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gerry
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Post by gerry on Mar 19, 2019 10:52:17 GMT -5
With one week left, Pedey now on the DL, 13 pitchers, and Swihart on the roster but out of options - what happens here? My preference would be to drop a pitcher that still has options - Velazquez - keep Swihart on the team in the short term - then there is Brewer - he has options as well...let him show his stuff in Boston, or in Pawtucket? Three catchers, two of whom don't hit - that's tough, and that's where I think Swihart is valuable - but he needs regular reps. Good to have so few issues going in to the season, however! Your last point says it all. The Sox begin the defense of their WC title with so few issues. Rotation: one of baseball’s best, better than 2018 with a second RHP Eovaldi instead of an injured 4th LHP in Pom; Price having conquered his demons; ERod ready to break out. Offense: one of baseball’s best, with likely improvements from 1B, 2B, 3B, CF, and depth. This team looks to again hit for contact and for power, and excel at run production from intelligent base running and small ball. Defense: more than solid. one of baseball’s best outfields. Average or better at C, 1B, SS. Obvious mprovements at 2B and 3B. Improved depth from a healthy Holt, Nunez, Pearce maybe Marco. Plus Lin’s last option year. Clubhouse/intangibles: one of baseball’s best, championship caliber chemistry. This is an extraordinary group of above average players who have each others’ backs and are intent on repeating. Bullpen. Is it really one of baseball’s biggest question marks? Not really, even without Kimbrel or Kelly, Robertson or Soria. It has the talent to be average to good, though as ST winds down exactly how average or how good has yet to reveal itself. The facts are that Barnes’ numbers say he can close at a high level. There are other options. Brasier, Thornburg, Feltman, Mejia have already had success as closers. Darwinzon, after some time in AAA, may be unstoppable. Meanwhile, in a 7-man bullpen Hembree and Workman are looking good. Lakins, Poyner, Taylor look MLB ready. Brewer, Erasmo and Weber are intriguing. Shawaryn, Houck are knocking on the door. Nothing about this group says we are doomed. IMO just the opposite. Bullpens are ever-changing. It’s the law. On a team with this rotation, offense, defense and intangibles, to start the season with a still evolving bullpen, but one which is filled with good arms, is not a real issue.
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Post by rjp313jr on Mar 19, 2019 11:27:14 GMT -5
With one week left, Pedey now on the DL, 13 pitchers, and Swihart on the roster but out of options - what happens here? My preference would be to drop a pitcher that still has options - Velazquez - keep Swihart on the team in the short term - then there is Brewer - he has options as well...let him show his stuff in Boston, or in Pawtucket? Three catchers, two of whom don't hit - that's tough, and that's where I think Swihart is valuable - but he needs regular reps. Good to have so few issues going in to the season, however! Your last point says it all. The Sox begin the defense of their WC title with so few issues. Rotation: one of baseball’s best, better than 2018 with a second RHP Eovaldi instead of an injured 4th LHP in Pom; Price having conquered his demons; ERod ready to break out. Offense: one of baseball’s best, with likely improvements from 1B, 2B, 3B, CF, and depth. This team looks to again hit for contact and for power, and excel at run production from intelligent base running and small ball. Defense: more than solid. one of baseball’s best outfields. Average or better at C, 1B, SS. Obvious mprovements at 2B and 3B. Improved depth from a healthy Holt, Nunez, Pearce maybe Marco. Plus Lin’s last option year. Clubhouse/intangibles: one of baseball’s best, championship caliber chemistry. This is an extraordinary group of above average players who have each others’ backs and are intent on repeating. Bullpen. Is it really one of baseball’s biggest question marks? Not really, even without Kimbrel or Kelly, Robertson or Soria. It has the talent to be average to good, though as ST winds down exactly how average or how good has yet to reveal itself. The facts are that Barnes’ numbers say he can close at a high level. There are other options. Brasier, Thornburg, Feltman, Mejia have already had success as closers. Darwinzon, after some time in AAA, may be unstoppable. Meanwhile, in a 7-man bullpen Hembree and Workman are looking good. Lakins, Poyner, Taylor look MLB ready. Brewer, Erasmo and Weber are intriguing. Shawaryn, Houck are knocking on the door. Nothing about this group says we are doomed. IMO just the opposite. Bullpens are ever-changing. It’s the law. On a team with this rotation, offense, defense and intangibles, to start the season with a still evolving bullpen, but one which is filled with good arms, is not a real issue. This is an extremely homerish rose colored glasses look at the team: Rotation: yes, Eovaldi will be better than Pom was last year but Pom barely pitched and the mismatch of guys who filled in put up really good numbers. I don’t know how anyone can just confidently say Sale will match last years production. Besides it being one of his best years; he’s coming off injury. Price overcame his post season demons but he’s a year older and he still has that lingering elbow..: All and all the rotation is really good just don’t ignore the risk and act like Eovaldi is simply a Pom replacement. Offense: are we just assuming