2013 Spring Training

[a700hitter]

I thought we sorted that out like 2 hours ago?

 

We did, but I stepped away for a couple of hours and I was in mid post when I left.

[BSN07]

Single and triple for Iglesias today.

 

He looks like he's made some strides with the bat. He's not Tulo, but there is some measure of optimism that he could hit above the Mendoza line.

[a700hitter]

Single and triple for Iglesias today.

Nice, maybe his new approach is starting to pay dividends. His AB s have been much improved this spring-- much better contact.

[BSN07]

We did, but I stepped away for a couple of hours and I was in mid post when I left.

 

ok

[Bellhorn04]

Bard hasn't been perfect this spring but he hasn't been scored on yet.

[Station 13]

Bard hasn't been perfect this spring but he hasn't been scored on yet.

 

Velocity reading been mixed. Command still isn't very good. I saw him a few days ago and wasn't impressed. He isn't attacking hitters as he should with his fastball. He needs to regain command of that pitch first. Flirting with his changeup is holding him back. I wish the coaching set this straight.

[a700hitter]

Bard hasn't been perfect this spring but he hasn't been scored on yet.

 

He's been throwing more strikes than last year. That is a huge step forward, but the dominating velocity has not been there yet.

[mvp 78]

Velocity reading been mixed. Command still isn't very good. I saw him a few days ago and wasn't impressed. He isn't attacking hitters as he should with his fastball. He needs to regain command of that pitch first. Flirting with his changeup is holding him back. I wish the coaching set this straight.

 

It's ST. It's the right time for him to mess around with his changeup. It's about working on your pitches since it's only practice.

[jung]

A few of the young guys that have not had much of a spring so far had good days today. Lavs and Iggy both had good days at the plate. Bard pitched well for his inning. Mr. Volcano Aceves started and gave up a gopher ball. Then he hit the guy the next time he came up. Some of the Rays started out of their dugout. However the Sox stayed at home and Farrell pulled Ace from the game.

[BSN07]

A few of the young guys that have not had much of a spring so far had good days today. Lavs and Iggy both had good days at the plate. Bard pitched well for his inning. Mr. Volcano Aceves started and gave up a gopher ball. Then he hit the guy the next time he came up. Some of the Rays started out of their dugout. However the Sox stayed at home and Farrell pulled Ace from the game.

 

They can not trade that clown quick enough imo.

[a700hitter]

They can not trade that clown quick enough imo.

He is an accident waiting to happen.

[BSN07]

He is an accident waiting to happen.

 

The guy makes Julian Tavares look sane

[jung]

As usual it is even worse than you might think. While none of the Sox budged from the dugout to defend Ace as the Rays started to meander onto the field, I guess Ace's bullpen mates felt compelled to defend him. So they started leaving the bullpen on their way to confronting the Rays that had come out of their dugout. So how good would that have been? The Rays everyday players in a bench brawl against our pitchers. Just perfect...lets get a bunch of pitchers injured in a ST bench brawl defending that idiot! The guy who just could not contain himself cause some opposing hitter had the audacity to hit a ST dinger off of him. Doesn't somebody want to start a franchise in Alaska? Lets ship him to Alaska. Hopefully that will be far enough away.

[Bellhorn04]

I'm taking the contrarian viewpoint on this one. I like Aceves. But I think I would let Farrell make the call on whether to keep him or trade him.

[kapsis21]

It just makes no sense to me. They are basically telling me that no one on the current roster ahead of Bradley can provide league average production for two weeks in April. I find that very hard to believe. Another thing I can't understand is why they would want to give up a whole guaranteed season for those two weeks. Scott Boras is his agent. No one in their right mind should ever bank on being able to sort out an extension with any kind of Boras Agent. Especially when the player is as talented as almost everyone thinks he will be. Is it possible? Yes. But it would be the exception to the rule. And to me, to avoid all of that, I can wait two weeks.

 

Now if it goes past the deadline and we get into May and there is an obvious role for him and he doesn't get called up, I will be right there with the rest wondering "why isn't he up yet?"

 

yep i do see your viewpoint. but someone here also suggested that he can go back to Pawtucket and spend 20 days and that would save the extra year. also having that many Left handed pitchers in the first 2 weeks makes more sense for JBJ to spend time at Pawtucket initially. but he definitely is one of the top candidates to be called up.

[dsharp]

He's been throwing more strikes than last year. That is a huge step forward, but the dominating velocity has not been there yet.

