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Post by brianthetaoist on Jan 25, 2015 16:13:20 GMT -5
I don't know ,but I hope so. But I hate the 12 pitcher deal at all times. Just more so in April ,with the off days and almost sure to be postponed games. The problem of playing time would still exist. I don't see the need or playing time being available for 6 outfielders not including Holt. I suspect Napoli won't be full speed ahead in the early part of the season, so Craig and Nava can probably get some time at first.
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Post by jimed14 on Jan 25, 2015 16:20:01 GMT -5
The problem of playing time would still exist. I don't see the need or playing time being available for 6 outfielders not including Holt. I suspect Napoli won't be full speed ahead in the early part of the season, so Craig and Nava can probably get some time at first. I haven't seen that mentioned as a possibility.
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Post by brianthetaoist on Jan 25, 2015 16:53:14 GMT -5
I suspect Napoli won't be full speed ahead in the early part of the season, so Craig and Nava can probably get some time at first. I haven't seen that mentioned as a possibility. Soxprospects=cutting edge baseless speculation
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Post by jimed14 on Jan 25, 2015 17:01:48 GMT -5
That statement was true at the time and not a prediction. Xander has never been the best player on the Red Sox. To say otherwise is confusing potential with reality. He absolutely was through May last year when he had a 152 wRC+ after a 121 in April.
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Post by jmei on Jan 25, 2015 17:06:49 GMT -5
That statement was true at the time and not a prediction. Xander has never been the best player on the Red Sox. To say otherwise is confusing potential with reality. I did not say Xander Bogaerts was the best player on the Red Sox. I said that as of June 8th, 2014, he was having the best season of any Red Sox position player by any WAR-type metric of overall value, which was absolutely a true statement. But, you know,
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Post by jimed14 on Jan 25, 2015 17:12:05 GMT -5
I think I remember him being at around 1.9 WAR through May, which was putting him on pace for a 6 WAR season.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Jan 25, 2015 20:55:25 GMT -5
I haven't seen that mentioned as a possibility. Soxprospects=cutting edge baseless speculation Not true, in the Foxwoods tweets was a tweet that said Napoli will have a lighter than usual spring hitting load but was 'expected' to be ready for opening day. That's paraphrased, I don't remember the tweet source.
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Post by thelavarnwayguy on Jan 25, 2015 21:18:06 GMT -5
If Mookie stays healthy and plays, he is probably going to get a ton of AB and those SB numbers add a lot to WAR value. Giving him the edge over Pedroia. My guess is that Mookie is a plus 10 UZR/150 in RF. If he has decent pop at all he will be a high WAR guy.
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Post by brianthetaoist on Jan 25, 2015 21:29:18 GMT -5
Soxprospects=cutting edge baseless speculation Not true, in the Foxwoods tweets was a tweet that said Napoli will have a lighter than usual spring hitting load but was 'expected' to be ready for opening day. That's paraphrased, I don't remember the tweet source. Yeah, I was being a little flip; "baseless" is too strong ... I said it originally because it's clear that the surgery was significant. This story in the Herald makes it pretty obvious that he's still feeling the effects (his lips and chin are numb!), and has the classic "he's started to swing the bat again" sign that he's got a lot way to go. I just think it's realistic to expect a period of ramping up for Napoli (at the very least) in the early part of the season.
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Post by larrycook on Jan 25, 2015 23:13:50 GMT -5
I suspect Napoli won't be full speed ahead in the early part of the season, so Craig and Nava can probably get some time at first. I haven't seen that mentioned as a possibility. Well let's see. Napoli had toe surgery earlier in the offseason. That probably kept him from working out for s few weeks to a month. Then he had sleep apnea surgery, which has significant recovery time since it is a four hour, last resort type surgery that involves breaking the upper and lower jaw and repositioning them to create more opening in the airway. That surgery will affect his ability to eat for a month or more after the surgery. So best guess is Napoli has either just gotten or will get permission to workout this month. Between the two surgeries my guess he is has not been allowed to do any lifting, cardio or flexibility exercises. He probably lost a significant amount of weight and strength while recovering from the second surgery. I think we can safely say he is behind where he would like to be as far as conditioning and strength training go at this point in the offseason. I think he has a lot of work to do to get ready for the season.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jan 26, 2015 0:08:11 GMT -5
No doubt. But given that the Sox have two other guys who can play first, and maybe even hit a little as a left-right platoon, they do seem to have fallback options. Could just be that's the reason they're holding on to those players - for now.
