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Hanley Ramirez, two years ago. And his defense was worse...

Ted Williams might not be the most realistic standard to hold any player to..

A solid schedule in the middle of a flu epidemic

Stop it. You're very weak. If I typed "anti-stathead" instead would you be less confused? Does the term stathead confuse you? If so, stop using it. It's odd you suddenly have derogatory comments on stathead. On the clutch thread, where this debate was in force, you refused to voice any personal opinion. You just obfuscated. But when given a chance to be derisive when you think someone else has your back, you can't pass up the opportunity to take shots. And given your past attempts to "police" the board from what you deem offensive, you're such a hypocrite...

So.... you cannot lie about it?

You did have another sentence in your post. Something about statheads and their soft hands and big butts. Very poorly deflected....

Right. Because players who play hard only do so at key times. Probably why no one ever sees Pedroia dive for a two out ground ball with no one on base in May. Oh wait. Or maybe the anti-stat crowd is a bunch of former high school players who think thst because they played at this "elite" level, their experiences there qualify them to speak as the equivalent of major leaguers.

I'm willing to bet he still has the job 10 days from now, barring injury. ..

I'm pretty sure Hernandez hasn't "won" any starting jobs, and Sandoval, based on contract and career, will get more than a couple weeks to lose the jib, which, by the way, he is not in the process of doing just yet...

I can't believe change and sportswriters are arguing that a pitcher should have been allowed to throw a complete game in April. Do the Sox really need to disk putting Sale on the DL with Price?

So for superstar players, baseball is not a team sport?

WAR doesn't use Range Factor, which is just (putouts + assists)/game. It's a useless stat unless comparing two players who play the same position on the same team, as it depends on park and pitching staff...

It's not a terrible analogy. It disproves your sweeping generalization that just because something is more complicated, it must be worse. I can give you 1000 other examples if you like.

That doesn't mean it doesn't work better. A car has more moving parts than a horse-drawn carriage, and I would agree it has a greater likelihood of breaking down. But it certainly is a better mode of transportation and I'm willing to bet of the two, you don't own a horse-drawn carriage...

Price also pitched for Detroit and Toronto...

Unfortunately it's not so simple when looking at the incredibly useless W-L record, because even pitchers with 6-8 wins have a bunch of no decisions that the Sox do win.

Can we let a couple of them get maybe 25 or so IP before we write them off?

No. Much like Derek Lowe, converting to starting pitching lead to the downward spiral of his career...

But how do you know it isn't fatigue or simply nagging injuries from a long season?

Ok. So what's choking? And how do you differentiate from a normal yet ill-timed bad week?

Byung Hyun Kim pitched all of 11 post-season innings over 3 seasons in his career. THAT is an example of "consistent" meltdowns in the post-season?

So the pro-clutch are saying " clutch is real. Its the ability to maintain the status quo!" And the anti-clutch people have been saying "clutch isn't real and players maintain the status quo." Sound about right?

With post-season games, alot of times you're looking at a small number of games over a large number of seasons. You cannot make the human element argument as many have and think these are the same players year after year. And in Prince's case I think it helps to look inside the box score every once in a while. He's actually had some well pitched post season games that went sour fast...

How does it matter if it's a 4th or 5th starter? Those pitchers have given up some of the biggest clutch hits in MLB history, starting with Pat Darcy. Has ANYONE EVER watched Fisk's home run off Darcy in Game 6 of 1975 , possibly the most famous home run in MLB history, and NOT described the clutchness and drama? I never once heard anyone say "Big deal. It was off Pat Darcy. Not like he hit it off Don Gullett or Gary Nolan." In fact, those 4th or 5th starter types make the post-season, too. Playoff teams are not made of the best players in the league. And certainly not all the best pitchers. The Sox didn't face Carrasco or Salazar last season. They faced Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin - the fourth and fifth starters, one of who would not have been starting period if not for injuries. So were those or were those not "clutch at bats" by your definition? High leverage is high leverage. And yes a hit to win a game in April can be more important than a hit in a 10-3 World Series game...

Well you did say clutch abilities were due to the hitter's increased focus in key situations. I don't think anyone is going to crucify long retired players like Farmer and Jackson if they said they took a few innings or at bats off. Certainly not at this point in their lives. I will say that I do believe players always try regardless. And there are obvious reasons. Great hitters just don't let up. It is part of what makes them great and statistics bear it out. Everyone else just doesn't want to get caught from behind by the bench player or the AAA player or the "next big thing" in the press. If someone is hitting .218, noi one says "he's hitting .218, but a lot of those at bats were unimportant so he probably didn't try." They say "he's hitting .218. Period. And if the guy who has his position in AAA is hitting .318, the pressure to keep the job is on. Ask Coco Crisp about this. And it's really not even limited to players like Crisp. How many times did we hear about Steve Lyons taking over for Wade Boggs? Heck, sometime as georom who he thinks should be starting at second base for the Sox this year - Dustin Pedroia or Brock Holt? How are those twi even comparable? But apparently, the younger, cheaper, healthier (and far, far worse) Holt looks better to some. The bottom line is when your job depends on performing, you have to keep the intensity up all the time. If you don't, someone else will...