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Post by rivenp on Aug 30, 2017 2:37:22 GMT -5
if sox are planning on giving chavis a shot at first, wonder why not brentz??? at least depth behind travis... Number one priority this offseason...sign a power hitting basemen who can hit 35-40 home runs in a season we might go into to September without one player having 20 home runs Another awesome Chris Sale performance. Reed got some key outs and Kimbrel was much better than the day before as he was his usual overpowering self. The offense cobbled just enough offense and Hanley, despite his mediocre season, managed to hit his 20th homerun. Soxfan511 - I do think that Dombrowski will find a middle of the order type of bat this offseason. I will even venture a guess as to who that bat will be - that's what we do here anyways, right? Dombrowski likes his Detroit guys - I think Dombrowski will let Moreland walk, move Hanley back to 1b with Sam Travis as his backup plan, and will sign JD Martinez to a contract to DH and bat cleanup between Benintendi and Devers. That's what I think, anyways.
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Post by rivenp on Aug 29, 2017 0:56:32 GMT -5
how comfortable are people with this being a true break-out year instead of a one-off outlier???
edited to add: just looked up his contract...he's not going to be a free agent until after 2019...so moot discussion
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Post by rivenp on Aug 22, 2017 2:32:08 GMT -5
Recap from tonight's game: Fellow rehabber Carson Smith, in his fifth appearance with the PawSox as he continues his comeback from Tommy John surgery, fired a 1-2-3 sixth inning highlighted by a pair of strikeouts. Smith first got a gentle comebacker that he handled on his own before he used a fastball and slider, respectively, for his punchouts. Smith's fastball was consistently clocked between 90 and 91 MPH. "Overall, that one [slider] to finish with two strikes, that's the kind of sweep and depth that he can get with that pitch," Boles said. "He's got plus life to his pitches. He throws Wiffle balls up there. It's pretty impressive." great to hear...considering the all the hubub on the game thread regarding using barnes in the 8th, it would be great if smith could come back even 90% of what he previously was...a few more outings like this in a row...
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Post by rivenp on Jun 29, 2017 11:10:31 GMT -5
The Sox have more than a problem at 3B. They need someone who can hit the ball out of the park. Time to see if Devers can be that guy. I've always felt if a guy is so fragile that bombing and being sent down after being given an audition at the MLB level is going to destroy him, then that guy isn't the sort of personality that can play in Boston. I think it would be different if Devers was two years away and not expected to be called up some time this year. BTW. Didn't most scouts have Devers ranked ahead of Judge? Judge a career .275 hitter in the minors who is now hitting 60 points higher than his career ML average. judge is a 25 year old rookie (older than harper machado mookie)...devers is 20...that's an eternity of difference
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Post by rivenp on Jun 27, 2017 12:03:06 GMT -5
www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/2017/06/red_sox_notebook_double_a_prospect_tzu_wei_lin_makes_start_at_third_base“Defense is a priority (at third base), Farrell said. “And keep in mind, Lin is coming here as a good solid defender. Recognize what Deven has done at third base, he’s stabilized it. But there are also situations offensively to come up in this spot to execute as the situation calls for. We’ve had a mixed bag with that.”
Farrell was likely alluding to Marrero in bunt situations."I said Farrell was pissed about Marrero's bunting. But he'll prob' get back in there facing LHP. ...of course lin also failed to get a bunt down when asked...do sox even teach bunting in the minors??? lin ended up moving the guy over on a ground out, but still...
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Post by rivenp on Jun 26, 2017 7:45:19 GMT -5
It always amazes me when someone who has the hand-eye coordination to play defense the way Deven Marrero does has so much trouble just making contact. I can get the Jose Iglesias types, who have low strike out rates but just don't drive the ball with enough authority. But it's just crazy to me that someone can see a batted ball as well as Marrero can, but not a pitched ball. And it's not just pitch identification either - he struggles more with fastballs than other pitches. i would guess that it's more mental than anything else at this point...
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Post by rivenp on Jun 15, 2017 6:20:04 GMT -5
what i find funny is that opposing managers still keep running out lefties to face jbj...think he has pretty significant reverse splits so far this year...
