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moonslav59

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Everything posted by moonslav59

  1. moonslav59
    True. $67M/3 is pretty easy to beat in today's market for high-end starting pitchers. Even, if he gets hurt, he'd probably still get more than that, unless his arm falls off.
  2. moonslav59
    I think they might have viewed Pablo as Papi light (pun intended). Maybe they felt he was "clutch", because I hear team management people believe in that type of stuff. I think they took a long view: upgrade offense that year and pitching the next year when so many FA aces were to be available. Pablo and HanRam happened to be two of the best offensive players available that winter at areas they needed, although they forced HR into a position he never played. I think the theory was sound, but the timing and execution fell way short. Maybe they felt Papi would help Pablo get back to his previous level of play and continue blasting away in October. HanRam was at least a legitimate hitter showing some signs of health concerns and up and down years, but no clear decline trend like Pablo. I would have been fine with HanRam at 3B and signing Scherzer or re-signing Lester, but I still thought HR was a mistake too.
  3. moonslav59
    God, I remember some on the old board wanted us to sign McAnn. Hijole!
  4. moonslav59
    Finally, a light at the end of the financial tunnel of despair. You've actually shed enough to be getting a lot of indirect light from that tunnel's end.
  5. moonslav59
    My sentiments exactly!
  6. moonslav59
    I agree, but I said it the day we signed him. "He's an obvious platoon player." It was a horrible signing from the start, and I'm not Monday morning QB'ing here. I was dead against the signing before it even happened. (I was also against the HanRam signing, but not by as much. (Note: I had hoped HR would play 3B, until I heard of the Pablo signing.)
  7. moonslav59
    CC makes $25M this year and then becomes a FA. Holliday ($13M), Pineda ($7.4M) and Clippard ($6.2M) will also hit free agency next winter. Headley ($13M) will be a FA after 2018.
  8. moonslav59
    Getting in shape probably has little to do with his inability to hit lefties well. He should have been platooned since 2013. Last year, we only faced 37 left-handed starters. That's less than 23% of all games. I don't think sitting Pablo about 1 out of 5 games is a disaster. Chances are, he'll PH and then play in some of those games he doesn't start.
  9. moonslav59
    Yes, and as bad as Pablo is vs lefties, there's a good chance Rutledge starts 20% of the games at 3B. However, although Holt bats left, he's actually slightly better vs LHPs over his career (but still worse than Rutledge): B. Holt .709 vs LHPs/.704 v RHPs Rutledge .721 v LHPs/.704 v RHP Sandoval .673 v LHPs/ .835 v RHPs Since 2014, Pablo has the worst OPS vs LHPs in MLB at .521. If ever a platoon was in order... .
  10. moonslav59
    Leon has not been hurt that much over his career. True, he's been on the bench for a chunk of it, but I just don't see him as being so fat that it's a major concern. https://www.google.com/search?q=sandy+leon&safe=strict&rlz=1C1UDIB_enUS705US705&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=925&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW0rGYqZfSAhUC3WMKHfgECbYQ_AUIBygC#imgrc=hkGirPd_6Qw7nM:
  11. moonslav59
    Last year, the Sox finished 15th in catcher WAR. Sure, Leon went coo-coo for coco puffs, but even if he drops 150 points off his OPS from last year, it's hard to imagine Vaz hitting .585 again. I'm projecting at least a 50 point gain there. That will mitigate some of the expected offensive loss by Leon. The rest could be made up by anyone of our three catchers improving on this from last year: .468 in 113 PAs by Hanigan .500 in 35 PAs by Holaday. That's 148 PAs (almost 1/4th of all catcher PAs) of about .475 OPS offense. We could improve on that by 150-200 points pretty easily. That might come very close to canceling out Leon's expected big drop. Plus, what if Leon's drop is just 75-100 points?\ I see us a middle of the pack again this year with more upside than downside potential, but maybe that's me just being a "homer".
  12. moonslav59
    I agree. The thread might be better titled, "What is our biggest concern?" (or weakest link). Even a chain with all strong links might have one weaker than others without it being "weak".
  13. moonslav59
    I'm not a big fan of Holt at 3B. I do think Rutledge is slightly better. I think they got Rutledge in case Pablo flops. We'd then have 3 guys to choose from- not 2: Rutledge, Holt and Hernandez. Holt at 3B was part of the reason we signed Pablo. I think Holt's best position is 2B, but I too like Hernandez a lot. I think I'd still give Holt the edge at 2B. I like Hernandez at SS over Holt. Holt should only play SS for as long as it takes to get Hernandez or Marrero up from AAA. I didn't mention the OF, since I do not think there's much to debate. Young should DH vs all LHPs, but if an OF'er goes down, Young would play FT in LF with Holt as his back-up. Maybe Holt could play vs some righties Young has trouble with. Beni hurt> Young in LF. JBJ hurt> Beni to CF & Young in LF Betts hurt> Beni to RF? & Young in LF. (Moreland can also be used in a pinch at a corner OF slot.)
