Breakout year?

[riverside sluggers]

Roy Halladay in the NL will be scary good. Just facing the pitcher, he will get a boost of about 30 or more Ks

[Dojji]

I think Halladay would have to win 22 or get an ERA of like 1.5 to qualify as a breakout.

[Keeper]

Halladay had his breakout season like 8 years ago...

 

To me, a breakout season is one in which you establish yourself as a really good player. If you have already done that, you can't really have another breakout season.

[Dojji]

For the record:

 

I think that if he gets a chance to play at all, Jed Lowrie will start to play up to his potential for the first time this season.

[jacksonianmarch]

Jed Lowrie? Really? I think the only thing breaking out of him would be a wrist tendon

[Spudboy]

Halladay had his breakout season like 8 years ago...

 

To me, a breakout season is one in which you establish yourself as a really good player. If you have already done that, you can't really have another breakout season.

 

This.

 

Can we agree that this is the standard for a "breakout season"?

 

Using the above as a standard, the Sox have, in my opinion, only two players likely to break camp that would qualify. Bard and Hirmida.

 

Given that it is more likely that Bard will have an opportunity to make an impact, I'll take Bard.

 

It's not like the Sox have a Perdoia or Ellsbury slated to have major playing time.

[Imperial59]

Jed Lowrie? Really? I think the only thing breaking out of him would be a wrist tendon

 

We know, we know...

 

[table]Topic|Player Leaves|Team|Content

Prospect|Yankees|The player in question is made of 150% pure awesomeness. Fear us.

Prospect|Sox|He could be good, but this is why he won't be.

Signing|Yankees|This is the missing piece. We'll win 160 games, and the umps will screw us out of 2.

Signing|Sox|Risky move, overpaid here, they'll regret this.

Injury|Yankees|They don't get hurt. Hypothetically, if they did, the recovery will be speedy with no impact to ability.

Injury|Sox|Everyone is a ticking time bomb. Once hurt, they'll never heal right.

Player Leaves|Yankees|They are better off without him, he was hurt/too old/sucked

Player Leaves|Redsox|They are really gunna regret it, he wasnt all that hurt/hes still young/He has a lot left in the tank.[/table]

[Imperial59]

For the record:

 

I think that if he gets a chance to play at all, Jed Lowrie will start to play up to his potential for the first time this season.

 

Lowrie's a good candidate. A guy with a ton a talent who's been held back by injury the last couple years. And his ability to play third could make him a good backup.

[Spudboy]

We know, we know...

 

[table]Topic|Player Leaves|Team|Content

Prospect|Yankees|The player in question is made of 150% pure awesomeness. Fear us.

Prospect|Sox|He could be good, but this is why he won't be.

Signing|Yankees|This is the missing piece. We'll win 160 games, and the umps will screw us out of 2.

Signing|Sox|Risky move, overpaid here, they'll regret this.

Injury|Yankees|They don't get hurt. Hypothetically, if they did, the recovery will be speedy with no impact to ability.

Injury|Sox|Everyone is a ticking time bomb. Once hurt, they'll never heal right.

Player Leaves|Yankees|They are better off without him, he was hurt/too old/sucked

Player Leaves|Redsox|They are really gunna regret it, he wasnt all that hurt/hes still young/He has a lot left in the tank.[/table]

 

Hahahahahahaha!

 

Let's all have a laugh at the perceived sarcasm and homerism.

 

The fact is that while Lowrie has the tools to be a very solid MLB player, he has an injury to one of the most complex areas of the human skeletal system. Familiarity with human physiology and anatomy enable one to understand this.

 

I'd love to see him recover from his ills. But I can see that it is not a certainty. If he demonstrates durability and strenght from the left side of the plate, he may have future in the bigs. If not, well, he has a degree from Stanford, I believe.

[Emmz]

How does one of, if not the best pitcher in baseball have a break out season? Especially when he's been in that form for nearly a decade now.

[Dipre]

Ellsbury's a breakout candidate. He has yet to put it all together for an entire season.

[jacksonianmarch]

I dont know if he has more ceiling left in him. .300+BA and .350+OBP is really, really good. Especially when you add in the 70SBs. I dont think he has a lot of power projection, which is really the only part of his game that has yet to develop

[Imperial59]

I dont know if he has more ceiling left in him. .300+BA and .350+OBP is really' date=' really good. Especially when you add in the 70SBs. I dont think he has a lot of power projection, which is really the only part of his game that has yet to develop[/quote']

 

Stolen bases are fun, but they aren't really worth much offensively. On base percentage is a lot more important, especially when you're the leadoff hitter.

[jacksonianmarch]

Stolen bases should be counted in as a total base, or maybe 3/4 of a total base. If you do that, then Ellsbury's OPS jumps over .900.

[Imperial59]

Hahahahahahaha!

 

Let's all have a laugh at the perceived sarcasm and homerism.

