S5Dewey

IMHO if you tell someone that a 14% error rate is acceptable they will meet that 14%. Of course that 14% is the average of all umpires which means some are worse. We just don't know who, or how much worse. But if 14% is the average then some are worse, and if you don't like 14% you're probably going to like 16%, 18% or 20% even less. (i'm hoping that even if you do like 14% you'd still like 16%, 18%, and 20% less). I'm not going to go back and repost my posting back on the early pages of this thread, but I'm still in favor of using computerized strike zone identification to grade umpires with the worst of them being retrained and eventually removed from umpiring if they can't meet a minimum standard. Without some kind of "incentive" to improve they simply go on doing as they've been doing with impunity.

I wish I didn't agree with this.^^^ This team NEEDS pitching. They can either try to get it now and be a contender this year while Papi is there or they can try their luck in the off-season and take a "wait until next year" approach to 2016. Were I DD I'd be designating a few players (Mookie, XBo, JBJ, Vaz, Papi obviously, and maybe Pedey) as untouchable and everyone else - including all prospects - is up for grabs in a trade. Then I'd be trying to get the best pitcher I could get (and extend) at the deadline using those players I didn't mention. If a trade can be made the team is stronger both this year and next. If it can't be made we still have our "core four" to build around into the future.

I'm not sure I agree about the "no public outcry" part of your post. IMO you're seeing a public outcry in these posts. The problem is that there's no venue for people to express their frustration with the umpiring. We have each other. Last year during the playoffs one of the networks did an ongoing segment about the umpires, how difficult their job is, and what MLB is doing to improve the quality of umpiring. Basically a puff piece to give credibility to umpires. That in itself tells me that MLB sees that there's a problem. They're just trying to get out ahead of any outcry.

I find that a lot of the opinions here that lack proof are dependent on what one wants to believe. We have proof that Ryan Braun et. al. are PED users. We don't have proof that Nomar et.al. are PED users so what we have is poster's opinions based on what they want to believe. "We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are".

Welcome back! So... are you saying that you didn't say, " There is actually medical evidence that proves Nomar took PEDs without a shred of doubt. Do a little homework before you say "none." Maybe none "that you heard of.""?

Well put, Slash. This is where I am too, most especially the part I edited to bold print. A short time ago Babe suggested that Nomar had used PED's during his career and challenged us to be "more informed" before we opined that Nomar was "clean". So I did. And I found... suggestions/suspicions but no proof, no failed tests. Bear with me... I'm going someplace with this.... What I DID find was Nomar saying that some players asked to be listed as testing positive even though they weren't using PED's in order to bring the percentage of positive tests to the threshold where MLB would investigate usage. I'd never heard that before. Does that sound familiar to anyone else?

Not at all a bad idea. Just as some pitchers have dedicated catchers, let the bottom two of our rotation have dedicated relievers. Get 'em out of there before the damage starts. And since the relievers are only pitching two days out of five they shouldn't be overworked. Of course that assumes that our top three are going to go seven or eight innings every start!

My bad. Maybe I wasn't clear about that. I meant to say that if you replaced any ONE of the position players with the average player at that position...... The remaining the Sox players would be expected to play as they are this year,

I agree. Let's not confuse "Most valuable" with "Most fun to watch". All of those guys who are hitting the ball well are fun to watch but not any one of them is as valuable as Wright. Wright is 8-4 which is nice but it doesn't reflect how good it could have been if that ERA just North of 2.00 had worked out as well as it should have. I look at it this way: If you replace any of the position players with the average player at their position and replace Wright with the average #5 pitcher in baseball (which is what Wright was supposed to be for us), where would this team be?

As little as I like this rotation I can't blame DD for it. I believe he did what he could do given the time and salary restraints he had to work with. He came in and got us a starter and a closer. Price is a very good start on a rotation but he can't do it alone. I'm going to be patient and see what DD does at the deadline or in the off season before I criticize him for not building a better rotation.

IMO this has Dombrowski's fingerprints all over it. DD seems to like "D" almost as much as I do. I have a feeling that were it not for JBJ's defense he would have been sent back to Pawtucket and considered trade bait. The reason they didn't do it is because of his defense and that they had no one else who played CF defense better than JBJ. Vaz is there because of his defense, which is better than Swihart's although Swihart has a better offensive upside than Vaz does. And as for Shaw, well, the only reason Travis Shaw got the shot at being a regular is because of Panda and it was too late to make a meaningful trade for a 3B. The Sox caught a break there.

I know I'm pretty hard-ass about this and I don't care that others may think so. Here's my problem with Cruz. 2011 $3.65M 29 HR 2012 5.00M 24 HR 2013 10.50M 27 HR in 109 games. (Was linked to biogensis scandal and served 50 game suspension) 2014 8.0 M 40 HR (turned down a $14m QO from the Rangers. Shame on the Rangers for offering it to him. Shame on him for thinking he could get MORE!)) 2015 14.5 M 44 HR 2016 14.5M On pace for ~45 HR Issue #1 with me: I could be very contrite for $14.5M Issue #2 with me: Either he suddenly learned how to hit during his 50 game suspension or the effects of the PED's are still with him. Issue #3 with me: He continues to reap some pretty significant rewards for his PED-induced 2014 season and I'd prefer the Sox not reward him for it. So no thank you.

