oldtimer
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Everything posted by oldtimer
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We have had the worst production from the 3rd base position in the American League. Surely that alone is a good reason to try a young player with star potential. We as a team were awesome when we were getting production up and down the lineup. Today we got some of that back as Hanley and JBJ added their bats in a big way. Having a threat at 3rd would make our lineup that much more of a threat.
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2016 Trade and Roster Move Speculation thread
oldtimer replied to Dojji's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
With JF's coments just a day ago it looked iffy. Maybe the poor showing last night changed his mind. -
Today, three solid hits against three different pitchers and ones who had been striking him out the night before. Was it the day game or have the hitting coaches got Jackie back to a more level swing? Whatever it was, keep on doing it.
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2016 Trade and Roster Move Speculation thread
oldtimer replied to Dojji's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Sean McAdam's take on the roster call ups are as follows: Ryan Hannigan Joe Kelly Bryce Brentz 2nd wave after a short while Heath Henbree Deven Marrero Noe Rameriz Sound like only bull pen help to me and that being Kelly and Henbree Begs the question of why bring up Marrero when you won't use Hernandez? NO mention of Moncada or Vazquez. -
Ah, metaphor time. and the baseball season is a marathon. Do we have too many middle distance runners? But have no fear, the cream will rise to the top. What does that say about the rest? Old Yogi imparted the wisdom, "It ain't over til it's over". Cmon guys, stay the course.
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Of course they are working with him, but for some reason it hasn't been making a dent in his problem. He is a great defensive player with speed. We need him in the lineup but we also need his bat to come to life. It is strange how our left hand batters have gone silent recently with Shaw, JBJ and Leon when batting left have all been involved in a bad stretch.
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I wonder who we are going to play at 3rd base that is going to look all that good. Is anyone suggesting Hill? Shaw's performance last night is a reminder that his hitting is far from polished. JF seems very reluctant to play Hernandez. Holt could do it but he is either a starter or depth in the outfield. We shouldn't be comparing Moncada against some ideal 3rd baseman but against the alternatives we can field. This is still a pennant race (just barely) so action is needed to right the ship.
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Those of us who remember Tom Yawkey have to rate John Henry very highly.
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Many of DD's acquisitions have been pretty good moves. Ziegler , Kimbrel and Abad in the bullpen and Pomeranz and Price as starting pitching have done well, but all have required adjustment periods. Young was a good move. Not sure if he had anything to do with Leon but if so, that has been a plus overall. Hill and Holaday have missed the boat. All of DD's moves so far have cost us one very good pitching prospect and a boat load of money for Price. All-in all a pretty good scorecard for DD.
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Another tough loss tonight. Their pitching was a little better than ours and only Hanley had his hitting shoes on tonight. Shaw and Bradley weren't able to contact the ball and the final out with Sandy Leon taking three strikes with men on first and second makes you wonder why he didn't swing. JF managed the game and made sensible moves but to no avail as the players just didn't get the job done. The various ways the team finds to lose winnable games does not bode well for making the playoffs.
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This may be beating a dead horse as I offered this point of view twice before, but JBJ appears to be using an uppercut swing of late. That means he has to be nearly perfect on a fast ball since his bat is looping with respect to the plane of the fastball coming in. Ted Williams book covered that point of view in detail. JBJ has a lot of power when he does connect, the problem is his contact rate. Yes, there are other things that can cause the low contact rate, but I would look to the simplest reason first.
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Change of subject. I was reading that JF is unsure about bringing Moncada up with the Sept callups. He is not sure how he would be used on the team is how the newspaper writer characterized it, thinking on him as a possible pinch runner. I would remind him that Hill has been really poor at the plate and that we are unlikely to use him to any effect or keep him next year. Lets just replace Hill with Moncada on the roster and cut Hill loose.
