mvp 78

Jeter's plan was to cut payroll, but increase ticket sales by $5M each of the next few years. Um, ok?

OPS of 527 against LHB. Alexander's was 680. BUT THOSE HOME RUNS!!!

They don't need an expensive LH guy in the pen (and DD doesn't want one anyway). Scott and Abad were both great against LHB last year.

Now, some astute readers might wonder WELL WHAT ABOUT NESN RATINGS? http://www.weei.com/blogs/alex-reimer/red-sox-ratings-nesn-are-down-20-percent-season Though ratings were up last season (2016), the team still failed to consistently win the front page on its way to a 96-win finish. On the night of Sept. 15, for example, when Hanley Ramirez hit a walk-off home run against the Yankees –– a win that Dan Shaughnessy called “one of the greatest regular-season victories of all-time" –– more viewers were tuned into the Jets-Bills matchup on Thursday Night Football. Ratings have been trending downward for nearly the last decade. From 2004-2009, the Red Sox finished No. 1 among all local markets in TV ratings. They haven't placed higher than No. 3 among all local markets since, and have been out of the top five since 2013. If the Red Sox continue to win, more people will probably watch. But this period of seeming apathy might be the new normal. Even though the Sox are one of the best teams in baseball, the product on air is still reaching fewer and fewer eyeballs. Darvish isn't going to increase viewership. Now, it's not much of a surprise that a Sox game towards the end of an overly long season would have less viewers than an NFL game at the start of its season. However, the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry is supposed to be one of the greatest rivalries in sports. This was Papi's retirement tour with strong home attendance. If that game can't beat out a s***** Jets/Bills game shown on the NFL Network only, it says a lot about the state of baseball both in Boston and elsewhere.

Nah, I don't want JD playing OF. I really don't want Benny as a starting CF. His defense is pretty lack luster.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/246793/average-per-game-attendance-of-the-boston-red-sox/ I'm not sure any FA would spike attendance all that much. It's hard to really say what attendance has been the past decade since I believe the Sox were pumping up their numbers with that phony sell out streak that ended in 2013. If you take stock in what they report, you'd probably think that the worse thing they did was sell off the team in 2012 and hand it over to BV. The early ticket sales for 2013 were hurt more by the previous season fiasco than the FA signings of 2013 which helped bring a WS. 2014 looks to have gotten a WS bump from the prior year, but that year's last place finish hurt 2015. 2016 sales increased most likely due to the Papi retirement tour. 2017 sales decreased even though they brought in Sale and were basically the AL East leader bell to bell. Darvish ain't making a difference in sales IMO.

He has one more year of control. I think it's more likely that Bogaerts could replicate 2016 than Bradley.

Which starter tho?

Pretty bad in 2014 too.

JBJ was the 25th best player in 2016. Xander was the 26th. I think a lot of people wouldn't mind moving on from Xander, but are hesitant on moving on from JBJ. Why?

2016 had: Career years from Xander, Mookie, JBJ and Sandy Leon (remember how he hit down the stretch) Pedey's best season since 2011 Papi's best season since 2007 Hanley was healthy all year Chris Young's best season since 2010 That seems to be a very atypical season to me.

Sure is, but I wouldn't count on that happening very often going forward.

As I've posted before: JBJ is good for one great month. 2015: 5/10 - 8/8 146 BABIP and 426 OPS 8/9 - 9/7 577 BABIP and 1441 OPS 9/8 - 10/4 173 BABIP and 510 OPS 2016: 4/5 - 5/4 348 BABIP and 792 OPS 5/5 - 5/30 400 BABIP and 1232 OPS 6/1 - 9/30 289 BABIP and 765 OPS April - May: BABIP 220 OPS 669 May 30th - July 4th: BABIP 412 OPS 1029 July 5th - Sept: BABIP 263 OPS 598 It looks like he'll continue on the one hot month per year path. If he didn't have that crazy hot streak in 2012 and had a .792 OPS, it still would have been an ok season. However, there were 16 CFers with OPS above .800 last year. (JBJ wasn't one of them)

He was great in 2016. Unfortunately for overall WAR standings, there are some younger guys that are catching up and should surpass even the best version of JBJ this year (Springer, Yelich, Buxton, Conforto, Hicks). He could have another 5 WAR season and may not be in the top 5 CFers.

I never said "every pitch that looks like a strike." These guys are professional hitters. They know if a pitch is in the hit me zone. All I've said is if it looks like the pitch you are looking for it's a good idea to swing. It was an organizational philosophy to not swing. Cora wants to change that.

If you aren't durable, you aren't a very good option as a #2 starter.

Back end of the rotation pitcher? He had the 43rd highest WAR of any starter last year. There are 30 MLB teams. A 43rd highest WAR would be a 3rd starter at worst.

When JBJ came up, a lot of people were comparing his offensive profile to Ken Griffey Sr (high average not a ton of power, but can knock a few out). Unfortunately, he doesn't hit for a high enough average to get that profile.

JBJ doesn't have that many more years of control left. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=cf&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2017&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=21,d Guys that are much much better than JBJ: Trout Blackmon Yelich Springer Guys that are younger and have a higher ceiling: Buxton Herrera Older guys with higher peaks than JBJ: McCutchen Cain Guy most similar to JBJ but more consistent: Inciarte One year wonders: Pham Taylor IF everything goes right for JBJ and he gets in a groove all year, he's probably a top 5 CF. We've NEVER seen a full year from him like that before. He's good for a 30 day stretch and then either fine or below average otherwise.

Swinging and missing is part of the game. Dropping your bat on your shoulder before the ball even leaves the pitcher's hand isn't.

I don't agree. If you are automatically going down 0-1, you're doing your at bat a disservice. There is a difference between swinging at every first pitch like Mike Greenwell seemed to do and swinging at the first pitch if it's in the location you're looking for.

Who? For how much?

Rankings for dWAR (300 PA's): Vaz - 10th Mitch - 17th Pedey - 5th Xander - 19th Betts - 1st JBJ - 9th Benny - 21st UZR 150: Mitch - 7th Pedey - 2nd Xander - 25th Betts - 1st JBJ - 16th Benny - 24th

It means that he has less value than most people on here think he does.

Even then...