The 2025 postseason, post-Red Sox

[mvp 78]

37 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I get that, and maybe Merloni is not in tune with the full Sox thinking. Yes, they like swing and miss in K zone rates, but they also value being in the K zone more often than Cease is.

(I'm not for signing Cease. I am for trading for Ryan, within reason.)

I think Merloni is just wrong about Cease's profile. Probably just adding his spin to what he's heard about Ryan and the Sox. Cease has a good whiff rate, but he just doesn't keep the ball in the zone and it leads to additional runners. He's not for me. 

[moonslav59]

18 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think Merloni is just wrong about Cease's profile. Probably just adding his spin to what he's heard about Ryan and the Sox. Cease has a good whiff rate, but he just doesn't keep the ball in the zone and it leads to additional runners. He's not for me. 

Merloni only mentioned high swing and miss on balls in the K zone as something the Sox valued highly.

Of course missing the K zone matters and must to Brez as well.

I hope they pass on Cease. As I said, Cease and desist!

[harmony]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Weirdest thing about this....You bring up Jesuit High School because it has a lot of alums that have gone on to have great success in pro-sports, when I was talking about a High School near me that has crazy success in getting players/coaches to pros.

David Adelman (jesuit) replaced Malone who also went to hendricken, and i almost edited my mazzula comment to also include a reference to malone. Crazy!

So I mention one high school (Hendricken) produced 2 NBA head coaches! Crazy.  You point out a different HS across the country (Jesuit) produced 2 NBA head coaches (also crazy, props).  And one of those coaches happened to be a direct replacement for one of the Hendricken alums as Denver Head Coach.

I didnt go to Hendricken.  Its Catholic and all boys. Im Jewish and would never let parents send me to all boys when i was in HS (not like they would have sent me there). But its 10 mins away from cranston where im born , raised, and currently live

I did do drivers ed in hendricken and drive by it at least once a week. Usually on my way to Iggys (best chowder in RI) in oakland beach (warwick, ri)

This Mariner fan drives past Jesuit several times a week but sent his high-achieving children to public schools that resented the privileged students at Jesuit.

[drewski6]

58 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think Merloni is just wrong about Cease's profile. Probably just adding his spin to what he's heard about Ryan and the Sox. Cease has a good whiff rate, but he just doesn't keep the ball in the zone and it leads to additional runners. He's not for me. 

Yes, because his (Cease) out - pitch is a power slider with heavy vertical drop.  What makes Cease good is that he throws that power slider from the exact arm slot as his heater, and his slider "tunnels" very well (meaning it looks like a fastball longer).  But its a pitch designed to leave the zone.  Hes not even trying to hang the zone ( slider that starts inside to righty and finishes outside, but still in the zone).

Because his slider is more vertical than horizontal, he can throw it to lefties, which is good becasue its by far his best pitch. But its not as effective against lefties because they see it longer, so they arent "pure guessing" at fastball vs slider.  And its what hes trying to do almost every at-bat (get you chasing his slider in the dirt with 2 strikes on you already).

So hes trying to get ahead in the count with his fastball and finish you chasing his slider.  But if he falls behind in the count, guys arent as "protective" and are less jumpy and less likely to get fooled by his slider. ANd even though his slider is still good vs lefties , its not as good as it is vs righties and its always his out pitch.  He throws an occasional curve but its nothing special.

Hes good but he needs a third pitch to be elite.

[drewski6]

35 minutes ago, harmony said:

This Mariner fan drives past Jesuit several times a week but sent his high-achieving children to public schools that resented the privileged students at Jesuit.

I wouldnt trade my public school education for private school.  Learned how to deal with all sorts of people. Deal with adversity.  At Bentley, I saw plenty of private school kids struggle because they couldnt whine their way into A's and nobody cared "who their dad was"

The advantage of private school is you are much more likely to get accepted into an Ivy. You being on the west coast, Im sure you have your equivalents (Stanford, I would assume).  So sure, I went to bentley, and maybe if i went private i could have gone to upenn.  But i wouldnt trade it.

I also enjoeyed being "the" Jew at public school. Made me famous.  Vs one of many Jews at private school, haha

[mvp 78]

50 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Hes good but he needs a third pitch to be elite.

He's had years where he's close to elite (22), but he typically doesn't put it all together.