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Post by p23w on May 22, 2017 18:06:07 GMT -5
I have yet to see wither Chavis or Devers play.... however given the black hole at 3B I think they should both be promoted to the next level (ages notwithstanding). I also concur that contact rates are a good indictor of the proximity of adjustment to handling major league pitching.
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Post by p23w on May 18, 2017 21:04:16 GMT -5
IMO taking pot shots (however juvenile is some posters opinion) is no less "annoying" than the plethora of posters that make inane derogatory comments about Farrell. My litmus test is the track record. By that accounting method Farrell and Dombrowski each have one World Championship. Difference being Dombrowski's ring is from 20 years ago. Farrell's has the same ring that Xander and Dustin both wear. Dombrowski has lived large and long from his one success. He has had the luxury of huge payrolls and not much to show for it since his initial success. He must be a good talker to his employers, because he keeps getting jobs with big payroll teams. IMO, that is where his talent lies. Farrell OTOH was a journeyman pitcher, pitching coach, who then had the fortune to sit at the right hand of a fantastic manager Tito Francona. Dombrowski "appears" enamoured by high profile talent from Daulton to Cabrera to Price (twice). Farrell does not appear to be enamoured by high profile talent (nor should he). Farrell's job is to mold and focus the talent to win, something his mentor taught him. Personally I don't believe either employee are among the best at their jobs. I think that just as Tito was the beneficiary of leadership on the field (Varitek, Lowell, Ortiz, Shilling) Farrell needs the same from Pedroia, Bogaerts, Betts. Personally the only take charge player I've seen on this team is Chris Sale. I'm not sure Sale can do this on his own. I'm not convinced it is in the dna of any of the position players (perhaps Pedroia) to fulfill this role. Star power alone is not going to get it done, in 2017. I don't project a quick fix. Maturity of the young talent will help. I'm beginning to realize the clubhouse value of David Ortiz more with each passing day. Making the playoffs may help, but I would not expect this team to advance very far. This seems to be the trademark of a Dave Dombrowski roster. You need a Manager to get the most out of a Roster. Farrell is not that guy. The track record of mental mistakes by players in the field speaks for itself. Playing the Ortiz card is a Farrell bail out.. Who would you have manage this team? Farrell is neither a motivator in the mold of Francona, nor a control freak like Showalter or Girardi. Playing the Ortiz card? So lame. David earned his leadership roll with the Red Sox. If you are in denial about team leadership in a clubhouse and a dugout, then you don't get it. Winning teams have players on the roster that take leadership rolls. Managers cannot appoint a team leader(s). An individual player has to want or accept it. FWIW Ortiz was not alone as a team leader for many years. He was the most outspoken position player team leader for at least half of his career. This team could/can use a position player to step up into a clubhouse/dugout leadership roll. The pitchers have one (possibly two). The value of player/leadership can not be quantified by evangelical sabermetricians. The proof that it plays a roll in baseball one need look no further than the dugouts of the World Series contestants over the past 12 years. Player team leadership often manages to return to the fall classic. In closing, player team leaders do not have to be the darlings of stat freaks. Millar and Gomes, however short their careers lent themselves to quasi leadership rolls on each team they played for. Mike Lowell had leadership qualities of a different nature. Zobrist falls somewhere in between a Lowell and a Gomes.. Posey is more akin to the Ortiz model. It's in the dna of the player to accept a leadership roll on a team. Managers have no say in the matter, GM's who are responsible for filling the positions on a roster do have input with respect to leadership. When Epstein went to Schillings house for Thanksgiving, he sent a message to Curt. Pedro (like Clemens before him) was not enough to get the job done. Schilling had an enormous affect on the pitching staff, so much so that a World Series was the result.
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Post by p23w on May 18, 2017 5:31:51 GMT -5
This was a good team win. I want more of this.
