138 last season. If we send him back down to the minors for a few weeks, let him work his way to towards 140 innings and then call him back up and use him in the bullpen to round out his season. Try to cap him between 160-170 innings, and he could still help the team. Otherwise, he will be shut down anyway.

 

[rokketmn]

I'm a long-time believer in the idea that a heater without control is nearly, though not totally, worthless, however many or few innings you pitch. It only makes the homers you allow more likely to be multi-run jobs.

When Bard was helping us in 2009-2011, he was doing it while walking about 3.5-4.0 per 9 innings. The low hit rate and high K rate helped him excel. DLR is walking about 5 per 9. Again, that is while starting and utilizing all of his pitches. If a pitcher is used for fewer innings, and focusing on only 2 pitches, he tends to exhibit better control.

What you want in the late innings are guys that limit baserunners and can strike out a batter. Guys that allow the ball to be put in play, often don't last as late inning relievers.

 

[Brahmsian]

Getting inning-ending double plays or force outs is just as good as striking out people.

You can do that with good breaking stuff however slow your fastball may be.

Remember Mike Cuellar of the old Orioles? His fastball was far from his best pitch,
but he was still a perennial Cy Young contender. I believe he won one or two, but will have to websurf
to refresh my memory on that subject.

 

[Brahmsian]

Turns out he did win the 1969 Cy Young, in addition to appearing in 4 All-Star games,
pitching 36 career shutouts, racking up a .587 career win percentage.

 

[rokketmn]

You are talking about a starting pitcher versus a relief pitcher. With a reliever/closer, the object is to get through one inning...the last inning of the game. Power arms are what dominates.

Take a look at the back ends of every team's bullpen. Tell me how many soft-tossers you see. I can think of a couple: one is Casey Janssen, and he is not even a slow pitch guy. Just not a high K guy. The other is Jim Johnson, and he is also not a soft tosser. Take a look at Johnson's numbers this year from last when the clock struck midnight on him. Brandon League was similar and was displaced by Kenley Jansen with the Dodgers.

What you want from your closer is a guy that gives up very few hits. Even with an occasional walk, you are less likely to be hurt because hits are hard to come by. The back end of bullpens are dominated with pitchers who get more than a K per inning.

As for getting double plays? Sure, and out is an out, but the more guys you let on base, the more chance you have of giving up runs, especially if you allow the ball to be out in play most of the time.

 

[rokketmn]

I am also not even talking about installing DLR as the closer. I am just merely suggesting adding his power arm to the bullpen, starting in low-leverage situations.

 

[Brahmsian]

Starter or reliever I prefer control to heat.

Heat may be a bit more important in relief, but is still over-rated by most fans, IMO.