Maxbialystock

Interesting. In April Swihart had 18 at bats and 3 K's and 4 BB's. In April and May Holt had 113 at bats, 21 K's,and 12 BB's. Holt's OPS right now is .664. Swihart's was .669 in April. However, in those 18 at bats Swihart was great against lefty pitchers and terrible against righties--the exact opposite of Holt.

Lineup tonight: Betts, Pedroia, Bogaerts, Ortiz, Ramirez, Shaw, Bradley, Vazquez, and Swihart.

This season has been one surprise after another--not all of them good, but even the bad surprises have had a certain fascination and at least given us a chance to vent. Tonight I suspect we will see Swihart in LF. At the same time, JBJ is near an OPS of 1.000, which tells me Farrell might be tempted to shift things around in the lineup. On the other hand, JBJ has batted in a ton of runs, which says maybe he should stay down around 7th. Shaw, we should note, bats 6th most of the time and also has an OPS over .900. Pedroia and HanRam have OPS's around .820 (below the team average) and bat 2d and 5th. Another chance to see if Buchholz can turn things around the way Price seems to have done. Cleveland this year has good hitting--2d to us in runs--and decent pitching, a little better than ours. They have won 4 in a row. We split with them in April in the cold. The splits on their starter say he pitches better on the road, at night, and against righties.

20-20 hindsight on the "rushed to the Majors" notion. He in fact followed the exact same timeline that Pedroia followed in 2007. Both played 30+ games in Boston in their 23d year and came up as starters in their 24th year. I think you make a solid point that just maybe the exposure in 2014 helped JBJ in the long run. In 2014 I was completely in favor of JBJ as the starting centerfielder because Ellsbury would have been way over-priced. By the end of 2014 I was happy to see Betts in CF and JBJ back at AAA. Last year I was still happy with Betts in CF, but I also thought it made sense to give giving JBJ another shot, which finally took in August. No way, no how did I expect him to have an OPS over .800, let alone over 1.000 which he now threatens to do. His OPS right now--granted, still very early in the season--is better than Ellsbury's in his career year of 2011. Now ain't that a hoot? All in all, a lot of surprises this year, especially among the hitters.

Paul Swydon is an idiot. I have no objection to giving Swihart another shot in Boston, but one certainty at this point is that the Sox don't need his bat at all. They lead MLB in runs and OPS. He had an entire year last year and spring training and a few games, not many, to show he could catch and handle pitchers. I think he was moved to Pawtucket because the collective opinion by Farrell and the FO and the bench coach and the pitching coach was that Swihart was actually bad for the pitching staff. That would also explain why they are giving him LF time in Pawtucket and apparently are calling him back up to replace Holt as the lefty bat in LF (Young being the righty bat) for a few days. He is also catching some games in Pawtucket, so clearly the Sox haven't given up on Swihart as a catcher. At some point it is possible that Swihart could be both a LF and a C in Boston, but meanwhile here is a chance to see him in LF right now. The Bogaerts complaint is spurious. In 2013 the Sox had three SS's--Iglesias, Drew, and Bogaerts. They dumped Iglesias for a pitcher--a clear sign that their long term SS was going to be Bogaerts--and kept Drew at SS and got Bogaerts some at bats at 3B. The next year they did bring Drew back, briefly, and that was obviously very temporary. Drew was, let us also acknowledge, a better fielding SS in 2013 and 2014 than Bogaerts. Last year Bogaerts stayed at SS and clearly improved his fielding over 2013 and 2014, so clearly he was none the worse for his games at 3B. All in all, I think it's obvious the Sox have brought Bogaerts along beautifully.

I have to say, contrarian that I am, that it is astounding to see this thread still on the first page. Why? Because what this team badly needs is pitching, not hitting. The current Sox hitters, without Trout, lead MLB in runs scored and OPS. Why fix something that ain't broke? The rotation, on the other hand, clearly does need help. My guess is that this thread lives because people love fantasy baseball and discussing trades just to discuss them. Thus the term "fantasy."

It occurs to me there might be another reason for giving Swihart time in LF. Assume he is brought up and catches 30% of games as the backup catcher. If he can play LF, he can start or sub there and still be available as the backup catcher. There is still a risk he would get injured in LF and not be available that game to back up the catcher. I agree with everyone that the Sox have had a good look at his catching and found him wanting. However, the scouting report says he can be a good one. Are the Sox scouts stupid?

Youk, apropos your earlier comment on Yankee fans. On BDC we had two. Jeter02 (incomplete name) was anything but obnoxious and had great insights and sometimes even joined game threads. The other was I think pinstripe and sometimes a pain, but mostly not. I agree obnoxious is worth banning, whether a Yankee fan or not.

