moonslav59

I think he's a great pitching coach. Too bad he will never accept that demotion on this team. I have not had any major issues with in game choices- same as you. My main issues are seeing rampant lack of fundamentals and what I called a lack of "fire and desire". Both seemed to improve as the season ended, and I hate to think 2 or 3 games changes much, but as i said, I wanted JF gone before this year even started.

Since all 8 of our top 8 returning players by 2016 PAs declined this year- most by over 85 points, it's hard to choose which one or two to trade. Trading would also cause another hole to fill via another trade or signing. Our signings have not worked out too well, so it's hard to feel very confident in that method of fixing our higher need areas. There's a significant chance we trade the wrong guy or two, if that's the road we choose. Again, the major declines... The Young... JBJ .832> .835> .726 (-109) Beni .835> .776 (-59) Bogey .776> .802> .746 (-56) The middle aged... Leon .439> .845> .644 (-201) Holt .727> .705> .548 (-157) Young .773 (NYY)> .850> .709 (-141) HRam .717> .866> .750 (-116) Pedey .797> .825> .760 (-65) I'm sorry, but I just can't believe that all these guys are worse than I thought they were. All but HRam and Leon did worse in 2017 that 2015, too! Vazquez was our number 11 guy in PAs last year. We lost Papi and Shaw, so he is number 9 in returning players by PAs: Vaz n/a> .585> .735 (+150) So, who do you trade? We can't trade HRam. Pedey will probably not be dealt with his injury history and multiple years under contract. Young and Moreland are FAs. Bogey? Play Marco/Lin at SS? JBJ? Play Beni in CF and sign a LF'er? Leon? Won't get much back. I'm not saying I wouldn't trade any of our under performers, but selling low is not usually a winning strategy, and I don't see any prospects ready to step in for the player(s) we trade.

We were a plus on overall base running this year, according to the numbers. I liked the "aggressive" philosophy, but I did feel like we had more than our fair share of bonehead mistakes. I'm sure making bonehead mistakes was not part of JF's philosophy, and I have been careful to separate slightly over aggressive decisions from blunders, but I do feel JF could have had a better influence on lessening the lack of focus mistakes. Note: Fangraphs ranks us 10th on base running at +5.1.

In some ways yes, but I don't see how the Lackey decision negatively affected this year. Yes, I'd rather have Lester & Encarnacion than Porcello, Pablo, Moreland & HRam. The poster also does not credit Ben for supplying the stacked farm that allowed DD to acquire Sale, Pom and Kimbrel.

I think yes. I'm not sure about what our current "talent" value is. I realize I may have had expectations that were beyond these players' abilities. This would mean 2015 and 2016 were in some ways flukes or outliers for several players. Possible? Sure. probable? I think not. I'm not blaming JF for just about everyone's decline at once. I'm not sure how much of an influence or impact any better manager could demonstrate. I'm not for change for change sake, but I do feel a change at the top is called for. I felt that before this year even started.

A manager can make a difference in these areas. It doesn't have to be by benching (or disciplining) a player who makes a bonehead play or two. No, he's not likely to make a difference in Price's spat with the media- maybe, but not likely. Seems like HRam got worse with running blunders, so who knows there. Beni's blunders could be chalked up to inexperience, but lack of focus could be something a manager could work with the player on. Notice I said "might" on everything, so I realize, this is all conjecture.

Interesting article... http://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/drellich-red-sox-luxury-tax-approach-looks-bad-paltry-offense Some flaws... He speaks of our base running as being "frightening" and that it didn't matter since we sucked at getting on base. Wrong and wrong. We finished 11th in OBP at .329, which was just .010 from being tied for second. Our base running, despite all the bonehead plays, which is maybe what he meant as "frightening", we top tier in MLB.

A new manager might work to mitigate Sale's tendency to fade at the end of the year by limiting his pitches through the year. A new manager can help to lessen the massive amounts of bonehead plays made by our players. A new manager can change the clubhouse atmosphere (not that we know it is currently a problem). A new manager would likely stop putting sub .600 hitters up first or second in the line-up.

Cashman: “We Are Getting Under The Threshold Next Year” By Mark Polishuk | October 6, 2017 at 12:43pm CDT The Yankees have long sought to reset their luxury tax penalty clock, and with payroll now finally nearing the tax’s cutoff point, GM Brian Cashman tells Joel Sherman of the New York Post are committed to getting under the $197MM threshold this winter. “We haven’t had [offseason] meetings like this, but the exclamation point is we are getting under the threshold next year,” Cashman said. “[Greg] Bird is our first baseman moving forward because obviously we believe in him and also because of the cost control. The most important factor is if Bird is worthy enough to be our first baseman and our answer is yes.”

Would starting a new thread titled "A Realistic View at 2018" now, give the appearance I'm giving up on 2017? Cause I'm not.

