moonslav59

I'll come out of the bushes for this one, aftercall, you set yourself up on a platter, quite nicely. Then, it's back to ignore. I thought the past didn't matter- only what you do for me, this year. Talk about flip-flops. BTW, JD was one of the best signings we've ever made. I've never even hinted otherwise. Yes, I've been critical about this year's production- just like you have b een about just about everyone, except Bogey, JD and Vaz. On Bogey, I have said I want him back at more money than Story got. Yes, I've "dissed" his D and his lack of production, this year, but I thought it was only about this year in Old Red's world. Now, try to just accept my position and agree to disagree. Follow your own maxims and don't "flip-flop." If you don't respond, you win! You'll be the best poster on the board. What a golden opportunity for you to show you follow your own beliefs and edicts. Bye.

I've always used the term "ace" to mean the best pitcher on a team, but even that is not a firm position I hold, since c learly some teams seem to have 2-3 aces while others none. I've often used the best 30 SP'ers in a given season or time period to roughly view them all as "aces," but clearly others view the term differently, and that's fine with me.

The guy who keeps claiming we all need to "agree to disagree" and repeats his points as much or more than any of us really believes that continuing the argument means not "accepting" another's position, or rather not proclaiming he is right. Has Red accepted my position that Kike had the best CF defensive season I have witnessed as a Sox fan? Hardly. I don't expect or even want him to agree. Was that statement by me a bit hyperbolic? I don't think so. Afterall, it's my "eye test." I also went on to say that plenty of ex-Sox CF'ers have had great defensive seasons and careers, and they have. I also said I have no issue with anyone saying someone else had a better season. Isn't that the same as "agreeing to disagree" and a firm example of accepting another's position? Yet, I'm made out to be the rigid one, unaccepting of anyone else's position. Yes, I'm guilty of "lastwordism." It's a fault I've tried to overcome, but here I am, again, doing just that.

The "hit or miss" aspect of it all is proven by the Martin Perez example. Here's a guy Bloom took a chance on two seperate times, while we all scratched our heads think, What can he possibly see in this guys, even if just for $5-6M a year?" Well, the third year would have been a "hit." Two Wachas and a Perez would have put us in the playoffs. Think how bizarre that sounds!

It's all speculation, of course, but all you can expect a GM to do is add exciting and well-regarded players to the system and hope for the best. I know "hope" has somehow become a bad word, these days, but it's always been a big part of baseball and even more so for baseball fans, as 29 teams' fans say every fall and winter, "Wait 'till next year!" I like what I see from the farm and don't think optimism should be viewed as a fault or without value. A MLB farm system can have enormous value. It can be the main reason a team wins a ring, and more often than not has been. This whole oversimplification of not counting anything as having value, until it pleases me, now, is an idea and mindset I don't want to be any part of. Negativity is such a downer.

Because Kike happens to be a very good defender at many positions, somehow that has been used against him- like he's not good enough to stick at one slot. It's more like he's too good to be kept at just one slot, as injuries happen to every team. I think he's a hell of a ball player, who usually starts out slowly and gets better when it counts most. His injury, this year, took away from his chance to bring his numbers up, but maybe he never would have, anyway. He has had some sub .700 seasons sprinkled here and there. That's one reason he only got $7M x 2 and not $17M x 4. Nobody has ever said he was a superstar. He is, however, a fantastic defensive CF who play the difficult Fenway CF about as well or as well as anyone who has ever played it. That's a huge plus to the Sox. The guy hit almost .900 over the last 80m games of 2021 and almost single-handedly carried the offense to within 2 games of the WS. It sucks he got hurt. He has never been an injury prone player, but I guess what have you done for me, lately, is all that matters to many Sox fans. That's understandable, at least, but maybe he'll catch on fire, like last year, and bring some fun and excitement into the rest of the season. I love watching this guy play. I wish all our players played like him.

