moonslav59

I love Marco, but he is never going to be a long term solution at 3B, and his offense is still in question. His sample size is small, but he has sucked at 3B, too. I don't think he should play 3B right now, but he is at the top of my list for the first guy in, if Pablo fails. I have always had Marco ahead of Holt at just about every position he plays. While .233/.277/.465/.742 is not great, it's the thrid best OPS vs RHPs on the team. If you pro-rate Pablo's numbers vs RHPs to 650 PAs, his stat line would be... .233 37 110 This team is struggling to score runs. These are not numbers you bench. These are: .188/.235/.188/.423 (Pablo's numbers vs LHPs) These numbers are not a fluke. He had a .462 OPS vs lefties in his full 2015 season, including a .142 OPS as a RHB'er. w SFG... 2013: .686 vs LHPs 2014: .563 vs LHPs 2015: .462 2017: .423 What is the problem here? It's as clear as day: Pablo needs to be platooned. Holt has better career numbers vs LHPs than RHPs, and Marco has shown he does not have large split differentials, so even though he's a LHB, he'd be better than Pablo in a platoon.

I'm not for Pablo having the FT job no matter what. I just see three weeks as a tiny sample size. I realize 2015 was not a small sample size, and his fielding was even scarier than his bat that year. I've never been "for" Pablo having the FT job, even before the disaster that was 2015. I've wanted him platooned ever since that awful day we signed him. While money certainly playes a role in roster decisions and choices of playing time, I think it goes deeper than that. When a team gives a player that kind of money, they have high expectations. I did not understand their reasoning when the signed him. He had been in serious decline offensively and defensively for 3-4 years. His numbers vs LHPs were screaming for a platoon, and like my warnings when we signed CC, I never understood why anyone would pay that sort of money for a platoon player. The weight issue only added to the risk. The only "reward" I could see was based on a hope that maybe-just maybe- he could give us Papiesque playoff heroics as he had done many times with the Giants. I hated the deal then, and I hate it now. He should have been platooned since day one. I doubt there's be all this talk of replacing him at 3B, if his current OPS was .742. Right now, Pablo's .742 OPS vs RHPs is third on the team for that split. His 3 HRs and 9 RBIs in just 43 ABs vs RHPs is reason enough, for me, to not give up on him just yet. I'm a huge fan of defense, and Pablo's D sickens me. It's one reason I have advocated him switching to 1B or DH, but once we moved HRam to 1B instead of Pablo, the die was cast. When we signed Moreland, any such move was put off for a year-barring injury. With Travis in the wings, it might not happen until HRam's deal expires. I'm a huge Marco fan, and I hated the Pablo signing, so I can see why people cannot understand why I'm still on board with keeping Pablo as our starting 3Bman vs RH'd starters for at least a few more weeks. If he continues to struggle on defense, and yes, there are fielding slumps that can be overcome, then maybe he needs to be benched or moved to DH vs RHPs. That's assuming HRam can play 1B, and Moreland is hitting worse than Pablo (enough to overcome the defense we lose at 1B). What a mess we are in! This whole 3B rollercoaster ride has sucked. We haven't had decent play from that position since we forced two SSs to play it (Iggy & Bogey in 2013). I love Marco, but he is never going to be a long term solution at 3B, and his offense is still in question. His sample size is small, but he has sucked at 3B, too. I don't think he should play 3B right now, but he is at the top of my list for the first guy in, if Pablo fails. I have always had Marco ahead of Holt at just about every position he plays. While .233/.277/.465/.742 is not great, it's the thrid best OPS vs RHPs on the team. If you pro-rate Pablo's numbers vs RHPs to 650 PAs, his stat line would be... .233 37 110 This team is struggling to score runs. These are not numbers you bench. These are: .188/.235/.188/.423 (Pablo's numbers vs LHPs) These numbers are not a fluke. He had a .462 OPS vs lefties in his full 2015 season, including a .142 OPS as a RHB'er. w SFG... 2013: .686 vs LHPs 2014: .563 vs LHPs 2015: .462 2017: .423 What is the problem here? It's as clear as day: Pablo needs to be platooned. Holt has better career numbers vs LHPs than RHPs, and Marco has shown he does not have large split differentials, so even though he's a LHB, he'd be better than Pablo in a platoon.

. We have a $30M starter on the DL along with 3 other pitchers. We've had everyday players out sick and injured. Yes, it's way too early to panic. We've yet to even see anything close to our full team on the field at the same time. This will be a fun team to watch this year.

1. Beni 2. Bogey 3. Betts ...should be the start of our line-up. (This not the line-up I just came up with. It's what I have wanted all along, and to me, it looks so damn good!)

I'm only mildly concerned with Wright. Once it warms up, I think he'll be fine. I can see how watching a knuckler get lit up sucks, but I hate watching any Sox pitcher getting lit up equally.

