moonslav59

He shouldn't make much more than the minimum in his arb, so I don't see any reason why we wouldn't bring him into ST'ing and give him a shot. Just glue his glove to his hand.

I remember that hit, too. It seemed like it was still going up when it hit the tower or transformer- whatever it was.

Would anyone really have wanted Williams to try and change his swing and go to LF more often? Teddy was the best hitter of all time. You don't mess with that or criticize him. (Not that anyone was.)

We're 23-5 in our last 28. We have the best winning percentage of any team in Sox history, and we've done this all with a lot of players out hurt or playing while injured: Ex-MVP Dustin Pedroia out pretty much all season Our #3/4 starter, Pomeranz, missing about half the season, so far. Our #5 starter, ERod out for over a month (or more). Our #6 starter, Wright, missing over 2 months and counting. Our expected #2/3 RP'er, Carson Smith, pretty much missing the whole year. Our expected #2/3 RP'er, Thornburg just now pitching after missing about 3 months. Our #1 starter, Sale, on the DL, now. Our starting 3Bman, Devers, on the DL. Our starting catcher, Vaz, on the DL. Our new starting 2Bman, Kinsler, on the DL. Our back-up catcher, Swihart, on the DL. Our utility guy, Marco Hernandez, out all year. Our RP'er depth hurt by Austin Maddox missing all year and others out here and there. MVP candidate, Betts, was on the DL for a stint. Moreland, Velazquez & Nunez (maybe Bogey now) have been playing hurt and out for a few days here and there. The only guys who have stayed healthy all year are: JD Beni JBJ Leon Holt Porcello Kimbrel Barnes Kelly Hembree Johnson Mr. Tingles missing a little time.

He needs time in AAA to work on his game.

Wonderful way to end the week. The Yanks are now fighting for a playoff berth while injured, battered and discombobulated. The A's just traded for Fiers and are 33-10 recently. While the Yanks still have the second best record in MLB, they are just 2.5 games up on the A's for home field advantage for the play-in game. The M's are 5 back but sputtering right now.

Best Sox Winning Percentages of All Time .699 2018 (season in progress- on pace for 113 wins) .691 1912 .675 1946 .669 1915 .623 1949 (2nd place) .619 1948 (2nd place) .612 1942 (2nd place) .610 1950 (3rd place) .607 1978 (2nd place) .605 2004 (2nd place- WS Champs) .602 1977 (2nd place) .599 2013 WS Champions 18. .593 2007 WS Champions

The A's just may catch them. There something like 33-10 in their last 43 games for the best record in MLB in that stretch. They are 2.5 games behind the Yanks, but it will also take Seattle turning things around to oust the Yanks from the playoffs. Maybe it's a pipe dream, but it would be so sweet to see the Yanks keep on collapsing. They just played a long game last night and get right back at it today after traveling. No games off until the 20th and then a double header on the 25th vs their nemesis- the O's. @CWS for 3 vs TEX for 4 vs NYM for 1 vs TBR for 3 vs TOR for 3 Day off @MIA for 2 @s BAL for 4 in 3 days vs CWS for 3 vs DET for 4 @OAK for 3 Day off @SEA for 3 @MIN for 3

He still got way more than his share of hits, regardless of the shift, so there was no need to adjust.

Yes, I meant to mention that. The shift has killed JBJ, and he has failed to adjust to that aspect of the game.

Yes, now it is, but at the time of the trade it was about what the market value was. I have mentioned how this fact has changed my initial view of the trade, which I originally hated. I still think it was an overpay, but the financial part was not bad.

Good points. I mentioned Blair and think he was probably the best in my lifetime. I forgot about Darren Lewis. He was right up there with Lynn and Miller just a small notch below JBJ, IMO.

Exactly, and anyone who was closely watching the Sox would have seen it for themselves. Here is the disconnect: BAbip: .371 JD .349 Pearce .349 Betts .341 Beni .311 Holt .308 Moreland .302 Bogey .301 Swihart .298 Nunez .292 Devers .283 HRam .277 Leon .270 JBJ .240 Vaz One would expect the next list to be in close to the same order: Hard Hit% 48 JD 46 Betts 39 Bogey 39 JBJ 36 Moreland 35 Pearce 35 Devers 31 HRam 31 Leon 31 Swihart 29 Beni 27 Vaz 27 Holt 25 Nunez or this one.... soft hit% 10% JD 10% JBJ 13 Betts 15 Pearce 15 Bogey 15 Beni 18 Vaz 20 Leon, Swihart & Devers 21 Holt 28 Nunez

It's not just about being capable of defense: it's the comfort level pitchers feel with certain catchers behind the plate.

In all fairness, that was Bogey's first non-throwing error of the season.

...and Vaz.

We can afford to give him a longer look than we might want. It helps rest other starters, and if he can get to first half 2016 or all of 2017 form, he can be better than Johnson, Eovaldi and even ERod. I'd like to see him get 2-3 more starts at least. He could end up being a key pen arm by the end of the season.

I think his very quick jumps in the exact right direction every time makes his range better than just "good/very good." He also takes very long strides which makes it look like he's making up less ground than a player who takes more steps to get to the same ball (or not get to it).

Our pen has the second best WAR since 2017. Even the WAR doubters should understand that we have to do a lot of things right to get that ranking. Barnes gets no to little respect. Kelly has been awful at times, as has Kimbrel, butoverall, our pen keeps quietly getting the job done a heck of a lot more than 28 other teams. Sure, I'd like a lights out set-up man added, but our pen, as is, IS NOT A WEAKNESS!

I don't think Chavis deserves the #1 ranking and I'd move him past Groome and Casas for now. To me, it might be between Mata and Dalbec with Houck close by. Once Groome comes back, things might change.

He has been hitting a lot of hard outs since 5/12, so I'm counting the whole time afterwards as "turning it around." Just keep like you're doing since 5/12 and nobody will complain.

Smart and smarter.

Perhaps his greatest play this year or ever, the one where he did dive towards the LF wall, I heard was rated as 40% catchable. I think he's getting the short end of the stick on some of the defensive metric ratings. I used to think it was because of the way he makes tough plays look easy or that he's not one of the the fastest CF'er in MLB, but now, I'm not so sure. He is certainly, IMO, the best defensive Sox CF'er I've ever seen.

...and Porcello & Sale.