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Post by p23w on Jun 21, 2015 17:37:54 GMT -5
Happy Fathers' Day to one and all. Well, it's officially Summer and the offense is starting to produce like we all hoped it would coming out of ST. Then again, I don't think anyone saw us digging the hole that was excavated this Spring.
One "grudge" I had from the ST reports was the constant blather about team chemistry. Yeah, you can have a good clubhouse, but winning on the field is the chemistry I'm looking for. As much as I enjoy blowouts, I really want to see winning chemistry in close games. Still not convinced the bullpen is up to this task, but hope springs eternal.
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Post by p23w on Jun 12, 2015 21:05:09 GMT -5
I have no idea how firing Farrell will help Matt Barnes get people out. The team just isn't very good. The bullpen is not that good.
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Post by p23w on Jun 11, 2015 11:53:22 GMT -5
Yet somehow the score remains; Farrell 1 WS Title, Showalter 0 WS Titles. Farrell has 2 if you count the one he won as a pitching coach. Given the horses the Orioles have had under Showalter this factoid really stands out. IMO Showalter is what he is, from a PR/media POV he is mythical in his wisdom and demeanor. In other words overrated.
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Post by p23w on Jun 10, 2015 17:05:55 GMT -5
“@bryanhoch: Girardi: Andrew Miller going to DL with strained muscle in forearm. Dellin Betances will slide in as the regular closer.” and the people against signing relief pitchers for 4 years did clap, rejoice and pronounce, I told you so, as the raised their glasses and began carnal experience with the fair maidens of their town. Blood relatives, no doubt.
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Post by p23w on Jun 8, 2015 18:52:52 GMT -5
YES!
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Post by p23w on Jun 7, 2015 16:34:00 GMT -5
That Clay outside cutter for a K looking with 1 out bases loaded in the 3rd to Vogt is basically the biggest pitch of the night. Reminded me of Steve McQueens character n the Great Escape.
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Post by p23w on Jun 7, 2015 16:04:17 GMT -5
Clearly the thing that will ultimately save the Red Sox is choosing Tommy Layne over Drake Britton. Clearly Tommy Layne has not been part of the problem this year, to date.
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Post by p23w on Jun 7, 2015 15:35:48 GMT -5
Good moves by Farrell this inning.
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Post by p23w on May 31, 2015 17:46:21 GMT -5
This bullpen is deeply flawed. It does not help that the defense is not what is was made out to be in Spring Training. Fortunately the entire division is weak, which should keep hope alive for 2015, even a false hope.
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Post by p23w on May 20, 2015 10:40:20 GMT -5
Very much looking forward to this. Thanks for the heads up. Hope the hype is hyperbole. Like to see this kid advance. My sources say he has a Mookie skill set. Very different player from Mookie, as you can read about in our Scouting Scratch on him: news.soxprospects.com/2015/03/scouting-scratch-yoan-moncada.html, as well as his scouting report on his player page. Not sure how this write up is that different from Betts. My source watched Moncada's BP and observed that the only player in the system to match his (Yoan's) bat speed was Betts (he also mentioned Brentz and Castillo as having plus bat speed). He also mentioned that they were both fast, possibly with an edge to Betts. This and their good glove work portends the ability to play positions, other than SS, in Moncada's case, and 2B, in Betts' case. Arm strength is YTBD. Betts had a plus arm for a 2Bman and a mediocre arm for a CFer. Not sure how Moncada's arm translates Power comparisons are too early to draw IMO. We've seen Betts hit some lasers out of the major league ball parks.... we've yet to seen Moncada get the ball out of the infield in Greenville. The consistency of the Betts/Moncada skill set comparison is that they are both average or above average when comparing the 5 tools. Together they are the only two young recent Red Sox prospects that this can be said about. I am really looking forward to seeing Moncada in person sometime this Summer.
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Post by p23w on May 18, 2015 12:02:20 GMT -5
Very much looking forward to this. Thanks for the heads up. Hope the hype is hyperbole. Like to see this kid advance. My sources say he has a Mookie skill set.
