A Realistic View at 2019: Part I

[Maxbialystock]

Friendly Fenway will not be so friendly based on the weather forecast, which indicates 45 degrees and light rain. The Sox will want to play as they get their rings today, but conditions will be tough.

 

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.

You know how it is with an April day

When the sun is out and the wind is still,

You're one month on in the middle of May.

But if you so much as dare to speak,

A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,

A wind comes off a frozen peak,

And you're two months back in the middle of March.

 

2 tramps in mud time

[vegasbob]

All five starters now have 2 starts.

Price: 12 innings, 8 ER's.

Eovaldi: 10 innings, 9 ER's.

Sale: 9 innings, 8 ER.

ERod: 8 innings, 11 ER.

Porcello: 7.1 innings, 11 ER.

 

Sale has the only quality start.

 

Truly perplexing and a total anomaly that all 5 would be so wildly off their normal game. The consistency does give some credence to the discussion about the ST time on the mound. Even then, this is one hard one to explain. It will be worth rechecking after the 6 game homestand, where weather may be a factor in overall performances.

[moonslav59]

... but in general, if his velocity stays in the upper 80s, he won't be able to live up to that title going forwards

 

Maybe--maybe not.

[Hitch]

We've got serious problems. I can understand the slow start from the pitchers, but we are poor in nearly every facet of the game right now.

[SCM33]

We've got serious problems. I can understand the slow start from the pitchers, but we are poor in nearly every facet of the game right now.

 

Yup, we are starting to get close to that area where if we dont turn it around.....we wont.

 

3-9 now....if in a week, we are 4-15 or something like that, we are in serious trouble. Id say we are one more poor week away from hitting the "oh s***" button. They look like they did in ST, awful.

 

Hopefully we can win a few games at home this week.

[Bellhorn04]

Something tells me Sandy Leon will be back on this team. His career CERA lead with these starters just keeps getting bigger.

[Northern Star]

We've got serious problems. I can understand the slow start from the pitchers, but we are poor in nearly every facet of the game right now.

 

Yet the team is largely unchanged from last season. What's different?

[SCM33]

Something tells me Sandy Leon will be back on this team. His career CERA lead with these starters just keeps getting bigger.

 

A s***** backup catcher (WHO NOBODY WANTED WHEN WAIVED) is not the difference. Leon sucks.

 

Every team in baseball had the chance to pick him up. Nobody wanted him. He isn't a secret weapon, hes a s***** backup catcher that is severely overpaid.

[fxkatt]

1) Leon is very sound, but last year he hit like .180. We should be able to carry him,though, given no other weak hitting spot in the lineup. This is also true of Vasquez, who hit around .210 last year but has a lifetime avg of .245 which is 4 points higher than the .241 average of both leagues last season.

 

2) We should definitely pick up ground on this home stand because we have 4 games with the Orioles who were predicted pre-season to lose more games than they did last year which was like 115 losses... maybe more.

[notin]

The Red Sox are 1-6 in games where they score first, with that one win coming in a 1-0 game in AZ. So therefore, the Sox are 0-6 in games where they score first and the other team scores at all...

[notin]

Something tells me Sandy Leon will be back on this team. His career CERA lead with these starters just keeps getting bigger.

 

But then who goes?

[SCM33]

1) Leon is very sound, but last year he hit like .180. We should be able to carry him,though, given no other weak hitting spot in the lineup. This is also true of Vasquez, who hit around .210 last year but has a lifetime avg of .245 which is 4 points higher than the .241 average of both leagues last season.

 

2) We should definitely pick up ground on this home stand because we have 4 games with the Orioles who were predicted pre-season to lose more games than they did last year which was like 115 losses... maybe more.

 

Almost all catchers are "very sound". Thats their job. We have a reputation for thinking our catchers are much better than the rest of baseball does.......Varitek, Mirabelli, Leon, Vasquez, Swihart.

 

Im guilty for believing the Vasquez and Swihart hype, but they are all in the same category........overhyped by us fans, and overlooked by the rest of baseball. Either we are really smart, we are really dumb or the rest of baseball is really dumb.

 

I think we are really dumb. The rest of baseball tells us what we need to know about our guys.

[SCM33]

Nobody, because Leon isnt coming back until September roster expansion.

 

They aren't getting rid of either catcher. Siwhart earned a chance to prove himself. Leon only hurts his opportunity. Leon is stuck in AAA for the remainder of his career.

[SCM33]

But then who goes?

 

Nobody, because Leon isnt coming back until September roster expansion.

 

They aren't getting rid of either catcher. Siwhart earned a chance to prove himself. Leon only hurts his opportunity. Leon is stuck in AAA for the remainder of his career.

[notin]

Nobody, because Leon isnt coming back until September roster expansion.

 

They aren't getting rid of either catcher. Siwhart earned a chance to prove himself. Leon only hurts his opportunity. Leon is stuck in AAA for the remainder of his career.

