Your unsung heroes of the year so far

[Dojji]

Challenge: This is a great team that's gotten contributions from a lot of different players. Not all of them are really getting the attention they should have

 

Pick both a pitcher and a position player who have been very effective while flying under the radar and not getting the credit they deserve.

 

Pitcher: Brian Johnson. Has been a revelation as the 6th/7th starter. Showed a lot of improvement over previous seasons and has burned over 80 innings already this year between starting and relief. Has done a great job of stabilizing the rotation in the wake of injuries to E-Rod, Wright and Sale.

 

Position player: Brock Holt. I don't think people remember this, but there was some talk last offseason of trading or cutting Holt. Glad that did not happen. After a tough season last year, Holt has bounced back to vintage form, and has played a huge role in covering for the injuries we've sustained on the infield, especially at second base.

 

Holt has played everywhere on the field but pitcher, catcher and CF. When it's easier to list the positions you haven't played, you know you've been around a little.

 

He's not a superstar but we would have been a lot worse off with just about anyone else taking his place on the roster.

 

Honorable mentions: I considered Brasier for pitchers, but honestly, comparing where we'd be without Brasier vs where we'd be without Johnson, I have to give Johnson the edge.

 

I also considered Moreland as my unsung position player. It was basically between him and Holt, but I had to give the edge to Holt because of the versatility factor, and the fact that Moreland has been tailing off a bit lately.

Edited August 24, 2018 by Dojji

[moonslav59]

Pitcher: Barnes (still gets no respect)

 

Honorable Mention: Johnson/Velazquez

 

 

Everyday Player: Leon (still gets little respect)

 

Honorable Mention: Holt (I was one who suggested various trades with Holt as a "throw-in".)

[Dojji]

Solid picks, Moonslav. I agree, Barnes gets the short end here a lot. Probably because of the Kyle Farnsworth vibe he emits.

[Jasonbay44]

Pitchers - Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez are the easy options for me. Almost nothing was expected of these two guys coming into the season, and they've done a very good job all season. Hell, a lot of people thought Johnson was a DFA candidate early in the season. He deserves a lot of props for his season

 

Honorable mention: I agree with Barnes. I wasn't a big fan of him coming into the season, but I have 0 complaints about him this year, he doesn't get the credit he deserves for how good he's been.

 

Position players: I would say the bench in general. There has been a lot of injuries, and a lot of shuffling around the lineup, and these guys have done solid job filling in. Leon has had a massive workload, and has continued to be great defensively. Pearce is fantastic bench bat and has played pretty solid 1B, Holt as mentioned has been great. Swihart has improved a lot and has had some big hits lately. Nunez hasn't been very good, but at the very least he provides versatility and he sounds like a great clubhouse guy and teammate.. and at the least he hustles every play, and that has to be worth something IMO.

[Jasonbay44]

Also, regarding Holt, many wanted him DFA/Cut/sent down during the season lol. I'm glad we held onto him. I was probably a bit harsh on him early in the season, but he's a great bench piece and his teammates love him.

[Bellhorn04]

The Three Stooges

[Bellhorn04]

But seriously, I'd probably have to go with Leon.

[notin]

Barnes has more fWAR (1.5) this year than Kimbrel (1.1).

 

Pearce has more fWAR per plate appearance this year than JD Martinez. In face, only Betts has more fWAR per plate appearance than Pearce. The only argument against Pearce is the small sample size, but he has definitely been a stellar acquisition so far and certainly deserves some mention for an unsung hero candidate...

[OH FOY]

David Price. With Sale with only 1 start after All-Star Break, Price took over as a Shutdown Starter, since he went down. Team 6-0 in his starts since Sale went down, 4-0 in decisions, 1.09 ERA since Post All-Star game, there was still a lot of baseball left. We needed a Starter, to stop losing streaks, with Sale down.

[Dojji]

Good call on Price. His last couple years have given him a bit of a bad impression, as a bit of a misfit and locker room outsider. It has indeed been nice to see him step up and take a leadership role in the rotation in the absence of Sale.

[moonslav59]

David Price. With Sale with only 1 start after All-Star Break, Price took over as a Shutdown Starter, since he went down. Team 6-0 in his starts since Sale went down, 4-0 in decisions, 1.09 ERA since Post All-Star game, there was still a lot of baseball left. We needed a Starter, to stop losing streaks, with Sale down.