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Post by p23w on May 15, 2015 15:03:08 GMT -5
What Papelbon thinks is not immaterial. He is one of 3 closers to hold all time save records for more than one team (Boston/Philadelphia). Whether Uehara is "better" at this point is debatable. Personally I think this would give Farrell another bullet and he should use either Papelbon or UEhara based on match-ups. I can't speak to the front office's apparent frugality when it comes to the bullpen. Their are less costly options available. I believe Cherrington's mantra of promoting from within is to be taken with a grain of salt, especially if this team evolves into a Pennant contender. On that note I have interest is Noe Raimerez. His stuff is not outstanding, but between the ears he has the making of a solid performer out of the bullpen.
Noe Ramirez is on the DL. And screw Papelbon if he's demanding a certain role before he's traded. Amaro is probably asking for Margot and Devers anyway. I am well aware of Ramirez's strained forearm. As far as Papelbon role demands, I don't know if he has any. I just point to the legacy statistics which most players become aware/concerned about late in their careers.
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Post by p23w on May 15, 2015 6:39:55 GMT -5
Papelbon would be an intriguing acquisition. I believe he would close, however. Uehara would revert to the 8th inning. JP is "stat" conscious, and he projects to be 8th or 9th all time in saves at the end of 2015. What Papelbon thinks is immaterial. Uehara is the better pitcher, and Farrell believes (credibly) that the reason he's been such a great closer is that hitters have a different approach in the 9th, allowing Uehara to throw his splitter more and get it chased more. What Papelbon thinks is not immaterial. He is one of 3 closers to hold all time save records for more than one team (Boston/Philadelphia). Whether Uehara is "better" at this point is debatable. Personally I think this would give Farrell another bullet and he should use either Papelbon or UEhara based on match-ups. I can't speak to the front office's apparent frugality when it comes to the bullpen. Their are less costly options available. I believe Cherrington's mantra of promoting from within is to be taken with a grain of salt, especially if this team evolves into a Pennant contender. On that note I have interest is Noe Raimerez. His stuff is not outstanding, but between the ears he has the making of a solid performer out of the bullpen.
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Post by p23w on May 14, 2015 13:13:01 GMT -5
Papelbon would be an intriguing acquisition. I believe he would close, however. Uehara would revert to the 8th inning. JP is "stat" conscious, and he projects to be 8th or 9th all time in saves at the end of 2015.
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Post by p23w on May 4, 2015 13:33:08 GMT -5
It was built on the cheap and with plenty of question marks. The only "worse" bullpen in this division is North of the border.
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Post by p23w on May 4, 2015 13:29:40 GMT -5
Trading Miller was a good move. NOT signing him was stupid. The Red Sox had a lot of sweat equity in Miller. They gave him 1.4M when he probably would have had to sign a minor league contract with some other team. The worked long and hard with his mechanics and his confidence. They mutually agreed to focus on Miller's role coming out of the bullpen. The patience paid off and Miller has swagger and has harnessed his considerable talent. They the Red Sox let a division rival outbid them. Ridiculous. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_costs? The Yankees get to benefit from the "sunk costs" AND the sweat equity put in by the Red Sox coaching staff? You say potatoe, I say potato.
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Post by p23w on May 3, 2015 20:47:09 GMT -5
The one mistake we did make, in my opinion, was letting Miller go. I really disliked losing him at the time, especially looking at what we had left behind, and it looks even worse now. If Miller keeps pitching as well as he has for 4 years, he'll be worth his contract. But there's no upside and plenty of downside, it's very possible he'll get worse or injured. $9m is just a lot of money to pay for 60-70 innings. Trading Miller was a good move. NOT signing him was stupid. The Red Sox had a lot of sweat equity in Miller. They gave him 1.4M when he probably would have had to sign a minor league contract with some other team. The worked long and hard with his mechanics and his confidence. They mutually agreed to focus on Miller's role coming out of the bullpen. The patience paid off and Miller has swagger and has harnessed his considerable talent. They the Red Sox let a division rival outbid them. Ridiculous. Miller is on a pace to throw 83+ innings this year. His whip is 0.78. These are Mariano Rivera numbers. For the Yankees Miller @ 10M is a bargain. They paid Rivera half again as much. PLUS Miller does not have a lot of mileage on his left arm. Yeah, he throws hard, and yeah he throws a slider, but the man is built to handle and maintain both his velocity and his health. It is immensely annoying to watch the two best players on the NYYankees get bought out from the Red Sox. Ellsbury, I can somewhat understand. Miller I cannot. Instead the Sox spend about half what the Yankees spent on two proven commodities and take flyers on Cuban refugees with no track record of Major League service. I hope the Cubans pan out, but neither is a pitcher and this team is in dire need of elite pitching. Miller is elite.
