S5Dewey

I agree. I'm scared of this guy. He strikes me as the player with a million dollar arm and a 10c brain.

NESN is reporting that Ventura has been suspended for nine games and will be paying an unspecified fine. Muchado got a four game suspension.

This may turn around and bite the MLBPA on the ass. Sandoval's contract is great ammunition for the owners wanting to get rid of all the guaranteed contracts.

This is really the crux of the whole issue. Getting rid of the bad umps. We talk about that 86% like everyone is at that level when actually that's the average of all umpires. Some are better and some are WORSE! It's impossible to know what the range is without having all the statistics but it's probably not unreasonable to think that the real range is 5% either way or 81% - 91%. That means that the worst of the umpires may be getting only getting 4 out of 5 calls right! That's horrendous when you remember that there are very few pitches (as a percentage of all pitches) that are questionable. THESE are the guys who need to be weeded out, and AFAIAC the sooner the better.

iMHO we don't need automated ball and strike calling. I agree that would take away from the character of the game. If what I hear and read is true MLB is half right in what they're doing. They're using the "K-Zone" as a tool to critique umpires after games. They now need to expand that to being sure that all umpires are improving in their ball/strike calls and if they're unwilling or unable to improve they should be out of baseball. I would never advocate for 100% accuracy. That just isn't going to happen and would be unfair to the umps. I would advocate for an annual review mandating 100% accuracy on all pitches 3" or more outside the strike zone, 95% accuracy on pitches 2'-3' outside the zone, 90% accuracy for pitches 1"-2" outside the zone, and 85% accuracy for pitches 1" or less outside the zone. Any umpire who can't meet those standards should receive remedial training on the first offense and should be replaced if he doesn't meet those standards during the season after the remedial training. I cannot imagine being in a job where I could tell my boss that it's ok that I only make the right decision 86% of the time because I have so many decisions to make.

So true. He leaves me wondering what a realistic expectation from him is.

Nope. Not interested. We're not that desperate....yet. That was an interesting confrontation though. Two players with a reputation for being hot-heads going at it.

No, what I implied was that if someone does something REPEATEDLY with no negative consequences it wouldn't be idiotic. If someone does something repeatedly with no negative consequences it's a reasonable thing to be doing. The Sox have attempted 43 stolen bases and have been successful 38 times. It's called "Sample Size" and my example of a sample size of 43 is more meaningful that your sample size of.... 1.

I don't understand the statement that they're running the bases like idiots with no negative consequences. Those two statements are counter-intuitive to me. How can a team do anything repeatedly with no negative consequences and still be doing it like idiots? I'm all about results. If it works, it works. If I don't see why it works maybe it's MY fault. The Sox are 12th in baseball in Stolen Base attempts, 4th in stolen bases and led all of baseball in SB success rate. That tells me that rather than being idiots they're doing something right.

I agree with everything you said here even though I've been a Vazquez fan ever since I first saw that 1.8 second 'pop time'. As my friends will tell you I put a huge amount of emphasis on defense. However, Swihart had the misfortune to be drafted as a catcher by the same team Vaz is on, there's only room on the team for one of them, and Swihart is too good at catching to be a back-up. Prospects can be used for a couple of purposes. They can be used to fill available spots on the parent team or they can be traded for other players to fill spots on the parent team. Swihart's best use for the Red Sox is as trade bait.

Fans tend to remember a player's last year. As i may have said before, I'd rather see a player like Papi who has the opportunity to leave an outstanding legacy go out a year too early rather than a year too late. Even Derek Jeter, Mr. Yankee himself, may have hung around a year too long and he'll be remembered for that almost as much for his Glory Years. "Yeah, Jeter had some great years on some very good teams and won a handful of rings, but that last year....". Papi can leave now without that "but" at the end of the sentence. Legacy, baby. Legacy.

Sorry. It wasn't my intention to call you a liar. I save that for posters who are intentionally lying to me. No offense intended.