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Post by rivenp on Jun 12, 2017 23:13:20 GMT -5
Sounds like a left handed hitting Margot. ellsbury upside with better arm (which isn't really saying much as ells has a noodle)...
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Post by rivenp on Jun 11, 2017 0:57:17 GMT -5
...at this point i have to think that dmaineah is just a jbj troll...
swapping hanley for cruz would probably be an upgrade, but not necessarily if we get 2nd half of last year hanley for the 2nd half of this season. would have to throw a lot of cash and a couple prospects for the mariners to even consider it.
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Post by rivenp on Jun 7, 2017 5:15:07 GMT -5
A lot to like, but I am worried about wear on Pomeranz and Kimbrel. Barnes is back to being unreliable, so Kelly is going to have to be the man. They can't keep using Kimbrel like this. I worry that they might be facing late season breakdowns. it seemed like kelly was ahead of barnes for the setup role early in the season and for some reason they've switched places...agree that at this point i would rather see kelly in the 8th.
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Post by rivenp on Jun 7, 2017 5:13:30 GMT -5
"I am worried" -------------------- ...about a lot of things. It took three big knocks and a terminator act of Kimbrel to nail this one down. That probably isn't going to happen again in this series. HR's can solve a lot of problems. It's still very disappointing that Ed Rod' didn't get his knee dealt with last fall with the winter to recover. my understanding is that erod has an "abnormality" with his knee that makes it prone to subluxations...not sure that is something that surgery can fix.
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Post by rivenp on Jun 3, 2017 1:45:24 GMT -5
Yeah that .866 OPS last year sure was miserable. If you want to hijack a DH-only spot on the roster of an offensive juggernaut in the AL East at 22M/year, you've got to give me a .900 plus OPS. Also,I just can't stand him: The dreadlocks, the helmet dropping, the low baseball IQ i can't stand hanley either but gotta think there's something wrong with him...whenever he's been healthy he's hit...shoulder issue again? at this point i'd rather see travis get his hacks in and see if he's good enough to take over for moreland next year.
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Post by rivenp on May 31, 2017 5:32:13 GMT -5
Centerfield has for many teams become a glove first position. Kiermaier, Pillar, and JBJ are all prime examples of this. i wouldn't lump jbj in with those other two considering his ops the past two years has been .833 / .835 which off the top of my head without looking the others up i would think might be close to a hundred points higher...
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Post by rivenp on May 31, 2017 5:15:41 GMT -5
he's known as a player's type of guy and while it may be meaningless to many, kimbrel seems to care greatly about the save stat based on some of his comments in the past. smart move is obviously to save kimbrel's bullets, but maybe keeping him happy is viewed as equally important to farrell? With a 6 run lead, I would even trust Barnes or Abad for just one inning. Farrell not using his head. I guess he's aiming for Kimbrel to break Mariano's save record someday.
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Post by rivenp on May 24, 2017 2:08:30 GMT -5
Does this mean you are starting to like the trade? Others have admitted that his performance has changed their calculus on the trade, do you have the guts to admit it also? The Kimbrel trade - and frankly most of the trades both Dombrowski has made - aren't really a question about the quality of the guy they got, but about the amount they gave up to get it. If you buy a million dollar house and it's awesome and everything you want it to be, that's great. But if you pay two million dollars for it then it's still a poor use of resources. So Kimbrel pitching like Kimbrel hasn't made me change my opinion of the trade, no. But Farrell picking his spots to use Kimbrel more aggressively has changed it somewhat. "kimbrel pitching like kimbrel" wasn't necessarily the expectation at the time of the trade though...many here noted that, while still excellent, he appeared to be in decline (and last year just reinforced that notion)...kimbrel pitching as good or better than he ever has from here on out could certainly change trade value perception. that million dollar house that you overpaid two million for? ...well the housing market just rebounded and now your home maybe just might be worth close to 2 mil...
