moonslav59

How many middle infielders did we put out there before Romy, this year? Story & Grissom Short & Reyes Rafaela & Valdez DHam & Westbrook Sogard has played since the Romy call-up. (We even played Wong at 2B in 4 games.) Our bench has carried us.

Romy has been a beast! He hit two wicked hard shots, Monday.

Booser has been one of our most reliable pitchers, but the other options might have been Bernardino or Wink. OPS Against last 28 days (PAs) .508 Booser (36) .700 Paxton (44) .706 Wink (36) .742 Pivetta (113) .752 Weissert (35) AAA .754 Criswell (81) .793 Houck (103) .809 Bello (121) .916 Kelly (43) .917 Garcia (12) .925 Anderson (32) DFA .940 Jansen (38) .980 Bernardino (35) .990 Horn (28) AAA .991 Crawford (94) Whole Season (160+ PAs) .569 Slaten .607 Houck .611 Kelly .614 Jansen .615 Booser .678 Bernardino .713 Crawford .720 Criswell .727 Pivetta .740 Wink .797 Bello

I guess I'm not really "surprised," but I would also have not been surprised had all 3 been promoted after the trade deadline. Mayer got hurt, recently, so that might have held him back. Here is soxprospects.com ETAs: Early 2025: 2. Mayer 3. Teel 11. Meidroth Mid 2025: 1. Anthony 15. Fitts Late 2025: 5. Campbell 20. Dobbins, 22. Penrod We could see 5-6 significant additions during the 2025 season! 2026: 10. Sandlin 12. Castro 18. Romero 21. Wikelman, 24. Early, 25. Monegro 2027: 4. Montgomery 6. Bleis 13. Zanetello 14. Tolle 16. E Rod 19. Jh Garcia 2028: 8. Arias 9. Cespedes 17. Jo Garcia 23. Cason, 27. Valera

Here are the SP'er Rankings of SP'ers with 100+ IP since June 3rd of 2023. That was when Crawford joined the rotation. 141 SP'ers with 100+ IP SIERA 2.70 Crochet 2.86 Skubal 2.97 Glasnow 2.99 Sale 3.06 Pivetta 12. Imanaga 3.45 13. Flaherty 3.47 15. Cease 3.48 16. S Gray 3.48 17. Kikuchi 3.48 22. Garrett 3.55 23. G Cole 3.55 26. Eflin 3.60 33. Burnes 3.71 38. gausman 3.81 44. Houck 3.87 48. Luzardo 3.90 53. S Lugo 3.97 54. Eovaldi 3.97 55. Crawford 3.98 67. Bello 4.13 76. Giolito 4.21 81. Taillon 4.26 96. Wacha 4.40 103. Montgomery 4.53 118. Stroman 4.76 123. T Rogers 4.83 125. Paxton 4.87 133. Lorenzen 5.02 136. Flexen 5.15

Cubs beat MIN, today, and the Yanks won game one vs LAA. We need to take care of business, tonight, so we don't have to scoreboard watch- hoping other teams lose.

It is pretty hard to support a low BB like his. Here is a look at the lowest BB% of all Red Sox players since 1972 with 500+ PAs and their OPS w Sox: 3.1% Nunez .694 3.2% Andre Dawson .738 3.3% Hillenbrand .749 3.3% Rafaela .698 3.6% Gutierrez .572 3.7% Benjamin .661 3.9% Carl Crawford .711 Best of the lowest BB%? 4.8% Tony Armas .768 5.2% Victorino .756 5.2% Dante Bichette .801 6.2% A Beltre .919 6.3% R Jefferson .868 6.4% Nomar .923 All of MLB: 3.2 Shawon Dunston .712 (lowest BB rate over .700 w 2,000+ career PAs) 3.5% Ricky Jordan .732 3.7% Hillenbrand .760 3.8% Sa Perez .763 4.5% Adam Jones .771 (Nobody is over .771 w a lower BB %) You have to go up to 5% to find a player over .778 (Steve Garvey at .779) .798 Ivan Rodriguez 5% .835 Dante Bichette 5.2%

