sk7326

If anything, baseball could survive expanding more ... if I ruled the world? (imagine that - some of this will never happen for lots of reasons, territorial monopolies mostly ... and I am assuming stadiums can happen in every place, which is obviously not true) 1. Move A's to San Jose - they've wanted to do it, and SF's territorial claim is nonsense. 2. Move the Rays to Brooklyn - NY can sustain 3 teams easily 3. Add 2 new teams. Put the Expos in Montreal again. I'd probably add a team in North Carolina. Strong minor league baseball tradition yada yada yada. Go to four eight team divisions AL East: Red Sox, Yankees, BROOKLYN, Orioles, Blue Jays, Tigers, Guardians, CAROLINA AL West: White Sox, Royals, Rangers, Astros, Angels, SAN JOSE, Mariners, Twins NL East: Nationals, Braves, Phillies, Mets, Marlins, EXPOS, Pirates, Reds NL West: Brewers, Cubs, Rockies, Cardinals, Padres, Giants, Dodgers, Diamondbacks Division opponents 12 times ... 84 games Other division opponents 9 times = 72 games One cross league rival = 6 games Yankees-Mets, Orioles-Nationals, Blue Jays-Expos, Cubs-White Sox, SAN JOSE-Giants, Royals-Cards, Guardians-Reds, Dodgers-Angels locked in 4 east:east cross rivals locked in, 4 west:west cross rivals locked in The other teams rotate east:east and west:west. So Red Sox would rotate between Braves, Phillies, Pirates and Marlins over 4 years. 2 division winners and 4 wild cards from each league

Oh he is by far the best choice. Having a Boston past helps too. However, this is where the 2nd wildcard is such a scourge. The Rangers are struggling - but essentially 2 good weeks away from being in the mix.

They darn well should prevent a player from writing down a contract - otherwise it becomes ripe for the sort of coersion that happens in the NFL. There will be a few who are not served by that - but not giving the owners that hammer is well worth it.

Thing with the 4/5 is that it is all so low risk - and (if you were being honest), Dempster delivered a totally fine performance as a #5. Would it have been nice to be cheaper? Sure - but as always, I have very little interest in John Henry's marginal wealth.

I don't think anybody will rush him. But if they think he can handle it - and that's really about the kid - then plug him in 9th and let him figure it out.

You are right - Judge, their best hitter - bats 2nd ... something a numbers guy would do. Headley has not been very good. Neither has Ellsbury. The guy hitting 28 HRs makes it better - and that better is 4 games behind, so who knew.

The Astros and Yankees lineups are also pretty top-heavy (the latter more than the former). That sort of thing is pretty common. The production from 3B has been putrid - this spell of Lin not turning into a pumpkin yet notwithstanding - but the baserunners otherwise are about what you'd expect from a good lineup. Really what the Sox have missed is a general lack of 3-run homerness, although that is getting better.

The only real impactful 3B available is probably Beltre - and he might not be available. The trade market sucks - which has to matter here. My guess is the 3B future right now is 50% Pablo, Lin and a wish 25% a trade 25% Devers If it's Devers - my guess is you won't hear anything until July 20, when the Sox head out West

The league OBP is .325. Every one of our starting position players, besides 3B and C are above average - even Hanley and Moreland are above that. Our catcher production is worse, but a shade below the median - it's bad, but catcher production is bad too. What has happened lately is just some of this stuff catching up - the opportunities have been there the whole time. Given the pitching has largely been excellent - and now the team is gaining steam.

In 2013, the Sox had the top of the rotation figured out, especially once Lackey showed some chops - a low, cheap one year deal to a pitcher who has at least been pretty good before was fine ... would I have rather traded for King Felix? Sure. But that is living a world that did not exist. The ripple effect is real - but Chris Sale is not available all the time.

The Dempster deal was okay - for a #5 starter who is pretty durable, he was okay. Masterson had almost no chance of being good - his splits were so disgusting that it prevented that from being a realistic possibility.

it's again a trade off - getting on with dudes on base vs opportunities to get the hitter up ... you'd like to maximize both. Again the differences are small - but every edge helps.

AAV which is really the only way they can make apples to apples comparisons across all sorts of contract structures

Can never have too many relief arms - that's always on the menu.

ERA is nice - and super important ... but durability in starting is also very important ... Pomeranz has been very good - even if he has not gotten into the 8th as often as you'd like. The best example of my point is Dice-K's 2008 where the numbers were good but he was pitching so few innings per start that he was forcing the bullpen to lift a lot considering.

I said he was good.

I think Devers is probably more likely than trading because the options for dealing just aren't very good ... Beltre is the obvious best choice, but the Rangers are 2 games out of the playoffs with a positive run differential (and a bunch of teams to hop over granted). I am not sure they hit the eject button too readily. July 21, when the post-ASB West Coast Swing starts ... might be the most sensible date

What is funny is that Hanley's season has had its issues but the approach has largely been solid - unlike 2015. He has managed to still get on base at a pretty good clip considering the struggles.

I think there was a study which showed that you want your best hitter batting 2nd ... as far as the optimal balance between number of at-bats, and run scoring opportunities ... but again, the differences are pretty small.

you are absolutely right here. Now, this team has the 2nd best record in the AL and the 3rd best run differential while getting absolutely nothing from 3rd base. Now, I'm not actually sure making an overpay for Todd Frazier helps that - aside from the fact that he is a water based life form who breathes air ... which gives him a 50-50 shot at being an improvement over the current status. And that might be the case for most of the options ... given that, just tossing in Devers after the break just makes more sense, not just for future but present. A month ago, I might have had another starter on the shopping list - and it still could help - but Fister is probably as good as any guy you'd get for that job. It'd be nice if Pomeranz (who has been good) were a little more innings-efficient.

With lineups - some of the players care and many don't - so accomodate the guys who care and fit the rest around. At the same time, 2nd best record in the AL, solid 94 win pace. Things have been steadily improving - given the ability to create baserunners, it almost had to.

The frustrating thing is the accountability is more with regards to achieving management goals. There have been good 70 win jobs and bad 92 win ones.

I use funny - not random. Baseball has a ton of randomness. But the reason there is so much noise is the oversized importance of the pitcher. (this is a lot like goaltending in hockey) A pitcher can destroy every player advantage another team has ... and since teams use 4-6 man rotations (depending on situation), it is very rare that the best team in the league is fielding the best 9 players in every single game.

Managers control playing time! That matters a ton. Far and away the most important function. What is interesting is that - for the most part, if you err on the side of sitting on your hands and let the players figure it out ... you'll probably get a better result than executing lots of showy moves which end up giving outs away.

They are well prepared and play hard for him - they have the 3rd best record in AL now ... i am not a huge Farrell fan, but he has been fine