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Post by rivenp on May 18, 2017 3:20:38 GMT -5
I can be convinced otherwise-- but is there a reason? I've heard about "7th starter." But doesn't a "7th starter" have a different meaning for many teams? For a strong hitting team that 7th starter could be bad and you can get away with it. But the Red Sox weren't projected to be a strong hitting team this year, were they? And some other good teams that are vying for a title, they may project that they have a healthy enough staff / and have enough experience that the 7th starter isn't that important. But that's not the Sox, is it?
What I'm getting at is-- why should Pomeranz have been a lock to start the season with so many questions and we were all pretty certain he was not a 30 start 170 - 180 inning pitcher, right? To have him start the season and not throw the cutter, doesn't that make him more like what he was years ago- a bullpen type of pitcher? So you start the two injured pitchers(Wright and Pomeranz) in the bullpen to start while you have a Chavez type. Why wouldn't you have done something like this when you know your team isn't that great of a hitting team? So you need something better than the normal 7th starter, right? Because you aren;'t going to score that many runs, Thus, the Red Sox need someone better than your average 7th starter, right? Where am I going wrong?
When your 4/5 and 6 starters have questions on the length of games they can go in which two have had injury issues just last year, and your team is not built very much for hitting and primarily for pitching, shouldn't it been better thought out to get a starter that has better quality than your average number 7 starter? What am I missing?
"not expected to be a great hitting team?...is this actually true??? the red sox led all of mlb in runs scored last year by a significant margin (and 2nd place colorado probably shouldn't even count when comparing this stat)...does replacing ortiz with moreland and a full year of benintendi drop the red sox all that much? ...or did sox significantly outscore their expected output last year? ...or was there actually that much regression expected this season?
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Post by rivenp on Jun 3, 2016 2:46:33 GMT -5
Tim Britton: Machado's career OPS 60 points better v. RHPs and 38 points better this year. But OK, take the lefty out because..... ...you need like six full seasons worth of data before observed platoon splits are more predictive than the league-average. should've just left ross in...much rather pitch around machado to get to davis...probably 80% chance of k and 20% salami.
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Post by rivenp on May 30, 2016 2:42:42 GMT -5
Not at all. I just rather they swing for the fences and end up with Trey Ball, then play it safe and get the next Marrero. I don't get your logic...I understand you prefer the high-upside high school picks over a "safer" college player, but then you also include benintendi in your list of betts, bogaerts, etc for guys you think the sox should target at #12...(let's overlook the fact that at #12 it's basically getting lucky to draft a perennial all-star) by your own logic, shouldn't benintendi also be considered a "safe" pick coming out of college after two years? And just because you categorize Marrero as a safe pick doesn't mean there wasn't any upside for the Sox to dream on, especially since he was considered a top 10 talent as soph...even drafted at #24 there was probably better odds of Marrero turning into Pedroia than there was of Ball turning into say Sale at #7.
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Post by rivenp on May 10, 2016 12:11:32 GMT -5
I wonder if they would ever consider a sort of shock therapy where he wouldn't be allowed to throw a single changeup during a game for like 5 starts. It could get pretty ugly and might create long-term psychological damage I realize, but he doesn't belong in the major leagues until he commands his fastball didn't they already try that with him???
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Post by rivenp on Jun 15, 2015 23:20:45 GMT -5
so you're basically projecting him to be pedro??? i would think he would've gotten more than 1.5 if that was his projection... Well first off he's a better prosoect today than he was a year ago. No one knew that he could throw 100. Plus there is a ton of risk in that projection. Anyone who is 17 and throws that hard has a chance to be special. ...is there a general consensus that he can sit ~95 and top out at 100? jmei seems pretty dubious about it... not saying he can't, but there doesn't seem to be any reason to rush and jump on the hype-train so early when there's relatively little reliable data on him. put it another way, if he was in the just completed draft, where would he have gone?
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Post by rivenp on Jun 15, 2015 22:53:37 GMT -5
Projections, not current. so you're basically projecting him to be pedro??? i would think he would've gotten more than 1.5 if that was his projection...
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Post by rivenp on Jun 15, 2015 3:30:31 GMT -5
considering his physical profile and purported stuff...isn't espinoza basically a slightly higher-ceiling carson fulmer with greater risk considering his age and background???
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