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4/19-4/21 Red Sox @ Rays Series Thread
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Apr 21, 2019 23:48:51 GMT -5
This weekend sweep was exactly what the doctor ordered. It does put the Sox in shouting distance of the Rays, although this past homestand really benefitted the Yankees the most. They gained 2 games on the Sox and the Sox helped get them a lot closer to the Rays.
But at least the Sox are only 5 games out now. The Red Sox need to make this a much bigger streak obviously, but you have to start somewhere, and if not NY, this was the next best place to start - plus it does avenge Tampa sweeping Boston from last year when they were the only team that really pushed the 2018 Red Sox around in any series last year. This year the struggling Sox knocked the Rays a bit off their perch. Turnabout is fair play.
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Post by bluechip on Apr 22, 2019 0:12:25 GMT -5
I'd like to see Pedroia come back and be close to his old self. I just can't see him staying healthy. If he retires his salary comes off the books doesn't it ? The Sox could keep him around in some capacity as a coach or in the front office. Hope I'm wrong but I think he's done. Who's going to make him retire? Add- If he decides to retire the Sox owe him the money he's owed I believe, but I think the Sox could put him on the restricted list and his salary won't go against the luxury tax threshold. This won't happen though. No one can tell Pedrioa to stop playing or retire, despite him being bad or always injured now. No one can force him to retire. They can release him and theyn they’d owe him the remainder of his contract. If Pedroia retires, while under contract though, he forfeits the rest of his contract.
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Post by telson13 on Apr 22, 2019 0:39:50 GMT -5
Also, how about Marcus Walden? Averaging 95 with a couple of pretty nice secondaries. Nice find (and keep) last year. Walden is a great story. Journeyman guy. I remember when NESN reported that when Walden told his dad that he was added to the 40 man roster, that Walden's dad told him he was lying to him and to stop saying stuff like that because it wasn't true. I would like to find a better pitcher than Walden for the 7th inning of games, however. Bullpen really is built on bad legs right now. Cora doesn't trust Brewer or Thornburg for good reasons. Hembree and Poyner are matchup guys (not particularly great ones either, good not great). Walden has bailed the Sox out a few times by the skin of his teeth (even though this appearance was great). With Workman, it's like flipping a coin on whether he's effective enough. Brasier has left a ton of balls down the middle this year. I don't know, they're going to need some help soon, I think. Travis Lakins should be up as soon as he proves to be ready in AAA. Walden had another very good game today. I really believe that the team’s volume approach is going to work. Bullpen arms are so volatile behind the top tier (and make no mistake: Barnes, of the **17.6% SwStr rate** pitching backwards off the CB has him on the verge of stepping into that tier, imo) that they’re essentially fungible. A tweak here, developmental step there, you name it and a guy is “good” for 3-5 years, sometimes longer. Walden’s base numbers, and deeper numbers alike, suggest a solid to even very good pitcher. His SwStr rate was over 12% last year, and up to over 14% this year. That’s not quite elite, but it’s awful close. He averages 95 on the FB. He has a nice cutter and an even better slider, and he uses all three equally. He’s got a career GB:FB ratio of nearly 3:1 (2.4:1 this year), and a .218 BAA for his career. Granted, it’s a very small sample. But he looks like Brasier only with a less control but way more swing-and-miss. He also has a great f-str% (65%) a very good O-Sw rate (37.9% this year, and a solid 51% overall). There’s some interesting stuf here (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/aaron-nolas-losing-waiting-game/) about what that means. But I think it’s fair to start getting excited about Walden as a late-bloomer with three plus pitches out of the bullpen. He’s become the “reliable third man” out there, and tbh I think at some point he may surpass Brasier as the #2, given Walden’s swing-and-miss.
