jung

Boy, Wright fell apart in a hurry tonight. Went from having a pretty decent knuckler to the thing not even looking like a knuckler. Ball was staying up and not moving at all. Obviously at the least common denominator, when that happens the ball is spinning more than it should be spinning. Often wondered how that happens with knucklers. Does their grip go on them? Are they unable to get the ball to come out of their grip the right way in order to keep it from spinning? There are surely times when they just tire, like any other pitcher. But that ball seems a little different from what I have seen. When that happens the ball still seems to have knuckler action....just not as much. But then there are instances like tonight when it looks like the ball is spinning more like a normally thrown baseball...not what they want at all. Anyway in my very unspectacular baseball career, I never faced one...never was on a team that had one....so I really don't know what happens to those guys when it comes apart like it did for Wright. Any idea?

Just saw John and Jeremy Farrell on the field talking and having their picture taken (probably by a third family member). Baseball probably has more of a history of son following father than any of the other major team sports. Kinda' one of the nicer things about pro baseball.

I think one of them is ex-pitcher Bob Walk at least from a quick profile. I have no idea who the other guy is and I don't think Orsillo is up there at all.

A full season of Ells could be more valuable than a half season or less of Ells but I think we were discussing the possibility of a mid-season or maybe trade deadline trade. As I wrote in my post, "Hard to expect a team to give up that much for half or less of a season of production." So the premise would be that the Sox would attempt to make a go of it with this squad and could be sellers at some point during the season. There is the chance that a good, injury free, first half would offset the time element. How much is anybodies guess. I would think the Sox would in fact get a bit more for him if the team trading for him were negotiating before the start of the season. The receiving team would get a full season out of Ells and more time to try to work out a deal with Boras for his continuing services. While an injury free, partial season would certainly be part of BC's value argument in a trade negotiation, if I were on the opposite side, negotiating with the Sox before the start of the season, I would likely be willing to give up more for him at that point than I would later on when I can only get a half season or maybe less of production out of Ells and would also have less time to try to work something out with Boras.

It is the time remaining under contract that is the one issue against his value in the short run. A team trading for him has his rights till the end of the 2013 season only. He is a FA after this season. Long term, there are issues about his fragility and whether he can ever really be expected to duplicate those 2011 numbers ever again. A good, injury free first half could go a long way in that regard. But, at the end of the day, unless he signs an extension then the team trading for him has him till the end of this season only. Hard to expect a team to give up that much for half or less of a season of production. I would be willing to bet the entire Sox front office has instructions to keep phone numbers for the LA Dodgers Brass available at all times. No telling how whacky that bunch might be willing to get.

Ells probably does not have much trade value...who knows....depends on which team is on the other end and and what they intend. Not a decision they have to make today. JBJ vs Gomes is still not the dif for the 2013 edition of the Sox. Lester and Buch in the rotation and Ortiz in the lineup are just about the whole story for the 2013 Sox. Don't like at all the way the Ortiz Achilles situation has been playing out as the dialog has not even once matched his ability to get back onto the field since the 2012 re-injury. If I had to guess, I would guess that his Achilles is resting on a hair trigger. The clock just seems to keep ticking as we apparently wait for it to finally feel comfortable enough to David. Even when that day comes, it could still explode on him.

If I really felt like JBJ vs Gomes would be the dif between really going somewhere this season and not, I think I would be forced to risk it and bring up JBJ sooner rather than later. As it is I just don't think that is the dif. Too many other unknowns on this team and the payoff for many of the unknowns just does not seem that great. Plus it will take a grand total of one thing to send this season into a complete tailspin....Ortiz has his balky Achilles finally just explodes on him or he sustains some other injury that keeps him out of the lineup for an extended period. The Sox just don't have an answer for that one and the risk seems pretty high given his age and what has transpired with Ortiz since the Achilles injury. There is a big difference between the rigors of a ML season and bouncing around playing AA or even AAA ball. Would really like to see a bit more meat on JBJ's bones before exposing him to a full ML season. I would be OK with seeing him come up after the June deadline this year if they are going to have him up this year. The problem is that he does need to play. So if he is up here he has to play. Hence, I would rather see him up later rather than sooner. Maybe a perfect situation would be Ells plays well and injury free allowing the Sox to dangle him for something decent coming back. At this point they might be better off getting something for him instead of having him the full season and then getting nothing for him. They make a trade and bring up JBJ.