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Last night we got some hitting from Shaw and he has hit some balls hard of late but without results. Holt hits well when he is healthy and somewhat rested and he produced last night and Hanley, who has been hot and cold all year seems to be in a hotter streak. Young may be feeling better with a few games under his belt. Good for the Sox if they can get contributions up and down the lineup.
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For those of you who bash Abad, he came in and got the job done last night. He has really good velocity (95 mph fast ball) and a killer curve. I for one hope they keep him next year as finding good lefty relief pitchers is not that easy.
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He has 7 stolen bases in 9 attempts this year which is a good success rate even though they aren't sending him as often as in the past.
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Good catch. I meant to put him in. Lets hope his hitting keeps him viable for the team, his defense is superb.
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Holt did fine at lead off last night. Betts has the power to hit in the 3rd or 4th slot and the management thinks his best slot is 4th. I tend to agree since on this team you go right, left, right in the order. It is even more that way with Pedroia bating first.
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JF acts like the Buddha, sitting there in serenity while E-Rod was obviously out of synch. Not the first time he has left a starting pitcher in too long. Maybe us older guys have seen it all happen before and realize that inaction in this case and other similar ones may lead to this club becoming an also ran. When the starting pitcher obviously can't get the job done, at least try something else. My dad, who would be 120 had he lived, would often stew about bad decision making and why the Sox could never win a title. They finally did, but too late for him to see it.
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What about Ortiz, do you think he is better suited to cleanup or third in the order and why? Ortiz is a great hitter but he is also a very slow runner these days. Where you bat Betts should also account for where Ortiz bats in my opinion.
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John Henry is a business man and expects real value when he makes an expenditure. When he sees his real baseball people making decision like Panda, Castillo, Hanley and Craig he has to wonder and question whether the decision makers are competent. The Yankees went and threw a long of money at seasoned players with long term contracts and it didn't buy them much either. It rarely works to put out big money in the form of a long term contract to a seasoned (older) star player. Arguing the money doesn't matter doesn't make a lot of sense as we soon will be trying to retain young stars and add pitching depth and will need to put a lot of money into that.
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Really. What if the coach leaves the starter in too long and then goes with a weak RP because we are already in an unwinnable game. The point in the coach can lose the game with poor decisions no matter the score.
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JBJ did go into a log slump, but do you think there were no other possible causes than that he was too high in the order? In his recent slump? I noticed he had moved into an uppercut swing, which players sometimes use when they are trying to hit the long ball. Slumps are easy to get into but hard to get out of. I would think there are many possible reasons for slumps and the one I mentioned is also just one of many possible.
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These are word of wisdom. We a trapped with huge contracts on players that have not been very productive nor are good trade prospects going forward. I think Ben Cherrington put us in that position but DD is having to live with the consequences. A huge long term contract for Encarnacion might yield good results for a year with less likely production in follow on years but is probably more economic commitment than John Henry would like and is risky to say the least. My solution would be to use substitute players on the roster to fill the DH position and try to shed the contracts of Panda and Hanley. While we will not get the hitting of Ortiz going forward, we at least increase team speed and get some production at a lot less money.
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Whether we use him as backup catcher or as a sub in the outfield, the kid can hit and he is a good athlete. Team speed is a big advantage. He adds one more along with the 3 currently outfielders and Beni plus Bogaerts, Pedey and possibly Moncada. This team becomes one of the most athletic teams in the majors.
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Ziegler is a good RP but is also a FA I believe. Kimbrel has done a fairly good job, Buchholz has looked better with the bullpen work, Ross is a valuable BP asset, Barnes just isn't getting it done despite the good velocity, Tazawa has been used an awful lot and then was injured (maybe his career is on the downside but he deserve much credit for all the past work he has done), Abad in my opinion, has very good stuff and is acclimatizing himself to the new position (I would definitely keep him). Do we have enough relief pitching to get to the Playoffs? It hasn't looked good and in combination with JF's reluctance to pull pitchers until the damage is done further harms our chances.