mvp 78

He's leading the team in HR's this spring. We'll see if the power continues in PAW.

He's certainly good, but sometimes posters make him out to be the greatest CFer ever to lace up cleats.

http://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/boston-red-sox-signal-theyll-keep-blake-swihart-may-trade-deven-marrero-or-brock-holt Blake Swihart’s strong spring seems to have the Red Sox more inclined to deal one of their natural utility infielders, such as Brock Holt or Deven Marrero, rather than Swihart, a converted catcher with high upside who's getting a look in other roles. "Sounds like they’re holding Swihart to open," a rival executive said. "More likely to move a utility guy." Also: There was a clear personal-catcher system for the Red Sox in 2017. Leon was Chris Sale’s guy, for example. Manager Alex Cora said he is not taking that approach. As an auxiliary effect, moving away from a personal-catcher system might make it easier for Swihart to receive more time behind the plate, if called on. "Whoever I feel comfortable with that day behind the plate, he'll catch," Cora told reporters in Florida. "Christian already caught him. Sandy's going to catch him today. And then the next turn, Christian's going to catch him. Everybody's going to work with everybody."

I was wondering how the "organizational philosophy" impacted strikeout looking stats (one of my bigger annoyances when watching a game) and how it may or may not relate to swinging at the first pitch. The league average 1st pitch swinging % was 28.1 last year. The Sox were at 20.9%. Pablo, Hanley and Nunez were the only guys above league average (100+ PA's). Betts, Bogaerts, Holt and Rutledge were all below 12%! If I was a pitcher, I'd certainly be throwing a lot of first pitch strikes. If the philosophy was to simply be passive, I think the Sox would generally be more likely to have guys that are above average on striking out looking. The guys with the highest backwards K %'s (above 100 PA's) were Hanley, Sandy, Chris Young, Brock Holt, Josh Rutledge and Nunez. Unless the philosophy is "take the first pitch at all costs." For the most part, that shows to me that guys like Xander, Betts and JBJ have decent pitch recognition and could probably alter their approach if told to do so. What this also says to me is that they have two guys currently on the roster who swing at the first pitch well above league average and strike out looking well above league average (Hanley and Nunez). To me, that's just poor pitch recognition and a poor approach overall. They also have a guy who is much too passive at the plate and is causing him to waste at bats (Holt). Hanley and Nunez are what they are (bench bats), DFA Holt.

https://www.fangraphs.com/statsd.aspx?playerid=7115&position=P&type=&gds=2011-09-01&gde=2011-09-28&season= In September 2011, Bard took 4 losses and had an ERA of 10.64. If he wasn't unravelling, the Sox would have made the postseason that year.

They didn't screw up Bard. Bard was becoming more inconsistent the year prior to being moved to the rotation. It was Bard's choice and his preference. He couldn't handle it.

Hard to really project anything for Blake since he hasn't been healthy in two years. He could suck, he could turn into Jason Kendall. Hard to really say.

Good for him, better for us.

They were just on cruise control.

Massive understatement? JBJ was the 9th rated dWAR CFer last year. He was 24th for UZR 150. His ARM was below replacement level. The only value where he is at the top is FSR (or Fan Scouting Report which can be highly biased). Honestly, he's not even the first or second best CFer in the AL East.

Nah.

Yeah, more often than not, the guy being subbed in doesn't get an AB. The real question is: will we see Mitch play any OF this year? I'm saying it's a 50/50.

Of if Hanley gets to 480 AB's and makes a fuss over a lack of playing time at year end.

Idk, that's a lot of in game substitutions. For that to happen, Hanley would have to start about 120.33 games and Mitch would have to take over at the start of every 8th inning. Frankly, I think they may even sub in Swihart at 1b in some blowouts to get some reps. As long as Cora doesn't sub Wright in to play 1b, I'll be fine with whatever.

Backing someone off of the plate is fine. Intentionally throwing at someone is usually dumb. I was just agreeing with what Bellhorn said and wasn't referencing your post.

32.5

@alexspeier Groome pitched two innings. Allowed one infield single on a broken bat, and struck out the other six batters (4 on curveballs, 2 fastballs). Topped out at 94 in second inning.

http://news.soxprospects.com/2018/03/fort-report-scouting-update-and-another.html Sam Travis is only hitting .250 this spring, but he now leads the team with four home runs after launching a three-run home run on Saturday. He is third in slugging percentage among players receiving consistent playing time, trailing only Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi, and this was exactly the spring he needed to get his prospect status back on track.

I like Xander and I think having a coach getting him to be more aggressive can only help his numbers.

I'm going with at least 75 starts unless he has a serious injury. If Hanley starts off slow, he's going to get 100+ starts.

@alexspeier Cora on Kimbrel’s readiness for the start of the season in TB: ‘As long as we have a 3-run lead or 2-run lead or 1-run lead, he’ll be ready for that one. ... Lydia is doing better. That’s more important.’

@alexspeier Cora on Bogaerts hitting 5th: ‘He will put the ball in play. He can go the other way, too. He will drive in runs.’ Sox will continue working with him on early-count aggressiveness. Cora noted Bogaerts took a first pitch with runners on 2nd/3rd vs Glasgow that was best of AB.

@PeteAbe Cora says he’s comfortable with Hanley hitting third, Martinez fourth and Bogaerts fifth ... Also is not committed to using Leon with Sale every time. With analytics showing the importance of the 5th spot, this is showing a lot of confidence in Xander.

If you're not looking to win, it's easy enough to rely heavily on a taxi squad.

I think he's going to play more than 40% of the time. I bet he gets about 100 appearances (not starts).