jung

I wonder if Farrell will start to switch off Drew against RH pitchers and WMB against LHP in the 5 hole behind Ortiz. Not optimal but I don't think we are going to see Naps back in the 5 hole again.

I am trying to remember but didn't Dempster put up a big pitch count his last start? I think I am remembering that right. Maybe Farrell did not want him to go big pitch count two games in a row.

Well ya' had ta' know 2 runs was not going to get it done. Right now though Taz is pumping them right down main st

I was hoping that Naps had at least stabilized at where he was about two weeks ago cause that looked like a place that he could come back from. Defying all odds though he had gotten worse. Now I don't know if he can work his way back. Needs a long rest or something....looks like he is on the Bataan death march every time I see him.

I would be willing to bet anything that walk to Ortiz is why the catcher went out to the mound. Ortiz was right on everything Redmond was throwing. I think that was a tactical retreat.

Well here is part one of the score in the 1st formula...get Ortiz to the plate with a guy in scoring position.

The comments that have been made around the league about Iggy being a fit in Detroit have nothing to do with Peralta though. It has to do with Iggy vying for the full time SS job after this year and Detroit really having a lineup that can afford an Iggy. That is why I said I was being too harsh on the Sox there. They do not have that kind of power lineup...not even close. They score runs but not that way and they tread a very fine line. If they do not work the process they have been working as team, it falls apart. The Sox are not going to just go out and batter an opponent's house down. While the Sox don't have a big power line up, you can credit them for showing the kind of discipline we are used to seeing from the Rays. The Sox have stuck with it the whole season so far with few lapses as far as their approach at the plate goes. I would like to see them run a little less with their slower runners. Some of the Sox are just too slow and inept on the base paths to carry this relentless on the base paths idea forward. The Sox have done a lotta' damage with a lineup that is not really all that scary. Haven't really gotten great pitching of late either. So they have needed all the offense they can get.

Need to score some runs tonight and should be able to do so. Would like to see more of what we saw earlier this year....the home opponent coming up already in a hole.

This was only destiny taking its turn at the plate Soxsport. The Sox did not want Iggy...did not fit the mold of the prototype Red Sox SS. He was and is far too good a fielder for that. We crave no glove, all hit SS's here. If he can field a little we will tolerate him. But if he can't hit.....off with his head. So the way I look at it, we filled a real need here this year. We helped our chances this year. That said there are some really good baseball teams out there. So I am not sure in the end it is going to make that much difference. But the FO had to bring in some help. There is no excuse for sitting on your hands when you have a shot and certainly no excuse when you in 1st place. Believe me, if it was not now it would have been some other time. The Sox would have gotten rid of Iggy somehow. At least you have to credit them for getting the most they could for him. But honestly, I am with you. I just know Iggy is going to stick a dagger right in my heart at some point. Isn't it funny that the team with at the time, the most runs in baseball was still really uncomfortable with Iggy and the idea that his numbers would eventually slide. But he is a "perfect fit in Detroit". Here I am being harsh though because this is an offense by process, not but slugging superstar. Detroit has the horses on offense. That is why Ortiz must stay on his feet. Without him I think we are toast.

I hate to revisit the past. It is like an open sore that I would just as soon scab over. But I do agree that there was a certain amount of negativity following this team around like a black cloud. That Tito could no longer "reach them" in 2011 says more about them than it does about Tito, still considered by many one of the better managers in baseball. I hate to use this other popular scapegoat but Beckett is/was truly a disaster after his second extension. I see tape of some of the things that rolled off his tongue through that period, said by Beckett with a completely straight face and just shake my head....WHAT WERE WE THINKING? Somebody needed to hit him upside the head with a 2x4. Imagine THAT walking around your clubhouse and missing starts and having off starts and on and on. Notice if you will that the Dodgers suddenly became much more of a team...when....when....wait for it.... Beckett left the clubhouse this year. To be honest I think Beckett wants somebody to pay him to stay away and ya' know what...he has finally convinced me....I would pay him to stay away. So you take that mess and then throw in V.....worst managerial decision in decades......anywhere.....by any organization based on what that team was and where it was headed. That was one time when it was clear I think that being able to step back and view a situation from 10,000 feet instead of 10 feet allowed many of us to see where that was going. Somehow the Sox managed to interview that nut and make a "logical" decision to hire him as their manager. Talks about being oblivious to what was going on in their own house. Not sure how you don't come out of an interview with V running not walking but running away as fast as your legs will carry you under any set of circumstances but given what was going on here.....Holy Cow!!!! Isn't it funny that whenever ownership insists on stepping all over the baseball organization....you end up with the worst possible decision.....Aroid's ridiculous contract in NY...The Sox getting V to manager in 2012......sort of a pattern there.

