Maxbialystock

Ahem. All your uses of the verb "should" suggest you think Cora is a dummy for playing Chavis at 2B. Far from it. He is trying to get the best hitters in the lineup, and right now it's really hard to argue with an infield of Devers, Bogaerts, Chavis, and Moreland. I would further argue I think Chavis is already better at 2b than Nunez, who has a bad glove and is terrible on popups or flies to short RF, where Chavis is pretty darn good. Chavis definitely needs work on turning the DP when he makes the throw to 1b. Devers has made a ton of errors, some of them costly, at 3b, but he's still there because of that bat and the hope he will improve his defense.

Meh. Agree Ellsbury's 2011 was a false high which he never came close to repeating, especially the 32 dingers. And no question JBJ is the better centerfielder. Thus it was a smart move by the Sox not to try to keep Ellsbury and to gamble on JBJ in 2014 even though he bombed. The problem is that JBJ is hugely inconsistent at the plate except for that one great season, 2016. In the three seasons since then, his overall WAR's have gone steadily down--5.5 in 2016, 3.0 in 2017, 2.1 in 2018, and -1.3 so far in 2019. My other point is that I think his defense is not nearly as important as his bat. He has had very few remarkable grabs this year and fewer still--perhaps none-- that made a difference in a game. But he has had many opportunities to contribute at the plate. That said, I trust Cora to use JBJ intelligently and realize that with just 12 position players on the roster he probably should use JBJ most of the time.

Agree he’s a necessary starter, especially when Cora continues to use just 12 position players to ensure bullpen depth. I have no disagreement with his career hitting stats, but any mention of those should be informed by current circumstances, specifically that Sox are below .500 and so is JBJ’s OPS.

JBJ in, Mookie out, no doubt a rest day. 5 lefty bats too.

Let me try that one. In the past 10 years, only one Sox team, 2011, had a losing record after 33 games and finished with a winning record. And, as it turns out, the 2011 team missed the playoffs, finishing 3d in the AL East behind the Yankees and, wait for it, the Rays. I like you am encouraged by recent games, but the Sox did in fact dig themselves into a hole.

I've been thinking the same thing. The recent trend, especially the pitching, has been pretty good, plus the hitting, plus winning some games--and now a stomp them into the ground and leave no prisoners win. Two specifics: the rotation (4, anyway) righting itself; Chavis bring-up and spectacular hitting so far. And here's an admittedly cheap shot. Chavis has played in 14 games, JBJ in 28, but Chavis has 37 total bases to JBJ's 17, 13 rbi's to JBJ's 5, and 12 runs scored to JBJ's 6. It's numbers like these that make me wonder why JBJ is considered to be invaluable because of his defense, which frankly I have not seen make much of a difference. And, in case anyone is wondering, Mookie and Beni both have more total bases, rbi's, and runs than Chavis. I'm not against great defense, but I wonder sometimes whether it can't be over-valued.

Looks as though JBJ is getting some much needed rest.

Not sure which is more amazing, the score or the paucity of comments.

You heard it from Earl Weaver.

Chris freakin' Sale, huh? The guy is a disaster so far this year. On the other hand, I think he is the most professional pitcher I've seen on the Sox in a long time because he takes his job seriously and stays focused. He fields his position well and never forgets to cover 1b on a grounder to the right side. He doesn't shake off pitches because he wants to stay focused on execution, not on analyzing the batter or the catcher's signals or whatever.

I agree the error was a big deal, but absolutely do not agree it's time to replace Brasier. He has thrown 210 pitches or so, and made that one big mistake. Devers has had 103 total chances and has 9 errors. Besides, Cora has already used Brasier in non-save situations, and Barnes has 2 saves. So the point about who is the closer is moot. FWIW, I like Brasier a whole lot more than the guy we had last year. I think he had a beard, and he did his level best to sabotage the Sox in the postseason, but now wants to be paid a king's ransom.

Game ran too late, so I went to bed with the Sox up 4-3. But I saw the replays of the error and the dinger that killed us. The error was huge although I agree with Jung's thoughts on Devers. Brasier to me is still a better closer than Kimbrel. Better stuff, better control, better attitude about being used early, etc. Kimbrel is a prima donna, which is why no one else has signed him.

Time, finally, to win 4 in a row. I take nothing for granted, but also like the way the pitching and hitting are trending. Who woulda thunk that wiping out our three secondbasemen would help the hitting--signficantly? Or that Vazquez would be hitting before JBJ? As I recall, both hired coaches to work on their swings in the offseason. Last time out Price was effective with basically a slider and a fast ball, but threw very few changeups.

Stunning. Only you can do a laydown like that. Those guys in Moneyball got nothing on you. I don't think Beni has the arm for RF,which is why Cora puts JDM there--despite the risks. Better still--find another outfielder.

But let's not forget that I also think his defense hasn't done much good so far. I can name two specific examples of not so great plays and a third one, an error. But no one has come forward with examples of great catches he has made this season.

Another very nice win. Well done, Station 13. Sox temporarily--pending the Yankees game and the Rays 2d game today--4 back of the Rays and 2 back of the Yankees. On to Chicago!

We all know you are kidding, but still--one would be hard-pressed right now to argue that switching Leon in for Swihart has made things worse. Also, I trust Cora's judgment, and last year he absolutely refused to start Swihart at catcher until one of the two regulars went on the DL. We know he's the best athlete of the three, and we think he is probably the best hitter. But those doubts about his catching, handling of pitchers, etc just linger on.

