A Realistic View of 2024: Part II

[gojohn99]

Yes, speculation, but I'll save it for the 2027 season and see how wrong it is. Your use of non-standard spelling for leep and heep further discounts Dever's opportunities. Age 27 should be a tremendous asset to him , so hope it is

 

Time will tell...

[gojohn99]

Red Sox wasted $72,000,000 on Rusney Castillo and now $90,000,000 on Yoshida.

 

Don't forget Pablo Sandoval and Carl Crawford! A lots of teams waste money, but it sure does seem like the Red Sox make a lot of mistakes in contracts.

[moonslav59]

Jacques DFA'd.

 

See, there is a difference between Bloom & Brez.

[Oscars]

Don't forget Pablo Sandoval and Carl Crawford! A lots of teams waste money, but it sure does seem like the Red Sox make a lot of mistakes in contracts.

 

Gotta add Chris Sale’s extension to the list of hideous Red Sox contracts

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

The fact that Sox management could not find the money to pay Mookie, but found it for Story and Yoshida , says something about their poor judgement.

 

When they decided not to pay Mookie, I predicted they'd soon blow the same money on a lesser mug -- but it didn't take a Nostril Dumbass like me to make such a claim.

 

Look at Sox history: Matt Young, Matt Clement, Matt Barnes -- is it any wonder they're habitual doormats?

[Tedballgame]

Gotta add Chris Sale’s extension to the list of hideous Red Sox contracts

 

Mike Cameron was a bad contract.

[Larry Cook]

McGuire and Wong are really getting some good swings! Looks like they really like pitches inside

[notin]

The fact that Sox management could not find the money to pay Mookie, but found it for Story and Yoshida , says something about their poor judgement.

 

Story and Yoshida together do still make over $100mill less than Mookie. And that’s not factoring in the luxury tax that they would have incurred by keeping Betts.

 

If the Sox wanted to extend Betts, it should have been done long before Henry decided to go cheap…

[moonslav59]

Mike Cameron was a bad contract.

 

Jose Awfulman

[dgalehouse]

Story and Yoshida together do still make over $100mill less than Mookie. And that’s not factoring in the luxury tax that they would have incurred by keeping Betts.

 

If the Sox wanted to extend Betts, it should have been done long before Henry decided to go cheap…

 

Only because of Mookie's contract being longer.

[moonslav59]

I remember talking about how much the Sox had built up the deeper depth on the 40 and the farm from how bad it was in 2020. It seemed building up the bottom of the 40 was at the expense of the top of the 40, but that's already been hashed and rehashed.

 

Now, I'm not so sure the bottom 40 improvement trend has continued. I liked some of Brez's additions, but some like Campbell have not looked good, in a very short sample size.

 

Here is the bottom of the 40, in reverse order of seniority on it:

 

Booser (MiLFA signing, just added to replace Jacques. He's 32.)

 

Gutierrez (Cash trade and just a placeholder.)

 

Uwasawa (Trade, and not anything special or promising.)

 

Joely (MiLFA and off to a really bad start.)

 

Anderson (FA and nothing special)

 

Hendriks (FA, signed for the future- on the 60 IL)

 

Heineman (Trade, kinda like a AAAA Catcher)

 

Romy G (Waiver, you get what you pay for. On IL.)

 

Giolito (Not signed for the bottom of the 40. On the 60 IL)

 

Grissom (Not bottom of the 40 and on the IL)

 

Criswell (looks good, so far)

 

O'Neill (looks great- not for bottom 40)

 

Slaten (looks great)

 

Weissert & Campbell (TBD)

 

1-27 are holdovers.

 

[Nick]

Another no run 6 IP by a starter.

 

Nice!

[moonslav59]

Another no run 6 IP by a starter.

 

Nice!

 

The sample size is moving towards something other than "small."

[notin]

Jose Awfulman

 

Disagree.

 

And I complained about it loudly the day it was signed. But Offerman had a .364 OBP his first 3 seasons back before any is us cared about OBP. His defense at 2b left a lot to be desired but he was ok at 1b.

 

I’m not going to say it was a good deal, but I don’t think of it as a bad one anymore. My only complaint is Roberto Alomar signed for only slightly more that off-season…

[notin]

Only because of Mookie's contract being longer.

