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Post by soxfansince67 on May 3, 2018 21:56:56 GMT -5
Xander is not having a good night with the glove....more accurately, his arm
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Post by soxfansince67 on May 3, 2018 21:59:30 GMT -5
So, we have weak defense at the moment with Hanley on first, Nunez, Devers, JD, and Vazquez...that's a lot of holes.
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Post by dirtdog on May 3, 2018 22:04:23 GMT -5
They can afford to carry one weak bat in the lineup, JBJ or CV. Who is it gonna be?
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Post by soxfansince67 on May 3, 2018 22:07:42 GMT -5
JBJ - CV is a liability at bat and with the glove at the moment. JBJ will (hopefully) have a hot streak and his D is strong.
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Post by soxfansince67 on May 3, 2018 22:16:46 GMT -5
And then there is Mookie.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on May 3, 2018 22:17:00 GMT -5
At least Mookie is still hitting like the best hitter in baseball.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on May 3, 2018 22:18:35 GMT -5
They can afford to carry one weak bat in the lineup, JBJ or CV. Who is it gonna be? Believe in JBJ, not Vazquez. Vazquez's good offensive year was due to a incredibly high BABIP. The decision is easy. Just need to get JBJ right, got to figure out the catching position however.
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Post by soxfansince67 on May 3, 2018 22:20:14 GMT -5
Was Hanley crawling to first base? Bad habits are reemerging here and there....
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on May 3, 2018 22:22:55 GMT -5
OMG SWIHART IS CATCHING. EPIPHANY TIME.
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Post by marrcus on May 3, 2018 23:26:12 GMT -5
.500 record on this 10 game trip looks awfully good right now. That said they aren't going to get it, if play in the field and SP doesn't improve.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on May 4, 2018 8:25:47 GMT -5
There is no way Price is opting out fellas.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on May 4, 2018 9:23:40 GMT -5
There is no way Price is opting out fellas. Never really thought he was. Even if he was pitching good, pitching with a "magic elbow" is surely something that would scare teams off and they certainly wouldn't top what he has left with the Sox. A top notch Price is a difference maker. That's who he was most of his career and toward the end of last year and beginning of this season. It's weird how he can go from dominant to getting hit hard. I hope the Price the Sox get is better than the up and down guy they had in 2016. I'd like to chalk last night up to the Rangers always eat his lunch, but who knows? I hope it's a mechanical thing and not a health issue. It's almost like his run of excellence stopped with that finger numbness he had against the Yankees - which is probably a coincidence.
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Post by patford on May 4, 2018 9:29:37 GMT -5
There is no way Price is opting out fellas. Never really thought he was. Even if he was pitching good, pitching with a "magic elbow" is surely something that would scare teams off and they certainly wouldn't top what he has left with the Sox. A top notch Price is a difference maker. That's who he was most of his career and toward the end of last year and beginning of this season. It's weird how he can go from dominant to getting hit hard. I hope the Price the Sox get is better than the up and down guy they had in 2016. I'd like to chalk last night up to the Rangers always eat his lunch, but who knows? I hope it's a mechanical thing and not a health issue. It's almost like his run of excellence stopped with that finger numbness he had against the Yankees - which is probably a coincidence. It's all about balls and strikes. Put Price in the Yankees rotation and he's got a completely different strike zone. One or two inches is huge in this game.
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Post by huskies15 on May 4, 2018 9:51:35 GMT -5
Price needs a breaking ball. He doesn't throw 95 anymore, so the FB+CH combo isn't as deadly. Lefties and Righties see the ball pretty well against him.
He needs something that comes with a different shape, so he can mix and match more with sequencing. The FB, Cutter, Changeup repetoire is not generating many swings and misses.
I know Speier mentioned a while back that since the elbow injury he has barely thrown his curveball. Something to watch
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Post by huskies15 on May 4, 2018 10:25:44 GMT -5
Also, Mookie needs to hit 2nd. It honestly might help Benintendi to hit leadoff in front of Betts right now.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on May 4, 2018 11:07:40 GMT -5
Not a bad idea to have Benintendi or Pedroia or perhaps both in front of Betts when he hits.
The problem is that if JBJ and Vazquez/Leon continue to be offensive zeroes, you're going to have a problem no matter where you stick them in the lineup.
Say you put Benintendi leadoff and Pedroia 9th then Betts will have his RBI opportunities and that's a good thing.
So you have to bat Bradley and Vazquez 7th and 8th.
At that point I'd want to keep Devers out of the 6 spot, not only to break up the 2 lefties, but because if they try to pitch around Devers he might swing at pitches out of the strike zone more than he does now. IF anything he needs to learn to have more discipline because if the pitch is in the zone he can damage it like no other, but if it's out of the zone, he's more liable to chase.
And I don't want to mess with Bogaerts either. I like him aggressive and having pitches to swing at.
So maybe the lineup goes:
Benintendi Betts Bogaerts Martinez Devers Hanley Bradley Vazquez Pedroia
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Post by James Dunne on May 4, 2018 11:21:06 GMT -5
The problem is that if JBJ and Vazquez/Leon continue to be offensive zeroes, you're going to have a problem no matter where you stick them in the lineup. Sure, but sticking them in front of a player with the second highest ISO in history certainly exacerbates the issue.
