guapo34

I'm not a doctor, and while the two are very hard to compare, throwing a baseball, especially at the speads power pitchers do, is very damaging to the elbow and shoulder. More than the average person realizes. Baseball Tonight slowed down the delivery of some pitchers who had injury histories last year and focused on the elbow. You could see how violent the motion is.

Thats not what corrleation means. That simply means that the relationship between runs and SLG is more linear. For example, if team runs increased by 1 for every 100 points for SLG (obviously not the case) for every team in the study, the correlation would be 1. That doesn't mean SLG contributes more to runs scored. A quick google search gave me this article: http://www.pankin.com/sabr34.pdf Supporting my statement. Its generall accepted that OBP is more important than SLG. This is just one example. I haven't even read the whole thing, but its opening states exactly what i did. 1 point of OBP=3 of SLG. While this exact ratio is debatable, which of the two states leads to more runs isn't really.

Nice post ksushi, but i think he is smiling when he criticizes. He's a yankee fan.

To be fair, I don't think any offense in baseball will be good enough to carry a pitching staff with the ERA ths Red Sox had last year. Although I'm still not willing to concede the Red Sox are going to score less runs than last year. Its no gurantee that they'll be as good, but they've certainly got a shot.

Most people estimate OBP as being 3 times as important as slugging percentage in runs scored. His above average OBP makes up for his below average slugging percentage.

Most people aren't too optomistic about Lowell. I'm expecting good defense. His offense should be a little better than last year just by going from florida to boston. He's still a major risk though, and most people understand it. His big years not that long ago leave open the possibility of a rebound, and theres nothing wrong with hoping that happens. Loretta still hit well for a second basemen last year. 2 years ago he was the most productive second basemen in the national league. He doesn't have to be that good to be a major improvement. Youks career numbers are better than average for a first basemen. He didn't get much of a shot last year, but showed improved power when playing in the minors. I think he'll be fine. Gonzalez won't do much with the bat but neither did our SS last year, and Gonzalez will be much better defensively. He can hit for power, but won't get one base all that often.

I'm a BC fan, and I don't think they can beat Duke. I'd be surprised if its within 8.

But Coco could hit for more power than all of them, while getting on base less often than all but Lowell.

You've said bill stoneman won't trade his prospects 4 times in 2 pages. We understand you think this. I never said it was likely. I just think that the Angels are a boarderline playoff team that become the clear favorites with Manny. They have multiple prospects and would not be mortgaging their future by trading a couple. With this all being true, I could see the Angels as a possible landing spot. I have a hard time believing the Angels GM ignores the improvements he could make to his team this year and refuses to trade prospects, some of which are blocked at the major league level. Your argument that Manny would be gone already if the Angles were to trade for him makes no sense. Things change all the time. Look at how long it took to construct the Coco Crisp deal. Once again, no need to remind us you think bill stoneman never trades prospects. We get it, thats your position.

I don't think they can bench their vets that easily. If they were the type of team to do that, then Darrin Erstad must be blackmailing someone for playing time. Erstad makes a lot of money and Scocia definately likes him. I don't see him being benched. The Angels tried to give away Ocab according to Gammons and couldn't do it. I don't think they'll pay him $16 million for 2 years to sit on the bench. Chone figgins, Garret Anderson, and Vlad are also gonna be in the lineup. Also, their farm system is so deep, they have prospects blocking prospects, especially in the middle. 3rd place isn't exactly out of contention in June. I still don't think its likely, just possible.

Yeah, I was lazy and didn't get caught up, but since this thread was still going i figured there had to be some debate going on. I see its just gotten off topic and turned into a Duke vs UNC argument.

Manny no longer hitting would kill our offense, not the walks to Ortiz. Of course, you'd have to consider what we got for Manny. One possible Manny trade scenario I could see is if the Angels were willing to move Brandon Wood. As the two stand now the Sox would probably want something else in the deal too. The Angels aren't big on trading prospects, so its a longshot. But i would love to see the Sox get Brandon Wood. You never know what the Angels might do if they're in 3rd place at the beggining of June.

