cp176

I just find talking about baseball stuff much more entertaining than arguing about my personal philosophical beliefs. In all honesty, I am much more interested in the way players perform daily than I am in trying to project how they might perform. As for the arguing, I have been involved in a few. But I am old school. Arguing on the internet with someone I don't know about something I really could give a s*** about never made much sense to me. Dombrowski is responsible for all of this down time.

From a mental perspective I think a taller pitcher can seem much more intimidating which could result in good outcomes for him. All things being equal, I used to feel a lot more comfortable with someone my size throwing the ball at me.

That is a good question. It would really have to do I think with what you are specifically talking about. My values might seem traditional I guess to some. When it comes to something like baseball or athletics in general, I like to think that I am open to any new concept or idea. In all honesty, I find many "younger" people to be much less tolerant with respect to many things than I am. I really get a little nervous and tend not to trust people who are so set in their opinions that they won't listen, respect, and consider someone elses point of view. I was fairly successful with respect to my teaching and coaching career until I retired from all in 2014. You think someone could have started teaching and coaching in 1973 and been successful over that period of time without learning to adjust and often times change? I think you know the answer to that one. With respect simply to baseball, in all honesty I don't that embracing saber metrics defines someone as new school or old school. There is a lot more that goes into than that. Sorry you had to read all this. The simple answer - with respect to baseball - old school, new school, blend of both. With respect to things that really matter in my life like my family, guess you could call me a traditionalist.

Conjures up some bad thoughts.

I think that with just a couple more tweaks they could turn it all around. I think that they are still looking like they are going into the season with a couple of question marks that they could do something about. Talked to a friend yesterday who gets to a number of games every year. He said they would have to pay him to go this year. i plan to go but I hope that they aren't done dealing.

? - A misconception of myself?

My comment about Bill James tells you which way you think I lean. My opinion is that if he did not actually play, he missed the experience of playing a wonderful game. I take 0 offense by anything you say on this board. Once again, I enjoy reading different points of view. If old school to you, means not being afraid to admit that your opinion could be wrong, you got me pegged - I am old school. I learn something new everyday. I will say this - given the choice between actually playing and experiencing the games in general or studying them solely from a statistical perspective, I know you can figure out which way I lean on that one.

I tried to find information about college of high school and couldn't. Probably not that important. I'm just glad that I played. Also, it is probably old news but I just read Mastrodonato's column about possible things that might help this team. I have to admit that I would feel much better about things if Davis was at first and Gordon was in the outfield. Obviously that would probably mean that Ramirez, Castillo and at least one other probably an arm would be gone. I don't have much confidence in Hanley and Castillo needs to hit better than he ever has. JBJ can make up for a lot with his arm and glove but one of those two guys needs to hit.

Hey - He still looks good for his age though. I'm not opposed to learning new things either. i just think that the whole idea of labelling and categorizing people as being in one camp or the other is ridiculous. If you are going to succeed then I think you have to expect change. Means you have to let go of some things but not all things. I enjoy posting here because of the different points of view. I have learned a great deal about the new baseball language as well. I don't have anyone on ignore here yet either. Not even Charlie McCarthey (can you guess who I mean) even though he never adds anything meaningful really to any of the postings. He just spews away. I do have one question for you or anyone. Did Bill James ever actually play at all? I'm not saying that that is of particular importance with respect to what he does. I would say that playing the game as well understanding the metrics rounds the picture out better than simply doing one or the other.

I bet they are. He has an interesting projection for Swihart for this year. If he is more right than the people who have coached and been on the field with Swihart, he would be more valuable to us as a trade candidate than anything else. Which Swihart will we see this this year? For him to help us much, he will either have to catch better than projected or certainly hit better than projected.

If the latest Bill james' projections for our starting pitchers hold true, we are going to be in good shape. His predictions for buccholz and owens (of all people ) look very good. If Porcello pitches as he suspects, he really becomes your number 4 for sure and actually could be a 5 behind - Price, Bucch, Rodriguez, and Owens.

i'm not sure that is saying a lot for poor old Otis. What the hell though really - You could be a lot worse off than a rich, loveable town drunk.

I'm betting that sooner as opposed to later Farrell winds up somewhere in the front office and not on the field.

I'm suggesting that many of those older voters could be learning many of the new analytical ways of looking at things. It is also quite possible that some of the younger voters are not embracing the new metrics . We don't know. We make assumptions based on age. I know a great many old young people. I hope the HOF voters don't limit themselves by pigeon holing themselves into one way of looking at things. Often times we have seen players not voted for or even left off ballots simply because someone just didn't like them.

If you mean that people who have not been covering the game of baseball for the past 10 years, I agree. Why should they be in a position to vote for something that they have lost interest in? I don't think that this realization, tells us that these people lost their votes due to not embracing the role analytics play in today's game. They lost interest in covering the game thus they lost their votes. Took quite awhile for it to happen as well. Maybe they did not embrace advanced analytics. I don't think that is what cost them their votes. I don't think any of us really know that. What we do know is that they have not been covering the game for awhile.

As good as their defense might be, I think that we will need one of these two guys to hit.

I hope that you are right about Dombrowski. If he is healthy, sitting him down would be a power move. I found it interesting, that one of the projections for 2016 that I read the other day, even had Sam Travis getting an opportunity in Boston this year. Travis Shaw is ready to step in at either third or first. They have good contingency plans I think if things turn sour with respect to either first or third. If Hanley can't get the job done at first, we will find out quickly whether of not he wants to stay in Boston at all. Although, i think that we could do better, the potential for him to the dh going forward exists. A lot of this is really up to him.

One positive thing that we could have going for us is depth. Now, it might not be great in certain places, we could be at least adequate in just about every position on the field if someone goes down. No pressing need to hurry a player like Pederoia along when he gets hurt. It gets tricky with Ramirez, if he just can't play the position. He is easily replaceable by better first basemen but what do you do with him. If no one wants him that is a huge bad contract to eat. If this scenario plays out, which I hope that it doesn't, we will really find out some things about the whole franchise going forward. So far everybody is speaking the company line. Stay positive - not a big transition - he is working hard as we think spring thoughts.

Beginning the New Year, it really is starting to look like the Ramirez at first experiment might be a go. Scares the hell out of me. Not only does the footwork issue come in to play, he also has to pay attention on every pitch. A real experiment. A bigger one than throwing him in the outfield. I realize that he is an infielder. I still have very limited confidence in him being able stay focused on every pitch. If he can't get it done, the Sox will have a major issue right out of the gate. What do you do with him?

The yapping has already started! Where are bautista and encarnarcion apt to be in 2017. Many think that Boston will get one or the other. I know - I know - no love here for Hanley. That is one issue for sure for some. My issue is that I am going to have to learn how to say encarnarcion. I can't spell either name but I like how they hit.

That is all I'm doing here. It's good to having something to talk about. I don't mind being called older either - had a good run.

I'm ok with your opinions.

I realize your feelings about what you see as "old school" vs "new school". The impression you give is that of people having to be entrenched in one or the other. Has to be a nice blend of old and new to be successful I think in just about anything. With respect to Varitek, I would imagine that anyone who ever saw him play recognized easily what his strengths were. He was simply outstanding in just about everything a catcher really needs to be outstanding at. He won't be in the HOF because he was not a complete enough player to be there. Red Sox great for sure. HOF candidate - don't think so. Retired Red Sox jersey - yup - right after Dewey.

I loved the guy but seriously what criteria would put him in the HOF?

RIP - When I think of my beginnings in this game, I think of the impact that All-Star Frank Malzone had on us during his time. A real professional. A truly gifted third baseman.