Red Sox Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Every hitting instructor in the org is a Driveline guy FWIW. 

And what is the line that drives them?

Get on base, leave them on base, and for the fan base in the playoffs -- stay off base.

Was this baseless?

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, JimEd said:

dude....don't you know those are old school back-of-the-baseball-card stats and don't matter. why? because, that's why.

today you have to look at BABIPs and FIPS, OPS+, SqUpCon, SqUpSw  and launch angles and barrels and hard-hit rate and soft-hit rate, splits, handstands and somersaults. because the nerds, thats why.

somewhere along the way, John Henry forgot what won 4 championships.

I know why would you want old school stats like HR, and RBI that actually shows up on the scoreboard in real time when they happen when you can have all these other stats that don’t.🤔

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Bello's starter ERA was 7.18 not 10, and it was 0.48 in his last 4 games (3GS.)

Check other team's 5-6-7-8, and you will see most have the same or worse than ours.

I'm not so much saying our is good as I am saying others are worse.

Many other teams have pitchers returning from long IL stints or crappy seasons. Some have never ever looked even average.

I feel so much better that BBB was not 10, but 7.18 as a starter, and pitched better at the end. I don’t care what other teams have for rotation depth, and nor do I care about any of them coming back from injury. Last year you couldn’t comprehend why Red Sox fans wasn’t concerned about the Yankee starters coming back from injuries, but cared  about the Red Sox pitchers coming back from injuries. That’s pretty obvious to me. LOI.

[NHNative]

I don't need all the stats when I can watch the players.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Still counting on little A? little A was MIA last year.

They are the best bet the Sox have at hitting 1 - 4. Nobody else on the roster feels like a 1 -4 guy to me. If Roman isn't that guy, they need 3 hitters. 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Papi, Many, Mookie, and Schil just to name a few were nerds? Millar maybe.

How often were we shown video of Schilling scribbling in his notebook during the game? He left baseball to go work in the video game industry. Seems like a nerd to me! Not sure how you could possibly think he wasn't? 

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Don't worry, your'e so happy that Devers, Bregman, Alonso and Schwarber aren't on the team so their billionaire owner doesn't have to pay them for the rest of this decade or until the world blows up.

That's a $400M payroll.

[Old Red]

26 minutes ago, NHNative said:

I don't need all the stats when I can watch the players.

I agree. The much maligned eye test is still the best source.

[mvp 78]

Red Sox Assistant GM Taylor Smith hired by A's to be President of Baseball Ops. 

Wasn't Breslow going to hire a GM or promote someone to be one? Other orgs don't have people leaving all the time like here. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, Old Red said:

I agree. The much maligned eye test is still the best source.

Not when it comes up with some of the conclusions that you've made in the past. 🙈🙊🙉🤮💀

[Old Red]

21 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

How often were we shown video of Schilling scribbling in his notebook during the game? He left baseball to go work in the video game industry. Seems like a nerd to me! Not sure how you could possibly think he wasn't? 

Yes Schilling had a notebook, and him TEK were a good pair.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

Not when it comes up with some of the conclusions that you've made in the past. 🙈🙊🙉🤮💀

Just because you disagree doesn’t mean the conclusion was wrong. I’ve been told that many times on here. Of course if you need stats to tell you what you are watching i guess you’re just  more needy, and nothing wrong with that either.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, JimEd said:

dude....don't you know those are old school back-of-the-baseball-card stats and don't matter.

You'd be surprised at how many philosophies have changed over the years.  FB no longer does the 3 yards and a cloud of dust any more.  The 4-3 yielded to nickel backs, which yielded to dime backs, to slot CBs and edge CBs.  When I started following, the SB/CS was ~60% until some nerd named Tito decided the correct target should be 75%.  Before said nerd took over, the average number of sacs was 54.  Now it's 23.

But more importantly, nerds didn't invent this stuff.  They learned how to quantify them.  Ted Williams spoke of these things long before I created the computer, and I'd bet real money that guys like Babe Ruth knew all about LA even if he never spoke about it.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

16 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

That's a $400M payroll.

What a relief. That's enough. Now they don't have to spend on good position players who can actually hit good pitching when the fall foliage is good to look at if they play good enough all summer to keep playing by then.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Whether it's one or two, they just need a complete top of the order. Roman and Contreras aren't enough for 1 - 4. They need two more guys in there. 

