jacksonianmarch

101 pitches in the 5th? Sale needs to be more economical. K'ing a lot of guys is great, but getting that awful pen in the game in the 6th is a fail

They’re the best team in baseball after 100 games. That’s pretty great.

There’s a difference between staying good and pushing all your chips in. The Yanks have managed to be mediocre and then become great. They did this because they didn’t rape and pillage their farm. DD did that. He also happened to draft very poorly and put almost no effort into the INTL forum. This caused a talent void. Once the first wave of kept prospects got expensive, the only way to stay great was to spend. Once money becomes tight, you’re done.

We don’t have to be rash. We do need a pitching acquisition of some kind. I would not move Deivi. I absolutely would move Frazier, but not for a rental. German goes tonight. We shall see how he responds vs the sluggin Twins.

Two losses in a row. Paxton got scorched and CC got tanked. Sucks to score 10 runs in 2 games and lose them both.

I’m not saying it is the full culprit, but it didn’t help. Rick can point to one major flaw right now. He’s a big breaking ball pitcher. He sets the top of the zone and then drops a breaking ball and is usually very effective. Rick hasn’t had the feel for his breaking ball most of the season.

Unlikely, IMO. The problem is that you don’t have a control group to point to. But pitchers experience late postseason runs all the time and most come back unscathed due to their preparation. Cora messes with the one thing that keeps these guys on target and that’s their routine. I was a pitcher, but when I got to some higher levels in baseball (college World Series level) the starters were weird as hell. They craved the schedule. Heck, they partied based on schedule. The preparation made them great and they didn’t stray. Cora messes with that and I’m sure he will agree behind closed doors that he regrets it more than anything.

Guys, I am not sure how you can watch all of the sox games and come away with JBJ being a positive defender this year. He has not been great. The position has gotten better across the league on defense and JBJ has looked old this year

Dalbec has been terrible in the second half of the minor league season at AA. He isn't ready for the bigs. He may not be ready for AAA. I do agree that your offense should be good, especially with Devers taking off. But you don't want auto-outs, especially at traditionally powerful positions. My assumption is the sox would fill 1b with someone who can hit the ball out of the park. The problem with Chavis is that he is a 1b in a utility man's clothing and other team's know it. He might bring back something of value if some GM is infatuated with his ability to hit the ball very, very far. But he is a replaceable commodity at 1b who doesn't offer anything above and beyond for the traditionally offensive minded position

We are agreeing a lot lately, and it hurts me. Leon is useless. You don't sell Beni low. Chavis is definitely a guy with promise and a HUGE hole in his swing who has sucked since the opposition found it. JBJ can be dealt, but his market is gonna be tight. On the arb market, he is gonna get nearly $10 mil. His defense has dropped off considerably this year on both the eye test (well, mine) and in all defensive metrics. He is a one trick pony and if that trick is drying up, then he is dead in the water. He is a possible DFA candidate to be totally honest

Your recommended changes are mostly a wish and a prayer. You're asking for diamonds in the rough and there just aren't any. The sox minor league system is almost entirely devoid of talent. The guys who some people here were hoping to take the next step have fallen tremendously at the upper levels. The lower level prospects have stalled. The guys you might have thought were fast movers cannot get out of their own way. The biggest thing to look at is the money. Let's say Betts avoids arb at the $28 mil rate, which is entirely possible, then you have Pedroia $14 mil AAV Price $31 mil JDM $22 mil Vazquez $4 mil Eovaldi $17 mil Betts $28 mil Bogey $20 mil Sale $29 mil That's $165 mil right there. $208 mil is the lux tax threshold. Add in $15 mil for medicals and the following for arb players E-Rod $10 mil JBJ $10 mil Benintendi $5 mil Barnes $3 mil Workman $3 mil Hembree $3 mil Marco Hernandez $1 mil You're at $215 mil right there. You're already $7 mil over the first threshold just keeping the band together minus Porcello. Let's assume Porcello moves on as does Pearce, Holt, Wright, Leon and Moreland. Eovaldi moves back into the rotation. Chavis moves to 1B. You'll need to hope Marco can stay healthy and man 2b. You'll need a utility man behind him capable of playing well. You will need a backup C. You will need another starter. Consider the other 11 spots on the 25 man are gonna make the minimum and you're down another $5.5 mil. You've got $27.5 mil to upgrade your team. Relievers got really expensive last offseason. High end closers didn't get expensive, but the middle relief guys who were studs got expensive. Starters are expensive. Adding a pen arm and a FA starter is gonna take up your entire cap and that doesn't even begin to address the fact that you're essentially keeping the band together who just spent the first 100 games sleepwalking. There are no diamonds in the rough. You don't have the assets in the minor league system to get young, controllable starters without hurting your big league club.

Here is a possible eye into the mentality of the sox starters. I know it would have bothered me as a starter back in my day. Cora starts the year off by pretending April is spring training. Instead of these guys getting their work in and working up to their pitch counts, they're getting shelled and are rushing their progress. This leads to some mechanical issues and maybe to some injury. For a 5 week stretch after the rough start, the sox starters were doing well. Their dropoff seemed to coincide with the implosion of their pen. My wonder is if the sox pitchers knew their pen held water like a sieve and tried to be too perfect. You can see this with staffs on teams with no offense as well. They know that 1 run could be all they're gonna get that day, so the approach changes.