John Heyman is reporting that Rusney Castillo has been place on outright waivers. http://www.todaysknuckleball.com/knuckleball-news/heyman-rusney-castillo-placed-outright-waivers/ I doubt anyone will claim him given his performance vs. his salary, but it's worth a try.

Meh. I see the fact that E-Rod been tipping his pitches as good news. It means that maybe his stuff isn't as bad as we'd dreaded, it's something that should be easily curable and we should be able to see the real E-Rod (for better or worse) soon. And in a topic remotely related to one of my posts in another thread, this is yet another thing that I'm surprised at but like learning: That the position of the thumb on his glove hand tips what pitch he's throwing. I mean, it's so slight... who notices that stuff? And then who can relate it to the pitch he's throwing? It makes me think that nearly all of these major league players know a lot more than we give them credit for sometimes.

I know. I will never understand why NESN invited Clemens to the booth. At the same time, I learned a lot from watching him give a televised pitching clinic. I need some of that sometimes to remind me that there's a lot about the nuances and intracasincrisies (sp?) of the game that I don't understand. As for Clemens, I like the message but I hate the messenger. [Disclaimer - I don't actually "hate" Roger Clemens. I've never even met the guy. It's his actions that I very much dislike. As to "proof", some people actually believe that OJ Simpson is innocent too.]

This. Braun is a known and self-admitted PED user who tried to throw others under the bus in an attempt to cover up for what he did. The lowest of the low. This is a guy who should be ostracized from baseball. Let his contract run out and let him fade away, being grateful that at least we can be happy that the Red Sox aren't enabling him further. No team should be sending the message that they don't care what he - or anyone else - has done in the past, that all if forgiven if they can still play the game. Allowing Braun to stay in the game past this contract only shows the younger players coming up that while the owners will give lip service to the ills of PED usage in the real world they embrace these players by lavishing millions of dollars on them. Just say "NO" to PED users.

I'm not sure if this counts or not, but in March of 2015 I sat across the aisle on a plane from Philadephia to Florida from Josh Ockimey, who had just been drafted by the Sox. He and I had a nice conversation, mostly about baseball and his excitement about being drafted (and receiving a $450,000 signing bonus). He's going to be in Greenville this year. He's a very nice young man, very polite and affable. I'm wishing him well and hoping he gets to Portland soon so I can get to see him play there.

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Since the question is the MOST surprising it has to be Wright. I'm surprised that Bogaerts is hitting as well as he is. I thought he'd be ~.290-.300 but he's far exceeding that. I'm even more surprised that JBJ is hitting as well as he is. I've long been a supporter of his defense and I've always said that if he could hit .220 his defense would make him an asset to the team. I thought his ceiling was about .250 with occasional power. An OPS of ~.700. I'm surprised that Hanley is playing 1B as well as he does. I had him pegged for being lazy and not caring. Boy, was I wrong! Of course, I also thought he'd hit for power so I guess that all evens out. I wasn't surprised that Shaw played as well as he did early in the year, but I'm surprised that Farrell had the kahunas to put Panda on the bench (and that was before we knew about the shoulder). But Wright has far exceeded any expectations I had in my wildest dreams. I thought that he MAY be a #5 with an ERA of ~5.00, and that's IF he could control his K-Ball - which I doubted. There are a lot of reasons to be surprised on this team but Wright is my favorite.

Not disagreeing at all. However, the thing that made Buch attractive is that by the time he goes on the DL he may be 12-0. Unfortunately this year he's going to be closer to 2-10 And that's if he gets 12 decisions, which is unlikely. Not knowing what was going to happen to him this year, I actually saw picking up his option as a good thing. He could have realistically been our #2 - #3, be 9-3, go on the DL in July and we could pick up rental at the deadline to finish the season if we were still in the race. If the rental could get us 9 more for half of a $20M - $24M contract, where else do you get 18 (or so) wins for $18M- $20M? ...and if we weren't still in the race in July it wouldn't matter that Buch was on the DL!

I know you're probably right but it's hard for me to even think about dickin' with Bogarts in any way while he's hitting like he is.

The case can be made that the team is leading the league in scoring in spite of Hanley's being in the 5 hole. .717 OPS isn't exactly great 5-hole stuff. I'm not sure I'd move him down to 8th but if his name were almost anything but "Hanley Ramirez" he'd have been moved before now. If one thinks Hanley's reputation/potential makes him worthy of the 5 spot then he'd be protection for JBJ if JBJ were 5 and Hanley 6.

Very true, Max. And do you know what I really like about plays like that? They make the defensive team pay for using the shift. If more teams would do that most of these shifts would disappear. This team is not playing station-to-station on the bases and I like it!

I know. I've stuck with Noe for a long time but I'm about out of patience with Noe too. I saw him in Ft. M and he was throwing everything down and away with good velocity - almost unhittable. Now all he can hit is bats. I dunno, I saw that he has a big upside and I thought he was going to be a contributor early in the spring but I haven't seen it since. Maybe the FO is looking for the March Noe. Whatever it is, it doesn't look like March Noe is coming through that door and I don't see any reason to not bring up someone unproven from Pawtucket. I know this isn't a great criteria to call someone up, but How much worse can it be?

Did you delete some posts? Because I only saw one poster call another a troll and it was at post #1037. And later I saw a poster try to turn the discussion political at post #1050. And it's been happening every day recently. "We must like it. We put up with it".