jacksonianmarch

He is now shying away from the breaking ball.

Another hung breaking ball

The first curve to Stewart was hung. The last one was nice

Watch his release of his breaking ball and see if he made the adjustment this inning. He was getting around his breaking ball instead of getting on top of it. Watch it this inning. Watch the hand. It is a function of release point too. He is slinging it instead of throwing it

Zimmerman is not a big league pitcher anymore. The Tigers are hoping against hope that they can get someone to take on his contract, but he is done out there. The Tigers would be better served to get the kids some work

Probably because you are only interested in results, which is great for you. The point stands, he is rolling his breaking ball. He did it against the Yankees too and he got shellacked

He is a HORRENDOUS outfielder. He makes Clint Frazier look like a gold glover. He is a glorified DH who barely OPS's .800, doesn't walk a ton and doesn't have much power. He wouldn't make the sox. He wouldn't make the Yanks. My point stands

He is facing one of the worst lineups I have ever seen. Not a single player in their lineup would make either the Yanks or Sox team, so they aren't gonna make him pay. Porcello's breaking ball in the first inning was flat because he is getting around the ball and not getting on top of it. Levangie needs to make him aware of that.

Porcello is rolling his breaking ball again.

I get what they were doing. Hicks has been abysmal vs lefties this year. That being said, I’m gonna lay this one on Boone and I really am dumbfounded by his lackadaisical approach to games vs the Sox and Rays. Yes, were up 10 in the L column. Make it 11 and step on the neck. CC going 7 innings is stupid. He’s a 5 inning pitcher. Maybe you give him 6. If he’s rolling and you’re up big, he can go 7. Not in a 1 run game and especially not after he puts a batter on. This game should have been 3-1 Yanks. Instead we need a heroic homer in the 9th then Green leaves one up

You’ve gone 3-1 in your last four since coming back from the London massacre and have gained no ground on the division. Thankfully for you, the Yanks have beaten the Rays and have actually brought the WC1 within striking distance. This is really important for Boston, IMO. A home WC playoff would be very important for the Sox. The Sox are only 2 games out of the WC, yet are tied with a team, have another team ahead of them not in the top two spots then has to contend with TB and CLE. To the surprise of nobody, the A’s have gotten white hot. Gun to my head, the A’s are going to have their name in either WC spot by season’s end. That leaves the other spot and it’ll be a battle with the Guardians and Rays to secure the last spot for grabs (not specifying WC1 or WC2). The Guardians have the easiest path as they play in the central and the Twins are likely not as good as advertised. Interestingly, the A’s have played themselves into the division race as well with Houston sputtering up until the last 10 games. This is gonna be a fun finish for sure.

Devers is becoming the hitter everyone thought he would be. It was weird because he sucked in April. Then it just looked like a light came on and bang, he was dominant. He's got the kind of oppo power as a lefty that you don't see very often. You rarely see lefties drive the ball down the line in LF. You usually see oppo shots to LCF for lefties. His power is impressive and will only improve. While Beni has seemed to fade, Devers is coming out and I fully expect him to be a big pain in the ass for the next 4 seasons after this one. Instead of Betts, the sox might want to sit down with Devers and pull out an Acuna deal. Devers has one more year of pre-arb remaining then he will start to get expensive. Arbitration only takes into account the last 2 years of performance, so the first year they're gonna count is this one.

A great closer doesn't go out there and have one amazing performance and be great. A great closer does it 90+% of the time. A great closer can pitch 2 games in a row and 4 games in a week to preserve leads. Eovaldi has not proven that he can do that either performance wise or health wise. This is a panic move. It might work out. It might flame out. It adds a lot more drama to this very interesting 2019 season. I can't wait to see it

Dalbec would be piece #2 for Shane Greene. You need to send a headliner. The issue for the sox getting Greene is the price will be high with the second year of control attached. Greene has been lights out this year. His stuff has always been great. His K rate has always been great. He has lowered his walk rate this year, his strand rate is enormous and his BABIP is way down. Teams likely aren't buying his success as anything more than a fluke yet Detroit is rightly going to hold out for a king's ransom with the 2020 arb year as the sticking point. Greene has been a 3.95-4.25xFIP pitcher 4 years running, yet his ERA's have bounced between 1.09 and 5.82. The one thing that these predictors have trouble with are guys who get high GB rates. Greene has used his cutter 5% more this year and his average FB has dropped over 1mph, yet his GB rate has gone up 15%. If he is moved this deadline, he is gonna go for a king's ransom. Dalbec straight up aint gonna cut it

Second round pick Josh Adams remains the only 2nd rounder not to sign with any team thus far. Adams' 2018 was a wash due to a back injury. The rumor is that the physical performed showed a problem with the back and the Yankees are offering 40% of the slot to retain the pick for next year.

