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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 18:14:34 GMT -5
Now Weiss to keep it to one?
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:55:58 GMT -5
It is going to take a hell of an off season for me to believe in this team for 2024. We are up to needing 3-4 starting pitchers now..... Yeah, and the offense has been provided by a guy who may not be back. Super.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:51:45 GMT -5
Are the Sox going to stay over .500?
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:48:52 GMT -5
If we were allowed to be critical of Story, we might say some things about this game.
Nothing to see here.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:48:06 GMT -5
I can’t tell how his velocity is, because I’m not sure he’s thrown a fastball. His slider won’t work if he throws it 75% of the time. Add: yeah, Sale looks like junk, but I am starting question the pitch calling. Why are so many starters playing down? I have been wondering about this for awhile as well....isn't that Varitek? Not sure.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:37:21 GMT -5
I can’t tell how his velocity is, because I’m not sure he’s thrown a fastball. His slider won’t work if he throws it 75% of the time.
Add: yeah, Sale looks like junk, but I am starting question the pitch calling. Why are so many starters playing down?
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:36:08 GMT -5
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:35:13 GMT -5
Aaron Hicks.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:31:55 GMT -5
Is it starting to rain hard again? This game gunna get delayed again?
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 17:13:33 GMT -5
Poor decision there by Story. Missed a chance to show veteran leadership and eat the ball. Gave back the run he saved by stopping the grounder. Pressure to be spectacular if he isn’t hitting?
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 16:47:17 GMT -5
No complaints after one re: Sale.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 12:58:18 GMT -5
Anyone know the timeline on his toe surgery? Is he going to be able to resume activities on a somewhat regular schedule?
Love his attitude.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 12:36:58 GMT -5
It is stunning to look back at the Sox since 2018: 2019 they finished 19 games out 2020 they finished 16 out (in 60 games) 2021 they finished 8 out 2022 they finished 21 out 2023 they are 17.5 out. So average of a bit over 16 games out of first these past 5 years. Neither competitive nor fun. Add: we can say competitive means making it in as a WC, but if tou are 16 games back of the division winner (with likely one other WC ahead of you from the division, too), you aren’t competitive. You might get *lucky* in the postseason, but you are demonstrably worse than the division winner. Competitive would be a few games behind. If you don’t think the 2021 team was competitive, I’m not sure what to tell you to convince you otherwise, but that’s an odd statement. And it’s similarly odd to take the term “competitive” and apply it relative to other teams when the Red Sox have no control over other teams’ roster, schedule, spending, etc. So the 95-win 2009 Red Sox weren’t competitive because they finished 8 games back of the 103-win Yankees? Well, first, 8 is half of 16. Maybe that is the outer range of not getting blown out in the regular season… I don’t know. Still the 2021 team was not *that* competitive in the regular season. (Do we look back at 2018 and view the Yankees as close to us? They finished 8 back, too). But secondly, yes, “competitive” is relative. It means you can compete evenly with a given opponent. In the playoffs, those given opponents are teams who finished ahead of WC teams. If it is close (or in your example, it is two great teams), they are likely competitive. If they have not been close all season, it is unlikely to be close in the playoffs. Again, this isn’t football, so funny things can happen more often. But that is still fluky, not a sign of being truly competitive. (Consider that the Sox lost the last 3 straight games to the Astros 23-3 in 2021…. order was restored).
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 11:49:41 GMT -5
It is stunning to look back at the Sox since 2018: 2019 they finished 19 games out 2020 they finished 16 out (in 60 games) 2021 they finished 8 out 2022 they finished 21 out
2023 they are 17.5 out.
So average of a bit over 16 games out of first these past 5 years. Neither competitive nor fun.
Add: we can say competitive means making it in as a WC, but if tou are 16 games back of the division winner (with likely one other WC ahead of you from the division, too), you aren’t competitive. You might get *lucky* in the postseason, but you are demonstrably worse than the division winner. Competitive would be a few games behind.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 10:53:51 GMT -5
Your missing my point. This is not just a Bloom issue. This was and has been an issue over multiple FO’s. Including those who operated during a CBA in which there were no limits on draft spending 29 other teams didn't take those guys. So, not sure how you can put that on the Sox. Even the Braves didn't in rounds 1-3, which means they got lucky. Luck happens. I feel like as unsatisfying as it may be, “luck happens” is the answer to most of this. If the Sox have struggled since before Theo, it is hard to call it organizational, since that encompasses so many eras of approach and staff. Groome is an example of doing the “right” thing — there is a universe he turns into a frontline horse. Maybe the pattern of acquiring Pedro, Beckett, Schilling, and Sale (again, across FOs) suggests that the one general common ground is conceding that aces are rare enough that they are best left to the whole league to develop… then poach. I think it is actually not crazy to try to develop a surplus of player prospects and then trade for pitching. Players are surer bets. Let the Marlins be your incubator. Not saying not trying to develop pitchers at all… just emphasize players. Even now, I’d be willing to sell a decent number of our player prospects for a potentially elite arm.
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Post by manfred on Sept 9, 2023 8:53:04 GMT -5
This is a competitive league. Is "fairly respectable" the goal? They may not be the worst team in the league over the last few years. They may have the 20th best pitching development program in the entire world! You might say that is "fairly respectable" even while the many teams who do it better are far ahead of them in the standings. Okay. But the premise of the post is that the Sox have been *unusually bad* at developing pitching, and while that is indisputably true of the team pre-2017 it isn't clear to me that's the case now. On the totally separate topic of whether it would be nice to develop a bunch of aces - I agree, that would be nice. Or… just 2017? Crawford, Houck, and Bello all got added that year. I say this only because it might point more to luck than a shift that year. Yes there are a few guys in the system, but there have been highly ranked pitching prospects who busted before, so that is not different (until they make it).
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Post by manfred on Sept 8, 2023 21:09:58 GMT -5
I really look forward to the year the Sox are fun again.
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Post by manfred on Sept 8, 2023 20:57:18 GMT -5
I am not on the Walter train.
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Post by manfred on Sept 8, 2023 20:34:09 GMT -5
Can’t even hurt Gunner’s ROY credentials. Total failure.
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Post by manfred on Sept 8, 2023 18:17:19 GMT -5
Sox pitchers owe Casas a terrible weekend for Henderson.
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Post by manfred on Sept 8, 2023 18:16:02 GMT -5
Does Adley look a tiny bit like Fisk?
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Post by manfred on Sept 8, 2023 16:55:13 GMT -5
Isn’t WAR replacement at your position? So Casas being many things that many 1b are should not hurt him as much, no? Am I misunderstanding?
That is, am I wrong that the relative value of your defensive position doesn’t matter? And since few 1b are fleet of foot, his running shouldn’t lower his WAR much? Or am I not getting how it is calculated?
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Post by manfred on Sept 8, 2023 8:40:22 GMT -5
I know Gumball is beating Casas in WAR, and folks say that seals Casas’s ROY doom. But in the NL, Mookie leads in WAR, OPS, etc… and I think Acuna Jr will still win MVP. So I’m not giving up on Casas. A strong end… who knows?
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Post by manfred on Sept 7, 2023 9:20:44 GMT -5
Guys are dumping on Cora’s postgame comments, but I guess I’m not sure what he is supposed to say at this point. He doesn’t owe the fans a story, so why would he put players on blast? Conversely, if he were really honest, he’d start talking about his golfing plans, which might not fly, either. So into the Bull Durham-isms, and on to the next day.
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Post by manfred on Sept 6, 2023 20:21:21 GMT -5
Season in a nut shell. Inability to win games they need to win. Even struggled to win the ones they don’t need to win!!!
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