moonslav59

I'd love to have a decent PH'er and late inning defensive replacement or two...

Well, he's got 90 PAs, this season at lead off, and 380 career, so exactly 290. Career: 443 7th .672 OPS 380 1st .774 377 8th .772 201 2nd .793 197 6th .771 179 5th .756 (Before this year, the first slot was his 3rd most common batting slot. Looks like 1st and second are his best slots. (That's not the same as saying it's good enough to lead off for a winning team.) Note: he has a .960 OPS as the first batter of the game.

He is second on the team in RP'er innings. He has saved 2-3 pitchers from needing to pitch in the games he pitches. He's a reason we need 12 not 13, and certainly not 14.

Sorry, I didn't look back far enough.

It won't affect options. Waiting periods are not all that problematic, and the worst thing that could happen is we get stuck with 14 pitchers for 10 days. (Or, you send a different pitcher down after the need goes away.) So far, we haven't really come close to needing even 13 pitchers. We got posters screaming we need to use Whitlock more!

When you have 3 guys hitting under .500 and one of the worst defensive Sox teams in memory, it's nice to have some late inning choices. There will never be a day where we suddenly need the 14th pitcher. We will always know a day or two ahead of that time, and can call someone up, if needed. It seems very simple, to me.

...and Jonathan India.

I've felt this way, all along. We can call up a pitcher in a matter of hours, if needed.

I'm super high on Dalbec, and I'm not for a platoon, now, but the idea of bringing up Ockimey to give Dalbec a break, here and there, may have some merit, if things continue like this. (My guess is Chavis, Santana or Duran would be called up before Ockimey.)

85 pitchers have 20+ IP Half have a K% of over 25%. A quarter are striking out batters 28% or more, including 6 guys over 39%! 32 of 85 have a WHIP at 1.00 or lower. (almost half.) 53 of 85 are under 1.200. Only 13 are over 1.350.

More data diving: if you lower the min PAs needed to 30, the league batters who meet that criteria is 326. Here is how they are broken down: 17 are above 1.000 OPS (4 over 1.200 and 9 over 1.100) 31 between .900-.999 53 .800-.899 58 .700-.799 73 .600-.699 51 .500-.599 30 .400-.499 10 .300-.399 3 .200-.299 Tighten the tiers: 47 above .900 53 .800-.899 58 .700-.799 73 .600-.699 51 .500-.599 43 .200-.499 94 players under .599 101 over .800 131 in between 167 below .699 159 above .700 100 above .800 100 below .603

In 2019, the median OPS among the top 270 hitters (9 x 30 teams) was .784. This year, it's under .699! In 2018, it was .756. What will they try, next? How about giving the 6 through 9 batters 4 strikes? (Sarcasm alert!)

I love good defense and pitching more than hitting, but this is artificial. I do think the juiced balls hurt the game, as we saw batters hit HRs on broken bats, check swings and hits that had no business going over the fence, but why swing the pendulum so far back the other way? All they needed to do was enforce a pitch clock. Well, maybe not "all," but start with that.

I agree, but the concern is rising, and Ockimey may be due for a look-see and decision about his future with the Sox.

If so, Andrew Benintendi Mike Cameroon Dennis Mar(k)tinez El Salvador Perez Greek George, not to be confused with the "Greek God of Walks." Kenya Lofton Cy Malis Oma(n) Vizquel Mariano Santana> San Marino Swede(n) Larson "Togo" Pittinger "Uganda" Urbina "Yemen" Mercedes Too many "Jordan's" to name. Jonathan India needs no tweaking.

Does Gavin Lux count?

I've been on this bandwagon for a long time. Ockimey has great platoon potential. Too bad we need 14 pitchers. despite have 2 of the next 8 days off and 3 of the next 22 off.

The bottom 30 guys are all below .500, including Renfroe at #30 worst. The next 30 range from .497 to.562 , including Franchy at #35. That's 2 of every 9 hitters on average, hitting below .563. #61 to 90 has a range from.562 to .622 (No Sox players, here.) One-third of the top 270 hitters by PAs are below .622! #91 to 120 ranges from .622 to .677 (Dalbec places #101, which means he's just barely a middle tier batter, so far! #121 (Marwin places #121) to 150 ranges from .677 to .725. (Vaz is near the league median at #132 at .692.) The league median is .696. MORE THAN HALF OF THE TOP 270 MLB BATTERS IN PAs ARE UNDER .699!!!!

