2011-2012 Offseason Thread

[Bellhorn04]

The only thing I do agree with is that he does not belong here. There is actually no place to put him that works against his $21M salary for one thing. Oh I forgot, money should not count.

 

In addition Crawford is a speed guy on a team that plays in a park that historically does not reward speed enough to really make two speed guys at the top of the order make sense. Unless they brought in night crews and moved the fences back and found the old Astroturf surface from Houston and laid that down, regardless of the fact that Tito did not use Crawford properly last year this is still not a park that will ever really reward a speed oriented team enough to make a bunch of speed guys pay off. Nothing about Fenway makes it a speed park.

 

I think you're actually touching on one of the reasons Theo may have been so eager about acquiring Crawford.

 

Having a team that is built for Fenway has often meant having a team that is lousy on the road. I think Theo believed that Crawford's speed and defence would make this a better road team.

[jung]

Having a team that is built for Fenway has often meant having a team that is lousy on the road. I think Theo believed that Crawford's speed and defence would make this a better road team.

 

Maybe....I think if you look though you will find more band boxes around the league not less. Hitting and offense have become for baseball the equivalent of protecting the quarterbacks and receivers in football. I think it is a shame because I actually find pitchers duals way more interesting than slugfests. That said, I think you will still find more bandboxes now than before and less focus on speed with more on power. Paying $21M per for seven years for a guy that depends on speed as an integral part of his game really made very little sense I think. You do still have a few big ball parks in the AL but they are few and far between these days. Detroit actually got a bigger park but Tiger Stadium could hardly have been smaller at one point.

[a700hitter]

I don't want Crawford to sniff the top of the order until he's proven he's past whatever was in his way last year and is hitting more consistently. He breaks in 8th in my lineup and when he proves he can set the table' date=' then I make him a tablesetter.[/quote']I disagree with your philosophy. In a bad year, CC is a better offensive weapon than the bottom 3 in our order. I am a firm believer in that you bunch your best hitters together at the top of the order whether or not they are hitting. If you bunch your hitters at the top, you really only need for half of them to be hitting at any given time to score a good amount of runs. If 4 or more are hitting you will be blowing people out, and that will happen more often than situations where 2 or fewer will be hitting and the team will be struggling. I play the percentages that the most talented guys will put up the best numbers over the 162 games and I want them packed together in the lineup, because over the long haul that will give you the best production. Playing the hot hand and dropping guys out of the top 6 is like trying to time stock market ups and downs. You will guess wrong more than you will guess right. Punto/Aviles, Ross and Salty/Shoppach are not in Crawford's class.

[a700hitter]

Yesterday, I mentioned that the stories out of LA are that the Angels are looking to move Abreu, but they are finding no takers. I asked if he would be a good pickup if the Angels released him. Only one poster responded by saying that they will get something for him. I'll ask again. Whether or not he gets released, is he worth pursuing at a reasonable price, i.e. LA eats almost all of his salary and they don't want much in the way of a prospect. Abreu is as steady as they come. He maybe a little long in the tooth to play everyday, but he could share RF with Ross in a platoon. Ross would still get plenty of ABs with the platoon plus spelling Crawford or Ellsbury against tough lefties.

[Bellhorn04]

Adding to the conundrum with Crawford is his poor numbers against lefties. 262/308/375 lifetime and 195/249/317 last year. I wonder if Bobby V would consider batting him in different spots based on the starter.

 

Or if he's more interested in fixing his swing.

[a700hitter]

Adding to the conundrum with Crawford is his poor numbers against lefties. 262/308/375 lifetime and 195/249/317 last year. I wonder if Bobby V would consider batting him in different spots based on the starter.

 

Or if he's more interested in fixing his swing.

Lefties fall off the mound toward 3rd base. Maybe Bobby V will have him dragging some bunts to the right side against the tougher lefties, using his speed to give the pitchers something else to think about.