 

I thought of Price, but at $30+M/yr, I think I still expected him to regain his form. Good points, though.

[OH FOY]

Here's just a funny thought on just eye balls. Since he stopped following Sale in Starts, since Sale went down, Price took off. Wondering if its a good idea to break up the Starts between Sale and Price. In other words, Sale then maybe Rick P, then go back to Price. So teams don't have Lefty-Lefty, going against them. Might be easy for teams to Gage Price after following Sale.

Just a thought.

[notin]

I thought of Price, but at $30+M/yr, I think I still expected him to regain his form. Good points, though.

 

Price and the bounceback year from Porcello were guys I thought of as well, but I eliminated both because of their salary and expectations.

 

I do like Holt as a candidate, since we have gone all year with Pedroia and Holt has done a good job as a fill-in...

[Station 13]

Price's ERA 2.84 vs teams not MFY. He pitch well his last game against them, scoreless for 6+. We have 3 horses in the rotation, the team is up 9, so waiting on Sale is okay.

[OH FOY]

I like Holt too. In this Poll. I think he's very underrated.

[Nick]

I thought of Price, but at $30+M/yr, I think I still expected him to regain his form. Good points, though.

 

Price did not put gun to anyone's head to get his 7 year, $210M deal. Just saying.

 

On the heels of 2 last place finishes and essentially in his first full season coming up as President of baseball operations, DD did what he thought he had to do. Overpaid? Sure but it's always easier after the fact to evaluate the money given out.

 

Unless someone here can predict the future, you have no case against the signing. Some of you must be able to predict the highs and lows of stock market. How many millionaires on this board?

 

Sox will extend the Division champion streak to all time best 3 this year. I'm happy Price is on the team. Now let's talk about Pablo.

Edited August 24, 2018 by Nick

[Maxbialystock]

Funny how we all know what "unsung hero" means, but few if any know where the idea comes from. I would argue that the first "sung" heroes were from Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey. I think most historians agree those sagas were originally an oral and not a written creation. "Unsung" is a word we owe to Shakespeare, who was the first known writer to regularly stick that "un" at the beginning of a word and thereby vastly increased our vocabulary.

 

Given the above, there are literally no unsung heroes on this Sox team because every single player is discussed endlessly and especially when they do something well in front of the NESN commentators and the Boston press in general.

 

Nevertheless, the word "unsung" has a lot of connotations and in the context of the thread title entirely appropriate to invite discussion about players who get less press and less appreciation but who nonetheless contributed to a remarkable, maybe even historic Sox season.

 

I would like to take that one step further and recognize those who perhaps deserve to remain unsung, and would begin with Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez because I think their departures--even though the Sox are still paying them lots of moola--helped this current team. We needed them gone and DD (and this year Cora) deserve our thanks.

 

I would also nominate Swihart and Pomeranz because for most of this season I for one thought that were wasted slots on the roster. Swihart lately has made DD and Cora look like geniuses even though he is still a bit player. Yesterday was a perfect example of Cora's genius and Swihart's stunning versatility despite having played the fewest games of anyone on the roster all year. As for Pomeranz, I still don't like him, but give him and Cora credit for trying to contribute from the bullpen.

 

All that said, I basically agree with those above who singled out Leon, Barnes, Johnson, Velazquez and maybe Holt. But especially Leon.

[OH FOY]

Hanley Ramirez. With him gone this team took off. They play different, and liking it.

[Slasher9]

Price. as his biggest detractor - he has shut me up and i love it. keep shutting me up right to the duckboats.

Holt. I wanted him DFA'd earlier this season.

BJ. everyone loves a BJ.

Cora. very minimal "rookie" mistakes.

if we have a parade Braz man might end up being the true "unsung hero".....

[bosoxmal]

Best post of the year! I go for the Kid whp plays LF like he owns it,hits .300 with power, andsteals bases

 

No, he is not in the "un-sung" category, but the strides have been huge!

[moonslav59]

Price did not put gun to anyone's head to get his 7 year, $210M deal. Just saying.

 

On the heels of 2 last place finishes and essentially in his first full season coming up as President of baseball operations, DD did what he thought he had to do. Overpaid? Sure but it's always easier after the fact to evaluate the money given out.