Mookie and JD recreate their amazing years without drop off? Ok let’s just do that... why is there improvement at 1st, 2nd and CF? Are we forgetting how good Moreland was last year in the first half? I know we have a full year of Pearce but Moreland isn’t likely to repeat his year from last season. Second I don’t know how we can think there’s offensive improvement and buying into JBJ is fine but it’s hardly likely. I agree Devers is likely and I also think Beni is likely to be a bit better. Defense should be similar maybe a bit better at 3rd. And yes the bullpen really is a huge question mark. Barnes I won’t argue even though I’m not as confident in him as others but the rest are just names your listing and saying they’ll be fine. The problem with the throw a ton of people as option and it will eventually shake out is that you have to to thru disastrous outings and losses to get there. Listen I love the team and I think they can win the division, but you can’t just list everyone as status quo or an improvement - well you can it’s just not realistic.
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Post by greatscottcooper on Mar 19, 2019 11:41:43 GMT -5
As much as I like EROD, entering his 5th season one has to wonder if he's capable of starting 30 games or more. Eovaldi has had his injuries in the past as well, and we seem to get a differen Rick every year. If Sale does down the rotation could look pretty ugly and I'm not too excited about the depth in the minors.
It's nice to look at the best case scenario, but the worse case scenario might be just as plausible.
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Post by jimed14 on Mar 19, 2019 11:58:23 GMT -5
With one week left, Pedey now on the DL, 13 pitchers, and Swihart on the roster but out of options - what happens here? My preference would be to drop a pitcher that still has options - Velazquez - keep Swihart on the team in the short term - then there is Brewer - he has options as well...let him show his stuff in Boston, or in Pawtucket? Three catchers, two of whom don't hit - that's tough, and that's where I think Swihart is valuable - but he needs regular reps. Good to have so few issues going in to the season, however! Correction. Pedey is now on the IL. The DL is gone. Annoying I know.
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Mar 19, 2019 11:58:47 GMT -5
I see your points. I don’t wear or need glasses, but do see this championship cup as more than half full. I felt the same way at the start of last season. I know it’s baseball, everything can happen and inevitably does. No team is perfect. But IMO the 2019 Sox are in a very good place. I follow baseball, including my now local Dodgers, Angels and Padres, not as a critic but as someone who enjoys the game, the players, the strategies, the smell of cut grass. I am also privileged to be a homer enjoying one of the best Sox teams to ever play my favorite game ... and in my favorite ballpark in my favorite city.
Being a Sox fan has always been a wonderful thing (and I have been one since the 1946 WS), but being a fan of this Sox team, win or lose, is special. I hope you can enjoy it.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Mar 19, 2019 12:04:54 GMT -5
I get being bullish in the offense, rotation, and defense. But I mean... the third-best reliever going into 2019 is Heath Hembree. It's tough to argue that the bullpen construction on the whole isn't at least a gamble. We'll see though.
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Post by rjp313jr on Mar 19, 2019 12:24:21 GMT -5
I get being bullish in the offense, rotation, and defense. But I mean... the third-best reliever going into 2019 is Heath Hembree. It's tough to argue that the bullpen construction on the whole isn't at least a gamble. We'll see though. And the second best is Ryan Braiser who has one year that came from no where at a spot that is notoriously volatile.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Mar 19, 2019 12:50:36 GMT -5
Offense: are we just assuming Mookie and JD recreate their amazing years without drop off? Ok let’s just do that... why is there improvement at 1st, 2nd and CF? Are we forgetting how good Moreland was last year in the first half? I know we have a full year of Pearce but Moreland isn’t likely to repeat his year from last season. Second I don’t know how we can think there’s offensive improvement and buying into JBJ is fine but it’s hardly likely. I agree Devers is likely and I also think Beni is likely to be a bit better. Mookie and JD Martinez are probably going to go backwards a bit, just because there's really no other direction for them to go, but I think you can reasonably predict better performance from almost everyone else. If the production from catcher can be merely bad it'll represent a huge improvement. Devers and Beni are the exact kind of players you look at for breakouts. Bogaerts you probably project to be about the same. 1st base, I like the platoon they're now able to run, and while I'm not super high on anyone in the Chavis/Dalbec/Ock/Travis group being helpful in the big leagues this year, there sure are a lot of them. JBJ, I don't necessarily buy the swing re-tool stuff, but every projection thinks he's a better hitter than he showed last year. Second base, well, they'll probably manage to trade for someone more productive than Kinsler this time... The one reason I'd project the offense to get worse is that they had really good health from their best hitters last year, and that's hard to repeat. But just looking at the players, there's not a lot of expected decline.