 

I'm hoping he's learned more to pitch rather than just throw, which is what I always felt he was doing when setting up Paps. He wasn't very accurate then. His effectiveness came pretty much from his velocity alone. His secondary slider was effective, but he didn't control it well. ONe thing converting to starter last year did that was positive was that it made him practice his secondary pitches more. The increased work took its toll on his arm power, but he may be a more effective pitcher in the long run.

[seabeachfred]

Remy and Orsillo are a great duo with good chemistry, like you said, probably one of the better tandems in the league of broadcasting. I'm not advocating they split them up. I just hope if Remy decides to retire the consider Ecks because he brings a different energy to the booth that I thought flowed well with Orsillo when he was filling in.

 

The only way I see Ecks not getting the job should Jerry step down is because of what someone (maybe you) said earlier----that he has a tendency not to pull any punches and anything goes and usually does when he is at the mike. I think he would be good with Don Orsillo as well. If I were to make a analogy between Remy and Ecks it would be to kind of compare them to the different type of posters we have here on Talk Sox. Both Remy and Ecks are diehard Red Sox fans; I don't think there is any doubt about that, do you? Well it's the same here. People like you, Bellhorn, mvp and others love the Red Sox but you're pretty well under control and take it all in stride while 700, Sox Sport and I sometimes go to the edge. Hell variety is fine when you look at it that way, and it would work if Ecks became Orsillo's partner. Truth be told though, I still like to hear Remy on my computer.

[seabeachfred]

I liked what I saw from Lester. I don't know if he recovered his movement and raw stuff, but he and Buchholz have both picked up the pace and established better rhythms which I think is a key to success for both of them. Lester has always had trouble when he labors and slows his pace since he first came to the majors. Once he started to quicken the pace and attack the zone he was successful. The same goes for Buchholz. In the last couple of years, I think Beckett had a very negative influence on both of them in this regard.

 

If Dempster has found a new life with the splitter, maybe he will be effective despite subpar velocity. There has been more good news than bad with the starters. Lackey has had some bumps. Doubront has the stuff, but does he have the command to improve over last year. We don't have depth if any of these guys falter. Morales is having back trouble and he is not ready to take starts any time soon. He's not even ready for the pen. De La Rosa is not ready to be an MLB starter. I guess that Webster is first on the depth chart at this point.

 

I think you might be spot on with the Beckett comparison. No doubt both Lester and Buchholz looked up to him and might have copied his mannerisms on the mound. Don't forget, Buch came up in 2007 and Lester came up to stay the same season, the one where Beckett was arguably the best pitcher on the planet. I remember reading how Farrell was saying he wanted Clay to speed up his pace of pitches on the mound and most likely included Lester with it. Well they are the supposed "aces" this year and whatever makes them more effective is gravy for the team.

 

I don't mean to grasp at straws but, face it, another 2012 wouldn't be good for any of us around here. We'd be angry at the team and ourselves and I cannot for the life of me seeing a repeat of the 2012 disaster. It also seems that Farrell has things under control.

[seabeachfred]

They can not trade that clown quick enough imo.

 

Here's the problem with that BSN. We are pretty short of depth in the rotation....we have Lester, Buchholz, Dempster, Lacker and Doubrant, but what's after that? Morales is hurt and Webster is back in the minors. As distasteful as it might be to you and others, including me, we may be forced to hold on to the guy until either Webster is brought up, or Morales mends---or preferably both.

[jung]

All the pitchers, just about everywhere have looked pretty good so far. I think these last couple of days I have seen more of the hitters finally catching up to the pitchers. More guys are starting to be able to handle the off-speed and breaking stuff. I think the number of hitters filtering back from the WBC has made a difference and even the guys that have spent the entire time in ST are finally starting to catch up and are getting better cuts at the off-speed and breaking stuff. These next couple of outings should be interesting for all of the pitchers, ours and those pitching for other teams.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Here's the problem with that BSN. We are pretty short of depth in the rotation....we have Lester, Buchholz, Dempster, Lacker and Doubrant, but what's after that? Morales is hurt and Webster is back in the minors. As distasteful as it might be to you and others, including me, we may be forced to hold on to the guy until either Webster is brought up, or Morales mends---or preferably both.

 

Most, if not all teams stash their SP depth at AAA, I don't see how having Webster there causes a problem?

