S5Dewey

JBJ's offense not withstanding, I found it odd that Cora moved Beni to CF and put Pearce in LF last night when Lin went down. I expected JBJ to be put in CF. That demonstrates how committed Cora is to days off for players.

I don't dispute what you're saying but I find that to be a very odd position. It says that a team will be willing to risk falling behind if they think they have enough innings to come back. Why not just use a "fireman" and stay ahead to begin with??

The role of the bullpen has evolved a lot in the past several years. 20 or so years ago a pitcher was relegated to the bullpen if they weren't good enough to start. Then teams started taking their best of the bullpen pitchers - usually a one or two-pitch pitcher - and making him the "Closer". Then the trend became to still have the closer, but using the next best bullpen pitcher as a "set-up man", pitching the 8th inning, and for pitching rich teams that's now trickling down to a "7th inning guy" with everyone else in the bullpen being available if the staring pitcher can't go six innings. Now the thinking is beginning to be having a "closer" and a "fireman", with a guy like Craig Kimbrel as the fireman and letting someone else close out the games. What will be interesting now will be to see which of these relievers is more valuable to a team (in terms of salary) in the future, and how will the former "closers" (and their salaries) respond to not closing out games but instead putting out the fires earlier in the game.

What? How can you list Oil Can and not have a soft spot in your heart for Julian Tavarez??

This is why it's almost impossible to have a rational discussion with you: Your first impulse is to try to discredit the person you're having the discussion with rather than talk about the issue at hand. in the month of March Thornburg's ERA was 9.00 ans his WHIP was 1.50. In the month of April his ERA was 7.45 and his WHIP was 1.45. This month he's had one appearance and gave up 3 hits and 2 runs. Please tell me how that's returning to the pitcher he once was.

Congratulations on merging two complete overreactions into one post, both of which are so ridiculous that I'm not going to glorify them with a response. I don't dislike Thornburg, I've never even met the guy, but since I've seen very little (as in NO) improvement in his results since he came back, I feel justified in asking how long the FO is going to allow him to occupy a roster spot. As you pointed out, this is the kind of thing that has ended the careers of more than one player. What is it they say about insanity, that it's doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

That's true, but it's also ancient history. In 2018 he stunk the place up every time he tried to come back, which is why he didn't get more innings. At some point the team has to say that they've given this guy enough chances. Do you want to keep running Pedroia out there every month or so until his contract is up because he's "trying to come back from an injury that is very difficult to come back from..."?

Ya. Sucking every time someone takes them mound will limit their innings.

See, I'm not sure what you say here, that he can maintain that bulk by a regular workout regimen, is true. Do you have anything to back that up other than your thoughts? And I'm not being smarmy - that's a legitimate question that I've been asking here for some time. As to whether he's still reaping the benefits of PED's, as long as he has that bulk, yes, he certainly is reaping the benefits. It's like saying that someone who robs a bank can keep the money and spend it as long as he stops robbing banks. I would prefer to see more research into how long the effects of steroid use stay in the body than a "medically-induced coma for the duration of their suspension in order to expedite the muscular atrophying process". Then we can decide how long they have to remain in the coma.

I've been indoctrinated to believe that whatever happens it can always be done better. However, that wasn't the point of my post. When one looks back over the thread it's obvious that some of us value offense over defense and some value defense over offense. My post was only an observation that it's easy to tell which is which based on their posts. Heck, I'm not even saying that one camp is right and the other is wrong. I'm just pointing out that it's fairly easy to tell who's in which camp.

But did he do his time? If MLB is going to give suspensions shouldn't the point of the suspension be to remove any advantage a player gets by used PED's? I agree that he "did his time" as MLB stipulated. I'm just not at all sure he (and every other PED user) didn't continue to reap the benefits of the PED's even as they returned to the game.

This thread identifies those who value the defense over offense and those who value the offense over defense.