Sox by Tiers: SP ERA 3.48 Pivetta 3.52 ERod 3.77 Eovaldi (Who'd have thought Pivetta would be our starter leader in ERA?) 4.82 Houck (just 2 starts) 5.71 Perez 6.48 Richards OPS Against .643 ERod .660 Eovaldi .662 Pivetta .742 Houck .797 Richards .803 Perez RP OPS Against: .304 Whitlock .368 Valdez .400 Bazardo (5 PA) .401 Barnes .615 Andriese .633 Sawamura .656 Ottavino .837 Brice .921 DHern 1.000 Houck (4 PA) 1.039 Taylor Batting: OPS 1.199 JD .975 Bogey .908 Verdugo .907 Devers .771 Arroyo (.860 last 2 weeks) .727 Kike .692 Vaz (.344 last 2 weeks) .677 Marwin .646 Dalbec (.856 last 2 weeks) .510 Cordero (.269 last 2 weeks) .496 Renfroe .471 Plawecki vs RHP 1.326 JD 1.022 Verdugo .957 Devers .921 Bogey .792 Kike .747 Vaz .689 Arroyo .668 Marwin .499 Cordero .438 Plawecki .377 Renfroe .367 Dalbec vs LHP 1.115 Dalbec 1.075 Bogey .912 JD .891 Arroyo .784 Devers .753 Renfroe .689 Marwin .667 Cordero (reverse split) .640 Verdugo .595 Kike .591 Vaz .522 Plawecki Is Dalbec heading towards a platoon? If yes, with whom? Marwin? Call up Chavis?

I was a little worried this season might be a horror show. I'm extremely grateful for the start we've had. I hope it helps us stay in the race to the end. When it comes to regrets and the Sox, almost all have been erased by the last 2 decades of success.

We might see JD come back down a little, but Bogey, Devers and Verdugo should be able to sustain their numbers going forward. Now, the rest of the line-up: it's hard to imagine all these guys, except Arroyo, Marwin and Kike, to continue doing so very badly, but right now, the league is full of horrific starts by many players. You have to set the PA minimum to 40 to get a 270 palyer sample size for 2021 (9 batters x 30 teams). Here's how bad the bottom OPS players are: The bottom 30 guys are all below .500, including Renfroe at #30 worst. The next 30 range from .497 to.562 , including Franchy at #35. That's 2 of every 9 hitters on average, hitting below .563. #61 to 90 has a range from.562 to .622 (No Sox players, here.) One-third of the top 270 hitters by PAs are below .622! #91 to 120 ranges from .622 to .677 (Dalbec places #101, which means he's just barely a middle tier batter, so far! #121 (Marwin places #121) to 150 ranges from .677 to .725. (Vaz is near the league median at #132 at .692.) The league median is .696. MORE THAN HALF OF THE TOP 270 MLB BATTERS IN PAs ARE UNDER .699!!!!

Yes, that's part of it, and their solution is to bring up another untested "new guy."

When the league is hitting .233 as a whole, one can expect a bunch of hitters to be under .180. Couple that with HR crazed hitters and all we see are K's and low OBPs.

Yes, and moving any of our best 4 hitters into the one slot just creates a gaping hole in the slot he moves from. In theory, the 3rd slot should have one of our non top 4 hitter, but who? Vaz is slumping. Dalbec looked to be coming alive, but has stumbled, recently. Kike has been one of our hottest non 4 hitters the past couple weeks. Arroyo looks like the best, if you go by just 2021 numbers, but does anyone really want him hitting 3rd? The Renfroe-Cordero platoon has not really been a platoon, and is off to a horrific start. They should not be rewarded for poor hitting. Marwin? I hate to say it, but he might be the best choice, for now. 1. Verdugo 2. Bogey 3. Marwin 4. JD 5. Devers 6-9 Does it matter much?

I hear ya, and I'm not defending Kike at leadoff. I'm not sure moving the hot hitters around in the line-up on a daily or weekly basis is a good plan, either. 1. You may be taking them out of their comfort zone and putting them in a more pressurized slot. 2. Current hot streaks do not guarantee continued hot hitting. 3. Putting our best hitters up 1-2-3-4 leaves a big gap from 5-9, and studies show the 5 slot is more important than the 3 slot. Criticizing Bloom for getting players that are not great with the spending budget he had is just beyond me. Sorry, but when you can only sign guys like Renfroe, Marwin, Kike, Perez and Sawamura, it should be expected some don't do all that well. If you look at how Bloom radically changed almost half the 40 man roster in one winter with a very limited winter spending budget, I think he did a superb job, especially on the 27-40 slots on the 40 man roster and the farm. That was the top priority, this winter- not to build a team of over-priced studs. Some context is needed. It's almost like the more we win, the more people are getting upset we didn't build a better team. Had we started 10-12, we'd be more accepting that this is a bridge season. The fact that a in a bridge year, we are off to such a good start should be a credit to Bloom & Cora, but instead we hear hyper criticisms left and right (not just from you.)