Yeah, Sox hitters definitely didn't take advantage of the juiced balls. But look at the numbers:
2015 - average team hit 164 HR's
2016 - average team hit 187 HR's
2017 - average team hit 204 HR's
I don't know what they're going to do about Castillo. I agree it's a shame if he gets stuck in tax purgatory. I would think if he continues to really kick ass he'll get out of that purgatory somehow.
moon, in the history of salary dumps, are there any examples of the team doing the dumping taking back something like HanRam's remaining contract - a potential 2 year, $44 million liability for them?
Shaughnessy has written numerous stories about Adrian Gonzalez being 'The Cooler', a guy who seems to consistently bring bad luck to his current team. The crazy thing is that the facts seem to back that up. This year the Dodgers were barely above .500 in the 90 or so games he played.
I think it's possible that Kershaw has matured and learned how to deal with pressure better. The same may be true of Verlander. He struggled earlier in his career in the postseason. Hopefully the same will be true of Price.
Of course there may be some randomness in there too.