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Maxbialystock

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Everything posted by Maxbialystock

  1. Maxbialystock
    I'm one of six siblings. By far our smartest is my sister who was a phi betta kapa in math before she went to med school (UVA) and residency (NYC) and became a doctor. She lived in Germany for 4 years as a kid (ages 5-8 and 9-10). She took German in college. She passed a German language exam as a requirement for her medical degree. When she went back to Germany with her husband (an Army guy), she could not speak German. Her husband knew a lot less than she, but he was fearless. So whenever they want to a store where no one spoke English, he did the talking, sort of. She would then tell him what the storekeeper had said, and he would say or ask something further. Given our population, I should have learned Spanish, but did not. One son's not bad at it. One daughter is fluent and was in the Peace Corps in Bolivia. Another son is fairly fluent in German aber das ist alles. I think we Americans are spoiled because people from so many other countries have learned English. It's closest to a universal language.
  2. Maxbialystock
    Indeed. I would have been thrilled with a 6-1 win. The last time, May 24, the Sox won like this they nosedived and went 3 and 8 in the next 11 games. Tomorrow it's Buehler and his 6.29 ERA vs. lefty Lauer and his 2.29 ERA. Not very promising.
  3. Maxbialystock
    I still don't like him, but you are dead right. He is now a pretty reliable 3d starter.
  4. Maxbialystock
    SF is a fresh start with a team and city who seem to have embraced him. So of course he wants to be grateful and do anything to get wins. But my guess is that right now they really just need his bat--just like the Sox. I tend to defend Raffy because he was a terrific DH this season when the Sox needed him to be and because he was lied to about staying at 3b. I defend Cora because he persuaded Raffy to embrace DH and didn't ask him to play 1b. And I defend Breslow for acquiring Bregman (and Narvaez, Chapman, and Crochet). I think he wronged Raffy, but I think the last thing a CBO needs to be is a buddy to the players. Also, as you pointed out, once 1b opened up, moving Devers to 1b made financial sense because Yoshida can only DH this season. His job is to hire, fire, negotiate contracts, be responsive to JH and any others over him, and to communicate effectively with his manager. All those jobs are daunting, so it makes sense to let the manager talk to the players.
  5. Maxbialystock
    You know the Sox must be winning whenever the game thread is short. Ho hum.
  6. Maxbialystock
    Those swing or checked swing calls are tough calls and consequently can be inconsistent. But what I love about them is that they are not reviewable.
  7. Maxbialystock
    Abreu golfed that low curve into the RF stands. That's pretty good against any pitcher. Bassitt is 7-3 with 17 starts, 94.1 (now 96.1) IP, 93 K's, and an ERA for 4.11. Oh, and he's 36.
  8. Maxbialystock
    Let me see now. The Sox are up 6 -0 and Cora should get all the credit because he made up the batting order and sent Giolito to the mound. This game does not, however, compensate for all those lousy lineups Cora put together, to say nothing of the zillions of wrong pitchers he sent in plus his consummate failure to leave starters on the mound for at least 120 pitches.
  9. Maxbialystock
    I like your posts too much to disagree further. I'm going to learn Japanese or get an interpreter to write a letter to Ohtani to tell him to get off his freaking ass. I can skip Spanish. Raffy is now the Giants responsibility.
  10. Maxbialystock
    Those big contracts say nothing about learning English. Plus with all that dough Raffy and Ohtani can afford interpreters. I've lived in Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. I did OK in German and was not bad in French (high school and college), but failed utterly with Italian, Korean, and Arabic. What experience do you have with foreign languages in foreign lands?
  11. Maxbialystock
    Absolutely fascinating. Well done. But I have my doubts about Murphy @$15m/season as a backup catcher. Also about Atlanta in any way needing Story.
  12. Maxbialystock
    You're probably right, but not if the quad thing returns. Except for that, Bregman is perfect for the Sox.
  13. Maxbialystock
    Cora's job is to do the best with what he's got. Once Bregman was announced as third baseman, DH made a ton of sense for Raffy, and so it proved. He never missed a game as DH, led the team in rbi's, and was having a career year at the plate. If you are the manager, there is no way you want to move Raffy to 1b. Breslow's job is to get good players and manage the payroll. For him moving to Devers to 1b made all kinds of sense because spending $48.6M for the DH was nuts. So he bypassed Cora, got a negative response, brought in his bosses to magnify the issue, and proceeded to find a deal to dump Raffy and his huge salary. I don't think Cora or Breslow was "culpable." Both were doing their jobs. Plus to me this little caper has been subsumed by the Sox gigantic IL, the absence of Bregman from the lineup, playing 4 rookies, and having a pitching staff in utter disarray.
  14. Maxbialystock
    Actually, I think the real issue is that Cora is responsible for winning games and Breslow for managing a payroll. So Cora was absolutely, positively right to convince Raffy to embrace DH, which was perfect for a good hit no field guy. A bonus was that as DH Raffy never missed a game. Plus he and Bregman, batting 2d and 3d, were a great combo. Plus Casas was at 1b. As you pointed out, Breslow couldn't live with paying two guys, Raffy and Yoshida, $30M and $18.6, to be the DH. So Casas--who was having a rotten season at bat--going on the IL was the perfect opportunity to move Raffy to 1b so that Yoshida could DH. What I find tiresome about this discussion is that it ignores 2 far greater calamities. The first is the IL list which includes Bregman and a bunch of pitchers. The Sox overall payroll is $192M, but the active payroll is just $105M. The second is that the Sox pitching has gone south. Finally, I have to repeat that I believe Devers was on his way out the day that Bregman was announced as the Sox third baseman.
