Maxbialystock

This is still a pretty good thread now on page 37, but I gotta say I'm surprised at the number of people who say we can fix the hitting by dumping Pablo. What's to dump? The guy has played in just 30 of 69 games to date, what with injuries and other things. And of those 30 games at least a couple were as DH. I am as anti-Sandoval as the next guy, but he is a significant investment, he's still only 30, he was pretty good on the West Coast, and just maybe he needs more at bats. Meanwhile Farrell has other remedies--Marrero, Rutledge, et al. This current road trip has me thinking that Kimmi just might be right, that this lineup absent Ortiz just might be able to repair itself. I mean, was that great last night when Betts, Pedey, and Bogie came out swinging or was that great? To hell with Bill James and the philosophy of "take as many pitches as possible." The guy who pisses me off is Hanley. He basically no longer has to play 1B, but his hitting is down and his baserunning is getting worse and worse. When he is at bat, he looks like a guy trying to get exercise as much as someone trying to make solid contact with the ball. For all of his apparent flakiness in the field, Manny Ramirez was a focused pro at the plate who knew what to look for and what to do about it. HanRam looks borderline oblivious at the plate. What did John Daly say? Grip it and rip it? I think he is hitting some especially long dingers this year, apparently in the belief that you get double credit for any that go 425 feet or more. Meanwhile, there's a bunch of guys who have their ups and downs but overall are pretty darn good (but could be better of course): Betts, Pedey, Bogie, Beni, Moreland, JBJ, and now and then Leon or Vazquez. I can live with one problem at 3b but not with a second problem at DH.

Fine. Try this. Right now the rotation sucks and the bullpen is saving our asses. Or this. We lost three straight to the Guardians in the ALDS last year because Price and Porcello gave the first two games away and Buchholz wasn't much better. But we got to the ALDS in September because the bullpen was great time and time again. I'll tell you why I don't buy that bs about all the advantages the bullpen has. When they come out there, they must deliver from the first pitch. Starters get to make mistakes and especially have bad first innings because we all accept that and hope that in the 2d or 3d inning they will "hit their stride." Sometimes relievers are sent out there with the bases loaded, but starters only encounter that by loading the bases all by themselves. Lots of lefties are sent out to get just one guy out. If you told a starter to do that, he would laugh in your face. Starters get all the money because they have great stuff and the good ones can regularly go 7 and 8 innings--good innings--but they only have to do that every five games or days. I think the hardest thing for a starter--and it is hard--is going thru the lineup 2, 3, and even 4 times. Relievers rarely have to do that.

Tonight is the Sox 14th straight game without a break, so the bullpen has been huge. Sox are 10-7 in June, and 12 of those 17 games were on the road. Older fans will remember the expression "june swoon" was regularly used to describe our season. Heck, I think you can say that about last year. But something seems to be happening to the team as whole. They are finding ways to win, even on the road. I'm anti-Pomeranz, but he won one game in June, lost another, and pitched well enough to win in his 3d game, a game we won, 2-1, after he left. Pomeranz is almost compensating for the wreck Porcello has become, largely because of control issues. Sale is back. Price is almost back but doesn't quite command his breaking stuff. And somehow Johnson/Velazquez/whoever are adequate for the 5 slot. ERod should return in our lifetimes, like after the All-Star break. Hitting is still well below John Henry era norms, but it is coming back enough to justify kimmi and others' optimism. Infield lacks range on defense, and the outfield is the opposite--not only excellent range, but good, accurate arms. 12 games to 81 and more than that to the All-Star game. Indeed, the last 10 games before the ASG are all on the road. If the current trend holds up, the bullpen should get most of the credit. In the game thread on the 2-1 win over Houston, I remember writing that I was pleased with how things were going even though it was a 0-0 game. I liked how Pom was pitching, but I also liked that Sox hitters with RISP at least hit the ball hard even though it was right to someone. Last night Betts, Pedroia, and Bogaerts came out swinging and not trying to get a walk and all three hit the ball hard, but only Bogie hit it out.

