Maxbialystock

Are you nuts? We're still in August with a lot of baseball ahead. I do think the odds are against the Sox, but it is simply untrue to say, "realistically the season is over." I think the ingredients are on this team to make a run, but only if the hitters hit and the pitchers get guys out. In fact, today's game is a perfect example. The Sox hitters have hit enough to score 7 runs so far, and they still have 2 innings to go. But the pitching gave up 7 runs last night and here in the 8th the Dodgers have the bases loaded with 2 outs and could score another 7 runs--or more. Paxton walked 5 freaking batters and gave up 4 runs in 4.1 innings, and the bullpen--Winck, Bernardino, Whitlock, and now Martin-- has been pretty good until Whitlock came back out to pitch the 8th.

Paxton gave up 5 walks and the 2 run dinger, so maybe he's the real problem today. And, once again, the hitting--so far.

I'm very pro-Cora as you know. But it turns out you're dead right I'm as wrong as I can be. They interviewed Wong and Cora after the game and both blamed his baserunning on Wong. The Sox first base coach was neither mentioned nor interviewed, so clearly he is not expected to keep baserunners (the ones who tarry at first base) informed about game situations. He's there for moral support, talking to the other team's first baseman, looking intelligent, alert, and coach-like, and stuff like that.

I apologize for being strident, but emphatically believe that in that particular situation the first base coach must impress upon the pinch runner to 1) run on anything hit; 2) be cautious at 2b base because Casas was slow and in front of him. It's clear from the game action that Wong knew to run but showed absolutely no hesitation making an aggressive turn at 2b and heading for 3b. So I think it is at least possible nothing was said about the second issue (know where Casas was) or the third (know where the ball went). Or the 4th issue: Devers was on deck, so just getting safely to 2B would load the bases with the Sox best hitter at bat. I hardly need remind you that I've yet to see opposing players on the field who are unwilling to bs with each other between pitches. They all do it--a lot. That being the case, it should not have been difficult for the first base coach to make sure Wong understood the game situation. I grant you it's possible that the first base coach--who had absolutely nothing freaking else to do--did in fact spell everything out for Wong, but I have my doubts. Also this. Secrecy should not have been an issue. If Freeman overheard everything, it would not have helped the Dodgers one iota. Finally this. We all know the players are organized/unionized. Are they ever! My guess is the union would never allow a player to be fined for doing what Wong did. I mention this because you say players must be held accountable when in fact they really can't be.

You're completely wrong about Wong and the first base coach who, if he isn't there to tell Wong, "2 outs, so run on anything hit, but you can't be aggressive past 2b base because Casas is in front of you," should be fired summarily. It's his freaking job to remind players of what they hopefully already know.

True. But I assume that, when he was hired as the Sox CBO (Chief Baseball Officer), Chaim Bloom was told that was one of the conditions of accepting the job. Also, as I keep harping on, the lower payroll (now ranked 15th in MLB) is the first time this has happened in the John Henry era--and probably before then.

When the Sox picked up Kike, they paid good money for him. Same for Turner and Jansen. When the Dodgers took Kike back and then acquired Brasier, both were tremendous bargains because I think the Sox are paying half of Kike's salary with the Dodgers and all of Brasier's. About Kike. When he was with the Sox, I checked on how they did when he played and when he didn't and the winning percentage was about the same. Also, his DWAR with the Sox was +0.3, but his overall WAR was -0.7 because of his weak hitting. All that said, I still think letting Kike go was the right move because the Sox right now have a zillion outfielders, all of whom can hit, and two SS's, Story and Reyes, who both can hit and who both have positive DWAR's. Plus a SS (Marcelo Mayer) stashed at Portland and another (Ceddanne) at Worcester. Both of them could probably switch to the OF if needed. My theory about Kike's sudden hitting resurgence is that he's comfortable with coming back to his old team and with playing 2b and the outfield, etc. It's also possible the Dodgers hitting coach helped him the same way the Dodgers pitching coach helped Brasier.

All good points. The Dodgers have been smarter, I agree, but I do think the higher salaries do help. Thus Mookie for Dugo. Interesting you do not address the 4 points about Kike. You could at least throw them onto the "anomaly junkheap of history."

