moonslav59

Casas needs help getting out of bed.

The splits show the opposite.

We may make some kind of winter move for a middle infielder, but I think Brez & Co. will see other areas as higher priorities. SS: Arias, Story, Monasterio, Sogard, Cheng 2B: Mead, Story, Monasterio, Seigler, Romy, Sogard (Campbell) While quantity is never a bad thing in baseball, I'm not sure this is top quality. Brez my address the LF situation, closer and another top set-up man in the pen. I doubt he looks to replace Gray, Sandoval and Early with a major SP'er add, since Crochet, Houck, Crawford and Oviedo should be in the mix, but he will likely look to add more depth.

The thing is, GG, it's not that these guys are creating a strawman then knocking the stuffing out of it, the strawman was real 2-3 years ago, but the three little pigs built a Ceddanne house out of twigs, last year and bricks, this year. It's a solid house, now. The whole lack of discipline thing is still real, but it's scaled way back, and this guy can hit- even balls out of the K zone. Here's the thing, one poster got his panties in a bunch a couple years ago, and can't, for some reason, accept that things can and do change. Guess where this massive undisciplined batter ranks on the team in K%? First? Maybe 2nd, and Narvaez and Story are kings of the Ks? NOPE! He's 9th out of 15 Sox batters with 100+ PAs. He's 8th out of 12 with 150+ PAs. 5th out of 8 with 200+ and 4th out of 5 with 400+. Only Durbin is better in the 400 club. Indeed, he's still 15th out 15 in BB% (4.0,) but can we cut the BA leader on the team some slack for that? Something is working okay. He's 8th out of 15 in OBP. (3rd out of 5 in the 400 club.) Rafaela was historically bad from 2023-2024 at BB/K, and I'm talking MLB history, not just Red Sox infamy. That was no strawman. He was for real- the worst BB:K non-pitcher batter in history. (.11 BB/K from '23-'24.) He's still bad at it, but he's proven he cans till do well, despite that issue, and he's greatly improved upon it to .24 in '25 and .20 in '26. That .20 places him 8th worst out of 207 batters with 300+ PAs this year. It's still an issue, but he lead the team in BA and is mid plus on OBP, so what's the problem? The guy get more flack from Fred than Duran, Narvaez, and all the other sub .700 batters combined.

Some felt he might be the best batter in 2026, but Max might be alone in thinking he was already anointed that guy. No slight on Max, as some thought it was Duran. Some might have thought Abreu was ready to step into that role. Few saw Contreras as slotted to be #1 in OPS.

Most: Tracy's fault for starting him. (Too much or at all) Least: Brez for keeping him on the 26. (I'm okay with him as the 4th OF, PR and late inning defensive LF'er for Yoshida.)

How did you not know this?

Duran has a wRC+ of 96 since late July 2024- a sample size ove 1400 PAs. How long of a leash are some of you willing to give him in hops he reverts to 2023, 2024 and early 2025 form? It's like gumby world here.

Not many teams play one, if they have another better option. We do.

Rotating to keep the pen fresher.

He's lacked plate discipline his whole career. He's looked bad, worse and okay for stretches on and off. How is this different? For some reason we are supposed to think he'll continue being "lost" or something. Does he look worse now than other times (5 games, 10 or 20 games at a time?)

I think someone claims him. There is a bad shortage of capable catchers in MLB. I like him and might have kept him, but you gotta do what you think is best.

No. He's .653 since that series, and it's 8 games. 5 Ks is 39 PAs is not great, but it's hardly some wild veer off from his norm or even the leagues. Good cherry pick to start after his 4 HRs in that 3 game series. He may struggle for some stretches. Maybe he's got a long struggle in him, this year. He has had em every season, but this one- so far. IMO, he has been able to limit these "wild streaks" to hey 3-6 games or so, this year. He's clearly been more consistent than ever. His .331 BAbip (.302 before 2026> .331 this season) may point to some luck, but maybe it's not all luck, since his LD%(22.6%>26.7%) is up. His LD% is up .041 and his BAbip is up just .029. Also, his hard hit rate is up, too. 27.4%>31.5%. Both support the idea that his improved BAbip is due to hitting the ball harder more often than from 2023-2025. His soft hit% is way down.

Decline? Did you see the guy his rookie year? Did you see the guy his second and third year? Sure, within each season he has some wild stretches, but even your claim the he fizzled out to end 2025 has a flaw: he kinda didn't. Sure he had a long stretch in AUG into SEPT- much longer than any time, this year, so no, not a "decline" in his overall path of his career. Maybe micro-hyper small time frame, yes, but that's who he is. He swings a lot and will look worse for a few games here and there. This is not some 6-7 week decline, like last year. Oh, and back to last season: .776 last 62 PAs (17 gms) is not a collapse to end the season. 1.109 over his last 9 games blow your evidence away. Face it. He's streaky, and his good streaks are getting longer and longer, while his bad streaks are getting shorter and short over the years. Talk about blindness. His oppo rate is the best of his career. His Line drive % is the best of his career. His K% is once again his career low- something he's improved upon, every year. His BB % went from 2.9 (23-24) to 4.8 last year and dipped to 4.0 this year, but who cares when his OBP has risen 30 points from last years career high? I've been wrong about dozens and dozens of things. I can list them for you if you wish. I just don't get why you cling to this hill to die on? One last thing on this micro regression that "Lou sees," too: 2 Ks in his last 24 PAs. (Could be the best stretch of his career in that area...maybe....)

He's also been remarkably consistent and has always chased at pitches out of the K zone. This is nothing new or some sign of regression: it's who he is. He's successful at an approach that normally is a failure, and it's killing Fred. He may end up running out of gas, as he has in the last couple of years, but he has actually been one of the most consistent player on the team. From May 5 to today, Ceddanne's OPS has ranged from .735 to .808 (73 point range.) Willson HAS to be more consistent, right? I thought maybe, too, but... .802 to .948 (146 point swing.) How about Duran? Okay, consistently sucking more Than Ceddanne has been good, but no! .583 to .701 (118 points) Of the players with the most PAs on the team, I thought only Abreu has has a narrower range, but no... .748 to .872 (124) It baffles me how Fred chose Rafaela to pick on years ago, and just can't let go and be happy for the guy. He beat the odds and has made himself into a very good or even great player despite having a serious handicap. He deserves credit where certain credit is due.

Tell your doc about your hallucinations.

Gobbledeegoop.

I almost had a heart attack when he made that error

Only the biased is blinded by the prejudice.

July 20 to Aug 10: 2025: 534 2026: .928 Fred thinks now is the time to bench Rafaela for a couple games. Suddenly, he's swinging at some bad pitches and needs to change his approach while taking 2 days off. Lou noticed the same thing. 😝

Time to extend Duran for 4 years.

Brannon hit his 19th tonight. Does he get added to the 40 to avoid Rule 5 exposure?

Maybe he should have benched Rafaela before this last AB.

Can Abreu finally break out and have that "career year" many of us felt he was building up to?

.992 last 28 games, but yes, .537 in his last 7 (before tonight.)