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Mar 19, 2019 14:06:37 GMT -5
I get being bullish in the offense, rotation, and defense. But I mean... the third-best reliever going into 2019 is Heath Hembree. It's tough to argue that the bullpen construction on the whole isn't at least a gamble. We'll see though. I was disappointed and puzzled that the Sox spent months passing on so many replacements for Kimbrel and Kelly. OTOH, like Kimbrel and Kelly themselves, every one of these candidates had as many detractors as supporters on this and other boards. That said, I am now content to have an additional $15-25M annually towards keeping XB, Sale or JDM, and equally content to gamble on a potentially good BP. On this team it doesn’t need to be great. Admittedly my confidence in this gamble is a bit rose colored, but is based more on the potential of these arms than their sheer volume. Hembree will only be the 3rd best arm if, as the season settles in, he pitches better than what could be very good unknowns in Brewer, Thornburg, Mejia, Lakins, Feltman, eventually Darwinzon among others. Not a bad gamble. And DDo can still surprise us, which wouldn’t actually be a surprise.
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redsox04071318champs
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Mar 19, 2019 14:50:39 GMT -5
I get being bullish in the offense, rotation, and defense. But I mean... the third-best reliever going into 2019 is Heath Hembree. It's tough to argue that the bullpen construction on the whole isn't at least a gamble. We'll see though. I was disappointed and puzzled that the Sox spent months passing on so many replacements for Kimbrel and Kelly. OTOH, like Kimbrel and Kelly themselves, every one of these candidates had as many detractors as supporters on this and other boards. That said, I am now content to have an additional $15-25M annually towards keeping XB, Sale or JDM, and equally content to gamble on a potentially good BP. On this team it doesn’t need to be great. Admittedly my confidence in this gamble is a bit rose colored, but is based more on the potential of these arms than their sheer volume. Hembree will only be the 3rd best arm if, as the season settles in, he pitches better than what could be very good unknowns in Brewer, Thornburg, Mejia, Lakins, Feltman, eventually Darwinzon among others. Not a bad gamble. And DDo can still surprise us, which wouldn’t actually be a surprise. It's a very good Red Sox team. Last year everything that could go right between the lines went right. I've never seen a year go that perfectly. I'm not talking outside the lines. It's astonishing that a team that could have no offense from 3 catchers, sub-par offense at 2b, sub-par offense at 3b, no offense out of CF for half a year, an undistinguished bullpen, and a lot of Eduardo Nunez playing 2b and Devers struggling at 3b - could be so damn historically good. I spent most of last year feeling that the Red Sox were nowhere near as good as their record. By time the last out of the World Series was recorded, I felt I was correct - or at least half correct. They weren't as good as their gaudy record. They were actually BETTER!! Jeez, that's nuts. I have trouble seeing it play out as perfectly as that this year, even with some improvements outside the lines. In other words, I do think Betts has a bit of a dropoff - not like 2017, but more like 2016, which was awesome but would still be a dropoff from 2018. JDM might drop off a little bit. I think Devers will ascend this year and I'm hoping he earns his way into the #3 spot in the order. I think Benintendi is capable of being better. I think he'll hit better than .300 this year. I think Nunez will be a better player now that he's healthier, but he'll play less. I am buying JBJ. I was impressed with his consistent 2nd half and his improved swing mechanics, which are still an interesting work in progress. And the Sox will get more offense out of catching - how could they get less??!! I