moonslav59

I agree, and there has been other times in his career where his velo is 93-95, and he was still effective. Maybe it's the new balls. It seems slider pitchers are having a hard time this year as the breaks are not as much as they used to be. Sale needs to adjust. I think he will. I just don't know how long it will take. 1 game, 1 month, 1 year or longer?

That's a lot of knowledgeable people who think he has been top 6. It will be interesting to see where they rank him this year. BTW, while I have respect for the fielding bible, none of them see every CF play every game and play. notin pointed out some defects in the metric, most notably that Betts takes some tough plays away from JBJ, and the wall on the other side as well. I'm not trying to claim the UZR/150 numbers are completely accurate. My point is I trust their numbers more than my own eyes, because my eyes have seen just 162 games a year of other CF'ers, and that is a wildly small and unbalanced sample size. How good a replacement level player is on defense is directly related to how good the 30 players are at this moment in time. The fact is, JBJ could probably be replaced by an excellent defensive AAA player who may hit .100 in MLB and not be missed on defense.

I think I read somewhere that 3 year sample sizes should be used when looking at UZR/150. Of the 22 CF'ers with 1500+ innings, JBJ ranks 8th at +4.5. I see several OF'er below him that are very good fielders from what I know.

I'm a huge JBJ fan. I'm a huge defense fan, especially up the middle. I love JBJ's defense, but I don't think he is the best CF'er in MLB. I'm not even sure if he's top 10 anymore. I would think, based on my own observations, which is severely limited on non Sox CF'er observations, he is top 20, but I'm not sure. I see a lot of very good to great CF'ers these days. Many are making great plays against us. Perhaps JBJ has slipped to the bottom 10, which may mean he is close to "replacement" level on defense. Many AAAA OF'ers' only skill is defense. IMO, JBJ's defense is still better than "replacement," but I think it has slipped. The dWAR and UZR/150 numbers are flawed, but they are still better than my own opinion. That doesn't mean I think they are right on everything. I have always claimed they are not perfect. I stick to my point, and I don't think little leaguers are as good as JBJ, but my guess is many AAA CF'ers can field very very well.

Man-O-Man! 52 BBs and 21 HRs in 11 games.

Yet many will remember just the pen got the loss.

Batting Beni 5th is a mortal sin.

Did you see the line shot he pulled foul? Of course, he could "get around."

...and a small orange Fanta!

lmao!

What is replacement level defense in CF, this year? It could be great defense, if we have 30 excellent defensive CF'er. (Just a hypothetical- not a statement of fact.) Unless you really know how good every other CF'er is, you can't say JBJ's defense is above "replacement level value."

Beni looks worse at the plate. Beni looks worse in the field. Beni looks worse on the base paths. Until last night, his arm looked worse. Players have poor stretches all the time, even on their upside to their prime, but this total decline is very troubling. I try not to be overly influenced by small and recent sample size, but I'm getting very fed up with Beni. He's a guy that could have taken a step up to help compensate for the likely step downs Betts and JD were going to have this season. Bogey and Devers have done their part: Beni has not.

Yes, the run support our #5's have gotten is mind-boggling. My point was that we need to find more wins from what we've seen up to now, from our 1-4 slots.

Maybe, but all 3 moves were made after these last two gut-wrenching losses. What did they say was Wright's new injury? Had Nunez gone 3 for 4 last night, would he still be here? The Velazquez choice makes sense, in light of the long stretch of games we face.

If you take away Price from all 3 sample sizes and ERod from the last 2, the numbers would be shockingly horrible. Yes, the pen has sucked, but they never were expected to be even good. Our starters were supposed to be top 3 or 4 in MLB at the start of the season. They have come up woefully short.

The starters put us in a massive hole in April. Blame Cora, if you must, but the starters sucked for 5-6 starts each, except for Price. The starters had a very good May, but other than ERod & Price, they have sucked ever since. 5 horrible weeks, 4-5 great weeks and then crappy ever since- as a whole. SP'ers only: First 30 games: 5.39 ERA 5.07 IP/GS Next 32 games: 3.64 ERA 5.49 IP/GS Last 32 games: 4.88 ERA 5.14 IP/GS This year reminds me of 2014 and the bid rotation sell-off, let-down year.

He did do very well at the start and had some big hits as he struggled afterwards. That being said, he should have been DFA'd weeks ago.

DD seems to be getting very reactive, recently. Wright sucks and gets placed on the "phantom?" IL. Nunez sucks again and get's DFA'd. Velazquez sucks and gets demoted. Weber and Travis are not solutions, my friends. We need to make a deal for a RP'er YESTERDAY! Moreland will replace Travis, but we need to replace Weber and Walden on the 25 man roster. Give Cora a couple new tools (2 solid RP'ers) and tell him that's it: sink or swim. Prepare for a sell-off, if things don't improve.

Believe it or not, most GMs do not value players on just recent performance levels. I'm not saying he has great trade value, but someone would give us something of value for him. He should not be DFA'd. Plus, he has options left, and we have 4-6 players on the 40 man roster right now with less value than he has.

If I was the GM, I'd look to make a move or two like the Cashner deal. Far away prospects for two solid but not spectacular RP'ers. I'd then get on the phones to set myself up for a big fire sale, if we don't show signs of life by the deadline. I would not go over the max budget line. I would not make any blockbuster deal, until the team we have (after the 2 trades) determined which fork in the road we take at the deadline: 1. Do nothing and ride these horses to the end. 2. Have a massive sell-off looking to reset the tax in 2020 and be relevant again as soon as 2021. That would mean trading every FA to be that has value- Porcello, Moreland, Cashner, Holt (perhaps bringing him back this winter) and Pearce (likely no trade value, even if we pay 99% of his salary). I'd trade JBJ and even Betts, if I didn't think he'll extend with us. I'd trade Beni, if the return was good. 3. (Assuming #2 is chosen) I would not trade Sale with his stock this low. I would avoid trading Price, since I expect us to be good again by 2012, but he will be older then, so I'd listen to offers. I'd keep Bogey, Devers, ERod, Vaz and probably Barnes, Marco, Workman (FA after 2020) and maybe Chavis. For returns on trades, I'd look for young, cost-controlled players that will be ready or near ready by 2021. Reset the luxury tax in 2020 with the idea that we'd spend large in 2021, perhaps even going over the max line, which would not be as devastating as now, since it would be after a reset. Maybe extend Betts at that time. Maybe Sale bounces back by then. I'm not advocating a fire sale, right now, but we have to be ready for it to happen. You can't just sell off everyone without planning it out.

R. I. P. Eduardo.

Yes, I'm fine with Cashner taking the 5 slot away from the merry-go-round, but we can't expect a big boost on a 10-8 record we've gotten so far from our 5 slot. We need the big 4 to start pitching like the big 4 and not the big 2 (Price & ERod).

The loyalty thing has always been turned to a weakness with Sox GMs and managers. Nunez helped us once, and we kept trying to get him to repeat those days, despite the fact that his body was breaking down all along.

I had JBJ listed as a trade and Betts, if we can't extend him.

True, but we have been 10-8 in 5th starter games, and Johnson had done well for his last 2 starts, before the stomach thing.