moonslav59

I have no complaints. Cora is king. He picks and chooses where he thinks players have the best chance to be successful. It works!

Feel free to add some I missed. 0-0 0.00 Craig Kimbrel (8 IP) 0-0 1.29 Jeffrey Springs 1-0 1.59 Kopech 0-0 1.59 Pomeranz 0-1 3.60 Workman (5 IP) 0-1 4.05 Daniel Bard 1-2 4.50 Logan Allen 2-1 4.91 Frankie Montas 0-0 7.50 Andrew Miller 1-0 8.82 Rich Hill 0-0 11.42 Chris Mazza 1.583 Pablito (16 PAs) .914 Betts .891 Jed Lowrie .811 Rizzo .797 Holt .751 Margot .747 Moreland .739 T Shaw .611 JBJ .576 Iggy .515 Beni .369 Pillar .317 Dubon No MLB action in 2021: Eduardo Nunez Ty Buttrey

Not sure why Arroyo need a rest, but I trust Cora.

It's early, and Cordero's issues have been injuries, so let's see how that pans out. I loved the trade- still do, and we haven't even gotten the 3 PTBNL's!. I loved JBJ, but that was way too much money.

Some pitching insights after 18 games (1/9 of the season): OPS Against: .716 vs SP'ers (4.23 ERA) .614 Eovaldi .650 ERod .742 Houck .771 Pivetta .785 Perez .798 Richards .592 vs RP'ers (2.78 ERA) .200 Whitlock (30 PAs agaisnt) .258 Valdez (28) .290 Barnes (32) .400 Bazardo (5) .643 Andriese (45) .679 DHern (28) .698 Sawamura (31) .760 Ottavino (30) .868 Brice (19) 1.000 Houck (4) 1.020 Taylor (31) Team numbers: OPS against: .568 LHB .730 RHB .670 Home .655 Away .600 RISP (.507 with 2 outs) .641 Men On Base .465 Late & Close (1 of our biggest winter worries was closer and set up men) .521 High Leverage .750 first PA vs SP> .655 second> .721 third

A look at our 18 games by SP'er: IP ER (H+BB) 5.1 1 (5) Eovaldi 5.0 2 (7) Houck 2.0 6 (9) Richards 5.0 0 (6) Pivetta 5.0 3 (7) Perez 7.0 1 (6) Eovaldi 5.0 3 (7) ERod 5.0 2 (6) Richards 6.0 4 (10) Pivetta (left in too long) 5.0 2 (7) Perez 5.0 2 (5) Eovaldi 5.0 1 (6) ERod 5.0 0 (6) Richards 3.2 2 (8) Pivetta 4.1 3 (6) Houck 3.2 4 (7) Perez 6.1 4 (9) Eovaldi 6.0 2 (4) ERod All but 4 starts saw our starters go 5 or more innings. 15 of 18, our starter made it into the 5th inning or longer. These days, that's pretty good. I'm not saying you have to adopt this, but it's just my opinion: Good Start: 4+ IP 0-1 ER 5+ IP 0-2 ER 6+ IP 0-3 ER 8+ IP 0-4 ER Even, if you made it this, it would be better: 4+ IP 0 ER 5+ IP 0-1 ER 6+ IP 0-3 ER 8+ IP 0-4 ER By my first criteria, we had 10 good starts but only 1 "Quality Start." My second criteria gave us 6 good starts. Honestly, have we had only one good start, all year, or is it closer to 6 to 10?

I get that, and surely giving 6 decent innings is huge, but giving up 3 ERs vs 0 is not meaningless, either. I will say, 3.2 IP and 0 ERs is always good, unless you left the bases loaded, but even then, it's usually as good as 6 IP and 3 ERs- or about the same. I'm not saying they should make 3.2 and 0 ERs a QS, but I'd like to see the numbers on SP'er who reached one of the new criteria I listed in what % of their starts. To me, it would be more telling than 6 IP/ 3 ER. Certainly 8 IP and 4 ER is as good or better than 6 IP/3ER. 5.2 IP and 0 ER is better than 6 and 3 ERs.

I loved the Porcello extension, but I was not for bringing him back. Had we signed him instead of Perez, I wouldn't have complained. I get the value of IP and how it "saves the pen," but I still think 3.2 IP and 0 ERs is as good or better than 6 IP with 3 ERs. I'm not saying call it a "quality start," but I wouldn't mind some new modified version of QS being added to baseball vernacular. Do you consider 6 IP and 3 ER "quality?" That's a 4.50 ERA. Sure, it's decent, but not "quality, in my book.

I think something like this would be more useful than Quality Starts. If 6 IP and 3 ER is quality, why aren't these as well? 4+ IP 0-1 ERs 5+ IP 0-2 ERs 6+ IP 0-3 ERs 8+ IP 0-4 ERs I'd also rather have a starter give me 3.2 IP with 0 ERs than one giving me 6 IP with 3 ERs.

