moonslav59

Easy enough to do, and it may happen for September call-ups, but I think we wait until next year to add him. He's rule 5, so he will be added eventually. I guess it could be sooner rather than this winter.

Has anybody ever said something about an injury to Velazquez? There were times this year where he was hardly used after just showing he was pitching well. They called up Beeks rather than start him that time. He started twice in April (5.2 IP 1 ER and 5.0 IP 2 ER) and had a 2.05 ERA at the end of that month. He was then used just 7.2 innings in May (no starts). He was used a little more in June (13 IP) but still had no starts. He finally started on July 10th but went only 3 IP (49 pitches). He ended up with 14.1 IP's in July. He did not pitch in August until the 9th (2 IP 1 ER).

But, they don't, because the hitter with the shift on hardly ever hits the opposite way. He either can't (enough) or he won't (out of stubbornness?).

Okay, but he was at .167/.510 on May 12th and got up to .200 and .603 at separate times in early June before dipping back down to .178/.563 on June 23rd. Since .510 to .563 is a pretty significant rise, I'd count May 12th as his low point and May 12-June 23 as an improvement, although his numbers were not great in that time frame. They were "good enough", however, and the beef on JBJ has always been he can't stay "good enough" for long periods of time. It's now almost 3 months of decent to good hitting.

I looked it up. Sunday: 45-65% chance of rain from 1 pm to 6 pm, then it drops down to 15%-20% afterwards.

No problem. I've always been super high on Devers...maybe by too much.

I'm wondering about Bobby Poyner. .596 OPS against in AAA this year and looked pretty good when in the bigs (1.69 ERA). He's got a 9.7 K rate in the minors (1.9 BB/9).

It happens so infrequently that even if it does happen, it never outweighs the benefits of the shift. Otherwise, they'd stop doing the shift.It's also very dangerous only pitching pull hitters inside. They can then expect it and adjust accordingly. I'm curious to know if pitchers pitch more inside with the shift on than before they started using the shift on a particular player. I would guess, if they do, it won't be by much.

Dalbec actually started out strong and was ranked pretty highly by soxprospects.com before he got hurt (5th at the start of 2017). He had an 1.104 OPS with Lowell in 2016. Granted, that is low level and just 132 ABs, but still. The guy can hit. He had 21 Hrs in 420 ABs (with an OPS over .900) over his last 2 seasons at AZ. Even with all that, once can certainly view this season as a break-out year. He's got 29 HRs in just 368 ABs and is doing better at AA than he did at A+ (small sample size). This could be a huge boost to our farm's input into bettering the big club in years to come.

I think he'll hit 40 HRs someday. He's still only 21 and has been playing "above his level" from the start. I'm not sure I'd read too much into his .245 BA this year or .259 career MLB BA either. There's still a lot of hope he ends up hitting for average and power. .322 Rk '14 .288 A '15 .282 A+ '16 .300 AA '17 (.284 MLB in 240 PAs '17) .245 in 2018 MLB (407 PAs) Maybe the .245 is just a blip for the 21 year old. Devers hit .296 in the minors while facing pitchers several years older than him. He also has 26 HRs in his first 650 PAs of MLB. Don't you think a 20-25 HR estimate is a bit low?

JBJ is nearing the .700 OPS mark after being at .510 on May 12th. He's at .691 now.

I didn't mean to imply any hitter pulls 100%, and yes most likely any balls that did go the opposite way were outside pitches. My point was, if a batter goes the other way on outside pitches at a somewhat high rate, they would never have a shift put on them. It is batters who refuse or can't go the other way enough (inside or outside pitches) who have the shift placed on them.

Starter ERA the last 8 days (counting today): n/a Sale 1.50 Price 3.18 Pom 3.38 Eovaldi 6.43 Johnson 15.75 Porcello Last 14 days 0.90 Price 2.04 Eovaldi 3.38 Pom 5.79 Porcello 6.75 Johnson 2.04 Eovaldi 2.70 Price Last 31 days 0.00 Sale (2 GS) 0.00 ERod (1 GS) 1.64 Price (5) 2.04 Eovaldi (3) as a Sox player 3.62 Johnson (5) 4.70 Pom (3+1 as RP'er) 6.75 Porcello

10 Ks in 5 looks like the Price of old.

Most dead pull hitters will pull outside pitches, too. That's why they are called "dead pull hitters." I see pitchers going outside with the shift on- knowing the guy at the plate won't try to go the other way with it.