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Post by p23w on May 15, 2017 19:20:34 GMT -5
Ben Cherrington lucked into a title, the team was mostly Theo's. See how that works. He made the great Dodger trade and built a great farm system. Thing is he could never get all the pieces to fit together. Key free agent signings and trades are always going to be key to any championship team. If he learns from his mistakes he might be a great GM down the road. I just can't get over the Lackey trade, the Cuban signing and the Sandoval signing. The fact he gave away Lackey and then couldn't replace him was a huge mistake. With his deal and the way he was pitching you should have got a massive haul for him or just kept him! Now DD has made some big trades that might come back to haunt us down the road. Thing is as of right now they haven't. Undo all his trades and we are a crappy team with a great farm system. No Sale, Kimbrel or Pomeranz and we have major pitching issues. The only players that might help you right now are Margot and Moncada. Thing is there's no way they are helping you more than Sale and Kimbrel are currently. It's not even close. You really can't call the Smith trade bad, he didn't really give up anything. Miley had a horrible year, not like he would have helped us last year. If Smith can come back mid season that could still be a great trade. Pomeranz trade was a head scratcher but Espinoza is having arm troubles and 2-3 years away. Could be 3 plus years if he needs surgery. Right now the worst trade looks like the Thornburg trade. We could really use Shaw and our bullpen has been just fine without Thornburg. Thing is that looks so bad because all of our 3b options are currently injured. If Sandoval, Hernandez and Holt are healthy that combo should give you OK production. Still it's kind of funny that Shaw is the guy we miss the most, a guy most people didn't care being traded because he wasn't a top prospect. In general this team just needs to get healthy. Once healthy they are still one of most talented teams in Baseball. Once healthy they might only have one big hole and that's 3B. Overall I'm still very high on this team. All these injuries and we're still above .500. I don't in anyway see a top heavy team and I certainly don't see a team that has no depth because of trades. It's all injuries to Price, Bradley, Sandoval, Holt, Hernandez, Wright, Thornburg and Smith. It looks like only Thornburg and Wright are not going to help us going forward, Maybe Smith. While I think what you're saying about walking into a situation has some merit, 1) he was around and intimately involved in building that team, and 2) his FA signings (Koji, Napoli, Victorino especially) played huge roles in 2013, as did the Punto trade. Dombrowski had less of a stamp on the 2016 team than Cherington did on 2013...much less. IMO taking pot shots (however juvenile is some posters opinion) is no less "annoying" than the plethora of posters that make inane derogatory comments about Farrell. My litmus test is the track record. By that accounting method Farrell and Dombrowski each have one World Championship. Difference being Dombrowski's ring is from 20 years ago. Farrell's has the same ring that Xander and Dustin both wear. Dombrowski has lived large and long from his one success. He has had the luxury of huge payrolls and not much to show for it since his initial success. He must be a good talker to his employers, because he keeps getting jobs with big payroll teams. IMO, that is where his talent lies. Farrell OTOH was a journeyman pitcher, pitching coach, who then had the fortune to sit at the right hand of a fantastic manager Tito Francona. Dombrowski "appears" enamoured by high profile talent from Daulton to Cabrera to Price (twice). Farrell does not appear to be enamoured by high profile talent (nor should he). Farrell's job is to mold and focus the talent to win, something his mentor taught him. Personally I don't believe either employee are among the best at their jobs. I think that just as Tito was the beneficiary of leadership on the field (Varitek, Lowell, Ortiz, Shilling) Farrell needs the same from Pedroia, Bogaerts, Betts. Personally the only take charge player I've seen on this team is Chris Sale. I'm not sure Sale can do this on his own. I'm not convinced it is in the dna of any of the position players (perhaps Pedroia) to fulfill this role. Star power alone is not going to get it done, in 2017. I don't project a quick fix. Maturity of the young talent will help. I'm beginning to realize the clubhouse value of David Ortiz more with each passing day. Making the playoffs may help, but I would not expect this team to advance very far. This seems to be the trademark of a Dave Dombrowski roster.
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Post by p23w on May 5, 2017 22:36:25 GMT -5
Sigh.
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Post by p23w on Apr 27, 2017 22:50:57 GMT -5
As of April 25th the NYY's are a better team. Just the first leg of the marathon, but not a good omen. The offense needs someone to step up. I feel so bad for Sale.
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Post by p23w on Apr 27, 2017 22:42:58 GMT -5
It's still early, but.... This doesn't look like the juggernaut team that a lot of people anticipated. The offense is wasting a dominant start by Chris Sale. It's criminal what they've done to this guy. They might as well have kept Moncada and Kopech for the future if the plan was to never score when Sale takes the mound. It's apparent that David Price's contributions this season will be suspect and it's questionable if any of Wright, Porcello, or Rodriguez will step in and be that strong #3 starter. I think the odds of it happening though are better than the odds of getting any meaningful contributions this season out of Carson Smith and Tyler Thornburg. It's also questionable that the Red Sox are any better off at 3b this season then they've been any of the past 5 seasons. It's not hard to imagine Dombrowski dealing Swihart and whoever has a big breakthrough in the minors (Josh Ockimey is a good candidate) for a right handed 8th inning reliever and a temporary 3b (perhaps Todd Frazier would be a target or even Moustakas). Incidentally, the Yankees top two starters are pretty good. If the improvement by Severino is real, and I've always been high on him, pair him up with Tanaka who the Sox never hit, the Yankees have two very strong starters. The rest of the rotation is suspect but Chapman and Betances and the rest of the pen I think are better than the Sox. The Sox should be better than the Yanks but I don't think it's as head and shoulders above as others think. Last year the Red Sox clearly underachieved. They should have played the Cubs in the Series last season they were that good. This season doesn't feel like underachievement, just a case of this is what they are. They're a good team as they'll hit better at some point and they'll play better at some point, but they're not some runaway 1st place team nor do they look like the class of the league. Worse, they are a pretty boring team right now. They're a yawn on offense. With no David Ortiz ABs to look forward every game, there's no longer that mental calculation of how many guys can they get on if the game is close to get Ortiz up in a big spot. We were so spoiled to have watched Ortiz for all those years.