  14. moonslav59
    Some bench questions: Who is best for 10-20 day replacement at these positions? 1B: Travis or Holt (assume HR is the DH for argument's sake) 2B: Holt or Hernandez? 3B: Holt or Rutledge (Hernandez)? SS: Hernandez, Holt or Marrero?
  15. moonslav59
    Agreed. It might not be hard to outhit Leon, if Sandy reverts to near his "old self". If he pulls even, we could see one traded to allow Swi to come up. Vaz probably would have more trade value at that point (assuming he hits over .650).
  16. moonslav59
    .266/.378/.440/.818 in 207 ABs is not all that bad, but it was 200-300 OPS points lower than the year before or at Lowell.
  17. moonslav59
    I'm not sure why. He had the 7th best WAR last year and was just 0.1 away from 5th best. One guy ahead of him died (Jose F) and another one, Porcello, is likely to drop some. He has the 4th best WAR over the last 5 years combined, and is still in his early to mid prime years. One guy ahead of him on this list, Price, placed 12th last year and is older. My guess is Sale will finish somewhere between 2nd and 6th in 2017. Maybe they factored in the BAF (Boston Adjustment Factor).
  18. moonslav59
    Although Dalbec is 21, I still think he can grow more. If you count his last two years at the U. of Arizona and his time with Lowell, he has 44 doubles + triple and 28 HRs in 552 ABs (about 630 PAs). I'll take the K's too, if he can give us that kind of power.
  19. moonslav59
    It's so hard to project our catcher situation on opening day. Even with the problems with Leon and Vaz being out of options, I still think, if they are cold in ST'ing and Swihart is tearing up the place, Swi could be our opening day catcher- not likely, but possible. As it stand right now, I see it like this: 1) Leon (60% starts) 2) Vaz (40% starts) 3) Swi (AAA) I do think Vaz could pass Leon and win the 60% job. I wonder, if we will go with the personal caddy way of deciding how often a catcher catches. Whoever gets to catch Chris sale could get the 60%, instead of 40% starts role.... with Leon-- Porcello: Leon 2.52 in 107 IP Vaz 3.64 in 94 IP Price Leon 3.23 in 109 IP Vaz 4.62 in 97 IP with Vaz-- ERod Vaz 4.50 in 22 IP Leon 4.90 in 79 IP Wright Vaz 2.72 in 36 IP Leon 6.46 in 24 IP Pomeranz Vaz n/a Leon 5.85 in 20 IP Holaday 3.32 in 41 IP
  20. moonslav59
    This enables them to say, "Ya, we fell behind by two runs in the 7th but I wanted to hold off my closer to the 9th in case we came back". Wouldn't it make at least as much sense to keep the team from falling behind in the 7th? I get your point, and I do think they should bring in the closer in the 7th or 8th, if a couple or more runners get on base, but not to lead off the 7th. I think hitters might tee off on the guy who replaces your closer, as the pitches will look "slower" or "break less" with inferior pitchers coming in after the closer to finish out the game.
  21. moonslav59
    To think he still put up decent numbers despite that issue (or lapse). Fix that, and you got yourself a winner.
  22. moonslav59
    Other than Kershaw, I don't think there's any better pitcher in MLB than Chris FREAKIN' Sale! Plus, his luxury tax contract cost is a small fraction of what pitchers of his quality are making on the open market. I am so pumped up about this year!
  23. moonslav59
    Aren't we tacitly acknowledging that "clutch" exists when we insist on having a lights-out closer for the 9th inning? Doesn't that imply that there's a real possibility that the hitters in the 9th inning can "turn it up a notch" when necessary? Maybe they are just important outs to get.
  24. moonslav59
    Sale turns 28 this March. He's easily one of baseball's best 5 pitchers in the past 5 years combined. Here's a look at some 5 year category rankings. WAR 35.7 Kershaw 27.7 Scherzer 26.4 Price 26.2 C Sale 22.7 Verlander 21.9 Felix 21.4 Kluber 21.0 Bumgarner 20.8 Lester 20.6 Greinke 20.5 Hamels 19.6 Cueto 19.6 Quintana ERA- 55 Kershaw 67 Jose Fernandez 71 Cueto 73 deGrom 74 C Sale 75 Hendricks 75 Greinke 75 Syndergaard 76 Scherzer 77 Tanaka 78 Darvish, Roark, Price & Harvey 79 Arrieta & Felix WHIP 0.89 Kershaw 1.04 Tanaka 1.05 Bumgarner, Scherzer & Jose F 1.06 C Sale 1.07 Arrieta & Hendricks 1.08 Cueto & Harvey 1.10 deGrom & Harvey xFIP- 66 Kershaw 70 Syndergaard & Jose F. 73 Carrasco 74 Strasburg 75 C Sale 77 C Lee & Kluber 78 Price, Darvish, Felix & Pineda Only 2 pitchers are in the top 6 in all these categories, so one could argue Chris Freekin' Sale has been the second best starter in MLB.
  25. moonslav59
    I've heard the same. I'm not going to make assumptions based on the uniform tantrum. I'm just glad as hell we have... Chris Freakin' Sale!
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