[The Boomer]

Yesterday' date=' I mentioned that the stories out of LA are that the Angels are looking to move Abreu, but they are finding no takers. I asked if he would be a good pickup if the Angels released him. Only one poster responded by saying that they will get something for him. I'll ask again. Whether or not he gets released, is he worth pursuing at a reasonable price, i.e. LA eats almost all of his salary and they don't want much in the way of a prospect. Abreu is as steady as they come. He maybe a little long in the tooth to play everyday, but he could share RF with Ross in a platoon. Ross would still get plenty of ABs with the platoon plus spelling Crawford or Ellsbury against tough lefties.[/quote']

 

I thought he was only a DH at this point? I question his ability to play RF in Fenway and we've already sunk $$$$ into a DH. I'd stick with Sweeney as the platoon for now.

[a700hitter]

I can't believe that Bailey already has a strained lat.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Anyone see Crawford's new stance?

 

It's significantly different than it as last year. For you to be able to tell a difference in how much he's closed up by a side view photo says a lot.

[SoxFanForsyth]

I can't believe that Bailey already has a strained lat.

 

It's minor. Extremely minor. Like, he pulled it doing the vertical jump test. He threw from 120 today and should be off the mound in 1-2 days.

[a700hitter]

It's minor. Extremely minor. Like' date=' he pulled it doing the vertical jump test. He threw from 120 today and should be off the mound in 1-2 days.[/quote']Whew!

[SoxFanForsyth]

SFF' date=' as to the other part of your prediction, why do you think Doubront will emerge from Spring Training in the rotation?[/quote']

 

Just saw this. I have heard a lot of good things from Doubront, and I remember how promising he looked at the end of the 2010 season. I think he didn't take care of himself in the 10-11 offeseason, got hurt, and is ready to come back.

 

I think he's ready to take that next step and give us 170-180 IP as the #5 starter this year.

[jung]

All of the views I have seen of CC's new stance have been from the side but it actually looked just slightly closed which is quite different from last we saw him when his stance was way open. The side view is not the best but he does look more comfortable in that stance. He was so far open before that it looked like his hips were twisted oddly for him to maintain such an open stance with the lower body while keeping the upper body square.

 

I have seen guys with open stances before but I can't remember noticing that much of an effort to square up the upper body by twisting at the hips. I am more used to seeing guys open their stance and open their upper body as well and then as they start their swing bring the whole front side back to slightly closed. Can't remember seeing a guy try to keep his upper body so squared up and his lower body open like that.

 

Come to think of it, I wonder how a guy keeps from flying his hips with that previous stance. Hips are open right from the start.

 

Wonder if one of his former hitting coach/buddied got CC into this more traditional looking stance.

[a700hitter]

I have seen guys with open stances before but I can't remember noticing that much of an effort to square up the upper body by twisting at the hips. I am more used to seeing guys open their stance and open their upper body as well and then as they start their swing bring the whole front side back to slightly closed. Can't remember seeing a guy try to keep his upper body so squared up and his lower body open like that.

 

Come to think of it, I wonder how a guy keeps from flying his hips with that previous stance. Hips are open right from the start.looking stance.

I think part of the problem was that he had to close his hips and bring his hands back as the pitcher was delivering the ball. It took too much time and he couldn't get around on the good fastballs.

[jung]

Bringing his hips back around and cocking his bat at the same time seems such an awkward maneuver. If you are just trying to close the whole front side at least everything is moving in unison. I am really interested to know how he got to this stance and how much he thinks it will help him. Now if he is slightly closed then he really does not have to do more than hitch and cock his bat which would seem way less awkward.

 

I never questioned his stance last year as awkward as it looked cause I just figured ....well its his stance.

 

Surprised the media has not asked more about it. Damn Boston media....tell us more about who the rat is but we really aren't interested in a $21M player changing his batting stance completely. Don't have any questions to ask about that topic.

[SoxFanForsyth]

I think part of the problem was that he had to close his hips and bring his hands back as the pitcher was delivering the ball. It took too much time and he couldn't get around on the good fastballs.

 

Not to mention that he was incredibly exposed on all pitches on the outer half of the plate.

[Spitball]

Not to mention that he was incredibly exposed on all pitches on the outer half of the plate.

 

Batters who have stances that require added and extreme movements almost always have to make adjustments as they age. Yaz and Tony Perez both lowered their hands when they grew older. Bret Boone and others also made adjustments with positive results. Hopefully Crawford can adjust and improve.

[Emmz]

Most fidgety batting stances? Nomar and Jeter top my list.

