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Diamondbacks (Nelson) vs Red Sox (Bello): 8/23/24, 7:10pm

Brock Beauchamp
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5GoldGlovesOF,75 Greenville Drive

5GoldGlovesOF,75

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Diamondbacks are 27-9 since July 9th…

 

Newman!

 

... Kevin Newman has a 2.1 WAR and 1.3 dWAR while playing 52 games at SS, 30 at 2B, 10 at 1B, 4 at 3B.

 

Arizona, who signed him for just this year, was obviously willing to pay the going rate for a good defensive utility man... (note to Breslow's 24 Asst. VPs:) the D-backs gave Newman $200 grand more than MLB minimum wage.

 

... and I have no idea how a smiley face got into this post; if I did, it'd be a frowny face

mvp 78 GOAT

mvp 78

Community Moderator
Posted
Posted
Newman!

 

... Kevin Newman has a 2.1 WAR and 1.3 dWAR while playing 52 games at SS, 30 at 2B, 10 at 1B, 4 at 3B.

 

Arizona, who signed him for just this year, was obviously willing to pay the going rate for a good defensive utility man... (note to Breslow's 24 Asst. VPs:) the D-backs gave Newman $200 grand more than MLB minimum wage.

 

... and I have no idea how a smiley face got into this post; if I did, it'd be a frowny face

 

You added a colon followed by an end parentheses. VPs:)

moonslav59 GOAT

moonslav59

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Meant to put on the outside. Nothing should be blocking my colon at my age.

 

If you have to choose between being grammatically correct or blocking your colon, the choice is a no brainer.

notin MVP

notin

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
If you have to choose between being grammatically correct or blocking your colon, the choice is a no brainer.

 

You can block your colon and still be grammatically correct.

Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Newman!

 

... Kevin Newman has a 2.1 WAR and 1.3 dWAR while playing 52 games at SS, 30 at 2B, 10 at 1B, 4 at 3B.

 

Arizona, who signed him for just this year, was obviously willing to pay the going rate for a good defensive utility man... (note to Breslow's 24 Asst. VPs:) the D-backs gave Newman $200 grand more than MLB minimum wage.

 

... and I have no idea how a smiley face got into this post; if I did, it'd be a frowny face

 

The minors are filled with good field no hit infielders--and outfielders, for that matter.

 

The best thing any MLB team can do for their defense is to accumulate good pitchers. Thus are pitchers exactly 1/2 of every MLB roster.

 

And the job one for the lineup players--the other 1/2 of the roster--is to score runs.

 

Good defense can definitely help, but it is 3d most important and well behind pitching and hitting.

 

As for the 2024 Sox, I guess you've forgotten that Breslow already had Story, who is pretty darn good on defense--just not healthy. Rafaela has good range and a good arm, but is hampered by having to play both CF and SS, often in the same freaking game. So he is error prone.

5GoldGlovesOF,75 Greenville Drive

5GoldGlovesOF,75

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
The minors are filled with good field no hit infielders--and outfielders, for that matter.

 

The best thing any MLB team can do for their defense is to accumulate good pitchers. Thus are pitchers exactly 1/2 of every MLB roster.

 

And the job one for the lineup players--the other 1/2 of the roster--is to score runs.

 

Good defense can definitely help, but it is 3d most important and well behind pitching and hitting.

 

As for the 2024 Sox, I guess you've forgotten that Breslow already had Story, who is pretty darn good on defense--just not healthy. Rafaela has good range and a good arm, but is hampered by having to play both CF and SS, often in the same freaking game. So he is error prone.

 

I haven't forgotten most of the players Cora was forced to use at shortstop the past two years, but I definitely remember that few were actually big league caliber defenders -- no matter how good or bad the pitchers were. And you're right, there are always plenty of good glove infielders available -- that the Bloomslow Era refused to pay barely minimum wage for while we wait for Story to rehab and return.

moonslav59 GOAT

moonslav59

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
You can block your colon and still be grammatically correct.

 

Except, the excrement is not what was intended to not come out.

moonslav59 GOAT

moonslav59

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
The minors are filled with good field no hit infielders--and outfielders, for that matter.

 

The best thing any MLB team can do for their defense is to accumulate good pitchers. Thus are pitchers exactly 1/2 of every MLB roster.

 

And the job one for the lineup players--the other 1/2 of the roster--is to score runs.

 

Good defense can definitely help, but it is 3d most important and well behind pitching and hitting.

 

As for the 2024 Sox, I guess you've forgotten that Breslow already had Story, who is pretty darn good on defense--just not healthy. Rafaela has good range and a good arm, but is hampered by having to play both CF and SS, often in the same freaking game. So he is error prone.

 

The thing with rafaela at SS is that it goes beyond too many errors. He has also failed to turn several double plays that do not get counted as errors.

 

His range at SS makes up for a lot of the mistakes, but I do not see it as making up for all of them. The numbers support my observations:

 

+2.5 Range Factor in UZR/150 (career)

-9 Outs Above Average (career)

-6 Defensive Runs saved

 

Now, this might still be better than some other SSs we have seen, recently, and his .700+ OPS has been better or way better than several other SSs, even Story.

 

The guy is a great CF'er. We need to set up the 2025 roster to make sure that happens 98% or more of the time. (I'd prefer 100%, but mid game moves or 2-3 injuries at the same time, could create a situation where it's the better idea- like it happened, this year.

 

Rafaela in CF improves two "up-the-middle" positions with one slot change.