[mvp 78]

Most, if not all teams stash their SP depth at AAA, I don't see how having Webster there causes a problem?

 

I think he's just saying they have to hold onto Aceves until Webster is ready or Morales is healthy. Not sure he was upset about Webster being sent to AAA.

[BSN07]

Ya with Morales on the shelf, they will need Aceves for the time being. Although if he can't go out without throwing at batters when he gives up a hit, I don't think he's going to be that much of a help. This is one of those draw backs with a guy that has talent but has an episode of looney toons stuck on repeat in his head.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Looks like Drew may be on the shelf to start the season. It's a good thing that Iglesias has come out swinging with some conviction this year. Makes the sting of losing Drew much less. Not saying he's going to replicate Drews offensive production, but if he can drive a few balls and play elite elite defense in his absence, I don't see a massive drop off

[mvp 78]

If they thought Iggy could hit .240, they wouldn't have signed Drew. I really hope he can show a bit more at the plate.

[Dojji]

Correction: If they knew they could count on Iggy to hit .240, they wouldn't have signed Drew.

 

If they merely thought it was possible, they still sign a veteran and make Iggy win his job, the same way they tried to do with Mike Aviles (except Iglesias failed to play along by making poor progress).

[BSN07]

The only way I see Ecks not getting the job should Jerry step down is because of what someone (maybe you) said earlier----that he has a tendency not to pull any punches and anything goes and usually does when he is at the mike. I think he would be good with Don Orsillo as well. If I were to make a analogy between Remy and Ecks it would be to kind of compare them to the different type of posters we have here on Talk Sox. Both Remy and Ecks are diehard Red Sox fans; I don't think there is any doubt about that, do you? Well it's the same here. People like you, Bellhorn, mvp and others love the Red Sox but you're pretty well under control and take it all in stride while 700, Sox Sport and I sometimes go to the edge. Hell variety is fine when you look at it that way, and it would work if Ecks became Orsillo's partner. Truth be told though, I still like to hear Remy on my computer.

 

I'm with ya on this Fred, seems like a fair comparison to me

[jacksonianmarch]

Looks like Drew may be on the shelf to start the season. It's a good thing that Iglesias has come out swinging with some conviction this year. Makes the sting of losing Drew much less. Not saying he's going to replicate Drews offensive production, but if he can drive a few balls and play elite elite defense in his absence, I don't see a massive drop off

 

First you would have to assume Stephen Drew is an upgrade on Iggy. The guy is coming off ankle surgery for a grossly injured ankle, and it showed. His UZR's for 09, 10, and 11 were positive. He breaks his ankle in 2011 and his UZR dropped to -10.7. He also just turned 30, so it isnt like he's getting any younger. He's likely going to be a minus defender in 2013 as well. So Iggy would massively upgrade that position defensively.

 

Offensively, you have to see what you can get from Drew. Most people hear the name and think of a guy who was this elite offensive force in Arizona. He wasn't, he had 2 very good seasons with one okay one and 3 terrible ones. His lifetime slash line is .265/.328/.433. He is coming off a .223/.309/.348 line from a year ago. Who knows if he can actually go back to being the player he was for 2 seasons out of 6 in his career before a gruesome injury. My guess is, he wont. With a better lineup around him, maybe he ends up as a .250/.320/.400 guy, but I dont see much more than that even if he's healthy, which we know he already isnt. I doubt Iggy posts a .700+OPS in a single season, ever, but it isnt like you're dropping from Nomar to Mendoza here.

 

For once, I agree with you SFF. Iggy likely doesnt drop production from SS when the drop is from Drew to him. Hell, he might even add a bit. I think the sox were playing the value game again here, hoping Drew turned his career around and then they offer him a QO and get a pick for him

[Dojji]

He's 2 years removed from that surgery. I don't think it's that unreasonable to expect at least average defense and a decent amount of pop out of Drew last year.

[jung]

Well I have to say I was happy to see how freely Drew seemed to be moving before he got beaned. Seemed to be fine with the glove although I just was not able to see enough to determine what kind of range he still has out there.

 

Can't really tell what to expect out of him at the plate.

 

I do really like the way Iggy is wearing his new swing. Whatever chance he has to cross the Mendoza line appears to be linked to that new swing. Hate to see another guy's injury be the reason that a guy gets to play. But Iggy has had such a lousy time of it the last couple years, maybe it is falling into place for him this year. New swing, chance to play and show off...who knows?