Maybe so but even catching half of them, his seasons have looked like one game off for every two games played. Man that is a light load compared to what they are asking of him this year. There is a mental component to playing 1st base that can be fatiguing as well. The 1st baseman is going to handle the ball on every ground ball wherever it is hit. A walk or base hit puts a guy on your base. So now you are holding the runner or not, looking for signs that there is a play on etc etc. Physical demands are much lower than catcher but I still think this is headed for a lotta' games and fatigue for a guy that has grown used to one game off for every two games played. I have thought this was going to be a heavy load for Naps before the season even started and thought he should have been getting days off way earlier in the season than he was, more like the way Tito used to do it. Your body and mind just gets used to a certain work load and pressing past that can be very difficult when it is as rare an occurrence as it is in his case.

Well I know some are banking on Naps having the kind os September he has had in the past but Naps is I think going to surpass the most games he has ever played in a season (140) this year. Naps only hit 140 once and never got close to that again. Usually 90-100 games is a big year for him. Some comment that his bat looks like it has s parachute attached to it....heck sometimes it looks like there is a boat anchor attached to it. Maybe if he does get a bunch of days off he could finish strong.

First you have to remember that the LT cap situation has completely changed and the penalties are so great now that even the Yankees have to take notice. Only teams like the Dodgers, trying to change their image in LA and with a brand new TV contract rated as one of the top two most lucrative in all baseball can afford to temporarily ignore the new penalties. Boras is going to run this negotiation the way he wants to run it. There are parks with bigger outfields than Fenway's and Ells ability to "go and get it" will end up being a big part of his value as a CFer. Boras has to play it that way because as SK correctly points out, Ells is not somebody like a Stanton. Stanton is a natural power hitter which puts him in a completely different category as viewed by GM's. Does not matter what Stanton's BA is today. He is acknowledged to be one of the premier up and coming power hitters in baseball and unless something happens to change that perception, he will remain in a completely different category from Ells. In fact , The Sox would likely give their eye teeth for Stanton but the Marlins are simply not interested unless you give them the world. So Ells value as a CF is not insignificant and other teams will have more incentive to sign Ells than the Sox will have. Teams with larger outfields, teams that don't have a ready made solution waiting in the wings, teams that need somebody with the potential to be the face of the franchise for them as Pedey is for the Sox are all things that handicap the Sox in whatever willingness they might have to go to the wall for Ells vs other teams and their willingness to go to the wall. I don't think using the Crawford contract really helps the argument for paying what it will take for Ells because the Crawford contract was a terrible contract. It is relevant in the sense that I believe Boras will find somebody willing to make that mistake but it will be IMO a mistake, surely for the Sox and maybe for any team. This is going to end up being a bidding war and there are just so many elements to this that will make Ells more attractive for other teams. The price is going to go very high now that Ells is on his way to a monster season just lacking big power numbers and the Sox are simply not going to go to the wall for Ells IMO. I think there will end up being multiple teams bidding for Ells services and the money is just going to get nuts cause that is where Boras is going to take it. If the discussion were to be restricted to just Ells pure offensive performance potential, then I think the Sox would have a shot at retaining Ells. But there is no way that is going to happen. The Crawford contract was a terrible contract. However the Crawford contract is worthy as part of the discussion because if Ells continues this way, I think chances are much better that Boras will be able to extract something north of $20M per from somebody for Ells. Does not make sense, but I now think it likely that the numbers eventually get there especially if it ends up with as many as three teams possibly bidding for his services. It does not matter that a move to LF would extend Ells career. Players and especially players that retain Boras as an agent just don't think that way. The issue is really not what Ells is worth to the Sox as much as it is what Ells will be worth to somebody else. Boras is going to be in a position to just keep coming back and coming back with higher and higher numbers for Ells and at some point the Sox are just going to bow out IMO.

