What has happened to Bradley Jr?

[Nick]

bingo!

 

I'd hold out on extending Xander. Boras client. Hitting .219 and .231 last two months. Not getting on base for Ortiz and Betts. Looks more and more medicore to me. How long will his batting slump last? He's just an average shortstop defensively.

 

Extend Betts. Give him what he wants.

[cp176]

wait wait wait - One of the things I am saying is do not trade Bradley for anybody. We have Price and Porcello - not a bad start. Personally I still count benintendi and moncada as prospects. I would trade either or both a long time before i would trade any of the 3 I previously mentioned. If someone was willing to give up a top quality young ace for prospects plus second tier players, i could live with that if the return was great enough. i'm beating the tired old drum here and I realize I might be on a bit of an island but if they replaced Papi's bat with top quality and did nothing else I would be ok with it. i truly believe that having the big bat in the middle of our lineup makes them all better hitters.

 

Ok ok - I get it - I wouldn't trade that little s*** Benintendi either! Put him in left and maybe leave him there for a few years!

[Nick]

Benintendi with a 3 run Homer to shut down the O's....He's a keeper.

[Maxbialystock]

Jackie obviously had a tremendous first half of the season including the 29-game hitting streak where he was making solid contact it seems on every at bat while hitting over .400. Then, just when the hitting streak ended, his swing abandoned him. And from that date to the present he is hitting just a tad over .200.

 

What has caused this abrupt turnaround? Is he too concerned with putting up power numbers, or has he just lost his confidence, or was taking him out of the #9 hole had the effect of changing his mindset, or is it the newly acquired role and demand of fatherhood, or is it simply a player coming back to earth and returning to being the weak-hitting/defensive-whiz center fielder as that which he earlier showed himself to be???????

 

I find it incomprehensible that a player, sans injury or succumbing to the age factor, can ostensibly go from a glittering star in the galaxy to a burned out meteor tumbling to earth!

 

I onder if our OP now sees that the incomprehensible thing was in his own mind. Others did comprehend, and JBJ is fine.

[moonslav59]

wait wait wait - One of the things I am saying is do not trade Bradley for anybody. We have Price and Porcello - not a bad start. Personally I still count benintendi and moncada as prospects. I would trade either or both a long time before i would trade any of the 3 I previously mentioned. If someone was willing to give up a top quality young ace for prospects plus second tier players, i could live with that if the return was great enough. i'm beating the tired old drum here and I realize I might be on a bit of an island but if they replaced Papi's bat with top quality and did nothing else I would be ok with it. i truly believe that having the big bat in the middle of our lineup makes them all better hitters.

 

i can't disagree. We've always had at least one "big bat" in the middle of the line-up during championship years. It takes a great leap of faith to imagine a way for a team playing in a hitter's park to win without a stud up 3rd and/or 4th.

 

Looking at the league leaders in wRC+ and seeing Papi second only to Trout speaks volumes of his ability and performance level. The Cubs have 2 guys in the top 10 (Bryant 6th and Rizzo 10th. The Tigers have #9 (JD Martinez) and #11 (Miggy). The Jays have Donaldson at #4 and EE at #17. The mariners have Crus (14) and Seager (19). The only other team with two in the top 21 is the Sox with Papi at #2 and Betts at #21.

 

Taking Papi away gives us one in the top 21 and 2 in the top 28 (HanRam). With Cano at #24, only the Mariners have 3 guys in the top 28.

 

One bright spot is the fact that we are the only team with 5 players in the top 37 with JBJ 34th and Pedey #37. The Cubs and Ms have 3. The Tigers, Rockies and jays have 2, and the Jays may be losing EE.

 

Perhaps winning with balance is an option. We also have Bogey at #66.

 

Let's lower the PAs to 210 to create a sample size of 330 players (an average of 11 per team). Here's how the Sox rank:

 

2 Ortiz 166

23 Young 136

26 Leon 135

27 Betts 134

40 Ram 130

46 JBJ 124

51 Pedey 123

(Even without Papi in the league, we have 5 in the top 45 and 6 in the top 50.)

 

103 Bogey 113

204 Shaw 93

229 Holt 89

 

If our youth improves as most do at their ages, maybe we can find 2 big bats in the top 10 or 20. Maybe we can win by placing 3 or 4 in the top 25 to 35.

 

I feel good about our future. I feel good about our balanced offense.

 

It's going to hurt big time losing Papi, but there's still a reason to be optimistic about the near future of this team. I haven't even mentioned Beni, Moncada, Swihart and other youngsters on the rise that could make a near immediate impact.

 

[Emp9]

i can't disagree. We've always had at least one "big bat" in the middle of the line-up during championship years. It takes a great leap of faith to imagine a way for a team playing in a hitter's park to win without a stud up 3rd and/or 4th.

 

Looking at the league leaders in wRC+ and seeing Papi second only to Trout speaks volumes of his ability and performance level. The Cubs have 2 guys in the top 10 (Bryant 6th and Rizzo 10th. The Tigers have #9 (JD Martinez) and #11 (Miggy). The Jays have Donaldson at #4 and EE at #17. The mariners have Crus (14) and Seager (19). The only other team with two in the top 21 is the Sox with Papi at #2 and Betts at #21.

 

Taking Papi away gives us one in the top 21 and 2 in the top 28 (HanRam). With Cano at #24, only the Mariners have 3 guys in the top 28.

 

One bright spot is the fact that we are the only team with 5 players in the top 37 with JBJ 34th and Pedey #37. The Cubs and Ms have 3. The Tigers, Rockies and jays have 2, and the Jays may be losing EE.

