moonslav59

Soxprospects.com has their September rankings out... http://soxprospects.com/index.html The biggest movers... In top 15 +14 Beeks (to #9) +11 Mata (to #5) +8 Chavis (to #3) +6 Shawaryn (to #8) +1 Devers, Groome 0 Travis, Ockimey, B Johnson -7 Chatham -10 Dalbec 16-30 Ranked: +41 or more Lin (NR to #19) +37 or more H Velazquez (NR to #23) +30 or more Chad de la Guerra (NR to #30) +29 Brentz +14 A Maddox +5 D Hernandez +4 A Tavarez -5 Ben Taylor, C Shepherd -9 R Raudes, Lakins New to Rankings: 6 Houck 7 Flores 11 Brannen 12 Scherff 18 J Thompson 20 D Diaz 27 B Netzer 28 Z Schellenger 32 J Haley (returned from rule 5) 33 D Mars Not Ranked: Jeremy Barfield

They don't have to skip Sale starts, just move him back a day for the rest of the season. That will mean he loses one start. If we can't win while doing that, we weren't going anywhere anyhow.

Betts was at .876 on July 3rd. He's really only had 2 bad months, but man-o-man, they were bad months: .695 July .658 August September does not look any better. I'm hoping he turns it around, but how long can you keep on hoping?

HR/9 1.2, 1.0, 0.9, 0.8, 0.9, 0.8, 1.3, 0.9, 1.7 I'm not disagreeing with the idea that 2016 was an outlier, but that 1.7 looks way out of wack as well.

I really want JF gone, but I was hoping it wouldn't take an implosion to make it happen. This sucks!

So, these are the final numbers... 31 Brentz 31 Chavis 28 Barfield 28 Devers and counting...

Yeah but how unusual is this? Do the Sox have stretches like this all the time? Only on bad teams th that srruggle? Do all teams have stretches like this? These numbers need some relevant perspective. ... In light of how poorly this team was doing before this stretch, I guess it's not so unreal. Personally, I've been expecting this team to bust out any minute now for months and months. I think that is what shocks me. We seem to be getting worse. I realize my expectations might have been bloated, but this is pretty bad what we are seeing now.

If Swihart makes the 2018 twenty-five man roster, I wouldn't be surprised, but I would not bet on it. Next year's 13 everyday players: (I'm assuming we acquire a 1Bman) The sure 9: C: Vaz 1B: ________ 1B/DH: HRam 2B: Pedey 3B: Devers SS: Bogey LF: Beni CF: JBJ RF: Betts 4 to be determined: C: Leon (very good chance at being on the 25 man roster) 1B: Travis (depends on 1B acquisition) IF: Hernandez (my choice as top IF utility) IF/OF: Holt (ability to play OF and to a lesser extent 1B helps his case) 1B/C/3B/LF: Swihart (3rd catcher ability is a big plus) IF: Lin (apparently learning to play OF) OF: Brentz (needs to be added to 40 man roster) OF: ______________ (off season acquisition) IF: Marrero (seems to be the odd man out and may even be a 40 man roster casualty to make room for Brentz or a rule 5 player)

By Steve Adams | September 4, 2017 at 9:26am CDT The Red Sox have been getting Blake Swihart experience at first base, and he’s also been taking grounders at third base, writes Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Boston also plans to send the 25-year-old former top prospect to winter ball this year, which will allow him to make up for some missed time (due to injuries) but could also boost his trade value by showcasing some versatility. The switch-hitting Swihart was long touted as Boston’s catcher of the future, but Christian Vazquez and Sandy Leon look locked in for the 2018 season, when Swihart will be out of minor league options. “We recognize where he’s at contractually going into next year,” manager John Farrell tells Abraham. “Trying to create some versatility on the defensive side of things is part of the overall plan.” Swihart’s surgically repaired ankle has still limited him this year, so the extra time in winter ball could prove especially important as the Sox make a determination on his future.

I wouldn't give up on LF for Swihart. If he has any chance at winning a utility role next year, being a 5th OF'er option would help his case. I do think 1B, C and 3B should be his main focus points, but since Holt, Hernandez, Lin and Marrero can all play 3B, being able to play LF could tip the balance in Swi's favor.

Sox hits per game going backwards from last night: 5 6 7 4 10 9 12 8 4 6 9 8 12 5 12 6 10 8 games out of 17 games with 7 or less hits 12 out of last 17 with 9 or less hits O out of 17 with more than 12 hits

Good points. It's kind of surprising we have scored so much with just about everyone but Vaz doing worse or much worse than last year.

Pedey is being a poor role model.