Actually, I have already said I am fine with whatever Cora decides to do, and right now, with the dearth of outfielders, keeping JBJ in CF is a no-brainer. So I completely agree with Notin's point--JBJ is one of the 9 best Cora can field right now. Yes, I did defend Farrell--a lot--but did so on general principles because there were also times when I was on the Fire Him Now bandwagon. I frankly don't think managers make that much difference even though I was stunned by how effective Cora was last year. He may be young, but he sure seems to know what he is doing--the ST notwithstanding. But you are dead on target that I like to argue points, not all the time, but some of the time. In the case of JBJ, everyone seems to ignore my point that so far this season JBJ is not that much a plus factor in center field. So I hereby invite one and all to cite particularly great catches which also affected game outcomes this year. I have mentioned a couple which I think he botched.

Congrats to Station 13 for the first two wins. Velazquez is scary, but Fiers, despite going 6 (with no runs) against us a month ago, is up and down. Thus an ERA of 7. Velazquez ERA is 3.86, but walked 2 of 2 batters two days ago and gave up 3 in 3.1 innings to Detroit a week ago. He has yet to pitch more than 3.1 innings, so the bullpen needs to be ready. Beni LF Betts RF JDM DH Devers 3B Chavis 2B Moreland 1B Vazquez C JBJ CF Lin SS So Bogie gets a rest and Cora goes with five lefty bats, 2 of which are very suspect. Devers and Chavis are hitting 4th and 5th. A month ago when Fiers shut the Sox down, same lineup except Lin for Bogie and Chavis for Holt.

For all you defenders of great defense, consider these simple numbers. So far JBJ has played in 25 games and has 75 at bats and 50 total chances in the field. So it sure looks as though his fielding prowess really comes into play even though he is only one of nine on the field as well as one of nine in the batting order. But consider. His fielding percentage is .980, which is pretty normal for any outfielder. In other words, most of the time almost any middle of the pack centerfielder could handle that position because the plays are pretty routine, hence the high fielding percentage. My guess--only that--is that so far he has had at the most 5 opportunities to do something spectacular--or not. It's those 5 chances--assuming I'm right--that make him worth $8.5M this year. Actually that's $1.57M because the Sox have only played 30/162 so far this season. Thus my claim that he has already blown two of those opportunities gains in significance, and I haven't even counted the error he made. Interestingly, on the hitting side nobody bats .980. Nosiree. Thus the valid comment by Kevin Costner in Bull Durham when he says that the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is one hit per week. So in fact hits are far more precious than catches because they are so much harder to come by. And don't forget my other comment on this thread that the real key to a solid defense is a solid pitching staff. All of which gets me back to JBJ. Statistically, I just don't see his immense value to this team even though I am in fact more comfortable when he is out there and do enjoy those occasions when he does something spectacular.

Fine. Forget his hitting. Now please tell me what games he has helped win because of great plays he made in the field. And don't forget to subtract the games when he let runs in by not making great plays.

Actually, my animus comes from two sources. Only one is his hitting. The other is I don't think he is giving it his all in the field the way he once did. There was that infamous very catchable fly that dropped in for a double earlier in the season. More recently, in Sale's latest start, he didn't get to a catchable triple in CF because he jumped too soon and too far away from the wall. This from a guy who has been playing there since 2013 and as a starter since 2014. I think he has a strong arm, but not an accurate one. So, frankly, I just don't think he's quite the one of a kind CF his supporters say he is. I think he's closer to the middle of the pack than one of the defensive leaders. And this. We all agree the pitching--mostly the rotation, but sometimes the bullpen too--has stunk this year. But the JBJ supporters have said repeatedly in the past that a great centerfielder makes a huge difference to the defense. And I'm saying categorically that a great centerfielder can sometimes make a difference, but most of the time the defense begins and ends with that guy on the mound. In other words, JBJ hasn't helped very much--and may have hurt if my examples are valid--with our pitching problem. Also in other words, he needs to start hitting to justify being in the lineup. Of course, right now JBJ benefits from a dearth of available outfielders, mostly because Holt is on the DL and Cora is reluctant to use JDM out there too often.

Nothing irrational about my displeasure with JBJ these days. On that other website someone started a thread that compared JBJ to Ellsbury (I think) every single day to show that it actually turned out to be a very smart move to let Ellsbury (a Sox fan favorite when he was healthy) go to the Yankees. I was supportive of that thread and reveled in JBJ's day to day successes. And, like anyone with any sense, I was hugely supportive of JBJ in by far his best season of 2016 when he hit well and fielded very well. Finally, finally, it seemed, he was over the humoungous "good field, no hit" hump. But over time that hump keeps reappearing, so much so that the manager has to keep dropping him down in the lineup. At the same time, and especially this year, it seems to me that JBJ isn't working as many fielding miracles as he did earlier. So, me, I'm just getting a little tired of all JBJ's supporters assuring me everything is fine with our superstar centerfielder who, for example, was the key to taking three at Tampa this very month. Offense vs. defense. I love great defense because it is the poetry of baseball, far more so than dingers. On the other hand, I also believe that the key to great defense is that guy on the mound, not the 8 other guys on the field with him. This is especially true when you realize that most MLB players are decent on defense. To me what makes baseball so unique is that its central act is the confrontation between pitcher and batter, and that is basically where owners and GM's invest--hit hitting and pitching.

Hey, one of the ESPN announcers said earlier in the game that JBJ told him that he could throw the ball 400 feet and it's that just wonderful? No requirement that he throw it accurately or get anyone out. Heck, no requirement that he even throw the durn thing 400 feet. But he can do it. That was a perfect rally in the 3d vs. Oakland. Sox brought in 6 runs and the inning began and ended on outs by the one and only superstar, JBJ himself. But can throw the ball 400 feet. My goodness isnt't he great?

I didn't watch when will feel back by 4, but did check the box and came back with 2 on and 1 out and stuck around.