S5Dewey

We've been down this road and every time we go down it we learn that some players whom we "thought" were ML caliber defensive players simply aren't. There are several (many?) players who aren't even as good defensively as a replacement player a/k/a a AAAA player. Heck, according to BR we only have eight position players who are above 0.0 defensively. Everyone else is at 0.0 or worse, or exactly as good defensively as a replacement player or worse. It's good to see that JBJ has dragged himself up to being as good defensively as a AAAA player though!

I'm no physicist but it doesn't seem that it would be that difficult to determine whether the balls are juiced. It would seem that there must be a formula that would include exit speed and launch angle to determine the path and therefore the distance a ball is traveling. Simply take the exit speed, launch angle, and distance the ball has traveled in the past several years, compare it to the same data for 2019, and voila! Either the ball is traveling farther or it's not and all this speculation about juiced balls is settled! Of course Manfred has all but said that the balls are juiced this year so that might be proving what everyone already knows. My belief is that the 2019 balls are stitched tighter and have lower threads than balls of the past, which was probably done to increase the flight of the ball by lessening the wind resistance on the ball. A side effect has been that because the threads are loweer the pitchers can no longer grip the ball as well so the breaking balls don't break as much as the ones they threw in the past (hear that, Rich Porcello? It's not your fault!) which makes the balls easier to hit. But that's just my theory which will probably be disproven by someone posting anecdotal evidence by noontime tomorrow.

I agree, and when I look at the 2019 team combined with JH's checkbook I believe that the "cliff" team's W/L record will look much like the 2019 team's W/L record.

As little as I like agreeing with Jax I have to do it. This is what we've got and JH's apparent salary limitations mean that the only thing we can hope for is a tweak. However, as to the window, we knew it was there. Unfortunately it may have closed a year or two earlier than we'd hoped for but as they say, FLAGS FLY FOREVER, BABY!!

How much would you be willing to sacrifice for 2020 to try to make a run in 2019? If in some fantasy world DD were able to trade Chavis, Marco, Beni & a couple of our "best" MiL players for a real #3 pitcher and a closer.. would you do it?

Is anyone going to notice?

That reminds me of an experience I had several years ago. I signed up for a bus trip from Maine to Fenway a couple of months prior to the game. On the afternoon of the game we left with the sun shining brightly but by the time we got to New Hampshire it was pouring. We got to our seats and at 7:10 the game was rescheduled for 1:00 the next day as part of a day/night DH. We all got back on the bus, returned to Maine getting there at about midnight, then boarded the bus again at 7:00 am the next morning for the return trip. It was a long couple of days. The good news is that the Sox won

I only watched about four hitters. I found it unwatchable with Buck's ongoing commentary and conversations with players while they were on the field. Who thought that was a good idea?? In the time I watched it the game reminded me of Fox's usual coverage of baseball when they talk about everything BUT the game. The final straw for me was when one of the commentators (not Buck) was talking about a close play at 1b and said that "the tie goes to the runner".

One more thing we agree on. BTW, how's summer? It's unusual to see you posting in the morning on weekdays.

Yes. Of all the things we agree on this is at the top of the list. Which is why I'm still not completely comfortable with Chavis. The big difference is that Chavis did it as a kid, trying to make it into the bigs while ARod was just plain cheating his peers.

Excellent, just an excellent post!

MLB started chasing the immediate dollar without consideration of the future of the game when they went to having teams play 80% of their games at night. By playing games that end at after 10:00 pm local time they made sure that no kid sees the end of the game. Do you wonder why the kids don't watch? Who among us wants to watch the first four innings and then be put to bed? Now they're trying to reverse the impact of what they've done by making the game "more exciting" by adding more offense. MLB just doesn't 'get it'. Juicing up the ball isn't going to work because the kids still won't be able to see the end of the games! All they're doing is bastardizing what used to be - and still is to some degree - a great game, and in the process killing off future fans.

