Red Sox Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[Old Red]

6 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I have a strong suspicion that the game plan of pulling starters and who was coming in from the bullpen was pre-ordained. Overall I like Tracy and I hope they give him more on field decision making pull next season. 

It was more than obvious the game plan was all laid out for Dick Tracy before the series even started on pitching decisions despite him saying otherwise at the end of the year press BS.🤔

[Hugh2]

18 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

mead was a flop this season.  that was my point. 

I think you have a very different definition of what FLOP is than other people.  The dude got hit in the wrist by a 95 MPH fastball during his secon at bat.  It's not like he played 60 games here and batted .200

18 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

i didn't say i didn't like Bennet as he was good but 11 ip is hardly a sample to assess

Luis Perales also put up 96 innings in AAA and he was pretty good but not great.  Still command issues and comes with a ton of reliever risk still.  I like Perales, and even if he turns into a good starting pitcher it will mean nothing if Bennett also performs well. 

It's entirely possible for a trade to turn out as a win/win for both teams.  

[Hugh2]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It was more than obvious the game plan was all laid out for Dick Tracy before the series even started on pitching decisions despite him saying otherwise at the end of the year press BS.🤔

Agreed.  I think we all know the Sox powers above love to control as much of the game as they can.  

I'm pro analytics and all that crap, but at the end of the day I think you have defer to the manager who is on the field.  Some times the data is telling you what happen just as much as it's telling you what could happen and a good manager knows how people are feeling and what the mood is that day blah blah blah. 

Sox ownership is like the equivalent to a helicopter overinvolved parent. 

[mvp 78]

The Brewers averaged almost a full run more than the Sox this year with roughly the same amount of HR. How? 

#1 BB (Sox 21)

#5 SB (Sox  14)

#1 BABIP (Sox 8)

#1 AVG (Sox 13)

#1 OBP (Sox 12)

#3 wRC+ (Sox 17)

#4 BsR (Sox 17)

There just isn't a path for the Sox to replicate what MIL is doing without completely reshaping the roster. MIL can hit, take a walk and run the bases MUCH better than the Sox can up and down the roster. Breslow is hesitant to move on from Duran, a guy whose only tool is running. He has a bad hit tool and can't take a walk to save his life. Trevor Story? Yuck. I also wouldn't let Monasterio leave WOO. Get Connor Wong out of here. Is there enough meat on the bone from subtracting the PA's from Narvaez, Mayer and IKF that the remainder adds up to a better offense? Maybe? It's not going to be at MIL's level though. They've been working on that foundation for years. Breslow is focusing on AIR pull%. That's not MIL's way. MIL was happy to get rid of Durbin, Seigler and Monasterio and they got better for it. They can't be foundational guys here.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I think you have a very different definition of what FLOP is than other people.  The dude got hit in the wrist by a 95 MPH fastball during his secon at bat.  It's not like he played 60 games here and batted .200

It's just impressive that the ball hit the one square inch of his arm that wasn't covered in body armor. 

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, really. We went from about ...

.315 Narvaez after the trade

.519 Wong after the trade (.511 after AR started playing

to

.688 AR with BOS and hopes he can be .725 to .775 (He was .762 w BAL before the trade.)

+ 9 PAs from Rogers at 1.389 before AR came back.

The upgrade was more like 200-250 and better D.

I do agree we overpaid, but it was still a major upgrade. I wish we got Hicks.

 

Sox could have just waited until this offseason and signed either Jeffers, Stephenson, Kelly or Hedges without giving anything up. What a waste. 

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Sox could have just waited until this offseason and signed either Jeffers, Stephenson, Kelly or Hedges without giving anything up. What a waste. 

Just, because one player is an upgrade over another major, or not doesn’t mean it’s going to move the needle that much.

[JimEd]

18 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The Brewers averaged almost a full run more than the Sox this year with roughly the same amount of HR. How? 

#1 BB (Sox 21)

#5 SB (Sox  14)

#1 BABIP (Sox 8)

#1 AVG (Sox 13)

#1 OBP (Sox 12)

#3 wRC+ (Sox 17)

#4 BsR (Sox 17)

There just isn't a path for the Sox to replicate what MIL is doing without completely reshaping the roster. MIL can hit, take a walk and run the bases MUCH better than the Sox can up and down the roster. Breslow is hesitant to move on from Duran, a guy whose only tool is running. He has a bad hit tool and can't take a walk to save his life. Trevor Story? Yuck. I also wouldn't let Monasterio leave WOO. Get Connor Wong out of here. Is there enough meat on the bone from subtracting the PA's from Narvaez, Mayer and IKF that the remainder adds up to a better offense? Maybe? It's not going to be at MIL's level though. They've been working on that foundation for years. Breslow is focusing on AIR pull%. That's not MIL's way. MIL was happy to get rid of Durbin, Seigler and Monasterio and they got better for it. They can't be foundational guys here.

yeah....Milwaukee and Pat Murphy are sorta the anti-Driveline. probably why they don't use them.

[NHNative]

I will say this...they played 2 masterful games and against a good Rays, it was loads of fun to watch.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, JimEd said:

yeah....Milwaukee and Pat Murphy are sorta the anti-Driveline. probably why they don't use them.

That's not exactly true as they use it a lot for their pitching and have hired a ton of driveline people up and down their org on the hitting side. They just don't teach pull AIR.

[moonslav59]

34 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Sox could have just waited until this offseason and signed either Jeffers, Stephenson, Kelly or Hedges without giving anything up. What a waste. 