I'll be comfortable with RA being #1 or #2.  But the biggest bang for the buck might well be another player that can get on base in front of Contreras and Abreu.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Nerds.

Theo was the nerd to launched 4 WSC.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

36 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They are the best bet the Sox have at hitting 1 - 4. Nobody else on the roster feels like a 1 -4 guy to me. If Roman isn't that guy, they need 3 hitters. 

He might be, but we've all lived this entire decade and know by now we just cannot count on any chronically injured Red Sox guy to come back as good as new. Ever. If it happens, it's a bonus.

Meanwhile, what I've been saying -- from what we've been seeing for two years -- is that if anyone really wants the Red Sox to go deep in the next October, you're right: they need 3 hitters.

But not through trades, because if Breslow deals the handful of legit prospects left, then it's all about 2027... which may not even exist. So hang onto the future until there is one.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

Theo was the nerd to launched 4 WSC.

The reason the Red Sox didn’t Win in 1967 was not, because Theo was the GM, or JH was not the owner unless they could have picked up a bat, and hit Bob Gibson. The reason the Red Sox didn’t win in 1975 was not, because Theo wasn’t the GM, or JH was the owner after knocking off the 3 time WS winner A’s just to get to the Big Red Machine.

[Old Red]

45 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They are the best bet the Sox have at hitting 1 - 4. Nobody else on the roster feels like a 1 -4 guy to me. If Roman isn't that guy, they need 3 hitters. 

I agree they need 3 hitters.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

The reason the Sox didn't win in 1986 was not because of Bill Buckner, but because his cranky manager let him play on two crippled ankles behind a rookie closer in the headlights and the rest of a craptacular bullpen. And an MVP starting pitcher who could never beat Dave Stewart.

[mvp 78]

48 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Theo was the nerd to launched 4 WSC.

Before that, Duquette was the nerd that acquired Pedro and Manny. 

[mvp 78]

44 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

He might be, but we've all lived this entire decade and know by now we just cannot count on any chronically injured Red Sox guy to come back as good as new. Ever.

[Old Red]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Before that, Duquette was the nerd that acquired Pedro and Manny. 

You had to be a nerd to acquire Pedro, and Many?

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, Old Red said:

You had to be a nerd to acquire Pedro, and Many?

He was considered a Grade A NERD on the radio at the time. 

most days in first place

[notin]

15 minutes ago, Old Red said:

You had to be a nerd to acquire Pedro, and Many?

Yeah Strawman.

Well, an Old School baseball guy named Tommy LaSorda did have Pedro dealt to Montreal for being “too small”…

[JimEd]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Every hitting instructor in the org is a Driveline guy FWIW. 

that splains a lot. guess they'll just keep throwing s*** at the wall and hope something sticks.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Yeah Strawman.

Well, an Old School baseball guy named Tommy LaSorda did have Pedro dealt to Montreal for being “too small”…

Are you trying to say that an Old School Manger, or Management did trade Pedro at 21, but Geeks, and Nerds wouldn’t? No doubt it was a bad deal, but my understanding is that they consulted with their team doctor, and medical adviser Doctor Frank JOBE, whom was pretty renowned, and respected, and it was his opinion, and advice that he didn’t think Pedro would hold up physically. Nothing to do with, old school, geek, or nerd decision, and not even any kind of point you thought you were making. At any rate no more N’s. NO more business like NNN business.👋

[mvp 78]

55 minutes ago, JimEd said:

that splains a lot. guess they'll just keep throwing s*** at the wall and hope something sticks.

They have a specific direction they are pushing the franchise, you or I may just not like it. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

I agree they need 3 hitters.

Mead could be one. If he's healed...

Adley? Dunno. He was touted as a batter who doesn't strike out and in the first half of '26 had the lowest K-rate of his 6-year career... then he came to Boston and had the worst K-rate of his career (it had to be a coincidence and nothing to do with their Graphline hitting).

With the Red Sox. Rutschman also had the lowest BB%, lowest Exit Velo, lowest Hard Hit% and lowest Line Drive% of his career.

Pray to the Church of Baseball it was all just a Crap Sample Size.

[JimEd]

3 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Theo was the nerd to launched 4 WSC.

yeah, but he had enough sense to know you needed hitters. specifically, power hitters like Manny and Papi that could do some instant damage. with Bloom -the ultimate nerd- you get Masataka Yoshida. 😂