think E-Rod will take a step forward too. And I think Price will be Price, and Eovaldi will build upon last year. I also think that Sale will not have an ERA anywhere near 2.11. I think he'll get hit around a bit more often as he withholds his best velocity - and while I won't like it at the time, I'll be happier about it when he "unleashes his Ferrari" in Sept & Oct rather than in July and August. I have a feeling that Johnson and Velazquez will be nowhere near as good as last season and that will hurt them in April as the starters aren't going long and the bullpen isn't sorted out. I think the bullpen is going to be a bit of a disaster area for awhile. They're going to see if Thornburg can bounce back - I'm not optimistic on that. Brasier is going to come back to earth. He's not a 1.7 ERA guy. He's more of a 3.5 - 4 ERA kind of guy in my opinion. Hembree is mediocre and their 3rd best option, which tells you the state of the bullpen. They're going to throw a lot against the wall. They're going to kiss a lot of frogs before they find their prince, so to speak. And it's going to cost them games in the standings. Last year the Sox were excellent at maintaining their leads. This year, they're going to slip away a lot more often. And I think they're going to find themselves in a position of chasing the Yankees. They won't be hopelessly lost, but they'll be chasing and battling. They might catch them in the 2nd half if they get the pen sorted out and Sale starts to pitch more as the best pitcher in baseball as his velocity increases. Eventually, I think Feltman and Lakins will give them a high leverage reliever and decent middle reliever that they can put on post-season rosters. They have to stay reasonably healthy, particularly their valuable starters. The pitching depth is limited. Darwinzon Hernandez has great stuff, but I don't anticipate that they can rely on his command in the second half necessarily. We might see Tanner Houck. Maybe he helps them in a Justin Masterson circa 2008 type of way? At some point I think Dombrowski deals a guy like Schellinger and some of his 3b organizational depth for relief help, either a closer or a high leverage setup man. I think Barnes will be ok as closer, but he won't be 2017 Craig Kimbrel or anything like that. He'll be serviceable and have his ups and downs. The Sox won't have the luxury of resting players late in the season the way they did last year with a big lead. They're going to be neck and neck with the Yankees trying to keep up.
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Mar 19, 2019 15:33:58 GMT -5
Champs, I fully agree with much of your analysis. For the sake of discussion, I simply can’t agree that everything went right between the lines last season, which seems to be a widely held opinion. IMO Cora utilized depth brilliantly to compensate for the many things that went wrong.
Off the top of my head, we lost both Pedroia and Pomerantz (the 2017 second best starter), and then Hanley, essentially for the season. Kimbrel missed much of ST with his little daughter, and Kelly did not compensate as Craig struggled. JBJ’s first half was as bad as the entire season of our newly extended formerly good hitting catcher, who also was injured. Nunez played the entire season on wonky knees, which showed in shaky defense and porous bat. Then MM was injured and faded, during which time we learned Pearce could hit RHB, thankfully. Sale got injured second half. Wright played injured and then didn’t play. Two of our best starters were Johnson and Velasquez. Devers only played (not started) about 120G. ERod sprained his ankle on a fluke play. Xander fell dow dugout stairs. There is more. But the point is a 108W team, playing some or most of the season without an effective Vasquez, MM, Hanley, Pedey, Devers, Sale, Price, ERod, Pomeranz, Wright was amazing, IMO alot went right, for sure, but the Sox were consistently riddled with nagging problems, which Cora, coaches and the players dealt with masterfully.