I have assumed Swihart needed to switch to the outfield, but here is the scouting report on him-- Physical Description: Athletic build, lean muscle, solid core. Has filed out considerably since signing, especially in his lower half, but still has some room for added bulk without losing athleticism. Hit: Switch hitter with fluid, line-drive stroke from both sides. Plus bat speed and bat control through the zone with loud, consistent contact. Uses whole field. Solid pitch recognition, hand-eye coordination, and understanding of the strike zone. Future plus hit tool (.275-.285 average) with average-to-above-average on-base percentage. Battles. Doesn’t use batting gloves. Power: Strong for his size. More to come as he physically matures. More present power from the right side. Squares balls up with consistency. Doesn’t sell out for power. However, plus bat speed, raw strength and hand-eye coordination to square balls up consistently will translate to future average power potential (15-20 home runs). Arm: Plus-to-better arm strength. Accurate thrower. Gets out of his crouch easily. Consistently throws out runners at a high percentage. Field: Consistent sub 2.0 pop times, typically between 1.8-1.9. Athletic behind the plate with quick feet and lateral movements. Frames well, and athleticism provides mobility for excellent blocking skills on balls in the dirt. Future plus defense with plus athleticism. Began getting reps in left field after being optioned back to Pawtucket in April 2016. Run: Average runner, but above-average for catcher. Can go first to third and score from second. Alert on the basepaths with good instincts. Career Notes: Committed to the University of Texas prior to signing. Primarily played shortstop and outfield in high school. Played for Team USA 18-and-Under National Team in 2010. Also played basketball in high school. Summation: Future first-division regular and solid contributor across the board. Potential above-average hit tool and average power potential at a premium defensive position. Athleticism behind the plate immediately stands out. Natural instincts. Confident actions. Elite makeup and strong work ethic. Arguably the best catching prospect in the game right now.

Well stated. I was never a big gun at BDC. Just someone with opinions and a penchant for arguing, and the latter appears to be the difficulty because sometimes I continue the argument--in Young's case it started on the Referendum on Farrell thread--on another thread, this one, which is probably inappropriate. But I tend to think of game threads as pretty free-wheeling. Remember the injunction about not starting a new thread when a current one will suffice. I also found it irresistible to point out that Young hit a dinger off a righty pitcher after he had been universally condemned--not just by a few--as being unable to hit righties. I did so on a game thread in which Farrell was the manager of record and the guy who inserted Young into the lineup against a righty starter.

Another tough game tonight. Price pitching well, rising to the occasion. But offense still a little off--even the dingers were solos.

Well put, even though commenting on someone else's comments is frowned upon.

Sox now need to avoid a sweep by a team that was great last year but going into this series had a losing record.

Sox had 9 hits and 2 runs, KC 5 hits and 2 runs. To me the two key plays were our inability to bring a man home from 3d with no one out and KC's ability to do exactly that.

Brock at least hit a hard grounder.

He's a knuckleballer, so of course there will always be residual concern. But so far this season he has impressed the heck out of me. Right now he is our ace, simple as that. He eats innings and doesn't give up a lot of runs. And he might be giving Hanigan ulcers over all those PB's.

Interesting and productive are obviously in the eye of the beholder, especially when the commentator is a newby. Changing the subject back to the game, I think Wright has pitched a heckuva game despite the early dinger, but he ain't getting much support. I think the key play was earlier when the Sox had one run in, men on 1st and 3d, and nobody out, and Shaw and Rutledge struck out--Shaw looking.

Helluva game. Two great plays by KC to cut our guys down, but especially Bogaerts going to third. In his defense, if he is safe, that fly to left would have scored him.

Let's see if I have this right. I commented on my own statement that Wright looked bad in the 1st inning, which has caused now four different comments discussing, not the game or the action on the field, but me and my comments. And the specific complaint was that I wasn't commenting on the game. Hmmmmm Meanwhile, back to the game: Shaw, Rutledge, and Bradley between them have left 11 guys on base. Also, the Sox overall have struck out 13 times and been walked once.

Agree. I also thought your sarcasm was self-evident and very appropriate. Note that there will never, ever a be a comment from the Farrell-bashers that playing Young today against a righty paid off. Nosiree. The Farrell bashers know for a fact that Farrell does not understand the intricacies of making up a lineup card, who to pinch hit for or with, who to bring in from the bullpen and when, etc.

Man on third with one or no outs, you must make contact but don't need to get a hit. Even a GIDP by Shaw would have been preferable to the K.

Hey, dipstick. Did you notice Wright has now thrown three straight shutout innings? What you don't know about baseball would fill a book.

Wow. Just wow. Man on third with no one out and the 5th and 6th hitters, Shaw and Rutledge, strike out. Shaw struck out looking at a pitch in the middle of the strike zone. Bradley finally hit a grounder to 2B to bring Ortiz home only there were two outs already. At this point Wright should consider calling his lawyer to see what he can get for non-support.

For all those who want to blame this game on Young, I might point out that four other batters have K'd against Kennedy.

It was on another thread, but I could swear someone was assuring me, very recently, that our rotation is fine. We basically don't have a 5th starter. Our ace is a deuce. Buchholz continues to struggle. And now Wright and Porcello are showing feet of clay. Top of the 3d, and we have 1 hit, Young, in for Holt who is in a slump, just struck out on 3 pitches (against a righty of course), followed by a K by Hanigan and another 3-strike K for Betts. Hmmmmm