 

You do realize that once Dombrowski gave up trying to extend Betts, he instead spent heavily on Sale and Bogaerts. Those two are the Mookie Compensation. Yoshida was 3 years after Mookie was dealt away…

[Maxbialystock]

You do realize that once Dombrowski gave up trying to extend Betts, he instead spent heavily on Sale and Bogaerts. Those two are the Mookie Compensation. Yoshida was 3 years after Mookie was dealt away…

 

At the time--and I'm rarely right on these points--I thought the Sox had little chance of signing Mookie long term because I believed the Dodgers would spend what it took to get him.

 

In his last 5 seasons (2015-2019) with the Sox, Mookie's WAR's were 6.0, 9.6, 6.4, 10.9, and 6.8. In his first four seasons--making top dollar--with the Dodgers his WAR's have been 3.4, 4.2, 6.4, and 8.4.

 

Nevertheless, I agree with the consensus on talksox--that Mookie, not Raffie, was the one to keep. But the 2019 season, when the Sox had the biggest payroll in MLB and couldn't even make the postseason, convinced JH that spending big was not spending smart. Since then, the Sox have spent less and spent dumb.

[dgalehouse]

You do realize that once Dombrowski gave up trying to extend Betts, he instead spent heavily on Sale and Bogaerts. Those two are the Mookie Compensation. Yoshida was 3 years after Mookie was dealt away…

 

You can stick to your own narrative as long as you like. But Dombrowski , Sale and Bogaerts are not the issue. The simple fact is that the Sox are shelling out 40 million per for the " services" of Story and Yoshida.

[moonslav59]

Disagree.

 

And I complained about it loudly the day it was signed. But Offerman had a .364 OBP his first 3 seasons back before any is us cared about OBP. His defense at 2b left a lot to be desired but he was ok at 1b.

 

I’m not going to say it was a good deal, but I don’t think of it as a bad one anymore. My only complaint is Roberto Alomar signed for only slightly more that off-season…

 

You won't say it was a good deal, because it wasn't. That was big money, back then, and he sucked on D and was okay on O for 3 years.

[moonslav59]

You do realize that once Dombrowski gave up trying to extend Betts, he instead spent heavily on Sale and Bogaerts. Those two are the Mookie Compensation. Yoshida was 3 years after Mookie was dealt away…

 

He had also extended Nate after 2018.

[mvp 78]

Jacques DFA'd.

 

See, there is a difference between Bloom & Brez.

 

Finally

[moonslav59]

Of our top 13 pitchers by IP (6.2 or more,) only4 have an ERA over 3.27 and none are over 4.91.

 

4.91 Joely

4.63 Wink

4.50 Martin

 

Only 2 are in the 3's:

3.27 Anderson

3.04 Bello

 

Only 2 are in the 2's

2.70 Jansen

2.08 Weissert

 

6 are under 1.96

1.96 Whitlock

1.35 Houck

1.23 Bernardino

0.82 Pivetta

0.73 Slaten

0.42 Crawford

 

The #14-17 pitchers have 15.1 IP and allowed 14 ERs (no help from the D, as there were 4 Unearned runs in those 15.1 innings.)

 

Slaten is 5th on the team in IP, which is more than Pivetta, Wink and Anderson.

 

Another fantastic job by a Sox SP'ers. This is getting beyond a "small sample size."

 

Bello has 5 GS, and like last year, started a bit slowly and is improving.

Crawford has been incredible in 4 GS, despite the 8 BB in 21 IP.

Houck has 28 Ks and just 2 BBs in 26.2 IP. (That's the same IP as Bello but in 1 less start!)

Whitlock & Pivetta were off to very good starts before going on the IL. Maybe they can come back, soon Combined:

29.1 IP

22 Hits

8 BB

30 Ks

5 ERs (1.53 ERA)

 

Criswell and Bernardino did pretty well in their starts/openers:

6 IP

5 Hits

2 BB

6 Ks

2 ERs (3.00 ERA)

 

This has to be one of the most surprising starts by a MLB rotation in a very long time.

[Maxbialystock]

Of our top 13 pitchers by IP (6.2 or more,) only4 have an ERA over 3.27 and none are over 4.91.

 

4.91 Joely

4.63 Wink

4.50 Martin

 

Only 2 are in the 3's:

3.27 Anderson

3.04 Bello

 

Only 2 are in the 2's

2.70 Jansen

2.08 Weissert

 

6 are under 1.96

1.96 Whitlock

1.35 Houck

1.23 Bernardino

0.82 Pivetta

0.73 Slaten

0.42 Crawford

 

The #14-17 pitchers have 15.1 IP and allowed 14 ERs (no help from the D, as there were 4 Unearned runs in those 15.1 innings.)

 

Slaten is 5th on the team in IP, which is more than Pivetta, Wink and Anderson.