Several times, I have ragged on a player, only to see him go on to have a great game. I'm not superstitious at all, but I'm hopeful DF proves me terribly wrong (again).

Sometimes a change can create a spark or create a general sense that everyone has to "prove themselves" all over again for the new skipper to notice them, approve of them, or want to play them more. On a team with basically every position set with a FT starter, this means less. I do agree that a manager makes little impact, but I do feel that if a manager highly stresses the fundamentals of the game from the first day of spring training to the last out of the season, not only can an observable difference be made, but the attitude changes as well. We're not going to fire the team like we did in 2014. We are likely to add a couple key pieces (DH and corner IF'er), but I'd try to find a manager that can demand focus and perhaps spark us to do better than we expected, instead of worse. Terry did that in 2013. He also had us playing very well for just about his whole term, except at the very end, when control appeared to be lost.

They didn't even start ERod in game 3. That's what they think of him. Doug - FRAKIN'- Fister?!?!?!? Man-O-man!

"Grit" includes determination and working extra hard to get better at something. Of course, working harder, practicing longer and sticktoitiveness is going to make anyone better at anything they do. I think that has been proven. When people study harder and longer they generally do better. When you practice shooting foul shots more, you improve your percentage, and on and on...

As much as I felt Ben deserved a 5 year term to let his plan play out, I feel the same towards DD. Like you, I disagreed with emptying the farm to such a large extent, and I felt we'd have made the playoffs with ben at the helm the last two years. That is what some posters seem to only want- at least that's what I thought they wanted. Now that we are on the brink of being knocked out early and decisively, it seems just being competitive was not enough. I can see the argument that DD built this team for a 3-4 year window for rings- not just making the playoffs, and our post season performance has been a let down, but the guy deserves at least 4 years to play out. One could argue DD deserves less time than Ben, since his plan was for immediate results, while Ben's was for the longer haul, but not just 2 years.

$12.5M 2014 (was going to make $10M) 609 PAs .712 OPS/ 4.1 WAR $12.5M 2015 (had $11M option with $500K buyout) 425 PAs .797 OPS/ 2.6 WAR $13M 2016 698 PAs .825 OPS/ 5.4 WAR $15M 2017 463 PAs .760 OPS/ 1.9 WAR $16M 2018 $15M 2019 $13M 2020 $12M 2021 fangraphs value: 2014: $31.3M 2015: $20.7M 2016: $42.8M 2017: $15.4M Even though we probably agree these numbers are inflated, he still has clearly earned the money, so far, and then some.

And, still is.

$15M is not a whole lot of money even for an aging Pedey. He makes $12M his last year. By then, that may be the minimum pay. He's been worth ever penny and then some. The breakdowns hurt- no doubt, but I thought the extension was a steal (for us).

I'm not ready to start calling... Chris Freakin' Sale .... Freakin' Chris Sale

I'm not blaming JF for the Sale and Pom meltdowns. ERod and Porcello are both better than Fister, and have been over their last 5 starts as well.

Not even close.

A lot depends on how much Henry is willing to spend this winter with the luxury tax reset and all. If he allows DD to sign JD Martinez, Duda and Nunez. We could squeeze HRam out of his vesting option for 2019 and greatly improve our chances not just for 2018 but beyond as well-- assuming they don't flop. 1. Bogey SS 2. Betts RF 3. Beni LF 4. Martinez DH/1B 5. Duda-Nunez 1B/DH 6. Devers-Nunez 3B 7. Pedey-Nunez 2B 8. JBJ CF 9. Vaz C Bench: Leon, (Nunez), HRam, Hernandez SP: Sale, Price, Pom, ERod, Porcello, Wright RP: Kimbrel, Smith, Kelly, Barnes, Thornburg, Workman, Hembree AAA: Holt (?), Travis, Lin, Marrero, Barfield, Castillo, Mars Johnson, Velazquez, Beeks, Haley, Elias, Owens Maddox, Scott, Ross, Taylor, Martin, Buttrey, Cosart

Hopefully his shoulder(s) will improve. Maybe he can play some 1B. I think the idea might be to eat the money and platoon him at 1B/DH...maybe with Duda at 1B with JD Martinez brought in to DH. The problem is, what if JD becomes the next HRam. Is there another easier position to improve besides 1B then DH?

The "down year" will lessen the arb costs, and they can trade Bogey later for something very useful.

Yes, and clearly our best chance to improve could come from improving the worst of our positions. Devers offers us hope at 3B, although his defense has a long way to go. Luckily, he doesn't have to do all that great to improve on what we had there this year on D. 1B and DH offer our best area to improve. Those are usually the easiest positions to upgrade without spending too much, but this year's FA class is weak on 1Bman. I'd love to see us seriously upgrade both. We might also need to get someone who can cover for Pedey, if needed. I think we will not deal with significant pitching upgrades this winter.