moonslav59

Agreed, but he's not a good fielder anywhere. He's a much better bat than Holt, even the old Holt, but they are similar in the they both can play substandard defense at many positions. No way can we hand any key role to Hernandez, Lin or Travis at this point in their careers.

He hasn't had the most consistent of years either. 1st half: .737 2nd half: .872

I doubt Nunez comes back, but if all we can do is sign a guy like Duda, Alosno or Morrison, we could try to make up for the short-comings by making a strong bid for Nunez.

Their pen is so freakin' deep, too!

I guess we will just have to disagree. I can't see how running to 3B with the play in front of you as "trying to make something happen"...other than making an out happen. Why not just keep running all the bases on a single hoping they make 3 errors and "something happens". It's a 99.9% out. I can see running with your head down and not noticing the guy in front of you has stopped could be viewed as that player wanting to "make something happen", but running with your head down is as bonehead as it gets regardless of the motives.

We can't sit tight this winter. We can;t really trade away anyone of value without opening another hole that will then need to be filled. We have some players like Travis, Swihart, Hernandez and Lin who show some promise and could surprise people, but none of these guys are the type you can feel confident handing a FT job to after trading away a starter. No, I think our holes have to be filled via free agency. The problem is, there is no solid clea-up hitter who plays 1B on this winter's FA market. I can see us trying for another one year solution at 1B and then rolling the dice large next winter. Maybe we sign Duda or Morrison- maybe Alonso or Santana. I doubt we ho with Hosmer or Moustakas. I guess is can sign one of these guys AND Nunez, we might see a gain over what Moreland gave us this year. Maybe a deadline deal can then put us over the top. Let's assume we sign Duda & Fister and look to the deadline for help: 1. Bogey SS 2. Pedey 2B/DH 3. Beni LF 4. Betts RF 5. Devers 3B 6. Duda 1B 7. HRam DH 8. JBJ CF 9. Vaz/Leon C Bench: Leon, Holt, Travis, Hernandez or Lin SP: Sale, Price, Pom, Porch, ERod, Fister RP: Kimb, Smith, Thorn, Kelly, Wright, Work, Barnes/Ross Not much more impressive than this year.

. Holt, too. He has more 2nd half PAs than Leon (112 to 103).

Top AL top 4 contending team RP'ers: WHIP (30+ IP) 0.67 Kimbrel 0.71 Green 0.79 Miller 0.89 Warren 0.90 Robertson 0.93 Devenski 0.99 Harris 1.01 Giles 1.05 Scott 1.06 Workman 1.09 Goody 1.11 Kahnle 1.14 Abad 1.16 Allen 1.21 Otero

Top AL Starters by WAR (only top 4 contenders listed) 1. Sale 7.8 2. Kluber 6.5 3. Severino 5.2 4. Carrasco 4.7 8. Verlander 3.5 10. S Gray 3.1 11. Peacock 3.1 13. Bauer 2.9 14. McCullers 2.9 15. Pomeranz 2.8 16. Morton 2.8 22. Tanaka 2.4 24. Keuchel 2.2 26. Clevinger 2.1 28. Montgomery 2.1 31. Porcello 2.0 34. ERod 1.9 36. Salazar 1.7 37. Tomlin 1.7 38. Sabathia 1.6 50. Price 1.1 53. Pineda 1.1 55. Fister 1.0 ERA- (out of top 50 with 60+ IP) 54 Kluber 61 Sale 65 Clevinger 67 Severino 71 Keuchel 73 S Gray 74 Pomeranz 76 Carrasco 78 Peacock 81 Verlander 84 Price 87 Sabathia 91 Morton 92 Fister 93 ERod 94 McCullers 96 Montgomery 97 Bauer 99 Pineda 102 Porcello 105 Salazar

Our current positional WAR rankings (fangraphs): Batting: 16th Overall 16.4 (0.1 from #5) 4th RF 4.7 (2.7 from #15) 11th SS 2.8 (0.7 from #15) 12th 2B 2.6 (0.1 from #15) T18th C 1.4 (0.3 from #15) T19 LF 1.7 (0.6 from #15 T20th CF 2.5 (0.6 from #15) 10th/15 DH -0.8 (o.9 from 7/8 slot out of 15) 21st 1B 1.2 (1.0 from #15) 27th 3B 0.3 (2.7 from #15) Moving up Pitching: 4th Overall 22.1 (0.1 from T2nd and 11.0 from #15) 3rd Starters 16.1 (6.3 from #15) 6th Relievers 6.0 (2.8 from #15) Defense: 1st in UZR 30.9 (25.3 from 15th) T2nd DRS +41 (33 runs from #15) 5th in UZR/150 3.4 (3.0 from #15)