I agree. I have to take a deep breath every time he gets a hit. I wish there were some way to gauge how long the effect of PED's remain in a player's system so the "user" could be suspended for a commensurate amount of time. But there isn't. I feel a bit like a hypocrite because if he were wearing any other team's uni I'd be thinking that he shouldn't be allowed in baseball yet. And yet... I have to cheer for him because.. he's one of ours.

I thought at the time that Pearce's contract was a 'reward' for his contributions toward The Ring, and it was also a bad idea just on principle. I know I've posted this here before but a GM should never give out a contract based on the previous WS. That's what happened with Sandoval too, only the mistake with Sandoval was more expensive.

I agree that a team can get good relievers for cheap. The trick is being able to recognize the good ones. A team can also sign a lot of bad relievers for cheap without finding that good one and be stuck with a bullpen of bad relievers whom they're paying good money for. DD has been very adroit and finding those good ones and I appreciate that. However, the philosophy of signing a bunch of pitchers and hoping one of them works out doesn't seem like a good approach.

I've got no problem with that post. IMO he's one of those nice guys who bonds the clubhouse together. That's not to say that I want to keep him if his ERA balloons up to 6+ , but IMO what he brings to the clubhouse is a plus that's worth consideration.

Yeah, but he passed on Iggy.

Exactly. Leon was signed as a BUC to pair with Swihart until Vaz got healthy again after his TJ surgery. Then Leon went on his career 'tear' offensively and the FO fell in love with him. Once that happened and Vaz came back Swi was odd man out... but they liked his bat so they tried to find a position for him on a team that didn't have a position for him. Andyes, his being out of options played into it too. Then during that search he got injured and lost a lot of development time either as a catcher or as a position player. I'm not in love with Leon and never have been, even when he was hitting. I always felt that he was going to "regress to his mean" offensively - which he did. Defensively, I'm not completely sold on CERA but I do think there's something to it which helps me understand why the FO chose Leon over Swi as the #2 catcher - as long as I can understand why they did it without agreeing with it. IMO Swihart's greatest value to a team is as a catcher. That's why in some obtuse way I'm pleased he got traded. Maybe he'll catch on in AZ or someplace as a catcher, which wouldn't surprise me. OTOH maybe he won't and I'll be proven wrong. That's happened before!

That was before Leon came into the scene though, remember? At that time I saw Vaz & Swi being the team's two catchers. Being a fan of Vaz' defense and recognizing what I saw as Swi being stronger offensively my fear was that the Sox were going to prioritize offense over defense and make Swi the regular catcher. But I saw the team as keeping them both until one of them aged out of the position first and crossing that bridge when they came to it.

PLEASE put me on your ignore list... and keep me there, as I will you. In the years I've been here I've never seen you post anything worthwhile. You will not be missed.

Dumby. hahahahah . I see what you did there! You're so clever, using the D from Dewey and turning it into DUMBY!! Nobody would ever have thought of that!! HAHAHAH. You should be so proud of that rapier wit!!! You know you're really wasting your time here when you could be writing comedy for television! I can see it... yes... you're so funny...and witty... and original. Or with your wit and creativity you might have a future in standup comedy!

The fact that you didn't understand it doesn't make it terrible. It makes you..d**b.

I understand that saying he is what he is it makes too much sense for "some posters". I'm good with that. If you have trouble with the "albatross" part try reading Samuel Taylor Coleridge sometime - assuming you can read and comprehend.

And I think people should stop focusing on his lack of offense. He is what he is, a GG CF'er with below average offensive numbers who is an albatross when he's cold and can carry a team when he's hot.

I agree, but at the same time IMO it raises the question of the definition of "small". And what could JBJ have done defensively that would have given him a negative defensive WAR??? I actually like most of the stats but I also need to have the newer ones proven to me before I buy into them. IMO like many stats WAR is useful in expressing generalities but as I keep saying, it's not the be-all, end-all of statistics.