Yes, but teams face a RH SP'er about 30% of the games, so it is still important to have batters than can hit all pitching or capable platoon players: we have both. What I like most is that we have no real "black holes." Sure, we've had slumping players, like DHam is now, but most seem to bounce back just as we start to notice. The team has hit .842 since May 31st. That's a 55 game sample size The team has hit .862 since the start of July. 29 games and 178 runs (6.1 runs per game) 48 HRs 87 2B+3B 30 SBs Since May 31 (75+ PAs): 1.042 Devers .973 Valdez (sent to AAA) .963 Duran .957 O'Neill .865 Abreu .858 Romy .849 Refsnyder .835 Smith .814 Rafaela .789 Wong (Jansen is at 1.083 in 12 PAs) .771 Yoshida .692 DHam (Sogard is at .701 in 18 PAs) 11 batters over .770!

Rafaela in 2024: .586 first 203 PAs (53 Ks- 7BB) .252 BAbip .814 last 216 PAs (52 Ks- 6BB) .377 BAbip It does not look like he changed his approach, in terms of K'ing less or walking more, but look at the OPS differential! Some might look at the BAbip and say he's been luckier, but I think he has been hitting the ball harder and more often. .205 BA first 56 games (16 XBH) .306 BA last 54 games (17 XBH)

Agreed. I also think a successful line-up has batters with various batting approaches that keep the opposing pitcher from finding a cookie-cutter groove.

It's not easy, but I think some batters seem to pull it off... Here are a few players with 1000+ career PAs, a BB/K of less than .21 and their career OPS: 0.16 .718 Tim Anderson 0.17 .730 Javier Baez 0.18 .735 S Dunston 0.19 .721 Schoop .717 Chris Johnson 0.20 .762 Salvador Perez Alonso Soriano had a BB/K of 0.28 and an OPS of .819. Andres Galarraga 0.29/ .861 Matt Kemp 0.32/.821 D Bichette 0.33/.843 Jose Abreu 0.35/.833 JD Martinez 0.35/.869

What is he, now? Do we go by the career or season stats? Could he possibly keep these numbers up, without a major shift in approach? .758 Since May 2nd (305 PAs) .824 Since June 6th (197 PAs) Somewhere in between? Like say, .775? Personally, I think it will be hard to maintain anything over .750 with his approach, but we have seen some "undisciplined" players do okay to fine on O. I'm hoping he can stay near .700-.725 and would be thrilled if he can do better.

We certainly have one of the best rookie classes in MLB. The "suspects" are now delivering and making a big impact. Abreu Rafaela DHam Slaten Criswell Booser Horn, Sogard & Westbrook FYI, last year, we "graduated Casas, Kelly, Bernardino, Murphy & Valdez. 2022: Duran, Bello, Crawford, Wong & Wink 2021: Houck, Whitlock & Dalbec

I'm not sure we keep Smith much longer, after Casas returns, unless they want to give him days off. Romy can play 1B. The way DHam is struggling, maybe he gets sent down, but we also have Grissom close to ready, if we think he's worth a shot, right now.

Yes, we do still "need" someone to win the 2B job and prove themselves worthy of keeping it and hopefully being a plus, but I think we may very well not go outside the organization, this winter. I think we will feel like we have enough strong enough candidates that one wins the job and does well, while having decent depth from those who lose out on the FT job. We may also see a platoon choice win the job. A lot depends on Story and SS. If Mayer wins the SS job, we have out 2Bman alrady penciled in, as long as Story is healthy. If Mayer starts in AAA or never wins the SS job, he may be in the mix for the 2B job. Assuming Story at SS (with Mayer, Romy and Sogard as reserves,) these are the 2B competitors: Grissom DHam Mayer Romy Sogard Meidroth (EValdez: emergency only) To me, these choices look better than the last few years: Most PAs at 2B since 2019: Arroyo 544 Story 396 (The SS) Valdez 319 (likely a DH/LF'er only from here on out) Chavis 254 Holt 206 (was decent) Marco Hernandez 131 Marwin 119 Reyes 100 DHam 95 Arauz 91 Peraza 89 Nunez & Urias 88 Grissom 83 Over 22/Under 52: Iggy, Yolmer S, Westbrook, Owings, Lin, Turner & Downs I'm not saying our middle IF is fixed, but I do like our choices better, now. Compared to the last 5 years, a DHam-Grissom platoon would be okay.