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Post by p23w on Mar 30, 2017 8:54:01 GMT -5
I believe that many posters read Dombrowski press clippings and speculative sports journalism articles. I don't. Furthermore, other then the trade for Sale (as much as I rue the loss of Kopech) I am not impressed with his moves. Sometimes people are employed based on name recognition (much in the same way people become candidates for high political office). I remain cautiously (very) optimistic both for this team and my country.
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Post by p23w on Mar 15, 2017 16:41:39 GMT -5
Lynching journalists is a funny joke. I met Curt Schlling in (I want to say 1986) during a rain delay in Charlestown. He had a lot of convictions, even back then. We talked family. Mostly about our Fathers (both of whom died from cancer in 1988). His goal (dream) was to have his Father watch him pitch at Fenway. My goal was to have a faster car than my Dad. (I have Detroit steel in my genes). One thing we shared in common was our "bluntness". I was so happy that he beat back the demons that possessed him after the loss of his Father. I did not follow his "celebrity" career after he retired. I was happy that he had brought a championship to the Red Sox. I cannot help but draw comparisons between Curt and ted Williams. If there is an afterlife I want to have a conversation with Curt and Ted, and not just about baseball.
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Post by p23w on Mar 11, 2017 15:53:53 GMT -5
Given the performances of both Owens and Johnson this Spring, the narrative of "starter depth" appears to be mythological. Yes, it is a long season, but the idea of getting 900 quality innings from the starters on this roster appears less and less likely. Conversely a burned out bullpen appears more and more likely by October. Something about this team does not feel right to me. I hope this glass is half empty sensation changes, damnit.
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Post by p23w on Mar 4, 2017 11:35:46 GMT -5
Over/Under. David Price throws 185 innings in 2017.
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Post by p23w on Mar 2, 2017 12:06:03 GMT -5
Do you feel good about Eduardo, Pomeranz, and Wright making it through the season without missing starts? Better than I feel about Buccholz making it through the season. If you wanted seven starters entering camp, (with the last two as injury insurance) Shouldn't your complaint be that they didn't sign Derek Holland or Brett Anderson? Those guy are cheaper than Buchholz and I'd trust them just as much. ERod, Pomeranz and Wright have Neve thrown as many innings in one season, as had Buccholz. This is not about "cheap". This is about quality IP from your starters (so as to keep your bullpen from being overworked). Who will throw more innings this year? ERod, Pomeranz, Wright, Buccholz (or Anderson or Holland)? Better you should consider the front office decision to allow Lester to leave and the signing of Price for $30M/ year, if your concern is about payroll.
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Post by p23w on Mar 2, 2017 11:01:48 GMT -5
Makes the Sale trade look worse to me. And the Pomeranz trade a lot worse. Gave up a top pitching prospect for a middle to back end starter with elbow issues, and then didn't even return him when given the opportunity. Correction. Makes the Buccholz trade look stupid. It's all about quality IP. If Price goes down that's 200 IP Farrell needs to account for. Given who is on the roster all signs point to the Buccholz trade as folly.