I agree. June sounds about right, but if he keeps making 4 errors every 3 weeks and stays around .210, we may see a change by mid May. I never have understood why they keep starting him vs lefties. He's barely proven he can hit righties enough to start over the last 3-4 years.

I disagree. I think the Sox still think Pablo can regain a large part of what he used to be. I'm not sure I agree he can, but he got himself in shape and has been given a shot. The sample size of this year is tiny. Look, I hated the Pablo signing from day one. I like the choice of Shaw over Pablo last spring, despite my lack of confidence in Shaw. I've been one of Marco's biggest cheerleaders, and advocated trading Holt for over a year, so Hernandez could get some playing time. That being said, Marco is not really a 3Bman. Now, no doubt, if Pablo continues his current defensive look, it doesn't matter if Marco is a slight negative on defense. There's no way Pablo stays at 3B, if he fields like he did in 2015. I'll be Marco's number one advocate to play 3B once the sample size gets large enough to determine anything definitive. (Speaking of tiny sample sizes, Marco has a worse fldg% at 3B than Pablo this year and also from 2015-2017. UZR/150 (note: Marco's career sample size is just 77 innings) -22.7 Pablo -50.5 Marco I'd love nothing more than for Marco to get a chance to shine, but I just don't like the feel of him at 3B. I'm not hoping for Pablo to fail, so Marco will get a chance. I'm not saying money has nothing to do with this choice, but choosing Shaw over Pablo last spring shows it's not ALL ABOUT money.

Maybe=maybe not. Certainly there is a strong chance Pablo is never going to come close to what he used to be. My statement that Pablo may end up with better numbers than Shaw was more about my lack of confidence in Shaw than any great hope for Pablo.

Yup. Shaw beat out Pablo.

I've been a huge Marco fan since day one of the trade, but I am not sure he is a plus defender at 3B at this moment. I guess you don't have to be a plus to still be better than Pablo on defense, but Pablo used to be a slight plus defender. The sample size is still too small to make a clear and lasting evaluation, but Pablo better start showing improvement on defense or he may be looking at losing his job again. I'm not as worried about his offense, especially if they do like they should have since day one: platoon him or at least demand he give up switch-hitting.

They benched Pablo for Shaw last year. I'm not saying money doesn't play a role in the decisions, but the Sox have proven it's not "all about money". While Shaw might end up being better than Pablo over the next 2-3 years, I doubt he ends up a plus 3Bman.

Don't be surprised if Pablo ends up with better numbers than Shaw.

I think we had a better chance to win with Sale going out to start the 9th. I get the argument about not pushing a starter in April, but it was just 102 pitches. That being said, the choice JF made was reasonable, and I have no issue with the choice he made.

Yeah, he's hitting the ball hard, but what's the guarantee that continues? Again, I'm not for benching Pablo. I am for platooning him and getting ready for him to move to 1B/DH platoon next season.

Agreed, and that's why I have no problem with the choice Jf made.

It's hard to yank someone who has so many important hits, but having him DH was an option when HRam was out..

The thought would be to yank him, if one guy gets on, unless it was an IF single or blooper or yank him if 2 guys get on or he's near 115-120 pitches with 0-1 outs and a guy at second. I've already said, I have no problem bringing in Kimbrel, but certainly at 102 pitches a case can be made, April or not, for leaving him in for a few more pitches.

You make a good point, but 102 pitches is what some give us in 5 IP.

Man! Are we ever going to have everyone in the line-up healthy for one day? I'm not even talking about the 4 pitchers on the DL.

Agreed, but he still sucks vs LHPs. He's been horrible for the last 4-5 years vs lefties. There's no reason to think he'll get better.

I'm saying "bench him" vs LHPs. I'm saying he better start fielding better, or he may subbed for late in games and moved to DH or 1B next year. I'm not happy with his defense since he came here in 2015. His bat has done nothing to mitigate his glove, but I'm happy he's been getting timely hits in big situations. I hope he keeps that up, but I'm not sure that will be enough. He should not be benched vs RHPs, as of now.

I'm not. To me, Pablo getting the FT job at 3B to start the season was "not clear", and I was responding to the "clear" adjective. Since we obtained this guy, I said he was a platoon player, and nothing he has done since his signing has changed my mind- small sample size or large. My main concern is with his defense, as it was back in 2015, but to keep playing while fielding poorly, you have to hit better than the norm. The guy said, "if he keeps hitting..." and I responded to that with basically with this, "keeps hitting like what? Crapola?"

I wouldn't yank him. His 10 RBIs have been big. I wouldn't say it's "clear" though with 3 errors and a .224 BA.

I think he meant he batted .245 in his last full season, so to say "keeps hitting like this" would mean keeps hitting poorly.

He has 11 hits and 10 RBIs. I doubt he continues to get an RBI for every hit he gets, but I suppose it could happen.