[jacksonianmarch]

Most fidgety batting stances? Nomar and Jeter top my list.

 

I think you're intentionally changing the subject there. Fidgety, yes, long to the ball, no. Nomar was weird before the pitch, but he had a short, compact stroke. His problem was the roid train stopped and he lost his strength

[Emmz]

I think you're intentionally changing the subject there. Fidgety' date=' yes, long to the ball, no. Nomar was weird before the pitch, but he had a short, compact stroke. His problem was the roid train stopped and he lost his strength[/quote']

 

I was intentionally being obvious, and not attempting to say anything substantial.

[redsoxfan3]

What kind of s*** is this? I typed in jetbluepark.com and it took me to the Yankees website. That is messed up. I hate the Yankees as it is and I get redirected to their site when I tried searching sites about JetBlue park. I apologize for posting a website and cursing, but I am shocked and thought you guys need to see this.

[mvp 78]

What kind of s*** is this? I typed in jetbluepark.com and it took me to the Yankees website. That is messed up. I hate the Yankees as it is and I get redirected to their site when I tried searching sites about JetBlue park. I apologize for posting a website and cursing' date=' but I am shocked and thought you guys need to see this.[/quote']

 

Posted on deadspin last week. A cubs fan bought the domain.

[SoxSport]

Adding to the conundrum with Crawford is his poor numbers against lefties. 262/308/375 lifetime and 195/249/317 last year. I wonder if Bobby V would consider batting him in different spots based on the starter.

 

Or if he's more interested in fixing his swing.

 

 

I would forget about last year's numbers. He should be back to his career numbers this year.

 

Bobby V is too busy competing with Francona in the Globe to be concerned about lineups right now. Wish Tito would shut up about the Red Sox.

[The Boomer]

Most fidgety batting stances? Nomar and Jeter top my list.

 

It worked for Joe Morgan.

 

[BSN07]

Bringing his hips back around and cocking his bat at the same time seems such an awkward maneuver. If you are just trying to close the whole front side at least everything is moving in unison. I am really interested to know how he got to this stance and how much he thinks it will help him. Now if he is slightly closed then he really does not have to do more than hitch and cock his bat which would seem way less awkward.

 

I never questioned his stance last year as awkward as it looked cause I just figured ....well its his stance.

 

Surprised the media has not asked more about it. Damn Boston media....tell us more about who the rat is but we really aren't interested in a $21M player changing his batting stance completely. Don't have any questions to ask about that topic.

 

His stance last year was extreme for a slap hitting softball player. I'm glad he's closed it up. Hopefully this helps his flailing swing.

[SoxSport]

Great column by Callahan in the Herald this morning which says it all:

 

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view.bg?articleid=1406791

 

What would have happened if CC makes that sliding catch against the Orioles and the Red Sox make the playoffs? The answer is nothing--unfortunately.

[a700hitter]

Jon Lester signed a deal with the Red Sox three years ago that became a standard for his service class. That contract bought out Lester's first free agent year with a club option on another, although the option is voided if he is traded and has finished first or second in the Cy Young voting in 2012 or '13.

I didn't think this type of performance clause was permissible. It almost pays for Lester to campaign for vote (maybe even bribe), and maybe out of town writers will vote for him just to spring him from the Sox.

[Bellhorn04]

I didn't think this type of performance clause was permissible. It almost pays for Lester to campaign for vote (maybe even bribe)' date=' and maybe out of town writers will vote for him just to spring him from the Sox.[/quote']

 

Yeah, it may seem strange but you can give incentive clauses for awards, but not things like home runs or RBI.

[a700hitter]

Yeah' date=' it may seem strange but you can give incentive clauses for awards, but not things like home runs or RBI.[/quote']Surprising. If Boss Steinbrenner was alive, he'd bribe all the NY writers to vote for Lester to free him from the Sox.

[The Boomer]

I didn't think this type of performance clause was permissible. It almost pays for Lester to campaign for vote (maybe even bribe)' date=' and maybe out of town writers will vote for him just to spring him from the Sox.[/quote']

 

I think he has to be traded before the CY part kicks in, so your vote only matters if the Sox trade him away. So it's someone else's problem if it happens.