S5Dewey

Which raises the question of, Who could DD sign for the same (or less) money who 1) wouldn't be a big drop off from JBJ's 2nd half this year and 2) is available? And if you can sign him for the same money why not just keep JBJ??

I have the feeling that this is our best shot at the ring though. Mookie, Bogaerts and JDM are all having career years, JBJ has expelled his offensive demons, and we have what may be the best defensive outfield in baseball. While I can see potential improvements at 2B & 3B next year I can also see some regression from the four I mentioned. I don't think next years is going to be any better than this year, and if the Yankees get a competent manager they could very well be the odds-on favorite in 2019.

Maybe one of the reasons I remember it is because I thought it was a great observation that was very much in tune with the feelings of Red Sox Nation. The Sox were leading the series 3-0, one out away from clinching the WS, and still there was a bit of an aura of impending doom. "Yeah, but what if.....?"

Speaking of birthdays, FWIW, Here's one of my many recollections from the 2004 WS: With two outs in the 9th of game 4 I can remember Joe Buck saying at about 11:25 that night, " I know the Red Sox have a 3 run lead but there isn't a fan in New England who's confident right now". I remember the time because I can also remember thinking that if they could put off winning for another half hour they could win it on my birthday. I was torn between getting it over and winning it and knowing that a lot (bad) can happen in a half hour of baseball. Strange things we remember.....

Yep. I understand the problem perfectly, but when I look at DD I see a guy who likes his 'up the middle' defense. This is a guy who's traded for Iggy - certainly not because of his offense! - and has already turned down potential trades for for JBJ. IMO if he's going to trade away one of our outfielders for pitching it might be Benintendi The upside of a trade like that is that it would improve our pitching staff and, let's face it, LF in Fenway doesn't require good speed or a good arm, just familiarity with the wall. We could improve the pitching staff without badly damaging our OF defense. The downside is that it wouldn't relieve the money crunch. One of the things that would make Beni marketable is the same reason that the Sox might be reluctant to do it - Beni's contract and team control. But as they say, you have to give to get.

Here's the problem with that. We give up a great-glove, pretty good (or better) hit CF- a net loss - and keep JD mostly at DH, which makes him unhappy. We'd be trying to fix something that's not broken. If this team is desperate to save money they could trade a mediocre glove good hit shortstop for a great glove light hitting SS. I'm hearing the minors are full of guys like that although I don't follow other team's MiL systems enough to know for sure. IIRC the team gets out from under Hanley's contract after this year and The Fat Man's contract after 2019. I'd rather see this team 'bite the bullet' in 2019 & 2020 than break up this outfield prematurely.

without casting aspursions on one of my favorite players ever, Dwight Evans.... Ever since I became old enough to think critically about baseball I've thought that the shape of Fenway Park almost begs for two fleet-afoot outfielders in it. It can also abide one mediocre one in LF for the same reason. Especially if that one can hit like Ted Williams, Yaz, or Jim Rice. Or Mike Greenwell for that matter. Therefore I was very happy when they signed Victorino to play RF. That's also why I'm happy with JBJ/Mookie out there and by extension why I don't want to see JBJ traded. Some have said that trading JBJ wouldn't hurt the team badly because Mookie can move to CF, but that creates the problem of who's now going to play RF without making it a net loss defensively. We now have two players who could be solid in CF and while that may not be the only reason this team won 108 games it's one of the reasons. So.. in a nutshell.. I didn't have any other OF tandems in mind. It's just that what has happened successfully reinforced what I believe so I jumped on it!

I wasn't referring to any outfields in particular. What I said and what I'll stand by is that "if there's something we learned from past years the best Sox outfields need to have two OF'ers with the skills to play CF, one in CF and one in RF". I have no idea how Dwight Evans got dragged into it.

Agreed. And it doesn't mean he would have been a bad one. Is your point really that because over 2100 games he only started 17 of them in CF that he's a bad CF'er? My original point was that the best OF in Fenway has two players who are capable of playing CF. I will never understand how/why you tried to turn this into a debate about whether an Evans clone in CF would/wouldn't have made the outfield better. But that's what you do.

Interesting sidelight... In going to BW's profile to block him I learned that "Billy Williams hasn't made any friends yet". Gee, I wonder why. LOL

Done. Now will everyone please stop feeding the troll?

Yes, but I'm not sure I understand the purpose of the question. Every year Armas was with the Sox he had a negative dWAR in CF. (I do hate to use WAR to make a point, but when in Rome....). In order for Evans' teams to be in the running for the best outfield of the Sox someone better than Tony Armas would have to have been in CF. Which is what I said.

...and if there's something we learned from past years the best Sox outfields need to have two OF'ers with the skills to play CF, one in CF and one in RF.

Your lips to Cora's ears, OT!

It could be that he's just plain tired. It's been a long season since February with a lot of baseball being played and it's very possible that he hasn't learned how to pace himself . IMO it's very possible that these few days off will give him a chance to rest and rejuvinate himself. We'll see.

That would seem to me like a MAJOR overreaction. I think we've decided amongst us that the playoffs are a crap shoot. I don't see any need for a big overhaul if we don't win it all. Just a few tweaks. Probably expensive tweaks, but tweaks.

I'm conflicted. Beating the Yankees would be a lot sweeter than beating the A's... just because. OTOH, losing to the Yankees would be a lot more painful than losing to the A's ...again... just because. Conflicted.

Now tell us something we don't know.

That sounds reasonable.

According to Kimmie and contrary to popular belief Home Field Advantage doesn't exist. If so then HFDisadvantage also doesn't exist. Therefore whichever side you come down on regarding HFA it's going to be a 'wash' if we play Oakland. However, if we play the Yankees, while I understand the statistics saying that HFA doesn't exist I have a lot of trouble believing that the Yankees with their short porch in RF and their 'strong men' with the ability to hit to RF doesn't give them a decided advantage when playing in YS. Long and short, I'm glad we're playing game 7 (if necessary) in Fenway.

OUCH! That's going to leave a mark!!

I agree to some extent. But there's also no point in throwing out your elbow in June (or September) when you could be looking at a potential multi-million dollar contract. That's two good reasons not to be motivated in September.

Hey! Don't remind me, OK?

This is maybe the greater issue with Devers vs. Nunez. When Nunez makes an error the runner reaches first. When Devers makes an error the runner gets to scoring position. The difference is in how many more hits it takes to score the runner.

What you're saying in essence is what Kimmie and I have been saying all summer - that your best reliever shouldn't automatically be used in the 9th inning. He should be used in the highest leverage situation. If there is no high leverage situation earlier in the game then it's ok to use him in the 9th just so he can get the work. Using Kimbrel exclusively in the 9th isn't using him to the best advantage of the team. Except.... Kiimbrel seems to have trouble pitching in non-save situations. That's why IMO he's overpaid. Somehow we've gotten to the point where our "closers" are almost guaranteed to start a clean inning. That's great for the closer. He gets to pad his stats in low leverage situations and turn it into a big payday but if you have a guy like Koji who can come in and 'shut the door' he's actually more valuable to the team than the guy who demands a clean inning. This is the guy who should be getting "closers" pay.