 

The fact is that while Lowrie has the tools to be a very solid MLB player, he has an injury to one of the most complex areas of the human skeletal system. Familiarity with human physiology and anatomy enable one to understand this.

 

I'd love to see him recover from his ills. But I can see that it is not a certainty. If he demonstrates durability and strenght from the left side of the plate, he may have future in the bigs. If not, well, he has a degree from Stanford, I believe.

 

I'll ask permission next time I post the chart

 

Yeah, the wrist is certainly complicated but it's hard not to get a little excited about the possibility of what he could do if he was healthy. He was one of our top prospects before he got hurt.

[Imperial59]

Stolen bases should be counted in as a total base' date=' or maybe 3/4 of a total base. If you do that, then Ellsbury's OPS jumps over .900.[/quote']

 

I'd say his stolen bases make up for his lack of power. But like I said, I still don't like a guy with a .350 OBP at the leadoff spot. If he could come close to his .389 OBP in the minors I think he'd be much more valuable to the team. His job is to score runs, and he can't do that from the dugout.

 

If you add on his stolen bases to his power that makes him something like a .300/.355/.545 hitter which is more of a middle or bottom of the order guy than a leadoff hitter. But then again, his stolen bases can't drive anyone else in like an extra base hit, so really he's more of a bottom of the order guy.

 

And it's not just his OBP which he could stand to improve. His defense was also very poor last year. I'd like to see him get some better jumps on the ball. Otherwise he's a weak hitter for a corner outfielder who doesn't get on base enough to lead off.

[Spudboy]

I'll ask permission next time I post the chart

 

Yeah, the wrist is certainly complicated but it's hard not to get a little excited about the possibility of what he could do if he was healthy. He was one of our top prospects before he got hurt.

 

Judicious use of the chart is essential!

 

"That said", haw can any Sox fan not be pulling for Lowrie to suceed? He has all the tools to be a very good MLB infielder when healthy. And he's smart. Sometimes it just not in the cards. I hope that is not the case with him.

[Keeper]

I dont know if he has more ceiling left in him. .300+BA and .350+OBP is really' date=' really good. Especially when you add in the 70SBs. I dont think he has a lot of power projection, which is really the only part of his game that has yet to develop[/quote']

 

You might be right. But if he does have anything left in his ceiling, he could be comparable to someone like Carl Crawford.

[Dipre]

I think Ellsbury's ceiling has to be close to Carl Crawford's.

 

.450 SLG? Yes please. Not impossible IMO.

[Spudboy]

I don't see any reason to project Ellsbury as a "power hitter". I just hope he improves his contact skills.

[Dipre]

He's being compared to Carl Crawford. The exact opposite of a power hitter.

[Spudboy]

Ok.

 

Lol.

[Imperial59]

He's being compared to Carl Crawford. The exact opposite of a power hitter.

 

The exact opposite of a power hitter? I think Jason Kendall, David Eckstein and Randy Winn's power stats are just a slight bit worse

[Dojji]

For the record: We couldd do a heck of a lot worse than .350 OBP in the leadoff slot. That's actually well above the league average and better than we'd had there since Youks was our leadoff man. It's also Johnny Damon's career OBP,and we had some good years leading off behind Damon.

[Dipre]

For the record: We couldd do a heck of a lot worse than .350 OBP in the leadoff slot. That's actually well above the league average and better than we'd had there since Youks was our leadoff man. It's also Johnny Damon's career OBP' date='and we had some good years leading off behind Damon.[/quote']

 

We actually agree on something.

 

Note: I was wrong, Carl Crawford is obviously the second coming of Babe Ruth.

[Dojji]

Crawford's a tweener. Great speed, non-negligible power, but he has to put the power together a bit better and the speed's already there.

 

I would squee if we got Crawford for left field next year. And I wouldn't care who heard me. The concept of Ellsbury and Crawford in the leadoff and #2 spots would be enough to elicit a decent squee from any true Sox fan. Epic offensive awesome would commence immediately.

[Dipre]

Crawford's a tweener. Great speed, non-negligible power, but he has to put the power together a bit better and the speed's already there.

 

I would squee if we got Crawford for left field next year. And I wouldn't care who heard me. The concept of Ellsbury and Crawford in the leadoff and #2 spots would be enough to elicit a decent squee from any true Sox fan. Epic offensive awesome would commence immediately.

 

It's enough to put a smile on anyone's face. Too bad he'll be a Yankee.

[Dojji]

I still hold out some hope that Brett Gardner will wow people enough to.....

 

yeah, even I couldn't finish that sentence.

[Dipre]

It'll be an interesting press conference. "Carl, why did you decide to go for the Yankees offer?" "They were obviously more interested, they went at it harder, kept it contact, and showed me the respect i think i deserve" (Translation: Ka-ChinG! $$$$$$)

[TheKilo]

Sox - Clay Buchholz

 

MLB - Pablo Sandoval