FredLynn
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Everything posted by FredLynn
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When have I ever written that the other teams have no holes? I don't care about them. I care that the Red Sox become the best team possible. What I see right now is that many players are slumping and returning to career norms and that does not bode well for our ability to REMAIN fourth in runs scored. Maybe if Breslow had done his job and brought in Naylor or someone else who can help the offense (and a good #2 SP) our outlook would be better. Right now we are not a dominant team. We are fighting for a wild card and it won't be easy to even play ONE GAME in Oct.
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Duran has more potential to contribute than guys like Narvaez, Rafaela, Gonzalez, Wong etc. He is a net contributor, along with Bregman and Anthony. Unfortunately too many guys are not.
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You mean it. I don't much care Max. Rafaela is JBJ reincarnated. He had his moment in the sun. Now his weakness at the plate has resurfaced and I don't expect it to change. I hope it does; I am not counting on it. I do not expect guys like Romy and Toro to improve significantly. Why? Because they have not done so in the past.
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For the season our numbers look good offensively. That is because many players early on outperformed expectations. They are now returning to their career averages, which is to be expected. Over the last month team OPS is .724-average, roughly. You don't build a winner like that.
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You mean the Marlins. Baltimore is today. Our pen I think will be OK, especially if Slaten comes back strong. IMO our weakness will be run scoring ability. Aside from Bregman and Anthony I don't see any consistently good offensive players in our lineup.
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We might squeak into the playoffs but it will be a dog fight to do so. The other issue is the quality of the Red Sox team. Its not particularly good this year. I think the pitching has been OK, but as the position players slump and return to their career numbers I don't think we will be watching much Oct baseball this year, if any. The future looks much better IMO than the present.
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EVERYONE uses statistics to support their point in a rational debate. And EVERYONE uses the statistics that best do so. Why on earth would anyone expect that those guys should outperform their career norms? I hope for the best for Rafaela but in all honestly, as I have pointed out before here, his lack of plate discipline will likely be his downfall offensively. Been through guys like that on the team before and I don't want to do it again. And yes, we are on a 88 win pace for the year. The future looks good, but like you, I am tired of the "just wait till next year" nonsense. Breslow could have done a better job at the TDL to make this a win now team.
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He's dropped 60 points over the last month. I think he is just feeling the weariness associated with a long season. Now that would be fine if the other guys I mentioned weren't also dropping off cliffs back towards their career norms. But they are. That is why the offense is so inconsistent and frankly struggling at times, despite good pitching. I am singling out Rafaela because of his poor plate discipline and IMO he is incapable of significant offensive improvement due to that. The other guys simply aren't that good-their career numbers prove it. Gotta be able to score runs in this game.
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Might be good enough to squeak into to the playoffs, barely. For the whole season we are at a very mediocre 88 win pace. Aren't you getting tired of mediocre Red Sox teams? I know I am.
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I EXPECTED that these guys would sink as the season progressed. I wrote that here many times. Why? Because I expected that they would return to their career averages: Toro: .645; Romy: .675; Narvaez: .721. Did you expect that they would all outperform their career numbers all year? I didn't. At the end of the day you have to score runs to win games and these guys cannot be counted on to do that. Now, unfortunately but not unexpectedly, neither can we count on Rafaela to contribute.
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Which numbers for those players do you dispute?
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Not just "concentrating on O" as you suggest. But at the end of the day you DO have to score runs to win. Over the past month Rafaela has dropped 60 points in OPS; Narvaez is at .485; Gonzalez is at .675; Toro is at .541....I didn't even bother to look up Wong, who is useless and should have been replaced at the TDL. This is why we cannot accept Rafaela at under .720 despite his JBJ like defense.
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It depends on how many other players are useless or becoming that way with a bat. I wouldn't mind Rafaela not hitting if Toro, Wong, Romy, Narvaez etc etc were also were contributing. Lately they have not. One or two Rafaelas on your team is fine. Not more.
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We have on our team: Wong, Toro, Narvaez, Romy, AND Rafaela (maybe I forgot some too) who are either nearly useless with a bat in their hands or are falling off a cliff offensively. I agree: not everyone has to be above average to be a competitive team. But you CANNOT have five black holes or players headed in that direction. Its why the team has struggled lately offensively despite occasional ten run games.
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My expectation are that this "big market team" should compete nearly every year for a playoff spot. To do so you need ABOVE AVERAGE players at most positions. If Rafaela sinks down to .720 OPS he becomes ordinary with a bat in his hands, like JBJ was when he tanked too. Lets hope it doesn't come to that. He is a streaky hitter. Maybe he will turn his game around and be worth more than a late inning defensive replacement.
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If you build your team around average players you will get an average team. Aren't you tired of mediocrity? I am.
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Okay It was overboard. But I still think it was a mistake. And I think that’s a reasonable opinion to have especially given the final result. Im done with this. Time to move on to the next game and other topics like Rafaela sinking like a rock 😉
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You don’t know whether or not “no other manager would do it”. That’s your opinion and I respect the reasonable opinions of others. But it’s not a known fact. What is a known fact is that other RPs have appeared three days in a row-THIS YEAR. So it can be done and has been done. Time to move on . I hope this doesn’t cost us at the end of the year.
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Then let’s say it this way: I think he made a mistake, one that likely cost us the game. Water under the bridge now…I just hope this mistake doesn’t cost us by the end of the season
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You don’t know that. I admit it’s a bit “out of the box” but given the number of years this team has watched other teams play October baseball maybe it’s time to think out of the box a bit. I doubt we lose today if Chapman was brought in. Hader did it in June…of course he’s younger. Hader isn’t the only RP to have worked three days in a row this year either. So your statement that “no manager would have done it” isn’t exactly true. I think Chapman could have handled it.
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3 pitches
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Rafaela’s OPS I believe is .731 and sinking fast. He was at .793 a month ago. I believe I wrote I thought he’d end up at .720-.740. If he can’t maintain at least .720 I’d consider him unacceptable with a bat. I agree with guess one without the last baseless assumption you made that he would “blow out his arm “. There’s no reason to believe they will flop again against the O’s. After all, we have our new ace going. Dustin May. Im bitchin and whining that Cora probably cost us this game. IMO he was an idiot. Meanwhile it looks like we will only lose a game to the Yankmees today. The Mets are ahead of the Ms 7-1.
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Whitlocks OPSa for 2025 is a very respectable .568. He has been equally effective against RHH and LHH. He isn’t the problem.
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I don’t remember him ever being used three days in a row. That doesn’t mean he should never do it. If ever there ever was the time to do it this was it. In my opinion Cora blundered not making use of him. Yes, there’s a chance he could have gotten injured but that’s a chance I take if I’m the manager. We are in a very tight race to make the playoffs and like everyone else here I’m getting tired of missing out on October baseball. You gotta use all your bullets in this situation. The bottom line is that we lost a game we likely would have won had Chapman come in for the ninth. Hopefully it won’t cost us the playoffs. But it’s getting late. You pull out all the stops now…..in my opinion of course.
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What’s in the past is now history. My OPINION is that Cora made another mistake by not using Chapman, who threw all of three pitches yesterday. You and others hold a different opinion and I respect your opinion. But I don’t agree with it. Too bad you can’t afford me the same.