Hey did you guys here about this? Kalish is on the way to cervical fusion surgery...considered "not career threatening". Boy I gotta wonder about that one. Maybe it does not end a guy's baseball career but how can he play that well after any kind of cervical fusion surgery. I have seen people after that operation and you end up usually with that turn your shoulders to turn your head kind of thing cause you really can't turn at the neck any more. Regardless, talk about a guy that just cannot get on the field...Kalish can't even get off the operating table.

But you are talking about a point in baseball time that is long gone and hard to find I think. Maybe Catcher is one of the positions that has been most impacted by the surge in pro football with potential catchers opting for a different sport or something. I really don't know but the time you are talking about is gone. So much so that if I really had aspirations to have a kid be a pro ballplayer, I would teach him to crouch before he could walk. Maybe it is the way the position can in some cases shorten a career. Again I really don't know but wherever catchers used to come from, somebody turned off the tap. Take the Molina brothers away, (and how many times do you really see brothers at the same position) and the catching situation in baseball would really be piss poor. We have Salvator Perez who I would give my eye teeth for, Posey, Wieters I guess, the aging Molinas and then who....not many guys I would give anything for, especially guys young enough to make me take notice.

I have thought for a long time now that Naps either hits his incentive clauses to $13M or gets close enough that it hardly matters. I think what we should be happy about is that we did not end up signing him for three years. That is looking like it would make the Chinese Water Torture look like a day in the park.

Well OK, I don't think Salty is a $15M man either but the argument for getting the offense elsewhere and just finding a better defensive catcher all rolls off the tongue nicely but is to me harder to pull off in principle. In the first place, runs aside, this team is not an offensive juggernaut. They have a great process IMO that works for them. They believe in it and they practice what they preach. But even with that, if you took Ortiz out of this offense, they would be toast...one player...... So I am not ready to toss Salty at this point because he is part of a process that works for this team and he has worked to get to that point. How many times have we been just about amazed seeing him draw a walk? He is producing a bit more offense than I think we would have expected on balance and he is "marginally" better behind the plate. Was not really showing even a mosquito's yo-yo worth of improvement as a catcher at the start of the season but got a little better as the season progressed. I have no idea why anybody would offer him 3/45. Don't see it. But I do think he will come to terms with the Sox who know his limitations. He fits here and I bet he knows it.

Boy I really don't know how to project a hot streak for Napoli at this point unless they cut back on his games and he revitalizes as a result. I don't think he will regress farther but heck this is far enough isn't it? If he stayed right were he is right now for the remainder of the season, I think that would result in some pretty ugly numbers.

I am a little surprised that WMB seems to be back to that weak assed side arm throw of his. Many third baseman throw side arm. Few of them throw side arm all the time and few of them have such a weak assed side arm throw. WMB's is flat terrible. He was throwing much better when he started this year. Not sure why he is back to where he was in that regard. Really did surprise me to see him throwing this way again.

The point is that Boras will make sure that Ells gets paid as a CF and the Sox are not going to pay him CF money intending to move him to LF. In this particular case it does not matter which is the chicken or the egg, at the end of the day, you still get a chicken. Boras is going to extract the max dollars out of the deal and will convince Ells that he should be promoted as a CF. Sure Boras will let the cards fall where they may once he has the money but up until then Ells will be "sold" as a CF. In negotiation if a team says we won't pay CF money because we intend moving Ells to LF right now Boras will simply say, we will not take LF money. You can do what you want after you have paid for him but we want CF money. As a negotiation I can see Boras willing to accept a sliding scale that suggests that Ells moves later in the contract but don't expect Boras to accept money based on Ells moving immediately to LF. Conversely, don't expect a team to pay CF money intending to immediately move Ells to LF. This is a fantasy.