 

 

The pitching stuff does have a proven track record of pitching better when Leon is behind the plate.

 

The starters complete failure right now is probably more due to barely throwing in Spring Training games and not the catcher. But at some point, Leon might actually be back.

 

It’s not like Swihart and Vazquez are world-beaters back there...

[moonslav59]

... but in general, if his velocity stays in the upper 80s, he won't be able to live up to that title going forwards

 

1) He's thrown over 90 several times this year- true, it's not great but let's not exaggerate.

2) Sale has never been just a "thrower."

 

That being said, "in general," I'd worry if he never regains his normal velocity, and the "Freakin" might not be seen again.

[moonslav59]

Yup, we are starting to get close to that area where if we dont turn it around.....we wont.

 

3-9 now....if in a week, we are 4-15 or something like that, we are in serious trouble. Id say we are one more poor week away from hitting the "oh s***" button. They look like they did in ST, awful.

 

Hopefully we can win a few games at home this week.

 

There's no way we are even close to the point of no return.

 

[moonslav59]

Nobody, because Leon isnt coming back until September roster expansion.

 

They aren't getting rid of either catcher. Siwhart earned a chance to prove himself. Leon only hurts his opportunity. Leon is stuck in AAA for the remainder of his career.

 

Catchers get hurt all the time. We had 3 catchers on the roster all year, and we still had to call up Butler for a couple of games.

[notin]

There's no way we are even close to the point of no return.

 

 

 

People panic way too early. Someone called game 3 against Seattle a “must win” game last week. There is no such thing as a Must Win MLB game in March...

[Slasher9]

It won’t be much longer until Leon is back. May take a mysterious injury but it will be soon...

[moonslav59]

People panic way too early. Someone called game 3 against Seattle a “must win” game last week. There is no such thing as a Must Win MLB game in March...

 

...or June for that matter.

[moonslav59]

It won’t be much longer until Leon is back. May take a mysterious injury but it will be soon...

 

The image of Mirabelli being escorted into Fenway comes to mind, but I think we are a long way from calling Leon up, unless someone get legitimately hurt.

[moonslav59]

The pitching stuff does have a proven track record of pitching better when Leon is behind the plate.

 

The starters complete failure right now is probably more due to barely throwing in Spring Training games and not the catcher. But at some point, Leon might actually be back.

 

It’s not like Swihart and Vazquez are world-beaters back there...

 

Actually, just Sale and Price and a couple veteran RP'ers have a significant sample size and a proven track record of better performance with Leon. SCM33's point about Sale's velocity is valid.

 

I've been a big supporter of keeping Leon on the 25 man roster, but now that the choice has been made, I think we have to play it out a while longer (much longer) to give Swihart his chance, once and for all.

[Slasher9]

I don’t believe it will be swihart getting the phantom injury...

[moonslav59]

I don’t believe it will be swihart getting the phantom injury...

 

...nor will Vaz.

[moonslav59]

We're only like 3-4 games behind the wild card slot.

 

We need to relax.

 

Yes, we have played horribly, but we are not a bad or even average team.

 

[moonslav59]

Red Sox ace Chris Sale isn’t one for excuses, but skipper Alex Cora did offer up a possible explanation for Sale’s otherwise concerning recent velocity drop. The star lefty was dealing with illness in the run-up to his last start, which reduced his intra-start work and may also have affected him on gameday, Cora told reporters including Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (Twitter links). Sale’s velocity has trended back up in the first inning of today’s game, which is certainly a promising sign. There was also generally encouraging news for southpaw Brian Johnson, who was feared to have suffered a significant elbow injury. He’s actually just dealing with inflammation, so it seems reasonable to hope that a rest and rehab approach will allow him to get back to the mound in relatively short order.

[SoxnCycles]

I don’t believe it will be swihart getting the phantom injury...

 

As good as the staff was last year with Leon, I find it hard to believe that he'll be the easy fix.

The problems run deeper than who's behind the plate.

 

It was a sound idea to ease the starters along in ST.

But, even sound ideas backfire. The starters better start figuring it out without the team coming up with a phantom injury to bail them out.

[moonslav59]

I'm not so sure the problem is all that "deep."

 

It could just be a slow start, perhaps due to a light ST'ing workload, and maybe we'll see a rounding into form very soon.

 

(Fingers crossed.)

[jacksonianmarch]

We're only like 3-4 games behind the wild card slot.

 

We need to relax.

 

Yes, we have played horribly, but we are not a bad or even average team.

 

 

On paper, no. And you’re lucky that the AL really has 6 teams vying for 5 spots. And I’m not all that convinced the A’s can do it again. The WS hangover is a real thing. The Yanks right now are probably your toughest competitor, yet they’re down 11 players and hovering around that .500 mark. You should be surging and creating a big lead