moonslav59

You don't see what I see, okay. Maybe I'm the only one (with maybe S5) that sees a lack of spark. I'm not saying they never show excitement after an HR or walk-off, but to me, it looks muted. There is no "evidence" because it's just what I perceive. Again with the "trying to do too much" reason for blunders. Running with your head down, forgetting how many outs there are and losing focus is very hard for me to view as a "result of trying too hard". Maybe some outs are a result of trying too hard or over aggressiveness. Again, I have no issues with that. Blunders are freaking blunders. They are bonehead plays caused by lack of focus or just plain stupidity by the player or coach/manager. (Note: is is possible to try very hard and lose focus at the same time, but the blunders I'm speaking of are seemingly not of that ilk.) Holt was pretty much a dolt before the injury. (Alert: obvious hyperbole) Trying hard is worth nothing when you can't hit or field. he's a good base runner- rah rah! He had value when he could hit over .700, because that made up for his lack of defensive skills at any of the 7 positions he apparently knows how to field. When we had a DH only DH, his versatility made him a net plus. Now, he's not. I don't blame Holt. The injury probably messed him up. My beef is with JF leading him off 5 times and batting him 2nd 3 times. He should be the last guy off the bench, That's the value he gives JF- flexibility to use everyone else when needed.

Of course everything having to do with baseball can not be captured by numbers. It's one reason the game is the greatest game ever invented. While I love stats, I played this great game and know there's a lot to it that is not quantifiable.

Good one. I guess maybe I'm asking too much for expecting players to (show they) care. In all seriousness though, I do think when players seem interested it at least gives the impression they are focusing. When you observe lethargy and untold amounts of bone head plays, frustration sinks in. I realize over intense states of mind can be counter-productive, and winning and losing is not tied to how I feel about this team's state of mind. I'm just saying what I'm feeling. For once, I can't back up my opinions with stats or data. "Stat geeks" can have gut feelings too.

It's not easy to repeat Fister year-to-year, if we could of course I'd love that method. One of our last "build from the top" attempts (Price) hasn't worked out too well. Too many Mastersons for my liking, and he wasn't all that cheap either.

Good to see Betts come through. Maybe he's finally snapped out of it and will go on the tear we've been waiting for all year.

I never said every player lacks it or that every player needs to exude it.

My temperature is normal. I've said it's just my opinion, but I have seen a lack of excitement, energy and focus. I called it "fire and desire". Holt is a dolt. His "fire" is not rubbing off on anyone. Maybe if he could hit over .500, it might. Pom has been a big part of our success. I never said every player has to be the energizer bunny, but I'm just been getting a feeling or lethargy. I'm not talking smash the water cooler madness of the Trot Nixons of the world either, but it might be nice to actually get excited when we hit one of our rare HRs, or to show some team spirit in the dugout when the game is on the line. Maybe we're missing the spirit of Papi, and maybe no manager could breathe life into this team and keep them focused on fundamentally sound baseball. Look, I can't prove what I feel, but I feel it very strongly. Maybe I'm in a distinct minority. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but I feel what I feel. I've also said that teams can win without "it", I'm still very hopeful this year. I love pitching and defense, and we have both. I'm just hoping we don't end the season on a major blunder, cause I'll go ape-doo-doo.

Running with your head down, forgetting how many outs there are and not focusing on what's going on is not "trying to make things happen". I've said over and over, I have no issues with being aggressive, and if trying too hard creates a few out due to over aggressiveness, I can live with that. I wouldn't hold that against JF either, unless it was too often. I don't think it has been too often. I keep talking about bonehead plays and people keep responding like I'm talking about aggressiveness or over aggressiveness. The only over aggressive plays I might label as "bonehead" is if the runner is out by 15 to 20 feet, and even that might be the coaches fault for sending the runner. Either way, that could and probably should be called a mental mistake. I don't think this has happened much. Heck, one time I remember we sent a runner from 3rd when we clearly shouldn't have, and he was safe due to a weak throw. Bonehead is bonehead-not aggressive.

...but a "huge advantage?"

I really & truly thought we were going to turn things around with our offense for the second half. The, we add Devers and Nunez and still end up with much worse numbers. Thank God our pitching and defense has carried us.

Glad to hear. It could have been so much worse.

Hopefully, like the Dodgers.

I mentioned Lynn a while back and didn't get much positive response. Cardinal pitchers usually don't do well after moving on. Maybe they see something that makes them okay with letting certain guys go.

The turtle and the hare comes to mind.

