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Post by wskeleton76 on May 4, 2013 23:27:31 GMT -5
I know this is prospects site but I don't think WMB is ready to play in the big league. Still lots of holes in his game.
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Post by ozebaseball on May 5, 2013 1:47:48 GMT -5
Wait. . . so the Sox weren't going to win 70% of their games? The bats are slumping and Texas is very good. I'm not going to say they "need" to go out and get anything, or that Saltalamacchia is awful and needs to be drawn and quartered ( seriously though, is that same exact post going to pop up every other game? He's not the best, we get it). Until he is gone, you can be sure I will be trumpeting that OFTEN this year. Great argument, champ.
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Post by Guidas on May 5, 2013 7:03:07 GMT -5
Those are so easy to come by. My point exactly. Seem to be more rare than elite pitching these days.
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sarasoxer
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Post by sarasoxer on May 5, 2013 7:07:30 GMT -5
Guidas said: We need an elie bat to increase the opportunity to score some of those many men left on base. A Manny Ramirez type circa 2004 say.[/quote]
I agree with this assessment. Other than Papi, and with apologies to Napoli, who do we have that inspires confidence in the ability to drive in runs in important situations. I'm concerned that Middlebrooks is not ready, particularly against good pitching. He seems vulnerable to fastballs up in any position, balls soft and down and balls away period. Pretty soon Papi will be pitched around and we will have a bunch of .220-280 singles hitters trying to string hits together. Against good pitching, that is hard to do. When you look at our outfield....Victorino no homers, Ells, 1, Nava has 5 but he is not going to be a 20-30 homer guy. We probably have the least powerful outfield in baseball and maybe in my lifetime for the Sox. Sadly, we cannot play all our games under Toronto's dome.
Yes, I know we have an unexpectedly good record....on the strength of early season pitching. If that erodes against good hitting ball clubs, we do not have much capacity to come back. I think that we are a score first and hold on type of team. Any chinks in our bullpen (hope Bailey is ok) and we could be dangerously fragile.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on May 5, 2013 8:51:23 GMT -5
I'm concerned that Middlebrooks is not ready, particularly against good pitching. He seems vulnerable to fastballs up in any position, balls soft and down and balls away period. I wonder if one of WMB's problem is that he's too cocky. He thinks to himself he's a great hitter just going thru a slump. He admits to trying to crank doubles and HRs every AB instead of taking what the pitcher is giving him. And he certainly doesn't seem to have much concern about swinging at good pitches. It's like he'll have to be very humbled before he realizes that he needs to make the adjustments. Of course some guys are arrogant enough, like Shea Hillenbrand, and they don't make adjustments and they just fade away. And yes, your concerns are justified. Nava has been elitely producing thus far but if that goes away then yes the Sox do have a hole in the middle of the order, but I think the Sox need to ride it out and not compromise the future too much. I think the Sox have two of Nava/Brentz/Victorino in the OF corners next year with Bradley in CF. At this point I hope Nava continues to produce and/or Gomes can help out if need be, providing his power.
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Post by brianthetaoist on May 5, 2013 8:58:25 GMT -5
Yes, the Sox could certainly use a Manny Ramirez circa 2004 hitter. They could also use a Pedro Martinez circa 1999 pitcher. Maybe a Lou Gehrig circa 1927 first baseman, too.
That'd be awesome.
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danr
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Post by danr on May 5, 2013 9:51:18 GMT -5
At their present rate, Napoli and WMB will have 400 strikeouts this year. Napoli is on a pace for 220 and WMB 180. Salty is on a pace for 150. Yikes!
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Post by Guidas on May 5, 2013 9:53:46 GMT -5
We can dream, can't we?
Bottom line is the Sox need more OBP in this line-up period. But my point with the Manny comment was that when they did have Manny in his prime, he made days like yesterday much more interesting (and could've done so even Friday, where one well-placed hit could've changed the entire flow and perhaps outcome of the game).
I am a huge believer in pitching and defense, but I also believe that what made the Sox teams of 03, 04, 07 and most of 08 so formidable was good pitching, decent defense and that relentless line-up of grinding OBP guys with two men in the middle, Ramirez and Ortiz, who could not only get on base at a .375 clip or better, but were always a threat for a multiple base hit and had the potential to hit 30+ HRs a year. Right now Ortiz is really the only guy who is approaches that on this team. Napoli has his moments but he is less patient in his approach will chase some really awful pitches. Pedroia may be close with the OBP skills but he does not have the pop that I really think is missing.
There really isn't an elite power bat with elite OBP skills in the system right now, either Xander Bogaerts included (apologies to Sean Coyle). And yes, these guys are as rare - if not more rare - than true #1 starters. Finding young, controllable guys in this mold is nearly impossible. And who is there really out there in this mold 30 or under? Ryan Braun, Andrew McCutchen, Mike Trout, probably Bryce Harper and Giacarlo Stanton (without the Grade 2 hammy tear). maybe Adam Jones, Justin Upton and...?