Coming to you from the great (and snowy) northeast
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mobaz
Veteran
Posts: 2,813
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Post by mobaz on Jan 26, 2015 8:20:40 GMT -5
I think it'd be very smart to take Nap along slowly. The Edes mentioned he hadn't even started lifting/strength work until two weeks ago the strain would have been too much after surgery. I feel like we keep seeing these down years that come based on last year's injury (Pedroia two years ago, Masterson chest strain, Craig foot, Buchholz) where the blip in the offseasons training program meant strength or stamina or range of motion or mechanics were limited before the season even began. It's too hard to build strength during the season. We have the depth to let him build that strength during spring training and then get him to baseball activities in late ST/ start of April. Ignoring the (significant) personal benefits, we'll never get to see the baseball benefits of Napoli's surgery if he never gets the rest of his body in order before the real season starts.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Jan 26, 2015 8:25:25 GMT -5
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Post by jimed14 on Jan 26, 2015 8:33:40 GMT -5
I think I remember him being at around 1.9 WAR through May, which was putting him on pace for a 6 WAR season.
Yeah, and Pedroia stunk when he first came up while Middlebrooks looked like the second coming. Two months is a ridiculously small sample size and certainly not enough time to anoint anyone as either a bum or a savior. In his first full season, Xander put up three good months and three terrible months. At this point, it's still a question what kind of offensive player he'll be. Defensively, can he even field his position well enough to justify not calling up Marrero? If we're going to use two months of play as the measure of a young player's worth though, then Mookie's the guy to hang your star on. He looks like he's going to hit for average with plenty of extra bases and a high OBP. If he keeps that up, then he'll take the title of "best player on the Red Sox."
I have no idea why you brought up jmei's post from June 8th. Are you trying to actually make a point? As of June 8th, the sample size was two months. It's plenty of time to say "as of June 8th, Bogaerts has the most WAR on the team." That is all that was said.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Jan 26, 2015 8:43:10 GMT -5
LOL, I think somebody has a cut n paste scrapbook.
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Post by brianthetaoist on Jan 26, 2015 10:00:38 GMT -5
Always gotta be careful not to get swept up in BSOHL fever, but I do think we're generally discounting Xander a little too much with everything else going on. Which is partly a good thing - that's the sign of a healthy team to not depend on young guys too much - and partly because of Mookie-mania ... but I think Xander's got a shot for a big bounce back season. If he can improve his defense to closer to average and get rid of the horrific 2-month slump (which, from this interview, seemed to be exacerbated by fatigue), that's a pretty good player right there. As an aside, this team has got to be in the running for most players identifiable with a cool first name of any Sox team ... any team with a "Mookie" starts strong, but follow that up with Hanley, Rusney, Xander, Papi (nickname, but still). Poor Allen Craig ...
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Post by Smittyw on Jan 26, 2015 10:40:47 GMT -5
I think Pablo/"Panda" belongs there, too.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Jan 26, 2015 11:12:48 GMT -5
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Jan 26, 2015 11:19:19 GMT -5
As an aside, this team has got to be in the running for most players identifiable with a cool first name of any Sox team ... any team with a "Mookie" starts strong, but follow that up with Hanley, Rusney, Xander, Papi ( nickname, but still). Poor Allen Craig ... So is Mookie. (important stuff, I know)
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Post by Guidas on Jan 26, 2015 11:22:42 GMT -5
Do we really want to go there, esp with other comps including the Immortals themselves - Chris Hammond, Chris Holt and Chris Hook?
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Post by pedroelgrande on Jan 26, 2015 11:35:29 GMT -5
Obviously only the good comps are right.
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Post by jimed14 on Jan 26, 2015 12:22:57 GMT -5
I like Coyle's comp of Gary Gaetti. I totally forgot that he played 5 games for the Red Sox.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Jan 26, 2015 12:42:44 GMT -5
Do we really want to go there, esp with other comps including the Immortals themselves - Chris Hammond, Chris Holt and Chris Hook? Chris H. comps must imply greatness.
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Post by brianthetaoist on Jan 26, 2015 12:46:24 GMT -5
Surprisingly bullish on Edwin Escobar ... it projects him as the best of the AAA pitchers and better than Masterson and Kelly.
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Post by jimed14 on Jan 26, 2015 12:48:59 GMT -5
Surprisingly bullish on Edwin Escobar ... it projects him as the best of the AAA pitchers and better than Masterson and Kelly. BSOHL and he spent the winter in Japan where Koji taught him a splitter... or something Seriously, I'd love an explanation of how a computer comes up with those projections for Escobar. ZiPS projections are supposedly unadjusted by humans.
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