moonslav59

Mookie is buttah! Nice to see JBJ score his 5th run in 6 games.

So then it begs the question, if he's not good enough to play under a bench happy manager like Cora, then just rip the band aid off and deal him when Pedey returns. If Nunez needs a DL stint, then call up Lin. The only regret would be an injury to a catcher shortly after trading Swihart. The again, it's not like finding another Sandy Leon will be difficult or costly.

Nunez is actually a better OF'er than IF'er, but that's not saying much. To me, Nunez looks hobbled. With Holt starting off well, I'd DL Nunez and give him 5-6 days off and 4-5 days to get back into the swing of things at AAA. By then, we'll see if JBJ is still ice cold or not and maybe give him a stint at AAA, if warranted. That buys Swihart a little more time, but I'm not sure if all this is worth it, if Swihart is eventually traded anyways. I guess if Vaz or Leon get hurt in the meantime, it might all have been proven to be worthwhile.

...and us stat guys get labeled as being insensitive, unaccepting and rigid.

Remember how upset people got when Swihart got hurt when playing LF? Imagine if JMart got seriously hurt playing in the OF just so JBJ could be benched.

Agreed, but I'd hate to trade him for what we will likely get (close to nothing). Once Pedey returns, we'll have to make a choice, even if the choice is just a temporary one that delays the dealing of Swihart.

We haven't really needed a stronger bench or more fleibility. Holt has done well, and Moreland's strong start has solved the issues with getting JMart some OF time (keeping him happy) and getting JBJ some time on the bench. Once Pedey returns, Nunez and Holt will offer one of the most "flexible" benches in recent Sox history. Where does Swihart fit in after Pedey returns? Insurance does seem to be the main reason to try and hold onto him. We could do this by deciding to let Nunez get some rest by DL'ing him, but Pedey will not be playing every day for a while, at least. Holt can cover the days he sits while DL builds stregth. We could also send JBJ down to AAA, if he hasn't shown life by the time Pedey is activated. I seriously doubt we send Holt down just to keep a guy who hardly ever plays like Swihart. It will be interesting to see how we handle this choice.

Strange that JBJ has drawn 4 BBs and been HBP 2 times in his last 8 games (29 PAs).

I heard that one. It didn't help. I sucked as a hitter. I walked enough to save face. My skills were defense and running.

It's rarely as simple as "dropping the hands". I was never a very good hitter, except in slow pitch softball. I got countless advice and suggestions. Most of the time, they messed me up more than helped, at least it felt that way to me.

His swing has always been on the "long side" of the norm, but he has managed to end up with a respectable OPS for 3 straight seasons. From 2015 to 2017 his OPS was .793, which placed 30th out of 87 OF'ers with 1000+ PAs. Clearly, he does not look like the hitter he was those 3 years, but during his long cold streaks in those years, he did look this bad, so I'm not sure what to make of this extended cold streak that goes back into last year. I still think he's got a hot streak or two in him this year. We'll see.

Our farm is about as shot as can be. Getting Machado would mean losing just about all prospect value plus maybe Devers or Beni. That's a nightmare, to me. Of course, I'd love to have Macahdo, and I might try to trade for him, if he a greed to a reasonable extension, but that ain't happening.

Pom may very well be the odd man out. Kimbrel will be very costly and may go as well. We'll sign somebody, if we lose both of them. Kelly may be back.

It would be a nightmare.

Not true. HRam not vesting pays the arb raises with maybe a little left over. Plus, we have Kimbrel, Pom & Kelly to re-sign (at a higher cost) or replace.

Yes. But if JBJ is benched and JMart DH's then we'd need Nunez or Swihart to play LF. If JBJ and HRam are benched... C- Vaz/ Leon 1B- Moreland (HRam) 2B- Pedey (Nunez) 3B- Devers (Nunez) SS- Bogey (Holt) LF- Nunez/Swihart (JMart/Beni) CF- Beni (JBJ) RF- Betts DH- JMart (HRam) HRam or JBJ will likely be in the line-up every game going forward.