Again, I agree we overpaid, and AR underperformed and may be overrated.

My point was the trade upgraded catcher offense by more than 150 points, and we need a boost to the offense. Waiting until this winter would not have satisfied the hungry deadline crowd calling of upgrades to the offense.

Since mead got hurt, Anthony poofed out and we fell way short of advancing, yes it was a waste.

Hicks was cheaper and better on O.

Now, we have one year of AR left.

[moonslav59]

34 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Just, because one player is an upgrade over another major, or not doesn’t mean it’s going to move the needle that much.

True, because others declined, but Brez tried and he'd have been roasted had he not made the Mead & AR deals, too.

[notin]

48 minutes ago, JimEd said:

yeah....Milwaukee and Pat Murphy are sorta the anti-Driveline. probably why they don't use them.

Sure they do.  Heck the hitting coach for their AAA affiliate (Nashville Sounds) is former Driveline instructor Zach Jones.

The Brewers at the MLB level are less into the “pull air” Driveline philosophy than other teams, but they absolutely do use Driveline montheless…

[mvp 78]

33 minutes ago, notin said:

Sure they do.  Heck the hitting coach for their AAA affiliate (Nashville Sounds) is former Driveline instructor Zach Jones.

The Brewers at the MLB level are less into the “pull air” Driveline philosophy than other teams, but they absolutely do use Driveline montheless…

Yeah, Driveline doesn't show up and say "ok guys, we're here to teach you how to pull the ball and hit it in the air." They will follow whatever direction the org wants to push their hitters.  

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

It was more than obvious the game plan was all laid out for Dick Tracy before the series even started on pitching decisions despite him saying otherwise at the end of the year press BS.🤔

Wheres flattop?

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

It's just impressive that the ball hit the one square inch of his arm that wasn't covered in body armor. 

thats what happened to Achilles of greek lore. 

[drewski6]

14 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Yeah, Driveline doesn't show up and say "ok guys, we're here to teach you how to pull the ball and hit it in the air." They will follow whatever direction the org wants to push their hitters.  

its a mechanism not a defined goal

[drewski6]

can driveline help my golf game?

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

True, because others declined, but Brez tried and he'd have been roasted had he not made the Mead & AR deals, too.

I agree Bres tried, but I keep going back to the past offseason when Brez didn’t do enough to get the Big Bat the Red Sox needed more than anything, and would have helped more than anything else. Even with others declining Alonso would have helped offset the 23 less homers, and 97 less runs scored. I’m not using declining players as an excuse.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Again, I agree we overpaid, and AR underperformed and may be overrated.

My point was the trade upgraded catcher offense by more than 150 points, and we need a boost to the offense. Waiting until this winter would not have satisfied the hungry deadline crowd calling of upgrades to the offense.

Since mead got hurt, Anthony poofed out and we fell way short of advancing, yes it was a waste.

Hicks was cheaper and better on O.

Now, we have one year of AR left.

Why are you so hung up on OPS when they don’t put numbers up on the scoreboard?

[JimEd]

11 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

can driveline help my golf game?

apparently they know everything and can do no wrong.

[Hugh2]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

It's just impressive that the ball hit the one square inch of his arm that wasn't covered in body armor. 

The wrist is a bad place to get hit too, there are so many small bones there.  Sometimes guys get hit there an get lucky, where's a fraction of a centimeter in any direction breaks something.  

Some guys are just injury prone, but you really can't blame a guy for getting hit on the wrist with a 95 MPH fastball.  That's just misfortune. 

[Hugh2]

49 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

can driveline help my golf game?

I'm sure they would tell me that my golf game could be outstanding, all I need to do is fix my slice, hit with my irons more consistently, learn how to chip better and learn how to putt better.  

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I'm sure they would tell me that my golf game could be outstanding, all I need to do is fix my slice, hit with my irons more consistently, learn how to chip better and learn how to putt better.  

[JoeBrady]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

This "we need to acquire timely hitting" is hard for me to fathom.

I've noticed that as well.  I do believe that some players are better in the clutch, but mostly that is a random calculation.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

I think you have defer to the manager who is on the field. 

I think both sides have to start with the data.  One simply has to accept things like L/R splits.  OTOH, the 3rd time thru the lineup is a little more grey.  A lot of times, you need to see how the pitcher is performing, and that takes a trained eye.  

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

MIL was happy to get rid of Durbin, Seigler and Monasterio and they got better for it. They can't be foundational guys here.

Durbin is definitely a starter.  Seigler and Money only got the ABs they did because of injuries, but they are fine as bench pieces.

On the rest of it, I agree.  I most definitely think OBP works, but we just didn't do a good job of it.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

Durbin is definitely a starter.  Seigler and Money only got the ABs they did because of injuries, but they are fine as bench pieces.

On the rest of it, I agree.  I most definitely think OBP works, but we just didn't do a good job of it.

Durbin is a starter if you’ve got other good bats around him. Bregman definitely would have helped the Red Sox more in 2026.

[Bellhorn04]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

OTOH, the 3rd time thru the lineup is a little more grey.  

The unintentional pun.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Yeah, Driveline doesn't show up and say "ok guys, we're here to teach you how to pull the ball and hit it in the air." They will follow whatever direction the org wants to push their hitters.  

They also do a lot more than say 'pull the ball in the air'.  The RS have added a lot of bat speed to some of their kids.  A lot of what they do is bio-mechanics.