moonslav59

It's not like DD didn't spend his last winter here. I could be wrong, but I think he spent more than Bloom the next winter- mostly on re-signing Eovaldi and Pearce and extensions.

I do think there is a some validity to the philosophy that calling someone up, too soon, can slow development of harm a kid's confidence or that much value can be lost by waiting too long. I have always trusted our management to know when the time is right or at least to know more than I do about it. If they think he's ready, I'll trust them. Personally, I think he needs more time due to being relatively new to the OF, and the fact that he has recently made some pretty major adjustments to his hitting approach. We all know Boston is not an easy place to be thrown into the spotlight. The comp to Ellsbury is interesting. Ells did kind of learn on the fly. He had some ups and downs, early on, and it took a while for his D to become a plus, but I do think he turned out to give plus value over his first 2 seasons combined- the first was a late call-up. I'm still leaning no, but I, too, am more open to the idea than I was in December.

MLBTR Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will return to the mound Saturday when he throws two innings in a simulated game, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com relays. That’s welcome news after Rodriguez missed all of last year because of myocarditis and COVID-19. Rodriguez was one of Boston’s top pitchers during the previous couple seasons, and as a pending free agent, the 27-year-old is heading into a pivotal campaign.

We could sign JBJ and both JBJ and Duran help us get somewhere exciting, this fall.

So, keep doing what we've been doing, and a ring is just around the corner.

I'll say Duran hits .290 and several posters gush.

They sure got Moose wrong.

Still, nothing on JBJ or Odorizzi.

Best Shape of his Life (Sucking it in, hard.)

Might be just talk to boost the kid's confidence, but if they meant what they said, I hope they are right. Cordero as the "fall back" is pretty sketchy.

Is that you, jacko?

When Pedro & Nomar played together, Pedro pitched over 185 innings plus in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004. He also pitched 217 innings in 2005. Only in 2001 did Pedro drop to 117 IP. He was a horse, until he went to the Mets, and even gave them a 217 inning season, year one.

Eovaldi starts Sinday. Richards Monday. Cordero may return in a week. Plawecki to be added back to the 40 man roster in a few days- roster move needed. https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2021/02/boston-red-sox-notebook-nathan-eovaldi-to-start-spring-opener-franchy-cordero-progressing-toward-return-situational-hitting-a-focus-in-camp.html

Hope this is good news. I remember the reports of Pablito slimming down.

True, and Davis had an even better OBP in the minors (.374). It's been .291 since 2016, which does not help much. (28 HRs per 650 since 2016). Career, it is .315. I'm optimistic with Bobby.

LOL! Surely, if he were a Yankee, Jacko would be projecting him over .900. I really like Dalbec and always have. I think he could end up over .850. He may have to make a few adjustments, so it's hard to know. Gotta love the guys OBP, which sets him apart from many big and young HR hitters. .359 MLB (92 PAs) .362 MiLB (1609) He's had 35 HRs in his last 657 PAs from AA to AAA to MLB. He had 32 HRs in 2018 in 543 PAs (A+ to AA).

Fangraphs projects: IP Pitcher ERA 160 Perez 5.09 (seems about right- was at 4.50 in 2020) 151 ERod 4.31 (hasn't been over 4.20 since 2016) 150 Eovaldi 4.47 (hasn't had 150 IP since 2015- ERA looks about right) 132 Richards 4.50 (hasn't had 77 IP since 2015- 3.53 ERA since 2015) 112 Houck 5.28(hard to project, but this seems a bit harsh) 94 Pivetta 5.20 (seems bout right, but I am optimistic, here) 86 Sale 3.40 (hard to project) 37 Seabold 4.99 (unknown) OPS Batter PAs .865 Devers 658 (I think Devers busts out, this season.) .854 JD M 644 (Would be nice- could be even better.) .853 Bogey 651 (I'm expecting neat .900.) .799 Verdugo 595 (I'm expecting over .850.) .776 Renfroe 476 (About right.) .750 EHern 427 (About right.) .747 Cordero 434 (Who knows?) .745 Arroyo 259 (Kinda high.) .742 Vazquez 464 (Has been at .798 from '19-'20.) .738 Gonzalez 336 (About right.) .731 Chavis 238 (About right.) .727 Plawecki 179 (Kinda high.) .693 Duran 196 (Who knows?)

.700>.850 (I'd bet on .790-.840ish)

Here might be a reasonable low to high projection for the 2021 Sox players: SP IP/ERA Low to High ERod 100/4.50> 180/3.70 Eoval 80/5.80> 180/4.00 Rich 80/4.50> 180/3.90 Sale 60/4.50> 120/3.50 Pivet 80/5.80> 160/4.50 Perez 100/5.00> 180/4.20 Houch 80/5.50> 150/3.90 OPS Bogey .880>1.080 Devers .790>.990 JD Mar .750>.950 Verdugo .770>.970 Dalbec .700>.850 Vaz .690>.840 Ren .700>.850 Hern .680>.830 Cord .550>.850 Gonzalez, Chavis, Arroyo & Plawecki: .550-.750

I realize the major factor in our rotation improving more than anyone else's is the fact that we were rock bottom, last year, but the fact remains, our rotation improved immensely, and these numbers support my claim. Even if you pro-rate our 2020 fWar or 0.5 to 1.2 over a full season, the improvement is by 11! That is astounding! It also had our pen at -0.5 fWAR, last year, which would project to -1.2 over 162 games. They have us projected at + 2.7, so here is another rather astounding projected gain of 3.9 fWAR. Our everyday players has a +7.1 fWAR, last year, which translates to +17.8 over 162 games. They have us at +20.1, this year- a modest 2.3 fWAR gain. Put it all together, and we should see a major improvement.

