Yankees (Gil) vs Red Sox (Early): 4/21/26, 6:45pm

[moonslav59]

54 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Useless, and meaningless stat. little Anthony for instance has 1 HR, and 4 RBI for the season, which is a lot more telling on how he’s done. Stood there TMTC with the bat on his shoulder looking at a called third strike go by. The eye test is a lot more telling than everyone’s measuring stick the OPS.  What does Abreu’s OPS look like compared to what has he done for the team lately. Two different stories. Ops isn’t all it’s made out to be.

Useless and meaningless post.

🤪

[urban cowboy]

37 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He was hitting 637 after his first 21 MLB games last year with one HR. Give it time. 

I think him leading off is probably the wrong choice right now though. 

Seems like a classic #3 hitter. I'd put him there and leave him. We don't seem to have a leadoff hitter ... maybe Duran? Might be worth giving him a chance to work it out there. 

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, urban cowboy said:

Seems like a classic #3 hitter. I'd put him there and leave him. We don't seem to have a leadoff hitter ... maybe Duran? Might be worth giving him a chance to work it out there. 

I'm not even sure Duran deserves to play. When he does, he should bat 9th.

We need a leadoff hitter and a power bat, and it's not even May.

[Old Red]

32 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Useless and meaningless post.

🤪

Just like all those gaudy OPS stats you was talking up in spring training. Especially Duran’s.

[Old Red]

28 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not even sure Duran deserves to play. When he does, he should bat 9th.

We need a leadoff hitter and a power bat, and it's not even May.

I’m certainly not sticking up for Duran, but Cora doesn’t help things with his different lineup pretty much every day. I don’t see that’s worked out to good. To say Duran doesn’t deserve to play you’re leaving out others to be right with him.

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

But he supposed to be a big production guy according to all his hype. Maybe he needs to go back down to Woo, and see if he can hit again.

Oh, stop it.  He had a terrific season last year, including leading off, which ended way too soon on Sep 3.  So the freaking hype was justified.  The pitching savced last year's Sox, but Anthony was a big help with Devers gone and Bregman's hitting dropping off after the injury.  

This year, I agree, is pretty awful so far.  But almost no one on the Sox is having a good season at the plate.  Contreras and Rafaela seem to be the exceptions.  Maybe Yoshida is.  Wong doesn't count--yet.  

Story leads the team in rbi's with 17, 5 more than 2d best Contreras, and Story's OPS is .531.  Now that's just weird.  

Right now the Sox rank 26th in MLB in runs scored--which is a reflection of their collective incompetence.  

And their team ERA is ranked 21st.  

The above two stats point to one guy, Breslow.  And you want us to believe it's because Anthony is leading off.  

 

[moonslav59]

56 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Just like all those gaudy OPS stats you was talking up in spring training. Especially Duran’s.

"Guady?"

LMAO.

[moonslav59]

53 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I’m certainly not sticking up for Duran, but Cora doesn’t help things with his different lineup pretty much every day. I don’t see that’s worked out to good. To say Duran doesn’t deserve to play you’re leaving out others to be right with him.

I didn't say Duran doesn't deserve to play.

Aren't you the one who says what are you doing now is all that matters?

[notin]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

Useless, and meaningless stat. little Anthony for instance has 1 HR, and 4 RBI for the season, which is a lot more telling on how he’s done. Stood there TMTC with the bat on his shoulder looking at a called third strike go by. The eye test is a lot more telling than everyone’s measuring stick the OPS.  What does Abreu’s OPS look like compared to what has he done for the team lately. Two different stories. Ops isn’t all it’s made out to be.

Actually that’s a bad is a classic bad use of eye test.   
 

While Anthony does have 1 HR and 4 RBI, there is more to hitting than just those two numbers accompanied by 1 observed pitch.

OPS is a good overall way to rate a hitter, but a questionable way to analyze one. Anthony has been hitting the ball quite well this season, but his main issue has been the strikeouts, mainly the swings and misses.  As he started off similarly last year before then taking off, there is hope he can do similarly…

[notin]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

But he supposed to be a big production guy according to all his hype. Maybe he needs to go back down to Woo, and see if he can hit again.

If that’s your conclusion from the eye test, time to update the glasses prescription.  Or get new eyes…

[notin]

30 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I didn't say Duran doesn't deserve to play.

Aren't you the one who says what are you doing now is all that matters?

Does Duran “deserve” to play?  It’s a good question.

He is supposed to be one of the best hitters on this team, but instead he is one of the worst.  And playing him means benching a better hitter.

I’d understand if Cora benched Duran until someone else cooled off or until injuries necessitate returning him to the lineup…

[Hitch]

1 minute ago, notin said:

Does Duran “deserve” to play?  It’s a good question.

