6/22 @ Minosootuh

[notin]

A bit shaky, but Walters did a nice job today and let the bullpen reset. 6 2/3 relief innings.

 

He was better than I thought he’d be…

[moonslav59]

The Sox aren’t a bad defensive team because they don’t make great plays. They are a bad defensive team because they don’t make enough routine plays. They don’t turn a DP for some reason. Throw to the wrong base and give up an extra base. Stuff like that. Stuff that doesn’t even show up in the box score as an error

 

Those championship teams didn’t make those mistakes. They made the routine plays.

 

Exactly, and when people look at the high ERA of our pitchers, they should factor in all the extra outs they needed to make, above and beyond charged errors.

[moonslav59]

moonslav has said the same things repeatedly. But the simple fact is that the Sox have won 4 WS titles (and ended the 86 year curse) in the John Henry era primarily with terrific hitting and now and then pretty good pitching. Defense was always secondary.

 

And I'll tell you why, so pay attention. Hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely is extremely difficult to do--according to Ted Williams--and even harder when the ball is coming in hard with all manner of spins on it. And pitching, if anything, is even harder to do well because you are stuck with that miniscule rectangle, plus the tremendous effort it takes to throw that ball hard with the right spins, etc. Thus the advent of Tommy John surgery.

 

As for the defense, most of those plays are just routine grounders, popups, lazy fly balls, liners hit right to someone, etc. There are tons of good defensive players in the minors today who are just as good defensively as their MLB counterparts. They can't get to MLB because they can't hit, which is much harder to do.

 

Also, until this season, MLB teams were making defense even easier by using computers to predict where hitters normally hit grounders/liners/fly ball.

 

Here is a look at our worst, best and in between defensive teams since 2003:

 

BY DRS

-57 '06

-56 '09

-35 '05

-26 '04

-22 '03

 

The "in between"

-4 '22

-2 '15

0 '10

1 '20

2 '07

4 '21

5 '19

 

10 '18 In between or best?

 

17 '08

18 '11

22 '13

51 '14

64 '12

69 '16

79 '17

 

Hard to find a pattern between rings and good or bad D with the Sox. The worst teams on D were under Theo.

 

Bad

-8.8 '04

-6.6 '03

-2.5 '10

-2.5 '22

-2.3 '06

-1.8 '15

-1.3 '05

 

OK

0.6 '09

0.9 '20

1.4 '21

2.4 '07

2.6 '13

3.1 '17

3.3 '19

3.6 '12

 

Good

5.2 '16

5.3 '11

6.7 '18

7.2 '08

7.2 '14

 

Again, I see no pattern linked to rings and good or bad D- for the Sox.

 

 

[mvp 78]

@alexspeier

Alex Cora said Brandon Walter's outing reminded him of Ryan Yarbrough's ability to manipulate the ball and work to the edges.

[moonslav59]

@alexspeier

Alex Cora said Brandon Walter's outing reminded him of Ryan Yarbrough's ability to manipulate the ball and work to the edges.

 

Good to see him get a chance. He 23 and was a part of the Hosmer and Ferguson for Groome trade. He is hitting .805 OPS with 26 SBs.

 

 

[Bellhorn04]

Good to see him get a chance. He 23 and was a part of the Hosmer and Ferguson for Groome trade. He is hitting .805 OPS with 26 SBs.

 

 

 

Sorry, what?

[Maxbialystock]

A bit shaky, but Walters did a nice job today and let the bullpen reset. 6 2/3 relief innings.

 

Agree completely.

[moonslav59]

Sorry, what?

 

I thought I was responding to MVPs post about Rosier being promoted to AAA. Somehow, the threads got switched on me.

 

LOL

[moonslav59]

Agree completely.

 

Two surprises from Murphy then Walter, both who were struggling in the minors, this year.

[Tedballgame]

I am so glad that I played golf today instead of watching the Red Sox. What a waste of time that would have been.

[Maxbialystock]

I am so glad that I played golf today instead of watching the Red Sox. What a waste of time that would have been.

 

I was busy with errands, but could have made time if I had seen the Sox show signs of life.

[Jasonbay44]

This is one of those guys I’m glad I was working during.

[Dipre]

I was not thanked for my sacrifice. We all knew I was committing seppuku starting this GT.

[mvp 78]

I was not thanked for my sacrifice. We all knew I was committing seppuku starting this GT.

 

Seems like a skill issue?

[Dipre]

Seems like a skill issue?

 

Need to Git Gud.