Without getting caught up in this thread and whats been said, Kobe is obviously a great player, but I think Jordan was the far more consistent player. He was also much better in making the players around him better. Kobe seems to be having the opposite effect on teamates since Shaq left.

but in the long run, he helps you more than he hurts you. Theres probably one player in major league history whose smallball game translates to more runs than Ortiz's game, and thats only because he was great at getting on base. No bunter/basestealer helps an offense more than Ortiz, no matter what offense. Also, the Red Sox are routinely in the bottom 3 in the league in both bunts and steals. 3 years in a row they've led all of baseball in runs scored. Why do you think this needs to change and why do you think its going to change?

Wang had a 3.64 k/9. Thats terrible. Most pitchers that put up numbers like he did with strike out rates that bad generally fall back to earth the next year. Pappelbon's was 9 k/9. While this was only in 17 innings, he could've gone 17 more innings without a K and still had Wang beat, by almost a whole K.

I know I'm in the minority, but I'm going to post my ideal lineup anyway. Against righties: Youk Loretta Manny Ortiz Coco Nixon Tek Lowell Gonzalez Lefties: Youk Loretta Manny Ortiz Crisp Lowell Tek Mohr Gonzalez The idea that we're in trouble because of the dropoff in infield offense is crazy. Lowell is a legitimate concern, but we've upgraded at second and first. Lowell might rebound and have a decent year, and he might be awful, but hes not going to kill the teams offense. Millar had no power last year and struggled to get on base. There might be a small downgrade offensively at short, but i think that gets made up for by the difference in defense. Rentaria was obviously terrible. On the first page of this thread someone posted a lineup claimed to be released by the red sox to NESN. I highly doubt the Red Sox would release a lineup to NESN in the offseason. Thats Francona's job to decide. The fact the lineup included Gonzalez who we just officially signed today gives it less credibility. I'm sure it was just NESN speculating.

The idea that a healthy David Ortiz could be a liability in any line-up is terribly misguided. If he got walk every time he got up, we'd score more runs than if he was always pitched to. I'd be surprised if anyone in the history of the game has hit enough to help his team more than he would if he walked every time up. The Red Sox are placing a bigger emphasis on defense, but as long as Theo is running the team, or John Henry owns it for that matter, getting on base will always be more important than speed on the basepaths.

no, its not. The $11 million was to get rid of rentaria because he was overpaid. We can replace him for the difference between the $11 million we gave up and the $30 we owed him. So we saved money at short and got a good prospect. That $11 million is rediculous to include in what we gave up for Crisp.

including 12 on the road against only 4 at home. 25 isn't impossible out of him.

So why SiaS for steinbrenner? And i've always thought cold hearted bastard when i read CHB even if thats not what its supposed to stand for. I hate shaughnessy

Good trade, obviously not a great one. If Marte flops though this looks like a steal for us. Even if Marte reaches his full potential, which i think is 30-35 HRs and a .275 BA, Crisp improves our club a lot this year. If you compare what Crisp will cost over the next 4 years to what damon cost its probably a $32 million difference, and I think Crisp will be better than Damon. You can use that $32 million to make up the loss of a cheap young 3b like Marte.

Stern needs to be on the roster for 18 days. He will weather anyone likes it or not, and after keeping him on the roster for so long last year while he contributed nothing, it would be foolish to lose him over 18 games. If you carry 12 pitchers, and stern, that leaves you with one backup catcher, one backup infielder, and one more guy. I think the one more bench guy will contribute much more than whoever the 12th pitcher is, and I'd expect dinardo to be the odd man out.

Definately the lefties, without question. Seanez is a major league pitcher who has been very good lately.

He'll obviously be on the roster but I wouldn't be surprised to see him start in the bullpen. The Sox like to limit innings on their young pitchers. He threw 148 innings last year. A full season in the rotation might bring him well over 200 innings. A month or two in the bullpen before a promotion to the starting rotation might be a the plan.

I think theres enough information, both minor league success and an above average OBP through roughly 280 at bats in the majors to say at worst he's a suitable regular. Since hes done all of this and is only 26 and hasn't had a chance to play everyday I think theres reason for optomism that he can be better.