A Realistic View at 2024: Part III

[vegasbob]

It is ironic that the "Big 3" now moving to Worcester are all LH'ed hitters for a team that is already somewhat imbalanced with LHH'ers. Cora could probably field an all LH lineup next year as these guys mature. And in a park where the then owner created bullpens in RCF to help his star player, one of the best hitters 'All Time" , not hit so many warning track outs.

[mvp 78]

That's some serious in-depth analysis of his performance!

 

I leave that in-depth analysis to you. You're well known for it.

[mvp 78]

I think they should sue the Wirld Wildlife Fund to get their old acronym back.

 

Or merge with them by staging matches between professional wrestlers and wild carnivores to raise money for conservation purposes…

 

Stealing Bobby the Brain Heenan's HOF speech I see!

[mvp 78]

@ChrisCotillo

An arm expected to join the Red Sox today: Chase Shugart.

[mvp 78]

That's Chase you from your couch because his pitching is so bad Shugart.

[jgar658]

Serious question:

 

Why not used Smith as a reliever on a regular basis?

Why only use Smith when the game is out of reach?

The times I saw him pitch the batters were really trying to hit.

[Nick]

My hope is we go all in, whatever that means for our pitching staff, especially our starting pitching.

 

Please no more Paxton's. I mean the guy looks like he's on social security. Five pitches after a fine start and now looks like he's done.

 

We have 13 slots available for position players.

 

1 Wong

2 Keel or another backup C

3 Casas

4 Trevor

5 Hamilton/Valdez

6 Devers

7 Yoshida

8 Duran

9 Rafaela

10 Abreu

11 Romy/Grissom

12 Rob Refsnyder

13 O'Neill clone

 

Add to that Mayer, Anthony and Campbell.

 

We are gold with our position players. We need to match our pitching staff.

 

I'd like to hear how do we prioritize our position players, who to keep and who is tradeable. Question. Does Anthony have much more upside than say Abreu? Either our 2nd base or shortstop position is not solid, unless you bring in Rafaela to play short and move Story to 2B.

 

Who are our best 9 position players including the DH? Can we trade all the surplus?

Edited August 12, 2024 by Nick

[moonslav59]

My hope is we go all in, whatever that means for our pitching staff, especially our starting pitching.

 

Please no more Paxton's. I mean the guy looks like he's on social security. Five pitches after a fine start and now looks like he's done.

 

We have 13 slots available for position players.

 

1 Wong

2 Keel or another backup C

3 Casas

4 Trevor

5 Hamilton/Valdez

6 Devers

7 Yoshida

8 Duran

9 Rafaela

10 Abreu

11 Romy/Grissom

12 Rob Refsnyder

13 O'Neill clone

 

Add to that Mayer, Anthony and Campbell.

 

We are gold with our position players. We need to match our pitching staff.

 

I'd like to hear how do we prioritize our position players, who to keep and who is tradeable. Question. Does Anthony have much more upside than say Abreu? Either our 2nd base or shortstop position is not solid, unless you bring in Rafaela to play short and move Story to 2B.

 

Who are our best 9 position players including the DH? Can we trade all the surplus?

 

I think Rafaela is way better in CF than SS or 2B. I'd start by trying to plan on making that happen. He's also one of the few RHBs out of our top 16-17 everyday players.

 

That begs the question: who will be the SS and 2Bman? If Story is healthy, he will be one or the other. If mayer is deemed "ready," he probably has the best chance at winning a FT middle IF job, but he still needs to earn it. I think we go with DHam and Grissom as the utility players, and Romy - Valdez start in AAA.

 

Devers, Casas and Wong are locks.

 

Duran can play LF or CF, but with Rafaela in my CF, that keeps Duran in LF.

 

To me, our biggest surplus area is RF with both Anthony and Abreu LHBs, there. Refsnyder is our much needed RHB for LF or DH. If we could trade Yoshida, I'd love this set-up:

 

C: Wong-Teel

1B: Casas

2B: Story (Grissom/DHam)

SS: Mayer (Story/DHam)

3B: Devers

LF: Duran (Ref)

CF: Rafaela (Duran)

RF: Anthony (Abreu)

DH: Abreu-Refsnyder

UT: DHam-Grissom

 

Farm: Campbell, Meidroth, Romy, Valdez

 

I don't think we add another RHB from outside the system, unless we trade a lefty bat for a righty one: like Abreu for a RH'd clone of Abreu. Maybe DHam and or Valdez for a RH'd middle IF'er.

