moonslav59

I just read this after posting my very similar reply. I agree completely with what you said.

As a boy, my first favorite player was a guy named Tommy Harper. He was a great base stealer, but he did it without having great speed. He took a 5 step lead off 1B that often rattled pitchers to death. (BTW, when the Brewers traded him to Boston, at the same time my family moved from Milwaukee to Portland, Maine, I became a Sox fan.) I love aggressive base running. I abhor mental mistakes on the base paths and on defense. I'm not talking over aggressiveness. I'm talking boneheadedness.

Just like any skill or repeatable action, the more you practice- the better you do. I'm not sure how much time JF spent on reinforcing fundamentals this spring or during the year, but I'm guessing it wasn't nearly enough. Sure, the players should know all this stuff anyways, and some players seem to have it ingrained in their mind, body and soul, but refresher courses are needed for many. I was a teacher and volunteer for many years. Every fall, we have to go through the same exact training on harassment, safety, rules and guidelines. It all seems like common sense and something that should only be needed to be told once in a lifetime, but every year someone messes up.

Not just Mookie seeing a major decline in OPS... (115+ PAs) -211 .845 Leon .634 -208 .705 Holt .497 -135 .850 Young .715 -117 .897 Betts .780 -109 .866 HRam .757 -79 .835 JBJ .756 -75 .802 Bogey .727 -45 .835 Beni .790 -34 .825 Pedey .791 +154 .585 Vaz .739 Then there's this... 1.021 Papi >> .767 Moreland .726 Shaw >> .896 Devers/ .885 Nunez (Pablo & Co earlier) 5 of our top returning players by most PAs have declined by more than 100 points (2 by over 200) 7 out of 10 have declined by 75 or more points! 9 out of 10 have declined by 34 or more points!

Maybe $150M, and what will that buy in 2021? 5 or 6 good players? That leaves a lot of gaps. I don't see us finishing last in 2021 or 2022, but I doubt we'll be competitive for a ring. And by the way, we're getting pretty darn good at predicting hurricane paths and power. Not perfect, but pretty close.

True. Most likely, we'll try and find the next Fister.

Hard to know anything these days, but my gut says, I'd rather face the 'Stros, despite them adding Verlander.

Thanks for the info, harmony. I'm wondering, if he will start throwing the slider more often as he reaches full recovery level.

Just about everyone hits worse than their overall numbers when they are placed in the 4 or 5 slot. Call is strange or unfortunate, or whatever you wish, but this is a big reason our run production has been so low. 4 Slot OPS vs overall OPS (which includes 4 slot PAs) (Listed in order of most PAs at this slot.) .757 HRam .757 .689 More .767 .722 Beni .790 .762 Betts .780 1.567 Young .715 To me, this was JF's major line-up mistake. He should not have left Moreland batting 4th for so long. Yes, he was hot early. Yes, nobody else looked like a 4 hitter (except Betts), but still, just about everyonee lse has done better than him in this slot. He has the second most PAs in the 4 slot and has 60 more PAs than everyone else not named HRam combined (201 to 139). Moreland batting 5th did much better (see below). Personally, I'd have had Betts batting 4th just about all year, realizing we'd then be weaker in the one slot. 5 Slot OPS (much worse than 4 slot) .738 More .767 .740 HRam .757 .480 JBJ .756 .540 Young .715 .699 Devers .896 .735 Beni .790 .468 Bogey.727 Although HRam and Morelan's 5 slot numbers are not very good, they blow others away. Ideally, Moreland and HRam would be decent 6-7 slot hitters. Ideally, we maybe could have used Bogey in the one or two slot when he was hot (early) and JBJ batting 3-4-5 when he was hot, but whenever JF moved these guys into these slots, they failed, so it's hard to know what was the right thing to do. It's clear we have no clean-up hitter on this team. Even guys like Devers and Nunez do not fit the bill and have not done well in very limited time in the 3-5 slots.

