2013 Red Sox predictions.

[User Name]

You might want to re-think the Jurjjens and Marcum part. Marcum is out for the foreseeable future, and Jurjjens hasn't been good enough to even make it to the O's bullpen.

[Palodios]

You might want to re-think the Jurjjens and Marcum part. Marcum is out for the foreseeable future, and Jurjjens hasn't been good enough to even make it to the O's bullpen.

 

Its crazy that so many of the top SP options have really been scary. Haren and Mccarthy got bombed. Marcum is out. JJ is JJ. Greinke has been having elbow issues. This offseason's free agent SPs looks like a minefield.

[User Name]

The surest bet of the bunch (IMO) is Haren, but he wanted no part of Boston.

[a700hitter]

That's going to be too bad. Really hoping it won't be Friday like someone else said, I'd rather not be there for that.

 

As for Harang, he'd have to be really cheap. I agree that the guys in AA probably aren't ready to go, but I don't know how much better an option Harang ends up being. That ERA likely goes way up in the AL East with its small ballparks and all. Not sure how Jurrjens or Marcum did/are doing, but now it's really looking like they should have been considered.

We have not had al of our starters make all of their starts since 2004. It was only a matter of time before our depth options got called upon. Too often in past years we have had 1or 2 black holes in our rotation for a month or two or longer-- guys who don't even give you a chance of winning. That is devastating to a team, because the remaining starters are in a postion where they have to win nearly every start.

[a700hitter]

Its crazy that so many of the top SP options have really been scary. Haren and Mccarthy got bombed. Marcum is out. JJ is JJ. Greinke has been having elbow issues. This offseason's free agent SPs looks like a minefield.

I think that it is way too early to make a conclusion about this group. Most of them have had only one start thus far. I am sure that several of the newly acquired pitchers around baseball will have positive impacts on their 2013 teams.

 

As for Harang, he has been a 5 inning pitcher for several years already with little success. I don't like his prospects with us. Has anyone signed Freddie Garcia? Even with his diminished stuff, he has consistently shown that he can give his team a chance to win. That's all you can ask of a depth option. Hopefully, Aceves can do that for us at aleast as well as Julian Tavarez did in 2007.

[Bellhorn04]

Nava will end up with an OPS of .800 or higher this year.

 

And to our humorists here...I swear there is no sexual arousal involved.

[User Name]

I had prepared a joke while i was reading the first sentence of your post......

 

 

.........aaaaaaaand it's gone!

[SoxFanForsyth]

Couple quick stats:

 

The Red Sox SP have a 2.45 ERA this year. I'm not sure we rattled off 7 consecutive games to a 2.45 ERA at any point last year.

 

The Sox bullpen has a 3.92 ERA, 9 ER in 20.2 IP. But - of those 9 ER, Aceves has allowed 5 ER in 4.1 IP. The rest of the bullpen? 4 ER in 16.1 IP, a 2.20 ERA.

[Bellhorn04]

I had prepared a joke while i was reading the first sentence of your post......

 

 

.........aaaaaaaand it's gone!

 

Yes, I knew I had to cover that.

[Dojji]

Nava will end up with an OPS of .800 or higher this year.

 

He's got a chance. I mean all he needs to do is bat about .270 or so and the rest of the rate stats should easily click into place. All through the minors he was a solid-to-great contact hitter, I can't imagine it's impossible that he'd find a way to adjust well enough to hit two-freaking-seventy, especially if they use him in a platoon role more this year so he can draw some favorable matchups.

[User Name]

We get it. You like Nava.

[a700hitter]

Nava will end up with an OPS of .800 or higher this year.

 

This is a bold prediction. It would be great to see him do it.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

I had prepared a joke while i was reading the first sentence of your post......

 

 

.........aaaaaaaand it's gone!

 

I had a good joke too with my post, but Dojji never responded

[RedSoxNC84]

The surest bet of the bunch (IMO) is Haren, but he wanted no part of Boston.

 

If he keeps pitching like he did last time out, I don't think anyone is going to want any part of him.

[Dojji]

Its crazy that so many of the top SP options have really been scary. Haren and Mccarthy got bombed. Marcum is out. JJ is JJ. Greinke has been having elbow issues. This offseason's free agent SPs looks like a minefield.