Leon is a plus in many areas not measured by data. He is ranked highly on pitch framing and blocking WPs. If we wanted Swihart to be a back-up catcher, we wouldn't have taken him away from catching in AAA this year. Leon is not going anywhere. He's Sale's caddy.

The 2015 Kansas City Royals won the World Series with a team OPS of .734. Granted, they had 5 guys with an OPS over .800 while we have 1 or 2 right now, but they had those dreaded black holes everyone seems to abhor. .614 by the guy with the second most PAs on the team (A Escobar) .706 by their catcher (6th most PAs) .552 by their 2Bman (7th most PAs) .640 by their RF'er (9th most PAs) Having Zobrist (.816) helped mitigate those "holes", but can you imagine this site right now, if the Sox had 3 of their top 9 PAs players with an OPS below .640! We're not talking about below .700. Two were below .615! Now, couple that with what their rotation looked like, and you have to be able to see that there are many ways to reach the promise land. Starters: 4.34 ERA and 1.371 WHIP (113 OPS+ against) They had Edison Volquez at 3.58/ 1.311, but their next 3 starters by IP'd were: 4.08/ 1.30 Ventura 6.10/ 1.75 Guthrie 4.35/ 1.76 Duffy Yeah, they picked up Cueto, but he went 4-7 4.76/ 1.451 with the Royals. They won on defense, base running, strong pen pitching and hitting when it counted. If they can win, so can we. We have better SP'ers and a more balanced line-up. Our team OPS is 10 points higher than the 2015 Royals. Our SP'er ERA is over 30 points better (4.01). Our pen and defense are not as good as their's was, but we are in the top 5 in both areas. Just make the playoffs and just about anything goes.

Yes.

There's that, too. Especially with RISP!

Yes, a .716 MLB OPS is a lot like Holt's .688 career OPS, actually slightly better than Holt's career mark, but much better than his recent OPS. However, the ability to be our 3rd catcher is a huge asset. BTW, he also had a nice .843 OPS in AAA, so I wouldn't say there is "nothing in his resume." I realize the sample size was small and long ago, but it was something. In Holt's defense, depending on what we do about the 4th OF'er slot, Holt's ab ility to play the OF is something in his favor.

Agreed. While Swihart has struggled at the plate in AAA (.615 in 485 PAs), he did much better in the Majors (.716 in 384 PAs) and AA (.843 in 387 PAs). Combined, his AA and MLB PAs are a much larger sample size (771 PAs) than his 485 PAs spread over 4 AAA seasons surrounding a severe injury and position change. I get why ZIPS and others are down on Swihart, but I still see a lot of promise.

We seem to be slow on adjusting to teams that have adjusted to our style of play by throwing first pitches right down the middle to some of our hitters. Often, that is the best or only good pitch they will see the whole game, and their bats are on their shoulders.

We have used Holt as our utility guy for years. He's hitting under .600 now and can barely field any position well enough to play long term. If Swihart could learn to play 1B and LF a little more and maybe give 3B a try, I think having a utility player that could act as a 3rd catcher, if needed, provides much more flexibility than Holt ever did. JF could PH for a catcher and not have to worry about the second one getting hurt. He could even PH for the catcher twice in the same game. Given that our catching position looks to be our weakest hitting area next year (not 3B), I'd rather have a utility guy that can catch over one that can barely play every position but catcher. We could still have Holt, or as I'd prefer, Hernandez, Lin or possibly Marrero to cover the middle IF. I'm not 100% sold on the idea. Swihart is going to have to start showing the offensive promise he had years ago for me to advocate for him to be on the 25 man roster, but to me, that's his best shot. Not DH. Not FT 1B.

You are right, but one thing is different, for me, than earlier in the year. While I still have high hopes for this team's success, I no longer believe our hitting will improve. I expected a strong second half as many of our players would return to their recent year norms, but instead the opposite happened. Most got worse. Had we not added Devers and Nunez and given Vaz more ABs, our second half team OPS would be well below .700. That's sick! Now, that being said, I've always been a firm believer that there are many ways to win a championship without strong hitting. I still am a believer in this team.

My favorite hitting style is probably Pedroia's. He is pretty aggressive but smart enough to take the walk when it is there. One thing that really bugs me about Pedey is that he almost always takes the first pitch in every AB. He's good enough to get away with it, but others on the team, who try to emulate him, do not have the same skills at hitting while behind in the count.

Sox hitting?? What hitting?

I've been a strong critic of JF but never about how he handles the staff. I'd look to give Sale and other an extra day of rest from now until the end of the season. I know we need to worry about winning the division, but it will all be for not, if Sale and others break down when it counts.