mvp 78

NU has suited up some TalkSox posters to play OF apparently. Woof!

Hickey thrown out trying to go for a triple. Same old bad baserunning by the Red Sox.

Olivarez giving up runs to NU is a great sign!

It's only the top 5 starters. However, 12.5 would be about 8th best starting staff from '23 while 10.3 would be 18th. Jays and Yanks project to have some of the best rotations in all of baseball. The other 3 will be in the squishy middle. Only 2.3 fWAR separated 10th and 20th place teams last year. The real dropoff is when you get to the dregs of the league where the rotations will get 5 or less fWAR. Half the league were between 9.1-11.7 fWAR. That's probably where the Sox are again. Averagish.

It was strictly to compare Refsnyder and Dalbec because those are the names you highlighted. Over and over and over again you talk about how the past 3 years are important indicators of future success. Why didn't you measure the past 3 years of Dalbec vs the past 3 years of Refsnyder? Does Refsnyder's '21 not count because he played elsewhere and did poorly? Does Dalbec's '21 not count because he actually had a meaningful sample that season and did well?

https://beyondthemonster.substack.com/p/pitching-prospect-alex-hoppe-will Hoppe has all the tools to become a bright star and a fan favorite. He's not the most well-known prospect, which will add some intrigue for the fans. Not knowing much about the player means the fans' first impression of Hoppe will be a 6'1", 200 lb man with a military-grade weapon for an arm. The right-handed reliever possesses a fastball in the high 90s that reaches 100 MPH. His slider is devastating (if not inconsistent). When he has control of it, the sharp-sweeping pitch (in the mid-80s) is a perfect compliment to his fastball. Hoppe posted a 4.10 ERA, .271 BAA, and 1.43 WHIP in 43 appearances between High-A and Double-A last season. The now 25-year-old struck out 64 batters compared to 17 walks in 48 1/3 innings. He went 2-5 with six holds and five saves (in eight opportunities). The strikeouts are fun, but I don't blame you if the other numbers aren't blowing you away. In three outings (April 25, August 5, and August 27), Hoppe allowed a combined 12 earned runs on 13 hits and two walks over two total innings. He surrendered just 10 earned runs in the other 46 1/3 innings. Take out those three outings, and for the rest of the season, Hoppe posted a 1.94 ERA and a 1.165 WHIP.

Fine to me. Trade whoever at the deadline. They need to find as many starting pitchers to throw down on the farm as they can get.

Why did you exclude '21 in the first place? There isn't a significant sample in '22 and '23 with Dalbec's numbers since he barely played those seasons.

Might not be the only one this time.

Per FanGraphs: Jays - 12.5 Yanks - 12.4 O's - 10.9 Rays - 10.7 (1/2 year Baz, 1/2 year Bradley) Sox - 10.3 If the O's and Rays weren't facing significant injuries at the moment, the Sox would be left in the dust.

They aren't going to compete for the playoffs. I'd give him a full year to show what he has. If he sucks, DFA him next offseason.

I've said it for 3 months.

@mlbtraderumors Reds Sign Tony Kemp To Minor League Deal

@SoxProspects Today's lineup vs NE 1. David Hamilton- SS (#SP60 #22) 2. Nick Yorke- 2B (#6) 3. Mark Contreras- CF 4. Corey Rosier- LF (#52) 5. Nathan Hickey- C (#17) 6. Mark Kolozsvary- DH 7. Chase Meidroth- 3B (#14) 8. Niko Kavadas- 1B 9. Phillip Sikes- RF SP- Helcris Olivarez (#51) Olivarez may be interesting to watch this spring.

I was really starting not to like him over the past few years. I really hate the guy now. I know a certain subset still pine for the guy who went on the F&M show back in the day and ranted about Crawford's contract, but that s***'s gone and he was the guy agreeing to the contract anyway.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/mlb-uniforms-nike-fanatics-b40be247?st=opt8trzr0vbjq8c&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink In a league that has spent a decade seeking opportunities to maximize its star power for marketing purposes, players have asked why names and numbers on the back weren’t just given new materials, but were also given less prominence. For many players, a critical issue is that the tucked-in jersey tails show through the pants, making it look vaguely like they’re wearing a diaper. For one unfortunate big-leaguer, though, things took a more embarrassing turn when an image from team photo day showed his nether regions visible through his uniform pants.

5th

Henry puts RATM on and believes the machine is all the plebes that are telling him what he should be doing with a small % of his billions. f*** you I won't do what you tell me!

@IanMBrowne Vaughn Grissom (hammies) and Jarren Duran (coming back from toe surgery) will both make their Spring Training debuts sometime around March 1. @ChrisCotillo Wong also a little delayed with elbow soreness but Cora doesn't expect any of them to be questionable for Opening Day.

@tylermilliken_ . @Sean_McAdam on the Red Sox still not being able to fit Jordan Montgomery into their budget, despite being $31 MM below the first luxury tax threshold: “As a matter of course, an industry source said the Red Sox have maintained contact with Montgomery’s representative, Scott Boras. But even this late in the process, Montgomery’s asking price has not dropped to the point where the Red Sox could fit him into their budget, which has been in place for some time.” Internally, the Red Sox don’t view themselves as the most likely landing spot for Montgomery. Embarrassing that their “budget” can’t make this work. Pitchforks if it's just a "budget" issue...

If someone else drafted Mayer, they would have likely taken Jordan Lawlar who is a switch hitter that absolutely punishes LHP.

I initially had Devers at 2 and Story at 3, but liked this lineup better. Sorry.

No, people wanted him to make moves. Ownership wanted him to make moves. Bloom spent money, just unwisely.

Sox will get bad. C's will make a good run. Pats will go back to training camp. Sox will still be bad and forgotten by the time fall comes around.

moon, over and over you have used "the past three years" as a measuring stick, but you are ignoring '21 with Dalbec for some reason. Why? Is it because of the 877 OPS vs LHP in 176 AB's that would almost triple his sample size??????????