So yeah, wishing for that is wishing for something rare like a true #1 pitcher. I can dream, can't I?
Oh, all right, I'll settle for a 1-8 who each have .370+ OBP, average 20HRs or better a year each and play average or better defense. And good pitching. And the winning PowerBall numbers.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on May 5, 2013 10:21:17 GMT -5
Wait. . . so the Sox weren't going to win 70% of their games? The bats are slumping and Texas is very good. I'm not going to say they "need" to go out and get anything, or that Saltalamacchia is awful and needs to be drawn and quartered ( seriously though, is that same exact post going to pop up every other game? He's not the best, we get it). Until he is gone, you can be sure I will be trumpeting that OFTEN this year. No better way to endear yourself to folks on a message board than posting the exact same thing over and over again.
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Post by iakovos11 on May 5, 2013 10:54:54 GMT -5
Yeah, and it will get your voice heard by BC, too, and he'll get right on that trade for you.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on May 5, 2013 13:16:09 GMT -5
No better way to endear yourself to folks on a message board than posting the exact same thing over and over again. Guys, I've got some issues with bullpen management I think you should hear about.
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wcp3
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Post by wcp3 on May 5, 2013 13:24:39 GMT -5
No better way to endear yourself to folks on a message board than posting the exact same thing over and over again. Guys, I've got some issues with bullpen management I think you should hear about. Oh yeah? Well then, I think I have a few thoughts about the knuckleball that you'd love to hear about.
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Post by James Dunne on May 5, 2013 13:34:47 GMT -5
Bailey is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow.
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Post by jmei on May 5, 2013 14:18:16 GMT -5
Large Father welcomes Darvish with a mammoth home run. He did a little posing, too.
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Post by soxfan06 on May 5, 2013 14:31:27 GMT -5
Until he is gone, you can be sure I will be trumpeting that OFTEN this year. Great argument, champ. It wasn't an argument, pal. It was a statement. ![::)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/eyesroll.png)
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Post by soxfan06 on May 5, 2013 14:34:46 GMT -5
Until he is gone, you can be sure I will be trumpeting that OFTEN this year. No better way to endear yourself to folks on a message board than posting the exact same thing over and over again. I didn't realize the goal of posting on message boards was to "endear yourself" to the other people posting here. Just tell it how I see it. Salty sucks. He needs to be moved.
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Post by ray88h66 on May 5, 2013 14:37:29 GMT -5
A good baseball diet.
More Ross on the plate, less Salt.
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Post by Guidas on May 5, 2013 14:40:55 GMT -5
btw, so far Lester looks like the Lester of his first 4 starts, not the last 2.
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Post by jmei on May 5, 2013 14:49:22 GMT -5
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wcp3
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Post by wcp3 on May 5, 2013 14:50:46 GMT -5
That's a garbage home run that doesn't make it out in most ball parks. But that's also a really poor 0-2 pitch by Lester.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on May 5, 2013 16:22:49 GMT -5
I didn't realize the goal of posting on message boards was to "endear yourself" to the other people posting here. Just tell it how I see it. Salty sucks. He needs to be moved. I think the goal is to have an interesting discussion and repeating the same point all the damn time isn't really a way to do that. People either agree with you in which case they don't need to be told over and over again, or they don't agree with you and convincing them is going to require something more than just spamming every gameday thread with "OMG guys Salty is teh suck!". Personally I'm indifferent. Salty pretty much is teh suck, but it's not like the Red Sox can just materialize some awesome catcher out of thin air. Trading for a good catcher mid-season would almost certainly be very painful from a prospect standpoint and probably detrimental to the team in the long term. And despite their hot start, the Red Sox should remained focused on the long term.
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Post by fenwaythehardway on May 5, 2013 16:29:38 GMT -5
Way to abuse your best and most highly compensated arm, Ron Washington.
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Post by jt44 on May 5, 2013 16:32:22 GMT -5
Every day I expect to get on this site and see someone complaining about Stephen Drew and there's nothing. It seems like everyone wants to pick on WMB or get upset that Jon Lester isn't the best left-handed pitcher of all time. Drew's BABIP is way below is career AVG and his brother was the most overhated RS player in recent memory. Come on peeps, get your hate on!
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Post by bjb406 on May 5, 2013 16:46:33 GMT -5
ok for some reason the rangers gave the ball to their worst reliever in the 8th inning of a tie game, please take advantage
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wcp3
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Post by wcp3 on May 5, 2013 17:05:19 GMT -5
You can pretty much tell they're not winning this game.
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