Red Sox (Bello) vs Yankees (Rodon): 10/1/25, 6:08pm

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

It's not their "b team lineup" per Cora if it's who they throw out against every LHP. 

While true, we no longer have Anthony, Casas, Mayer (and Devers,) and though all are lefties, Three would have started, if still here or not on the IL.  (not Mayer?)

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, notin said:

And unlike some, I’m shocked these role players have done as well as they have.  The Sox have a winner-take-all game in the first round despite trotting out quite possibly the worst lineup to appear in the postseason since … well, hmmm …. how far back can I go here?

And the really funny part is folks are angry this clear B Team Squad didnt sweep.  In Yankee Stadium! Against probably the toughest Yankee lineup in 25 years!  Maybe longer!

The toughest Yankee lineup in 25 years? Nah. 2003-07 and 2009 were better. Their 2019 lineup may even be better. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

While true, we no longer have Anthony, Casas, Mayer (and Devers,) and though all are lefties, Three would have started, if still here or not on the IL.  (not Mayer?)

Teams platoon now. There is no such thing as a b team. It's just not a thing, especially for the Red Sox. 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Teams platoon now. There is no such thing as a b team. It's just not a thing, especially for the Red Sox. 

I get that, but about 3-4 players who would normally have started were no longer available. We had 3-4 subs in the line-up.

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The toughest Yankee lineup in 25 years? Nah. 2003-07 and 2009 were better. Their 2019 lineup may even be better. 

I  internally debated about 2009.  Tough call.  I forgot about the ARod years.  Good catch.

2019?  Not offensivly.  That was the year the Yankees decided to play defense…

[notin]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Teams platoon now. There is no such thing as a b team. It's just not a thing, especially for the Red Sox. 

Platooning is small market stuff.  “We can’t afford an actual good left fielder, so let’s get two much cheaper players with complimentary situational skill sets and save some cash.”

You know some CBO somewhere has used those exact words….

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

While true, we no longer have Anthony, Casas, Mayer (and Devers,) and though all are lefties, Three would have started, if still here or not on the IL.  (not Mayer?)

How many position players in tonight's starting line-up would have started the last time the Sox were in the postseason in '21?

Maybe Bregman? If Raffy would play first base...

Story had a good year, but '21 Bogaerts was an All-Star, 12th in MVP voting and won the Silver Slugger.

Bregman would definitely start on the greatest team ever in '18 though (when Devers was platooned). And I'd take '18 Benintendi as an overall player in a heartbeat over '25 Duran in LF. 

[notin]

8 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

How many position players in tonight's starting line-up would have started the last time the Sox were in the postseason in '21?

Maybe Bregman? If Raffy would play first base...

Story had a good year, but '21 Bogaerts was an All-Star, 12th in MVP voting and won the Silver Slugger.

Bregman would definitely start on the greatest team ever in '18 though (when Devers was platooned). And I'd take '18 Benintendi as an overall player in a heartbeat over '25 Duran in LF. 

Duran over Verdugo in LF.

Narvaez (2.8 bWAR) over Vazquez (1.2 bWAR) .  I fully acknowledge replacement player values differ in those to seasons.  But Narvaez is more than double here.

One can debate Rafaela (4.8 bWAR) over Kike (4.9 bWAR), but your point is made.  Except if Devers moved to 1b, where would Schwarber play?

 

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

How many position players in tonight's starting line-up would have started the last time the Sox were in the postseason in '21?

Maybe Bregman? If Raffy would play first base...

Story had a good year, but '21 Bogaerts was an All-Star, 12th in MVP voting and won the Silver Slugger.

Bregman would definitely start on the greatest team ever in '18 though (when Devers was platooned). And I'd take '18 Benintendi as an overall player in a heartbeat over '25 Duran in LF. 

21: Abreu over Renfroe in RF, Duran over Verdugo in LF, Romy over Arroyo at 2b, Narvaez over Vaz at C

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, notin said:

Platooning is small market stuff.  “We can’t afford an actual good left fielder, so let’s get two much cheaper players with complimentary situational skill sets and save some cash.”

You know some CBO somewhere has used those exact words….

Good thing the NYY's would never platoon in Game 1. 

[mvp 78]

 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

21: Abreu over Renfroe in RF, Duran over Verdugo in LF, Romy over Arroyo at 2b, Narvaez over Vaz at C

Verdugo could be tiresome, but I'll always think of his best Red Sox moments as a clutch hitter in the '21 postseason. Same as Kike.

Hopefully, at least one or both of Duran or Rafaela will have more opportunities for Boston.

As for the catchers -- I dunno; both had/have good reps, but I can't get over dropping/missing pitches. Just looked up '25 Narvaez and '21 Vazquez, and yup -- each led the league in passed balls those years.

[Bellhorn04]

41 minutes ago, notin said:

Platooning is small market stuff.  “We can’t afford an actual good left fielder, so let’s get two much cheaper players with complimentary situational skill sets and save some cash.”

You know some CBO somewhere has used those exact words….

Even big market teams have to save money somewhere.  