From MLBTR... By Steve Adams | September 13, 2017 at 10:14pm CDT Time is running out for David Price to return to the Red Sox, and manager John Farrell conceded today that it would be “aggressive” to bring Price back as a starting pitcher in 2017, Evan Drellich of CSN New England writes. Farrell suggested that Price would require at least one more simulated game before being ready to start. The skipper alluded to the possibility of giving Price a fairly short start and allowing the expanded bullpen to cover whatever innings are needed beyond that point, though he noted that no decision has been made. “These are things we have to sit down and discuss and determine what’s best for him.” As for Price himself, he told reporters that, more than anything else, he just wants to get back onto a Major League mound regardless of his role: “I just want to pitch. Whatever it is, that’s fine.”

You're standing on 2B and a ground ball is hit in front of you to the SS or 3Bman. Everyone who has ever played or studied baseball knows you don't run to 3B. You can say the reason the guy ran to 3B was because he was "trying to hard" or being "aggressive", but it is clearly a bonehead play, unless there's a shift on or something. Trying to make something happen? Really? You're already on 2B. The only thing you could possibly be trying for is an out or a rare error. Look, I get that a few plays are borderline bonehead-aggressive. I'm not talking about those, although maybe I may label more plays bonehead that you or others, but I know bonehead when i see it.

What's important is what is left vs what the Yanks have left and who gives the best wink-wink-nod-nod promise of an extension.

Gut check time.

Updated: .885 Nunez (171 PA) .864 Devers (168) .798 Pedey .794 Betts .792 Travis (63) .788 Beni .764 Moreland .757 JBJ .749 Vaz .749 HRam .732 Bogey .723 Lin (63) .717 Young .634 Leon .582 Marrero (170) .490 Holt (128) 2nd Half .974 Travis (19) .885 Nunez .880 Vaz .864 Devers .861 Pedey .766 Beni .720 Betts .708 Moreland .699 Young .682 HRam .604 Bogey .604 JBJ .563 Leon .496 Holt .451 Davis (28) .410 Marrero (28)

Weird. B-R usually updated by now.

Where did I ever even hint that we "mailed in an AB?"

Updated Team OPS: (With Sox numbers only/ 250+ OPS unless noted) .885 Nunez (171 PA) .873 Devers (164) .813 Travis (59) .791 Pedey .788 Beni .777 Betts .764 Moreland .757 HRam .755 JBJ .742 Vaz .723 Lin (63) .722 Bogey .634 Leon .582 Marrero (170) .494 Holt (127) .473 Davis (22) For those who wanted a "balanced line up with no black holes," we got it. The problem is, we have "balanced" mediocrity. Our top 8 PA players all fall between .722 (Bogey) and .791 (Pedey). I'm not sure any team in MLB has such a tight range with their top 8. Here's our 2nd half OPS numbers (60+ PAs) .885 Nunez .873 Devers .866 Vaz .832 Pedey .766 Beni .708 Moreland .700 HRam .693 Young .672 Betts (big jump from last night) .597 JBJ .573 Bogey .563 Leon .501 Holt

Stupid play is an entirely different subject than thinking you are seeing a lack of desire. Agreed, and that's why I separated them into the two major issues I have with JF: lack of fundamentals and lack of fire. That being said, I do think someone could argue that not paying attention of lacking focus so often could be a sign of not caring, which is a symptom of not having "fire". Seeing half the team not runnnig out grounders? I don't. I've seen close to half not do it one an one occasion or more. Seeing half the team standing in the batters box with the bat on their shoulders? I don't. Maybe not on their shoulder's, but clearly close to a handful of players are pretty much known for not swinging at first pitches. If anything, the team is probably guilty of taking things a little too seriously and not just going out and playing. I totally disagree. (Maybe a few players or so might have been trying to hard to a level of causing ineffectiveness at points this year (in my opinion).

No, but I'm not claiming to have a perfect prediction on 2021 and 2022 Sox projections either.

The Sox have been quietly acquiring extra bonus money as well. It could be a big showdown.

There seems to gave been a little lull recently, but HRam hasn't gotten the memo. If we do keep a log, we should not link aggressive outs as "bonehead".

Yeah, dolt rhymed with Holt but wasn't very nice. I apologize. It's not his fault JF put him one or 2 eight times. It wasn't his fault getting hit in the head. I sometimes get cranky on players who are poor fielders. My bad.

Just got caught up with the tape delay. Wow, this is the same A's team that just swept the Astros by scoring like 12 runs a game. Great to see Betts come alive. Pitching looks awesome!

Max, you crack me up!