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Post by telson13 on Apr 22, 2019 0:48:05 GMT -5
This weekend sweep was exactly what the doctor ordered. It does put the Sox in shouting distance of the Rays, although this past homestand really benefitted the Yankees the most. They gained 2 games on the Sox and the Sox helped get them a lot closer to the Rays. But at least the Sox are only 5 games out now. The Red Sox need to make this a much bigger streak obviously, but you have to start somewhere, and if not NY, this was the next best place to start - plus it does avenge Tampa sweeping Boston from last year when they were the only team that really pushed the 2018 Red Sox around in any series last year. This year the struggling Sox knocked the Rays a bit off their perch. Turnabout is fair play. I really believe that NY’s current “success” is unsustainable with the roster in the shape it is. Granted, they’ll be getting guys back, but they’re down Judge, Severino, Hicks, Betances, Andújar...and a host of others. And they will be for probably a month. They’re going to struggle mightily at some point soon, so I don’t sweat those two games. And that’s certainly not to say that I discount them, because they have a ton of talent that’s on the shelf, and getting it back will be huge. But as long as the Sox stay fairly healthy, I think they’ll be able to close the gap by the end of May. This is going to be a three-team race I believe, right up to the last days.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Apr 22, 2019 1:10:28 GMT -5
Pedrioa will be back very soon. Might need a rehab stint, but it's not going to take long. Chavis needs to play everyday. He won't be doing that here. Lin will make most of the starts at second. Where are you getting that information? From what I've seen had swelling to begin year, did short rehab, then 6 games back on DL and will see how things go with rest. Frankly this seems just like last year and if the knee isn't ready by now the chances it gets better are slim. Sure we likely see him at some point again, but it might be only a few more games. As to your other post about forcing him to retire, I can only guess but I would say he could easily walk away. Like what else do you do? That last surgery was his hail Mary. I think he retires if he can't play, he's the complete opposite of a Sandoval type player. www.bostonherald.com/2019/04/19/red-sox-dustin-pedroia-receive-good-news-on-injured-left-knee-the-best-i-could-get/“more kind of scared me than anything….We’re going to let it calm down for a few days and it should be all right. It just twisted the wrong way.” He's not going to walk away because we or the Sox want him to. He would be leaving 3 years of guarenteed money on the table.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Apr 22, 2019 1:18:49 GMT -5
Ohh and Pearce has been bad. He's either in a really bad slump, or suprise, he's declining like I have thought originally because he is 36. He has 31 PA so far this year. By definition that's not a really bad slump; more like a bad week. Maybe give him a second? And he had an OPS of .890 last season. He could decline pretty far from that and still be serviceable. He could still be serviceable, you're right, but Chavis already looks better with the bat and is a little more versatile. You only had so many resources (money over the off-season). I just still hated the way they went about it. I hated Henry even more for putting a cap on it.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on Apr 22, 2019 1:27:54 GMT -5
This goes to show that resigning Pearce might have been a mistake. You would have probably found a Mark Reynolds type instead if you didn't sign him or you would have given Nunez a first base glove and figured out that wasn't good enough. If Pearce wasn't here, you probably would have had enough at bats to keep Chavis here, who looks like a MLB bat right now. Between second base, third base, first base, and DH, there would have been enough at bats. You could have signed a reliever like Kelvin Herrera or someone cheaper like a Adam Warren. Ohh and Pearce has been bad. He's either in a really bad slump, or suprise, he's declining like I have thought originally because he is 36. It would stink to see a bat that the Sox can use go to AAA, but it's the reality of the situation with the roster crunch when Pedrioa comes back. It's way, way, too early to judge Pearce a bust. The guy is coming off an injury and has barely played. He'll hit. But you might say, yeah, well, he's still blocking Chavis, to which I would say, do you really want Chavis playing semi-regularly or platooning or sitting on the bench like Pearce will? No, Chavis really needs to play EVERY day. Right now, while his bat is probably ready (you can't overreact to 1 fantastic AB, but I do think he can hold his own although he'd have his struggles if he played regularly) for the show, he needs to concentrate on learning 1b and 2b. Ideally, in 2019, he could handle 2b if Pedroia is going to be in and out of the lineup and the active roster, but the problem is Chavis barely has any experience at 2b. He needs it - at Pawtucket. Likewise, there is a 1b job waiting for him in 2020 when Moreland and Pearce don't come back. He could use experience at 1b as well - again in Pawtucket. I wanted to focus on this part for a minute because I don't think Chavis needs to learn second base this year. It'd be nice if he could learn on the fly, but the Sox should have enough there with Pedrioa, Holt, and Lin combined. Between 3B, 1B platoon with Moreland, DH time while JD gives a rest to a outfielder, and maybe some 2B time, you could have given Chavis plenty of at bats, maybe even 4-5 games a week during the regular season. That's plenty fine for a rookie in his first year, especially considering Chavis' durability issues in the past. Not to mention the pinch hitting opportunities in Interleague games and late in games for the catching position. If Chavis didn't learn 2B well enough to play there this year (which they have already started him there now), then you'd have all spring next year and a full off-season to do it all over again. That's if you even want him there in the future. Pearce should come around some, but I don't know, 36 year olds coming off of short spring trainings and slow starts don't inspire a lot of confidence in me. It's not like Pearce is a really durable guy either. Add- I am going off of Dombrowski's quotes saying he's MLB ready with the bat, which he did say before Chavis was called up. I'm not judging him being MLB ready now with the bat with what I have seen through 2 games.
