moonslav59

It's guys like Travis, Swihart, Hernandez, Rutledge and possibly Devers later in the year that could really step it up and make a big difference this year. I'd like to see hanRam continue to play 1B 20-25% of the time, so he can stay sharp for those away games against the NL.

Could happen. Gotta love the six killer B's.... Betts Bogey Bradley Beni Bustin Pedroia BamRam

MLBTR.... It now appears there will be one big change in 2017: MLB will switch to a dugout signal for intentional walks, team and union sources informed Howard Bryant of ESPN The Magazine.

What I project our general line-ups will be: vs RHPs: 1. Pedroia 2. Bogey 3. Betts 4. HanRam 5. Bradley 6. Beni 7. Pablo 8. Moreland 9. Leon vs LHPs: 1. Pedroia 2. Bogey 3. Betts 4. HanRam 5. Young 6. Beni 7. Bradley 8. Rutledge 9. Vazquez I might start with this... vs RHPs: 1. Beni 2. Bogey 3. Betts 4. Pedey 5. HanRam 6. Bradley 7. Pablo 8. Moreland 9. Leon vs LHPs: 1. Pedey 2. Bogey 3. Betts 4. Young 5. HanRam 6. Beni 7. Brdaley 8. Rutledge 9. Vazquez

Maybe I'm just a homer, but Beni has me as high as I've been on a prospect since Mookie.

At the risk of opening a new can of political worms, "school choice" is mostly an illusion when looking to improve our education to those in greatest need.

I probably have less concern about Beni than almost any everyday player not named Mookie.

Yeah, I didn't mean he was the Hulk now, but adding bulk can take away from some physical skills. There's a reason marathon runners don't lift weight. I know that's a poor comparisons, but going from having lean muscles to even slightly more bulked up muscles could change a swing (to the good or bad). That's all I meant. I'm not predicting trouble just because a guy adds a little muscle mass.

Can we all agree that 280-290 is a large sample size?

Let's get back to Red Sox baseball. It was encouraging to hear that Pom & Wright looked good yesterday. I hear ERod throws today.

I think he was up to 280-290. He's played overweight his whole ML career, but that doesn't mean he can continue that way for much longer, even if overweight by 20-35 pounds. My own opinion: 210 might be too hard for him to maintain, but if he is truly "driven" to be healthy, he could do it. I think 220-225 is more reasonable and might not significantly affect his chances of getting hurt as compared to 210. If he comes into camp at 230-235, he could be okay, as long as he continues to lose weight slowly over the season. Tiring himself out for the playoffs could be a concern.

I hope bulking up doesn't mess up that sweet swing.

Too many questions, if you ask me. A lot of promise, too, but that's why I think the pen is our biggest concern, as of right now.

I was too, as a starter or long/mid relief guy.

Since we don't need our 5th starter until the 7th game (8th day) of the season, might we start with Pom or Wright on the DL? (Phanotm or otherwise) Also, didn't they change the DL days from 15 to 10 or something like that?

Workman could be a wildcard this year.

Let's get back to baseball. Here's a look at how we start the season... 4/5 @ CLE 4/6 @ CLE 4/7 ** Off ** 4/8 @ TOR 4/9 @ TOR 4/10 @ TOR 4/11 BAL 4/12 BAL 4/13 BAL 4/14 **Off** 17 straight scheduled days with games--No scheduled days off again until May 2nd. Will we go with this? 5 Sale 6 Porcello 7 (off) 8 Price 9 ERod 10 Sale 11 Porcello (Home opener) 12 Pom/Wright 13 Price 14 (Off) 15 begin regular rotation starting like this: ERod, Sale, Porcello, Pom or Wright, Price (Repeat)

So true.

Those should be the basic rights of everyone in the world, but for our great country to let this get away from us like this, worries me deeply.

It's horrible to think how well of this nation is, but hunger is still a serious issue. The worst part is, that many hungry children have a parent(s) who work FT or have multiple PT jobs. So many Americans are barely surviving paycheck to paycheck on unlivable wages, while the stock market surges upward rewarding stockholders more and more. It's not about money going offshore. It's about changing our priorities to where they were during the Eisenhower era.

Plus, some of the meals are so unappealing that even hungry kids don't eat them. There are thousands of kids who are battling hunger everyday in the USA. It's a fact.

MLBTR.... Rusney Castillo is something of a forgotten man in the Red Sox camp, as ESPN.com’s Scott Lauber writes that the outfielder has no clear path to MLB playing time or even the 40-man roster. Castillo is still hopeful of making an impact, as he is retooling his swing and is enjoying more personal comfort now that his five-year-old son and other family members have been able to leave Cuba to join him in the United States. Castillo signed a seven-year, $72.5MM deal with Boston in August 2014 but has just a .679 OPS over 337 big league plate appearances.

We won't know if it is overhype until he has a longer look. He was ranked pretty highly by people who know more about these things than we do. He was younger than Moreland at every level, so the comp is a hard one to grasp. I realize Moreland might do better both this year and going forward, but if Moreland struggles, Swi could get a chance to show he can do better. He could then go on and do better. I do think Swihart might already be better than Moreland vs LHPs, so if Young gets hurt or an OF'er gets hurt and forces Young to play OF and not platoon at DH with HanRam, I think Swihart would be a better choice than Moreland, if only vs LHPs. If Moreland struggles vs RHPs, maybe Swihart could do better. Sam Travis and Brock Holt would be the only in system competition for Swihart at 1B. I'm not sure anyone in our system would be a better DH, if Young, HanRam or Moreland gets hurt, regardless of Zips and Steamer having Holt or Travis projected with a higher OPS. I know, Swihart could struggle in AAA and not be "the next guy in line", and maybe my hopes for Swihart are clouding my judgment, but it's not a stretch to think he could win the DH platoon job from Moreland or beat out Holt and Rutledge at 3B, if Pablo struggles of gets hurt this year.

I said he "might" be better , and no zips projection is going to convince me Moreland is clearly a better hitter than Swi.

"Late & Close" and "High Leverage" take into account just the situations you are talking about. I don't see many people using RISP as a significant basis for claiming someone is clutch or not, or a choke. If they are, they are wrong. Papi overall: .931 Papi "Late & Close": .951 (Plate Appearances in the 7th or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck.) High Leverage: .942 (Within a game, there are plays that are more pivotal than others. We attempt to quantify these plays with a stat called leverage index (LI). LI looks at the possible changes in win probability in a given situation; situations where dramatic swings in win probability are possible (e.g. runner on second late in a tie game) have higher LIs than situations where there can be no large change in win probability (e.g. late innings of a 12-run blowout). The stat is normalized so that on average the leverage is 1.00. In tense situations, the leverage is higher than 1.00 (up to about 10) and in low-tension situations, the leverage is between 0 and 1.0.) Papi had 9 seasons with a high leverage OPS of over .960. He had 9 seasons below .870, including 5 below .807. He had none within 28 points of his career norm! If it is a skill, it's very hard to be consistent ("repeatable"). In "Late & Close", he was... 5 times over .999 3 times between .895 and .941 1 at .867 0 times between .768 and .866 5 times between .699 and .767 3 times under .683