I'm not sure the Sox care much about offense from the catcher, especially the back up one. Leon, Plawecki and others have show that. Apparently, we went hard after Stallings, last winter, and may have traded Vaz in the spring, had we obtained him over the Marlins. I think his OPS is around .600 or even under with MIA, but he still starts more than any of the many young catchers they have. If this guy can ever get and stay around ,660-.680, I think he'll be our FT catcher. For all the decent catcher hitting Vaz gave us, he did end up with just a .700 OPS- still good for a catcher, but not something that Wows me.

I've always felt it's best to improve your staff from the top, and trying to improve your 5th starter with a better 5th starter type is folly, but take a guy like Wacha. We did not sign him to be our #1 (or ace), or even our #2 or #3. At best we hoped he'd be solid #4 who maybe pitched like many teams' #2 or 3. Even counting the injury, had we signed 3 Wachas instead of 1, we'd be in the playoff hunt, right now.

We could really use a big boost from the lower leagues. I'm hopeful this farm building on paper turns into reality.

We do still play in a hitter's park, so I prefer ERA+ or ERA- and other data. We are 24th in ERA- (out of 30 teams)- not great but also not second worst. 19th in SIERA at 3.93 20th fWAR Pitching T14th in balls hit softly. (25th in BAbip hints at poor defensive support) Certainly, our pitching has not been our bright spot, but it's not really all that close to being worst, as ERA makes it seem like we are. (IMO)

... and an OPS Against around .500 and FIP around 2.50. 10.1 IP

It's not so much what you call them, just get one or two, this winter. It looks like it was a good thing not to go after Montas.

Houck being out really hurts. Strahm is not the same guy as earlier in the season.

Posted this on another thread, but then it got me thinking about all the Bloom additions... Before tonight's game... Top Sox OPS+ (Rank in PAs in 2022) Red = Bloom Acquisitions 153 McGuire (17) 150 Devers (3) 144 Refsnyder (14) 127 Bogey (1) 122 Ja Davis (20) 115 JD Martinez (4) 111 Arroyo (11) 110 Vazquez (7) 109 Pham (15) 100 Verdugo (2) 97 Story (5) 92 Cordero (10) 83 Duran (12) 77 Dalbec (6) 73 Hosmer (16) 69 Kike (9) 61 JBJ (8) 47 Plawecki (13) 32 Wong (23) 18 Downs (19) -6 Sanchez (18) OPS Against .535 Familia .547 Scheiber .578 Wacha .584 Sale .589 Valdez .594 Feliz .595 Whitlock .608 Houck .634 Sawamura ,665 Danish .670 Strahm .697 Barnes (Extended by Bloom) .710 Pivetta .742 Davis .744 Diekman .774 Eovaldi .783 Crawford .786 Hill .810 Brasier .832 Robles .859 Winckowski .930 Ort .955 Bello 1.296 Seabold 1.376 DHern

Lugo has remained hot (2-5), despite no homers. Hickey with 2 BBs and 1 K, keeping his hopes of ending the season with more BBs than K's alive. Uberstine went a solid 4 IP (1 ER, 6Ks)

That was a short talk, and got to the point about why he's not on the big club radar.

It wasn't Kike's fault they kept him leading off, too long, and it was also more than a hot streak, when we needed it most. His last 80 games of the season, which is not a small sample size, he hit ... .267 15 44, and get this, 39 xbhs in 303 ABs. An .874 OPS is not something to take lightly. When he started heating up on June 19th, the team was 15 over .500, but the season was far from a cinch, as we all remember. We ended up 22 over .500. Kike hit .900 that last series vs WSH and had a homer. He's not a great hitter, and he's had some up years and down years, but with his stellar defense at more than one position and a .738 career OPS (.744 previous 4 seasons), when we signed him, I thought and still do, $7M x 2 was a good signing. I hope we can get him to take another similar deal, this winter.

G'night, Skippy.

I've forgotten how good it feels after a win- shaky as it was.

I guess Plawecki is hearing Wong's footsteps. 3-4, tonight!

Typical, Skippy

A 3-run HR?!?!? From Bogey?!?!

Sure, Skippy.

What do we do the 90 games Arroyo is on the IL?

Typical, Skippy.