sk7326

We can't I am 38 - in the fandom I remember? McNamara - bad Morgan - good with the media, obviously would need help in hyper-information age ... but overall I liked him Hobson - let's move on Kennedy - could have been the best guy of them all, but really believed he was a great manager, which was the downfall Williams - really good in his way Kerrigan - Kennedy without the experience or ability to manage Little - in some ways the right manager at the right time after the Kerrigan disaster. But ultimately the Pedro decision was unforgiveable, and he never was able to fully grasp the notion of the committee bullpen. On one level a bit underrated by Sox fans, but his biggest sin was a mortal one. Francona - One of only two legitimate choices for the best Sox manager since 1967. Time will put him very much in the Anderson, Alston, Weaver, Herzog, Bochy level of the discussion. (I guess LaRussa - but he makes me angry). If he were your boss in your actual job (assuming he was qualified and trained) - he would be one of the best bosses you ever had. Valentine - probably a bit underrated by his time here. But he put very little effort into this, while retaining all the ego. Farrell - A solidly above average manager by the sorts of things you need a manager to do now. But there are definite holes, and tactically he could be better - but there are distinctly worse guys out there. I'd put him in the middle third of managers today.

Lineup shift impacts are small. While you don't want to leave anything on the table - the idea we have lost anything substantial with Bradley (or Betts) usage is not supported by reality.

And the +45 would be 3rd in the American League ... so it is not like those blowouts are wallpapering over a bad team. Bullpen needs more consistency - right now that has been the issue.

Whitaker is among the very top of the list of biggest HoF omissions ... not as big as Raines, but also less likely to get help ... Trammell also

The beauty of baseball is that a pennant is just 3 1/2 weeks of good baseball away. It is also why the league's best team only wins relatively rarely ... (like the 2013 Red Sox) This is not the league's best team - but it's baseball ... get in, see what happens. We know this team can hit - even if it is in a cold spell. The rotation has not been ideal, but it is good enough to churn out competitive starts. Bullpen is worrisome - a lot rests on whether Uehara can return (a lot of others fall into place then)

kimbrel is a bit easier - he just has not pitched much at all

That time we beat him by coming back from 3-0 down.

Quite the opposite (see Tim Lincecum 2012) - they need to look at him for multiple inning bridge work. Now he would not have stopped the bloodletting on Wednesday from the guys behind him ... BUT I think in that situation, you let Clay get you through the 7th as well.

In. It's all in front of us. The team will play the teams it needs to beat. I actually am okay with the rotation - somehow another, I think it is competitive. Now the bullpen needs to do its job - and without Uehara, that might only be done with some consistent multi-inning relief work. I think they need to think about Buchholz now less as a long man, and use him more in the 2012 Lincecum position to give them multiple innings.

You have to know you have a better answer - now it sounds like Lovullo would be one. But it's not like he is locked in a basement when these decisions are being made (if the decisions bum you out). And I am not sure he would be gung ho given the optics (basically stabbing his best friend in the back). One thing I do think he should do now is to - ducking a lightning bolt - start using Buchholz more as one of the real setup options. He has the best stuff of any of the relievers, and he has been effective the last few times out - and he can (or should) handle more than 3 outs at a time.

Player A clearly - you are getting the value nearly a full season earlier! Fact is - there are ways to address his struggles so the team does not go to pot ... maybe he has an adjustment period and so he has to be a defensive sub or a platoon bat ... which would not be ideal, but the team can get back to "before" without much difficulty

maybe i am too brash to say i am the leader - but i definitely am a board member

Oh I am the leader of the "automated balls and strikes" movement/cult

I suspect the Braves would have done it gratefully if there was. Reliever are just very very volatile species - it's what makes any large-ish trade for them mildly cringeworthy.

I enjoyed this - sometimes there's a correlation, sometimes there isn't. Also, sometimes it rains.

Of course! But you can say all of this about Vasquez, and between the two Leon is actually hitting the baseball. I'd put it this way - there is precious little evidence that the Red Sox are playing the wrong guy (between Leon and Vasquez) for the near and long term.

Now was Benintendi ready? Who knows - they have given him a lot of responsibility very quickly and he has adjusted. I think this was always possible - the org made their denials, but that's what you do. Maybe they were hard on Beltran and missed out - but he can barely move anymore. I think to address earlier points - while it is fair to wonder whether the treatment of Bradley held him back, I'd counter that Bradley had conclusively proven he can hit minor league pitching. A demotion for him - given what he had to work on - was not going to accomplish anything, aside from giving him a potential sense of senioritis. His adjustments had to take place at the big league level. Benintendi is a different kettle of fish - and as Dojji notes, he will struggle eventually - because he plays baseball for a living, and all baseball players go through those patches. The org bet is that he has the makeup and physical talent to figure that stuff out when it comes up. Everything about his brief minor league career backs that sentiment. What a week with him with the big league club shows to me - fairly conclusively - that he at least physically and skill-wise belongs in the show ... he does not look overmatched. (well, aside from his 2nd career AB in the bottom 9 against a fireballer closer sort)

Moncada was always very very very likely to outgrow 2B anyway.

Oh with Betts I'd absolutely try - how much would it cost to buy a couple of FA years. Answer is a lot - but both sides have some incentives to do it.

And 28th among all position players. It is a bit of a golden age for the position. e.g. not the era of Robby Alomar and a bunch of guys I can barely remember

You miss the point. I used .300 as just an easy basic measure to get a more realistic number and illustrate where future expectations ought to place him. Those things you mentioned help - but empirical evidence suggests it doesn't help that much. Just as important is whether a fielder can get to the location you hit the ball. BABIP is subject to some very large fluctuations - and so when I see a .440 BABIP, I'm going to say "that ain't forever". Let's put it this way - you hit more line drives, you can improve it - but it might not a 1 to 1 thing, or even very close.

True. Now I looked at some of the data on this - there is a weak but positive correlation between line drive and BABIP. There is evidence of some control - but whatever control there is is fairly weak. And generally I think, pitchers have more influence on BABIP than hitters. I certainly think it is clear Leon is better - but what that actually means is a fair question. As Cycles said, .260/.310 or so with good defense is a solid starter at that position.

I think with Leon it is likely both things are true at the same time - that he has figured out some stuff to save his career, and he has been riding some incredible luck.

I never said he was a bottom 10 baserunner - though it is possible that he has had a crappy year on that front. There is a significant difference between someone not being good at it and someone having a rough stretch. I agree with you there. But it is easy to believe he is preternaturally gifted at things like taking the extra base and such, whether or not it's actually true. It's just how sports fans, media and whatnot have been conditioned to see.

He is not going to be a .440 BABIP guy forever. But if you normalize for that, he is still a .250 to .265 hitter which seems plausible - and with his defense is a perfectly good starter.