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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 17, 2021 18:40:16 GMT -5
Just watched Guerrero Jr hit into a triple play with Semien and Bichette doing a keystone cops routine on the basepaths.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 17, 2021 13:10:46 GMT -5
Come on, JAXX has to be a stage name. He keeps whacking the ball so he may be prepping for the 'big' stage! Add: He's also getting back to that old-time religion, with 23 walks in 120 PAs - an on-base pct of .442 to go with that .316 BA.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 17, 2021 13:07:17 GMT -5
Richards FB spin rate last night was 2338, the lowest recorded number in his career. He was basically running at 2500 in 2015/16 and drifted up to 2600 over the years. Slider was down to 2620 compared to 2750 in 2015/16 and 2900 from 2017 onwards. Not good news ...and it isn't just the local news. He's not the lone ranger. It's likely to be a happening thing in both leagues.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 16, 2021 11:41:35 GMT -5
As I've suggested before, changes to the baseball have brought the law of unintended consequences into play. The visible break on many of the pitches I've watched being thrown is eye opening. That may be a direct reflection of the weight change to the ball.
That dovetails with the emphasis on spin rate, and pitchers having felt free to experiment with different substances to help them ramp that up. Given this perfect storm, MLB's goal of reducing K rates has been largely subverted.
The result is a hard (and fast) clampdown on additives. I'd be interested in the details of exactly what pitchers were told and how that differed from past admonitions if anyone knows.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 16, 2021 1:22:21 GMT -5
It might be just that, an echo from his bout with COVID. In any case, they're being careful with him.
As for Barnes, pitchers have been put on notice about foreign substances, something MLB was willing to let slide in the past. In a faint echo of the steroid era, no more juicing the ball. I have no idea if that's to blame for the lack of depth on his curveball, but there seems to be lower spin rates around the league.
Others on the board have mentioned how that advantage, in combination with the reworked baseball, probably sent the league honchos into panic mode as offense took a hit. So they're trying to flip the script without having cued the actors in advance. They need to have more respect for the talent. I don't think pitching is as automatic as they seem to believe.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 15, 2021 22:34:47 GMT -5
A perfect OBP day - 3 doubles and two walks in five at-bats: 1.000 OBP, 2.000 SLG.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 15, 2021 20:23:04 GMT -5
I thought he looked fine, tons of whiffs. It seems like the velo is creeping up and he’s getting 94 with more regularity. Some missed spots today but some bad luck too. I’m confident he will be fine Whitlock is a 3 pitch god ...sent to us from the Uehara universe.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 15, 2021 16:29:19 GMT -5
...which does bring up the question of how prepped he was for the season. He wasn't playing regularly either, so little chance to get into a rhythm. That was the strongest argument for sending him to AAA. There's no doubt he can crush the ball if he gets hold of it. He just wasn't doing all that much of it early on.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 15, 2021 16:17:27 GMT -5
Given the endless comments about how he'd lost this pitch, and that pitch, could it be that he's rebuilding his stuff and he's less concerned about pinpoint location?
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 14, 2021 16:13:11 GMT -5
Found myself wondering about that very thing a few days ago as his AAA numbers started to regress, that there might be an over-emphasis on pulling the ball. It's not as if he's forgotten how to get on base, though, just as you say. He's also proved himself to be very malleable, adding power to the mix very quickly, almost like flipping a switch. He's driven to succeed and if that means putting stress on infield defense, he may be very happy to do just that.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 14, 2021 15:27:35 GMT -5
They're both blips on Baseball America's screen. I think for Ramirez keeping all the peripherals in the current ballpark (BB Rate/K Rate/Opp BA and so on) would lead to a promotion at some point. If he were to keep on keepin' on after that, I'd expect that visibility at the national level. When that happens would be just a guess on my part.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 14, 2021 13:54:26 GMT -5
Yes he was. He'd rocketed a few doubles down the right field line and then he blasted one at 118+ mph way out to the right field seats. Hard to know if that was just small samples stuff or if he was getting his timing down and starting to make contact.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 14, 2021 13:31:46 GMT -5
Ramirez is one of the best reasons for donating to the site, to get scouting eyeballs on the guy. He's at the top of the list of emerging pitching prospects.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 12, 2021 0:58:49 GMT -5
Nice win. As Taylor gets further and further away from his positive COVID test, he's regaining the form and effectiveness of his 2019 season. Two crunch-time performances in a row for him, and the K/9 rate is just about where it was that year. He's really been effective against lefties and righties.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 11, 2021 0:00:42 GMT -5
View AttachmentApropos of nothing: my wife and I had our first child on Tuesday. Here is baby Ramona watching her first Red Sox game. She's doing the zen thing, willing the team to a win!
