Guardians (Cecconi) vs Red Sox (Crochet): 9/2/25, 6:45pm

[Brandon Glick]

In under-discussed news, the Red Sox are 3.0 games out of the first seed in the AL...

[moonslav59]

We are 2.5 down, not 3.0.

It would be nice to miss the WC round of the playoffs, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We need to take care of our own business and play NYY and TOR, again.

[king koji]

28 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We are 2.5 down, not 3.0.

It would be nice to miss the WC round of the playoffs, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. We need to take care of our own business and play NYY and TOR, again.

 

Technically speaking  we can win the Division and STILL have to play the Wild-Card Round.

[mvp 78]

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, king koji said:

 

Technically speaking  we can win the Division and STILL have to play the Wild-Card Round.

Most likely HOU would have to go on a run since they'd be currently 4th in the AL East. If we believe the Sox are beating out TOR and NYY for the division, it's because the Sox are streaking rather than both teams falling off. 

[moonslav59]

52 minutes ago, king koji said:

 

Technically speaking  we can win the Division and STILL have to play the Wild-Card Round.

Good point. (I think SEA or HOU will be the third best Div winner.)

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Most likely HOU would have to go on a run since they'd be currently 4th in the AL East. If we believe the Sox are beating out TOR and NYY for the division, it's because the Sox are streaking rather than both teams falling off. 

Actually, I think we have a dogfight among 5 teams in the AL--Detroit has 80 wins, Toronto 79, Sox 77, Yankees 77, and Houston 76.  

Since the ASG, Detroit is 21-21, Toronto 23-17, Boston 24-17, New York 23-18, and Houston 20-20.  

Of the five, the Yankees have the best hitting/scoring, and the Sox the best pitching.  

Run differentials:  NYY 134, Boston 104, Detroit 88, Toronto 55, and Houston 20.  

 

[mvp 78]

Yanks next 12: HOU/TOR/DET/BOS

Sox next 12: CLE/ARI/ATH/NYY

Sox have a chance to put some games up on the Yanks here. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Actually, I think we have a dogfight among 5 teams in the AL--Detroit has 80 wins, Toronto 79, Sox 77, Yankees 77, and Houston 76.  

Since the ASG, Detroit is 21-21, Toronto 23-17, Boston 24-17, New York 23-18, and Houston 20-20.  

Of the five, the Yankees have the best hitting/scoring, and the Sox the best pitching.  

Run differentials:  NYY 134, Boston 104, Detroit 88, Toronto 55, and Houston 20.  

 

Talk about long waits for a pitcher. Luis Garcia- the other one- started for HOU the other night after about 2.5 years out. He did pretty well. Javier is back. Lance McCullers is back. Let's see if they get a boost.

What happened to the big boost SEA was supposed to get after "winning the trade deadline."

[Nick]

Looking forward to Yoshida at DH. Cora sucks at this when it comes to Yoshida.

15-70, 3 doubles and 1 HR in August. Nice line for a DH.

Where in the hell is analytics on him?

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, Nick said:

Looking forward to Yoshida at DH. Cora sucks at this when it comes to Yoshida.

15-70, 3 doubles and 1 HR in August. Nice line for a DH.

Where in the hell is analytics on him?

How long a leash does he get?

6,850 miles?

[Maxbialystock]

40 minutes ago, Nick said:

Looking forward to Yoshida at DH. Cora sucks at this when it comes to Yoshida.

15-70, 3 doubles and 1 HR in August. Nice line for a DH.

Where in the hell is analytics on him?

Cora sucks????????  What do you think--that he's knee deep in great hitters against righty starters?  

Actually, right now he has 8 with OPS's against righties ranging from Lowe's 1.032 to Gonzalez's 689.  All 8 of them are starting tonight.  The next two choices are Ref (.634) and Yoshida (.619).  

 

[mvp 78]

 

[moonslav59]

55 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Cora sucks????????  What do you think--that he's knee deep in great hitters against righty starters?  

Actually, right now he has 8 with OPS's against righties ranging from Lowe's 1.032 to Gonzalez's 689.  All 8 of them are starting tonight.  The next two choices are Ref (.634) and Yoshida (.619).  

 

It's on Brez for choosing Masa over Jh Garcia or K Campbell.

[Duran Is The Man]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

How long a leash does he get?

6,850 miles?

more like $90 million dollars

[Bellhorn04]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

It's on Brez for choosing Masa over Jh Garcia or K Campbell.

Yoshida does have a better track record.  What exactly makes you think Garcia or Campbell can hit right handed major league pitching right now?

 

[moonslav59]

57 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

more like $90 million dollars

$36M left after 2025.

Get someone to pay $6-12M and call it a deal. We don't even need anything in return.

How about Casas & Yoshida for Willson Contreras (also owed $36M/2?)

We break even on the money and have a 20-25 HR guys with a .780+ OPS.

