SoxProspects News
|
|
|
|
Legal
Forum Ground Rules
The views expressed by the members of this Forum do not necessarily reflect the views of SoxProspects, LLC.
© 2003-2024 SoxProspects, LLC
|
|
|
|
|
Forum Home | Search | My Profile | Messages | Members | Help |
Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
2015 Official Spring Training thread
|
Post by soxfanatic on Mar 18, 2015 16:52:36 GMT -5
There's no chance that Barnes is their closer on Opening Day. I can't remember any rookie relievers who have started the season as a closer. Even at the end of the season (assuming Koji is injured), it's pretty unlikely. I meant future closer
|
|
|
Post by cologneredsox on Mar 18, 2015 16:53:43 GMT -5
No love for Tazawa?
|
|
|
Post by Chris Hatfield on Mar 18, 2015 17:43:06 GMT -5
I also didn't take the question to mean who's closing instead of Koji on opening day. I was thinking next year.
|
|
|
Post by michael on Mar 18, 2015 18:02:56 GMT -5
I'm in agreement with JimEd above. Best for Sox and Barnes if he keeps starting to allow him to further develope his curve and make the change an effective pitch.
|
|
|
Post by sarasoxer on Mar 18, 2015 19:00:07 GMT -5
Who might be the next Closer in waiting? Matt Barnes Honestly I don't see this. I think the next closer comes from a stock of proven ones outside the organization. Barnes has a good fastball in relief but not so much, apparently, as a starter. And, he does not have a dominant second pitch. Don't you need two in the closing relief role (excluding Mariano)? My guess is that he will ultimately prove to be a borderline 7th inning guy. I am not sold on Ogando as a closer either, injuries aside. Historically he has not been a really dominant guy season long and he has, perhaps, lost some zip off #1. Nope IMO, Ogando is a stop-gap, hoped-for lightening in a bottle guy. For me, I would play out this year with what we have starting & relief....which looks perhaps middling if we are brutally honest, and wait until the off-season to re-stock in free agency (top starter and reliever). Please, please do not jettison the farm for a short-term, hoped-for, bubble-gum surprise.
|
|
|
Post by Chris Hatfield on Mar 18, 2015 23:19:15 GMT -5
Honestly I don't see this. I think the next closer comes from a stock of proven ones outside the organization. Why? The last consistent one the Red Sox had before Koji was a homegrown prospect who was a starter all the way up the ladder and even made one MLB start before circumstances moved him to the bullpen, where he was better suited as it turned out.
|
|
|
Post by mredsox89 on Mar 19, 2015 2:28:53 GMT -5
If we were a year from now, and Barnes still had "meh" results as a starter between AAA and MLB, I'd definitely lean towards him being a possibility. But I still think they'll aim for him as a starter, even if Koji is out to begin the season. I've always been high on Barnes, and would prefer him in that role even if not as "dominant" as he could be as a closer. I'd rather continue to start Barnes and use him as the 6th or 7th starter for the Sox and play around with other guys in the pen as the closer if necessary
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Mar 19, 2015 5:30:04 GMT -5
Nothing to get overly excited either way but in general, I've seen a lot of positive tweets on Middlebrooks, Garcia, Britton, Lavarnway & Bard. I also saw a few on Ranaudo before he came up lame. I haven't seen anything on either Butler, Webster or Del La Rosa and Hassan I only saw the injury notice.
I always like to see the ex-Sox prospects doing well.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Mar 19, 2015 6:51:53 GMT -5
Honestly I don't see this. I think the next closer comes from a stock of proven ones outside the organization. Barnes has a good fastball in relief but not so much, apparently, as a starter. And, he does not have a dominant second pitch. Don't you need two in the closing relief role (excluding Mariano)? My guess is that he will ultimately prove to be a borderline 7th inning guy. Not sure where you're getting that from. It's plus, no matter where he's pitching. Relief pitchers don't need two dominant pitches. They need one with another average or better pitch to keep batters honest. For me, Barnes is flashing enough with all 3 pitches that I'm still hopeful he keeps taking the strides he took in the second half of last season and becomes a starter in the majors.
|
|
|
Post by Chris Hatfield on Mar 19, 2015 7:35:57 GMT -5
Nothing to get overly excited either way but in general, I've seen a lot of positive tweets on Middlebrooks, Garcia, Britton, Lavarnway & Bard. I also saw a few on Ranaudo before he came up lame. I haven't seen anything on either Butler, Webster or Del La Rosa and Hassan I only saw the injury notice. I always like to see the ex-Sox prospects doing well. Garcia?
