Maxbialystock

What does "POSTS" mean?

Tell me again why fWAR is better than WAR.

Completely agree--a thoughtful discussion of DD.

Fascinating. I had no idea Cora is vocal about Rafaela's mistakes. I'm sure he's right, but right now Rafaela has the second best WAR on the team, 2.4. Only Bregman's is higher, 3.0, and he's out, so Rafaela's is in fact the highest. Duran's WAR is 1.2 and he is 4 years older that Rafaela. On the other hand, even Jack Nicholson knows you have to hit the cutoff man.

Hope. I feel the same way.

Utter nonsense. 2020 was a nonseason plus Cora had good reason to stay away from the Sox and not jeopardize his chances to return to MLB.

Fantastic job by the bullpen today--2 runs in 7.1 IP. 2 rbi's each by Abreu, Toro, Rafaela, and Hamilton. Rafaela's OPS just sneaked into the 700's.

Excellent point. Rafaela has a terrific arm. Last night was an aberration. The Sox defense is being pilloried unfairly on talksox, and that starts with going ape because the Sox fielding percentage is a lowdown, no good, rotten 98%, which is an entire percentage point worse than the highest fielding percentage--99%--in MLB.

I'm the one who doesn't like DD, but I would be nuts not to give him a ton a of credit for the 2018 team. Plus, let's face it, he's been successful elsewhere. There is no "Bloom thru Breslow." It's simply Bloom and Breslow. Bloom made a lot of mistakes, but he was also somewhat hamstrung by JH who wanted to spend less, especially on pitchers. What did happen on Bloom's watch was the development of a pretty good farm system. Not pitching, of course. The Sox rely heavily on other teams to develop good pitchers they can then sign, Crochet being a great example. But don't forget the blood sock guy in 2004 and several excellent starters since then. Heck Pedro came from Montreal. One the absolute best Sox pitchers ever was sold to the Yankees, who turned him into one of the greatest hitters ever. Since we know how long the Babe lasted, I think it's fair to say he was better than Ohtani. I have beat the drum relentlessly on Breslow dumping Sale and paying his salary when he one the Cy Young for the Braves and for replacing him with Giolito. But I also like Crochet, Bregman, Narvaez, and Chapman. That's a pretty good haul for one offseason. Plus Breslow is stuck with Yoshida. Story ain't worth his salary, but he is a steady SS. Back to DD. He would not have had to make those bad deals because JH gave him carte blanche--permission to build a winner with the biggest payroll in MLB.

Giolito stunk in 2023, right after which Breslow signed him for $40M. For all we know, the 2024 injury in ST was connected to Giolito's horrible finish in 2023.

I definitely blame Breslow for the disastrous hiring of Giolito and paying Sale to win the CY Young award for the Braves. Both were horrible. But I do recognize that he is trying to build back when JH and CB managed to tear down. In the interim Breslow is stuck with Story and Yoshida.

Anyone want to guess who signed our $40M/year thirdbaseman who just had a repeat of an injury 2 or 3 seasons ago? And how did it happen? He rounded first base, that's how.

Guess who hired Giolito and dumped Sale. Anyone? Anyone?

You guys are hyper critical. The problem today is Giolito. Everything else pales into insignificance.

It took me so long to write that, I completely missed the Sox 5 runs!!!!

I think that's right--that Cora and Breslow have tenure because of the Sox situation. I do not think Cora is the problem. Today we saw yet again what has happened too often this season. The starting pitcher has done his level best in the very first inning to keep the Sox from winning. In addition, Bregman's injury was followed by the Sox going 3-8 in the next 11 games with the lineup scoring an average of 2.45 runs per game. That ain't on Cora either. And let's not forget that Breslow signed Giolito for $40M for 2 seasons. He missed all of the first one and so far is pitching as though the Sox would be better off he had missed this season as well. Plus Breslow dumped Sale while paying his first year's salary--after which Sale won the NL Cy Young last year. This year Sale is not that good, but is still the best pitcher on the Braves staff. Whit his 5 quality starts, 67.2 IP, and 3.06 ERA he would be our 2d best starter. Credit Breslow for Crochet, Bregman, Narvaez (a great get!), and Chapman. Credit Bloom for Yoshida and Story--both big disappointments given their salaries. Credit Bloom, mostly, for the talent coming from the farm system. It is what it is.