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Post by p23w on May 2, 2015 16:02:59 GMT -5
Damn, I wish we had a bullpen as good as the NYY bullpen. Right, Miller would be good. We've had so much invested into Melancon, Jenks, Bailey, Mujica, a total waste of resources. Letting Miller go to the Orioles was shrewd. Not signing him when he entered free agency was not so clever. Watching him sign within the division was stupid. Melancon was, meh. Jenks was an unmitigated disaster, Bailey turned out to be fragile, Mujica I never did understand. Pay gazillions to fleeing Cubans and build a bullpen on the cheap. Must be a MLB GM thang.
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Post by p23w on May 2, 2015 15:22:23 GMT -5
Damn, I wish we had a bullpen as good as the NYY bullpen.
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Post by p23w on Apr 28, 2015 16:46:46 GMT -5
Not ready for jokes yet. I'm in shock that they're going to play a game in an empty stadium on purpose. It's a new one for me in my 40ish years of watching baseball. I don't mean to start a political war here, but no matter who you're upset with regarding the riots, the reason for the riots, and an MLB game being played in front of no one, you have to be relatively more worried about #1 and/or #2 than #3. This is straight up not a normal week in Baltimore, maybe the US. Not so abnormal as you might suspect.
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Post by p23w on Apr 27, 2015 11:28:49 GMT -5
I think a fun exercise would be to have someone read this forum and then guess Craig Breslow's ERA on the season. I think I'd guess between 7.36 and Eleventy Billion. Certainly not 0.77 (with a RA9 twice that!). I know ERA isn't the best gauge of a reliever but he also has a 20% strikeout rate. Other than Tazawa he's probably been the most reliable reliever on the team. And while that doesn't excuse Farrell not really understanding how to use him, he's clearly good enough to have a spot on this team. He looks to be pretty much back to the pitcher he was in 2012-13. I think Barnes will have a permanent place on the team within the next month, and possibly within the next week. I'm a bit more apprehensive about turning to Rodriguez or Johnson this early. Both have been pitching well but as a general rule I think it's a good idea to give a guy 100 Triple-A innings before considering a call-up that's more than a spot start or two. Having that kind of talent available so close makes being impatient very enticing. EDIT: Allen Craig has been impossibly bad since coming to Boston, though. I think this forum is generally too hard on non-home-grown role player types, but he can't play anymore. Forget Bradley and Castillo, Brentz is a better player right now. [/b] Brentz is certainly intriguing. Like his defense, still some holes in his swing, but given the alternative (Craig) I would have to agree.
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Post by p23w on Apr 26, 2015 16:27:48 GMT -5
This bullpen is downright scary. It seems as if every team the RS have faced this season has a better bullpen roster. I'm not worried about the hitting, I feel pretty confident that it will come around, but not so with the what I've seen coming out of the bullpen. Not concerned about Farrell's decision about whom to put it or when, just don't have confidence that the pitchers he has available can stem the tide of the opposition. Methinks this should be a red flag for Ben.
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Post by p23w on Apr 25, 2015 21:15:00 GMT -5
This bullpen needs an overhaul. Thought they would get this right in Spring training. Don't think they did.
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Post by p23w on Apr 18, 2015 10:35:56 GMT -5
A day later, I can't help by laugh at Buck Showalter's whining. That plunking of Sandoval was as intentional as it gets and he hit him in the top of the back very close to the head. What the hell are you complaining about? Don't have your pitcher intentionally throw at a guy if you don't want him to get him ejected, and you know that order came from Showalter, he is the "old school" one. God such a baby. Ditto. I live in MD, and I like the O's, but cannot stand Showalter. The guy had talent, in NY, TX and now Bal. with precious little to show for it. Buck excels in complaining and excuses.
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Post by p23w on Mar 11, 2015 16:02:02 GMT -5
Not to worry. We have Mookie. Every bit as quick a bat.
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