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Weak case. The Yankee rotation (4.82 ERA) has outpitched the Sox rotation (5.02 ERA) by a greater margin in ERA that the difference between the 2 bullpens. Yankee bullpen ERA is 4.02, which the Red Sox is 4.16. Our bullpen is closer to their bullpen than our rotation is to their rotation....

If the Mariners want anything better than Brian Johnson, the Sox can look elsewhere. Broxton was DFA'd by the Mets and Orioles already this year - two organizations that needed temporary outfield hep and decided Broxton was not it. http://www.baseballtradevalues gives Broxton a surplus trade value of $0.5mill, which is less than Chris Owings. I think if the Sox offered just about anything, the Mainers would probably accept it. And if they didn't, the Red Sox would probably look elsewhere. They really might not even need to fill CF if they shift Betts or Benintendi to CF...

So when (I'm going with "when" here) make the WC game, who should be the SP? And then who takes Game 1 of the ALDS?

He's been released twice this year. Do you think he suddenly has trade value?

Clearly you are unaware of Fenway Popcorn prices...

And it’s not like any of us were helping build that bullpen. Heck, Dombrowski STILL hasn’t returned any of my calls...

He’s 28 now...

Thank you

Sometimes if he is comparing two players, he also incorporates their ages or compares them at the same ages. He’s been doing it since BDC. Remember his unpopular Will Middlebrooks/Mark Reynolds comparisons?

Ignoring the bullpen was stupid, but the rotation is what this team is built around and has been disappointing everywhere except ERod...

I think taking health and games played into an account is an asset. Let’s see batting average do that...

The Sox bullpen has been better than expected The Yankees invested heavily in the bullpen and it’s working. The Sox invested heavily in the rotation and it isn’t...

Harmony does it daily...

The fact that we still have optimistic fans and an outside chance does mean the team is competitive. Ask harmony if he thinks the Mariners are this year...

Given the obvious Dombrowski-Greene connection, I normally would be flat out surprised if Dombrowski didn’t make an attempt to get Greene, or at least assume he had a good reason for passing. But the way Apathy Dave has been this year, I’m not sure of anything...

I think it comes down to each source measuring differently what it takes to contribute to a win. Doesn’t mean either one is wrong, but they are measuring different aspects of the same thing It’s like if you asked two fisherman which one caught the bigger fish. If the first one said “mine was 30 inches” and the second one said “mine was 12 pounds”, who caught the bigger fish, using that data only? And is either one “wrong”?

I think he stays for 2020 and Boras re-assesses the market to speculate if 2021 makes sense or he can get 3 or 4 years...

Putting aside WAR arguments (stop bringing them up, Bellhorn!! ), this is a thread about 2020. Obviously s lot hinges on Sale. OH FOY (I believe) cited the sportrac.com number that the Sox available budget for 2020 is $56mill. If the arbitration cases for Betts (say, $25mill), ERod ($8mill-ish) and Benintendi ($6mill) come out with these wild guesses which could be collectively close, that leaves about $17mill for remaining arbitration cases (Barnes, Workman, Hembree, and a couple others) finishing the 25 man roster, and leaving a little headway to improve or replace an injured player mid season. Tight budget. This is if a reset is in order. If the Sox go all in for 2020, it does mean 2021 and beyond are very likely going to be struggles...

Most of your criticisms of WAR can be applied to any stat. Not perfect. Easily misinterpreted. Stats are a historical record. All of them,including WAR, RBIs, K/BB. They’re all stuff that happened, whether they’re easy to understand or not. Or interpreted different ways. But no stat judges talent. Not one. Citing the equality in WAR between Jensen and Piersall as a flaw ignores different ways of looking at it. Anyone who values longevity for example. All stats have that issue. I know people who think a hitter is measured by home runs. So do you. There are a lot of them. If you use home runs as a yardstick, Jim Thome was better than Ted Williams. Does that mean home runs are flawed? Hell if you want to see an overvaluedflawed stat, go see who is second on the Sox in Wins this year. And you absolutely know people who think wins are a measure of pitching ability. Only recently did the BBWAA come to the realization they may not be. Or maybe Porcello is the second most talented pitcher on the Sox. The counter argument is a lot of stats have issues. Focusing on WAR like it’s the only one is ignorant of this...

The app doesn’t show post numbers. C&P please?

So... you’re worried about the perception of a stat that you had to explain to people? Let’s just say casual fans assume “higher equals better” and take it as gospel. What’s the big deal? People make massive assumptions about ERA and BA and have for over a century.

No one has EVER said WAR is perfect. No one has even implied it. That you infer WAR being perfect is not the fault of the stat. And we’re not talking about scouts doing eye test. We’re talking about fans. Potentially rabid fans, but fans nonetheless. However, the argument “it worked for years” doesn’t fly. Horses served the transportation market for centuries. But I bet you still own a car...

You did it twice on this thread. In the Jensen/Piersall post, and a later post about some baseball experts who don’t know about baseball-reference.com. (The app doesn’t show post numbers. Apologies.) And the big difference between WAR and the eye test is that WAR has a baseline. The eye test is 100% subjectivity...

Maybe we need Christian Vazquez to punch Aaron Judge in the face?

Most people don’t know how to use the eye test. 1) It’s not even for the same criteria as WAR. 2) It doesn’t work for televised baseball. 3) It primarily involves massive imbalances in sample size. So saying “Bradley is a good CF” with the eye test is one thing. But saying “Bradley is a the best defensive CF” or “Bradley is a better defensive CF than Pillar and Kiermeier” with eye test criteria is another. 4) And to be honest, for most people the eye test boils down to “ I saw that guy make an error once.” You can’t denigrate WAR because people might not understand it, but still champion the eye test with that flaw...