What "advanced metrics?" I'm talking about the simplest of stats, fielding percentage. The Sox are near the bottom, but still make 98% of their plays, and the MLB leaders in team fielding percentage only make 1% more. And this. Rafaela leads MLB centerfielders in DWAR even though he has 3 errors, which is more than any other centerfielder with a plus DWAR. Last night the Sox committed 3 errors and none of them resulted in an unearned run. The unearned run in the 10th was the ghost runner who scored. Do I need to remind that the Sox pulled off an excellent double play in the 10th with the bases loaded to limit the damage to that ghost runner?

Think what you want to, but the real telltale is that the Sox are 3-8 in the 11 games since Bregman went on the IL, largely because they have scored an average of 2.45 runs per game without him. I agree errors can be frustrating, but you can't ignore that at least four positions--catcher, CF, RF, and 3B--have been fielded well, and SS is hardly a disaster. All 5 positions have positive DWAR's. Duran has 4 errors in LF--not good--but his DWAR is just -0.1. The problem positions are 1b and 2b. Last night the 3 errors did not lead to any unearned runs. The one unearned run was the ghost runner scoring in the 10th. Amen.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but am saying the Sox situation this season is daunting with Yoshida and Story not earning their pay, ditto Giolito, Since Bregman went on the IL for an estimated 2 months, the Sox are 3-8 in the 11 games since and have scored an average 2.45 runs per game. Campbell is struggling afield and at bat. Duran is not yet last year's Duran. I don't think Casas is missed (his WAR is -0.7 for the few games he played). It's good to have Mayer up and at 3b, but he is struggling at the plate. While the pitching isn't terrible, it is inconsistent.

Good point on the extra outs--one that moonslav always makes. However, I do not agree this Sox team is one of the worst defensive teams in MLB. That's why I cited the DWAR's of Bregman, Narvaez, Abreu, and Rafaela. As I said, half the defense has been pretty good (and that now includes Mayer at 3b). Also, don't forget that a double play saves pitchers big time, and the Sox are ranked 4th in MLB in double plays per game. Tonight the Angels turned 3 double plays, which went a long way to make up their pitchers issuing 7 walks. Finally, I must insist that far and away the biggest difference makers in games and for teams are hitting and pitching. Not defense. Not bonehead plays. Not baserunning. Not bad calls by the third base coach. Not bad calls by the homeplate umpire.

I have no idea what the Sox hitting strategy is, but I hope it's not the one you describe. I agree it's stupid. As for the 17 one run game losses, a big part of that are all those K's with RISP, which we saw again tonight. The Sox also rank 3d in MLB in total K's, regardless of RISP. I also think Bregman's absence has hurt. Since his last game, a 19-5 win on May 23, the Sox are 3-8 and have averaged 27/11 = 2.45 runs per game. Another factor is one you cited--some of the real talent is young and/or inexperienced and others are just not that talented.

And that would be really stupid. Best thing after a game like this is to put it behind you. Save the fundamentals for the next day's pregame practices which are endless already. Also, as I said, the two fundamentals that are more important than all the others are hitting and pitching. Our pitching was pretty good and gave up just 3 earned runs in 10 innings. Our hitting stunk. The Sox lead MLB in K's with RISP by a pretty big margin. Now that's a fundamental worth working on.

I'm sure all you wrote is true, but I think mastering all kinds of fundamentals is not easy--and they can get harder in big/close games. Rafaela has a terrific arm which we've all seen in action. But tonight he launched a rocket headed for the moon. Gonzalez did not have a tough throw to the pitcher running to 1b, but he too threw way too high. There are just two crucial fundamentals in MLB--pitching and hitting. If you stink at those two, the other fundamentals are of little use in winning games. I thought our pitching was pretty good tonight, but our hitting definitely lagged. It turns out the Sox lead MLB--by a wide margin--in K's with RISP. The Sox had 3 errors tonight and none of them led to an unearned run.

One more time, just for you. The Sox fielding percentage is 98%. The best fielding percentage in MLB is 99%. That 1% difference is almost insignificant. To assess a defense, you have to look at the individual players' DWAR's. Right now Navaez has the highest DWAR among MLB catchers, as do Rafaela in CF and Abreu in RF. Bregman was ranked 3d in DWAR at 3b, and so far Mayer is +0.1 in 8 games. So that's half the Sox defense that's actually pretty competent. Plus I like Story's steadiness (DWAR 0.0) at SS. Even Duran (DWAR -0.1) is not the disaster in LF that Campbell is at 2b and all of our firstbasemen have been. The Sox defense did not cost a run tonight. The only unearned run was in the 10th inning--the ghostrunner at 2b scored.

Amen. Moreover, it is not normal to bring him back to pitch the 10th with the ghostrunner on 2b.