Yes but we all know that the first inning is the most difficult inning for all starting pitchers. So, it stands to reason that innings 1-3 will produce the best OPS mainly because of the 1st inning. In innings 4-6, the starter is still in but by inning 6 beginning to fade. So once again it stands to reason that the second highest OPS would be achieved in innings 4-6 but mainly because the starter is fading. By innings 7-9 you neither have the first inning issues of the starter to deal with nor do you have the fading starter to deal with. You have fresh pitchers often pitching single innings. However if they were that "effective" as pitchers, they would be starters. They benefit from the brevity of their stints and their ability to expend all of their energy in one inning or present such a change to the hitters from the starter that they can get though three outs. However they are NOT more effective than starters. Getting the starter out of the game has been an acknowledged method of generating offense since the beginnings of modern era of baseball and surely since the development of relief pitchers who for the most part are.....failed starters. I seriously doubt hitters would do anywhere near as well against a fresh starter in the late innings than a reliever which is why many teams when in the post season consider whatever starter they have relegated to the pen to be their best relief pitcher in a none closing role that they have.

I don't think just player threads would get it done but it seems like it would contribute mightily. Then again this comes from a guy that has started a grand total of one thread here and that was a game thread started when the guy that had the right to the game thread, simply could not make it.

The Sox offense is living proof of how much you can accomplish by pushing the opposing pitcher to serious early pitch counts. You get to the pen and win the game there. Do you guys really think this late innings, heroics thing is all about the "heros" of that particular moment. Makes for a nice fairy tale but that is about it. However, I don't like seeing them play from behind so often. The other team becomes emboldened in its running game for one thing and our pitchers don't do jack s*** to hold runners in place. I also don't like seeing our pitchers especially the starters so reluctant to pitch inside. You must be able to pitch inside during crunch time of a pennant race. What success the D-backs had against us could be traced to unwillingness to drive hitters of the plate and from that series on it seems to me that opponent major league scouts have had the phone lines burning up getting that info back to their teams. We really did not have a single starter pitch inside with any success in KC until Lackey and I think he was really struggling with the ankle. Hence he just did not pitch that well overall. Pitching inside has been a problem for most of the year but it was so obvious in the D-backs series. I suspect that is why it has now become a weak spot that opposing teams are trying to exploit.

Well regarding the OF if you are going left to right in the OF, forget it. Ells is not moving to LF and Boras is not going to let him move to LF. As long as Boras can sell him as a CF, he is going to do it cause there is more money there. On top of that, Boras will likely sell Ell's PR value and general movie star looks as a means to put fannies in seats, even if they are rounder fannies than what you might find on the typical baseball fan. In my view, Boras is going to take Ells to a place that the Sox will be unwilling to go. I think the Sox will at best be willing to pay for every ounce of performance that they can project Ells can give them but will not pay a penny for PR appeal etc etc. I think that era is finally over at Fenway. However there are many places where Ells PR appeal does have value and organizations would be willing to pay for it. I am totally convinced that the Sox will make Ells an offer and just about totally convinced that they will not engage in the kind of bidding war for him that Boras is sure to force. The Sox are surely willing to pay for this "club house good guy thing" that they are about lately but only with short term contracts at money that only gets big because the contract is short. The Sox are not going to go for long term, long dollars for Ells or anybody else especially if PR appeal dollars are involved.

I have been as critical of Salty as it gets and even I would not let Salty go at this point. I am not going to try to make a case for Salty's rather modest improvements behind the plate. I remain unimpressed there. But he has matured his way into a decent catcher as catchers go these days. More importantly at least to me, if the Sox pitchers are going to ignore runners to the degree that they do now, I don't care who is catching...no shot at throwing guys out...it's not going to happen....not with the jumps runners are getting on your pitchers. The guy has basically got to be slow as molasses or slip taking his first step or fall down on the way to the base to get caught at this point.