Red Sox Stats ‏@redsoxstats Wade Miley now has a 5.85 ERA and 4.99 FIP this year.

Look, I was on the fence about Hill last year too, and I'm the first to admit that signing him now looks a lot better than it did back then. However, Hill became a FA in November and Price wasn't signed until December. I'm not suggesting that Hill would have taken Price's spot at the top of the rotation but it's a bit disingenuous to say that Price was a part of the rotation when the Sox were negotiating with Hill. Hill was there for the taking, and for $6M - essentially chump change in today's market - as the saying goes, you can't have too many pitchers.

And you're saying that as bad as the pitching staff was last year, the Sox DIDN'T?? As far as I was concerned, at the end of last season every spot in the rotation was "open".

It's just the normal mercurial mood swings of Red Sox fans.

The fact that little Emerson was delivered successfully with no complications was the best news I heard all day yesterday. I think we sometimes forget that baseball players are people and not wind-up dolls that we roll out onto the field for our enjoyment at game time. My best wishes go out to the entire family.

@ Yaz... I'll be glad when you get back on your feet. Your being unable to be up and around has made you positively combative here! Heck, you of all people, even throw out a F-Bomb! LOL

I fully support his retirement after this year. He doesn't owe us anything. He's given us a couple of WS victories and memories to last forever. I say let him retire after this outstanding season with his legacy intact. I've seen too many players retire and then it's said about them, "Yeah, he was a great player in his day, but those last couple of years..." ...and their voice trails off. Papi deserves to go out on top of his game.

Of course! While I agree that seeing the Sox pitchers get "robbed" raises my ire more than seeing one of our hitters get the benefit of a strike called a ball, the important thing is that the game be marshaled by the rules. Heck, I even realize that an electronic system would take away one of the advantages we have over other teams - Vaz's ability to "frame" pitches. And I'd like to see it anyway. However.... don't lose sight of the fact that I'm not an advocate of B & S being called electronically. What I want is an electronic system used to improve the umpiring and letting the umps stay out there.

No Kidding!! I was thinking just this morning that that trade was what got us where we are. I'd like to know what it was that made the FO think that decimating our pitching staff was a good idea.

Bill James was talking about one-run games some time ago and he said that most one-run games are decided by luck. 6" here, a ball near the line there, or a bad call can make a difference in the outcome of a one-run game. He also said that in the long run those one-run games will even out. If a team wins an inordinate number of one run games in one season they'll lose an inordinate number the next year. Baltimore proved that over a two year span, BTW. As an aside, I've always wondered how he happened upon that. Was he researching one-run games, or was he researching something else and this jumped out at him? Who knows? Anyway..... This is fine over the run of a couple of seasons and frankly luck has a lot to do with winning games. However, when division races and playoff spots are decided by one game over the run of a season I want each of those games to be officiated as closely to perfect as possible. I don't necessarily stand behind the idea of calling balls and strikes technologically but I do want to see improvement in the way games are called and that's something I'm not seeing.

Yep. OB said on the broadcast that JBJ and his wife have a daughter and everyone is doing well. That's good news all around.

I'm not at all sure I buy this. Taking a strike away from a batter by calling a ball a strike has a lot more bearing on the game than calling a strike a ball. A batter isn't out until he gets three strikes. If an umpire gives him a fourth strike by calling a strike a ball he's helping him get on base much more than if he takes 1/3 of an AB away from him by calling a ball a strike. [i know. Shake your head and read it again. ] It doesn't all come out even. Look, Im the first to admit that Kelly stunk the place up last night, but at the same time I saw two instances where a 3rd strike was called a ball and the batter later got a hit. And in both situations runs were produced. IIRC two in one situation and one in the other. And beyond that I don't remember what happened - but the O's effectively got four outs in their half of the inning. You simply cannot give a batter four strikes or a team four outs in an inning - expecially a big inning - and expect to win.

Sure, but the fact that it's impractical doesn't make it a bad idea. I see a lot of impractical ideas posted here, mostly trade ideas, but they still show up here!