  15. Maxbialystock
    I would add three more factors in defense of Breslow. The first is that right now the Sox active payroll is $105M because the rest of their $192M payroll (12th in MLB) is on the IL or simply no longer playing (Pedroia, et al). Bregman and a bunch of pitchers are on the IL. The second is that firing DD and hiring Chaim Bloom were the direct result of JH's revised and somewhat negative attitude toward the Sox payroll--and that still impinges on this team. DD had the largest payroll in MLB to work with. Breslow's is 12th largest. The third is that this team is infested with rookies. All 4 of them have been or are regulars. One is an excellent catcher. One is back in Worcester. And the other two are regulars who are still adjusting to MLB pitching.
  16. Maxbialystock
    Good stuff. I think almost every MLB front office is smart. The Sox overlooked--or ignored--Devers sensitivity because they were focused on getting what turned out to be a franchise-altering player. For the Sox he's been terrific at bat, on defense, and in the locker room. Devers is good at bat, period, which means he is overpaid. For that matter, right now so is Bregman with his bad quad(s). I think another part of the Sox considerations had to be that Campbell, Mayer, and Anthony were all likely to make it to Boston this season. Plus they assumed Casas would have another good season at bat. Raffy doesn't pitch, and the Sox biggest problem right now is pitching.
  17. Maxbialystock
    The Sox without Devers hurts, I agree, but that's primarily because Bregman went on the IL 24 May and won't return until after the ASG. Casas is also on the IL and Duran is struggling. Oh, and the Sox have started four rookies this season. Narvaez has been terrific, but Campbell is back in Worcester and Mayer and Anthony are still adjusting to MLB. All that said, the bigger problem is pitching--and that's irrefutable. Devers doesn't pitch. Devers was on his way out the day Bregman was announced as the Sox third baseman. Credit Cora for getting Raffy to embrace DH, which worked great. But if you're Breslow you can't afford to pay Raffy $30M and Yoshida another $18.6M when all he can do is DH.
  18. Maxbialystock
    He probably did. The difference between this team and those is that this team picked up 4 excellent players--Bregman, Crochet, Chapman, and Narvaez--in the offseason and seemed headed in the right direction. Plus Campbell, Mayer, and Anthony all looked like they were ready to contribute. But a lot has happened in the first 3 months: Devers traded. $103M of the $192M payroll is on the IL, including Bregman our MVP. The bullpen has collapsed. The rotation still has Crochet, Bello, and Giolito, but Crochet is way more reliable and pitches way more innings. Campbell sent back to Worcester to work on hitting and defense. Mayer and Anthony both show great promise, but haven't yet delivered.
  19. Maxbialystock
    Nope. But I sure like yours, if only because they show how difficult this business is.
  20. Maxbialystock
    Too true. spotrac says the Sox payroll for active players is $105M. Another $73M is on the IL and about $14M is for players not on the roster--like Pedey.
  21. Maxbialystock
    Catching is way more demanding physically than any other position except pitcher, and teams carry 13 pitchers but just 2 catchers. I think the ideal is maybe catching 2/3 of the games although 3/4 is possible. Right now Narvaez is at 2/3. Last year Connor Wong caught 99/162, 61%. Here's something else. None of the top 15 defensive catchers in MLB has caught more than 2/3 of his team's games.
  22. Maxbialystock
    Attendance 35,719--3000 the Fenway average for this season. What a disaster for all those paying customers. The Sox have scored a measly, no good, lowdown rotten 16 runs in these 6 straight losses. Of course, they're missing Bregman, Raffy, Casas, and the good Duran of 2024. And Cora has started 4 rookies (Narvaez, Campbell, Mayer, and Anthony) this season. In the Sox 6 straight wins which ended just 10 days ago, the Sox scored 1 more run, a total of 17, than they scored in the 6 losses. And Devers played in all 6 of those wins. I n the current 6 losses, the Sox pitching has given up 38 runs. In the 6 straight wins, they have up 8 runs total. I hasten to add that Crochet, Chapman, Bello, and Giolito were all good to superb in both series. Can their be any doubt that bigger problem is with the pitching?
  23. Maxbialystock
    Evanescent.
  24. Maxbialystock
    What happened is that the Sox went without both Raffy and Bregman. Raffy's OPS has dropped 100 pts since Bregman went on the Il.. Also, if Devers is the key to winning, why are the Giants, with better pitching, 3-6 since Devers joined them? Tonight, the hitting is bad and the pitching not much better--except for Bello. Story is such a sucker for that outside the zone slider/curve/slurve/whatever.
  25. Maxbialystock
    Batters get away with so much crap. The third pitch was outside the zone, but the first pitch was well inside, and he shook his head to signify "bad call." Bases loaded and the first two pitches are way outside.
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