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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 29, 2013 0:28:50 GMT -5
Not really concerned with Tazawa. The middle relief isn't likely to be a strength, but if the starters pitch like they're expected, there shouldn't be too much room between the starter and Breslow/Koji. I hope they use Morales almost strictly vs. lefties, and only to face a righty if it's a guy sandwiched between two LHH. Dempster can hopefully provide some assistance as well
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 28, 2013 15:13:47 GMT -5
If you are going to take a risk on a young power hitter, you take Abreu, which costs you nothing other than $. Anyone else with high potential will either cost you prospects in a trade, a 1st round pick if he's been with another team, or take a lot longer to develop through the system. If he flames out, the next 5-7 years in terms of salary for the club is set up to handle that The only non-Napoli free agent first baseman who currently projects to receive a qualifying offer is Kendrys Morales. There will be plenty of mid-level free agents that will also require nothing but cash, including names like Corey Hart, James Loney, Justin Morneau, Mike Morse, and Kevin Youkilis (not advocating for any of those names, but just be aware that they're there and some have significant bounce-back potential). Plus, there's the possibility of re-signing Mike Napoli as well as internal options like Mike Carp and Daniel Nava. It's really a question of how good the Red Sox scouts think Abreu can be and what the market for him is. If you think he'll be great and he'll come relatively affordable (read: less than a $12m AAV), then he's a great option. If the "slider bat speed" scouting reports are true and the bidding starts pushing the $15m AAV level, no thanks. Yes, the Red Sox have an opening at 1B and no high-level prospect at the position in the minor leagues, but that doesn't mean it's Abreu or bust by any stretch of the imagination. Agree. I have no problem if they go the mid-level talent route at 1B rather than take a massive gamble. But if they are going for a potential elite talent at first, then I would rather them Abreu than anything else. That doesn't even take into account the complete lack of FA market now. If they think he can be an elite bat or even a great bat, you go after him. If you can get him for anything close to Cespedes, you jump all over it. My point was mostly that you can push the limits of what they consider an "overpay" of Abreu because any other top flight bat they get for the near future will cost them in addition to $
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 28, 2013 14:15:02 GMT -5
If you are going to take a risk on a young power hitter, you take Abreu, which costs you nothing other than $. Anyone else with high potential will either cost you prospects in a trade, a 1st round pick if he's been with another team, or take a lot longer to develop through the system. If he flames out, the next 5-7 years in terms of salary for the club is set up to handle that
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 27, 2013 18:16:01 GMT -5
Scott Feldman...thanks
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 25, 2013 17:12:05 GMT -5
A's lose again. Magic number for the 1 seed at 3 I believe
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 21, 2013 1:05:16 GMT -5
I would be pissed if we had to wait for the outcome of this TB game to know if we clinched... Nothing like completely ruining your bullpen and rest of the series starters to play 18 innings. If you win you can deal with it. But whichever club loses will point to this game if they miss the playoffs Edit: 30 seconds after I post this the Rays walk off with the win. Could spell the end for the O's
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 20, 2013 23:37:29 GMT -5
Just got back from Fenway. A very cool experience to say the least. Definitely a special moment given the last two seasons.
Thought they could contend for a WC before the season. Never did I expect they would win the division, let alone run away with it
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 17, 2013 18:45:52 GMT -5
Man we hit into a lot of double plays. Would be nice to see steals to avoid that. Meh. Unless you've got a guy that can steal at an 80% or better clip the benefit doesn't really outweigh the risk. Sox are 10th in the MLB in GDP's, but also first in OBP, so that has a lot to do with it. Some quick math that I just composed from frangraphs. Looked at the total for each team in terms of single + BB + IBB + HBP to get a rough total of chances with a runner on first. Divided teams GDP by that total, Sox actually have the 9th lowest % of GDP following those. Obviously it's a complete rough look at it since if those happen with 2 outs a GDP isn't possible. But I think it at least buys into the notion that a lot of their DP's are a result of having more runners on first than anyone else other than the Tigers
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 16, 2013 3:00:04 GMT -5
Xander has looked much better defensively than I expected. Probably a factor of how skeptical most of the scouts where since the only time I was able to catch him was whenever he showed up on NESN
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 11, 2013 22:20:46 GMT -5
Magic number is 8 with 15 games to play. That's just absurd. Dodgers at 6, Braves at 7. But the way both the Sox and Rays are playing, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Sox be team #1 to win a division
That was also an absolute bomb by Carp
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 11, 2013 22:10:50 GMT -5
Tampa is on a run that rivals, if not surpasses that of the '11 Sox
To top that, the run both these teams are on right now gives the Sox a fantastic shot to lock up the division at Fenway which is always that much better
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 9, 2013 0:06:20 GMT -5
Bad luck, wrong place wrong time, players run into him are all reasons that should have 0 impact on his future injuries. That's not causation.
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 8, 2013 1:07:50 GMT -5
From everything he's said and has been written about him, he's the anti-Puig with just as much talent.
Seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and really appreciates the opportunity to be in the bigs. Now maybe some of that is the $ factor and that he's actually had to work his way up. Whatever the case, he seems like a guy you want to build around and can be the centerpiece of a team, where Puig hasn't shown that he can be anything more than a star on a team
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 8, 2013 1:02:44 GMT -5
What is remarkable is that even if the Sox hadn't had some fortunate things go their way in the last week, they'd still have massive control of the division. Tampa is putrid right now. But a 1 game playoff with Price or Moore would be hard to turn down if ur Tampa right now
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 7, 2013 0:51:56 GMT -5
I believe the Red Sox magic number to win the division is 14, but someone might want to check my math. Correct. 163 - 86 - 63 = 14 To clinch at worst the #2 WC: 163 - 86 - 65 = 12
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 7, 2013 0:43:10 GMT -5
A 97 win pace in the final month of the season, a 7.5 game division lead (best in the AL), the best pitcher on the team coming back next week, and a team that is clicking on just about all cylinders
It's just remarkable the way things have gone, in particular the magic that has been with the club all year, but particularly the last week
Rays just loss, they're doing their best to hand the division over. That's 4 or 5 times in the last 10 days where the Sox lost or should have lost, and the Rays dropped one as well
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 5, 2013 23:21:41 GMT -5
The biggest thing for the Yankees is not only Cano, but also if A-rod is indeed suspended for under the whole season, does his salary still count towards the luxury tax. Because if it does, they won't have much room to play with.
They need to sign Cano and the majority of their starting rotation. Assuming Jeter picks up his option, they'll have 7 players under contract for $132M
That doesn't take into account a starting 2B, starting C, OF, and at least 3 starting pitchers (aside from CC and Nova)
The only real $ they are going to have could be A-rods salary if they don't want to lock up even more long term issues
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Post by mredsox89 on Sept 1, 2013 18:26:10 GMT -5
Tampa has dropped 7 of 8, now 5.5 back of the Sox. Sox have gained a full 5 games over the last 10
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Post by mredsox89 on Aug 31, 2013 23:16:23 GMT -5
Balfour almost blew one to TB, but the Rays left the tying run on 2nd and winning run on 1st.
Sox with a 4.5 game lead in the division to begin September. Tampa has lost 7 of 8 with 7 more on the west coast before hosting the Sox
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Post by mredsox89 on Aug 31, 2013 19:16:18 GMT -5
Sox taking advantage of a bad team making bad plays that have led to the entirety of the run scoring so far
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Post by mredsox89 on Aug 31, 2013 18:50:50 GMT -5
Hell of an at-bat by Xander. Down 0-2, ends up with a 9 pitch walk to turn the order over to Ells
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Post by mredsox89 on Aug 30, 2013 18:54:56 GMT -5
BA reporting Orioles add Mike Morse for 23 year old CF Xavier Avery: www.baseballamerica.com/majors/orioles-add-michael-morse-to-majors-most-powerful-lineup/I'm pretty surprised Duquette has leveraged so much of the future on this season (or maybe I shouldn't be so surprised given his history with Boston). I know the value of that group of wins in the 80-90 range (and thus a playoff push) are absolutely massive, but it seems a bit shortsighted especially to be mostly playing for the wild card playoff. I think the Orioles are a good team, but not sure these are the types of trades that will keep them in the playoff hunt for long. Who knows, maybe Morse awakens after the graveyard that is Safeco Field. When you do absolutely nothing to improve a team that barely held their head above water supported by an unsustainable record in close games this is what you have to do. They really weren't that good last year, aren't anything more than mediocre this year (even though the Sox continue to have some trouble with them), and really need to do something to support the Jones/Davis combination
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Post by mredsox89 on Aug 30, 2013 18:48:03 GMT -5
I want Eck back, and I want Dempster to be suspended again. I was so happy when I turned it on and hurt Rish and Gammons instead I will agree that I'd like Dempster be suspended again. Shortly he will be in the pen at least
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Post by mredsox89 on Aug 29, 2013 15:20:39 GMT -5
Scary finish in LAA/TB game as the Rays got the tying run to 2nd with one out in the 9th, but Frieri got a pop out and fly out to end it, Sox are up 3 Games. Meanwhile Detroit just scored 4 in the bottom of the 9th off of Balfour and the A's to walk off
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Post by mredsox89 on Aug 28, 2013 22:42:40 GMT -5
Was at the game tonight. Was a lot of fun. Sat a couple rows behind the field between the Sox dugout and the plate.
From that perspective, Lackey really didn't look good at all, but I was impressed with his ability to keep the team in the game. Was living on the edge all night long, up in the zone. Was fairly lucky the O's only hit 2 out. Machado's was absolutely filthy and was gone right off the bat. Davis' was absolutely crushed, and it still barely got out. The CS by Salty right before the Davis HR was obviously huge. Was surprised how easy the play was for Xander given how Lackey had already allowed a SB earlier. Papi just looked off all night. Was ahead 2-0 in at least 3, if not all 4 AB's, and he just couldn't square up the FB in any of them.
Anyone able to tell me how the HP ump was tonight? Didn't have a good angle and many Sox seemed to be pretty annoyed with the strike zone. Napoli for sure, and Nava a few times as well
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