S5Dewey

I'm fine with having David Price on the team, even at his salary. As I've said before, Price has proven himself to be someone who can get you to the playoffs. He's just yet to prove that he can get the team out the other side - and that's the nicest way I can think of to say it. That leaves the person inside me saying that when Price is starting a playoff game I'm hopeful - but not confident - that he'll pitch well.

Oh, Moon. No. IMO Swihart looks athletic while Wright looks like he should be playing in a geriatric tennis league. I believe that in any athletic endeavor other than the ability to throw a knuckleball Swihart would kick Wright's ass every day. Unfortunately for Swihart, Wright has a skill that will keep him on a ML team while Swihart may not. Remember, pitchers don't have to be athletic but position players do.

What's happening is what I feared would happen when the replays started. In our desire to get everything "perfect" and "fair" we've taken away from the game. I'm "on the fence" about replay. On the one hand I like it when I know that no team got an edge because of an umpire's blown call. OTOH I dislike the fact that technology is taking over sports. In the bigger picture I have to wonder if we're putting too much emphasis on sports, especially at the professional level. Sports should not be life or death for any fan at any level. The sun is going to come up tomorrow regardless of who wins a game and yet I have friends who say they can't sleep after a Red Sox (or Patriots) loss. Most of my experience is in having played and at the high school level but it's been my observation that players can walk off the field after a tough loss or a bad call and put it behind them while parents and fans can carry a negative memory for years after a loss. It's a game. It's ok to be elated when you win or disappointed when you lose so is it really all that important that an umpire get every single call right?

It shouldn't surprise anyone. What you have here is two Yankees fans arguing with one another. They can't help it. It's cultural.

That's the biggest question I can see. It'd be like Einstein taking the time to argue with ...... me.

My best guess is that it was the spring of 2013. Our old friend Jidge could tell us for sure since it was the last year he was there. It's hard to believe it's been five years.

We could do better offensively in CF but we'd have to give up a lot of defense to get it.

Some of us aren't going to be changing sides. We believe that because JBJ is one of the best CF's in the league we put up with his streakiness.

Pete Reisler? That name's not even familiar! I know you're not THAT MUCH older than I am so you must have a better memory! I have no idea what's going on with Mookie and based on what I've heard from the Sox they don't either. Of course I also believe that what the Sox tells the fans about injuries has no basis in reality.

I'm feeling better about this all the time! I thought I was the only Red Sox fan on the planet who isn't crying about the Bagwell trade. The way I remember it the Sox were in a playoff run and needed bullpen help, and Jeff Bagwell was highly regarded but nobody knew he was going to turn out to be JEFF BAGWELL. The Sox gave to get. As Moon said, if that trade had resulted in a WSC it would have been called a win/win trade. Unfortunately they didn't so it's now somehow became the benchmark for bad trades the Sox have made. Good ol' 20/20 hindsight. But now I know that there are (at least) three of us who aren't crying about that trade.

Now c'mon. If you want to say the seven games series in basketball is for money I'll buy that, but extending that theory to compare it with baseball is hooey. The reason March madness works so well is because basketball has no single impact player who doesn't play in every game and baseball does. This [stupid] one game format strongly favors the team that wraps up their division first so they can get their #1 pitcher rested and ready for that one game playoff. At the same time the WC team has to start whomever's turn it is in the rotation. In a game that's controlled by pitching that's a HUGE advantage and it could very well go to the weaker team. It trivializes the regular season.

I didn't want to start a new thread for this but I thought some might find it interesting. MLB History Is Being Made This Season Did you know.. So far this year, for the first time in MLB history, if you attend or watch a game you have a better chance of seeing a strikeout (25.1%) than you do a base hit (24.6%).

..which works fine because our BP is usually lights out. It's a team effort.

Absolutely right. A team has to play the teams on their schedule. In order to win the division a team has to beat the teams they can beat and beat them like a rented mule - frequently. Every game you lose to a worse team is a loss you can't get back and given the fact that the two best teams in the ALE are fairly evenly matched, the team that wins the ALE will do it by virtue of beating the bad teams more than the team that finishes second did.