It is absolutely possible. The Rays are in a free fall and when confronted with an opponent with talent, they turtle. They've been paper tigers from day 1 this season and the Yanks have exposed them

When you're down, the leader losing is an opportunity. Losing when the leader loses is a lost opportunity.

While the media is talking about the sox sending scouts to see MadBum and Stroman, I think the scouts are actually looking at Smith and Giles. The sox could use some rotation help, but not as badly as they need pen help. Also, the pen help should be more easily acquired

Right before the end of ST, the Yanks dealt for Mike Tauchman when it became clear that Aaron Hicks would need more time with a back injury. The need to backup CF necessitated the move as the highly touted Clint Frazier was clearly not a CF option due to his lack of big league level defense. We dealt a 25 yr old lefty reliever in Phil Diehl for him. Now, Tauchman is no kid. He is 28 yrs old and as a former 10th round pick, has moved slowly through the minors. Everywhere he went, he hit for average, but it wasn't until he repeated AAA in 2017 that he added power. Prior to 2017, he hit s a total of 8HR in almost 400ABs in the minors. In 2017, he slugged 16HRs in 475ABs. He followed that up with 20HRs in 471ABs in 2018 and received an unsuccessful cup of coffee in 2018 with the Rox. Cashman had apparently had his scouts on him. This is similar to the wildly successful Luke Voit theft in 2018 where the Yankees scouts identified a player with high exit velocities and a knack for hitting for average and figured he was worth a shot. Phil Diehl was a small price to pay and knowing the Yankees, they knew he would fail in the elevation. He's a lefty junkballer who relies on a sinker. Sinkers notoriously don't bite at altitude. Albuquerque is a city at 1 mile elevation and Diehl has been awful. Tauchman on the other hand, has been intriguing and may be playing himself into a bigger role and playing a prospect into a trade. Tauchman plays really good defense. He is a flat UZR/150 CFer this year and a plus defender in the corners. That makes for a big improvement over Frazier. But he has started to unleash that high exit velocity and his OPS is now over .800. When he first started with us, he was getting around the ball and if it was an outside pitch, he was late and was an easy K. Since coming back from a demotion, he has been absolute nails hitting all over the field, hitting lefties and hitting for power. The Mike Tauchman effect has left us with a very strong 4th OFer for 2019, but it might be more than that. With the Yankees having a probable hole in 2020 in LF (assuming no Gardy return which isn't a given), the assumption was that Frazier would be ticketed for that spot come 2020. With Tauchman outplaying Frazier by a long shot defensively and showing he isn't a downgrade offensively, he might be good enough to make Cash far more comfortable sending out Frazier and getting us some pitching help.

DD did EXACTLY what he said he would do. He said he would make the team title contenders immediately. They were. They won three consecutive division titles and took home a WS title. This year, the bloom fell off the rose. Putting expectations on DD to go deep in the playoffs with even more limited resources next season isn’t reasonable. It might happen, but it’s not a reasonable likelihood. Cora won a title and led the team to the best season in their history. Yes, his approach from the outset this year was absolutely wrong. But a guy who hangs a flag out on the facade doesn’t get canned the following year unless he’s screwing a reporter or something (that’s for you Farrell). This is the natural progression of a team that sells out for a title. Some guys fail and when they do, the ready made minor league replacements aren’t there. The minor league assets to be used for trade improvements aren’t there. The financial room to outbid everyone or take on bad contracts isn’t there. DD gave you a three year run of excellence which culminated in a title. This is the fall phase of that effort. It came a year sooner than expected.

I see the defensive data, but I also am noticing it with my own eyes. When both line up, the concern is usually valid. He looks a step slower. He is still getting great jumps, but he looks like he has lost some speed at the top end

HFA usually means nothing, but the history between these clubs shows that HFA is very important. We don't need it vs Minnesota or anybody else, but Houston is our bugaboo. They've knocked us out 2 of the last 3 times we have been in the POs. If we are to beat them, we need to secure HFA

Boston isn’t taking out s*** unless they rediscover their 2018 magic. They look dead on the field. And yeah, we haven’t won anything yet. I also agree that Houston is our biggest concern. This is why winning home field is so incredibly important. We are 0fer in Houston and 3-1 in NY. In the 2017 ALCS, the home team won every game. It will be vital to have that advantage if we cross paths

Lol. We’re gonna bury you by August 1

I think you’re gonna see two teams around 92-95 wins in the WC game. The Guardians schedule is abysmal and they’re getting Kluber and Carrasco back. The A’s play more mediocrity and are getting Manaea back plus this has been their MO of late season surges. The Sox are not gonna fall into a PO spot this year. They’re gonna have to earn it

Honest question for the group. Do you feel JBJ has slipped defensively this season?

I meant Yankee team. And what planet are you on? Left handed power hitters? We are loaded with RH power hitter who know how to go the other way.

We win again. Tanaka cruises to the 6th and then let’s the Rocks back in. The pen and the O closes the door