devildavid

Pitching coaches don't need to be gurus to help pitchers. Sometimes they can spot problems that pitchers can't. Good coaches are a resource for players to help them maximize their performances.

You can take his inability to run into consideration. But Papi batting third takes into account both OBP and SLG. Put all your high OBP hitters in general at the top of the batting order.

The coaching staff is part of management. DD is their boss, and shares the responsibility for player performance.

Price is not contributing any more in innings relative to Wright and Porcello. He has started 2 more games than both of them, which is expected from your number one pitcher. The avg. innings per start is: Wright 6.6 Price 6.5 Porcello 6.3 Management is responsible for getting the best performances they can out of all their players. They have not done this with Price. It is unlikely they will add another top starter in 2016. Price's performance for the rest of the season is a major key to their playoff hopes. I'm happy to see that he had an excellent performance in his last start. If he can achieve quality performance consistency for the rest of the season he will silence any "whining" from me.

Highest OBP is not gut feeling, it is statistical. Old school gut feeling was to put a base stealer up first without regard to OBP or SB success rate. The emphasis on OBP has its roots in Moneyball which was not accepted by the old school gut feeling baseball people. I'll let Kimmi speak for herself but I think she also would say that OBP is the biggest factor in offensive production.

Here is the batting line against Price so far: .271/.315/.419/.734 Not good numbers for David Price. Until these come down, any other good numbers don't really matter.

I disagree. I have witnessed, in my lifetime, New Coke and the J.C. Penney management disasters, among others. Management is often incompetent, despite the appearance that they have all the data and knowledge. The thing we fans lack knowledge of is the internal politics of any organization, which often is the cause of failure. Being on the inside of an organization does not always mean you make the best decisions. It all depends on how you are able to utilize the data and knowledge within the framework that management provides.

Appearances are not the only measure of use of a pitcher. You have to look at IP and # of pitches as well. And you contradict yourself. You complain that he is both over-used and at the same time rested for too long.

Consistency man, consistency. He is up and down like a yo-yo. His two prior games were horrible.

What Price is being paid has no relevance to his performance. He is not pitching up to his talent level, using all performance only statistical measures. His dollar value is only of concern to the accounting department. His non salary related numbers are not up to his normal level.

I think his main point is that Pedroia fits the profile of a leadoff batter due to his OBP while Mookie fits the profile of a slugging RBI hitter as evidenced by his SLG. A good case can also be made for moving JBJ up in the batting order. My philosophy is to give the most plate appearances to the best hitters. I don't totally discount the psychological aspects like comfort level, but until changes are made you can't be certain how a player will hit in a different part of the order. I just found an interesting article that suggests players might be more willing to experiment with the batting order than we imagine. blue-jays-veterans-push-change-batting-order

It is debatable that Uehara has been over-used this season. The game before his injury he threw 7 pitches. Prior to those 2 games he had 5 days of rest. Koji's age has been a concern since 2013. What has extended his career is his efficiency. The real problem lies in his declining skills, which have led to a decrease in pitch efficiency overall this season. His pitches per plate appearance is 4.09 in 2016 as opposed to 3.96 in 2013.

Almost every player has positive signs. Complete failure usally means the end of a career. For 2016 so far, Price is a failure. The only bright side is that he still has time to turn it around. So far, I haven't seen any signs of that happening.

Need to bring this thread back to page one. In what threatens to become a very disappointing season, Papi's performance has been absolutely incredible. Here is a 40 year old, on obviously bad wheels, who is hitting better than players half his age. He is one of the smartest hitters I have ever watched. He obviously studies the game and knows what he is doing every time he steps into the batters box. The amazing focus he has brought to this season is reflected in his performance. It is rare for an athlete to turn his final season into a signature season as Ortiz is doing. Not only am I going to miss him, but MLB will miss him.

I'm with you on this. Mookie is a power bat, best to start the game with someone on base for him to drive in. It is worth trying to see how it impacts the offense. Sox have been losing a lot of one run games lately. With the pitching problems, it wouldn't hurt to score an extra run as much as possible.