Serviceable and what does it mean.... That's an interesting point. As fans we tend to compare one player against another. Is Hanley a better 1B than Moreland? Is Nunez better than Holt at any position? Is Devers 'serviceable' at 3B? Long story short, "serviceable" to me means that he's not hurting the team, which is really part of the criteria for a player. Anything beyond that is a plus. When I used that word to describe JDM in the outfield I didn't mean it as a knock on JDM. What I meant was that IMO (and without seeing every outfielder in baseball) it was my opinion that he's at least average now defensively. However, my opinion may be skewed because, as I said, I don't see every outfielder in baseball so I tend to compare JDM against the two I see the most of - Mookie and JBJ. I don't know what the defensive metrics say about JDM as an outfielder and I don't much care. The more discussion I hear about defensive metrics the less faith I have in them especially as they pertain to outfielders. All I care about with JDM in the outfield is that he goes out there and gets at least an average job done - which he's doing now without the drama or misjudged balls.

My personal views of JDM were at ST and I have to say that he looked like a butcher out there. As I said back then, he makes the plays (mostly) but looks horrible doing it. He misjudged balls over his head and in front of him and made several leaping grabs on what should have been routine plays. HOWEVER.... he's found his stride out there now. He's not playing like JBJ or Mookie, but not many are. He's fine. I don't cringe any more when a ball is hit his way. He makes the routine plays without the drama and looks like he knows what he's doing on just about every ball hit in his direction. As a700 said, he's perfectly serviceable. Every sunny day having a cloud, the only thing I don't like about JDM now is that he's playing defense so well that he'll be taking that first opt-out and the Sox will be looking to replace him - which will be hard to do.

Quit being a dick.

Ya know... I don't even disagree with you on Dan Butler. Although I've only seen him in ST I didn't see anything that made me think he might be at least an emergency catcher. However, I'm deferring to the FO when I say he's not the answer. They must be seeing something negative that I'm not seeing.

Man, are you so paranoid that you can't stand the letters BDC? You need help!

Not to derail this thread with another subject, but speaking of young pitching and the shortage of it, is anyone else surprised that the Sox top two draft picks this year aren't pitchers? (I haven't seen what they've done today yet)

But the bigger question is would you undo some of those trades and watch the Yankees run away with the AL East in 2018?

You may very well be right about that. In fact, I think the Sox are being unfair to him keeping him in limbo the way they are. Unfortunately for Swihart, Dan Butler isn't the answer for the Sox and there's nobody else who's the least bit qualified to be a ML catcher in the minors at the moment.

Price is still capable of being a 20 game winner in 2018 though, and I want to get through that window while it's open.

I think Swi might welcome the opportunity to go to Pawtucket for another year to stay with the Sox. It would give Swi a chance to prove himself to the FO while getting more experience behind the plate. If he was successful he'd increase his value to the team and very possibly supplant one of our existing catchers. If he's not successful he'd be no worse off than he is now other than being another year older. In order for Swi to become a FA wouldn't the Sox have to DFA him? And therefore wouldn't he have to clear waivers before signing a minor league deal with the Sox?

Hindsight being 20/20 I'd consider undoing the Price contract but no one could foresee what was going to happen in terms of Price's health or the decline in pay of starting pitchers. So I have no major gripe with the contract. You do what you have to do with the conditions in place at the time. Even right now I wouldn't undo it though. Yes, he's overpaid for what he's contributing, but my next question would be who could we sign (not who would we LIKE to sign, but who COULD we sign?) to take his place for less money. I've been critical of Price, especially for his lack of success in the playoffs, but I've now resigned myself to his not being a true Ace but instead a #2 guy. I believe that in a worst case scenario he will help the Sox get to the playoffs. What he does after that is what scares me. BUT.. we have our Ace. It's Chris Freakin' SALE!