Huge win on the road against the best W-L record in the AL. Gave us a 2-1 series win and a semi-tie with the Yankees for 1st in the AL East. Price had real trouble commanding his breaking stuff, especially his changeup, but he still held a good Astros lineup to 3 runs in 5+ innings. I read the complaints about sending Price back out for the 6th, and I personally would probably not have. But this was the 13th consecutive game for the Sox without a break and included a ton of innings, including two extra inning games in Philly, by the bullpen. Price had already gotten Marisnick out twice, including a K, so it was not unreasonable to bring Price back out. And did no one else that the guy, Hembree, who replaced Price, also gave up a dinger? Huge night for Bogie. Huge. Great throw by Beni. This lineup clearly misses Ortiz, but kimmi could be right that they still have potential, which is what we saw last night. Moreland has recently been hot, but last night he struck out 4 times in the cleanup slot, and the Sox still scored 6 runs, twice as many as in their first two games in Houston combined.

another line drive right to someone.

Price has shown a lot of grit getting thru 4 innings with just 1 run. Good for him. Gotta root for a guy who is really working hard. Plus the opposing pitcher got some real breaks on hard hit balls by us.

Price has a changeup, he just can't throw one for a strike.

On the other hand, Vazquez looked awful on that at bat. All three of those strikes were hittable.

I have no idea whose idea it was, but I have to say I love how aggressive Betts, Pedey, and Bogie were in the first inning. Screw Bill James.

Wow. JBJ strikes out on 3 pitches swinging at all three and not able to even get a foul--foul tip, yes.

I will give Price credit. He's throwing a lot of fastballs, but he is going for the corners, plus getting swings on high ones out of the zone. I think he threw 1 of 18 pitches as a changeup, but it was outside and a ball. So far the ump is giving him the corners and the fringes of the strike zone. Those two ground ball singles to Bogie and Pedey were definitely fieldable. Musgrove has a pretty decent sinker, and that might be all he needs if he can keep it low and near or in the strike zone. Beni's single came on a sinker near the middle of the strike zone.

Price loves his fastball. Boy, does he love it. Problem is, so do opposing hitters.

Why do you have the sound on? I rarely do.

It worked! First three guys blasted the ball, but only Bogie of all people got the dinger in straightaway CF. Is that how it should be done? You ask them nicely? Goodness gracious.

Well, that's certainly the question.

There is absolutely zero correlation between the way Pablo is playing and the Sox are playing. Pablo is either the worst or second worst position player in MLB based on his WAR rating. A Sox team made up of similar quality players would be playing at a .300 clip, Farrell and DD would be gone, and John Henry would never go to a game at Fenway. There would be riots in Boston, cats living with dogs, and other disasters. No one would care about global warming.

Hah! emp9 and kimmi fire back with upbeat assessments. I love it. I completely agree Sandoval is almost irrelevant to the success or failure of the Sox this year. For evidence, I cite the simple but crucial fact that so far he has played in 30 games--less than half of the 68 the Sox have played. So already the Sox are looking at options--Marrero, Rutledge, et al, to say nothing of Devers at AA Portland. So it's clear to me anyway the Sox really don't need Pablo or a rental to succeed this year. Meanwhile, he is still an investment of significant dollars, one who played well at San Francisco, has lost some weight, and is still just 30. He basically didn't play last year and missed a lot of games this year, so maybe he just needs more time. Right now he has zero trade value, which means the Sox will be paying 100% of the freight for whatever train picks him up. That's why he still plays even though time is clearly running out. I say all that because I don't think Pablo is the problem. Hanley is. This year all the Sox need is his bat--as DH, no less--and to date he has the 9th best--tied with Young, who has played in 14 fewer games--OWAR (offensive wins above replacement) on the Sox. Last year he was 5th best on the team at 3.3, and right now he is at 0.2.