We really don't know what we have yet. Folks are talking about Lackey like we can rely on him more than the others at this point because that is just about true. We don't know how well Lackey will pitch. However we are sure he will take the ball every time and will not give in to anything until they finally drag him off the mound kicking and screaming. Will Buch be able to take the ball every time his ticket comes up in the rotation? Not at all sure. Will Lester? More likely but for how many innings each start. Will Dempster? Very likely and if the scouting reports are accurate with good success against the lower tier teams and not so good against the upper tier teams. Felix has managed to really piss me off. This isn't the old days of turning into a fat turd in the off season, and using ST to get back into shape. ST is now the place where you earn your spot on the roster....not the place to get back in shape again. I almost wonder if this is Felix telling us all that he knows he has no options left either....more or less forcing the Sox hand. I am not happy! The whole question of innings could be more interesting to watch this year. Tito allowed starters to work through early jams. However for the most part he had teams that could come back later in games.....that is until 2011 when they laid down like dogs from the 7th on. I will skip over V as I would prefer not to try to delve into the mind of a madman. Farrell does not really have an offensive juggernaut. He may believe he has to be faster on the draw with the hook.

According to a study conducted by Stanford U over I think either a 4-5 year period, based on the result (hit vs swing and miss or foul vs swing and hit into an out) 0-0 is the worst swing count in baseball from the hitters perspective. That only suggests one thing to me. Hitters are not as confident as swingers when the count is 0-0. For one thing, I see too many 0-0 count swings when the hitter cannot possibly have been looking for the ball where it was pitched. In other words, the hitter swung at a pitchers pitch. Might have been a strike but it was still a pitchers pitch. I often see hitters swinging at pitches out of the strike zone and way out of their sweet spot 0-0. That to me is the height of arrogance for a hitter. Sure tough guy....go ahead and swing ya' big dope. Obviously, if you earn a reputation as a hitter for never swinging at the first pitch, pitchers will start to groove that pitch on you. However, at least my view of it is that 0-0, I was going to swing at a pitch if I had guessed right for pitch type and especially for location. I believe the hitter should narrow up his strike zone 0-0 and only swing if he gets a strike he can really do something with and that he is really prepared to hit. If not, let it go. The best pitch the hitter is going to see is the one he is most prepared to hit and that pitch may well not be 0-0. The study also suggests that all this ******** about reflexes and the ability to react is just that....********. Either you get the pitch where you need it to be, count on it and then do something with it when you get it or you don't. You can rely on reflexes later in the count as long as you have become conscience of protecting the plate, choke up on the bat.....whatever gets you more bat control. If you really have power as a hitter, you are still going to hit the ball out of the park if you hit it right....it you don't.....well...you don't. As for the guys that can swing at anything and hit it....the Yogi Berra's of the world, they are few and far between and that sort of hitting suggests a perspective on hitting that few hitters have, not monster reflexes. Might suggest better hand eye coordination than other hitters. However all baseball players have better hand eye coordination than the average bear.

I may not really be understanding the discussion about Youk at ST. It reads like the gist of it is that Youk was using some foul language and expressing some annoyance at fans yelling something....his name I guess. Athletes have grown used to considering the arenas and other athletic facilities where they toil as their places of business. Also foul language seems to come with that territory. Sitting court side at an NBA game will really broaden your blue dictionary? I don't even think they consider us or fans generally any longer. It is THEIR place of business. Never mind that without fans in the stands or in front of their TV's they don't have a business. They are gonna' do what they want to do. None of the pro leagues have seen fit to curtail it which sort of lends credibility to the "its their place of business" thing I think. Honestly I think the only reason they don't let go a blue string in televised or taped for radio interviews is that they know the FCC is going to jump on the stations if they play any of that and the leagues will jump on the players for not making their comments fit for dissemination over the airwaves. I am not saying that pro sports turning into R rated events is something I would have hoped for even being an adult. But it is what it is. I just think you don't want to be surprised to have your youngins' exposed to that at a pro sporting venue.

