moonslav59

soxprospects.com ...a scorching-hot Sam Travis, who was 5 for 6 with two doubles, making him 11 for 19 in the four-game set.

Fair enough. I guess I just don't see Henry as being the main driving force behind any baseball-related philosophy. I could be wrong. I see him as the brains behind the business end of the management team, of course, signing "splashy free agents" older or not, could be a big part of the "business end".

It seemed with the mighty 6 starters we had, not many borderline 5/6 slot starters saw much of a chance to break into the Sox rotation, so they chose places where they had a better chance to earn a starting slot.

But, if he made that statement after being convinced By LL, then I'd pin the blame on LL. The other issue is that the philosophy of over 30 pitcher signings changed from Ben to DD, so both were operating under different restrictions/guidelines.

In general, I agree, but a boss is a boss is a boss.

Got that right. Our pitching numbers in starts only... 4-2 2.15 Sale (8 GS/59 IP) 2-1 3.12 ERod (7/40) 2-5 4.23 Porc (99/55) 3-3 5.29 Pom (7/34) 1-3 8.25 Wright (5/24) 1-0 7.20 Johnson (1/5) 0-1 10.80 Velazquez (1/5) 0-2 12.96 Kendrick (2/8)

Agreed. Had we still had Espi...

Yes, MLBTR had something about it about a week ago.

I read we were looking at Quintana too

I might trade Pom Pom for him though.

Hard to argue at this point in time.

I think Moncada ends up a better hitter, but he may turn out to be the most physically talented DH in MLB history.

Comparing WAR numbers between a DH and a positional player is skewed. Had Papi played even slightly below average 1B defense for his whole career instead of DH, he'd still be ahead. That being said.... Fangraphs' offensive numbers only Papi 405.3 in 10991 PAs Trout 344.8 in 3720 PAs Trout is still going to blow by papi!

He also knows how to defend a position without embarrassment.

Last 365 days' OPS .935 Betts .852 HRam .822 Young .811 Leon .803 Beni .802 Pedey .790 Bogey .768 Moreland (with Sox only) .759 JBJ .739 Swihart .709 Holt .677 Marco .636 Vaz .517 Rutledge

Just giving the facts. I have said over and over, I trust Sox management to know when Devers is ML ready. When they think he's ready, I'm fine with their timing. (I'm wondering, if they might move him to AAA first. It's not like Matt Dominguez is setting himself up for a call-up.)

The sad thing is, he's probably still a better fielder at 3B than Pablo and Marco. His bat vs LHPs is likely projected to be better as well. Career UZR/150: -24.2 3B (232 innings) -20.8 SS (1115 innings) -7.7 2B (274 innings) +24.8 1B (5 innings) Pablo at 3B: 2017: -11.9 (139 inn) 2015: -21.9 (1035 inn) Marco: Career at 3B -26.4 (131 inn) Some very small sample sizes, especially for using UZR/150.

Sox 2017 XBH% 12.3 % Betts 11.1% Moreland 9.2% Vaz 8.3% Leon 8.3% Young 8.1% Bogey (still no HRs) (7.7% MLB) 7.0% Beni 6.4% JBJ 6.4% HRam 5.7% Pedey OBP .396 Bogey .395 Rutledge .369 Vaz .368 Betts .358 Moreland .355 Pedey .355 Beni .340 Young .336 HRam .300 Hernandez .277 JBJ .274 Leon .269 Pablo

Good analogies.

Gray has no dingle berries!

..and credit as well, yes.

I played softball with an incredible power hitter who only pulled the ball no matter where the pitch was. The problem was, he always hit tape measure HRs that were mostly foul balls to LF. The opponents eventually started placing their LF'er right on the line, and their CF'er in Left-center. One team even tried to put a fielder in foul territory, when he was up. No matter how we tried to change his approach, he just couldn't do it. Then, I suggested he change his stance, so his lead foot was pointed towards RF not the pitcher, so when he stepped into the pitch, his lead foot was now squared with the pitcher not the 3B line. It worked. He began hitting HRs to left-center and CF, but he had to take some time to adjust his vision and having his head turned so both eyes could see the pitched ball as he was facing RF to start his ABs.

Devers has posted an incredible .408/.517/.796 slash line in 15 games in the month of May. That's an OPS over 1.300 !!!!!

Michael Hurley... (July 2015) http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/07/23/hurley-somebody-needs-to-start-answering-for-red-sox-failure/' Some quotes... “Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox.” That made sense, and it helped explain Theo Epstein’s departure. It also seemed to be the driving factor in the team’s hiring of manager Bobby Valentine prior to 2012, when it looked like new GM Ben Cherington wanted Dale Sveum. This all made sense.... That’s left Cherington to serve as a sacrificial lamb of sorts...Cherington is always quick to shoulder some blame, but he still totes the team’s philosophy as being the right one.... “The last two years, we just haven’t delivered. That’s the bottom line. No one more responsible than me for that,” Cherington said Wednesday. “I can’t look at any specific, single transaction and look back and say that didn’t make sense or that didn’t fit into strategy or direction we were going in. The bottom line is just in aggregate, the results haven’t been there. That’s on us, and we know that our fans deserve a lot better than what we’ve delivered the last two years, our ownership deserves better, and it’s up to us to figure out a way to get better.” ...But is Ben deflecting blame by pointing to the “strategy or direction” of the team? We still don’t know how much influence he actually has on making some of the franchise-altering decisions. Because between John Henry talking about his philosophy of not paying pitchers over 30s and how Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox, it’s hard to know who’s in charge and who’s behind each particular move.

Eric Wilbur... https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2015/08/03/red-sox-fans-should-be-frightened-about-a-future-without-larry-lucchino Some quotes... “Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox,’’ principal team owner John Henry said in 2011. ...the guy who made the majority of the most important ones during the franchise’s glory years. It’s not like Lucchino didn’t have his blunders (hiring manager Bobby Valentine, low-balling pitcher Jon Lester, his icy relationship with former general manager Theo Epstein, allowing Dr. Charles Steinberg to play his tape of Neil Diamond’s greatest hits while brainstorming ideas back in 2002), but it’s important to note that two of the Red Sox’ most-misguided free-agent blunders over the past five years are both assumed to be thanks to, in large part, Werner’s influence. As former Boston manager Terry Francona wrote in his recent book, Werner, who you might remember, drove the San Diego Padres into oblivion under his ownership, asked the former Red Sox manager to “win in a more exciting fashion.’’ According to the book, the result was the team signing Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142-million deal. Pablo Sandoval and his Panda aura ooze being a Werner call, a way to sell the peripheral fan in the wake of a last-place finish and sell some hats to boot.