A Realistic View of 2023: Part II

[moonslav59]

Another winter "near miss" for Bloom, apparently...

 

The Mets and Red Sox each “pushed hard” to sign Willi Castro this past offseason, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reports (Twitter link), but the utilityman chose to sign a minor league deal with the Twins. The move has nicely paid off for both the player and the team, as Castro has hit .258/.324/.452 over 103 plate appearances for Minnesota, with two of his four home runs coming in today’s win over the Blue Jays. Castro’s versatility has also been a boost to an injury-riddled Twins club, as he has seen action as a shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, and in all three outfield positions.

 

-MLBTR

[moonslav59]

I may have to rethink my belief that we should have an easier time catching Texas than Houston and Baltimore than the Yanks.

 

The second place team from the ALW might be too hard to pass, no matter who it is.

 

BAL may have lost Mullins, today, and are still a couple games up on the Yanks, but with all the Yanks out hurt, maybe setting our sites on them as the number one target makes the most sense.

 

Of course, Sox fans don't need an extra reason to hope the Yanks lose, but when they play BAL, HOU or TEX, I think we may need them to lose for us to have the best chance.

 

One week could change all this, or course.

[notin]

Another winter "near miss" for Bloom, apparently...

 

The Mets and Red Sox each “pushed hard” to sign Willi Castro this past offseason, Darren Wolfson of SKOR North reports (Twitter link), but the utilityman chose to sign a minor league deal with the Twins. The move has nicely paid off for both the player and the team, as Castro has hit .258/.324/.452 over 103 plate appearances for Minnesota, with two of his four home runs coming in today’s win over the Blue Jays. Castro’s versatility has also been a boost to an injury-riddled Twins club, as he has seen action as a shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, and in all three outfield positions.

 

-MLBTR

 

Not sure what “pushed hard” means, but how hard was that push when it lost out to a minor league contract?

[Nick]

Not sure what “pushed hard” means, but how hard was that push when it lost out to a minor league contract?

 

So if we miss out on playoffs, this is why.

 

At least he wasn't hurt. Probably why we didn't pursue him harder.

[Nick]

Ok this thing with winning a series that TV heads love to talk about but has no relevance.

 

It's been bugging me.

 

In a 3 game series, if you win all 3 games, then you can reverse previous serires 'loss' as a serires win. The reverse is true if you lose all 3 games.

 

So in our recent road trip where we went 2-1 in series win, because we lost all 3 games to the Angels, it essentially turned one of the series win to a loss. Thus we went 1-2, which coincides wwith our 4-5 record.

 

Any questions?

[Nick]

Vaz hitting around .550 OPS.

 

3 years $30M. Yikes.

[Bellhorn04]

Ok this thing with winning a series that TV heads love to talk about but has no relevance.

 

It's been bugging me.

 

In a 3 game series, if you win all 3 games, then you can reverse previous serires 'loss' as a serires win. The reverse is true if you lose all 3 games.

 

So in our recent road trip where we went 2-1 in series win, because we lost all 3 games to the Angels, it essentially turned one of the series win to a loss. Thus we went 1-2, which coincides wwith our 4-5 record.

 

Any questions?

 

Winning a series matters in the playoffs.

[Bellhorn04]

Not sure what “pushed hard” means, but how hard was that push when it lost out to a minor league contract?

 

LOL good question. The BS they try to feed us.

[Old Red]

Option 3 Party like it's 2018

 

JDM & Eovaldi

 

(Damn, my hindsight is good from the armchair.)

 

JD hit his 11 HR last night, and now has 36 RBI. He’s still got some life in the old bat.

[notin]

Winning a series matters in the playoffs.

 

Winning a series only matters in the playoffs…

[Bellhorn04]

Winning a series only matters in the playoffs…

 

Don't tell the 1972 Sox that, though.

 

It's more of a general rule than an absolute.

[Old Red]

Don't tell the 1972 Sox that, though.

 

It's more of a general rule than an absolute.

I still can’t believe that the powers at be in MLB didn’t have everyone play the same amount of games.