 

If Teel, Mayer and Anthony are on the 26 man roster, they should be playing near FT, so who gets squeezed out?

 

Wong is one of MLBs best hitting catchers, this year.

Our OF is as solid on O as it's been in a long time.

Middle IF is far from set, so Mayer can win the FT job by playing well, but no way should Abreu (v R) and Ref (v L) not be playing. Duran needs to play every day. Rafaela could end up losing his job, but as of now, he looks like the FT CF'er for 2025. (His splits are pretty even.)

Devers and Casas play everyday.

Trading Yoshida allows for everyone to get enough PAs. I'm not sure we can do it, without eating a huge chunk of his deal.

 

It's the pitching staff that has 3-4 holes.

Edited August 12, 2024 by moonslav59

[notin]

Serious question:

 

Why not used Smith as a reliever on a regular basis?

Why only use Smith when the game is out of reach?

The times I saw him pitch the batters were really trying to hit.

 

There are rules regarding position players pitching.

 

A team has to be trailing by at least 8 runs. The leading team can only use a non-pitcher in the ninth inning of a game and must be up by 10 runs.

 

Also, as using a non-pitcher is a white flag on the game, opposing hitters have a brother-in-law code. They don’t take pitches or work walks. They just swing at anything close. There’s some fun footage of Max Scherzer (then with the Mets) yelling at Pete Alonso for taking pitches in a game like this, calling him out for worrying about his stats. Anthony Rendon famously turned around and made his first ever PA as a left-handed hitter against a non-pitcher (and homered, giving him a career 5.000 OPS from the left side).

 

Put Smith in a regular game and he would get pummeled, assuming he found the strike zone at all…

[notin]

Stealing Bobby the Brain Heenan's HOF speech I see!

 

I feel complimented that I think like someone nicknamed “The Brain”…

Edited August 12, 2024 by notin

[MADSTORK]

The loss of Betts was a huge gut punch.

 

It was worse than not offering Carlton Fisk a contract, in time, and then blowing up the team of the mid and late 70's.

 

Guys like Betts are generational- even multi-generational. He's like a hundred year storm event. You just can't let a guy like that get away, and we did.

 

Even if we somehow-someway get ourselves back to a championship, I'm not sure that stench will ever go away.

 

For me, I doubt I can ever let go and stop "giving a s***" about the Sox. They are in my blood and bones. I guess a blood transfusion might work, but I've never heard of complete body bone transplants.

 

I'm doomed.

 

You’re finally coming around

[moonslav59]

You’re finally coming around

 

My position has never changed on losing Betts.

[moonslav59]

Bello breaks the mold!

[jgar658]

There are rules regarding position players pitching.

 

A team has to be trailing by at least 8 runs. The leading team can only use a non-pitcher in the ninth inning of a game and must be up by 10 runs.

 

Also, as using a non-pitcher is a white flag on the game, opposing hitters have a brother-in-law code. They don’t take pitches or work walks. They just swing at anything close. There’s some fun footage of Max Scherzer (then with the Mets) yelling at Pete Alonso for taking pitches in a game like this, calling him out for worrying about his stats. Anthony Rendon famously turned around and made his first ever PA as a left-handed hitter against a non-pitcher (and homered, giving him a career 5.000 OPS from the left side).

 

Put Smith in a regular game and he would get pummeled, assuming he found the strike zone at all…

 

OK, great answer!

I suspected the batters don't try very hard, but I have seen some that do.

[mvp 78]

Just label Dom Smith as a two-way player. Problem solved!

[notin]

Just label Dom Smith as a two-way player. Problem solved!

