Vazquez traded to Houston

[redsoxrules]

He's an upgrade on D over Renfroe- major or minor. Can we agree on that?

 

I don't disagree with that. I just don't feel he's a game changer on D like he used to be before.

[moonslav59]

I don't disagree with that. I just don't feel he's a game changer on D like he used to be before.

 

Certainly to a lesser degree, but he still made some very nice plays most RF'ers don't make, and he made some look easy, so maybe we didn't notice.

[sk7326]

Post-season wins and walk off wins - especially walk off wins when you enter the inning trailing - are different.

 

But straight up regular season saves seem so unemotional when they happen. It’s not like players celebrate each win with a dog pile of an emotional orgy. They walk around high-fiving each other with all the gusto and verve that my mailman has upon successfully delivering me my bills and junk mail. I’ve seen bigger celebrations for 8th grade graduation (which are a real thing in the Midwest), and those are not exactly rarities.

 

I do find it hard to believe that all this tension and pressure exist in these situations. At least not to the level fans want to believe it does…

 

But - most football games at the end are not wild celebrations ... and there is WAY more at stake in an individual game. But I am sure the pressure exists. After all, there are only 780 of these positions on earth ... and teams are constantly trying to replace you with a cheaper guy. (this is true in most real jobs, but even more in baseball as the owners have amply shown).

[sk7326]

The thing is, we improved at SS and 3B without changing who we had.

 

We greatly improved 2B defense with Story.

 

We greatly improved RF defense with JBJ.

 

Our 1B defense was atrocious. Our CF defense suffered with Kike's injury. Our LF defense was maybe the same as 2021- not great/not horrible.

 

I won't get into catcher D.

 

Obviously, something went wrong along the way to improving D.

 

Now - I need to be fair. The defense IS better ... going from 25th to 15th per fangraphs. So it has gone from actively harmful to "meh". And I think Fenway does confound UZR measurements for left fielders and might not be a great mousetrap there.

[moonslav59]

Now - I need to be fair. The defense IS better ... going from 25th to 15th per fangraphs. So it has gone from actively harmful to "meh". And I think Fenway does confound UZR measurements for left fielders and might not be a great mousetrap there.

 

As it turns out, defense isn't everything.