Second half starting out nice

Okay, I know there was no game to blog about last night and I know my second half resolution was to be more consistent with these, so apologies all around.


Glad the Sox represented well in the ASG, very glad to take 2 out of 3 from the Yanks in NY to start the second half.  Very concerned about Price's showing against the Yankees.  It's starting to feel like he's not going to reach his normal performance levels at all this season.  He needs to stop being a weak link in the rotation.


Speaking of the rotation, I love the Pomeranz trade.  Sure it's a gamble on a guy in Drew Pomeranz who is really just now having his first good season, and he's doing it in a pitcher's park against NL lineups.  I get that.  But the pitching market is thin.  What other names are you hearing?  Sonny Gray has been shaky at best this year and would probably cost more than Espinoza.  I love Rich Hill, but he has serious injury questions.  I would love Jeremy Hellickson, but he's not pitching anywhere near as well as Pomeranz.  The Sox desperately need starting pitching, and by giving up such a top tier prospect they forced the Padres to make the move now as opposed to waiting two more weeks.  They're ahead of the curve.  Look at the rotation now.  If David Price can EVER start pitching well on a consistent basis like he should for the second half (he was brutal last night) then we got Price, Wright, Pomeranz, Porcello and Rodriguez (who looked phenomenal on Saturday.  I get that it's just one start against a weak Yankees lineup but he looked like a different pitcher).  I get that you have to figure Wright and Porcello will come back to earth a little bit, but that's still a rotation you can work with when this lineup is scoring runs the way they usually are.  This lineup doing what it can do + that rotation = October baseball, which = something we haven't even come close to here for these last two last place finish seasons and counting. 

 

And, while I grant that it hurts to give up a guy who's listed as one of the top 15 prospects in baseball or whatever it is, keep this in mind.  Kid is 18 years old.  When will he be able to really contribute to a big league team?  4 years?  5 years?  We could and probably will all be dead by then.  Pomeranz is getting the job done now and is under contract for two more years.  And like my dad pointed out, if Espinoza winds up being really good the Sox can always just go and get him back.  Wait until he's a free agent, we have the money. 

Dombrowski's approach has definitely been to treat the farm as a means to acquire established, proven talent, as opposed to Cherington who seemed to view the farm as a system for developing young players to contribute to the big league team and was very reluctant to deal any prospects.  We should be very glad about Cherington's patience, having just watched Bogaerts, Betts and Bradley all start the All Star game. 


This particular trade depends on how you view the sustainability of our offensive production, I suppose.  It HAS to come back to earth a little bit, there's just no way they can do in the second half what they did in the first half.  So what does that mean?  Are they going to go so cold that they won't score enough runs to keep them in games?  Last night notwithstanding I don't think so.  Getting Brad Ziegler will really help the bullpen, especially once Kimbrel and Tazawa come back and if Heath "Don't Call Me Alan" Hembree and Matt Barnes continue their emergence.  is it the Yankees bullpen?  No, but I don't think Dombrowski is done in that area yet, either.


How's all that opinion?  Feel like you got your money's worth?  Does it make up for me being a deadbeat lately?  I hope so!  I'll be at the game tonight, so look for me on TV (if anyone knows who I am!)