Really tough break for him. They haven't released the type of leukemia. Some are treated as chronic conditions, others get chemo or bone marrow transplants. He says he plans to return at the end of this month, so I would hope it portends a good prognosis

The only way you get a decent player without giving up those guys is if you absorb salary, which takes you over the final limit

Disagree on the Reds. They have the third best Pythagorean in the NL and they’re rolling. They’re gonna be in it, just watch

Then WTF ( best nickname ever btw) should get his act straight. If Sale is right and has his command, you don’t need Vasquez’ offense.

On the slider front, where pitchers are getting into trouble is that they’re throwing two different types of sliders. They’re throwing a “get me over” slider, which is essentially a hanger by design to get a strike. More using it as an off speed pitch rather than an actual slider. Then they have the sharper one when they need it. It’s VERY hard to be able to command and repeat both. So you’re seeing a lot of sliders hung. Pitchers had to pitch backwards because they cannot locate their fastballs. Guys get to the bigs with big velocity, but they sell control for that velocity and now have trouble hitting spots with it. So they rely on deception and velocity rather than command.

I was thinking that way a month ago not any more. In the NL East, the Braves are leading. The Nats are tied for WC1. Philly is a half game back of the Nats. Neither of those three teams is gonna sell, IMO. The Nats just spent on corbin and are finally back in it. The Phillies spent and traded all winter. They ain’t giving up The NL Central is crazy. All 5 teams within 2 games in the L column. The Reds really went for it this year and their Pythagorean should keep them on the up and up. I expect only the pirates to fade and sell. The NL West is the dodgers to win. The Padres just spent and are a year away, they won’t tear down although they may deal off Yates or other older parts. They’re also within 3.5 of the WC right now, so their fan base isn’t gonna take to a sell off kindly (their 4 fans might not like it). The Giants are 6.5 games out of the WC, but they’ll sell. Colorado is a game out and just spent big to bring back Arenado. The DBacks are still in it. If they surge, they’ll buy, if they sell, they can be the most intriguing with Greinke and Ray hitting the market The ALE has only two teams that’ll sell and they don’t have much. Between the O’s and Jays, you’re pretty much looking at Stromam, Givens, Castro, Giles and Mancini. Good players, but none need to be dealt The ALC is still in it. The Twins and Guardians aren’t selling. The White Sox are an up and coming team who may move Abreu, but are likely looking for assets for next year rather than a few years down the line. The Tigers and Royals suck. In the AL West, the only team out of it is the M’s with the Angels likely just behind. If my prediction holds, the Angels, Mariners, Royals, Tigers, Jays, O’s, Marlins, Mets, Pirates, and Giants are likely your sellers. That’s 10 teams selling and 20 buying. Not a buyers market

Players today are far better at hitting the curve than they were decades ago, I know you guys don’t like sliders, but I wonder if any of you have actually faced a really good one. A great curve in the strike zone can be hit out. A great slider in the zone (down and away or in) is not hittable. A slider looks like a fastball out of the hand. A curve is easy to pick up. Watch a hitter take a rip at a slider vs a curve. Guys trying to hit a curve have no issue with the lateral movement, they’re trying to judge the bottom. A hanging curve is a homerun by the hitters design. With the slider, you read and react and your reaction is almost always behind where it will be. This is why a bad slider gets hit hard because the hitter swings at a slider as if it’s a hanger. Don’t hang it, and it’s unhittable. The bat placement will always be behind the expected break. Sliders ended my baseball career. My old man had a great curveball, so I crushed those. I don’t care how hard you threw, I could hit it. I couldn’t react to a slider and became an easy out by the time the word got out. From college World Series all star to benched

I find it really strange that Cora had Hembree ready and saw Workman struggle in the 8th. Why burn him for another day when he clearly didn’t have it. Workman tried to blow the game but Vlad couldn’t hit a hanger and Cora got lucky. If you needed Workman tonight, he’s now unavailable. Not the smartest move

Look at the division and wild card races. Heck the NL Central is within a 2 game loss column range. Every team in the NL is within at least 6.5 games of the playoffs in some way sans the Marlins. In the AL, only 5 teams are more than 6 games out from contention. I don’t think the other 23 teams (the 6 out of contention and Sox aside) know what they want yet

How do you let him close this out?