KIKE AND THE DODGERS I've giving this a title because I think it's instructive, but I'm reluctant to start a new thread. Simply stated, when Kike went to the Dodgers there was universal acclaim on Talksox, including by yours truly. Good riddance for bad rubbish. But four interesting things have happened since Kike switched teams-- 1. In the 26 games which Kike has started with the Dodgers they have won 20 games and lost 6 games--easily their best stretch of this season. If it were possible to connect--and it isn't--those games to Kike's personal WAR (wins above replacement), it would be at least a +10. 2. Kike has played 2b and in the outfield (CF last night) in those 26 games, during which his OPS has been over .800. When he was with the Sox his OPS was .599. 3. Kike's last game with the Sox was July 23, after which they were 53-47. Today the Sox are are 68-61. 4. So, while the Dodgers have going completely ape with Kike, the Sox have gone 15-14 without him. It is therefore unarguable that both the Sox and the Dodgers this season have been better with Kike than without him. The Sox, granted, only very slightly better. But the Dodgers have been a lot better and in fact so has Kike, especially his hitting. Why is that? Simple. The Dodgers are willing (and have been for several years) to pay for their talent. That's how they got Mookie and the Sox lost him. At the time, I was happy with that because I thought Mookie was overpriced. The Sox have gone in the opposite direction and reduced payroll--this year's it's 15th, the lowest ranking in the John Henry. With the lower salaries has come lesser talent and even instability. Here are the Sox regulars (based on games played) from two years ago when Kike joined the Sox: Devers (156 games) JDM (148), Dugo (146), Renfro (144), Bogaerts (144), Vazquez (138), Kike (134), Dalbec (133), Marwin Gonzalez (77), Plawecki (64), Arroyo (48), Cordero (48), and Schwarber (41 games). As you can see, all but 2, Devers and Dugo, are gone with the wind (although Dalbec is at Worcester). I believe all this turnover and the lower payroll are very much the intention of both Chaim Bloom and John Henry--but probably not the desire of Alex Cora. His task, beyond any question, is to manage chaos caused not only by trades, etc but also by all those injuries this year. I think Connor Wong is a smart catcher and a smart player, but last night's boneheaded running play was I think the result of his inexperience and the failure of the first base coach to tell him: "hey, Connor. I know there are 2 outs, but up ahead of you on 2b is slower than molasses Casas. Also, if the ball is hit to RF, Mookie Betts is now there and no way will the 3d base coach let Casas try for home because Mookie has one of the best arms in MLB. Plus, if Verdugo gets a hit, that loads the bases for Devers, who's having a good night. So don't try for 3d base unless you see the ball get by a Dodgers outfielder or you see the 3d base coach signal Casas to head for home."

There might in fact be "no point in guessing how many games a team will win" but it's still kind of irresistable. So I voted for the losing record and am delighted I was/am probably wrong.

I wouldn't have brought Pivetta out for the 7th inning at all because he was so terrible in the 6th. But I also don't like Bernardino, especially not coming in with men on 2d and 3d. To your point, however, Muncy hits righties a whole lot better than lefties, so Bernardino would have a better chance getting him out. All that said, I think your take on the game is excessive. The Dodgers made the two errors and the Sox made none. And I believe very strongly that Cora was right to pull Crawford with 2 on and no one out in the 6th. While I'm willing to grant you Bernardino was a better choice to face Muncy in the 7th, the real issue is that Pivetta stunk tonight and so did Schreiber--and Bernardino was lucky to emerge from 8th unscathed. The two big factors in this game were: 1) the Dodgers pitching was effective when it needed to be because the Sox had 14 hits plus 2 Dodger errors helping them and only scored 4 stinking runs because they were 1 for 8 with RISP; 2) the Sox bullpen also stunk, giving up 4 runs in 4 innings.

Actually, the Sox bullpen has stunk tonight. Bernardino was lucky because he walked a guy and still got two very hard hit line drives that were caught for outs. Pivetta stunk, Bernardino was lucky, and Schreiber has stunk. The Dodgers bullpen has pitched two scoreless innings. The Sox have 13 hits and have scored 4 measly runs. No surprise they are 1 for 8 with RISP.

Maybe, maybe not. He threw 331 pitches this month before tonight. In April he threw 469 pitches, May 445, June 191, and July 429. He threw 74 pitches 5 days ago and 15 two days ago.

Oh, stop it. While he does make some effort to--in today's lingo--"control the strike zone," the fact is that he has often been an excellent bad pitch hitter and recently got a dinger off a pitch well below the strike zone. And on some days, call them bad hair days, I've seen him swing and miss at fastballs right down the freaking middle.

I think Cora was dead right to pull Crawford, but also wrong to live Pivetta in there forfreakingever. In 2 innings he gave up 3 doubles, 2 walks, and a single and did his level best to give the Dodgers this game. Also, yesterday was actually a day off for the bullpen because Bello went 7 and Llovera the other 2.

