mvp 78

They don't even need a "good" one. Per BTV: Sox Trade Jeter Downs and Nick Decker Rockies trade CJ Cron 131 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR, 4 DRS

Yes, without the 3rd pitch, he may not be a great fit for a starter's role. I thought in ST they should have transitioned Whitlock to SP and Houck to closer. We may get there eventually? Someday?

Handing the pen and the contract over to Devers.

7th in Shutdowns 86 4th in Meltdowns 55 It's the yin and yang of the Red Sox bullpen. The Schrodinger bullpen. The bullpen that will theoretically save and blow the game at the same time.

Yorke has struggled so far, but still has a high ceiling. Mata/Walter have MLB caliber arms. Both may be back end rotation guys. Maybe Mata finds more success in the pen? IDK. I think SoxProspects is fine where they have them for now. I think once the book gets around on Rafaela, maybe teams start pitching him a little differently. We'll see. His power numbers have come out of nowhere. Fangraphs has his power listed as a 30 and he's mashing this season. I'd be much more sold on him if he started walking at a higher clip. All things being equal, if Bleis and Rafaela continue on this trajectory, I'd assume that next year the ranking would start off as: 1. Mayer 2. Casas 3. Bello 4. Rafaela 5. Yorke 6. Bleis 7. Walter 8. Mata 9. Murphy 10. Paulino I'm assuming Winckowski graduates this season.

My slow transformation into SBF once Raffy is gone and my heart is broken...

I think the opener idea is fine because it still allows you to use the opener throughout the week. He can still keep his normal relief workload. With Houck, if you're going to truly piggyback him with Hill, it prevents him from pitching the rest of the week. At most, maybe you get one other brief appearance out of him a few days later. If he's going 4 innings, just start him? It's like carrying 6 starters for a 5 man rotation. Doesn't seem to be the best use of a limited roster. Maybe it made sense early in the season when they could store extra players and they were just coming out of Spring Training?

Don't worry everyone, it's very simple. I'm sure Old Red and others will find it very clear... Calculation: To determine if a pitcher has earned a Shutdown or Meltdown, you simply need to check their Win Probability Added (WPA) for the game in question. WPA is a measure of how much the team’s Win Expectancy changed while a given pitcher was on the mound. If you enter a game with a WE of 84% and exit the game with a WE of 94%, the pitcher is credited with +0.10 WPA. If you enter with a WE of 64% and leave with a WE of 46%, the pitcher earns -0.18 WPA. In order to delineate between outings of consequence and those without much, relievers only earn Shutdowns if they register a WPA of +0.06 or greater in a given game. The same is true on the negative side of the ledger, earning a Meltdown if they produce a -0.06 WPA or lower during a game. Keep in mind that Win Expectancy is based on the odds an average team would win on average, so if the 2001 Mariners were playing the 2003 Tigers, WE would treat a 4-0 game in the 9th the same as if two very equal teams were in the same situation. Additionally, a WPA of 0.40 and 0.08 both earn a Shutdown, even though the former is very likely a more impressive performance.

I'm not even sure how those are even calculated TBH.

He was brought in to turn the Red Sox into the Dodgers, a sustainable top of the line organization that has a large budget and great farm system. When you have a high budget, you still have room for large contracts. You just use your farm to supplement your other holes rather than $$$ on middling FA talent like Diekman and other dreck.

Save Percentage is a bad stat to begin with.

They needed to expand the playoffs by how many slots to sneak the Mariners in?

Hill/Houck Piggyback Games 4/24 TBR Loss 2-5 (loss due to Valdez, not due to piggyback) 4/29 BAL Win 3-1 5/5 LAA Loss 0-8 (Houck gave up 7 runs) 5/19 SEA Loss 2-6 (Hill stunk early) 5/25 CHW Loss 1-3 (Sox had nearly twice the amount of runners and couldn't score) It's hard to say if it was a great success. Quite the mixed bag. I think I would have personally rather just seen Houck in the closer's role or as a starter rather than just lumped in with hill.

Why? They are the Boston Red Sox. They should be able to keep both of them. They aren't hurting for cash. It's whether they want to or not. It's not if they are "able to."

It would have been worse if they signed Semien. If they let Xander go, they need to extend Raffy. If they let Raffy go, there will be extended griping and/or sadness from me.

Average temperature for my town in November per the Google Machine: November 80° / 64° That's brisk, baby... Ladies will start to wear parkas with fur trim to Publix, while their dudes will still be wearing tank tops and board shorts.

Um, what?

Sometimes, it gets so cold out that my neighbor even has to put a shirt on to take the trash out in the morning.

I was just asking for thrice: Devers/Xander/Betts. I guess Xander/Devers is the compromise. I'll shut up forever about Betts if they keep both.

They should be able to catch a freaking pop-up before they meet Cora.

Wild Card rounds are now best of 3. More time for cold beverages on cold fall days.

Sounds reasonable.

So you'll top out at a Story rather than a Devers or Betts? Yuck!

:(

@alexspeier Triston Casas, who hasn't played since May 17 due to a high right ankle sprain, will start a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League today.