Those are basically my only significant beefs with JF: 1) Too little "fire and desire" 2) Severe lack of fundamentals

It hurt us- not Papi, and we did play Papi at 1B at times, but then we lost Napoli' bat, forced AGon to play RF (yuck!), and benched other fine hitters before them. It's not a major concern, but getting a 1Bman to be our clean-up hitter works better in NL parks.

The Guardians had an .865 DH in Santana last year (.771 in the WS.)

The Guardians won again... broken record. 11-0. Wow! Look at these OPS numbers for their top 10 PA players: .927 Ramirez .905 Chisenhall .875 Encarnacion .860 Jackson .848 Santana .836 Lindor .802 Brantley (.805 Bruce w CLE/ .835 overall) .697 Gomes .695 Kipnis .692 Zimmer While the Sox only have 1 guy below .700 (Leon) out of their top 10 by PAs, we also have nobody over .791. .791 Pedey .788 Beni .777 Betts .764 Moreland .757 HRam .755 JBJ .742 Vaz .722 Bogey .715 Young .634 Leon #11 Nunez .885 (171 PAs w BOS/ .798 overall) #13 Devers .873 (164 PAs)

It shouldn't be all about wins and losses, but I think that's what Max looks at.

We'd get him to DH- not play 1B or OF, but when we're in an NL park, he would not sit every game. That's why I said, we'd have to sit an OF'er (Beni, JBJ, Betts or JD).

Depends on which Hosmer shows up. I do think he's an upgrade from Moreland, but he's really not a 4-5 slot hitter. Hosmer since his rookie year (all 547+ PAs) OPS HR .799 19 .663 14 .801 17 .716 0 .822 18 .761 25 .910 24 (so far) If he hits .910, which certainly could be an outlier, he'd be more than a slight upgrade from Moreland. If he hits .668, .716, or even .761, then no, he wouldn't be that helpful. If we're going by just 2017 numbers, then we might as well just take a flyer on Morrison (.884 36), Duda (.874 29) or Alonso (.858 25) . They might take one year deals and cost much less than Hosmer. Heck, Reynolds has 29 HRs (.858). To me, I want a better gamble than these guys.

He was called up to play 3B in 2013 after just 10 games at third in the minors. His .684 OPS was pretty decent considering the enormous pressure he was under while trying to learn a new position in the midst of a WS run. He went 8 for 27 in the playoffs with 6 BBs. In 2014, he started out as our SS, but then we brought Drew back and he shifted back to 3B. He was at .816 right before starting to play 3B. He was at .815 9 days later, but then he started declining. He dipped to .627 before finishing at .660. It should be noted that Bogey went back to playing SS starting Aug 1. He was at .682 then. As I said, he ended at .660. 2014: .724 as SS .517 as 3Bman 2013: .815 SS .511 3B (but did well in WS) Career: .763 SS .516 3B Yeah, I'd say playing 3B could be considered an influence on his poor career second half numbers.

We've made some great and spectacular plays. We have much better physical skills than most Sox teams I can remember. Even our leaders in bonehead plays have made some very good plays (Beni-HRam). Most players can and do stay focused for just about every second they need to be focused. It's those few breakdowns that lead to mental blunders. I look at our very good to great defenders, and I wonder how highly we'd be ranked with just the average amount of blunders made. (Remember, many blunders are not even labelled errors.)

I agree there are reasons why not all related to JF. Beni has made a lot of bonehead plays (running & fielding) and he's very young. JF has had very little time to work with him. I'm not sure why HRam seems to be making more blunders than the last two. Our 3B coach has made some mistakes. My point was that at least I have tried to separate aggressiveness and even a little over aggressiveness from categorizing them as bone-headed. Maybe not everyone here has done that or even tried to do so. To me, very few plays are borderline boneheaded- over aggressive. Even if you are thrown out by 15-20 feet, maybe taking a chance was called for. HRam's not the only guy running to 3B on a ball hit in front of him. He's not the only guy running the bases with his head down right into an occupied base. He's not the only one forgetting how many outs there are when running or fielding. There's so many screw-ups, I can't even remember all the different ways we've found to mess up- mentally.

I realize with budget constraints you have to do what you have to do, but I've always hated trying to build up the rotation from the bottom by searching to upgrade your 4 or 5 slot guy. I hated the Masterson & Dempster signings. Also, neither was all that cheap. I know it's easier said than done, and we've failed a few times trying to rebuild from the top, but that has always been my preferred method. Pedro Schilling Beckett Dice-K Lackey Porcello (more like a 3 paid like a 2) Price Sale