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 10, 2021 23:56:38 GMT -5
... a Pudu is like a moose. It walks on 4 legs, has antlers and fur, and lives in the woods, but a Pudu is not a moose. I learned a new critter! Welcome to the board.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 10, 2021 23:53:33 GMT -5
People are just traumatized by the Trey Ball pick. It’s really as simple as that. Especially since Meadows was available and that’s who they thought we’d get and he has been kick ass. I think you mean devastated. ...both, and we could add many more (pained, upset, disturbed,...) welcome to the board.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 9, 2021 11:54:25 GMT -5
Well, Mieses is killing it at this point, and Wilson has also come on. I think it all depends on what the Sox would be looking for since they play different roles.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 8, 2021 0:31:33 GMT -5
...So did Marwin. Who was second in errors in MLB last I looked? Devers. Btw, Tatis is first. Errors don’t seem to matter when a guy hits well. It doesn't quite work that way. It's all about runs. You want to score some and keep the other team from doing that. So defense bad enough to cost you a number of games matters a lot. I don't put Duran in that class but it should be obvious that the division is no cakewalk. All the marginal stuff matters if a team expects to win it. The Sox are within a half game of the lead and it might stay that tight right thru the summer. Blow a few leads and the love train Boston fans are riding can derail real fast. He needs to be ready for that.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 7, 2021 15:14:59 GMT -5
...and last year also. The Marlins are putting together a very decent staff.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 7, 2021 0:11:16 GMT -5
Things are going very well for this team. But this is still a bridge year, right? My gut tells me that we don't really have a real legitimate chance for October glory while still keeping the budget under the threshold. This brings Bloom to a very dicey set of decisions as we near the 7/30 trade deadline. As things stand now there are some potentially very valuable pieces (especially Barnes, the way he is going; could they get a Chapman-like return?) that could be dealt with an eye to accelerate the re-build. But the Sox could very well be still in contention for the division. And trading big pieces away could devastate clubhouse morale, the fan base, and impact opt-out decisions from key players that are still here. But does Bloom risk losing him nothing in free agency? Maybe Sale comes back as Barnes replacement as the closer? Lots of interesting questions could emerge. I'm not exactly sure what a bridge year means in the context of what the team has stated and what I think their plan is. What Bloom said was that they would try to stay competitive even as they worked to restock the minor league system. They've done both. If you mean a bridge to more spending, I don't think they'll be traveling that road in the future, at least if it means going over the spending limits. My impression is that ownership in general, not just the Red Sox', has figured out when most of the value a player accumulates over his career happens. The pre-arb and arb years deliver the bulk of that for most players. I also think that's where there will be a dogfight when the new CBA is negotiated. The MLBPA will push to get the players value acknowledged monetarily, somehow. Betts is a case in point. His best year was worth maybe $70M-$80M to the team, but he was paid maybe one-eighth of that. These are business men and women and that won't escape them.
That's not to say that the team won't be willing to sign players, I think they will but on their terms for the most part. I don't see them playing in an arena where $300M contracts are the norm. I still think that market will be there for a few players, but I believe they'll look for shorter contracts. But those are just my thoughts and I could be wrong as I have been in the past.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 6, 2021 22:16:42 GMT -5
I was OK with Valdez coming in, until he bonked frazier with the first pitch. Now rethinking. Great move by Valdez to hit the first batter and set up the DP! Notice the guy threw nothing but ground balls...
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 5, 2021 21:53:45 GMT -5
Where are all the experts that call this team a crap shot They better Shoot The F*** up...they are now questioning Chaim in relation to the trades and adding talent to the minors... What a bunch of losers that are couch potatoes and are warriors of the key board. Again if you are so smart, why aren't you managing teams Easy now... they all know who they are. There were varying opinions, there always are. I do agree that Bloom deserves credit for building out the roster even with the constraints he was under.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 5, 2021 13:06:36 GMT -5
Just getting a look at this guy. The swing is very noisy, but that's the sort of thing that can be cleaned up - hopefully while improving the contact rate also. I mean the kid is 17 so there's ample time for a few adjustments.
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Post by Oregon Norm on Jun 5, 2021 1:18:37 GMT -5
Even if it wasn’t for the Red Sox, I want to see this guy do that in the bigs. He’s electric Actually, he did something quite similar in the bigs, just before he was sent down. In fact, his last 5 games he was killing it, with an OPS over 1.000. That's a very small sample and and as others have said, he can use the regular at-bats he's getting in Worcester. But maybe, just maybe, he was starting to heat up a trend that continued as he's gone volcanic in triple A. The team may have to fight McMillon for him if they want to bring him back up.
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