Oh, come on. He has held Crawford to a max of 90 pitches, and he had 86 and was clearly "done" with two straight hits--hard hit double and hard hit single-- to start off the 6th inning. The problem is Pivetta has been a freaking disaster and is still in there.

I do get apple+, but I also agree with you completely. Unfortunately, you've reminded me of something. The standard line from baseball writers and commentators is that those gargantuan salaries for players are completely affordable because the owners are all billionaires and can afford big salaries. My take is that, while some billionaires may choose that route (see the Mets ownership), others, like John Henry, actually want their teams to show a profit. So, when the salaries go up, and the average MLB salary does increase every freaking year, MLB owners and MLB headquarters feel compelled to increase the cost of watching a game via ticket prices, concessions, parking, and, oh, yes, those people who've already paid for their season tickets via mlb.com/tv. So they just resell a few of those games to Apple and those other guys who took a game--which I couldn't get--a week or two ago. So, don't kid yourself. When the big guys throw the big money around, us little guys get the bill.

I can think of 2 reasons for Yoshida over Abreu. First one is the green monster, which Abreu has never had to contend with before on defense and Yoshida has. The other one is that Yoshida has faced Lynn before, 2 months ago at Fenway when the White Sox came to town. He was hitless, but he has seen Lynn before.

Let's see now. Fangraphs claims to use FIP, "fielding independent pitching," in their fWAR ratings for pitchers. It somehow manages to exclude the unfairly poor fielding of the team a given pitcher belongs to (and suffers from) And everyone on Talksox agrees the Sox fielding this year is execrable and therefore unfairly drags Bello and other Sox pitchers down. So how is it possible that plain old WAR, which unfairly includes the effects of terrible Sox fielding, ranks Bello as the 9th best starter in MLB, and fWAR, which claims to exclude the effects of bad fielding, ranks Bello 59th?

That's actually a perfectly reasonable scenario, especially given that Duran's sore foot coincides with his slump. Abreu looked awful a couple of games ago in RF, and since then his hitting has been great and is defense OK. I do agree 6 outfielders in September would make sense. But here's one I just can't figure out--Garza. He's been on the roster a long time, but he has not in fact thrown a single pitch in a game in over a month!!!!!! His last pitch was in that debacle vs. the Mets on July 22 when he gave up 3 ER's in 0.2 innings. And remember, that is with a manager who will send anybody out to the mound if for no other reason than to confirm his inability to pitch at the MLB level. Thus Garza's outing on July 22. So why oh why is Garza still on the 26 man roster??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously? Are you unaware that Bello is currently the 9th best starter in MLB (according to his WAR rating of +3.5)?

I didn't like Vaz, and I like Wong a whole bunch. Plus I like McGuire as backup. As for Abreu, he's just plain good news so far--and a bonus to go along with getting rid of Vazquez.

Whattalotta. Seriously, I don't care whether you think MLB players should have been getting tons of crucial reps when they were freaking 9-12 years old. In fact, the funny thing is that the players coming from the Caribbean probably do get a ton of reps at an early age. On the other hand, it's just remotely possible that innate ability has something to do with how good a fielder is and how accurate his throws are. I hasten to add that, if a player has that innate ability, the overall baseball system (t ball to little league to high school to college or minor leagues to MLB) as it exists today will give him all the reps and coaching he needs to excel on the diamond. And there's something else we can't ignore. "Good field, no hit" is the usual phrase to describe a baseball player who ain't going to The Show. In other words, if you can hit, you can play. If you can't, you can't. And that's only a slight exaggeration. Right now a player named Marcelo Mayer is "languishing" (I'm exaggerating) at AA Portland, not because he isn't an excellent fielding SS, but because he can't (yet) hit AA pitching.

I agree I'm making a big deal out of it. It was just a foul popup and in fact, had it not been caught, Whitlock might well have gotten that batter out some other way. But it was the 7th inning of a tie ball game against the Astros who dominated the Sox in games 1 and 2. And the Astros were threatening with men on 1st and 2d with just one out. That foul pop was a key opportunity to get an out, but Wong, who is usually on top of things, didn't know where it went. So Whitlock made an extraordinary effort to catch that pop up, which is completely out of character for almost every pitcher in MLB. They all routinely stay away from popups as just not their cup of tea. Let the infield/catcher handle it. I would add that this was a game that had to be won even though the Sox could still founder in their quest to pass the Astros, Jays, and/or Mariners for the 3d wild card slot. This one play demonstrated--to me, anyway--that at least one player on the Sox really cares about winning and had the presence of mind to do exactly the right thing on the spur of the moment. That he is a pitcher is nothing less than extraordinary.

Says the man with 60K posts. Riiiigggghhhhtttt.