The bad news is, Price might be facing the Yanks. (Let's hope he does as well as the last game vs them.)

It looks like my 101-61 projection was a gross under estimate... Here is the first post of Part II It looks like the 2018 25 man roster is pretty much set. It's time for Part II. Link to Part I: http://www.talksox.com/forum/threads...at-2018-Part-I Here's a look at what I see might happen... My 2018 Projections (assuming no new injuries, which, admittedly, is not very realistic) Hitting PAs Player BA HR RBI (OBP/OPS/OPS) 720 Betts .300 30 110 (.375/.500/.875) 680 Beni .280 25 100 (.355/.445/.800) 650 Bogey .290 15 90 (.355/.415/.780) 600 JMart .290 45 135 (.380/.570/.950) 600 Devers .290 25 100 (.335/.465/.800) 600 JB Jr, .275 20 75 (.330/.420/.750) 500 Nunez .275 15 65 (.340/.430/.770) 450 HRam .270 15 70 (.335/.415/.750) 450 Vazq .260 8 50 (.320/.380/.700 400 Pedey .280 5 45 (.360/.390/.750) 400 Mi Mo .240 15 50 (.320/.400/.720) 350 Swi .265 10 35 (.330/.390/.720) 100 Leon .220 3 10 (.280/.360/..640) 100 Holt .270 2 10 (.320/.360/.680) Starting Pitchers GS/IP Pitcher W-L in starts ERA 33/210 Sale 24-9 3.00 32/200 Price 20-12 3.30 32/200 Porc 18-14 4.00 26/180 Pom 16-10 3.60 26/150 ERod 16-10 3.60 10/90 Wright 6-4 4.20 (some in relief) 3 by Johnson/Velazquez (1-2 5.00) Team: 101-61 (assuming no new injuries) Defense Ranking (out of 30): 6-9 Catcher: Assuming Swihart does not catch too often. 16-19 1B: Assuming HRam plays more than MiMo 14-17 2B: Assuming Nunez plays 2B 25-35% 23-26 SS: Assuming Bogey plays 155+ games here 26-29 3B: Assuming Devers plays 155+ games here 11-14 LF: Beni with JMart getting some time here 4-7 CF: JBJ 1-4 RF: Betts

He wouldn't have Betts getting on base in front of him, though.

Yes, Pedey has 3 years left, but may retire anytime, if he doesn't get healthy. Re-signing Bogey may be an issue, especially if we try to keep Betts, Sale and/or JD. Yes, there's time to figure it out, but it sure would help, if we could spend so little on 1B and 3B.

JBJ up to .670 now. .510 May 12 .548 May 27th .572 June 12th .612 June 27th .641 July 12th .653 July 27th .670 Aug 10th

Can we finally stop worrying about our offense?

How about WHIP? T8th at 1.25 Save% 3rd at 75% OPS against? I can't find this number. Inherited Runners Scored? T12th at 29% xFIP 5th at 3.77 LOB% 6th at 77.5% K-BB% 6th at 16.2% Hard Hit% T3rd at 30.1% WAR 4th at 5.0

Kinda like this game.

Could work out when Moreland's deal expires after '19. (Maybe Chavis is 1B/3B depth.) A bigger question might be who plays 2B & SS in 2020?

People on this site go gah gah or bonkers over 1-2 game sample sizes. I'm thinking Pom is going to get several looks from the pen. If he does well and keeps improving, he'll get even more and more looks. He has plenty of time to prove he belongs in the pen. I wouldn't bet on it, hoever. Also, people have already penciled Brasier into the 3rd or 4th RP'er slot based on less than 14 IP this year. Pom could get that before October.