mvp 78

2014 vs 2016 Porcello: increase k/9 of almost 2, approximately 20 more innings pitched, bb/9 down over 1, babip was lowest of career, WAR was 2.4 higher. 2016 was way better than 2014 Porcello. Sure, Wright missed some time, but he still pitched more innings than he ever has in a single season. ERod always looks like he's ready to take another step, but still hasn't actually done it. People said the same thing about Doubront every year. Per this morning's Herald: David Price, who has not thrown off a mound since Feb. 28 because of an elbow injury, is almost back to square one. The Red Sox starter has lost enough strength in his arm to where he is weaker than he was when he reported to spring training, the team said yesterday. And until he regains that strength, he cannot begin a throwing program. Pom taking his regular turn means almost nothing to me. The guy is clearly damaged goods. He won't pitch 100 innings this year. Thornburg still isn't ready. If the season started today, he'd be in extended ST. 5 less wins based on scoring more runs than their opponent? I'm sorry, but I don't really buy into that stat. They "should have" won more. If they only win 87 games this year, but still outscore their opponents, am I going to hear "but they were a better team and should have won more games?" You either win or you don't. There's no "should have's." They can match their win total, definitely. I just think there's a bigger chance that they won't.

Which other pitcher the caliber of Price on a contender has still not thrown in ST?

Sale will be good for sure. Often, a pitcher's first year in Boston isn't his best self. I think he'll be funto watch, but don't expect Pedro 99-00. Porcello will not put up CY numbers again, but should be better than 2015. Wright pitched out of his mind last year and I don't see how he can replicate that. Pom is injured. Price doesn't have enough strength to even start a throwing program yet. Thornburg AND Smith are both coming off serious issues. Coming up a few games short of last year's win total isn't out of the realm of possibility.

I took 87-89 because I really question the health of Price and Pom. I also believe Wright and Porcello will regress from last year. ERod could really be a huge lynchpin or a huge letdown. There are also a few major relievers coming back from injury that may not be very effective this year. The offense should be fine though.

Yup, I like both of them. Good thing you have 2 DL slots!

My guess on Thunder's moves: Waive Rodney, Holiday, Bruce and Snell Pick up Greg Holland, Hellickson, Lynn and Moncada Dahl and Desmond will start the season on the DL so he'll have a few other changes to make pretty soon.

Pitchers really struggled against Bonds from 2001 - 2004. Wonder what his secret was? Maybe the Sox need to figure that out and give it a shot.

Fake news. The team is actually not even talking about a timetable. I think there is a better chance of him starting on the 60 DL than pitching before May. http://www.csnne.com/boston-red-sox/recuperating-boston-red-sox-ace-david-price-probably-out-until-least-may No timetable has been offered by the team on Price, but the longer he's off the mound, the more time to build up is needed. He was hurt Feb. 28. Per Farrell: "Still strengthening phase," manager John Farrell told reporters in Florida on Monday. "He still does some light throwing just to keep his arm moving. I know there’s going to be a recheck (on Tuesday with head team orthopedist Dr. Peter Asnis). So based on that, on how he feels, what the next phase will become and when that initiates more throwing with some intensity, I don’t have that start date. I don't want to say he gets full clearance to begin a mound progression at that point. It’s more about just evaluating his strength, where he is now compared to where it was when he came into camp, where it was at the time of the incident. I know it’s not a clear cut answer for you, but that’s what I have right now."

Already making excuses. SMDH

And another: http://boston.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2017/03/20/steve-selsky-man-of-mystery/ What’s the catch? – He’s had 54 major league plate appearances since getting drafted six years ago. Fifty-four. If he was a sure bet to even reach his relatively low ceiling, you’d think he’d be closer to reaching it by now. – Sure, he’s had some good years. But he also hit .181/.281/.205 over 32 games at Double-A in 2013 and .240/.259/.339 over 55 games in Triple-A in 2014. He’s had some clunkers. – He strikes out a LOT. Like, a lotttttttttt. His career K% hovers around 20 percent, and over 54 games with the Reds, that number shot up to 40 percent. I don’t care about your small sample size caveats; that’s so many strikeouts. You might even say it’s a lot with extra Ts. – For being someone who supposedly brings some power potential, he doesn’t have that much power. After hitting 15 homers in 2012 and 13 in 2013, Selsky hasn’t reached double-digit home run totals since. In fact, outside of 2016, when he had nine homers (which is actually good news for Red Sox fans but we’re already past the good news part of this article), he hasn’t had more than two in a season since 2013. – Even his major league numbers are misleading. .314/.340/.471 over 24 games is just enough time to be optimistically intrigued, but those numbers were never going to last. Over that time period, besides striking out 40 percent of the time, he also has an absurd .519 BABIP. He also only posted a 3.7 percent BB%. To recap: he was striking out half the time, never walking, and was abnormally lucky.

http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2017/03/steve_selsky_boston_red_sox_ro.html Article that mentions Selsky potentially playing 3rd.

RotoWire News: Selsky, who has played outfield and first base during his career, will get some playing time at third base, Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe reports. (3/18/2017)

I like Marco. I think he can be a useful MLB guy. However, I don't think he's good enough to move Xander off position.

Bill James projections for 2017 Marco: Marco Hernandez: 94 games, 245 at-bats, 73 hits, 12 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, 27 RBI, 30 runs, .298 batting average, .331 OBP, .424 slugging, .755 OPS, 34 runs created, 5.08 runs created per 27 outs, 12 walks, 49 strikeouts, 4 stolen bases, 2 caught stealing, 67 stolen base percentage.

Bill James: Josh Donaldson is 30, turns 31 in December. Not young. I know you will think this is crazy, but I am not sure I would trade the Red Sox' Marco Hernandez for any of those guys. I have been waiting since the opening day of spring training for Marco Hernandez to do something I wasn't impressed with, and I'm still waiting. He is way faster than any of those guys. May not have the arm to play third every day; I haven't seen enough of him at third to be sure. But everything else is good." Someone must have slipped something into his coffee.

They didn't want to re-sign Lester so they sure as s*** weren't going to sign Scherzer. They should have signed a cheaper guy like Ervin Santana though.

At the time, a lot of smart posters wondered why they'd sign two 3b's. They thought they could move Hanley to LF and it didn't work out. If Hanley was put at 1b from jump street, maybe fans wouldn't be so annoyed by the signings.

Porcello had a very strong 2nd half in 2015. Many Sox fans noticed that.

If he pitches for 20 starts, he better be pitching unlike anything he's ever done before. If Pom/Price are out that long, the Sox need to find another starter sooner than later.

I agree. However, in the case of Pom, his career has been so wild that it's not fair to suggest that Sox fans are down on Pom just because of his bad 2nd half. If he had a longer track record of success than just 3 months, maybe there would be a point to the argument. \

How often will Greg Bird start? Is he going to be more of a platoon guy?

The recency bias with Pom is the first half of 2016.

Don't pop your kernels until the rollercoaster ride ends. He's only thrown over 100 innings as a starter once. Comparing him to Porcello is a huge slap in the face to Porcello's pedigree. http://www.fangraphs.com/statsplits.aspx?playerid=11426&position=P&season=0&split=8.1

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6230&position=P#pfxpitchvalues I don't think he's going to last very long in the rotation, but if he can get us 5 solid starts, it'd be worth it.

I understood the reasoning to make the trade at the time (wanting one last playoff run for Papi). I didn't agree with the player they traded for. Pom was a guy with an injury history and on a fluky stretch pitching in the NL West.