[moonslav59]

39 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

How many position players in tonight's starting line-up would have started the last time the Sox were in the postseason in '21?

Maybe Bregman? If Raffy would play first base...

Story had a good year, but '21 Bogaerts was an All-Star, 12th in MVP voting and won the Silver Slugger.

Bregman would definitely start on the greatest team ever in '18 though (when Devers was platooned). And I'd take '18 Benintendi as an overall player in a heartbeat over '25 Duran in LF. 

Narvaez over Vaz at .659

Duran, Rafaela, Abreu and even Ref over Dugo at .777.

Marwin had the 9th most PAs in 2021 and hit .567.

Franchy Cordero, Danny Santana, Chavis and Arauz has over 400 PAs between tham and all sucked at bat.

[moonslav59]

Renfroe was big with the HRs and RBI, and threw out a lot of runners, but his RF D was not good, and he was why we made the awful trade for JBJ.

[Bellhorn04]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

Renfroe was big with the HRs and RBI, and threw out a lot of runners, but his RF D was not good, and he was why we made the awful trade for JBJ.

Might not be fair to pin that on Renfroe, who is a guy who always keeps his bags packed.

[Bellhorn04]

Comparing teams on a player-by-player basis has always seemed pretty pointless to me.

Comparing total team stats and adjusting for in-season additions and subtractions-yes, that makes sense.

[moonslav59]

How about old friends Betts & Kike leading the Dodgers to the next round?

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Might not be fair to pin that on Renfroe, who is a guy who always keeps his bags packed.

I think his poor D made Bloom move towards better OF D & JBJ's ghost.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

I think his poor D made Bloom move towards better OF D & JBJ's ghost.

Sure, I just think Bloom must have or should have known his D was bad.   

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Just now, Bellhorn04 said:

Comparing teams on a player-by-player basis has always seemed pretty pointless to me.

Comparing total team stats and adjusting for in-season additions and subtractions-yes, that makes sense.

Ok, just trying not to distract from dwelling on the odds of a total abomination of a loser-go-home finale.

Chances are at least one rookie crumbles under the big lights... but if the worst thing that happens is a Bello night, the starters shouldn't be scarred for life. 

Obviously, the Red Sox need traffic on the bases -- I didn't say "hit" because maybe Cam is wild. It's our best hope, because even a tired Boston bullpen should be better than the pinstripes'.

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Might not be fair to pin that on Renfroe, who is a guy who always keeps his bags packed.

Bad clubhouse guy!

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Comparing teams on a player-by-player basis has always seemed pretty pointless to me.

Comparing total team stats and adjusting for in-season additions and subtractions-yes, that makes sense.

'21 105 wRC+

'25 103 wRC+ (now w/o Anthony for the playoffs)

[notin]

15 hours ago, FredLynn said:

Add the coaching staff-Hudson for not sending Eaton when he could have scored and Cora for asking Rafaela to bunt-I don't think I saw him try to bunt runners over all year-and for not putting Abreu in for Eaton in RF for defense-he might have thrown out the winning run at home. 

But we were in the game the whole way and had our chances with a bunch of bench players, really-Sogard, Eaton etc. Now we will have to try to win with a rookie pitching tomorrow. 

Stop.

 

Eaton was not even at third base when Chisholm caught the ball cleanly.  If Eaton was sent, he could easily have been thrown out at home.  Hudson had no way of knowing where Chisholm was going to throw the ball.  Holding Eaton was the safe move, especially with Story due up and Trevor had all the Sox RBIs and homered in his last at bat.

It just looked worse because Rice dropped the ball, but it’s not like it rolled 20 feet away.  Heck if Rice caught the throw cleanly, he might have had a chance to throw Eaton out, too.

Too many are blaming Hudson for not reading the Yankees’ players’ minds and for not knowing the future…

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Ok, just trying not to distract from dwelling on the odds of a total abomination of a loser-go-home finale.

Chances are at least one rookie crumbles under the big lights... but if the worst thing that happens is a Bello night, the starters shouldn't be scarred for life. 

Obviously, the Red Sox need traffic on the bases -- I didn't say "hit" because maybe Cam is wild. It's our best hope, because even a tired Boston bullpen should be better than the pinstripes'.

Fangraphs are giving the Sox a 36.8% chance to win tonight! 

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

'21 105 wRC+

'25 103 wRC+ (now w/o Anthony for the playoffs)

Our offense is not great w/o Anthony, that's for sure.

We need Abreu to run into one tonight.

[notin]

2 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Our offense is not great w/o Anthony, that's for sure.

We need Abreu to run into one tonight.

Sitting Abreu has made this tougher…

[notin]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Bad clubhouse guy!

Never showers.  And as horrible, horrible gas.  99% on StatCast…

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Fangraphs are giving the Sox a 36.8% chance to win tonight! 

That actually increases my optimism that the Sox will win tonight. I would be more worried if Fangraphs favored the Sox.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

6 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Our offense is not great w/o Anthony, that's for sure.

We need Abreu to run into one tonight.

It's not great with Roman, but it would definitely be better.