notin
-
Posts
51,945 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
44
Content Type
Profiles
Boston Red Sox Videos
2026 Boston Red Sox Top Prospects Ranking
Boston Red Sox Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
Guides & Resources
2025 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker
News
Forums
Blogs
Events
Store
Downloads
Gallery
Everything posted by notin
-
A three game losing streak suddenly bears more weight than the 120 games that preceded it?
-
I do agree that trade should in the future always be referred to by the marquee names only. But can you at least call it “ the Punto—Loney trade” from now on?
-
Only for NL waived players (like Murphy). For players waived by AL teams, the Sox are 15th in the waiver queue...
-
The majority of the team will be exposed to waivers this month...
-
Like how the DL stints and psychological question marks suppressed the market value of Zack Greinke?
-
It doesn’t matter where they cork it, the difference in density moves the sweet spot further in. The deeper down the barrel one hollows, the more you move the sweet spot, even if you don’t reach it. Basically, corking the barrel of the bat is de-fungoing it. The way to increase batted ball distance would be to cork the handle of the bat. But the obvious problem there is that it damages the integrity of the wood on the weakest part of the bat, and would definitely lead to more broken bats...
-
That is all absolutely true. However when a player tampers with a bat by filling the barrel with a less dense material such as cork, he moves the center of mass (aka the “sweet spot”) closer to the handle of the bat. This creates a shorter moment arm capable of reducing batted ball distance. It’s the exact opposite of using a fungo bat. The increased bat speed certainly can make up for this. The formula for kinetic energy (1/2*mass*velocity squared) tells us bat speed is more important. But a player can only swing his arms so fast. And if he is already at his limit with a bat, corking a bat becomes detrimental due to the reduced moment arm. Therefore he could and should sacrifice the small reduction in surface area for the lighter bat and increased bat speed and maximum moment arm...
-
A few years ago, both KC and TB simultaneously experimented with limiting starters to 4 or 5 IP and relying on the bullpen. It worked well for both as they were in the top 3 in AL ERA. Tampa then broke up their bullpen in a trade and fell apart. KC, however, went to the World Series...
-
Chad Bradford aka “The Guy Manny Owned”. There is a difference between an overhand fastball rising and a fastball thrown at a slight upward trajectory rising....
-
Mostly because the idea of protection is to get into the pitcher's mind that he has to throw strikes and not put runners on base for the protecting hitter. As for baseball being mental, certainly that is easy to believe. But it is also easy to believe that most, if not all major leaguers do not lack confidence in any regard, as many have been told how great they are since childhood and have likely come to believe it by now. The mere act of getting to the majors is probably almost impossible for any player who doesn't have complete confidence in himself, regardless of his role and career. I'm not sure why that concept always goes overlooked...
-
That appears to be an outdated method. Teams take bullpens seriously since the average starter only pitches 5 innings and set up relievers can cost $6-8mill per season...
-
And the answer is - he's going to get that recovery regardless of whether or not he needs it, thanks to the Sox 9.5 game lead in the division and 12.5 game lead over the closest rival division leader hoping for home field advantage..
-
I'm hesititant to say "terrible." Kelly has pitched in 30 games since June 1. He has given up 1 ER or fewer in 26 of those games, including nineteen 0 ER appearances. While his ERA over that stretch is 6.75 and the league has an OPS of .825 against him, which is not good, he has been getting the job done the majority of the time. He's probably gone after this season, but he won't be as easy to replace as many think...
-
Panda might be off the books, but his salary doesn't count towards the luxury tax anyway. So while it keeps Henry from writing one less check, his free agency doesn't give the Sox more money to use towards roster construction....
-
The question arises, however, is this normal wear and tear on his shoulder that he typically pitches through? Or is this a much more serious injury he needs a prolonged recovery from?
-
It’s also probably a bigger factor than anything mental for many pitchers labeled as “chokers” in the postseason...
-
This is so obvious and probably something we all should realize
-
Because it involves tampering with equipment, which is illegal in every sport. There are ways a bat could be tampered with to increase batted ball distance. Cork isn’t one of those materials. (Although as it is less dense than wood, the reduced weight of the bat might lead to increased bat speed, which would be good. But if this is the case, a hitter should consider the perfectly legal maneuver of using a lighter bat)...
-
Baseball statistics are really a numerical summary of past performance...
-
They did have ill effects, but history has allowed us to forget many names. How often do people wonder what “might have been” with Mark Fidrych, for example? Tommy John surgeries are on the rise because the procedure itself isn’t that old. The namesake Tommy John pitched into the 1980’s. And as time has gone on, the procedure itself is getting more common with skilled and experienced doctors and refined procedures. But prior to Tommy John, if you tore that ligament, your career was instantly over. The rise in popularity of the slider probably helped, too. I also think a lot of younger pitchers throw too hard too fast. You don’t need to throw 95 mph to get high school hitters out, but kids do it because radar gun readings translate directly into scholarships and signing bonuses...
-
It could be more of a pre-emptive measure. And with a 10 game lead, the decision to rest Sale gets a lot easier. If the Sox were up 1 or 2 games, there would be a lot more clamoring in the media for really specific details...
-
No one went off the rails. I just am very, very hesitant to attribute Bradley’s improvement to protection in the lineup. Moonslav has been very diligent most of the year reminding us Bradley is hitting the ball well and the hot streak is coming...
-
And Amos Otis was 100% convinced corking bats helped him hit home runs, despite all the laws of physics that state otherwise. And Jack McDowell is 100% convinced pitch counts don’t matter, despite all the evidence to the contrary. But, hey, these guys played in MLB so they must be right...
-
There will always be players who doubt the relevance, like Jayson WErth. But for every Jayson Werth, there are numerous Josh Redddick's and Joey Votto's and Todd Frasier's who do buy into a lot of the new data and use it to improve their game...
-
That's not what I said at all. Not even close. You said you were not assuming anything, I tried to remind you that you did insinuate strongly ("it could be that I'm right...") that you attributed his improvement to protection.