 

Another fantastic job by a Sox SP'ers. This is getting beyond a "small sample size."

 

Bello has 5 GS, and like last year, started a bit slowly and is improving.

Crawford has been incredible in 4 GS, despite the 8 BB in 21 IP.

Houck has 28 Ks and just 2 BBs in 26.2 IP. (That's the same IP as Bello but in 1 less start!)

Whitlock & Pivetta were off to very good starts before going on the IL. Maybe they can come back, soon Combined:

29.1 IP

22 Hits

8 BB

30 Ks

5 ERs (1.53 ERA)

 

Criswell and Bernardino did pretty well in their starts/openers:

6 IP

5 Hits

2 BB

6 Ks

2 ERs (3.00 ERA)

 

This has to be one of the most surprising starts by a MLB rotation in a very long time.

 

Nice try, but I think what you say is falling on deaf ears (note: world class mixed metaphor).

 

mvp 78 just wrote that the Sox are currently 2d in MLB in dingers, so there just might be some life in those bats. Of the 28 dingers to date, only 2 have been by Story (0) and Devers (2).

 

The way ahead just might be this simple: fewer unearned runs. It is possible to make fewer errors. In fact, making fewer errors is way easier than hitting the 2d most dingers in MLB.

Edited April 20, 2024 by Maxbialystock

[moonslav59]

Kudos also should go out to our catchers, who seem to have gained the confidence of the staff and are maximizing their talents. Then, on top of that, they are hitting very well (great for catchers.)

.922 Wong (43 PAs) No BBs! 3 HRs and 8 RBI

.791 McGuire (44 PAs)

Before tonight's 2-5 game from Wong, the Sox were T3rd in catcher wRC+ at 141!

5th in OBP .353

3rd in SLG .507

4th in OPS at .859

(McGuire is also 1.000 as a PH in 3 PAs, but Wong is .000 as a DH.)

 

I had a feeling they were going to do better on offense, this year. The defense is hard to evaluate, but the staff is doing much better.

 

[moonslav59]

Nice try, but I think what you say is falling on deaf ears (note: world class mixed metaphor).

 

mvp 78 just wrote that the Sox are currently 2d in MLB in dingers, so there just might be some life in those bats. Of the 28 dingers to date, only 2 have been by Story (0) and Devers (2).

 

They way ahead just might be this simple: fewer unearned runs. It is possible to make fewer errors. In fact, making fewer errors is way easier than hitting the 2d most dingers in MLB.

 

I'm not sure what the mixed metaphor was.

 

Our top 13 pitchers have been amazing.

[notin]

He had also extended Nate after 2018.

 

Technically Nate was a free agent…

[moonslav59]

If I were a carpenter...

 

Cam Booser called up by Red Sox

WWW.MLB.COM

---

PITTSBURGH -- Cam Booser will likely never forget the date: Feb. 21, 2021. Booser had officially moved on from professional baseball more than three years prior, but through a bit of fate, he found himself on a mound for the first time since then. He wasn’t playing a game. He

[moonslav59]

Technically Nate was a free agent…

 

Yes, true. The money for Betts was spent before 2020 even arrived, let alone Story & Yoshida.

 

We could have had Mookie for about what we paid for Sale, Bogey & Nate.

[Maxbialystock]

Kudos also should go out to our catchers, who seem to have gained the confidence of the staff and are maximizing their talents. Then, on top of that, they are hitting very well (great for catchers.)

.922 Wong (43 PAs) No BBs! 3 HRs and 8 RBI

.791 McGuire (44 PAs)

Before tonight's 2-5 game from Wong, the Sox were T3rd in catcher wRC+ at 141!

5th in OBP .353

3rd in SLG .507

4th in OPS at .859

(McGuire is also 1.000 as a PH in 3 PAs, but Wong is .000 as a DH.)

 

I had a feeling they were going to do better on offense, this year. The defense is hard to evaluate, but the staff is doing much better.

 

 

Great point. Catchers are huge, both of them.

[Maxbialystock]

If I were a carpenter...

 

Cam Booser called up by Red Sox

WWW.MLB.COM

---

PITTSBURGH -- Cam Booser will likely never forget the date: Feb. 21, 2021. Booser had officially moved on from professional baseball more than three years prior, but through a bit of fate, he found himself on a mound for the first time since then. He wasn’t playing a game. He

 

So was Harrison Ford.

[Maxbialystock]

I'm not sure what the mixed metaphor was.

 

Our top 13 pitchers have been amazing.

 

Maybe it wasn't mixed.

 

Top 13--agree.