evilhand

I challenge you to back up the bolded bit about him being a no hit all glove player. That's one of the most ridiculous things I've read in a long time. And are you really suggesting this team would be stronger with a roster that replaces Youk with Scutaro and doesn't sign Punto? Middlebrooks+Youk+Punto > Middlebrooks+Scutaro There is simply no way to justify your claim to the contrary. Edit: I'm heading out to a picnic, so if there is a response to this I'll get to it later tonight or tomorrow. I will point out, however, that over the last 365 days, Youk has a .833 OPS. Dinging him for a small sample size of weaker hitting during an injury and one bad week since returning is ridiculous.

It actually is a bit surprising since guys who have Tommy John surgery typically don't need it again for at least a good number of years after the procedure, if at all. That he's being sent to Dr. Andrews is a really bad sign, but hopefully he's just prone to a bit of inflammation because of the procedure and they're just being extra careful with it. If he needs to go under the knife again so soon, I have to imagine he'd be in pretty rare company in that regard.

If it continues after his call up for a few more outings, I might give that thought some more credit, but two outings is a small enough sample that it doesn't really mean much at this point. Of course, I tend to think the "can't handle the pressure of " is typically overblown, so I may require more proof than some to get thinking in that direction in the first place.

Sadly, it's because Rich Hill had to be DLed and is headed to see James Andrews again. https://twitter.com/jtomase/status/211825746639978498 https://twitter.com/DidierMorais/status/211830703313268737

His UZR over the last few years is better than I thought off the top of my head, so I'll give you that... but it's less that his role is of a utility player and more that he's chewing up a 25 man roster spot when there are internal options that have more upside that could have been used. The 1.5 million is immaterial in the end. But having Punto pinch hit instead of someone like Ciriaco. But we've gotten way off track from the OT. So I'll stop my Punto rage.

But how many teams can weather having two of their starters down for a significant amount of time? The number is pretty small. That kind of depth just doesn't exist. Lackey is out all year, so another starter going down for a long time would certainly hurt. They'd have to make a deadline trade in that case, or punt on the season if they felt they were too far back to make that worth it. So yes, they're stretched a bit thin with Lackey already on the shelf and Bard crapping the bed, but most teams would be in the same position under similar circumstances. They have Cook for spot starts and could always shift Aceves back to the rotation in an emergency, but no, there aren't any great options if one of Beckett, Lester, Buchholz, Doubront or Matsuzaka goes down with something serious. Not sure how that's relevant to the Lowrie and Reddick trades, though, as neither involved sending a major league ready starting pitcher out. If anything, trading for Melancon, who was a pretty good closer last year for Houston, could have been intended to give them an arm they could replace Aceves with if he they had to move him. But that's a bit of a stretch.

No, but that doesn't mean his inclusion in the roster was anything other than a bad decision and somewhat baffling. And I stand by that. Having been on a championship roster does not mean he belonged there. Sure, he happened to have a good year last year, but it was an outlier year and does not change the fact that he's going to be the worst hitter on most any team he plays for while providing mediocre defense at several positions. His entire career is built on grit and bunting.

That they won a title is irrelevant in evaluating him as a player. His one good season last year is heavily outweighed by the rest of his career. While I tend to weigh recent seasons more heavily when I look at someone, 2011 was a clear outlier. In the four years leading up to 2011 he posted OPS's of: 2007: .562 2008: .726 2009: .621 2010: .615 His career OBP, even with 2011 dragging it up is .324 and he's never displayed any real power. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that he's sucked this year. I'm not sure what the thought process was when they offered him a contract... but two years? Really? It looked like a bad idea then, it's looking like a bad idea now.

