moonslav59

Both of our catchers are works in progress. It's a 21 game sample size. No definitive judgments should be made on that.

Playing way less games vs our own division should increase the chances of the ALE last place team to break that record. All ALE teams cannot make the playoffs, so we will have to pass at least one ALE team to make the show. It won't be easy, since 4 of the top 5 AL teams are from the ALE. Not even harmony has anything to say about the near complete ALE dominancy. The 4th place teams are 12-8. That's on pace for 108-54 records! 4 teams on pace for 108+ win seasons! All this being said, I still like our chances. I'm sticking to my belief that our SP'ing is not nearly as bad as it has looked. The rotation has already started to look better, and there is room for more, as well as chances that guys like Paxton, Mata or Walter, and of course Crawford might infuse some pluses, when needed. Since April 4th, some ERAs are not great, or even good, but some are vast improvements on what they were over the first 14 days of the season: 1.26 Crawford 2.03 Winckowski (not a starter but is 5th in IP over the last 14 days) 3.94 Houck (3.40 last 14 days) 4.43 Pivetta (just one bad start, all year) 4.50 Whitlock (showing great signs he is back from his injury) 5.40 Sale (needs some back-to-back good outings, starting now.) (7.36 Kluber is "weak link" that may need replacing after a few more starts.)

Develop not draft. Steal from other teams not draft.

Bleis

Whitlock

I'm still hoping they move Yoshida to the lead-off slot. Maybe it gets him thinking "get on base" not "hit a double." Devers second. Dugo fourth. The rest seems to be interchangeable. Kike seems to be warming up, so maybe.... vs RHP L Yoshida LF L Devers 3B R Turner DH L Dugo RF R Kike 2B L Casas 1B L Duran CF L McGuire C R Chang SS

1. Dugo RF 2. Devers 3B 3. Turner DH 4. Yoshida LF 5. Kike 2B 6. Casas 1B 7. McGuire C 8. Duran CF 9. Chang SS

Yes. Winner keeps it going.

McGuire starting, tonight. (I don't see a game thread.)

No name calling.

The rotation has gotten a lot of attention, too, as has SS, 2B and CF. Maybe the position most underrepresented, in terms of it being a very high need area is maybe 1B. We have sucked at 1B for way too long.

LOL. Nobody needs my permission to think or talk about anything they want and for as long as they want. They can also feel free to tell me they think I'm focusing on one area too much, too, and I think they have a few times.

I do agree that a catcher has more to do with wins than 2B. I also think the fact that only Wong has caught Houck and Whitlock, any numbers will be skewed. Let's see how all these numbers pan out over a full season.

I think pretty much everyone agrees. I would like to know, for a fact, what the lowest price Bogey would have accepted and when that was. I think this matters when trying to retroactively assign blame (not that you are doing so, here.) We may never know for sure what that number might have been, and even if Bogey ever discloses that amount, I'm not sure we can be certain, anyway. If the number was $160M/6, or $180M/7 or even $200M/8, I think most of us would think we missed a chance to keep Bogey at a reasonable cost, but again, we just don't know. The other thing is that while Bogey seems to be earning way more than $200M/8, when 8 years have passed, we may hold a different opinion. I wish we could have found a way to keep him. I wish we would have gotten more for him, once we knew we were going to lose him. (I'm thinking they must have known, but that's speculation, too.)

Then, how do we understand this? 8-7 w Arroyo 2-3 w others

It seems like Kluber starts out games doing okay, but then loses it after a coupe innings. (Note: some of these games, he allowed too many base-runners early, but they just didn't score.) Game 1: 3 IP 1 ER, then in the 4th- BB & HR. He loads the bases and is pulled. Kelly allows 2 of his runners to score. Game 2: 5 IP 1 ER (4H & 2BB w 7Ks vs PIT) Game 3: 4.1 IP w 0 ER, then he allows a run and leaves with 2 out and 2 on. Bleier allows both to score and then some. (vs Rays) Game 4: He lets up 3 in the first (BB, 2B, HR) then 4 in the 3rd (BB, HBP, 1B, HR)

The worst carry-over name is "The Utah Jazz," although the "LA Lakers" is puzzling.

It's not all that risky. You just lose the DH, if you are forced to or choose to move the DH to a position.

Indeed. People can also talk about why certain areas are talked about more than others, and that we feel the other areas are more pressing and deserving of discussion.

I have no issues with choosing Wong over McGuire. I had hopes McGuire would be the 60-70% catcher, but if Wong keeps getting better results, he should start more. Right from the start, I was okay with us not adding a catcher over the winter. Other areas still look like higher need areas, to me. I'm not sure why we seem to be spending more time, rcently, on catchers and not 1B, middle IF and the rotation.

Here are the Sox current fWAR team rankings by position: 3rd CF +1.3 (thanks to Duvall's start) 6th 3B +1.0 6th RF +1.0 11 Catcher 0.5 18 LF +0.2 22 SS -0.1 24 2B-0.3 25 DH -0.2 27 1B -0.4 _______________ 12 RP +0.7 26 Pitching +0.5 28 SP -0.2

I'm not sure Nomar was ever elite. I agree on Lugo. He declined after the knee injury (last 3 years of 4 years) Bogey is not above average on D in my book. He is among the bottom 2-3 on DRA and near average on UZR/150. The Fielding Bible never liked Bogey. Scutaro was not good. Renteria was good, but played hurt, for us. As things turned out, due sometimes to injury, 6 of our top 7 SSs by innings since 2001, were not plus on DRS and UZR/150. 4 of 7 were negative on both, while Bogey was very close to being neg-neg.

It does look that way. It's something I never fully understood. Most innings at SS since 2001: DRS/UZR-150 10390 Bogey -50/+0.8 3017 Nomar -5/-6.9 2143 Lugo -21/-7.9 2095 Scutaro -3/-1.9 1432 Drew -5/+10.9 1327 Alex Gonzo 0/+14.4 1293 Renteria -13/-9.6 1170 Aviles 15/+6.5 1124 Lowrie -1/+2.8 1071 Cora 10/+4.8 644 N Green 0/+3.0 508 Reese 12/+19.8 491 OCab 6/-5.0 (I felt he was a plus on D) 483 Iggy 5/+17.2 398 Holt -2/+5.2 231 Lin -7/-8.0 164 Ciriaco -2/-18.5 122 Arauz -1/+17.2 120 Herrera 1/+132. 1972-2023 10390 Bogey 8749 Burleson 8348 Nomar 4808 Valantin (underrated) 4203 Hoffman 3713 Rivera 2143 Lugo 2095 Scutaro 2086 Owen 2040 Aparicio (3097 career w Sox) 1976 Gutierrez 1815 Reed 1432 Drew 1327 Gonzo 1293 Renteria 1170 Aviles 1124 Lowrie 1074 Guerrero 1071 Cora

Almost every team matches catchers with specific pitchers. We had a unique situation, to start the year. We had almost an entirely new staff and catching tandem, at the same time. It made sense to mix and match to start the year and use the opportunity to go mostly with the L-R factor, along the way. I had hopes pitchers would prefer McGuire, as I see him as the better hitter, and being a lefty batter helps, but going with the better comfort level is the industry standard.

I tried to tell you guys, the park is fine.