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But add 0.5 back in for having the name “Vogelbach”...

Everyone does. The point is that even with the two best OBP hitters in most teams batting 1 and 2, the third hitter will still have a lot of “2 out no one on” at bats. Unless your third hitter is Joe Carter, who got to bat behind Roberto Alomar and Tony Gwynn for a while there...

And he’s actually spent more time in CF than any other position. Who saw that coming?

Castillo is certainly irrelevant to the discussion. It’s very possible that Sandoval is a big part of why the Sox didn’t get involved. But with Dombrowski and bullpens, one never knows. This year isn’t the first time he has not spent on one...

Very poor man’s. And not the 2019 Gallo...

And probably a future Russ Branyan clone. Which does give him a respectable MLB career, but also makes him very expendable...

But I agree with mvp it’s more interesting than the influx of “JBJ sucks” posts..

I’m all ears. Or eyes in this case...

At the hands of Ortiz, no doubt. Is it really chocking if you get beat by a Hall of Famer to be? Ok let’s take a more obvious candidate. Do you think Edgar Renteria - a man who once got the game-winnng hit in game seven of the World Series - struggled in Boston due to media pressure?

I was never all that high on him. Reportedly Cora liked his defense in Spring Training, but I don’t think his fascination goes much beyond that...

The definition of “legend” is “traditional story believed to be historic but is unauthenticated.” So it leaves the door open that you don’t exist...

Also, stating something is an opinion makes it free for counter arguments and criticisms...

But even that behavior isn’t unique to Boston or exclusive to large markets. Social media makes it very, very easy for anyone and EVERY player in MLB has detractors on Twitter or bloggers who rip them for some reason. And even then, do you think Foulke or Pedroia or whoever thought about it on the field? And it affected their play?

I wouldn’t demote Chavis to accommodate Holt. Let Chavis play and make his adjustments. Demote him if a doubleheader forces a need for a bigger pitching staff short term. But that’s it...

Errors are not the only defensive metric he hasn’t done well on. Absolute worst case scenario for Devers is he does get moved to 1b, as hit bat got him to Boston. But I think they keep him at 3b and move Dalbec elsewhere...

But do players really notice or care? Maybe some might, but the notion that players in small markets can walk amongst the normies unnoticed is ridiculous. I believe most players live in a bubble, and that bubble contains 24 other guys they spend nearly all their time with. And when they’re on the field focusing on the game, they’re not thinking about what Gerry Callahan or Tony Massarotti is going to complain about the next day. Those guys complain about everything. They’re focused on the pitcher staring them down. Or the hitter and what they have to do when the ball is hit to them. They’re focused on those other 24 guys and not letting THEM down. Because those guys are in their bubble, not Callahan or Massarotti. And I believe every player in MLB has this type of focus, because you simply don’t make the majors without it. And probably plenty of players worry about the players coming up to take their jobs, or how their current injuries will affect their time going forward. Or their pending contract. Or what do they need to do to make sure their next road trip isn’t on a bus. That Bob Q. Twitter has some disparaging comments to share with his followers is far, far down on the list, where it belongs. And none of that is any different in Boston than it is in Minneapolis...

It’s not faulty for Shaw’s tenure there. This was about Shaw. In fact, I don’t think you get how impressive that is. Milwaukee is only about an hour from Chicago. People commute from the Milwaukee suburbs to the Chicago suburbs. Yet even in the wake of TV coverage from another major market so close, the Brewers still do well. They have a huge disadvantage in that their blackout region covers Wisconsin and Iowa, which affects viewership. Even if you want me to concede that media pressure in Boston is so much worse, the notion that players in other cities have no pressure is just ludicrous. Media pressure isn’t the only factor and certainly not the only type of pressure. Also the notion that it was an issue for Shaw - which is really where this all started- is 100% unsupported.

I could write an entire treatise on why I think fan perception of media pressure is overblown. But I don’t think you’d want to take the time to read it. Even though I would probably color it up with a lot of profanity...

He did win some sort of Defensive Player of the Year award in the minors. So really so far his defense has been more of a disappointment than anything else...

Think that’s an indication going forward? Or do you think he can bridge that gap in the next 100 games? If it was up to me, I’d demote Weber (or Shawaryn as he would not need to be DFAd) and keep Chavis. The only way I demote Chavis is if Moreland comes back before Saturday’s double header. Personally I don’t think Weber is a major leaguer and should easily clear waivers...

Kind of a shame, as he had made himself a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year with his early explosion. The best competition for the award is probably Brandon Lowe, who is also struggling of late. Of course a lot of that was before VGJ came up. (VGJ said a few good words about how impressed he was with Chavis, too, and was the first I saw to actually say Chavis could be a legitimate ROY candidate.)

On this deal, I’m calling “Bad Dombrowski!! Bad! Bad!!” for sitting out this negotiation. With the tax implications, Kimbrel runs about $21-22 mill with luxury tax, depending on pro-rating, etc. That’s far less than the $29mill the Sox are paying to Castillo and Sandoval to play elsewhere. I get that DD inherited both contracts and had no choice. But on some level he is saying it’s more important to clean up the messes of other GMs than to fix his own...

But even then, what percentage of players are affected by it over the dozens of other pressures they have? And certainly it doesn’t affect every player, as media attention is hardly evenly divided. Sandy Leon is not getting the same coverage as Mookie Betts...

Well, according to the fine people at Notin Industries, a wholly owned subsidiary of Notin TransGlobal MegaCorp (NTMC) (long time since I broke that out), the answers are: 1. The fourth hitter comes up the most after the first inning 2. The greatest opportunity for high leverage - which is very game flow dependent - doesn’t change since the percentage of high leverage opportunities in the first inning is minimal. No actual research was conducted for these answers...

Apparently. But it’s also very soon after the draft. I get why DD didn’t bring him back, but on that contract, I don’t agree with the decision...