The only reason Melancon hasn't been called up is that the pen has been too good for him to get the chance since he went down. He'll get another chance and every indication is that he's going to be much improved from what we saw at the start of the season. Lowrie, while tearing it up, is no better than Aviles defensively. The biggest knock on him has always been that he won't stick at short, so complaining that Aviles isn't good on defense is a non-starter. Neither is Lowrie. As for these trades looking bad after 60 days... it's been 60 days! Let's look at where Reddick and Lowrie were after 60 days last season and where they ended up. Lowrie had a .753 OPS on June 10th of 2011. He finished the season with a .685. Just a month earlier, it was at .864. He's a streaky hitter who has trouble staying healthy. He got really hot to start the year and sucked for the majority of it after that. If he keeps up a .900 OPS I'll be shocked. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended the year just below .800, which is still very good for a shortstop, but let's not pretend anyone was predicting a .900 OPS season from him at any point in the off season. Reddick got called up later in the year, but had an .815 OPS after his 60th game. He finished at .784 and had a .670 OPS from July 10th until the end of the season. He's also a very streaky hitter and his overall line looked decent last year because he came out of the gate red hot. He may have taken a step forward this year, but he will not finish the year with an .870 OPS and 38 HR (that's what he's on pace for). The Red Sox chose to move him because they were able to replace their closer with one just as good over the previous 3 years AND add a solid defensive replacement in the field with some upside in his bat (Sweeney). They also were able to sign Ross and had Kalish rehabbing, who has looked great in Pawtucket. Both trades could certainly still end up in the Sox favor, though I think the best they can hope for with Lowrie/Melancon is a break even as I do think Lowrie is a strong offensive player for his position and will play just enough to keep reminding Sox fans that he's not in Boston anymore. I think Melancon will do fine in a set up role when he gets back, though.

The injuries on the offensive side have absolutely been mitigated by the backups playing over their heads. What that means is that as the team gets healthy, it becomes more and more likely that they'll continue to score runs at this rate and there's a slight chance for improvement... especially once Ellsbury gets back. The reason to get excited going forward is that the starting pitching has actually been pretty good for a while now, and especially so in the case of Buchholz and Beckett with Doubront continuing to be a solid back of the rotation option. What I saw out of Matsuzaka tonight makes me think he can be a solid back end contributor as well and as I said in my previous post, I think Lester is more likely to figure it out than not based on his history. The rotation isn't as bad as the early struggles make it seems. Hell, just Matsuzaka over Bard is a big improvement.

Every time I think the Heat are about to go on a run the C's make a big shot. Rondo has been a beast this series.

I don't get why people aren't more excited about Buchholz right now. The pitchfx data paints a very encouraging picture. Mechanically he seems to have found consistency and he's finally got a feel for his change up again. He appears to be getting back to where he left off before getting hurt... the efficient guy who was going deep into games and inducing weak contact in 2010 and 2011. The only difference is that his change up has once again become the swing and miss pitch we enjoyed back in 2007 and 2008. He was clearly rusty early on after sitting for the better part of the year with his back injury. After three straight dominant starts, I think there's every reason to be excited about him going forward. Add that to Beckett and Doubront and you have a pretty good staff. So it really just comes down to Lester figuring it out and Matsuzaka coming out and doing what he did tonight with a bit of better luck and a little less pounding the heart of the zone with his heater and you have an excellent rotation. Lester's history suggests he'll figure it out at some point. He was a dominant front of the rotation guy until late August of 2011.

So I guess the fact that they lit up Verlander last week means nothing? All that matters is the first two games against the Nats? This is the second best run scoring team in the AL. The offense is not an issue. No, it says you have no confidence in your opinion and that you know, even if you won't admit it, that by the end of the season there's a good chance this team finds itself going to the playoffs. For all your insistence that this team is mediocre, you understand that the early struggles are not representative of their true talent level and that as they get healthier and Beckett and Buchholz keep pitching well, that they're one of the better teams in the majors. Never mind if Lester straightens it out. Shouting "This team is mediocre" over and over rings hollow when you won't commit to that position going forward. Either you think this team is mediocre and playing to their potential or you think they're better than that and don't want to give up the ability to complain by admitting they're playing below their true talent level. There really is no in between there.

But they have Ellsbury, Ross and Craw... oh, wait, I see what you did there!

I want to clarify something quickly before I head out to dinner. A pitcher can be dominant while not being terribly effective. Think back to Strasburg's first major league start. He was filthy that day. And I'd absolutely describe him as being dominant that game even though he gave up a couple of runs. Daisuke was certainly not *that* dominant today, but his off speed stuff was absolutely untouchable. I'd attribute the "wildness in the zone" and catching too much of the plate with his heater to the fact that it's his first game back from TJ surgery and he doesn't have the command he needs to try and nibble like he is famous for doing. Maybe "He had dominant stuff" is a better way to say it, though.

Bad luck on balls in play does not mean every bit of contact was unlucky. It means there was bad luck on the whole. Have fun beating up that strawman, though. You're landing some huge body blows.

No problem. Won't go there again.

How is an argument loaded with statistical data... actual measurable evidence even remotely like a religious argument on youtube? If anything, my argument is an analog for evolution while pumpsie's is creationism. He's hanging on to an outdated and irrelevant way of analyzing the sport, must like creationism is an outdated and irrelevant way to explain how life on this planet has gotten to where it's at today.