|
|
|
Post by kman22 on Mar 19, 2015 7:47:12 GMT -5
Nothing to get overly excited either way but in general, I've seen a lot of positive tweets on Middlebrooks, Garcia, Britton, Lavarnway & Bard. I also saw a few on Ranaudo before he came up lame. I haven't seen anything on either Butler, Webster or Del La Rosa and Hassan I only saw the injury notice. I always like to see the ex-Sox prospects doing well. Garcia? Jason Garcia I'm assuming
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Mar 19, 2015 8:15:46 GMT -5
Yes Jason Garcia, I've seen several times where Showalter has said he's been impressed. I think he's going to stick, as much as I hate to say that. Same team, Lavarnway is likely to make their 25 man if Weiters (shoulder tendonitis) starts on the DL.
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Mar 19, 2015 8:19:49 GMT -5
Honestly I don't see this. I think the next closer comes from a stock of proven ones outside the organization. Barnes has a good fastball in relief but not so much, apparently, as a starter. And, he does not have a dominant second pitch. Don't you need two in the closing relief role (excluding Mariano)? My guess is that he will ultimately prove to be a borderline 7th inning guy. Not sure where you're getting that from. It's plus, no matter where he's pitching. Relief pitchers don't need two dominant pitches. They need one with another average or better pitch to keep batters honest. For me, Barnes is flashing enough with all 3 pitches that I'm still hopeful he keeps taking the strides he took in the second half of last season and becomes a starter in the majors. He might be referring to a quote by Farrell to the effect that it's unlikely he'd hold the velocity if he were a starter. For reference, last night (LOL, yesterday, I'm 12 hours different) Barnes was 95-97, mostly 96 but caught the Braves announcers by surprise with a 93 fastball.
|
|
|
Post by sarasoxer on Mar 19, 2015 9:36:09 GMT -5
Not sure where you're getting that from. It's plus, no matter where he's pitching. Relief pitchers don't need two dominant pitches. They need one with another average or better pitch to keep batters honest. For me, Barnes is flashing enough with all 3 pitches that I'm still hopeful he keeps taking the strides he took in the second half of last season and becomes a starter in the majors. He might be referring to a quote by Farrell to the effect that it's unlikely he'd hold the velocity if he were a starter. For reference, last night (LOL, yesterday, I'm 12 hours different) Barnes was 95-97, mostly 96 but caught the Braves announcers by surprise with a 93 fastball. Yes, thanks. It was Farrell's reference in part. The expectation for the majority of pitchers is that the FB will play up in relief and I recall last fall Barnes was more in the 92-94 range. Right or wrong I also had the feeling that his FB was not particularly lively believing even more, then in a need for better off-speed pitches. Admittedly it was a couple of years ago, but while at a GCL game I talked to the parents of a Sox player who lived just down the street from Matt and were friendly with him. Matt admitted that he needed much better off-speed pitches because his FB alone was not going to lead to the Bigs.
|
|
art
Veteran
Posts: 364
|
Post by art on Mar 19, 2015 10:29:22 GMT -5
I haven't seen anything on either Butler, Webster or Del La Rosa and Hassan I only saw the injury notice. I was listening to MLB Radio on SiriusXM yesterday and heard them say that DeLaRosa was having difficulty throwing strikes. Surprise!
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Mar 19, 2015 11:53:13 GMT -5
Pete Abraham ?@peteabe 2h2 hours ago Kelly said his bullpen went fine. No pain. Starts on Sunday. #redsox
|
|
|
Post by Chris Hatfield on Mar 19, 2015 15:00:35 GMT -5
I haven't seen anything on either Butler, Webster or Del La Rosa and Hassan I only saw the injury notice. I was listening to MLB Radio on SiriusXM yesterday and heard them say that DeLaRosa was having difficulty throwing strikes. Surprise! I got a horrible report on Webster from a scout sitting on AZ. Same issues as always - command (threw 40 or 45 on command on FB and one of the offspeeds), composure. I have a feeling Miley isn't going to have to do much to justify that trade, really.
