Hugh2
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Everything posted by Hugh2
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The difference is a few hundred miles. I just don't believe a guy can field baseball in multiple positions plus to better defense and then all of a sudden get mixed up by it at the MLB level. I'm also not convinced the bat is ever really there for Rafaela, positional versatility helps his value. I'm 100% for seeing if he can be the full time CF long term, but right now he makes all the sense in the world at SS.
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Actually, isn't it faster at the MILB level?
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But that's just the thing, they're not really jerking him around. He was a short stop as a kid, and even after they moved him to the outfield he's played at least one game a week in the infield throughout his entire time in the minors. If he plays two more of those at SS and two less in the OF that's not really any different than what they're doing noq.
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I would normally disagree but given this teams affinity to not care up SS defense I have to agree with you.
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Honestly, Kike would be less disasterous at SS than Hamilton.
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There's no reason why he can't start a couple games a week. Hamilton can't be a MLB starting short stop. Grissom is not a SS, Reyes may be your best option defensively (not named Rafaela) and he can't hit.
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Finally, only took them a whole week to do the sensible thing.
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I'll say it again again....again. I think it should be Rafaela, temporarily. If this team wants to compete this year then Rafaela should be your starting SS until a better option presents itself or a move can be made in the trade market that sends Rafaela back to CF. The pitching actually looks good, how long can that hold with subpar play at SS? Guys getting on base and double plays not being turned will take it's toll. It also uncrowds the outfield when Ref comes back. This team can't afford to have Pablo Reyes, David Hamilton, and Rafaela all in the lineup at the same time.
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Up until now he had been playing SS, he played short stop before he played CF, and even as he came up in the minor leagues he still played SS once a week. They're not messing with his development by having him play SS 3-4 times a week instead of 1-2. Which odddly enough NOW seems to a be a very effing stupid time to STOP playing Rafaela at SS. They were willing to play him at 2B this year, this literally makes zero sense. They can still view him as their long term CF and play him as a starting SS temporarily. It's really the only option they have. Unless you want to watch David Hamilton bounce balls to 1B all year. This team is built on ground ball pitching, things will be ugly if they keep that hole up the middle, I promise.
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You can't practice fast twitch muscle fibers, you can't practice arm length, you can't practise height. This team doesn't have a practice problem, they have a roster problem.
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Everything is a teachable skill, but teaching will only make you so much better. You can't just teach someone to have better tools. E.G. Hamilton has the worse arm strength for any short stop I've ever seen. I think guys like Casas can be coached up to be a better defender at 1B but the black hole you have a SS has a blatantly obvious in house solution that the team is ignoring and it's going to start hurting them quick. A lot more ball are hit to SS than to CF. The drop off from Rafaela to Duran is no where near as bad as Rafaela to Hamilton. I'm sorry, but Hamilton does not belong at SS.
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Well it was a nice opening week. The boo birds needed something, and now they have been fed.
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I know he's better in CF, but I don't know how someone can be "much much better" than a position they're already plus at.
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Me too, but if Story is out for the year I'm fine with Rafaela on a 75/25 CF/SS split until Mayer is ready. It's not really any different than what he did in the minors except he'd predominately be playing SS over CF opposed to CF over SS. Soxprospects talked about this being their best option and Romey Gonzalez being the better bench choice. Seems like they've already done the later, I don't know when we see Rafaela at SS, they might only have him play there 1-2 times a week and roll with Pablo but I suspect in some capacity we see him there more. If Story is out for the year, I rental may be looked at.
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Ok, I will also go listen to their last podcast in which they advocate Rafaela at SS as their best option. http://news.soxprospects.com/2024/04/podcast-ep-311-neverending-scary-story.html I would prefer Rafaela in CF, but right now, the team might be best with him at SS. EDIT. I don't advocate the move permanent, and I still think he should start 1-2 games a week in CF and have Pablo/Hamilton play SS.
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There's no SS in the minors who is close to MLB ready, and is this team really worth investing big time assets in? especially at SS when Mayer is on the way. Finding another outfielder on the 40 man is 100X easier than finding another SS right now. The Sox planned on using Rafaela about once a week at SS anways, why not just stick to the plan but play him a few extra games there.
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The drop off in CF to Duran is not as bad as the drop off at SS to Hamilton/others. Also I think it's a mischaraterization to say "not great" he's defense has been characterized many times as plus at SS. He grew up playing SS, and continued playing it 1-2 times week while he's been in the minors in the Sox system. Sox may very well roll the dice with Hamilton at SS, but Rafaela is their best option there right now and IMO it's not even close.
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Valdez looks better this year, I think Casas is going to be fine, and Devers has had seasons were he's rounded out to being average. Having a good SS changes a lot, which is why I'm a big proponent of moving Rafaela there. Rafaela playing SS was already part of their plan, now they're only increasing by a few games a week.
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I think Rafaela is going to be your home opener SS, or at least probably should be.
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It seems to me that they're going to weigh expectations, rosters construction etc much heavier at this point. Would a reasonable person still agree that Baltimore is probably a better team overall and should finish ahead of the Red Sox? As time goes on, what your record is will hold a lot more weight, by mid-season that will be 99%of it.
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That's an insanely large number to ignore, that has to be somewhere around 250-300 less outs being made in todays game simply because the batter is less likely to put the ball in play.
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Sox have the 5th best run differntial in baseball.
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I’m not sure what these people expect from the boo birds when the Sox get off to a nice start.
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Even a team that loses 110 games is winning almost 1 out of every 3 games. A sweep is good even against a bad team, it’s also encouraging to see the Sox beat up on a bad team. Yes, you should beat up on bad teams but oddly enough bad teams were the Sox Achilles heel last year
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If this was true then any mlb team could just rule 5 a better team.