Oh yea, a rotation with Schilling and Pedro at the top sounds just ....mortal to me. You can't be serious. If you want to make the case that Starting Pitching covers for a lotta' deficits elsewhere....fine. However calling that team a team of mortals without recognizing that we had two Starting PItching Stars at the top of what was really a pretty competent rotation misses the essence of what made that a tough team to beat. Its easy to be goofy and fun loving and be a team of idiots when you have two guys at the top of the rotation kicking butts and takin' names. Funny, we don't recognize how valuable starting pitching is to us when we have it and we don't recognize how costly it is to us when we don't.

We all should have known. Since when does Onley have a Red Sox scoop that is good news? Has he ever had even one? He is the Media Prince of Red Sox Darkness.

Holy Cow......thank goodness!!!! What a relief.

How come any combination of SFF, Frisbee and Red Sox has to end up in the same general category as Nuclear Holocaust, Tsunami.....stuff like that?

I don't think it can be a broken bone either SFF.

Really did not want to hear that. Maybe pulled a tendon right off the bone or something like that.

I could be wrong but I thought I saw WMB trying to draw his hands in to his body. He seemed to do it really awkwardly though. Did it just as he was generating a lotta' torque in and around the wrist. That can result in some twisting and some stresses that can be tough to handle. The way he dropped the bat makes me think that might be what happened. I should add that it could just be a very painful strain. Just because it looked very painful does not mean it has to be serious.

Oriole hits a dying quail.

. You could be right about that. The wrist is a tough injury. Not a place where you get much blood flow. Since it is the same wrist they will likely be extra cautious and make sure they get it healed up

Nice piece of hitting Pedro

I will take any lineup at all at this point....just having baseball is enough for now. Oh no! WMB just let go of the bat grimacing in pain from something on his right side. Maybe pulled some meat off the bone. He was taking a pretty hefty swing when he pulled his hands inside awkwardly and dropped the bat like it was a hot potato. It must have been a very sharp pain.

The argument for a really good back end to the bullpen is an extension of the argument for having a really good closer when you don't have enough "team" to get to the 9th inning with a lead enough times to make it worthwhile. Having really solid guys for innings 7-9 is terrific if you have enough "team" to hold down the opposition in innings 1-6 and enough offense to get to the 7th with a lead. Claiming that the back end of the bullpen "is" going to be the dif is just a pretty weak argument IMO unless you have the offense and the rotation to go with it. I am holding out hope that the rotation works out. Regardless of how slim the chances might be, it still offers more hope than relying on having really good options for innings 7-9.