 

Unless someone here can predict the future, you have no case against the signing. Some of you must be able to predict the highs and lows of stock market. How many millionaires on this board?

 

Sox will extend the Division champion streak to all time best 3 this year. I'm happy Price is on the team. Now let's talk about Pablo.

 

I actually made a good living playing the stocks for about 7 years.

 

I was fine with the Price signing. We needed an ace, and he was one of the best to come on the market in years.

[moonslav59]

Here's just a funny thought on just eye balls. Since he stopped following Sale in Starts, since Sale went down, Price took off. Wondering if its a good idea to break up the Starts between Sale and Price. In other words, Sale then maybe Rick P, then go back to Price. So teams don't have Lefty-Lefty, going against them. Might be easy for teams to Gage Price after following Sale.

Just a thought.

 

Nice observation.

 

I once did a study on starts after Wake and founf a 0.50 lower starter ERA in those games.

[sk7326]

Pitcher: Hector Velasquez. This is not difficult. The Red Sox have asked him to do a lot of things, and he has been consistently very effective. Given his stuff, I worry about whether it will continue to hold up, but he deserves this.

 

Position: Moreland/Pearce. The tag team has allowed them to have a very productive 1B position for considerably less money than him and Ramirez. It has not been sexy but it has been very effective - and on a team which has had trouble getting offense from C and 2B for a lot of the season, the depth helped.

[notin]

I was fine with the Price signing. We needed an ace, and he was one of the best to come on the market in years.

 

Well, the best to come on the market in one year. I would argue (successfully) that Scherzer was the better pitcher...

[sk7326]

Well, the best to come on the market in one year. I would argue (successfully) that Scherzer was the better pitcher...

 

I'd put it this way - the Price deal has "not" worked out ... that is, this was a below-median outcome for his first 3 years. That said, if a "bad" outcome is that he is more a fringy 2/excellent #3, that's not shabby.

[OH FOY]

Nice observation.

 

I once did a study on starts after Wake and founf a 0.50 lower starter ERA in those games.

Thanks, Moon.

[vegasbob]

With a look forward as well as back, I think Ryan Brasier has been the most unsung pitching surprise . He has worked his way into the 8th inning setup man role. If he can keep up his effectiveness , he could be big help in the playoffs.

 

In the position player unsung role, I will take Eduardo Nunez in a very close call over Brock Holt. Never Nunez to all his haters, he has played virtually full time at two positions where the expected incumbents (Pedroia/ 21 yr old Devers) have not been able to get or stay on the field. No way Eduardo was expected to play a full season hit above .250, 30 XBH and could have 50 rbi's by year end. Brock is doing what we saw Brock do a couple years ago and no question his value but he is playing to what could be expected of him, more so than Nunez.

[Maxbialystock]

David Price. With Sale with only 1 start after All-Star Break, Price took over as a Shutdown Starter, since he went down. Team 6-0 in his starts since Sale went down, 4-0 in decisions, 1.09 ERA since Post All-Star game, there was still a lot of baseball left. We needed a Starter, to stop losing streaks, with Sale down.

 

Pretty smart. I think you could be right about following Sale. Both are tall lefties who throw hard. Sale throws more sliders and changeups. Price more cut fastballs. But both like that four seamer. Because of his salary, you are also right about the unsung aspect of Price. I have griped as much as anyone, mostly because of the salary.

[Kimmi]

David Price. With Sale with only 1 start after All-Star Break, Price took over as a Shutdown Starter, since he went down. Team 6-0 in his starts since Sale went down, 4-0 in decisions, 1.09 ERA since Post All-Star game, there was still a lot of baseball left. We needed a Starter, to stop losing streaks, with Sale down.

 

Price is the first guy that came to my mind when I was reading the opening post.

 

I would have to go with him and Leon.

 

It's nice to see that Holt is getting some love again.

[Kimmi]

Price's ERA 2.84 vs teams not MFY. He pitch well his last game against them, scoreless for 6+. We have 3 horses in the rotation, the team is up 9, so waiting on Sale is okay.

 

Price is getting to the point where he should be in the Cy Young discussions. He won't win it because he lags behind the top contenders due to his start of the season, but I think he is working his way into the discussion.