Boston's Hot Corner Beyond Kung Fu Panda

Plus college pitcher workloads and the politics of baseball jargons. Plus college pitcher workloads and the political nature of baseball jargon. [View this email in your browser]( Boston's Hot Corner Beyond Kung Fu Panda Last Friday, the Red Sox did what had seemed inevitable for a while—they designated [Pablo Sandoval]( for assignment, two and a half seasons into a five-year deal and almost a month to the day after Dave Cameron declared it officially time to give up hope and[pull the plug on him](. After Sandoval was cut last week, Travis Sawchik elaborated on just how much the third baseman's core skills had declined and [why and how Boston's bet on him failed](. Now it's time to consider the next question that the team faces—whether they'll look to upgrade at the hot corner down the stretch. For most of the season so far, [Deven Marrero]( has been holding down the position, and [Brock Holt]( is now an option, too, as he returned from the disabled list this weekend after nearly three months of struggling with vertigo. But Marrero has left much to be desired at the plate—a .218/.264/.338 line—and it's unclear how well or how quickly Holt will be able to rebound after his extended absence. There are a few other in-house options in the form of fringe prospect[Tzu-Wei Lin]( who did pretty well in his first cup of coffee this year but is now in Triple-A, and [Josh Rutledge]( who's now on the DL with a concussion but should be back in game situations as early as next week. (In the longterm, of course, much-hyped prospect [Rafael Devers]( is the Red Sox's future at third—but he's only just gotten the call to Triple-A and likely won't be rushed up any further.) While Marrero and Holt and Lin and Rutledge give Boston plenty of choices, though, they're certainly not very exciting ones for a team gearing up for a playoff run. That means that the best options here are on the trade market. There's [Todd Frazier]( who seems to be not only the clearest choice but also the most likely one, with rumors that the Red Sox and White Sox are [getting close]( on a deal. But there's also [Josh Harrison]( who's rebounding nicely from last year's lows, or teammate [David Freese]( and potentially [Martin Prado]( or [Jed Lowrie]( too—in short, enough to make for an interesting rundown to the deadline. [FanGraphs produces over 400 articles each month, in addition to our ever-growing database of stats and graphs. Support our efforts today!]( Coming Soon: [FanGraphs at SaberSeminar!]( Going to be at SaberSeminar in Boston next month? Hang out with the FanGraphs crew the night before! Get all the details now and get ready for good baseball conversation and cold beers with Dave Cameron, Travis Sawchik, Jeff Sullivan and more of your favorite FG writers. [Subscribe to our Podcasts!]( Catch up on past newsletters or pass along to a friend [here](. Data Visualization of the Day: [The Workloads of UCLA Pitchers]( UCLA ace Griffin Canning saw his stock plummet this year after some ominous signs in a pre-draft MRI and a heavy workload in college. But as Gerald Schifman investigates today—building on his[previous research]( on college pitchers—Canning wasn't the only UCLA pitcher to post high pitch counts this year. Excerpt from ["The Political Nature of Baseball Jargon"]( by Mary Craig "We are reminded that baseball is not divorced from the rest of society, that discussing the sport bears the same responsibility as discussing politics. Language matters, and baseball is laden with common phrases that normalize racism." [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2017 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](