He is supposed to be one of the best hitters on this team, but instead he is one of the worst.  And playing him means benching a better hitter.

I’d understand if Cora benched Duran until someone else cooled off or until injuries necessitate returning him to the lineup…

Not to defend him too much because he's been poor, but he seems to have suffered the most from this outfield mess. He is a guy that needs to play every day and keep his rhythm. 

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

Does Duran “deserve” to play?  It’s a good question.

He is supposed to be one of the best hitters on this team, but instead he is one of the worst.  And playing him means benching a better hitter.

I’d understand if Cora benched Duran until someone else cooled off or until injuries necessitate returning him to the lineup…

I still think Duran has a better chance or having a good rest of season than others on the team, but we have to look at positions. Right now, Yoshida, Abreu and Rafaela all deserve to play over Duran. Anthony is struggling but ir hovering around .700. His upside seems near limitless. 

To those who say play Duran FT, and let him work his way out of it, please justify the benching of Abreu, Rafaela, Yoshida or Anthony, instead.

Again, we come back to the roster construction issue. Those who claimed we should not have traded an OF'er can point and say, see, we need 4, in case someone got hurt or sucked. Right now, Duran=suck. Those who claimed we should have traded an OF'er almost all chose Duran as the one to trade. It seems both sides can claim they were right.

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Not to defend him too much because he's been poor, but he seems to have suffered the most from this outfield mess. He is a guy that needs to play every day and keep his rhythm. 

He was playing everyday, until he sucked.

[Hitch]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

He was playing everyday, until he sucked.

Yes, but it was VERY early. An absurdly small sample size. Any other roster he'd have had the chance to hit out of it. But this 5 into 3 kills any of that.

[FredLynn]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

You keep saying this, but not even you can boycott the product. Why expect it from someone else? 

I am boycotting the product. But I am not boycotting MLB.COM.

[Hitch]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

 

Again, we come back to the roster construction issue. Those who claimed we should not have traded an OF'er can point and say, see, we need 4, in case someone got hurt or sucked. Right now, Duran=suck. Those who claimed we should have traded an OF'er almost all chose Duran as the one to trade. It seems both sides can claim they were right.

I was definitely on the side of keeping him so the 4 could rotate/cover injuries (I didn't think Yoshida would get many at bats at all), but it is definitely hurting us. I still think if we had traded Duran and ended up with an injury to Abreu (he's got sketchy health record) we'd have been hurt by the outfield alignment with Yoshi in left. But we never trading Yoshi.... maybe it would have been worth the gamble. 

 

[FredLynn]

12 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

I think the saving money came from money grabber JH. Breslow was just serving his master.

I think you are right! But Breslow's decisions on how to spend the smallish budget have been questionable at best.

[Maxbialystock]

13 hours ago, oldtimer said:

Pretty depressing. During the offseason, we hoped for more effort to build the offense, but it didn't happen. Not only that but management seems incapable of getting enthusiastic responses out of the players. I would love to see more of a hard ass approach. Produce or we will find someone who can.

Meh.  I agree the team is  depressing but  disagree with the manager part.   The center of every game is the confrontation between hitters and pitchers and both of those rely heavily on individual performance and not on "enthusiastic responses. "  I think the blame rests squarely on Breslow.    This is his team far more than it is Cora's.  To a degree it's also Chaim Bloom's team and after him it's JH's team.  

That does not mean Cora can't get fired.  Heck, JH fired (didn't renew his contract) Francona.     

[Maxbialystock]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not even sure Duran deserves to play. When he does, he should bat 9th.

We need a leadoff hitter and a power bat, and it's not even May.

Indeed.  Succinct and on target.  

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Yes, but it was VERY early. An absurdly small sample size. Any other roster he'd have had the chance to hit out of it. But this 5 into 3 kills any of that.

It's 5 into 4, counting DH, but it doesn't help, yes.

I'd love nothing more than to give Duran every chance to battle back and come close to what he did in 2024 or even 2025, but the whole team is struggling and we have more options replacing a struggling OF bat than the infield ones. IKF is not a better bat than any infielder struggling. Monasterio might be, but that's a reach. Romy is on the 60.

We've also been playing Wong more than planned, so Narvaez joins Duran as a guy sitting more than expected.

Yes, the sample sizes are very small, but I can't blame Cora for trying different players and line-up combos. If he didn't we'd be roasting him for not benching slumping players.

While I'm usually for playing the "hot hands," we don't have many of those. I often post stats, but never have suggested that recent stats predict near future results and should be the only factor in selecting who plays and where they bat.