Interesting discussion. I went back a couple of pages because I did not want to offer up something without trying to find the posts being referenced. I did not find it but is Jacko saying that he thinks this year's rotation is closer to last year's? There are a good many relative terms being tossed about in this discussion....."closer to"....."comparable with". With that much latitude, you guys might be closer to each other than you think. However if Jacko is saying or implying that this Sox rotation is really as faulty as last year's I would say that is not likely so. By the same token given the number of question marks we have in our rotation it would be hard for me to call them comparable to the Yanks, 2-5. It sounds like all are in agreement that CC has the advantage over Jon. So that one is advantage Yanks. More importantly, there is the possibility that Jon will not better his end season performance from 2012. Now that was not at all bad when compared to where he was earlier in the 2012 campaign. The problem with it is that if in fact he pitches just like that, I think he will have a hard time giving us innings. That was and is a damned difficult way to have to pitch. While we might take a whole season like that from Jon and actually breadth a sigh of relief, if the guy at the top of your rotation is already leaving innings for the bullpen, look out! Pitching like that Jon may not be able to average more than 6 innings per start for the season. That could set up the pen for getting hammered again by the rotation as it has the past two seasons. Suddenly what we have been touting as an advantage turns into another exhausted group of relievers dragging their asses to the finish line. Sure we have multiple solutions for the back end but they don't give you innings. Aceves gives you innings out of the pen. Did that save the pen in 2011....nope. The pen still dragged itself to the finish line and if Aceves had not made a superhuman effort, the end of 2011 would have been an even bigger disaster. If in fact Jon does not give us innings, the burden really shifts to Buch. Buch is yet another question mark in the Sox rotation. Most specifically Buch is a question mark as it relates to durability and the ability to get the job done the entire season...instead of missing chunks of the season or way underperforming for chunks of the season. I have a hard time convincing myself that this is the year that Buch will not be leaving extra innings out there for the bullpen. I have nothing to hang my hat on other than hope in Buch's case. Next up is Dempster. Somebody posted up a scouting report for Dempster here. I have to find that thing again. I repeated parts of it here but I was not the one that found it. It basically surmised that Dempter would do well against the lower tier AL teams and struggle against the upper tier AL teams. I think that could well be accurate. However it also suggests that while he might pitch reasonably well, he might also leave innings for the bullpen. I probably would have had Felix in the 4 hole before he showed up out of shape. At least for the moment I have inserted Lackey in the 4 hole. Here believe it or not, we might have a guy that will churn some innings, at least for a guy pitching out of the 4 hole. I am not at this moment confident that he will pitch well but I believe Lackey will take the ball every time his ticket comes up in the rotation and I believe that he will stay out there grinding away until somebody pulls him off the mound. However what does that mean when you are the 4? Well it means you are likely to average more than 6 innings per start but not by much. Finally we get to Felix. I am truly disappointed in the way he showed up for camp. He was and maybe still is downright portly for a guy his age and with his frame. Now I am stuck questioning his commitment. I don't have a choice. I can't just ignore his continued lapses in this regard. I guess I can but I have no rational for doing so other than outright fandom. So this is my problem. I think there is every chance that this rotation will be a marked improvement over last year's which was led by Mr. All over the Map himself, Beckett. In fact, I really think odds are it will be better. However that may not mean very much in the long run. They may well pitch better as a group but not enough better to keep from leaving a bunch of extra innings out there for the pen. I would not be surprised if the rotation as a group ended up with an average just below 6 innings per start, maybe something like 5-1/3 to 5-2/3 per start and that is a problem. That is OK for some of the guys at the bottom of your rotation but not for the rotation as a whole. The rotation as a whole has to best 6 innings per start....maybe 6-1/3 to 6-2/3 per start. If the rotation can't hit the numbers for innings, the pen may well end up overworked again. Unfortunately when the rotation has that sort of profile, the team ends up hitting two or even worse three periods during the season when your really good pen arms are just tapped out. You can take them to the limit once during the season and you might be able to get away with it. Take them to the limit twice and you are really asking for it. At some point they just don't have more to give you and you are stuck in the same spot we have been in two years running now...an underperforming rotation with a tapped out bullpen. I agree that as good as the Sox pen has been the past couple years, this one is even better. That will not save them if they end up with too many innings to pitch. I really don't think the Yanks rotation has that kind of profile. Injury could change a good deal for both teams but I cannot rate the Sox rotation as comparable to the Yankee rotation.

Will definitely be an interesting division race in an interesting league race for 2013. We could see two teams run off and finish close to each other or the top three in the division run off in a cluster. I don't think that top AL East division cluster will be four teams deep. I am inclined to think that at most the top three teams end up in a cluster at the top with the fourth team somewhere between that cluster of three and whichever team finishes in the AL East basement. Then with the other league races being what they are, if there is more than a game dif between 2 and 3 in the East I think the team finishing 3rd in the division goes home. Heck this year, everybody in the East but the division winner may end up going home. The only thing I don't see is one team in the division running off and hiding. That one is hard to imagine even considering the Jays moves. I don't see them running off and hiding and I don't see anybody running off and hiding from them. Massive injuries to any one team could change things some. Entirely possible to see the Sox and Yanks battling each other to stay out of the basement. However, think the O's stand a better chance of being in that battle than being in the battle at the other end of the division. Yanks won't be able to afford anybody going down in the rotation and have a ton of HR's to find year over year. Watch.....the new RF wall in Yankee Stadium will end up a couple feet beyond the 2nd base hole. Pedey will be turning around and yelling at Victorino to get the hell off his ass and the umps will be caught employing the infield fly rule only to see the ball go over the fence......mass embarrassment....Selig left befuddled as usual:D:D

I am really hoping for recovery of his velo more than anything else. If has to resign himself to pitching around a permanent reduction in velo on his FB that would create a whole other level of change for him. He would have no choice but to adapt or at least try. Just does not need that now.