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redsox04071318champs
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Mar 19, 2019 15:46:57 GMT -5
Champs, I fully agree with much of your analysis. For the sake of discussion, I simply can’t agree that everything went right between the lines last season, which seems to be a widely held opinion. IMO Cora utilized depth brilliantly to compensate for the many things that went wrong. Off the top of my head, we lost both Pedroia and Pomerantz (the 2017 second best starter), and then Hanley, essentially for the season. Kimbrel missed much of ST with his little daughter, and Kelly did not compensate as Craig struggled. JBJ’s first half was as bad as the entire season of our newly extended formerly good hitting catcher, who also was injured. Nunez played the entire season on wonky knees, which showed in shaky defense and porous bat. Then MM was injured and faded, during which time we learned Pearce could hit RHB, thankfully. Sale got injured second half. Wright played injured and then didn’t play. Two of our best starters were Johnson and Velasquez. Devers only played (not started) about 120G. ERod sprained his ankle on a fluke play. Xander fell dow dugout stairs. There is more. But the point is a 108W team, playing some or most of the season without an effective Vasquez, MM, Hanley, Pedey, Devers, Sale, Price, ERod, Pomeranz, Wright was amazing, IMO alot went right, for sure, but the Sox were consistently riddled with nagging problems, which Cora, coaches and the players dealt with masterfully. Gerry, when I wrote that things went just about perfectly in between the lines, I wasn't referring to injuries to Pedroia and Pomeranz, for examples - those are things that happened outside of the lines or more specifically didn't impact particular ballgames. No, I mean during the actual games. The Red Sox could be losing 4-3 with two outs and their worst hitters up and it seemed to work out. Everything in just about every game seemed to work out. Think Gary Sanchez's AB against the Red Sox in Game 4 ALDS. In other years that damn ball is over the wall and they lose, but not in 2018. In another year that ball doesn't stick in Benintendi's glove and they lose. In any other year, Kimbrel's meltdowns kill them. Not in 2018. Consider 2004 for instance - Mariano Rivera gives up 1 damn run in 7 innings in the ALCS and it opens the floodgates in the greatest comeback ever. Yet in 2018 Kimbrel can't get out of his own way and how many post-season blown saves did he have? None! Unfreaking real. It's funny how the Red Sox were seen as a top heavy team last year with weak depth yet in the post-season the top heavy part of the team didn't do as well, yet there was Nunez and Moreland whacking 3 run PH homers that mattered and guys like Holt coming off the bench hitting for the cycle or hitting PH bombs against the Phillies to win a game. It was uncanny. These are things that happened in the games, in between the lines, as opposed to this guy slumping or getting hurt outside the lines. Those things were more normal with the Red Sox. All I can say is that they had a lot of luck last year and Alex Cora should have been manager of the year for what he accomplished (I get the case for Bob Melvin).
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Mar 19, 2019 17:18:03 GMT -5
You can't feel great about our bullpen when 2/3 of the names are rookies that have zero major league innings or veterans coming off injuries or long layoffs due to suspensions. Nevermind the one guy that looks like he could make a massive difference is literally the one guy you don't want to use, yet you almost half to.
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gerry
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Post by gerry on Mar 19, 2019 19:00:33 GMT -5
You can't feel great about our bullpen when 2/3 of the names are rookies that have zero major league innings or veterans coming off injuries or long layoffs due to suspensions. Nevermind the one guy that looks like he could make a massive difference is literally the one guy you don't want to use, yet you almost half to. To be clear, I don’t feel great about the Pen. I feel great about the 3-D chess offense, and the Rotation, the intangibles, the OF, and potential for improvement in the infield. I am simply content with the bullpen gamble, and confident DDo isn’t done yet. And having watched so many good closers and set up guys seemingly emerge out of nowhere, every year, I am excited to witness this happen from the RP mob scene DDo assembled. It’s unlikely they will all be bad. It’s likely some will be good.
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Post by soxfansince67 on Mar 19, 2019 21:05:58 GMT -5
Last year was such a wonderful experience (and as others above noted, a team that was far from perfect having nearly perfect results....Cora!!!) that I am going to really attempt to take a deep breath and just enjoy watching this season unfold.
I actually think that Mookie and JD can essentially match what they did last year....that JBJ and Benny and Devers will exceed. Xander will be similar or even a bit better. Brock is now over his concussion, we have a whole year of Pearce, and the offense of the catchers will be better.
I think Sale can approach last year, Eovaldi and ERod and Porcello and even Price will equal or slightly exceed.
Of course this is just intuition, being a fan, having confidence, being an optimist and being really ready and excited to get going. Injuries will happen, slumps will happen......
But whatever happens, I am so ready for it to begin!
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Post by greatscottcooper on Mar 20, 2019 8:09:32 GMT -5
I'd actually be willing to bet (a small sum of money) that at least one guy will emerge from this roster as a viable option in our bullpen. The problem is how many games do we lose finding out who that guy is? For what it's worth Kimbrel is still a FA, what are the odds of him taking a one year deal and hitting free agency next year?
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Mar 20, 2019 10:49:18 GMT -5
Like RJP said they'll find solutions in time, they have enough resources. It's what does it cost the Red Sox while they try 15 different pitchers till they find the ones that work? It could be the difference from winning the division to being a wild card team.
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Post by dmaineah on Mar 20, 2019 11:46:46 GMT -5
I think he will be the #5 starter sometime in May & it will coincide with Eovaldi being named the Closer. So instead of signing Kimbrel, a proven closer. They chose to give the job and more money to Eovaldi? Yes And, if he wanted to Kimbrel could of accepted the QO & Eovaldi would of ended up signing someplace else.