 

Perhaps winning with balance is an option. We also have Bogey at #66.

 

Let's lower the PAs to 210 to create a sample size of 330 players (an average of 11 per team). Here's how the Sox rank:

 

2 Ortiz 166

23 Young 136

26 Leon 135

27 Betts 134

40 Ram 130

46 JBJ 124

51 Pedey 123

(Even without Papi in the league, we have 5 in the top 45 and 6 in the top 50.)

 

103 Bogey 113

204 Shaw 93

229 Holt 89

 

If our youth improves as most do at their ages, maybe we can find 2 big bats in the top 10 or 20. Maybe we can win by placing 3 or 4 in the top 25 to 35.

 

I feel good about our future. I feel good about our balanced offense.

 

It's going to hurt big time losing Papi, but there's still a reason to be optimistic about the near future of this team. I haven't even mentioned Beni, Moncada, Swihart and other youngsters on the rise that could make a near immediate impact.

 

 

Good info here nice post. I think Betts will be high on this list for a very long time w/ XB climbing his way up it sooner than later as time goes on. Still think the best XB has yet to be seen. Curious what a full season of Beni might bring us as well. Lots of reasons to be optimistic but Papi retiring still hurts. We might have to sign EE to help keep the status quo.

[moonslav59]

Good info here nice post. I think Betts will be high on this list for a very long time w/ XB climbing his way up it sooner than later as time goes on. Still think the best XB has yet to be seen. Curious what a full season of Beni might bring us as well. Lots of reasons to be optimistic but Papi retiring still hurts. We might have to sign EE to help keep the status quo.

 

I think Bogey represents the best chance to see a big improvement next year. He showed a long stretch of doing well this year. I hope it's not an endurance issue, but maybe if it is, he can address that in the off season by changing his workout routine.

 

I, too, see Beni as a guy that may totally blast onto the scene with a ROY type season. If he does, that alone could make up for a lot of Papi's loss.

 

I get the concern about worrying about all these "what ifs", like what if 2-3 of our top players have a down year next year. Well, if that happens, we probably wouldn't have much of a chance even if we had Papi back giving us a replicate of 2016.

 

I think our second half pitching staff is what we will see all next year, and we pretty much did all this without Wright and Carson Smith. Plus, Uehara and Taz were out or ineffective for much of it, so their loss does not have a major impact on what the staff has done in the second half. I'm pretty certain we replace uehara, Taz and Ziegler with 2-3 very capable pen arms beyond Smith, Kelly, Scott and others who might step up from within the system. We could see major strides made by Barnes or Hembree next year. We could see Wright or Buch in the pen.

 

[moonslav59]

Let's lower the PAs to 210 to create a sample size of 330 players (an average of 11 per team). Here's how the Sox rank:

 

2 Ortiz 166

23 Young 136

26 Leon 135

27 Betts 134

40 Ram 130

46 JBJ 124

51 Pedey 123

(Even without Papi in the league, we have 5 in the top 45 and 6 in the top 50.)

 

Even if you take away Leon and count Young as only good vs LHPs (half a player), we will still have 4.5 guys from the top 50 in MLB (out of 330).

 

My guess is Beni will be a top 50 or 60 player out of 330 on offense next year, so one could easily argue we might have 5-6 top 50 offensive players next year.

[oldtimer]

I think Bogey represents the best chance to see a big improvement next year. He showed a long stretch of doing well this year. I hope it's not an endurance issue, but maybe if it is, he can address that in the off season by changing his workout routine.

 

I, too, see Beni as a guy that may totally blast onto the scene with a ROY type season. If he does, that alone could make up for a lot of Papi's loss.

 

I get the concern about worrying about all these "what ifs", like what if 2-3 of our top players have a down year next year. Well, if that happens, we probably wouldn't have much of a chance even if we had Papi back giving us a replicate of 2016.

 

I think our second half pitching staff is what we will see all next year, and we pretty much did all this without Wright and Carson Smith. Plus, Uehara and Taz were out or ineffective for much of it, so their loss does not have a major impact on what the staff has done in the second half. I'm pretty certain we replace uehara, Taz and Ziegler with 2-3 very capable pen arms beyond Smith, Kelly, Scott and others who might step up from within the system. We could see major strides made by Barnes or Hembree next year. We could see Wright or Buch in the pen.

 

 

While Hembree and Barnes have good arms (stuff), they seem to get frazzled under pressure. Too much nibbling and missing. I am not too sure that either will be solid in relief. I have also been a supporter of Abad, but with his obvious talent, he too has problems with pressure. Neither Uehara or Scott throw hard, but they are very effective. Scott is primarily a lefty option whereas Uehara has been great with his control and splitter. Uehara is probably not back and we will sorely miss him but I am all for looking for additional quality RP's to replace likely losses and to upgrade where we are weak. Maybe Smith will fill one role, but I see a need for at least 2 other arms.

[moonslav59]

While Hembree and Barnes have good arms (stuff), they seem to get frazzled under pressure. Too much nibbling and missing. I am not too sure that either will be solid in relief. I have also been a supporter of Abad, but with his obvious talent, he too has problems with pressure. Neither Uehara or Scott throw hard, but they are very effective. Scott is primarily a lefty option whereas Uehara has been great with his control and splitter. Uehara is probably not back and we will sorely miss him but I am all for looking for additional quality RP's to replace likely losses and to upgrade where we are weak. Maybe Smith will fill one role, but I see a need for at least 2 other arms.

 

I totally agree, but I will say that maybe more experience will help Barnes and Hembree improve "under pressure".