|
|
|
Post by brianthetaoist on Mar 19, 2015 15:07:28 GMT -5
PeteAbe with a piece about the Sox relative failure to develop international players includes a nice shoutout of SoxProspects, but some faulty logic/reporting: Seems very odd that he can do this entire piece and not mention that one of Cherington's first moves was jettisoning Craig Shipley, no?
|
|
ericmvan
Veteran
Supposed to be working on something more important
Posts: 8,965
|
Post by ericmvan on Mar 19, 2015 20:53:54 GMT -5
Right or wrong I also had the feeling that his FB was not particularly lively believing even more, then in a need for better off-speed pitches. Admittedly it was a couple of years ago, but while at a GCL game I talked to the parents of a Sox player who lived just down the street from Matt and were friendly with him. Matt admitted that he needed much better off-speed pitches because his FB alone was not going to lead to the Bigs. According to pitch/fx, Barnes has elite FB movement. A spreadsheet I threw together last July 20, covering 2013 and 2014, has 457 pitchers in it, and there are just 16 with more FB movement. The only one of those guys who throws harder than Barnes is Jake McGee. Barnes would have ranked 29th in overall FB effectiveness based on the combination of velocity and movement. Everybody ahead of him throws harder. Elite movement, good velocity, near-elite (and somewhat unusual) combination.
|
|
|
Post by sarasoxer on Mar 20, 2015 7:26:34 GMT -5
Right or wrong I also had the feeling that his FB was not particularly lively believing even more, then in a need for better off-speed pitches. Admittedly it was a couple of years ago, but while at a GCL game I talked to the parents of a Sox player who lived just down the street from Matt and were friendly with him. Matt admitted that he needed much better off-speed pitches because his FB alone was not going to lead to the Bigs. According to pitch/fx, Barnes has elite FB movement. A spreadsheet I threw together last July 20, covering 2013 and 2014, has 457 pitchers in it, and there are just 16 with more FB movement. The only one of those guys who throws harder than Barnes is Jake McGee. Barnes would have ranked 29th in overall FB effectiveness based on the combination of velocity and movement. Everybody ahead of him throws harder. Elite movement, good velocity, near-elite (and somewhat unusual) combination. OK thanks and I stand corrected.
|
|
|
Post by okin15 on Mar 20, 2015 8:49:45 GMT -5
PeteAbe with a piece about the Sox relative failure to develop international players includes a nice shoutout of SoxProspects, but some faulty logic/reporting: Seems very odd that he can do this entire piece and not mention that one of Cherington's first moves was jettisoning Craig Shipley, no? Yes, that's bizarre. They had a novel approach. It didn't work. So they've gone back to more traditional methods. Though if Xander became a star, wouldn't that be something? Also, was Anibal Sanchez a Theo signing or Duquette, cause he's worked out well for both sides of that deal.
|
|
|
Post by soxfanatic on Mar 20, 2015 8:54:32 GMT -5
@sean_McAdam: Red Sox option C Blake Swihart and LHP Eduardo Rodriguez to Pawtucket. Now have 49 players remaining in camp.
|
|
|
Post by Gwell55 on Mar 20, 2015 9:01:43 GMT -5
PeteAbe with a piece about the Sox relative failure to develop international players includes a nice shoutout of SoxProspects, but some faulty logic/reporting: Seems very odd that he can do this entire piece and not mention that one of Cherington's first moves was jettisoning Craig Shipley, no? Yes, that's bizarre. They had a novel approach. It didn't work. So they've gone back to more traditional methods. Though if Xander became a star, wouldn't that be something? Also, was Anibal Sanchez a Theo signing or Duquette, cause he's worked out well for both sides of that deal. Another question than should be was Ben the coordinator of international scouting when Hanley and Sanchez were signed or was he head of baseball relations or just operations assistant? We do know he was there when both were signed by the club.
|
|
|
Post by jimed14 on Mar 20, 2015 11:14:48 GMT -5
I don't think the PeteAbe article does a very good job explaining how they relatively failed to develop international players. What is a good hit rate? Compared to what teams? Do a little homework for us.
|
|
|
Post by philsbosoxfan on Mar 20, 2015 11:15:54 GMT -5
Ian Browne ?@ianmbrowne Koji says it is too early to tell if he will be ready for Opening Day. Farrell thinks he will be.
Jason Mastrodonato ?@jmastrodonato Koji Uehara (hamstring) still thinks opening day is a question mark but he said his arm feels great. Eddie Mujica to close if he's out.
|
|
|