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redsox04071318champs
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Mar 20, 2019 12:18:59 GMT -5
So instead of signing Kimbrel, a proven closer. They chose to give the job and more money to Eovaldi? Yes And, if he wanted to Kimbrel could of accepted the QO & Eovaldi would of ended up signing someplace else. The Red Sox were 99.9% sure Kimbrel was going to turn down the offer and they'd have the money free to pursue Eovaldi to be a vital starting pitcher in their rotation. The Red Sox didn't really ever have any real intention of bringing back Kimbrel. Eovaldi is the guy they wanted all along. The Red Sox are quite aware that they don't have any future starting pitchers knocking down the door and that Eovaldi is a guy with plenty of upside that they can control for a reasonable cost over the next several years. In other words, his return was a no-brainer. The Sox know that closers come and go. They know they have their next real closer in the pipeline in Durbin Feltman or they could go get somebody for a year or two. A solid starter is more important to secure especially given that they're trying to keep Sale and Cole would cost a lot more than Eovaldi and again, the Sox haven't developed a starter who was better than back end since when, Buchholz and Lester? That's not changing anytime soon. The thought that Eovaldi is going to be the closer is kind of ludicrous.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Mar 20, 2019 12:28:30 GMT -5
Guys, instead of posting, why don't you just let the passage of time prove that Eovaldi isn't going to be closer this year?
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redsox04071318champs
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Mar 20, 2019 12:33:00 GMT -5
Guys, instead of posting, why don't you just let the passage of time prove that Eovaldi isn't going to be closer this year? I guess if common sense doesn't work, then sure why not?
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Post by telson13 on Mar 20, 2019 17:16:44 GMT -5
I agree. This March has been a bit of a dud from the team. It doesn't really matter, but it would be nice to have some sort of juice to these fake games. It matters if it spills into the season... last spring they were great and got off to a great start. This year they are easing guys in; let’s just hope they are ready to go. The teams key quality, besides talent, last season was its ability to not have any prolonged slumps. Did they very lose more then 3 in a row? Once, all to the Rays in August if I recall correctly. The consistency of that team last year, particularly given the significant “component” slumps (offense, SP, bullpen) that they did have was incredible. On that note, though...I think they have a chance to do that, again. Especially because of the SP depth/quality, but also because I think the offense this year will see substantial improvements from Devers, JBJ, Beni, and the C duo/trio. Not to mention, potentially at 2b, where Pedroia looks like he might come back for a big chunk of the season, Holt seems to have made a real change, and Nunez is much healthier. They might not be “better” overall offensively (although I personally think they actually will be, if only marginally), but I think the big lineup holes they had last year 7-9 will be mostly closed up, and thus make them a little more resistant to prolonged offensive droughts. Lots of small stuff, too...like having Pearce over Hanley, hopefully better health from Mookie/Bogey, and having guys like Chavis or their prospect depth pitching-wise (in the high minors). Obviously, the big question is the bullpen, which could very well create some consistency problems. In this vein, though...can anyone remember being THIS excited about a Sox season in their lifetimes? I remember going into 2011, which seemed like a juggernaut, and maybe ‘87 when they got so close but kept the team mostly intact. But this team was SO fun to watch last year, and there are millions of storylines, from the MVP repeat chase (and same-team battle between Mookie and JDM) to potential big-time breakouts for Beni or Devers or ERod, to seeing a full season of Eovaldi, or the bullpen experiment, or a possibly transcendent Sale season. JBJ’s new swing, Bogey’s pre-ordained walk-year breakout, Lin’s possible emergence as a darkhorse “good” player development story; The Evolution before our eyes, Feltman’s meteoric rise, Chavis feasting on MLB pitching the way he has the last two years in the minors; Houck’s ascendence, Groome’s return, Casas’s, Duran’s, and Flores’s bursting on the scene. Mata putting it together, and the couple of pop-up dream-on guys who seem to show up every year. Key IFA and rule 4...so much going on, all backlit by the team chasing history as repeat WS winners and possible dynasty-beginners. SO. MUCH. FUN.
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Post by jerrygarciaparra on Mar 20, 2019 18:25:54 GMT -5
The O's are gonna get stomped this year. Sad.....great baseball franchise.
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Post by jerrygarciaparra on Mar 20, 2019 18:37:32 GMT -5
JBJ needs more work
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Post by jerrygarciaparra on Mar 20, 2019 19:00:15 GMT -5
Heater !!!!!!!
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