Exactly. Baseball is that one sport that depends so heavily on what players, especially hitters and pitchers--and that's just about everybody--do as individuals. Porcello gets the ball at the beginning of the game, and it's almost entirely on him. The defense can help--and did last night. The catcher last night was our best defensive catcher, Leon. The only weapon Farrell had left was the bullpen, but those 6 Astro runs in the first three innings and the paucity of Sox hitting took that weapon away. What I'm reading says that everybody knows what Porcello's problem is. He is keeping every pitch up in the strike zone. The pitching coach is reportedly working with him, but so far to no avail. He still has the same repertoire that worked so well last year, but lacks command, and we have seen enough pitchers like that to know it can be disastrous--see some outings this year by Pomeranz and Price. The manager is equally helpless when a hitter goes into a slump, for which remedies include days off, extra batting practice, more attention from the hitting coach--none of which will work until the hitter somehow finds his swing again. This year see Beni, JBJ,and others, but especially Pablo. The nature of MLB today is such that every single swing by a hitter and pitch by a pitcher is recorded and scrutinized to the nth degree. Hell, espn, fox, and other networks can do some of that analysis themselves--and do, with stop-action video to make the point stronger. To me the manager has one really good weapon at his disposal, his bullpen, and even the bullpen depends heavily on individual performance over which the manager and pitching coach can have only a small effect. He also probably needs to keep his players in the right frame of mind. I'm guessing here, but I think relaxed and very focused on what's happening are about right. I think the Cubs manager probably does that well and this definitely helped last year when they won it all and broke an incredibly long no world series streak. But guess what? This year so far that exact same team has a losing record to date, so what the hell do I know?

In one sense, this was an almost ideal kind of "waste not, want not" kind of game. Porcello did not waste a great return to cy young form start on a night when the Sox weren't hitting, and the Sox didn't score 4 or 5 runs on a night when Porcello was once again a disaster. On the other hand, Porcello clearly showed he has lost command of his repertoire. As everyone now knows, he keeps everything up in the strike zone while other pitchers with lesser stuff but better control thrive on simply keeping the ball low, lower, and lowest. And the hitting remains troublesome, obviously. No wonder the Sox are mired 1 game back of the Yankees for 1st place in the AL East.

Hitting ain't great, but this team is working at being what Kimmi says they can be. Last night was a terrific win. Unfair of me, but I like not seeing Hanley or Pablo in the lineup. Again.

Killer combo with moonslav inside and spudboy outside

Here's an interesting question. Today is June 17. Which five Sox relievers have higher WAR (wins above replacement) ratings than Porcello, last year's Cy Young winner, and Price, our $210M starter? Answer: Kimbrel, Kelly, Barnes, Scott, and Abad. I might add that all but Barnes also have lower ERA's than our ace and very possible Cy Young this year, Chris Sale, whose ERA is 2.82, well below all our other starters.

Right now he has the 3d highest OWAR and 2d highest DWAR on the team. In both cases, he is right behind Betts. Anybody on this team can slump--and has--but JBJ this year seems to be steadily improving, April to May to June, so I think we may be seeing the next chapter in the JBJ book. I like him in the lower part of the batting order even though Hanley sucks so far. And I think that lefty bat is really handy especially when he seems now to also be able to hit lefty pitchers. We have a basketful of midgets in the outfield, and they just might be the best in MLB, hitting and fielding. Beni is by far the weakest link, which is saying a lot about the other two.

This is a really dumb thread. Who cares about a bunch of stiffs who normally don't even sit in the dugout? We need a Benintendi thread or a 3b thread or a JBJ thread. You know, something with real importance. That said, right now and for most of this season the bullpen has been saving our ass. This is the first season in the John Henry era when the Sox have played competitive ball--3d best W-L record in the AL and 5th best in MLB--with for them weak hitting.

Now on our 34th page of a thread dedicated to 3b. Hitting, a far more important topic, only has 32 pages. Plus we keep repeating ourselves, and I'm as guilty as anyone. I despise Pablo precisely because he is lousy at bat and at 3b. But I also agree with Kimmi that the FO--meaning Farrell and DD--should probably keep him awhile longer because of the money, because he was pretty decent with the Giants, because he did finally lose some weight, and because he's still only 30 years old. Devers doing so well at Portland means help is just around the corner. And right now the Sox are just 1 game behind the Yankees and have the 3d best winning percentage in the AL. So me, I say getting a rental or whatever is not yet the right move. Hell, I could live with Rutledge