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Post by Gwell55 on Dec 26, 2012 19:12:15 GMT -5
Melancon wasn't being used as much more than a mop-up man or in situations where the team was trailing. Rarely was he brought into situations of high leverage after the recall. I get what you are trying to say about the games having meaning for the team, but if you look through the game logs Melancon was being used in low leverage/ low pressure situations as the guy to chew up some innings when the score was wider for either side. The Red Sox lost 8 of the 14 games you mentioned in that stretch for Melancon and the wins were lopsided. You're right and I agree-- even after coming back and pitching well, Melancon rarely pitched in high-leverage innings. And Hatfield is right that there were questions about Melancon's mental state at the time of his original trade to Boston. But this is a pitcher than Cherington and the FO thought highly enough of twelve months ago to trade a high-upside position player for (Lowrie) and now are going to give up on because of four appearances in April. it is one thing to be blaming the FO for trading last year for Melancon and then quite another for getting rid of him this year after seeing him in the pen. Last year Cherington was restricted by luxury tax and the amount of money that Lucky and the owners made available to him while picking up his winter player needs. Thus he had to have at least one low cost reliever that on paper could close if he wanted to have any leverage to trade for Bailey. The set up Ben ended up using last year was in fact Meloncon and his "on paper stats" (rightly or wrongly). Now take the salary of Meloncon 500K and dump the salary of Lowrie who was often hurt and never had more than 309 Ab in a season for us 1.1M plus Weiland 481K for a net saving of around a million that could go to get another fielder say a third of Cody. No where does that say that the Sox FO thought highly of Meloncon. It should also be noted that Lowrie didn't get much more than the 300 Ab's ... 340 or so (for Houston) and Weiland spent the year in rehab too. This year though they have quite a bit of flexibility to spend money therefore spending on a better bullpen appears to be in the cards. Appears to me Ben said he needed leverage after he traded for Bailey for that deal to go. But weather he did or not it sure seems like that very well is likely.
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Post by Gwell55 on Dec 13, 2012 17:51:47 GMT -5
Nice press conference. Does anyone have any advice on how to respond to a Philly friend who says that Victorino makes a lot of "bone-headed plays." When you play in a band box with fly balls smoking everywhere what do you expect!
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Post by Gwell55 on Dec 5, 2012 11:58:31 GMT -5
I'm still puzzled by all this. First off, I like the Napoli signing alot, so I'm good with that one. I don't understand the idea of playing Gomes mostly full-time in LF when he doesn't hit lefties and is brutal on defense. I don't understand wasting 3 years and $39 million on Shane Victorino, whose best days are behind him.
With Victorino, the Sox have two choices - waste a corner OF spot on a guy with limited power whose on-base skills are mediocre.
One other question - when Bradley is ready in 2014, does an offensively challenged Victorino slide back to RF (if Ellsbury is dealt this year)? Does that make sense?
Or they move him to CF, where his offense is more palatable, but then they have to deal Ellsbury - which I'm cool with, but now I'm concerned they'll only get $0.50 on the dollar. Teams know they're only going to get Ellsbury for one year and then they can collect a draft pick. The Sox need to do better than that in a deal to make it worth their while. If they succeed, they have a very right-handed lineup, especially if Salty gets dealt, which makes no sense at all - they go from being too lefthanded to being too righthanded. Papi can't be the only lefty threat in the lineup, can he? The only real way they can make this work is to get good pitching prospects (I guess Seattle is the best place to look?), and sign a lefty hitter for four years like Hamilton, but they're not going to do that. Instead they might overpay for Cody Ross (or who knows, they could lose him and get nothing for him - no qualifying offer). I wish Texas would outbid LA for Greinke, but that's not going to happen. That's the only prayer the Sox have to get Hamilton's market to slide down to 3 years. Very frustrating that the Sox spend the flexibility of cash on Gomes and Victorino. I have an answer for this signing. Lets look at a comparison of Jacoby's early career and compare it to Bradley. Jacoby spends his 21 yr old season at Lowell with good sucess while JBJ spent his season at Lowell and Greenville in a solid learning experience for him. Next year (22) Jacoby goes to Wilmington and ends at Portland very solid numbers .308 .387 .434 while JBJ does the same thing in Salem and then the same career path to Portland with good numbers albeit with a small tailoff at the end .271 .373 .437 but with pretty similar numbers. Meanwhile Coco Crisp is in Boston and his time there is mostly remembered for defensive gems now and again. Jacoby then spends his time successfully between Portland and Pawtucket with a call up warranted to Boston. Coco holds the spot and stays around for the 08 season playing CF with Jake playing LF, RF, and CF. That winter Coco is traded to KCity in November and Jake takes over in 09. Now compare Bradley experience and timeline with Boston's preference for call ups of the kids. Same thing for Bradley (23 yr old) in 2013 ends in Pawtucket with a late call up. 14 Victorino playing mostly for his Defense and Bradley up. If Bradley makes the cut Victorino traded to ? Bradley takes over. sounds like Boston sort of move to me. Now everyone has been noting that we need to wait for the kids to develop before we get a contender ... So why complain when Ben appears to be doing that while still trying to put a team for the pink hats to root for???
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Post by Gwell55 on Dec 3, 2012 14:32:05 GMT -5
This is a great deal for three reasons: 1. Napoli should rake at Fenway. 2. He gives the team terrific flexibility with his ability to play multiple positions. 3. It means the Sox will be trading Salty. Hallelujah. 4. Ortiz now plays 1st against NL teams with a better bat behind the plate. 5 Nappy is happy with his promise catching and Sox limits of a few games is satisfied.
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