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Post by p23w on Feb 3, 2017 18:15:09 GMT -5
Just wanted to add a thread that adds what you'd like to see the Sox do over the course of the season or spring training. I'll start it of by listing a couple of things I would like to see both in spring and over the course of the year. -I want to see Benintendi seeing time in RF in spring training. I don't want Chris Young seeing anytime in the outfield except for LF this year. I also don't want to see Holt in RF much, and I never want to see Holt I'm RF Fenway. Giving Benintendi time in RF helps solve this problem. -I hope Christian Vasquez becomes Wright's personal catcher. Vasquez looked awesome catching him and Vasquez is the best receiving catcher the Sox have. It'll give Vasquez guarenteed at bats in season. Hopefully this tandem would keep the past balls down and help the running game against the knuckle ball. -If Swihart is tearing up AAA pitching and Leon isn't hitting, I want to see Swihart up by July and Leon DFA'D. You risk losing depth but at that point in the season, it might be worth the risk with 3 months to go in the season for more production. -I don't want to see Carson Smith back until after the all-star break, no matter how bad the bullpen looks by then. Hopefully the bullpen looks good and he's only a added bonus but the Sox shouldn't rush Smith back at any cost. The Sox have 3 controllable years of Smith past this year and he's a future asset that the Sox need to protect. -If Moreland isn't hitting by June, I want to see Sam Travis up by then. If Sam Travis proves that he isn't much of a upgrade by the trade deadline, then I want to see a upgrade at first base. I discussed this on the Paul Goldshmidt thread. -I hope Pedrioa gets a lot of time off or DH days going into this year and going past this year. Keeping Pedrioa healthy as he ages is key to keeping him productive. -I hope Ysla or Elias gets a shot by July if the Sox need another lefty in the bullpen if Abad isn't performing. -I want the Sox to go slow with Eduardo Rodriguez and protect his innings limit by optioning him to AAA and limit him to 4-5 innings down there until May and then have no restrictions going forward. Maybe this isnt the best approach, maybe the sox could just send him to extended spring training. I'm sure there will be a injury by May so he should be up by then. -A Todd Frazier will be available if Pablo isn't performing, hopefully the Sox don't need to go through the trade route to upgrade at third base. The Sox really do need Pablo to bounce back in some shape or way this year. -I know Porcello has earned the right to start on Opening Day but I want the Sox to start him on the second day of the season. I want to break up all the left handed starting pitching just a little. Sale, Porcello, Price, Wright, Pomeranz gives a way different look from day to day. Plus, using Pomeranz as a fifth starter helps protect his innings too because they could use him out of the bullpen until the middle of April with all the off days. I think that's it for me. Let's see. Agree. Agree. Agree. Agree, with the caveat that Smith joins the roster ONLY when he is 100% and has a minimum of 4 lights out appearances in AA/AAA. Partial agreement. I hope Moreland does well so that he has trade value when Travis comes knockin', which I believe he will. I think Dustin has enough experience now that he will stay productive as he ages. I believe Abad will bounce back, but I still don't have confidence in him for big games I am thinking phantom trips to the DL will be the reason Farrell will get to use Ysla/Elias. Agree. Agree. Don't rush Devers. Agree, but methinks Farrell gives opening day to Porcello... tradition. I also think Farrell goes with Sale to start the playoffs.
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Post by p23w on Jan 25, 2017 11:39:25 GMT -5
Sam Travis can be a first-division starter and still end up not near Mark Grace. Grace becoming the prototype for "first baseman without any power who still succeeded" has sort of become the poor man's "well Greg Maddux didn't throw hard and look at him!" That goofy-looking righty who throws 91 in Double-A isn't Greg Maddux, and that first baseman with eight homers isn't Mark Grace. To me, Travis has two possible paths to success. One is that he develops 20+ home run power, and the other involves him keeping his strikeouts below 15%, giving him a good shot to hit .300 consistently. If you think he has a good chance to do either of those things then being bullish on him is a very, very reasonable place to be. How quickly we forget Kevin Youkilis and Adrian Gonzalez? Gonzalez in particular was great at the 3-6-3 turn. Mike Napoli played very well defensively in 2013 and 2014 as well. I was always impressed with his footwork around the bag for a recently-converted catcher. Big grin. I never considered Youk, a great 1Bman in the traditional sense. He never held runners on worth a damn. He did, however make incredible diving stops often savings double and keeping runners from advancing, but unless he caught them in the air those dives rarely turned into outs. Still it made for good highlight reels. Gonzalez, yes, he had the tools and skills of a quality defensive 1Bman, what he lacked was Kevin's athleticism with the highlight reel dives. Still, he made all the other plays and was a quality defender. On a side note, Youk developed the skills of a really good base runner while in the show. Gonzalez, for whatever reason, has never earned the reputation as a good base runner. Safe, maybe, but not the kind of runner who would take an extra base or challenge even a mediocre OF arm. I have yet to see Travis play, but I have high hopes for both his defense and offense based on what I have read. People tend to put an undue emphasis on hitting statistics, especially power numbers for a 1Bman. I do not. Particularly for this team which has plenty of power as it is currently constructed. I believe that this team would benefit more from a "Mark Grace" type of 1bman, then say a Youkilis, Napoli, or even an Encarnacion. Hanley should do just fine until Travis is ready, at which point HanRam becomes the DH and (if my hopes are to be fulfilled) Travis emerges as the player I have hopes he will become. My expectations may change after I see Travis on the field, but I am not going to go high, or low on him based on minor league batting statistics.