That being said, here are even smaller sample sizes, as these are the splits vs R & Ls: .832 Yoshida

vs RHPs: (under 20 PAs noted)

1.108 Wong (Has had reverse splits over career)

.837 Contreras (FT)

.832 Yoshida (should start vs all RHPs)

.830 Abreu (FT)

.790 Monasterio (17 PAs)

.666 Anthony (FT)

.661 IKF (16 PAs)

.633 Rafaela (FT)

.563 Mayer (The next 3 infielders have all sucked about equally  v R)

,552 Durbin

,537 Story

.515 Duran

.414 Narvaez (lost the FT job)

v LHPs (under 15 PAs noted)

1.167 Rafaela

1.100 Narvaez (10 PAs)

1.000 Mayer (5 PAs)

.901 Willson

.730 Anthony

.724 Yoshida (FT?)

.697 Abreu

.514 Story

.393 Duran (platoon)

.298 Monasterio (14 PAs)

.182 IKF (11)

 

[Maxbialystock]

3 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

I think you are right! But Breslow's decisions on how to spend the smallish budget have been questionable at best.

The smallish budget is 6th largest in MLB.   While I agree the Sox needed another big bat after Breslow dumped both Devers and Bregman, his forte is really pitching, and that has not looked very good at all.  In his defense, however, is that Story and Yoshida are paid a total of $41M with not much performance--both were signed by CB.  

Right now I'm very anti-Breslow, but remain hopeful that it's still early and a cold early at that.  

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, Hitch said:

I was definitely on the side of keeping him so the 4 could rotate/cover injuries (I didn't think Yoshida would get many at bats at all), but it is definitely hurting us. I still think if we had traded Duran and ended up with an injury to Abreu (he's got sketchy health record) we'd have been hurt by the outfield alignment with Yoshi in left. But we never trading Yoshi.... maybe it would have been worth the gamble. 

 

Ideally, we keep em all and add a power bat to the infield via free agency, but we all know that was a pipe dream.

It made more sense to trade Duran, perhaps for prospects, and trade for a bigger infield bat than Durbin.

Yes, easier said than done. I get it.

Everyone wanted Abreu not Duran. I get it.

I suggested trading Rafaela a few times, too.

Maybe trading Mayer was the better idea.

[Hitch]

15 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Ideally, we keep em all and add a power bat to the infield via free agency, but we all know that was a pipe dream.

It made more sense to trade Duran, perhaps for prospects, and trade for a bigger infield bat than Durbin.

Yes, easier said than done. I get it.

Everyone wanted Abreu not Duran. I get it.

I suggested trading Rafaela a few times, too.

Maybe trading Mayer was the better idea.

I had a week long conversation about trading Mayer. I was defnitely up for that. I wasn't as sold on his bat as others and the health thing as well....

But always easier to say these things should definitely have been done in hindsight.

We'd be hard pushed to trade anyone right now (that we'd want to), and not a lot on the farm that is due to come and make a difference. 

Win the next two against the Yankees and things will feel a lot better. But I'm really not hopeful.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, Hitch said:

I had a week long conversation about trading Mayer. I was defnitely up for that. I wasn't as sold on his bat as others and the health thing as well....

But always easier to say these things should definitely have been done in hindsight.

We'd be hard pushed to trade anyone right now (that we'd want to), and not a lot on the farm that is due to come and make a difference. 

Win the next two against the Yankees and things will feel a lot better. But I'm really not hopeful.

The thing about trading Mayer for someone like KMarte was that we'd still need another trade for an infielder- in theory.

I'd have traded Mayer + Phillips + more for KMarte.

[Hitch]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The thing about trading Mayer for someone like KMarte was that we'd still need another trade for an infielder- in theory.

I'd have traded Mayer + Phillips + more for KMarte.

And Story stays at SS in that scenario. 

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, Hitch said:

And Story stays at SS in that scenario. 

That was another downside to trading Mayer, but had we gotten KMarte, I'd feel a lot better about the offense.

Mayer plus for Neto might have been the best target.

[notin]

1 hour ago, FredLynn said:

I think you are right! But Breslow's decisions on how to spend the smallish budget have been questionable at best.

Smallish budget?  Sox are top six in payroll.  Questionable stretching of the “ish” suffix…

[notin]

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That was another downside to trading Mayer, but had we gotten KMarte, I'd feel a lot better about the offense.

Mayer plus for Neto might have been the best target.

Very doubtful Anaheim does that deal without the Sox adding in something more painful..,

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

Very doubtful Anaheim does that deal without the Sox adding in something more painful..,

The asking was probably starting with Mayer and Tolle. Maybe add the prospects we could have gotten for Duran? (Or the ones we gave for Durbin or Oviedo?)