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Post by jbuttah on May 4, 2018 11:36:48 GMT -5
There is no way Price is opting out fellas. Never really thought he was. Even if he was pitching good, pitching with a "magic elbow" is surely something that would scare teams off and they certainly wouldn't top what he has left with the Sox. A top notch Price is a difference maker. That's who he was most of his career and toward the end of last year and beginning of this season. It's weird how he can go from dominant to getting hit hard. I hope the Price the Sox get is better than the up and down guy they had in 2016. I'd like to chalk last night up to the Rangers always eat his lunch, but who knows? I hope it's a mechanical thing and not a health issue. It's almost like his run of excellence stopped with that finger numbness he had against the Yankees - which is probably a coincidence. Still can't believe DD signed Price to that monstrosity of a contract. There's a better chance he'll retire before the contracts up then there is he'll opt out. Just hope he doesn't make the same mistake with Sale (sign a high usage older pitcher to a lengthy expensive contract).
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Post by redsox04071318champs on May 4, 2018 11:50:52 GMT -5
The problem is that if JBJ and Vazquez/Leon continue to be offensive zeroes, you're going to have a problem no matter where you stick them in the lineup. Sure, but sticking them in front of a player with the second highest ISO in history certainly exacerbates the issue. Totally agreed. The point I was trying and failed to make is that it will negatively impact somebody somewhere somehow regardless of where Vazquez and JBJ are batting. But that said I agree that it's really stupid at this point to continue to Mookie Betts follow two black holes in the lineup. And Pedroia and Bentintendi do make the most sense in front of Betts. Even Xander would make sense as well. The sabermetric community says that the best offensive player in the lineup should bat 2nd, correct? If so Betts is the guy. It won't matter because Cora won't make the move. I hope we don't find Cora to be inflexible with decisions as time goes on. Not saying he will be, but he's already said Betts is leadoff no matter what. No consideration to batting him 2nd. Hard to believe Zach Scott and others aren't having the same type of conversation that we're having. If Cora is as connected as he says he is to these guys I would hope or think he'd listen or at least seriously consider it?
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Post by James Dunne on May 4, 2018 11:58:18 GMT -5
Right? I mean, this isn't like high level sabermetrics or anything. "It's good to have runners on base when your best slugger is up" goes back awhile. Quantifying the effects so exactly might be newish but this is one of those times where the math and common sense are very much in line.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on May 4, 2018 12:03:38 GMT -5
Never really thought he was. Even if he was pitching good, pitching with a "magic elbow" is surely something that would scare teams off and they certainly wouldn't top what he has left with the Sox. A top notch Price is a difference maker. That's who he was most of his career and toward the end of last year and beginning of this season. It's weird how he can go from dominant to getting hit hard. I hope the Price the Sox get is better than the up and down guy they had in 2016. I'd like to chalk last night up to the Rangers always eat his lunch, but who knows? I hope it's a mechanical thing and not a health issue. It's almost like his run of excellence stopped with that finger numbness he had against the Yankees - which is probably a coincidence. Still can't believe DD signed Price to that monstrosity of a contract. There's a better chance he'll retire before the contracts up then there is he'll opt out. Just hope he doesn't make the same mistake with Sale (sign a high usage older pitcher to a lengthy expensive contract). I certainly don't disagree with what you're saying, but it's really hard to find a pitcher that's on the younger side who hasn't thrown a lot of innings. You would need a pitcher who came up early like Gooden or Fernandez (if he was still alive) or Hernandez in Seattle. And even those guys had a lot of mileage on their arms. I'd say the only guy I can think of that was young and didn't have a ton of mileage was Pedro when the Sox traded for him and extended him. Porcello for example has been consistently healthy and has a lot of mileage on his arm. He'll be 31 when he's signed for the 2020 season. I think it's similarly the case for Sale with the exception that he's been a lot more consistent with his performance that Porcello, Price had a strong resume when the Sox signed him. He was durable and highly effective and I think he was 30 when he signed, the same age Lester was when they opted not to sign him. Honestly, I think at some point you have to spend money on a pitcher and cross your fingers. Unless you can develop them all. It's been an awfully long time since the Sox were able to do that - I'd say it was in the early to mid 80s when they drafted and developed Clemens, Hurst, Boyd, Nipper, and Ojeda for the 1984 and 1985 rotations. Or you trade away prospects like the Sox have been doing recently - and for an established cost controlled top notch pitcher you pay a high price. The system has thinned out enough that it'll be very hard to do that.
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Post by jimed14 on May 4, 2018 12:54:06 GMT -5
If Cora is so insistent on Mookie leading off, maybe JBJ and Vazquez should hit 2nd and 3rd. Put Benintendi 8th and JDM 9th.
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Post by huskies15 on May 4, 2018 13:06:11 GMT -5
I've liked everything about Cora so far, and I think he will make an adjustment eventually, but it is weird for him to be so defiant in answering the questions about moving Mookie in the order. Just seems to go against everything else he has said and done. Oh well.
Let's hand these muppets a beatdown tonight.
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Post by pedrofanforever45 on May 4, 2018 13:22:48 GMT -5
I've liked everything about Cora so far, and I think he will make an adjustment eventually, but it is weird for him to be so defiant in answering the questions about moving Mookie in the order. Just seems to go against everything else he has said and done. Oh well. Let's hand these muppets a beatdown tonight. It's almost Farrell like stubbornness with this Mookie in the leadoff spot. Hitting him down one spot in the order isn't going to kill Mookie.
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Post by incandenza on May 4, 2018 14:50:10 GMT -5
I've liked everything about Cora so far, and I think he will make an adjustment eventually, but it is weird for him to be so defiant in answering the questions about moving Mookie in the order. Just seems to go against everything else he has said and done. Oh well. Let's hand these muppets a beatdown tonight. It's almost Farrell like stubbornness with this Mookie in the leadoff spot. Hitting him down one spot in the order isn't going to kill Mookie. Does Cora give reasons? What are his reasons?
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