 

Which makes Cherington's decision to step very carefully into that minefield look positively brilliant.

[seabeachfred]

That's going to be too bad. Really hoping it won't be Friday like someone else said, I'd rather not be there for that.

 

As for Harang, he'd have to be really cheap. I agree that the guys in AA probably aren't ready to go, but I don't know how much better an option Harang ends up being. That ERA likely goes way up in the AL East with its small ballparks and all. Not sure how Jurrjens or Marcum did/are doing, but now it's really looking like they should have been considered.

 

We could all take a deep breath of relief IF tomorrow Dempster went out there and pitched us to an impressive win. For that to happen he would have to pitch better than he did in that five inning loss to the Yankees, and he would certainly need better hitting and more run production that the paltry two we got in that game. I have always maintained that a good team needs two solid horses in a rotation and we MAY have them in Jon and Clay, but to really make a solid mark three top notch pitchers are usually needed and the jury is out as to whether Dempster, Doubrant or Lackey could be that third man.

 

Lucien, you hit on the head that Harang would have some fits in the AL with its smaller ballparks and deeper lineups but what choice to we have? Lackey is now out for awhile, Morales is still injured, and Webster and Barnes are not ready yet, so we're told. If we could get the guy for a very reasonable price it might be worth our while even though the risk is high that he could become a pinata in our division.

[seabeachfred]

Its crazy that so many of the top SP options have really been scary. Haren and Mccarthy got bombed. Marcum is out. JJ is JJ. Greinke has been having elbow issues. This offseason's free agent SPs looks like a minefield.

 

So maybe Cherington isn't so dumb after all......or very lucky, and you know the old saying that I'd rather be lucky than good. I'll tell you and the other on this thread how the Red Sox could get the lot of us to shut up for awhile on the pitching front. One, Dempster goes out tomorrow and pitches a solid game and gets his first win as a Red Sox, and, two, Aceves pitches when his turn comes up and shows why he wanted to be a starter. Don't laugh at that either. Ace is a nut, and a guy like that might have a psychological comfort zone. He may just be crazy enough to feel more confident in a starting role than he does pitching out of the pen, which if memory serves me well he hasn't been very effective.

[iortiz]

Aceves will get his shot. My fingers are crossed.

 

Me too.

 

I do not know what happened with Aceves but guy seems out of floor. He wasn't like that.

[a700hitter]

Me too.

 

I do not know what happened with Aceves but guy seems out of floor. He wasn't like that.

He's as crazy as Julian Tavares was but not in an amusing or quirky way-- more in a scary way.

[Palodios]

So maybe Cherington isn't so dumb after all......or very lucky, and you know the old saying that I'd rather be lucky than good. .

 

I don't think there was anything lucky about it. We all complained because guys like Haren, Marcum and Mccarthy all had arguably higher ceilings, but he was also well-known to be the healthiest of the group.We'll see what happens, but the Dempster move makes more sense to me now than it did a few months ago.

[SoxSport]

I think Aceves is too screwed up in the head to be of much value at this point. Baseball is a 50% head game, and his performance his first two appearances show he is a risk when he goes out there. Sure he might surprise, but the downside is he takes you out of a game early and kills the momentum they've built up.

 

Same deal with Iggy, who has been a stalwart defensively and on the basepaths. Fact is , he's playing excellent team ball--using his speed offensively and defensively. Getting on base. solidifying the infield.

The only thing you can say about Drew is that he is the money. But they could take a hit defensively which might be important. Iggy and Bradley have given the team an unexpected boost early. Look at the Celtics--had to have Rondo go down to realize he wasn't distributing the ball enough. Surprise.

[Brown28]

I don't think there was anything lucky about it. We all complained because guys like Haren, Marcum and Mccarthy all had arguably higher ceilings, but he was also well-known to be the healthiest of the group.We'll see what happens, but the Dempster move makes more sense to me now than it did a few months ago.

 

I wanted McCarthy purely for his twitter account. f*** a higher ceiling, he makes me giggle.

