moonslav59

Well, had we been able to trade Vaz, we'd have more budget space.

Thanks for the correction. For RP'ers, I personally, value WHIP more than ERA. 0.20 Workman 0.23 Barnes 0.80 Brasier 1.00 Thornburg 1.04 Velazquez (some as SP'er) 1.69 Hembree 1.85 Brewer Totals as RP'ers only: WHIP 1.21 ERA 3.61 (SP'ers: 1.87 WHIP/ 8.57 ERA)

I used to think Vaz was much better on D than I do now. He's probably still better than Swihart when you look at all the factors behind the plate, but he better start hitting or we'll be hearing a call for Leon to replace him- not Swihart.

Can you please take this to another thread? It has nothing to do with the Sox.

MLBTR reports... Longtime Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia should be available for the team’s home opener on Tuesday, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Assuming that all goes well in today’s game with Low-A Greenville, in which Pedroia will play all nine innings, he should be ready to be activated ahead of the reigning World Champions’ return to Fenway Park. He will be re-evaluated after Sunday’s game, but there is optimism that Boston will have its veteran second baseman back in the near future.

Like a 3.02 ERA and 1.006 WHIP in April while pitching for ice box teams like the CWS and Red Sox.

...and his first half numbers are better than second half.

Now that Johnson is on the IL, it may be Velazquez starting each time, unless or until we call DHern up.

Not only that, here are the small sample size 2019 numbers of our top 4 RP'ers: IP -H -BB-ER 5.0 0 1 1 Workman 5.0 2 1 0 Brasier 2.0 0 0 0 Barnes 4.0 3 1 2 Thornburg 16 IP 8 H + BB 0.500 WHIL 2.25 ERA

Cora was maligned for starting Velazquez over Sale.Velazquez was maligned for not being Sale.

Moreland always seems to start each season hot. He's at 1.006 now. 2018: 1.000 on June 5th (.623 afterwards and ended at .758) 2017: 1.010 on April 19th and at .877 on June 13th (.689 afterwards and ended at .769)

Salty keeps exposing his low baseball IQ.

One bright spot: Workman, Brasier & Thornburg combined: 12 IP 5 H 3 BB 0.667 WHIP 2 ER 1.50 ERA

Thanks for the info on ignoring someone. I try to avoid it, but sometimes, it just needs to be done.

Yes, and he said "...could..."

Just make the playoffs, preferably by winning the division. Have our s*** together in October. That is all.

Great post. The data supports the idea that the catcher makes very little difference with ERod. (Other pitchers, however, clearly do better with specific catchers.) EEod with catchers: 3.78 Hanigan (221 PAs) 4.00 S Leon (415) 4.38 Vaz (1200) 4.44 Swihart (325) Now look at Sale: 2.42 Leon (1250) 4.06 Vaz (260) 0 PAs against with Swihart Price 2.83 Leon (769) 4.39 Vaz (1162) 5.30 Holaday (88) 5.73 Swihart (48) Not much difference with Porcello: 4.14 Leon (2030) 4.34 Vaz (583) 4.93 Swihart (524) The sample sizes with Eovaldi are very small... 2.95 Vaz (91) 3.86 Leon (146) 5.40 Swihart (23)

...and give him extra rest. (I thought we were going to start the season with a 6 man rotation, since we had no day off for a long time.)

I like the idea of giving Sale some extra rest, but I do not think this is the best time, for the reasons Jacko gave.

Well said, and I think that if we put, "in my opinion" before everything we say, maybe it would not be taken like we are saying "My opinion is the truth and yours isn't" type perception by the readers. Of course, nobody wants to type that before every statement, and we assume others take our statements in the context of it being an opinion. I understand that when someone throws data and stats back at someone, it gives a strong impression that you are trying to prove the other opinion is wrong, and it's easy to take that as a slight on ones intelligence or baseball acumen. The thing about stats is that, if you dig deep enough, you can probably find a stat that goes against the one presented, so they often "prove" nothing in a debate, unless it is a clear cut situation, like someone claims so and so has been in a slump, when in fact they have been hitting .400 in the last 4 games, .350 in the last 10 games and .340 in the last month. It's doubtful any counter data would be available. Another thing that kind of bugs me is that stat geeks like myself are sometimes viewed as people who don't understand the human side of the game, or have never played the game. Like it has to be one side or the other with not gray area or in betweens. I've played the game for many many years. I didn't make my college team, but I continued playing some pretty high level ball through college. I feel like I do understand the human and emotional side of the game. I've played on teams that weren't playing like a "team" and hated it. I've played on teams where we had each other's backs and were very supportive. I've played with some great players who were total selfish *******s and some that were great teammates. I've played high level football and basketball with and against players that went pro. I'm not Steve Urkel. I realize other have played and/or coached at higher levels than I have, and I'm not the most knowledgeable poster on this site, especially about players on other teams, and I respect a lot of posters on this site, including many I disagree with often. Sorry for rambling on, here, but I wanted to let you guys know where I'm coming from. We all love the Sox, many in differing ways. I still have very high hopes for this team, and I am truly pulling for Swihart to do better than Leon ever did with us.

The comment about me implying it is "all about Leon." was off base and untrue, and I over-reacted. I apologize. I've gone out of my way to say this couldn't possibly be all about Leon of even mostly about Leon. My one sarcastic and mocking post towards Swihart's great offensive start was in poor taste, and I can see how that one post could be taken out of context. Yes, at time I and others bombard posters with stats and data to try and support our position, but I think I try not to be condescending or act superior. I can see how it can be taken that way in the heat of a deep or spirited debate. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, and BW probably had something to do with it, but when you say something like this... Once again anyone who knows one goddam thing about baseball understands the importance of the catcher pitcher relationship. if you feel that Leon's presence made that much of a difference last year then great. I don't share your thoughts. I get the impression that you think I am implying you don't know a goddamn thing about baseball, because you don't agree or don't "get my point." I know you understand my points, unlike BW, except for that post that said I have implied it's "all about Leon." I'm fine with others having different views, in fact I enjoy it. I know you know a lot about baseball and respect the importance of a great relationship between a catcher and his staff. We disagree on the magnitude of the aspect of the game, and I'm hopeful Swihart can quickly build a rapport withe the starters he has been assigned to catch. I know I might give too much credence to the whole CERA-related skill set argument, and I feel like I have tried to not give full weight to the CERA numbers by projecting the wide differentials the past data has shown would not continue in full. I projected something like half of the differential going forward. In this tiny sample size of our first few games, it has been 3 to 4 times the past differential, and I have not jumped all over the numbers to call for the return of Leon or the demotion of Vaz or Swihart. Never once. I'm not blaming Swihart or Vaz for anything. Maybe they made a half run difference, but that would not have changed our record by more than 1 game, at best, if any. I'm going to continue to not respond to BW and his countless lies about my positions, like his recent false rants on sequencing, and I wish there was a way to put him on ignore, so his posts would not be visible to me. Again, I'm sorry for jumping at you. You deserve better.

True. I shouldn't have vented my frustration towards the poor Sox start and BW's continued misrepresentation of my views on cp. I respect CP a lot, even when we disagree.

I asked my first grade nephew, if he knew what it meant. He nailed it after two seconds of thought. I rest my case on the reading comprehension skills (or lack there of) of Billy the Clown.

Speechless.

Come on Mookie!