 

I really like this core of defenders:

SS: Story or Mayer

2B: Story or Mayer (DHam is not bad)

LF: Duran/Refsnyder/Abreu

CF: Rafaela/Duran/Anthony

RF: Abreu/Refsnyder/Anthony

 

We might only be weak at:

C: Wong & ____ (Teel?)

1B: Casas

3B: Devers

 

If we traded Casas or Yoshida, we could improve our D and O (depending on who we get to play 3B) by moving Devers to 1B and Casas to DH or another team.

 

We can improve our D without making the team any worse on O.

 

Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
The thing with rafaela at SS is that it goes beyond too many errors. He has also failed to turn several double plays that do not get counted as errors.

 

His range at SS makes up for a lot of the mistakes, but I do not see it as making up for all of them. The numbers support my observations:

 

+2.5 Range Factor in UZR/150 (career)

-9 Outs Above Average (career)

-6 Defensive Runs saved

 

Now, this might still be better than some other SSs we have seen, recently, and his .700+ OPS has been better or way better than several other SSs, even Story.

 

The guy is a great CF'er. We need to set up the 2025 roster to make sure that happens 98% or more of the time. (I'd prefer 100%, but mid game moves or 2-3 injuries at the same time, could create a situation where it's the better idea- like it happened, this year.

 

Rafaela in CF improves two "up-the-middle" positions with one slot change.

 

I really like this core of defenders:

SS: Story or Mayer

2B: Story or Mayer (DHam is not bad)

LF: Duran/Refsnyder/Abreu

CF: Rafaela/Duran/Anthony

RF: Abreu/Refsnyder/Anthony

 

We might only be weak at:

C: Wong & ____ (Teel?)

1B: Casas

3B: Devers

 

If we traded Casas or Yoshida, we could improve our D and O (depending on who we get to play 3B) by moving Devers to 1B and Casas to DH or another team.

 

We can improve our D without making the team any worse on O.

 

 

No disagreement on 2025. I read your post on the other thread and commended you.

 

But my point is that 1) I trust Cora; and 2) Cora has used Rafaela at SS a lot--I think because of his range and arm. But I'm sure you're right about the errors and the missed double plays (which didn't count as errors).

 

Thus tonight in yet another important game, righty bat Rafaela is back at SS against a good righty starter, Nelson. The other two righty bats are Ref in LF and Jansen catching.

Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
I haven't forgotten most of the players Cora was forced to use at shortstop the past two years, but I definitely remember that few were actually big league caliber defenders -- no matter how good or bad the pitchers were. And you're right, there are always plenty of good glove infielders available -- that the Bloomslow Era refused to pay barely minimum wage for while we wait for Story to rehab and return.

 

Bats first, gloves second. Exceptions now and then at SS/CF, but by far the longest serving SS in the JH era has been the good bat, Bogaerts.

 

Which reminds me. Duran has pretty good range and excellent DWAR (CF and LF), but his primary asset is his freaking offense--hitting and baserunning (which includes extra doubles and extra triples). To me it is criminal to put his range in left field at Fenway Park, and the next time Cora does it I'm bringing charges, probably in Federal District Court.

Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
No rest for the wicked good SOX offense.

 

Those first two hits were partly on Bailey or whoever called the pitches. Both singles were off sinker/fastballs, which Arizona was looking for and swung on the first pitch both times.

 

Then suddenly it was time to mix it up, but without having thrown any sliders or especially changeups. So batter #3 was walked--bases loaded, no one out.

 

Then came the 2d walk and a run because Bello is fully capable of getting an 0-2 count and then frittering it away. Finally, he got serious and got 3 straight outs, one of which drove in run #2.

 

Exactly the same thing happened in the bottom of the first--back to back doubles by Duran and Abreu off of fastballs. But Nelson got lucky when Casas lined out. Then the weak ground outs by Devers on the first pitch and Ref on the second pitch.

 

Bello straightened up in the 2d and 3d, and the Sox continued to look weak at the plate in the 2d and 3d, especially Ref striking out on 3 pitches with the bases full.

Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
As far as I know--and I don't know much--Bello is the only Sox pitcher with a good enough changeup to actually use it.
Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Anyone know why Ref was a late addition? Is O'Neill injured again?

 

Long, long ago there was an expression--"muscle bound." To me that describes O'Neill, who looks far more like a weightlifter than a baseball player.

Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted (edited)

Our Sox look as though they've never faced a fast-baller before.

 

Jansen just K'd--again.

Edited by Maxbialystock
Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted

Bello kind of reminds of E-Rod, except that, quite frankly, I vastly prefer Bello. He actually doesn't mind covering 1b on grounders to the right side. But both throw a fair amount of fastballs and both have pretty good changeups. Yes, I know E-Rod's a lefty.

 

4 straight scoreless innings. One more and Bello has a quality start.

 

I don't much like Jansen, but I think he's a pretty good catcher. I liked McGuire too, but he was getting kind of chubby.

Maxbialystock MVP

Maxbialystock

Old-Timey Member
Posted
Posted
Thanks.

 

I'm shocked. I thought he made it up, but the Sox espn site says exactly what Fred Lynn said.

 

Third time for Duran and Abreu, who both doubled first time out. Ground out and pop up.

 

Nelson has our guys mesmerized. He throws that straight up fastball with impunity.

 

The younger guys--Duran, Abreu, and Casas have all 4 hits. Devers, Ref, and Yoshida have none.

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