[BSN07]

So maybe Cherington isn't so dumb after all......or very lucky, and you know the old saying that I'd rather be lucky than good. I'll tell you and the other on this thread how the Red Sox could get the lot of us to shut up for awhile on the pitching front. One, Dempster goes out tomorrow and pitches a solid game and gets his first win as a Red Sox, and, two, Aceves pitches when his turn comes up and shows why he wanted to be a starter. Don't laugh at that either. Ace is a nut, and a guy like that might have a psychological comfort zone. He may just be crazy enough to feel more confident in a starting role than he does pitching out of the pen, which if memory serves me well he hasn't been very effective.

 

So something goes wrong he's a dumbass and if it works out he's lucky? Jesus fred, do you even attempt to mask you loathing hard on for Cherrington anymore or what?

[a700hitter]

So something goes wrong he's a dumbass and if it works out he's lucky? Jesus fred, do you even attempt to mask you loathing hard on for Cherrington anymore or what?

Read the first line. He acknowledges that he might not be dumb.

[BSN07]

Read the first line. He acknowledges that he might not be dumb.

 

And then follows it up by saying "or very lucky". What is your point?

 

If he felt Cherries really was not dumb he would acknowledge that Cherries took the info that he was privy to(medical records, scouting reports) and from that chose wisely in the players he signed and was also wise in the players he did not sign. It's very simple. Cherries hasn't given anything much for Fred to gripe about, but Fred being the blind Cherry hater he is can not acknowledge Cherries as anything more then a monkey in a suit and ultimately has to blame luck as the reason things are working out so far. Which was why I was calling him out because it's ridiculous.

[a700hitter]

And then follows it up by saying "or very lucky". What is your point?

 

If he felt Cherries really was not dumb he would acknowledge that Cherries took the info that he was privy to(medical records, scouting reports) and from that chose wisely in the players he signed and was also wise in the players he did not sign. It's very simple. Cherries hasn't given anything much for Fred to gripe about, but Fred being the blind Cherry hater he is can not acknowledge Cherries as anything more then a monkey in a suit and ultimately has to blame luck as the reason things are working out so far. Which was why I was calling him out because it's ridiculous.

Yes, but he said "or" very lucky. He didn't say which was the case. So, what is your point?

 

As for giving Cherries credit for anything, it is a little early for that being that we are a mere 7 games into the season. I think it is okay to reserve judgmebt on him at this point. If you want to nominate him for GM of the year 7 games into the season, go right ahead. I will wait to see how this plays out. I'll wait to see how our pitching depth options perform as the injuries happen and starts are missed, etc. before I pass judgment on Cherries performance.

[jung]

I think the whole discussion 7 seven games into the 2013 campaign leaves much to be desired.

 

But if you want to really discuss why it has gone well so far it is because Lester and Buch have pitched well so far. That is it in a nutshell. Everything else that has happened so far shrivels to near insignificance.

 

Can they keep it up as we get into the night games and the hitting season? Who knows...not enough time so far to tell. This is particularly true for Buch as his issues tend to be an ability to take the ball every scheduled start.

 

Given that Farrell probably knows how to get the most out of Lester and Buch combined with the fact that he is not a known self-centered, lying sack of s*** like the last Manager makes the Farrell decision important to the early results as well.

 

Best new player addition based on results so far has got to be Victorino even with a few overly aggressive running plays. Worst has got to be Gomes when you consider the initial reports that he was to be our platoon LF, when in fact he will have us wincing every time we see him out there ....whenever that is.

 

Most overlooked aspect of Sox need in the off-season...obviously the starting pitching.

 

As for Lackey, how can we possibly be surprised if his time on the shelf exceeds the initial announcements from the Sox. It has been an age and a day since any projection of player available from the Sox has turned out even remotely accurate as they are always cheery expectations of a speedy return.

[SoxSport]

So they optioned Iggy to AAA to make room for Drew. Funny, I recall some years ago they optioned another kid named Kalish to make room for another Drew. Kalish wound up getting hurt seriously, which has sidetracked his career. Drew played out his final contract year to a cool $14 million. Talented player who played about 2/3 of the time.

 

What's the connect? Epstein loved Drew. Overpaid for him. Cherington, part of the old regime, still loves Drew. Hope it doesn't backfire. They are clicking right now.

[SoxSport]

Read the first line. He acknowledges that he might not be dumb.

 

More likely lucky.

 

Farrell is the game changer.

 

We'll see what happens when Iggy and Bradley wind up in AAA.

[User Name]

Oh, the irony.....