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Post by p23w on Jan 25, 2017 8:43:28 GMT -5
Base running skills can be worked on/acquired at any level. Much of that is dependent on the team on the field and their positioning. Travis can develop "Grace like" base running skills once he is a fixture on the roster. 1B defense, OTOH, gets short shrift by analysts. Everything from holding runners close to scooping throws, to quick feet in the execution of 3-6-1 or 3-6-3 DP's gets overlooked, IMO. Been a while since the Sox had one of those types in the everyday line up.
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Post by p23w on Jan 24, 2017 8:03:02 GMT -5
Velocity and movement are not unrelated. Correct: Sale's fastball movement was also down last year. I also think Pomeranz arm is hanging by a thread is a gross overstatement given any reports we've seen anyplace. Yeah he's getting all those stem cells injected for fun. Of your three examples of bad trades by DD I am least inclined to view your negative prognosis of Sale. I believe he will be a valuable asset in 2017, despite your statistical concerns. If he had a three years running decline in velocity, location, etc. You might have a better argument. If Sale throws 200 quality innings, regardless of his peripheral numbers, than he will have brought more to the table than Moncada or Kopech would have in 2017. The bullpen OTOH is a dicy situation.
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Post by p23w on Jan 17, 2017 12:24:09 GMT -5
I think the Bullpen is an issue all year. Tend to agree. For me the real question will be the bullpen effectiveness in October. I think Thornburg is a bust due to injury & he doesn't make it through June. Boy do I hope you are wrong. I think Rutledge is returned to Colorado. I think Swihart & Travis are both on the team by the all star break. Swihart, yes. Travis, mebbe. I think Moreland is a bust. Who knows. Could be he morphs into another Texas 1B cast off, Chris Davis.
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Post by p23w on Jan 2, 2017 18:05:29 GMT -5
I don't know where this gay stuff came up. That person snuggling up to him from behind doesn't look like an hombre to me. This is a real sensitive issue (sexual preference) not only In Latin/So. America, but Africa and the Middle East. They person "snuggling up" to/with Pablo has a bun for a dew and some hand gestures that may indicate more than I comprehend. Lifestyle preference aside, a big year from Sandoval bodes well for the RS, given that this guy is one of the few players left on this team with a track record of success In the post season
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Post by p23w on Jan 2, 2017 10:42:08 GMT -5
We'll try this then. Who throws more Innings in 2017, Erod or Buchholz?
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Post by p23w on Jan 1, 2017 13:19:11 GMT -5
Over/Under 160IP in 2017 by ERod?
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Post by p23w on Jan 1, 2017 13:13:24 GMT -5
Over/Under 10 stolen bases for the 3Bman.
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Post by p23w on Dec 20, 2016 17:44:35 GMT -5
Dumb, Dumber and Dombrowski.
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Post by p23w on Dec 20, 2016 11:23:14 GMT -5
The complete list of cuts today (which you can see on the SoxProspects Transactions page): Released Nicolo Clemente, Reed Gragnani, Mike McCarthy, Kuehl McEachern, Rafael Oliveras, Andy Perez, Brad Stone, and Max Watt. Also, Dan Butler was re-signed on 12/14. The mid-December cut day is definitely a Dombrowski creation. Announced a bunch of cuts on 12/19 last year too. The Epsterington regime used to just take everyone all the way to ST at least, which made some sense - you might need guys if there are injuries and whatnot. Looking at last year's cuts, you see names like Chester and Heller cut, but then the need to sign guys like Decker, Freiman, and Court midseason, and wonder which way is better. From the player's perspective, if a team's probably cutting me, the offseason, when it's easier to catch on with a team, seems better than the end of a month of me being in ST for nothing but a per diem. So maybe Dombrowski's way of doing it really is better. Is it better or worse to not have the axe hanging over as many heads in camp? More reps to go around, etc.? Anyway, so long to one of the best signing day hairstyles ever. From a player/prospect perspective, would agree Dombrowski is doing the right thing. Cuts and DFA in February/March is a bitch. That dew reminds me of Burns on the MLB network.
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Post by p23w on Dec 17, 2016 17:33:59 GMT -5
I don't think Chapman gets it. It was him second-guessing his manager that led you to that conclusion? It was the World Series. Chapman has been groomed as a one inning specialist over his entire career (none of it in the post season). He was outside his comfort zone. Will be interesting to see Chapman's reaction, the first time Girardi sends him out for a second inning. Pitchers question managers decision making all the time. It usually gets resolved face to face in the managers office. Going public with his disagreement or displeasure, following a world series championship is bad form, IMO.
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