[Randy Red Sox]

So does Justin Turner who makes less than JDM I believe

[Nick]

I still can’t believe that the powers at be in MLB didn’t have everyone play the same amount of games.

 

What about the Reds with the best record in the strike season?

 

But they failed to win neither the first half and the second half and therby missing the playoffs?

[Bellhorn04]

So does Justin Turner who makes less than JDM I believe

 

Turner 2 years $10.85 mill AAV .769 OPS 107 OPS+

JDM 1 year $10 mill AAV .910 OPS 137 OPS+

[Old Red]

Winning a series matters in the playoffs.

 

I believe the Red Sox are 11-5-1 so far this season, which sounds better than 3 games over 500.

[Hugh2]

Everyone and their mother thought JDM was toast after last season. I don't think anyone can really fault the Sox from moving on from him, and while Turner doesn't have quite the same stat line.....he's been fine. I'd be willing to be their OPS are closer to each other by the end of the year as well. His K rate is the highest it's ever been, and his BB rate is the lowest, and I highly doubt he's going to continue SLG .596 the rest of the season. If he does......good for him.

[Hugh2]

I believe the Red Sox are 11-5-1 so far this season, which sounds better than 3 games over 500.

 

It's those freaking sweeps that are really hurting this team.

 

Sometimes it's how good you can perform when things are going BAD that can define your season. So you didn't have it vs. St. Louis or TB, but being able to steal at least 1 game in each of those series are the types of wins that can go a long way come September.

[Old Red]

Everyone and their mother thought JDM was toast after last season. I don't think anyone can really fault the Sox from moving on from him, and while Turner doesn't have quite the same stat line.....he's been fine. I'd be willing to be their OPS are closer to each other by the end of the year as well. His K rate is the highest it's ever been, and his BB rate is the lowest, and I highly doubt he's going to continue SLG .596 the rest of the season. If he does......good for him.

 

Turner can also fill in at 3B, and 1B, which helps too. Good for JD though.

[mvp 78]

Turner can also fill in at 3B, and 1B, which helps too. Good for JD though.

 

I agree. I'd rather have guys that can DH and play the field.

[notin]

I agree. I'd rather have guys that can DH and play the field.

 

Agreed.

 

Although the Dodgers don’t seem to need that level of versatility.

 

The Martinez-Turner swap (not a trade as both were FA) looks like it made sense for both teams…

[Bellhorn04]

I agree. I'd rather have guys that can DH and play the field.

 

I was kind of a fan of David Ortiz, myself.

[Bellhorn04]

Everyone and their mother thought JDM was toast after last season. I don't think anyone can really fault the Sox from moving on from him, and while Turner doesn't have quite the same stat line.....he's been fine. I'd be willing to be their OPS are closer to each other by the end of the year as well. His K rate is the highest it's ever been, and his BB rate is the lowest, and I highly doubt he's going to continue SLG .596 the rest of the season. If he does......good for him.

 

And yet JD had a higher OPS last year than Turner does this year, so maybe his 2022 wasn't that bad.

[Dipre]

And yet JD had a higher OPS last year than Turner does this year, so maybe his 2022 wasn't that bad.

 

He can't play the field, and, it's May.

[Dipre]

I was kind of a fan of David Ortiz, myself.

 

I liked the part where he played a competent 1B in WS games.

[moonslav59]

History doesn’t always repeat itself but Turner has been a second half hitter most of his career and was one of MLBs best second half hitters, last year. JD has not always faded in the second half, but he did last year. I would bet against Turner passing JD

[notin]

I was kind of a fan of David Ortiz, myself.

 

Hall of Famer does trump versatility…

[Bellhorn04]

He can't play the field, and, it's May.

 

Oh I know, I was really only addressing the point about everyone saying JD was toast after last year. I never said it, I know that much.

 

The Turner signing was fine, I agree with that.

[Bellhorn04]

History doesn’t always repeat itself but Turner has been a second half hitter most of his career and was one of MLBs best second half hitters, last year. JD has not always faded in the second half, but he did last year. I would bet against Turner passing JD

 

I'm guessing that's not what you actually mean.

[moonslav59]

I'm guessing that's not what you actually mean.

 

I missed a not.