 

[Maxbialystock]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Talk about long waits for a pitcher. Luis Garcia- the other one- started for HOU the other night after about 2.5 years out. He did pretty well. Javier is back. Lance McCullers is back. Let's see if they get a boost.

What happened to the big boost SEA was supposed to get after "winning the trade deadline."

Interesting about Houston and Luis Garcia.  I say that because Houston should be saying, "did you see that freaking kid Tolle going for the Sox the other night?"  

[Maxbialystock]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

$36M left after 2025.

Get someone to pay $6-12M and call it a deal. We don't even need anything in return.

How about Casas & Yoshida for Willson Contreras (also owed $36M/2?)

We break even on the money and have a 20-25 HR guys with a .780+ OPS.

 

Are the Cardinals really that stupid?  

[moonslav59]

20 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yoshida does have a better track record.  What exactly makes you think Garcia or Campbell can hit right handed major league pitching right now?

 

The bar is set pretty low. Nobody knows how they'd have done, if called up a few weeks ago. We got a little taste of Jh Garcia, but not enough to know much.

I also said I'd take a platoon of Romy and Garcia/Campbell.

Hell, even Romy FT has better numbers.

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

It's on Brez for choosing Masa over Jh Garcia or K Campbell.

Very interesting.  You never fail to be that.

Me, right now, I think I'd stay with Yoshida.  

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Are the Cardinals really that stupid?  

Is Casas that bad to you, based on one bad month?

I think STL gets the better of the deal. Contreras turns 34, next may and 35 in his final year. He's in decline.

If you think Masa is a .790 batter, then about the same can be expected of Contreras, except WC can play 1B and even catch in a pinch.

[moonslav59]

Just now, Maxbialystock said:

Very interesting.  You never fail to be that.

Me, right now, I think I'd stay with Yoshida.  

I hope he proves me wrong, but I see no signs of shaking off the rust.

He's at .609 after a pretty long sample size, already.

.567 in last 117 PAs

.420 in his last 43 PAs.

Here's what I don't get, Max. You continuously have assumed Casas, an .800 career batter, who hit .580 in 112 PAs, this spring, before going on the IL, was going to suck all year, but somehow have faith in Yoshida who hit worse and in a longer sample size than Casas.

My question has been "HOw long of a leash does he get?"

I'd say "Times up" and send him to Woo to play everyday v L and R and maybe earn his way back. Give a kid a try. So far, we are something like 7 for 9 on rookies doing well. this year. Can they do worse than .420? I guess so, but then call Masa back up.

[Bellhorn04]

11 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The bar is set pretty low. Nobody knows how they'd have done, if called up a few weeks ago. We got a little taste of Jh Garcia, but not enough to know much.

I also said I'd take a platoon of Romy and Garcia/Campbell.

Hell, even Romy FT has better numbers.

There's still a reasonable chance for some positive regression by Yoshida.  He was over .800 against eighties in 2023-2024 combined.  

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

There's still a reasonable chance for some positive regression by Yoshida.  He was over .800 against eighties in 2023-2024 combined.  

I'm not for DFA'ing him, now. I think they messed him up, all year and now he's rehabbing at the wrong level.

He may very well hit near .800 again, and it could start tonight.

Nobody seems to want to answer my question.

How much longer do you stick with him?

A couple weeks ago, someone said maybe 2 weeks.

You ride him into October at .420? How about .567? How about his current .609?

Hell, Campbell was over .660 when we demoted him.

[Maxbialystock]

13 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I hope he proves me wrong, but I see no signs of shaking off the rust.

He's at .609 after a pretty long sample size, already.

.567 in last 117 PAs

.420 in his last 43 PAs.

Here's what I don't get, Max. You continuously have assumed Casas, an .800 career batter, who hit .580 in 112 PAs, this spring, before going on the IL, was going to suck all year, but somehow have faith in Yoshida who hit worse and in a longer sample size than Casas.

My question has been "HOw long of a leash does he get?"

I'd say "Times up" and send him to Woo to play everyday v L and R and maybe earn his way back. Give a kid a try. So far, we are something like 7 for 9 on rookies doing well. this year. Can they do worse than .420? I guess so, but then call Masa back up.

I want nothing more than to dump Yoshida.   Are we clear? 😀  I think the Sox use him until Abreu, a better lefty bat, comes off the IL.  If you will recall, I vociferously wanted one of Abreu, Duran, or Anthony to DH against righties when we had "4 outfielders."  

I agree Casas had/has potential, but the guy is freaking injury-prone.  Swinging a bat and running to 1b, for crying out loud.  Yes, I was being unfair about Casas short term OPS, but you wanted him as the DH and we know Devers was .905 as the DH.

 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Prolonging the inevitable.

[Maxbialystock]

20 pitches but no runs in the top of the 1st.  That single was off a very low sweeper.  

[Maxbialystock]

1 minute ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Prolonging the inevitable.

You mean Yoshida?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Crochet has given up a hit in the 1st inning of many games immediately removing the drama of a potential no-no.