mvp 78

Better to start it early than too late.

Bruins just need to play better than they did. The 2nd period was embarrassing.

https://www.overthemonster.com/2019/6/7/18648577/rick-porcello-red-sox-rotation This is a Rick Porcello appreciation post With the Red Sox being the home of Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and David Price, it’s rare to find yourself in a situation where you are truly thankful for a guy like Rick Porcello, but here we are. After being told that he wasn’t going to get a contract extension before the season started, it would have been easy for him to let that affect his mentality — and it very well could have been lingering in the back of his mind when he gave up 16 runs in his first two starts. But he’s been (mostly) a picture of consistency since then really, and it couldn’t be coming at a better time with free agency looming and Eovaldi and Price both missing time with injuries. Given the injury history for both of those guys and Sale not always looking like himself this year, I’m starting to come around on the idea of re-signing Porcello. The prospect of having four 30-year-old pitchers locked up long-term is a bit daunting, but the more Porcello contributes this year, the more the front office has to consider giving him a two or three-year deal come the offseason. It’s unlikely he wins another Cy Young, because even the first one was a bit surprising — just ask Kate Upton — but he’s been arguably Boston’s most consistent pitcher this season, which is another welcome surprise. The Red Sox are 8-2 in Porcello’s last 10 starts and he has given them at least six innings in seven of those appearances. He’s not striking out 10 guys every night, but he’s doing what he has always done best — eating innings and pitching good enough to give his team a chance to win each time he goes out. Even in Saturday’s loss, Porcello gave his team a chance against a hot Yankees team that’s averaging 5.34 runs a night. He just ran into a hotter Gary Sanchez in the fifth inning. “He’s been very consistent for the last six, seven starts, and that’s what he’s here for,” Alex Cora said recently, per the Boston Herald. That’s all you can ask for from the fourth best pitcher in the rotation. And one could argue he’s giving you much more than that. Since April 24th, Porcello has posted the 14th-best batting average against in the American League (.221), the 8th-best BABIP (.245), and the 9th-lowest WHIP (1.06), per Fangraphs. Find me another No. 4 starter who has been better over the last few months. It would be tough. Porcello’s slider and curveball seem to be a big reason for his success recently. Per Brooks Baseball, the BAA on his slider is at .209, which is down from .219 last season and .229 the year before that and comparable to where it was the year he won the Cy Young (.192). Same thing with the curve with a BAA of .188, down from .293 in 2018 and in line with the .203 BAA he saw with the curve in 2016. It would be nice to see him have the same success with the changeup that he had in 2016 but I will take what I can get. Over the last few months, Porcello is pitching like it’s a contract year. He has been open about wanting to stay in Boston and it feels like he would take a pay cut to do that. Either way, the Red Sox will have to spend money on another rotational piece in the offseason and Porcello is showing that he wants it to be him. If he keeps pitching like this, he is going to make it harder for Dave Dombrowski to say no. Obviously, there are a lot of big decisions coming for Boston and I still think it all starts and ends with Mookie Betts. Now that he’s seen what Bryce Harper and Manny Machado got, I think you have to sit down with him again this offseason and put your best offer on the table. If he says no, it might be time to think of other ways to spend the $25-30 million you were (hopefully) going to give Betts annually. Bringing back Porcello wouldn’t be the worst place to start.

@SoxNotes American League leaders in runs scored: 1. Xander Bogaerts – 50 2. Mookie Betts – 48 3. Rafael Devers – 47 T4. Mike Trout – 46 T4. Mitch Haniger – 46

@alexspeier RHP Bryan Mata, out for a month with a shoulder strain, will return to start for High-A Salem tonight.

Refs are always bad. Bruins still played like s*** for most of the game.

Roid rage is also why he tried beating up his wife. Wright sucks. He needs to go away.

Looks like a 14 game win streak to me.

Braves just signed him.

Hembree loves to keep things exciting.

Nice to see Nunie coming around. @redsoxstats That last Nunez ball wasn't tracked, but was smoked. Lets go ahead and give him 100+ mph exit velocities in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th today, with 3 singles.

The Josh Taylor ExperimentTM.

@mlbtraderumors Braves Reportedly Emerge As Favorites For Dallas Keuchel June 6, 2019 at 2:19pm CDT

@PortlandSeaDogs Tanner Houck struck out a career high 11 batters in a 4-3 11-inning loss to the Richmond Flying Squirrels on Thursday afternoon at Hadlock.

Does Walden still suck? Checking for a friend...

I'm talking about for TS argument purposes, not what players care about you silly goose.

lololol

Nah, he goes unsigned if they offer him the QO.

Chavis' problem is he has a big hole at the top of the strike zone where pitchers are going after him right now. He can't make any contact on a count with 2 strikes. Xander can at least cover the plate with his swing and protect with 2 strikes.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/xander-bogaerts-is-selectively-aggressive/ Since the start of the 2018 season, Bogaerts has found another gear. He’s batting a scintillating .291/.366/.526, good for a 134 wRC+, and the power has miraculously appeared, with his .235 ISO ranking in the 84th percentile among qualifying batters. Still only 26, Bogaerts now looks like one of the best players in the game, full stop. The player fans and scouts saw glimpses of in 2013 is finally here. What did Bogaerts do to tap into his enormous potential? Well, given that his power numbers have spiked across the board while his strikeout and walk numbers have barely budged (18.5% strikeouts and 7.2% walks 2013-2017 versus 18.1% and 10.2% thereafter), it would be easy to say he just started hitting the ball harder. He always looked like he had the potential to do that. Bogaerts has the same strength he’s always had. He’s converting it into usable outcomes at a better rate over the last two years, though, and that’s what shows up in his stats. Take a look at the percentage of batted balls that Bogaerts has barreled up each year since 2015: Barrels per Ball in Play Year Barrels/BIP 2015 2.51% 2016 5.26% 2017 1.31% 2018 9.83% 2019 11.30% We’ve found the source of Bogaerts’ increased power, but not what allowed him to tap into it. After all, every player would follow the advice of “just make excellent contact more often” if they could. We need to find something that’s changed that’s letting Bogaerts square the ball up nine times more often in 2019 than he did in 2017. The answer isn’t that surprising, honestly. You’ve probably already guessed it. Bogaerts is getting more power because he’s swinging at the ball in locations where he can do more damage. Xander Bogaerts’ subtle breakout is a lesson in the nuanced ways baseball players can change and improve. You don’t need to get stronger, change your swing to put the ball in the air, or start swinging from your heels to boost your power. You don’t need to be a totally different player. Sometimes, doing something as basic as trying to focus more on the part of the strike zone where you’re good at hitting is all you need to do. Sometimes the batted balls you’re looking for were always there, just covered by the noise of the batted balls you didn’t want. The actual article is much longer and has great info. Everyone, go read it.

Xander is killing it this year. 10th ranked fWAR for all offensive players.

Lugo wasn't available yet. They worked on trades with TB that offseason, but nothing came to fruition.

He was traded because Lugo was Theo's binky and no other SS would compare. He absolutely loved that guy.

You are also apparently not allowed to invalidate their opinion of you being crazy. Sorry, those are the rules.

East Coast bias doesn't care about pitcher friendly arguments. East Coast bias does care about cool names though. +1 point to notin. -1 point to harmony.