moonslav59

1. Marwin 2B 2. Verdugo CF 3. JD DH 4. Bogey SS 5. Devers 3B 6. Vaz C 7. Renfroe RF 8. Cordero LF 9. Dalbec 1B It would have been nice to have Marwin play OF instead of Cordero, but with Kike and Arroyo both out at the same time, it looks like 2B, it is. I'd have seriously thought about Chavis at 2B and Marwin in LF with Cordero on the bench, but again, I'm fine with Cora's choices.

It would have been nice to have Marwin play OF instead of Cordero, but with Kike and Arroyo both out at the same time, it looks like 2B, it is. I'd have seriously thought about Chavis at 2B and Marwin in LF with Cordero on the bench, but again, I'm fine with Cora's choices.

1. Marwin 2B 2. Verdugo CF 3. JD DH 4. Bogey SS 5. Devers 3B 6. Vaz C 7. Renfroe RF 8. Cordero LF 9. Dalbec 1B

OK. JD led the league in TB in 2018 and had an OPS+ of 173. It was 168 in 2017. It's 196, this year, which is a significant jump. I can see expecting him to drop, a bit. (He's 15% higher than 2018's OPS+) Bogey is at 171, but like I said, he's in peak prime, now at age 28. He's been at 135, 140 and 131 the last 3 years. 171 is a significant uptick, but not really all that unexpected. Maybe he stays at .985 as the legue warms up, so his OPS+ drops some. he's 22% higher than 2019. Devers is still pre-prime, but he's fast approaching it, He was at 133 in 2018 and is at 161, now. I've been expecting a "monster year" from him, so to me, I'm expecting even better, at some point in the next 1-4 years. He's 21% over 2018. Verdugo is right in line with the bell curve towards prime. He's just 25. 93 OPS+ at age 22 114 at 23 126 at 24 133 at 25, this year. His average rise in OPS+ actually has slowed, this year. Now, what about all our other hitters under their career best or recent best OPS+ seasons? Kike: 131 in 2015, 117 in 2018, 98 career> 100 this year Renfroe: 120>103>80>77 this year. Vazquez: 103>114>101 this year Marwin: 146 (trashcan year), but also 3 other seasons over 100 and 2 more over 90> 86 in 2021. Plawecki: 106>92>63>130>81 this year (92 from 2017-2020 combined) Cordero: 99 career before this year: 26 in 2021! Dalbec's career is too short, but still 152, last year and 59, this year. Maybe 2-3 of our top 4 hitters drop down a bit, but maybe 3-4 of our bottom 7 return to norm on OPS+.

Renfroe has had a decent OPS, despite his low career BA. He has always done best vs LHPs, so we should try to maximize his chance at being successful by limiting his exposure to RHPs. I'm fine with sending Cordero down, but I think he'll get another look, at some point, unless he sucks at AAA. On the 2-5 hitters. None are really having outlier years. I'm not sure I would expect less from them, going forward. JD is at 1.075. He hit 1.066 in 2017 and 1.031 in 2018. 2021 is not out of line with those years, and they weren't that long ago. His OPS from 2017-2019 was 1.007. Bogey is at .985. That is also a career high, but he is just entering prime and had a .939 OPS in 2019. Devers is at .951, and he too is getting into his prime years. He hit .916 in 2019. Not far above that. Verdugo hit better, last year (.844) than this year (.838). He his .827 from 2019-2020. Now, one can say, it is very fortunate to have all 4 hitters above their career or recent numbers, but the rest of the Sox players are all below, so it's easy to say we are underachieving overall.

He'll probably end up in AAA, at some point.

Teams have tougher/easier schedules than others. Teams might have a certain winning percentage, but a top player just went out for the season. I can understand why someone wants to rank teams by how good they think they are. As much as I love what the Sox are doing and am getting more and more optimistic with each win, I do not think we have been the best team in the league. We may not be right now, either.

New MLB Power Rankings. We are now the top dog. 1. Boston (2 last week) 2. SFG (8) 3. CWS (4) 4. SDP (3) 5. Oak (11) 6. STL (15) 7. LAD (1) 8. NYY (7) 9. Tor (13) 10. Hou (5) Biggest jumps: STL 15>6 CLE 22>15 SFG 8>2 Oak 11>5 Biggest drops: KC 9>18 AZ 17>24 Mil 6>14 LAD 1>7 MN 16>22 ATL 10>16 Hou 5>10

I found this on Danny Santana, but no mention was made of his new opt out date... Danny Santana ready to play in Red Sox Minors games WWW.MLB.COM Danny Santana, a veteran player who belted 28 homers for the Rangers two years ago, will take a step closer to joining the Red Sox when he starts playing in Minor League games on Tuesday for High-A Greenville. The Sox signed Santana in March to a Minor League deal that

Tanner Roark signs minor league deal with the Braves. The Braves also signed Shane Greene at $1.5M. Zack Godley DFA'd by Brewers. Deven Marrero signed a minor league deal with the Marlins. Luke Voit to be activated, tomorrow.