 

Or keep actively pursuing pitchers as teams clear out 40 man roster space. It’s possible another team might dump a few contracts to get under the tax threshold like the Angels did last year. Toronto and the Cubs are candidates. Kyle Hendricks anyone?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Or keep actively pursuing pitchers as teams clear out 40 man roster space. It’s possible another team might dump a few contracts to get under the tax threshold like the Angels did last year. Toronto and the Cubs are candidates. Kyle Hendricks anyone?

 

Way too healthy for Boston. Hendricks has 162-game career averages of 34 starts and close to 200 innings pitched per year.

 

But to be fair to Father Time, his averages the past half decade once he hit 30 years of age are 20 GS, 115 IP...

 

That would still make him Iron Man McGinnity in Beantown.

[mvp 78]

Or keep actively pursuing pitchers as teams clear out 40 man roster space. It’s possible another team might dump a few contracts to get under the tax threshold like the Angels did last year. Toronto and the Cubs are candidates. Kyle Hendricks anyone?

 

Sounds like more dumpster diving!

[mvp 78]

Hendricks would fit in well with this rotation:

 

Since ASB:

6.00 ERA

5.85 FIP

4.2 IP/GS

[mvp 78]

Keller elects FA after being optioned.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Keller elects FA after being optioned.

 

Guy's not good enough to pitch for the summer's absolute worst big league pitching staff... but maybe he'll find a scene of changery where another team's rotten system won't have the same infect on him.

[Nick]

Are the guys just missing the spots? Reason for so many HR's given up? Or did the hitters adjust and our pitching gurus failed to react quickly?

[Bellhorn04]

Are the guys just missing the spots? Reason for so many HR's given up? Or did the hitters adjust and our pitching gurus failed to react quickly?

 

The hitters definitely adjusted, you can take that much to the bank.

 

In retrospect it was kind of funny how heavily publicized Bailey's approach was early in the year. Much detail was given.

[notin]

The hitters definitely adjusted, you can take that much to the bank.

 

In retrospect it was kind of funny how heavily publicized Bailey's approach was early in the year. Much detail was given.

 

Fatigue leading to reduced velocity?

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/kutter-crawford/20531/graphs?position=P&statArr=6&legend=1%2C2&split=base&time=daily&ymin=&ymax=&start=2022&end=2024&rtype=mult&gt1=15&dStatArray=FA

[dgalehouse]

Crawford has kind of a unique short-arm delivery. It could be that hitters are starting to figure it out. I do think there are a lot of tired arms in MLB these days. And I think the pitch clock is at least somewhat to blame.

[Old Red]

The hitters definitely adjusted, you can take that much to the bank.

 

In retrospect it was kind of funny how heavily publicized Bailey's approach was early in the year. Much detail was given.

Of the 9 HR the Astros hit this past weekend that averaged 423 ft 7 of the HR was hit off Bailey’s philosophy of sweepers, off speed pitchers, or anything else you want to call non fastballs.

Edited August 13, 2024 by Old Red

[mvp 78]

The hitters definitely adjusted, you can take that much to the bank.

 

In retrospect it was kind of funny how heavily publicized Bailey's approach was early in the year. Much detail was given.

 

Kutter

4 seamer 2023: 39%

4 seamer 2024: 35%

 

That damn Andrew Bailey! He screwed up the great Kutter Crawford! He was supposed to be a TOTR starter! Houck too!

[mvp 78]

Fatigue leading to reduced velocity?

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/kutter-crawford/20531/graphs?position=P&statArr=6&legend=1%2C2&split=base&time=daily&ymin=&ymax=&start=2022&end=2024&rtype=mult>1=15&dStatArray=FA

 

Sounds more likely to me.

[Maxbialystock]

Crawford has kind of a unique short-arm delivery. It could be that hitters are starting to figure it out. I do think there are a lot of tired arms in MLB these days. And I think the pitch clock is at least somewhat to blame.

 

Good point about the pitch clock.

[mvp 78]

Guy's not good enough to pitch for the summer's absolute worst big league pitching staff... but maybe he'll find a scene of changery where another team's rotten system won't have the same infect on him.

 

@SoxProspects

Our @SPChrisHatfield reports, per an organization source, that Keller has re-signed with the Red Sox on a minor league deal after refusing the option.

 

Well, at least he's not on the 40 man anymore.