moonslav59

WOO is playing their 17th game, and Hamilton stole his 9th base, tonight. He's 1-2 with a 1.017 OPS. Abreu & Alfaro are 1-2 RHern homered Murphy has pitched 2 scoreless, so far.

We are 1.5 games behind a WC slot and have a better run differential (+3) than the two teams between us and that slot: CLE (-3) 10-9 TOR (-12) 11-8 We are still ahead of HOU, SEA, LAD and SDP.

Most of the pitchers are present, but we did miss a start from Whitlock and Martin is out, now. I'm not sure Paxton being out hurts us, but we'll see. Joely was not supposed to be a major addition, but I expected he'd beat out Ort, Kelly (who is on the 60 with Mills) and Brasier. If Houck and Whitlock stick as starters, it takes the heat off needing 2 from Sale, Kluber and Paxton to do well. We can likely get by with just one old vet coming through. That is assuming Bello and Pivetta fill their roles.

He really pushed for being a starter, so maybe they gave him an assurance.

I doubt it. EValdez was only up while Chang was on Paternity Leave. We need middle IF depth. (Some might call it debt.)

Only if they are on the 60 day (Story, Mondesi, Kelly & Mills.)

Wong has started 3 out of 10 games with a RH'd SP'er. He has started 7 out of 8 with a LH'd SP'er. He is the only catcher to catch Houck and Whitlock. The 3 games he started vs RHPs? 1 with Crawford vs PIT 1 with Kluber vs PIT 1 with Sale vs MN

I totally agree, but with this nearly brand new staff and two brand new catchers, a learning curve has to be taking place, as these guys feel each other out. Maybe some early bad results can set a lasting "tone" than can never be overcome.

Duran wont get DFA'd. He might get sent down, unless he's still doing well. With Tapia and Chang already sent down, who is left but Duran?

Ort has an option. Ort goes to AAA, and Brasier ets his 100th life.

Kavadas has begun turning it around in AA: 5 for his last 14 (.357) and 8 BBs On base 13 of his last 21 PAs (.619 OBP)

More than 1/4th of Wongs PAs with Sox pitchers have been with Houck and Whitlock. McGuire has zero PAs with those two. It's apples vs watermelons, here, folks.

Paxton> Ort Martin> Please be Brasier Joely> Not sure (a SP'er to the IL?) Mondesi> Chang Story> Tapia Duval> Duran

Looks like the jump he got at soxprospects.com rankings was justified.

No playoffs: 85-70 in 1972 (0.5 GB and no playoffs) 89-73 in '72 (2nd) 97-64 in '77 (2nd) 1 game from the 4th best record in MLB 99-63 in '78 (T best record in MLB, but lost play-in game to Bucky Dent) 91-69 in '79 (better than 2 division winners) 89-73 in '82 (same as one div winner) 93-69 in '02 (9th best record in MLB- only 8 teams make it) Made Playoffs: Lost 7th game in WS: '67, '75 and '86 89-73 in '88 lost ALCS to OAK 4-0 88-74 in '90 lost ALCS to OAK 4-0 86-58 in '95 lost ALDS to CLE 3-0 92-70 in '98 lost ALDS to CLE 3-1 94-68 in '99 won ALDS 3-2 over CLE/ lost ALCS 4-1 to NYY 95-67 in '03 won ALDS 3-2 OAK/ Lost ALCS to NYY 4-3 Since I started being a Sox fan in 1972... 1972 to 2003: 1 last place (1992) 1 sixth place out of 7 teams (1983) 1 fourth place out of 5 (1994) 5 fifth place out of 7 8 between 3rd and 4th place 16 out of 32 seasons first or second: 11 second places 5 first places 2004 to 2022: 19 seasons 5 last places 0 second to last 4 third places 5 second places, including 2004 5 first places 10 first & second 9 third or fifth

The loss in '78 was rough, too. There was also a year we finished 1/2 game behind Detroit, due to the unbalanced strike induced schedule, and countless second places, where we had a damn good record, and were maybe a top 4 team in MLB, but with no playoff slot. No doubt, those seasons were still exciting and fun to watch, but the no rings thing wore at me.

We all see what one great day can do for a hitter in April vs August, or what one bad day can do to a pitcher in April vs August. Wild swings can occur over one pitch. The big difference maker in your whole Wong vs McGuire focus is that they have caught pitchers at wildly different sample sizes, and the ones that are somewhat balanced are still too small to consider as noteworthy, but it might convince you to lay off McGuire. (Please don't assume that because I am posting these numbers, I think these sample sizes are significant enough to even begin to tell a worthwhile story about their skill sets as catchers.) Somewhat balanced sample sizes: OPS Against Crawford .310 w McGuire (29 PAs) .891 w Wong (45) Pivetta .799 w McGuire (22) .742 w Wong (42) Close to even Winckowski .377 w McGuire (19) .641 w Wong (36) Brasier (some pretty tiny sample sizes, here) .880 w McGuire (30) .465 w Wong (18) Kelly (tiny sample sizes) 1.194 w McGuire (19) .381 w Wong (15) Schreiber (tiny samples) .574 w McGuire (16) .681 w Wong (23) Bleier .866 w McGuire (16) .686 w Wong (18) Jansen (Tiny SS) .220 w McGuire (14) .844 w Wong (10) Martin (Tiny) .482 w McGuire (11) .918 w Wong (18) Out of Balance Sale 1.061 w McGuire (64) His most caught pitcher (tied w Kluber) .430 w Wong (25) His 2nd least caught SP'er Kluber 1.045 w McGuire (64) Tied for most caught pitcher w Sale .544 w Wong (19) His least caught SP'er Ort .803 Wong (33) Not a big differential, here .871 w McGuire (13) One-Way Pitchers - VERY NOTEWORTHY! (No McGuire innings with these two!) Houck Zero PAs with McGuire .728 w Wong (58) His most caught pitcher. Whitlock Zero PAs with McGuire .819 w Wong (44) His third most pitcher caught Bello (No Wong PAs) 1.289 w McGuire (18) Zero PAs w Wong It's easy to see why we shouldn't read anything into the disparity, no matter how grand. How many pitchers, who have had both catchers catch them do significantly better with Wong vs McGuire? I count 6 to 5. If you take away the unbalanced, it's 4-3 in McGuire's favor.

I think our record is much closer to .500 than our record indicates.

I do think it's fair to say that sample sizes over 100 or 200 innings are more significant than 20-30 inning sample sizes. Some of the sample sizes I posted, earlier are over 300 and 400.

Good sign for Houck. I've always felt he'd be best taking over Whitlock's role as the high leverage, long man in the pen, but sticking as a starter would be buttah!

In a few weeks, you'll say the same about all 4th place teams, then...

The frustration level was so high, for so many years. Being pretty good to really good for many of the years, but just not good enough- seemingly just one ace away from a ring, so many times probably made it harder to endure than had we finished last half the time, but I really felt strongly about preferring one ring and 10 last places to 11 second places.

No doubt, we could be heading for a lousy season. I'm not giving up hope, just yet. I think our rotation is better than it has looked, so far, and I'm not even counting on greatness from Sale. Our D would be greatly improved with Mondesi at SS and Kike in CF, and even more so with Story at 2B. The up-the-middle D could go from near worst to top 10 in a flash. If we end up sellers, I'll be bummed, but it could certainly happen.

Their D will improve when Story and or Mondesi return. Their rotation will improve. It's not out of the question this could/should occur.

He probably won't hit well enough to be a FT DH, but as a platoon, he may stick around- somehow/somewhere.