moonslav59

Gold Glove defense. Power Hitting for average Very good base runner Nice arm Having a RF like Fenway's makes Mookie is indespensable.

Are you hinting at ;ine-up construction issues?

Save percentage is not the best criteria to use for valuing closers, but here's a look at MLB's recent best closers: 2017 saves/chances Closer 47/53 Colome 41/45 Holland 41/42 Jansen 39/45 Knebel 39/49 Osuna 39/45 Rodney 35/39 Kimbrel 34/39 Diaz 34/38 Giles 32/33 Davis 30/34 Allen Others: 28/30 Iglesias 27/30 Ramos 26/29 Neris 24/26 Doolittle 21/23 Vazquez _________________________________ 2016 (Notice all the different names): 51/56 Familia 47/47 Britton 47/53 Jansen 47/51 Melancon 44/49 F Rod 40/43 Ramos 38/43 Dyson 37/40 Colome 37/43 Gomez 37/44 Robertson 36/39 Chapman 36/42 osuna 32/35Allen 31/33 Kimbrel 27/28 Jeffress ___________________________ 2015 51/53 Melancon 48/51 Rosenthal 43/48Familia 41/47 Boxberger 40/45 Street 39/43 Kimbrel 38/40 F Rod 38/44 Casilla 36/38 Jansen 35/37 Tolleson 33/36 Chapman 32/35 Perkins 30/32 Ziegler Look how many RP'ers are 1-2 blown saves away from being even or better than others.

I've always felt WAR is n0t a good measure for RP'ers. Before today's game, fangraphs had barnes with a higher WAR thaan Kimbrel. Weird since Kimbrel has more IP. Kimbrel was ranked 36th in MLB WAR for RP'ers in 2018. Combine 2017 & 2018: 3.6 Kimbrel 3.4 Osuna 3.4 Jansen 3.1 C Green 2,8 Miller 2.7 A Bailey 2.7 Knebel 2.5 Neshek 2.4 F Vazquez 2.3 Robertson 2.3 Madson 2.3 Chapman

We're 7-2 vs NYY, LAA & TOR NYY are 9-6 vs BOS, LAA & TOR

Sox and their opponents 4-2 vs TBR .333 - .478 TBR vs others 11-12 3-0 vs BAL .000 - .308 BAL vs others 8-18 3-0 vs LAA .000 - .654 LAA vs others 17-9 2-1 vs NYY .333 - .692 NYY vs others 18-8 2-1 vs TOR .333 - .593 TOR vs others 16-11 2-1 vs KCR .333 - .259 KCR vs others 7-20 2-0 vs MIA .000 - .407 MIA vs others 11-16 1-2 vs OAK .333 - .461 OAK vs others 12-14 Differential: .654 LAA .407 MIA .359 NYY .308 BAL .260 TOR .145 TBR -.074 KCR -.074 OAK As you can see, the teams we beat by more than their record against others are the better teams like the NYY and LAA. Let's now look at the NYY: 5-4 vs TOR .444 - .619 vs others 13-8 4-0 vs MN .000 - .456 vs others 10-12 3-0 vs LAA .000 - .654 vs others 17-9 2-0 vs TBR .000 - .481 vs other 13-14 1-0 vs DET .000 - .464 vs others 13-15 1-1 vs MIA .500 - .370 vs other 10-17 1-1 vs HOU.500 - .655 vs others 19-10 1-2 vs BOS .667- .778 vs others 21-6 1-3 vs BAL .750 - .200 vs others 5-20 Differential .654 LAA .481 TBR .464 DET .456 MN .155 HOU .111 BOS -.130 MIA -.550 BAL Being undefeated vs 4 teams (including 1-0 vs DET) makes the yanks look better than the Sox in these comps, but look at the 2 teams that did better vs NYY than the rest of MLB.

Ever think that part of the reason the teams we played have a worse record is because we beat them by more than the teams the Yankess beat?

If moonslav reads this, I would like his thoughts on CERA with respect to Leon and Vazquez. I liked our staff before the season started. We've had many pitcher injuries and still we are 3rd in pitcher WAR and ERA-. I give some credit to Vaz & Leon for that. It's not something easily quantifiable. I often catch grief for only dealing with numbers and data, but there are many opinions I hold based on just my beliefs. This is one.

True, but the cost will be astronomical for a closer (IMO).

I agree. At least we get some compensation along with some budget space.

soxprospects.com on D Hernandez and others.... http://news.soxprospects.com/2018/05/notes-from-field-darwinzon-hernandez.html

Johnson is out of options. This might be his last chance with this club.

You mean when .... Wade Davis got $52M/3 Bryan Shaw got $27M/3 B Morrow got $22M/2 Greg Holland got $11M/1 (late)

I haven't read every post here, so forgive me, if I am repeating someone else's point, but I think we should (will?)... Offer Kimbrel a QO and let the chips fall where they may. If we lose him, we get some help on the farm, and some budget space to sign someone or keep someone we were about to lose. If he accepts, we have him for one more year within the window.

I caught the ending to the game this morning. What a great game, except for coming up short in the end. Kudos to the team for clawing back so many times. It's a shame Sale missed another chance to get a win, but he looked fine. Good to see Beni getting on base more often.

Cause he sucks.

I agree. Our budget is not unlimited. If we sign Kimbrel we lose elsewhere.

I said, they did not have a great closer or "established top level closer" as the point given that I responded to.

2014: SF's Sergio Romo had a nice year, but he was never considered a top 5 closer. KC was in the WS another year without a great closer. In 2013, STL had Mujica as a closer. The 2015 Mets got a great season from Familia, but does anyone think of him as a top closer?

We'll probably have to lose Pom or Porcello, even if we let Kimbrel walk. It might mean Pom & Porcello or one of them plus Bogey or JBJ.

There are 4 very tough AL teams this year: Boston Houston NY Yanks Cleveland All could win 94+ games.

I agree. A spot start here or there is fine, but it's nice having a guy who can give you 2-3 innings every 2-3 days.

His "value" does not exceed his contract cost. Nobody will take him without salary relief, and that relief counts against the luxury tax and put us over the $40M penalty phase. He's not going anywhere. Also, he obviously prefers the money over any chance at making a MLB career for himself.