Best records in MLB by Winning %: .629 Boston .600 STL 1.0 GB .594 CWS 1.5 .588 SFG 1.5 .583 OAK 1.5 .563 CLE 2.5 .552 NYM 3.0 .543 MIL 3.0 .543 SDP 3.0 .529 HOU 3.5 .529 NYY 3.5 .528 TBR 3.5 4 teams 4.0 back (.514-.515) 3 teams 4.5 back (.500) 19 of 30 teams are at .500 or better. (Two teams are just 1 win from being at .500) Last year, there were 14 teams above .500 (actually above .483). There were 5 teams over .600 and 8 over .583. Now, there are 2 and 5, respectively. 21 teams are above .483, this year- last year only 14.

They do have Duran, Wilson, Puello, Matheny and Gettys at AAA, so maybe that's it.

I've been saying this kid is due for a monster year pretty soon. (2021?) He's a pure hitter who can hit anyone at anytime.

Not really, but maybe notin can fill in some blanks.

I get the impression that the team is usually the one who wants to put off surgery, especially for players with just 1-2 years left of team control- not Sale in this case.

Agreed. The problem is hardly anybody has learned how to bunt during their entire careers. It's not something you can teach in a day, week or month. Is any team even trying to teach their players, especially those who have big shifts against them, how to bunt? (I'm guessing, no.)

The Sox minor league teams did not get off to a good start, but here are some bright spots: Danny Santana (opt out is very soon): .400 with a dbl and HR in 10 ABs (1.164 OPS) Yairo Munoz: .381 - all singles with no BBs (.762 OPS) Jeisson Rosario (my sleeper pick): 1.024 OPS Stephen Scott with Salem .462 with 3 HRs in 13 ABs (7 BBs) 1.804 OPS! Johan Mieses .313 with 4 HRs in 16 ABs 1.513 OPS Ryan Weber 1.42 ERA in 6.1 IP .561 OPS against Brayan Bello 1.59 in 5.2 IP (.541) Stephen Gonsalves 1.69 in 5.1 (.551) Bobby Poyner 0.00 in 4.2 (0.669)

Here is a very surprising stat comp: OPS Against when RISP: .448 Ottavino .833 Barnes (Note: Barnes hardly ever lets players get in scoring position and has just 12 PAs against, this year. Ottavino has 30 PAs against with RISP.) .287 Sawamura .448 Ottavino .484 ERod .501 Andriese .625 Pivetta .651 Perez .700 Houck .705 Whitlock .706 Richards .800 Valdez .828 Eovaldi .928 Taylor .995 D Hern 1.390 Brice Men on Base .504 Ottavino .600 Barnes .623 Whitlock .635 Valdez

Sox Splits to date: vs RHPs 1.177 JD 1.025 Bogey .972 Devers .895 Verdugo .776 Vaz .731 Kike .683 Plawecki .668 Arroyo (career is better v RHPs) .619 Marwin .584 Renfroe (Should only start v LHPs) .440 Cordero (Not holding up his end of the projected Renfroe platoon) .413 Dalbec (maybe need a Chavis or Marwin/Dalbec platoon at 1B) vs LHPs .902 Bogey .898 Dalbec .888 Devers .833 JD .773 Arroyo .772 Renfroe .746 Marwin .706 Kike .702 Verdugo .603 Vaz .564 Plawecki .473 Cordero Team: .779 v RHP .775 v LHP .786 Home .768 Away Late & Close .707 1.378 Arroyo 1.068 Renfroe 1.025 JD .866 Verdugo .689 Bogey & Marwin .678 Vaz .636 Devers .513 Kike .333 Cordero .330 Dalbec .282 Plawecki

If they were good at it, the defense would soon learn to dislike it. If you were really good at it, you could get some doubles with a hard bunt down the line. If they don't want to intentionally walk a guy like Big Papi, then a bunt single is just as bad- or worse. Now, if the bunt attempt leads to a bunch of out or strikes, then the advantage is gone.

No, but did they want him to?

Indeed, and that is why the Yanks are now in 2nd place, and Toronto is falling. But is the Yankee pitching staff good enough to carry them, if Stanton and or Judge are out for a long time? As much as Judge has "slumped," he's still second on the team in OPS+ 159 Stanton 135 Judge 128 Urshela 122 LeMahieu 91 Sanchez 88 Torres 85 Hicks 64 Frazier Okay, maybe Voit and Torres can pick up some slack, if one or both are hurt, but I doubt they can pick it all up.

The thing is, if these guys learned to bunt down the line, they'd have to stop the shift, and they could resume hitting the way they want, fast enough. Big "If;" I know.

What's the over under on games played by Stanton + Judge? 200? 220? 240? I doubt it's over 250.

The swinging for the almighty HR has become the firing up the 3 point basket attempts of MLB.