sk7326

The bat doesn't make up for the poor fielding - but it could (and that has been the bigger issue). It doesn't matter how it looks to us, it matters how it looks to the other guys. Whether the coaches are defending a fraud, or backing a guy who has put up with a lot of crap. (I don't know what the clubhouse answer is to that)

A lot of what has worked for Francona as a leader is that he is a good guy. Obviously not the entirety of what has made him among the very top of the list of managers, but a significant factor.

He also had several years more of practice as well as being an AL guy all the way (which matters a bit less since he was a RF in Cleveland) ... Hanley's first year in LF has been awful. The bat is what makes the whole package irredeemable. Also, watching the games doesn't exempt having seven years in the past clouded by the fact that he brought a lot to the total package.

He was also terrible on the road, and forced Ellsbury or Damon to effectively play two positions at the same time.

I think DiPoto is in to do self scouting - give an independent assessment of the roster.

It is amazing how the flaws turn into eccentricities when the guy, say, hit more than a measly 9 or 10 doubles

If he is this poor offensively, there aren't many places they can play him

I do enjoy the thread - it is hard not to think Doj wants the Red Sox to go through a Houston Astros rebuild and play Sean Coyle a lot while still charging fans the highest prices in baseball. But I digress. Some specific issues. 1. Pedroia was one of the Top 20 position players in baseball as recently as 2013. He was still a 4-win player last season. He has had some nagging injuries which have prevented him from being the MVP-level guy he was in 2008-2011. Even last year, with his physical issues he was the 8th best 2nd baseman in the majors. He has dropped off from being one of the league's top regulars - to merely being a very good one. This year, before the hamstring thing, his bat clearly looked to be back. 2. One surmises that the hamstring would have been miraculous cured if the Red Sox were in a more favorable position in the standings. 3. I defended Brock Holt's inclusion in the All-Star game - he was not the best choice for the Red Sox representative, but he was not a bad one. But Pedroia, five years older than Holt - is a better player right now, in virtually any level of health. 4. If you were to move Pedroia, you would not get equal value back. If your thread said trading Pedroia could be our Herschel Walker deal or whatever ... that would be coherent (I'd disagree, but it would be coherent). Trading Pedroia for the sake of it, or being afraid he won't last - does not make sense. Given the way the contract is structured, it is actually quite unlikely that Pedroia will become an albatross. But that is miles away from saying he could bring back a great prospect haul commesurate to what he means to the Sox. Plus, I like him. 5. If Pedroia got dealt, it wouldn't be to promote Holt. It would be to perhaps make room for Moncada, or to turn Betts into a Ben Zobrist Swiss-army knife. So, in summary - you would not get equal value for Pedroia. Pedroia is still really damn good (even when he has been hampered physically) and if you did deal him, it wouldn't be to free up space for Brock Holt. Aside from that, I agree with you.

I don't think so - that it was a ball put in play was sufficient to affect FIP

And no black players, and almost certainly hopped up on amphetamines

And to be fair - for the defensive woes he has had, it is his inability to HIT which has been the bigger issue. He has been had in LF, but by any flavor of measurement, Manny being Manny was every bit the butcher and at times worse. But he also flat out raked. His .322 wOBA (worst in 3 years, among the worst of his career) and .302 OBP (flat out worst of his career) are the things which have screwed up the equation as much. He has hit poorly, far too poorly to hold up the rest of his flaws.

Yes. Or at least it requires some detective work. If it's a function of chances, then the level of crisis is much less.

Errors are opinions too - which makes it tricky

Granted, that raises the uncharitable counter like that joke about funerals ... why wait til the guy's dead??

I think Ramirez to 1B might make sense - but it will probably have to be done in the offseason with his buy-in. I know some enjoy the idea of management barking "you will move because you are paid to move" but we know that a move like that tends to require a little more groundwork than that. No reason he can't do that well - athleticism is not a prerequisite for mastering 1B (of course it wasn't for LF either).

Since this thread is about the hot stove and (presumably) stuff learned from playing out the string ... but ... small sample sizes abound BUT ... could Jackie Bradley have figured out something about hitting??

I wrote elsewhere questioning his performance. Obviously, this is a separate issue. For Pedroia and Ortiz in particular, who have a longer relationship with him, this must have hit hard. Farrell clearly is very lucky to have caught it quickly (and by accident).

That is a piece that sounds smarter than it is. Of course teams don't use WAR - not because it's bad, but because competitive intelligence has moved to different, trade secret sort of things. WAR (or WARs components more accurately) was a place to start. The question is for fans among publicly available resources. WAR is miles better as an item to cite than OPS, which itself was better than RBIs. It's just evolution in this field. The point about multiple ways to calculate WAR is a strength of the current state than a weakness. Instead of arbitrarily resolving questions about the nature of baseball, this provides a range of outcomes based on that assumption ... which is more accurate anyway.

Interesting question - now young premium every day player at premium position vs potential ace ... let's put it this way, that is a fair question. I probably wouldn't, but I would not argue with anybody who says "yes"

2011 was a collapse. 2010 was one of the more proud seasons unless you are unreasonable - another season where injuries decimated them and they still managed 89 wins and the last two weeks of the season with something to play for. "Injuries are part of the game" is a cute idea except that in 2012 all of their good players were hurt for long stretches - no team can recover from that. You are veering awfully close to the "29 teams have had disgraceful seasons" each year mentality, which makes it hard for sports to do much of anything other than disappoint.

I wouldn't be surprised if Farrell survives. But he shouldn't. There are a lot of viable candidates - as simple as Lovullo to a wider search.

I definitely see the frustration - although 2012 was so smashed to smithereens by health issues that inclusion among 2014 and 2015 is a little unfair.

And you have to be realistic too. Rodriguez has over 100 big league innings under his belt. He might not be proven relative to Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson - but he's a big leaguer with the tools to be a hell of a lot more. He is going to be part of the 2016 rotation, and he's a sophomore. Owens is where the more interesting question lies, and I do see your point, and certainly the team needs 7 or so guys they can turn to for the reasons you cite. Now if they go to the market to get a Cueto (just to put a name out there), then you are looking at a pool of starters with Cueto, Buchholz, Rodriguez, Porcello, Owens, Johnson, Wright, Miley, which is less daunting. One of the areas the brass screwed up in 2015 was not just the rotation that started the season, but not churning aggressively. Of course when the team turned into the 2013 Mariners for an entire month, the churn probably would not have helped much unless you could deliver the 1971 Orioles from behind the curtain.

Maddon became the natural choice once the brass had all these kiddos on their way. Francona, Showalter, Maddon - somebody like that is available, go get em.

I find it funny since Theo had guys like this around all the time. This not some new MO relative to the last decade plus. Self scouting is an important gig too, and it helps to bring in somebody from the outside to do that. DiPoto will be fine in the limited gig. He has a solid reputation, and is not in a position where someone is telling him "do the analysis, just don't ask our staff to use it"