Yes, June 3rd this might happen: 1) Swihart is traded 2) Nunez is placed on the DL (my choice) 3) JBJ is sent to the minors 4) Holt or JBJ are traded

Sox UZR/150 Numbers (50+ innings) 21.1 JBJ RF 17.7 Betts RF 10.6 Moreland 1B 7.4 HRam 1B 6.2 JBJ CF 4.1 Holt 2B 2.9 Lin SS 2.1 Holt SS 0.7 Bogey SS -0.3 Beni LF -2.5 Devers 3B -2.9 Nunez 2B -5.9 Beni CF -11.2 JD LF DEF 2.0 JBJ 1.9 Betts 1.5 Vaz 1.5 Bogey 1.4 Holt 0.7 Nunez 0.5 Lin 0.2 Leon -0.1 Devers -0.5 Swihart -0.6 Moreland -1.8 Beni -3.0 HRam -6.2 JMart '

By the time Pedey returns, Holt might be slumping, but as of now, he looks like he belongs in the top 9, if we go by offense only.

The problem with the "eye test" is not because it is not stat based. To me, the problem is that no one person observes every play of every player being compared. Sample sizes of non Sox player observations are too small for any definitive comparative evaluation. Although I try like hell to not be biased when I observe our own players and compare them to our opponents' players in any given game or in the totality of all games I watch, I know that bias has to creep into my final judgement based on observations alone. I know many people think I look at the numbers more than the game, or that I let the numbers form my opinions, that's not actually true most of the time. Usually, I observe something, formulate my opinion, and then check if the data supports my opinion. When it does not, I try to observe more closely and see if the data appears wrong to me or if perhaps my initial observations were faulty. For example, when Ellsbury first came up, I thought he was a great fielder. I was shocked to see his numbers did not support my opinion. I started watching more closely and realized he often got late breaks, took wrong angles and as I always knew, had a noddle for an arm. I then started arguing against posters who I used to be on their side with. Then, as time went by, Ellsbury actually started improving, and I had to change my opinion again based on my observations and the data. (In my opinion, he never became a significant plus on defense, although some data said he was.) Now, back to observations. We both love defense, and I respect you for that and also your opinions that I do not always agree with. I have no issues with anyone saying, "JBJ is a great OF'er" based on what you see and no data what so ever. To me, the problem arises when someone wants to say JBJ is top 5 or 10 or 15 based on just personal observations. I just don't think that opinion is valid, even if that person might watch a lot of games without the Sox playing in them. I don't think that someone using data to say that JBJ is just the 10th or 14th best CF'er in MLB necessarily negates personal observations that indicate he is great. There very well might be 15 great defensive OF'ers in MLB today, and there is a chance JBJ is somewhere between the 10th and 15th best. In my heart, I don't think that's true, but I have seen a lot of great defensive OF'ers in games vs the Sox, and the assorted numbers seem to show JBJ is somewhere between 8th best and 14th best over a large enough sample size of 2-4 years. I'm okay with that. It doesn't bother me that the data looks a little off. It just makes me look more closely, or maybe think the data might be a little skewed, although not enough to render them useless. To me, UZR/150, DRS and the Fielding Bible are all vastly superior to Flg%, RF/9, CS% and all the other old data we used to use to supplement our opinions. They are all not perfect, but they are based on something one person cannot do: they are based on human observations of every play in every MLB game. Yes, bias can play a factor in this data. Yes, how the data is weighted and formulated might be somewhat flawed. Yes, it should never be used to definitively value a player with no arguments allowed. I apologize, if I have ever used data in a way that makes someone knowledgeable of the game feel like their opinion is not valued or respected. I know I throw numbers around in ways that may be taken as obliterating someone else's point of view, but I do not intend to come across like that. We all know a good player when we see one. The eye test is not without value. The tough part comes when we try to compare a player to others we barely watch.

Even assuming Pedey never gets back to 100%, he should be a vastly superior fielder than the hobbled Nunez and a healthy Nunez by a lesser degree. Replacing Nunez with Pedey should improve the offense AND the defense- something the JBJ situation does not do. The other plus is that now Nunez replaces Swihart on the bench. That could be a huge upgrade, if Nunez gets his s*** together, or gets a chance to rest and build up his health.

Or, if HRam keeps getting on base at a .225 clip, we play JBJ anyways, and HRam does not vest.

Yes, but mostly we are hearing about JBJ & Vaz. People have quieted down on Leon thanks to a tiny sample size of recent success.

I'm thinking we should start sitting HRam more often, and if that means JBJ gets more playing time than recently, so be it.

Well, thanks to some HBPs and BBs, JBJ has gotten on base more than HRam over the last 14 days: . OBP .280 JBJ .267 Nunez .224 HRam .224 Devers .194 Vaz