Reds (Martinez) vs Red Sox (Bello): 7/2/25, 7:10pm

[mvp 78]

I also don’t find defensive metrics infallible. Whenever Imm watching Hamilton, he looks mediocre out there. I’ve seen enough botched plays and shaky defense that he doesn’t look like a plus defender to me. 

[mvp 78]

fWAR -0.4

bWAR 0.3

At the ASB, that’s good enough to drop David Hamilton IMO regardless of his 7 DRS/1 OAA questions.

Narvaez and Rafaela are standout defenders. Easy to see. Hamilton? No.

[cp176]

7 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

I know nothing about coaching.  I coached kids basketball and was lousy at it.  I do think managers know one heckuva lot more than we do about pitching decisions.  We, of course, have the benefit of hindsight, but not necessarily the insight to use it correctly.  

A bunch of important and knowledgeable people think Cora is a pretty good manager.  That's why DD fired Farrell after back to back AL East Division titles and hired Cora (who had never managed).  It's why JH hired him back after being banned from MLB for the 2020 season.  To me the 2021 season was confirmation that Cora was a better manager than Farrell.  Thus was he also extended despite the struggles of 2022-2025 and the clamor on talksox to dump him.

As for yesterday's game, I do think you used hindsight to castigate Cora about the 2d game, and chose not to use it to appreciate what Cora did in the first game.  

 

 

And I’m ok with all of this.  With respect to Cora, I have never argued for his firing.  I actually think that his strength is in dealing with his players on a day to day basis.  That strength in my estimation is reason enough to keep him.  I believe in consistency in coaching.  I just have a problem understanding his basic coaching philosophies.  Maybe because I did coach for a very long time, that thought is just too important to me.  I truly have a hard time just being a fan when I watch any game.  I constantly second guessed and hindsiighted myself which I think is important for growth.  If you think that you are right all the time, I doubt that you are going to grow much regardless of your profession.  One thing that we can certainly agree on is that we love the Red Sox.  I actually like this team as badly as I think they execute some of the most basic fundamentals of the game.

[cp176]

18 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I understand these types of criticisms. I would point out the the quality of arm to replace him with are highly suspect, and the guy they did bring in let up 3 hits and a BB on his way to getting 2 outs (Hicks.)

I agree with you about who they might have brought in but at that point I might have brought anybody in.  

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I’d dump, Toro, Romy and Ref on anyone who needed them at the deadline. They are not long for this team. A RHB that can only hit LHP isn’t hard to find. Toro (LHB) just isn’t that good TBH and I’d take a low level prospect for him. All three are older too.

Ref is a top 10 bat vs LHPs over 3 years. It's not easy to find that.

Romy's sample size is shorter, but nearly as good as Ref's.

[mvp 78]

42 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Ref is a top 10 bat vs LHPs over 3 years. It's not easy to find that.

Romy's sample size is shorter, but nearly as good as Ref's.

Then they could get something of value for the aging Refsnyder.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I also don’t find defensive metrics infallible. Whenever Imm watching Hamilton, he looks mediocre out there. I’ve seen enough botched plays and shaky defense that he doesn’t look like a plus defender to me. 

There's no stat that shows he dropped several throws from catchers on stolen bases this spring. The ump wasn't calling the baserunner out, so no errors were charged. But it was alarming, considering good hand-eye coordination is must for big league infielders.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

There's no stat that shows he dropped several throws from catchers on stolen bases this spring. The ump wasn't calling the baserunner out, so no errors were charged. But it was alarming, considering good hand-eye coordination is must for big league infielders.

He’s not Pedroia. He’s not ‘22 Story. I just don’t see him as a plus 2b. No way.

[cp176]

Hamilton at second isn’t any kind of long term answer for us  but I’d rather see him there while Bregman prepares to come back as opposed to mixing and matching and experimenting to try to find an answer that temporarily just doesn’t exist.  Until Bregman returns I’d leave Mayer at third and play Hamilton daily at second base.  When Bregman returns, looks like Mayer goes to second.  I’m anxious to see how that infield shapes up then.  Leave Toro at first.  I’d just like to see some consistency for awhile.