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Post by patford on Apr 22, 2019 7:42:32 GMT -5
Who's going to make him retire? Add- If he decides to retire the Sox owe him the money he's owed I believe, but I think the Sox could put him on the restricted list and his salary won't go against the luxury tax threshold. This won't happen though. No one can tell Pedrioa to stop playing or retire, despite him being bad or always injured now. No one can force him to retire. They can release him and theyn they’d owe him the remainder of his contract. If Pedroia retires, while under contract though, he forfeits the rest of his contract. Right. The Sox couldn't force him to retire and I doubt they would even suggest it privately. If the knee is so fragile that he is never going to be able to get back on the field for any extended period of time and his performance on the field is as poor as it's been then my hope is Pedroia would retire. I imagine the Sox would take care of him with some sort of long term deal to fill some role in the organization.
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Post by chrisfromnc on Apr 22, 2019 9:13:58 GMT -5
Ryan Dempster in 2014 is the most relevant example that people here would remember. He got a 2013 WS ring and retired before the start of the 2014 season and left a bunch of money on the table. My recollection is that he said he just didn't think he was capable of pitching up to his own standards so he rode off into the sunset as a world champion. The Sox owed him nothing.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Apr 22, 2019 9:21:07 GMT -5
It's way, way, too early to judge Pearce a bust. The guy is coming off an injury and has barely played. He'll hit. But you might say, yeah, well, he's still blocking Chavis, to which I would say, do you really want Chavis playing semi-regularly or platooning or sitting on the bench like Pearce will? No, Chavis really needs to play EVERY day. Right now, while his bat is probably ready (you can't overreact to 1 fantastic AB, but I do think he can hold his own although he'd have his struggles if he played regularly) for the show, he needs to concentrate on learning 1b and 2b. Ideally, in 2019, he could handle 2b if Pedroia is going to be in and out of the lineup and the active roster, but the problem is Chavis barely has any experience at 2b. He needs it - at Pawtucket. Likewise, there is a 1b job waiting for him in 2020 when Moreland and Pearce don't come back. He could use experience at 1b as well - again in Pawtucket. I wanted to focus on this part for a minute because I don't think Chavis needs to learn second base this year. It'd be nice if he could learn on the fly, but the Sox should have enough there with Pedrioa, Holt, and Lin combined. Between 3B, 1B platoon with Moreland, DH time while JD gives a rest to a outfielder, and maybe some 2B time, you could have given Chavis plenty of at bats, maybe even 4-5 games a week during the regular season. That's plenty fine for a rookie in his first year, especially considering Chavis' durability issues in the past. Not to mention the pinch hitting opportunities in Interleague games and late in games for the catching position. If Chavis didn't learn 2B well enough to play there this year (which they have already started him there now), then you'd have all spring next year and a full off-season to do it all over again. That's if you even want him there in the future. Pearce should come around some, but I don't know, 36 year olds coming off of short spring trainings and slow starts don't inspire a lot of confidence in me. It's not like Pearce is a really durable guy either. Add- I am going off of Dombrowski's quotes saying he's MLB ready with the bat, which he did say before Chavis was called up. I'm not judging him being MLB ready now with the bat with what I have seen through 2 games. I kind of question whether the Sox have enough at 2b this season as currently constituted. Yes, Holt will come back. Hopefully he comes back and plays as reasonably well as he did last year, but at this point he and Lin are kind of redundant. They're similar players at this point. I don't trust either one to play every day and you can't platoon them. I don't have a ton of faith that Pedroia won't miss a ton of time or even be a fraction of what he was. Right now all the Sox can do is wait and see, but at some point they'll have