The thing is, Cora has already tinkered with the line up several times, and not just when giving players a day of rest, so in some ways we have been successful by "tinkering," so why mess with tinkering? BTW, I'm totally fine with whatever Cora does. I may scratch my head a few times, and voice a different opinion, but to me Cora & Bloom are just what we need and are doing a fabulous job. Arroyo has led off 2 of 18 games. We've had 3 hitters slotted in the 2 slot, but Verdugo in 16 of 18. 3 slot: JD in 16/Bogey in 2 4 slot: Bogey 14, Devers 3, Vaz 1 5 slot: Devers 12, Vaz 5, Marwin 1 The rest has been a near free-for-all, which is often the case for all teams: 6: Marwin 8, Vaz 5, Renfroe 4, Arroyo 1 7: Renfroe 5, Arroyo 5, Marwin 5, Vaz 2, Dalbec 1 8: Dalbec 7, Cordero 6, Vaz & Arroyo 1 9: Plawecki 7, Dalbec 5, Cordero 5, Arroyo 1 Yes, many of the top 5 slots were shuffled due to a player being rested, but not all of them. Most good managers tinker a little bit and make a major switch, when needed- usually not after just an 18 game stretch and while the player in question seems to be improving.

Let's remember, this is a short sample size, but it is great seeing someone stepping it up to fill one of our weakest positions on the team: 2B. We started the spring with a long list of wanna-be's and promising candidates: Hernandez Arroyo Marwin Chavis Arauz Munoz Downs While this list may look weak, in some ways, it should not be surprising that one did well (so far).

While .327 is not great for a lead off hitter, that's what Kike has done the last 14 days, so maybe he'll heat it up, soon. I'm not defending Kike as our lead off hitter, but he has been better than .289, lately. (.333 last 7 days)

Hand pick the best and most recent Short Stop sample size in Bogey's favor: 2018-2021, and yes, he's the best offensive SS in MLB by almost any measure. He even leads in fWAR, which factors in defense. 14.3 Bogey 14.1 Lindor 13.5 Story

Arroyo is doing his best to win a FT role.

Bobby DEEEEEEE!

Keep it going.

We had and still have many question marks about our pitching and defense- not so much batting. Richards was not much more of a question mark than Kluber and Taillon. Pivetta has always had nasty stuff, but you could say that about countless failed starters and pitchers. The ERod question was only about COVID, not TJS or being injury prone. It seems that question has been answered, although relapses are not uncommon. Perez was never counted on being much more than maybe a decent 5th starter, who could hold the fort down until Sale came back. Houck was depth and a bit of a question mark due to his small sample size of ML success. Our pen looked way worse than the Yanks, on paper, and they likely will end up much worse. I'm not so sure about the starters, now that we know more about ERod, and Richards looks healthy. Our offense can be as good as anyone's. Our defense is easily bottom 10 and likely bottom 3-5.

We all have seen how JD has been Mr. Clutch, but check out these 2021 "Late & Close" numbers: 1.727 Verdugo (1.950 High Leverage) 1.250 Arroyo (.800) 1.194 JD (1.007) 1.159 Marwin (.814) .958 Vazquez (1.067) .829 Dalbec (.633) .818 Devers (.528) .819 Team (.781) .619 Renfroe (.393) .495 Bogey (.533) .400 Cordero (.833) .182 Kike (.747) .000 Plawecki (.000)

So far, this year, the Sox are... .858 vs RHPs .728 vs LHPs (.889 when a RH'er starts/ .674 when a lefty starts.)

Sox OPS Last 14 Days: 1.088 Devers 1.077 JD 1.056 Verdugo 1.039 Bogey .872 Hernandez .837 Arroyo .766 Vazquez .749 Dalbec .696 Cordero .631 Marwin .607 Plawecki .571 Renfroe Pitcher by IP and ERA/OPS Against- last 14 days 18 Eovaldi 3.44/.646 14 Perez 5.93/7.85 10 Richards 1.80/.606 10 ERod 3.60/.671 10 Pivetta 5.59/.896 7.0 Barnez 1.29/.255 5.2 Andriese 0.00/.634 5.2 Whitlock 0.00/.000 5.1 Sawamura 3.38/.730 5.1 Houck 5.06/.864 5.0 Valdez 3.60/.387 4.2 DHern 0.00/.600 4.2 Taylor 1.93/.578 3.1 Ottavino 8.10/.764 3.0 Brice 9.00/1.227 1.0 Bazardo 0.00/.400

I figured most Yankee fans still feel that way about the Sox, and honestly, I can't blame you. We seem to have more weaknesses, on paper, than the Yanks and Jays. I think we look better than the Rays, but they almost always surprise to the good.

Are the Sox really serious contender? MLBTR asked readers... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/boston-red-sox

Most young pitchers are "working on something" they want to improve or add. Maybe all he needs to work on is being stretched out for longer and longer outings.

No doubt, your bats have been a big issue and maybe the main one, but don't overlook these numbers: 1) Cole (1.82 ERA) and Montgomery (4.24 ERA) have started 7 of your 15 games. That ain't going to continue the rest of the year. That number should go from 47% to about 41 or 42% by the end of the year, assuming neither gets hurt. 2) These starters have put your pen and your bats in very tough situation, often very early in games: 6.10 Kluber (3 GS/ .971 OPS against) 7.56 Taillon (2 GS/ 1.076) 9.00 German 2 GS/ 1.124) 18.00 Nelson (1 GS1 1.371) That's 53% of you GS'd. Those numbers are as horrific or worse than most of your hitters. PAs Player OPS 60 Torres .552 55 Hicks .476 55 Stanton .609 40 Frasier .472 39 Bruce .466 26 Odor .442 8 Tauchman .286 That's 51% of your PAs. I'd argue both are pretty close to being the co-leaders in Yankee weak spots.

With a 26 man roster, and our great need for good young pitching arms, he isn't going anywhere. We can find him all the innings he needs at the big level. The only problem that may occur, is if he starts sucking, and we want to keep him pitching, but not at the expense of the big club. (That's a real possibility, but I'm trying to stay positive, this year.)