Just about every trade DD has made has looked good to great, so far, except Smith & Thornburg. You mentioned not really missing Shaw now that we have Devers, but Shaw is actually an excellent defensive 1Bman who still has a very high OPS this year. We could use him right now. We also could have used the money we spent on Moreland somewhere else. I'm not complaining. DD's trades have worked. They have built a formidable window for success.

Houston gets swept by the A's in a double header 11-1 and 11-4. Maybe the last series of the season will mean something.

Machado has won 2 GGs at 3B. There's no way we sign him and move him to SS or anywhere else, unless he gets hurt and has to DH. He has played some SS (like 50 games career), but why move a vet GG 3Bman for a shaky rookie?

Here's a look at our top players by PAs and the slots they have hit in mostly: 641 Betts .780 (1st 390, 3rd 151, 2nd 67 581 Beni .790 (2nd 272, 3rd 126, 4th 80, 5th 54, 6th 39) 545 Bogey .727 (3rd 272, 6th 169, 5th 38, 1st 39, 4th 30, 7th 20) 513 HRam .757 (4th 299, 5th 148, 6th 35, 7th 23) 508 More .767 (4th 201, 5th 149, 6th 76, 7th 63) 466 J B J .756 (7th 145, 6th 114, 9th 86, 5th 68, 8th 42) 409 Pedey .790 (2nd 232, 1st 82, 3rd 64, 6th 20) 288 Vazq .737 (8th 167, 9th 65, 7th 54) 272 Leon .634 (8th 156, 9th 61, 7th 47) 251 Young .715 (5th 63, 6th 54, 7th 48, 8th 37, 2nd 18, 4th 18) 171 Nunez .798 (1st 113, 2nd 32, 3rd 20, 4th 4) 170 DMarr .582 (9th 134, 8th 23) 160 Devers .896 (5th 62, 6th 41, 7th 24, 9th 19) 125 B Holt .497 (9th 47, 8th 27, 1st 29, 2nd 12) Numbers in Red are one I think are higher than they should have been,

6 players with 2 or more hits. Just what we needed to break some slumps.

8 for 12, thank you Holt.

When's the last time our top 3 slots have gone 8 for 11?

Yes. Get him rest. Maybe take him out now.

If you don't count Castillo, then don't count Pablo. IMO, both count, and both were sucky contracts. To me, Pablo and CC are about tied for the worstSox deals ever.

Love all these crooked numbers lately!

I might disagree more on line-up choices and sticking with favorites more than he should, but I pretty much agree. Do you think JF and his coaches should shoulder some portion of the blame for 9 of out 10 returning players declining in offense- some by a lot?

I'm not either. We may just punt the ball and sign a not so great 1Bman (Duda, Alonso, Morrison) for a year, give Devers another year at 3B to show growth and then see about Machado or another big bat from another position next winter. I'd be okay with Hosmer, but I think we'd need more offense than that. Maybe we could trade HRam and sign Hosmer and JD Martinez and keep Devers at 3B, but I would do it just so we can keep him there.

I still think we can stretch it to 4.

I don't doubt that at all. He's young and improving almost by the day. That being said, his 3B potential is not the only part of the total team equation. We need a big power bat this winter. We can trade for a 1Bman or DH, but that will likely just create another hole(s). If we wantt o try and solve the issue through free agency (again) then it might come down to Hosmer (1B)/Devers 3b/HRam DH, Mostakas 3B/Devers 1B/HRam DH or something like Devers 3B/ HRam 1B/ JD Martinez DH. To me, the Hosmer choice looks the worst of the 3. Moustakas this year or Machado next year looks like one of our best options, regardless of Devers' potential greatness at 3B. Now, I will say Devers does have some issues to work on. He needs to work on that hez or double clutch when throwing the ball. He needs to work on throwing accuracy. These are both areas that should be able to be fixed. I think he will develop into a plus defender. I also think he can become a plus defender at 1B...maybe even quicker.

I do too, but if it comes down to signing Hosmer or Moustakas or even Machado next year, I'll go with the 3Bman and then wonder what Devers might have done at 3B while watching him play 1B.

I figured that was what you might have meant, but you took a while to respond, so I began to wonder.