moonslav59

I said "much" power. Maybe my later statement about 2016 was a bit of hyperbole. I suppose 21 HRs sandwiched around 7 and 8 could be viewed as some power, but a .152 ISO is not someone you think of as "power hitter" or someone suited for the 3-5 slots on a competitive team. There's no doubt in my mind he was better suited for the 1-2 slot than the 3 slot- just as Betts is better suited for the 2-5 slots than #1. At least JF's choices at 4 and 5 (HRam and Moreland) were much more difficult, in that we really had nobody much better, except MAYBE JBJ, when he was hot or Devers/Nunez now.

By any standard, we had better choices than Bogey as our 3-5 hitters and not many better choices than Bogey as our 1-2 hitter.

Agree 100%. I love aggressive base running. It is NOT stupid or bone-headed. That being said, I've never seen so much boneheadedness on the paths and field than this year.

Okay, he has one and only one clue, but he's that one clue from being totally clueless.

If you look back to my posts in April and May, my main reason for moving Bogey from 3 to 1 or 2 was because of his high OBP. The low SLG was secondary, but still very important. Once he started slumping (injured) , 1-2-3-4-5 and maybe even 6 should have been off limits. I get that not many Sox players have shown a lot of power, but that's no excuse to put your high OBP-lowest SLG guy up 3rd instead of 1 or 2 for the first 3 months of the year..

I stand by my statement. He's never shown much power. His 2016 .446 SLG and .152 ISO do not show power at all, let alone "much" power. It took JF 3 months to see what was going on....and not just with Bogey either.

Yeah, 3 is probably his next stop.

This was one area I felt the Sox would struggle with going forward, and one reason I feel there will be a "cliff" in 3-4 years. After these signings and word that the Sox are "in" on that two-way player from Korea is giving me reason to have hope I'll be wrong.

No.

Ahem, Bogey was hot early and should have batted 1 or 2 then. He's never showed much power, and is our worst power hitter out of anyone in consideration for the 3-6 slots, unless you count Pedey. ISO .215 Nunez (JF has him leading off now) .213 Devers (JF rarely bats him higher than 6th) .188 HRam .184 Moreland .174 Betts (had him leading off a lot) .165 JBJ (loves to bat him 8th or 9th) .158 Beni .155 Young (yup, better than Bogey) .128 Bogey (a horrible ISO number for anyone batting 3-6!) .126 Leon .114 Vaz .106 Pedey .104 Marrero SLG Bogey ranks 10th at .398 with only Young, Leon and Marrero below him. The only reason Bogey's OPS is half way decent is because of his OBP, especially early in the year. 1st half OBP .383 Pedey .363 JBJ .359 Bogey .357 Beni .351 Betts 5 guys were better or within .002 of Bogey's SLG first half: .490 JBJ (batted 8/9 almost the whole time) .490 Betts .447 Bogey .446 Beni .445 Moreland .445 HRam (All 5 had better ISO in the first half- most by over 40 points.)

Philosophically, I don't believe "protection" is a significant factor in any circumstance. I provided the 2013 to 2014 numbers to ask those who feel it is a significant to explain why it can happen with Papi of without Papi. Plus, I've never heard any argument that "protection" is extended to all 8 other hitters in a line-up. I get the team spirit and team leadership aspect of the game and Papi's influence extending beyond line-up protection, but again, this would not explain 2014's numbers' drop.

I like Martinez most as a clean-up hitter, but it creates 2 big problems: 1. HRam is forced to play 1B, or we add a 1Bman & bench our current HR hitter to add JD. 2. When we play in NL parks, one of our 4 OF'er has to sit.

Then expect the same anemic offense next year.

lol!!!

I'm not a big Moose fan, really, I'm not. I don't want to make new holes by trading for a big bat like Votto or Stanton. Plus, there's more issues with those two than just new holes created by getting them. My point is this: we need a big bat for next year to hit clean-up. (We could probably use two, but let's just get one great one.) What are the best FA power hitters this winter? 1. JD Martinez: injury history, plays OF (we have 3), would have to DH and force HRam to play 1B FT. Devers plays 3B. 2. Moustakas: unknown if power is sustainable, not a great defender, will cost a lot of money and years, would force Devers or him to move to 1B. 3. Hosmer: NOT A POWER HITTER, not even a consistent hitter overall, great glove at 1B, allows Devers to continue at 3B. Truthfully, I don't like any of the choices for the reasons given, but certainly Moose looks like one of the best 2 choices of these three. Sure, we can try Duda, or Morrison, or Alonso, but I seriously don't expect any of them to answer our biggest need this winter. Tell me a better idea. I mean that with all sincerity. I'd love to find a better plan that doesn't involve trading a vet or a star and creating a new hole. I'd love nothing more than to add a legitimate 4th choice.

He's doing great --this year, but I didn't know he was a starter.

Gray is an ace with an injury history. He may end up being Buch, or he may end up being the ace he was for the A's. He is healthy now and pitching very well this year.

Can we get back to baseball, if only to distract us from the impending Armageddon?

Add to that enigma these numbers: 2014: -3.7 UZR/150 & -9 DRS 2015: +0.9 UZR.150 & -1 DRS (Showed marked improvement on defense) 2016: -2.9 UZR/150 & -10 DRS 2017: -1.3 UZR.150 & -12 DRS and counting Not only has Bogey failed to continue the progress he showed from 2014 to 2015, he's gotten much worse on defense.

The argument by many of us, was more about trading Margot plus 3 other prospects for a RP'er. It was not about us wanting to keep 15 prospects with only 9 slots. I'm not saying it could have happened, but maybe we could have gotten Quintana and/or Gray or some inexpensive big bat for some mix of Margot, Espinoza, Shaw, Dubon, Guerra, Asuage, Allen and Pennington (plus maybe others).

The comp is not Moose v Devers, it's Moose v Moreland.

Look at 2012 to 2013 and you'll see 2013 was not that much of an outlier. 2013 was 2014 was as freakish as 2016 to 2017.

Then, where was the "protection" in 2014, when just about everyone declined that year? Papi still had 35 Hrs and an OPS over .870, yet we saw this... (Players listed in order by most PAs in 2013) 2013>2014 .787 Pedey .712 .842 Naps .789 .831 Nava .706 .801 SVic .685 .777 Drew .583 .696 Middy .522 .771 Gomes .683 .885 Carp .599 8 out of 8 of our top returning players by PAs, declined from 2013 to 2014 while Papi was still mashing. Random?

I never knew a batter hitting 3rd or 4th "protected" 9 of 10 players spread from the 1 to 9 slot.

Yes, on July 20th, JF dropped the "power hitting", slumping Bogey to 6th. (He should never have been batting 3rfd to begin with- second or even 1st was best.) He took longer to drop Moreland from the 4/5 slot. He put Holt leading off 5 times and second (the spoit to put your best hitter) 3 times. At what point was Holt ever hitting well? I'm not putting all the blame on JF for 9 of 10 guys declining, but if he is given credit when players do well, he should take some of the blame when just about everyone declines, except the guy who had no where to decline to (Vaz). JF is an excellent pitching coach, and it shows when he manages. I have very little criticism for the way he has handled our staff. I don't feel he has a clue about hitting, fielding and base running nor the rules of the game. It shows.