David Price has been a failure so far. Top talent is expected to produce top results. That may seem unfair, but that is the world of competitive sports. The Sox signed an Ace for Ace money and so far he isn't even the best starter in the rotation. For Price, mediocrity is equal to failure. He has to live up to a higher standard. He gets an A+ for attitude and being a great team player. But until his performance matches his attitude, he remains a failure so far in 2016. Without Price elevating his game, the Sox do not look like a true playoff contender. He is the key pitcher down the stretch.

I remember Doug Griffin fondly from my earliest days as a Red Sox fan. Sad to see him die so young. I'm pushing 60 and I'd like to think I'll live long enough to see a few more Sox championships.

I have always liked Fister. He's had his ups and downs, but mostly is a decent pitcher. Plus, his contracts have been relatively cheap. He had a down year in 2015 and took a big pay cut to sign as a free agent with the Astros. I didn't like the quality of our pitching depth at the start of the season, so you are right, the money spent on Young might have been better used to sign Fister, even if for just one season. LF has been a revolving door this season anyways.

LOL! Good one!

I read most of this thread. Do I get a medal? Random takes: I love Hugh's knowledge and passion when it comes to prospects. I think some are a little sensitive when he points out that not all fans look too deeply at prospects. I don't know a damn thing about prospects so I really appreciate his advocacy of building a strong farm system coupled with being patient with top young talent. I agree with Moon that not enough was done in the off-season to build quality depth into the pitching staff. The price in prospects in off-season trades is probably not as steep as mid-season when buyers may be more at the mercy of sellers. Still, I see the difficulties of seeing the future. A GM has to be very good at looking long range to anticipate future team needs way before they arise. But quality pitching depth should have been the focus. DD did pick up two top pitchers in Price and Kimbrel, but maybe should have done more when it could have cost less. As for trading for Pomerantz, I like the move, short term, I think it makes the Sox better now. It would go a long way if he can help Big Papi end his career as a champion. It fills a pressing need in the run for a championship and indicates to fans that the Sox are going for it. Henry brought Dombrowski to Boston for a reason. I think he wants to bring back the spirit that arose in 2004.

Even though I have turned against Farrell, his job is probably secure for the rest of the season. He is not a terrible manager, but I don't like some of his overall philosophy. He could still win another championship this season, but I will not change my mind about him. I started off strongly defending him but now I wouldn't mind if the Sox looked elsewhere for a manager. He is signed through 2017 so I could see him coming back next season to finish out the guaranteed part of his contract. The team has the option to pick him up for 2018 but that is too far off to even speculate about. A good playoff run will help him a lot and a championship may secure the last year of his deal.

Price so far is part of the problem. Whether or not he performs up to expected standards in the future is irrelevant and unknowable. So far, he has not performed as he should for his caliber of talent. That is a fair and reasonable assessment of his performance to this point.

You are right about Price. At this point in the season he should be the stopper of the staff. His track record indicates he has the talent, so I don't know why he's been so frustratingly inconsistent. I hope it's just a matter of minor mechanical adjustments and not anything deeper. We need him to lead this staff and set the tone and he has come up short.

I am starting to turn against Farrell. It's not due to in game strategy moves, but just a vague gut feeling. I never liked his base running philosophy, and when the team is losing it makes it look less like aggressiveness and more like foolishness. I can't blame him for the poor pitching and the hitters kind of cooling off so maybe my gut feeling is too harsh. I feel a bit guilty criticizing him and maybe I just was taken in by the strong start the team had. Maybe this team just doesn't have the staying power to contend. I'll have to wait and see how this homestand goes before I give my thumb up or down to Farrell. But I have gone from being strong defender of his to not really caring if they do fire him before the end of the season. I guess I'm just a fair weather fan. Please feel free to defend Farrell and label me a hypocrite and a turncoat.

You can give Farrell some of the blame.