I'm not sure how much fWAR factors into the vote, either. In basic stats, Rafaela places: 1st RBI 58 1st Run 57 3rd in HRs 13 3rd in SBs 16 6th in SLG .417(3rd out of those with 400+ PAs) .288 OBP is one of the worst This does not look like ROY number, to me.

I'm not sure any of the big 3 start the season on the big club, even though we have no clear back-up catcher on the current roster for 2025. C: Wong + Heineman type addition 1B: Casas (Romy) 2B: Grissom-DHam (platoon?) SS: Story, Romy 3B: Devers LF: Duran CF: Rafaela RF: Abreu-Refsnyder (platoon) DH: Yoshida Maybe, somebody wins a job in ST'ing, or an injury forces a rookie onto the 26, but I doubt we plan on it. ML Ready depth in AAA (AA) C: Teel, Gasper (Hickey) 1B: Dalbec/Jordan/Gasper 2B: Sogard/Westbrook/EValdez SS: Mayer 3B: Meidroth LF: EValdez/Westbrook CF: (Anthony) RF: Anthony DH: Valdez/Hickey/Gasper

I was going to mention Nate and Peavy, but neither were considered TOTR pitchers at the time of the trades. We certainly do much better trading for SP'ers than signing them.

Thanks. I was too lazy to go back and look.

While true, I think even you would have to say Rafaela has exceeded expectations on offense, this year. (maybe not on D.) He had serious issues with high K rates and high chase rates all through the minors, and we knew they must have been working with him to improve in that area. I also think we have to take into account his awful start to the season, at the plate. .463 on APR 26 .597 as late as JUN 5! Here is one way to breakdown his season: .463 in 97 PAs to start the season .710 from 4/27 to 6/5 (125 PAs) & Under .600 at the 222 PA mark of the season is a significant sample size .824 in his last 197 PAs, which is a bigger sample size than the two above. It's not definitive, but it is pretty good and growing longer. Another view: .586 first 203 PAs .814 last 216 PAs We don't know what he will do, going forward, and he will have to make adjustments to the adjustments league pitchers make on approaching him. It's easy to say, "He needs to learn to be disciplined and not chase so many bad pitches," but I'm not so sure that is the solutions. For one thing, we are not sure he can do that without messing up his swing and mindset. I'm not comparing him to Devers, here, but many wanted him to change his approach, too, and of course all batters have made adjustments over their careers, but do not think he has made any major adjustments to his approach. He still swings at some pitches outside the zone, and some go for homers. I'm just not sure "change" is always a solution. That being said, I wish he could/would be more selective, but if that changes his approach, radically, it might not be for the good. I'd be happy with .700 and fewer unforced errors from Rafaela, going forward. .725 to .750 is now above the mean in MLB, and would be very nice from him. .750+ would be great.

You don't have to talk me into liking Cora.

No, the Sale trade was not prospects for pitching. I know it's been a long time, since we've done it, but the last time worked (prospects for Sale.) When was the last time we traded for a TOTR pitcher, and it did not work? Beckett? Schilling? Pedro? (granted this was pitching prospects for Pedro.) Our record trading for aces or solid #2s is way better than FA signings (Price, Lackey, Clements...) We may swing and miss, badly, and whoever we trade could go on to do great things. I get that, but we can't just do nothing, and waiting for JH to spend big on pitching, again, and our GM to guess correctly on who we sign seems much harder to see happening. I don't like trading away prospects. I'm a huge farm lover, but it HAS TO BE DONE!

Easier said than done, and the way Yoshida has come to life, who knows what we do. Anyway, we won't improve the pitching on any trade return for Yoshida. We will for Anthony or Abreu plus others.

Not to mention Whitlock, and Martin for much of the season, and Slaten, recently.

July 5th to today for Valera: 21 IP in 5 GS 1 Hit 0 ER 5 BB 23 Ks KaPOWZA!