IMO the FO has made a lot of us conflicted about the players the Sox have acquired or kept on the roster. There was a time when I was proud of the fact that the Sox had resisted picking up (or keeping) any player with PED issues. I've always believed that the Sox released Eric Gagne because his PED issues were revealed and I've always believed that the dust-up over Papi was because "haters gonna hate" with a minimum of proof, but it's a bit difficult now to see Chavis in a Sox uni knowing about his PED issues. Now in addition to a known PED abuser we also have a player with "domestic violence" as a part of his resume. On the flip side...We don't have knowledge of what actually happened in the Wright household and as I posted yesterday I'm (somewhat) willing to accept his punishment as evidence that there was no battery involved - it was all about Wright's trying to defuse an emotional situation. Chavis has served his suspension and said all the right things and as a very young man he's entitled to make ONE mistake and be forgiven. Most of us probably have a mistake or two we need to be forgiven for. However, it does bother me a bit to no longer be able to take the moral high road when discussing players on other teams with PED issues. I'm hoping that these two isolated incidents aren't the start of a pattern of the FO's ignoring character issues while searching for flags though. Only time will tell.

It's probably Matt Groenig's fault but I can't have faith in a pitcher named Homer.

I wish I had knowledge of what happened between Wright and his wife. Some domestic disturbances are more severe than others. For example, a guy having a fight with his wife and then taking a gun to a garage and firing off a few rounds (IMO) is more severe than having a fight with a wife and taking her phone away in an effort to give her a chance to calm down. "Domestic assault" covers so much ground now that it shouldn't all be under one heading. And I know, none of it is good, but at the same time there are degrees of it and I could have a lot more sympathy for someone who was trying to defuse a situation than I can for someone who grabs a weapon to take out his frustration. (Not that I'm pointing fingers at anyone. :-) ) Without the knowledge of what happened I have to defer to the penalty imposed by the court and make my own judgments, I guess.

That's ok When this offense gets clicking the Sox are going to score enough runs so that won't be an issue. He'll only have to pitch every two or three days.

I'm nowhere near ready to offer Porcillo an insulting offer. I can still remember what happened when we did that to Lester. Ugh. IMO he's consistent with several other players on this team and this team as a whole. There's simply too much talent for this team to be playing as poorly as they are. I believe they will come around, and I hope it's in time to capture a WC spot. Even if that doesn't happen I wouldn't be staging any fire sales late in the year or in the off season. As I said, too much proven talent.

Recognizing that you're the stats guru here, IIRC Barnes does much better in innings that don't start with "n". I'd relegate him to setup man as he was last year and let Eovaldi be the closer - assuming he proves he can do that job. I see 7th- Workman, 8th - Barnes, 9th - Eovaldi with Wright being swing man/long relief when necessary.

In conjunction with my post (above) it'll be interesting to see how pitchers get paid in the future if the hitter's OPS climbs the way it looks like it might. How valuable is Porcillo if the new baseball prevents him from throwing his best pitch? And it's not just Rick. If the offensive #'s are exploding the pitching #'s have to be too. How long will it take owners - and the pitchers - to figure out a new strategy to offset the new baseballs?

All true, every bit of it. Every one of those changes was done for a reason and each of them has impacted the significance of the statistics. When we compare the stats of bygone eras we tend to view the stats in comparison to how the game and the equipment are now. That's what makes it difficult to compare the different eras. For example, would Babe Ruth have been able to catch up with a 102 mph fastball? How many fewer errors would Bobby Dorr have made if he'd had the gloves of today? Would Would Bob Feller have been so overpowering if players had been encouraged (rather that discouraged!) to lift weights? That's why I find it interesting to view the stats of players from other eras but at the same time I take all of their stats with a grain of salt. The game and equipment have changed so we can't view past accomplishments through the prism of today's baseball. And I'm certain that when I'm Mal's age people will be saying the same thing.

Does that mean that you and I agree? As I said, I don't see any great conspiracy to harm pitchers. It's just that Manfred and MLB are trying to make baseball "more exciting" (read: higher scoring) and they did it with what would be described by an attorney as "reckless indifference" toward the pitchers. Maybe it's a difference in how we view collusion vs. conspiracy. IMO Manfred and MLB (possibly the owners) have colluded to bring more offense into the game, but there was no conspiracy to harm the pitchers.

I'm not sure there's any great "conspiracy" going on but it's obvious that Manfred & Co. are trying to introduce more offense into MLB and the pitchers are the collateral damage. Possibly we're all going to have to rethink our benchmarks for what a good pitcher is and accept the fact that an ERA of 4.00+ and a WHIP of 1.50 is acceptable.

A fan's relationship with the players is a complicated one.

They look good this year, no doubt. But if they win the ALCS they're going to have their hands full with the Dodgers.

"No starting time announced yet". Hell, I may not even be around here for the start of it!!