Paxton, at 20.1 IP in 2020, still placed 6th in starter IP in 2020, so don't pretend he didn't pitch. He was also a big part of the 2019 rotation, and I was comparing 2021 to 2020 and 2019. Here's the real deal: "far more upside" only counts for Yankee pitchers, to you. James Paxton already has had a 140 ERA+ season. How much "upside did and does he have?" Happ had a 125 ERA+ from 2016-2018 and had over 160 IP in 2018 and 2019. How much "Upside?" Tanaka was a huge part of your rotation. Yes, he was replaced by some big upside players, but none have done squat for 1-2 years. Why are ERod, Sale, Richards and Eovaldi all written off? I never hear you say the word "upside" with any of those 4 Sox pitchers. The fact is, on paper, the Yanks did not improve from 2020 or 2019. The Jays did. Every year, the Yanks face a lot of injuries, but you don't seem to chalk it up to being injury prone, like you do to Eovaldi & Richards. That being said, I do see the Yanks getting better due to players returning from injury and expecting you get something good from Kluber, Taillon and Severino, but in no way have you clearly gotten way better than the Jays, who added Springer and Semien and pen help. "Upside potential" is not something only Yankees have. How much upside is there for these Jays? Vlad turns 22, this year. The sky seems like the limit for this kid. (24 HRs and 102 RBI in his first 685 ABs) Bichette turns 23, this year. He already has an .896 OPS and a projected 35 HR per 162 game number. Gurriel turns 25, this year. He's hit .874 the last 2 years (31 Hrs in 600 ABs). Teoscar Hernandez turns 24, soon. He hiy .919 last year and has 42 HRs in his last 671 ABs. Rowdy Tellez turns 26, soon. He has a career .797 OPs (33 Hrs in 553 ABs) Cavan Biggio turns 26, soon. He has a .798 career OPS (24 Hrs in 574 ABs) Others: Grichuk (29): .770 since 2018 (34 HRs per 162 games) © Jansen (26): .668 career OPS (22 HRs in 548 ABs) Nobody is over 27. NOBODY HAS EVEN REACHED PEAK PRIME! Most are on the upside of their age-prime curve. Not many injury issues, either. MASSIVE Upside potential for 6-7 players above. Some may slump, but others could move off the charts to the good. Their rotation is the big question mark, and even if Kluber, Severino & Taillon give the Yanks very little, the Yankee ratation might still do better than a 100% healthy Jays rotation.

Agreed, and even if he gives only 80 IP, $2.5M might be a bargain.

The Yanks finished 7 games behind the Rays, who look to be significantly worse than last year- losing Snell, Morton and others and replacing them with bigger question marks than the Yanks & Sox added. The Yanks finished 1 game ahead of the Jays, who vastly improved over 2020. They added George Springer, Marcus Semien, Kirby Yates, Steven Matz and Tyler Chatwood. They have a lot of very young talent moving closer to prime. The Yanks lost 3 big innings eaters from 2019 and or 2020: Tanaka, Paxton & Happ. They replaced them with pitchers who are coming off injuries and have pitched very little in the last year or two: Kluber, Taillon, O'Day and Justin Wilson. Is this an improvement? Many teams have players returning from injury, some that played very little or not at all, last year. The Yanks probably have more of these players than the Jays and Rays, and a guy like Severino could provide a big boost mid season. While I agree, the Yanks look the best, on paper, than the Rays and jays, I thought they did, last year, too. I don't see a major improvement from the Yanks, like I see with the Jays, and I certainly would not call it "head and shoulders." Favorites? YES!

I'm kinda feeling that way, too. I really like Devers, a lot, but I'm not sure anyone is my favorite player, anymore. I grew to love baseball when the Seattle pilots moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers. I lived almost in the shadow of old County Stadium and remember going to Brewer games at a dollar a bleacher ticket. Tommy Harper quickly became my favorite player as he became one of the first 30-30 players in MLB with me watching & cheering. My family moved to Portland,Maine, and my first real friend was a huge Sox fan, so when Tommy was traded to the Sox, shortly after our move, I decided to switch to being a Sox fan. (I'm still aPacker and Bucks fan.) I've never looked back. I'm not sure I had one favorite player after Harper retired. There were so many players I loved- Lynn, Tiant, Burleson, Aparichio, Lee, Rice, Evans, Rico & Fisk were but a few, and the team's management bungled and traded most away. There were some tough times for many young Sox fans, in those days. I've always loved defense, especially at SS and CF, and when JBJ came into the Sox system, I was excited. Maybe I fell for the hype, but the guy was magical on defense. What was not to love? (Oh yeah, he sucked on O out of the gate.) He slumped a lot and had some red hot streaks, and I found myself defending him against a lot of attacks- maybe as much or more than anybody. I've caught some flack for pointing out his drop off on defense, and maybe I have overblown the drop. I still really respect JBJ and would love him to be in our CF for 2021 and maybe even 2022, but I thought he'd cost way too much. Perhaps, he will become affordable and I can squeeze a year or two more years out of him as my fave. I don't usually pick the best player as my fave. The Bucks won a ring while I was in Milwaukee, but Lew Alcindor (Jabbar) was not my favorite player, now was the big O or Lucius Allen. It was Bobby Dandridge. My favorite Packer player was not Bart Star or Ray Nitschke, but Lionel Aldridge and later, MacArther Lane.

Yes, I was talking about the jersey's but there was also the case where he came to a player's aid. When I first heard the story, I thought it was kind of funny. I figured he'd not be loved by management, but it didn't seem like a clubhouse issue between players or players and coaches.