to make a determination as to whether they need help at 2b or not. I think Chavis would best be served getting a lot of experience at 2b in Pawtucket. And he'll need experience at 1b as well because come 2020 he might be needed to be the everyday 1b if the Sox determine that he's a better fit at 1b rather than 2b going forward because come 2020 if he could be a viable defensive 2b, then the Sox would have an advantage at 2b and can further enhance the offense picking up a 1b. In a perfect world scenario - one that I don't really see happening - you'd have Bobby Dalbec not whiffing too much, and forcing his way into Pawtucket by midseason, succeeding there, and banging down the door to Boston where you theoretically could have Devers and Dalbec on the corners (which one where would be a different conversation) and Chavis at 2b - all while paying minimum major league wages and having power bats at 1b, 2b, and 3b. More likely the Sox have Lin and Chatham or a 1 year rental playing 2b in 2020 with Chavis at 1b. But either way I don't want Chavis on the bench. I'd much rather seeing him continue to develop as a hitter and get the experience he needs at 2b (particularly now) so that he can be a solution come August at 2b and at 1b so he can be a potential every day 1b in 2020. I don't want to see him wasting any games on the bench. He needs to play just about every day, not get 350 ABs - or at least in my opinion.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Apr 22, 2019 9:22:53 GMT -5
Ryan Dempster in 2014 is the most relevant example that people here would remember. He got a 2013 WS ring and retired before the start of the 2014 season and left a bunch of money on the table. My recollection is that he said he just didn't think he was capable of pitching up to his own standards so he rode off into the sunset as a world champion. The Sox owed him nothing. I thought he had a sick child that he wanted to take care of but my recollection could be wrong.
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Post by umassgrad2005 on Apr 22, 2019 9:24:22 GMT -5
Where are you getting that information? From what I've seen had swelling to begin year, did short rehab, then 6 games back on DL and will see how things go with rest. Frankly this seems just like last year and if the knee isn't ready by now the chances it gets better are slim. Sure we likely see him at some point again, but it might be only a few more games. As to your other post about forcing him to retire, I can only guess but I would say he could easily walk away. Like what else do you do? That last surgery was his hail Mary. I think he retires if he can't play, he's the complete opposite of a Sandoval type player. www.bostonherald.com/2019/04/19/red-sox-dustin-pedroia-receive-good-news-on-injured-left-knee-the-best-i-could-get/“more kind of scared me than anything….We’re going to let it calm down for a few days and it should be all right. It just twisted the wrong way.” He's not going to walk away because we or the Sox want him to. He would be leaving 3 years of guarenteed money on the table. Pedro you are leaving out the context in which that was said, he thought his career might be over. Yea it isn't that bad, yet he's having issues for a second time this year after only a handful of games. The plan is to give it time and see what happens, which is last year all over again. Sure Pedroia is hopeful just like last year, yet this isn't good. When did I say that? He could walk away because his knee is done, not because of any other reason. The injury was Baseball related so why would he be walking away from the money? I bet the Red Sox have injury insurance on him. Players get paid if the injury is career ending.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on Apr 22, 2019 9:38:31 GMT -5
Pedrioa will be back very soon. Might need a rehab stint, but it's not going to take long. Chavis needs to play everyday. He won't be doing that here. Lin will make most of the starts at second. Bottom line, I'll bet they DFA Nunez if Pedroia looks ready, the DL timing seemed suspicious. Pedroia's problem doesn't seem like "major issues" yet.Pedroia's knee would be a major issue even if he was currently healthy. It will never not be a major issue in whatever remains of his career, and it's certainly a major issue if he isn't currently able to play.
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