Hugh2

If I have to choose, it's Duval in LF, Duran in CF, Verdugo RF, Casas 1B, Yoshida DH, Story SS, Kike at 2nd. If everyone is healthy I don't want Kike touching SS. Are guys going to be rotated and platooned? yes. But those are my "all things being equal" everyone is healthy, and assuming Casas figures it out lineup. Switch out Turner for Casas if Casas never figures it out.

Sox are still in 4th place, but now have the 9th best record in baseball. They would be 1st in the AL central 2nd in the AL West 1 game out of 1st. 2nd in the NL East 3rd in the NL Central 1 game out from 2nd 2nd in the NL West 1 game out of 1st As of today we are in the playoffs.

Well it looks like he tweaked his knee so.......more like I stayed at a Motel 6 last night.

Exactly. As someone who has competed as a professional athlete (many moons ago and not baseball) I find this to be true. People who let their adrenaline get to them make mistakes, tire out quickly, and often get sloppy. Id' say anyone who says differently has never competed competitively on a pro level of anything before. Having the ability to muster up some extra "strength" or "adrenaline" alone is not an uncommon skill and alone does NOT make you a better player, as a matter of fact, it can make you a worse player. Example. We've all seen a pitcher who can reach back and add an extra 2-4 MPH on his fastball and completely lose his mechanics and control. The ability to physically add something more is not special, but we have ALSO all seen the guy who can do the same exact thing in a tight situation and keep his command. What's the difference???? It's all in the head. It's mental acuity, it's the ability to "maintain ones composure"

All things considered? Story at SS, Casas at 1B, Duran in CF, and the rest make up an elite bench.

According to advance stats McGuire is a better pitch framer than Wong. But Wong is not a bad pitch framer and his pop times are a LOT better than McGuire. Which I find intriguing because before this year McGuire had elite poptimes, and they have dipped this year. Get that boy in a weight room over the offseason and work on it!!! The only thing I find a little concerning about Wong is he does have below average whiff rates, chase rates, and walk rates. But they're not horrible, especially for a catcher and he has elite exit velocities.....which is both surprising and intriguing to me. I think there is room for his bat to grow and if it does the kid will be a stud.

Clutch is real....in the form of reverse clutch. People fold under pressure. Those who have the mental acuity to maintain their composure reap the benefits. Maybe this seems like a semantics battle. I believe in "clutch" I just now it manifests itself a little differently than people think.

What you’re describing sounds like a physiological response in the human body. This is very measurable. I’d be interesting to see if there’s any empirical evidence backing this up. I have not seen any. I remain convinced clutch exist due to reverse clutch. Players fold, clutch players maintain their composure.

I’m not a doctor, and if I was I’m certain I would tell you I can’t diagnose someone thru my tv, but it just looked so much like a back tweak. I’m betting he just pulled a muscle and he will be fine in a few days.

This is my take as well. In the spirit of the discussion, if the playoffs started today and everyone was healthy, Turner plays first and pushes Yoshida to DH. I’m hopeful Casas turns it around, I think he will.

Yes but if you’re looking at those clutch stats they usually have a much larger sample size than a game. Also, that’s not a lot of starters you’re facing. Most guys coming into a game in the 8th 9th on a lot of teams are premium arms.

It’s kind of nice to see them both competing well showing they belong behind the plate. Hopefully McGuire comes back strong, but Wong is showing he’s more than capable

I don't think it's a zero-sum game here. The playoffs are NOT starting today, but if they did we would be a playoff team. One can speculate that we are or will be or SHOULD be in the hunt for the playoffs in October. We do know however that players will come off the IL. So that's fair.

Problem is who is playing SS if Story is at 2nd? maybe Mondesi, but what if he can't stay healthy? I don't want Kike touching the position.

That's a fantasy lineup.

For starting maybe, but I think they will still pinch hit McGuire and Wong on their days off and could always slide one into the position. One thing this team has a lot of options with in the lineup is it's ability to interchange guys and play match ups. So far it's looking great for the offense.

To me clutch is real, and it's a skill. But the skill is "maintaining composure" while others fold. This isn't like some kind of anime where they can swallow a pill and magically become much better.

Also wouldn't an .800 OPS late and close be better than a .800 OPS overall? Because "Late and close" often means you're facing elite relievers.

I love how they move guys around and get guys into the lineup who didn't start that day. Your best players will perform better when they are rested and healthy. I think Wong has won the starter's job, I'd still like McGuire to get a lot of games. Wong's emergence + McGuires past + an unreasonable amount of faith put into CERA have built this ideal around here that Reese isn't a good catcher. It's quite the opposite. Also, Wong is so good in other ways you don't see with a catcher with his speed on the bases, that I think he can actually be a better player when he gets a reasonable amount of rest. I think he's earned that role to start but I'm very comfortable with McGuire being his running mate. Obviously managing the roster it Makes sense to start McGuire vs. RHP and Wong vs. LHP as best you can, but there's no way Wong should sit vs. all RHP, he's your starter. Maybe Reese gets 40-50 starts this year and those should mostly be against RHP, in a perfect world, it would be. But this is not a perfect world and there are other considerations such as who a pitcher likes throwing too. I think Wong is earning that role.

Can't believe I forgot about Story. I made the edit and split him and Duran to keep in more L/R/L/R

HOW DARE YOU!!!!! lol

I've been giving some thought to this recently. Weighing past performance, projected future performance, and anticipating guys come back from their injuries on schedule, what the best lineup on this club would be if the playoffs started today. Because as of today we are a playoff team. RF - Alex Verdugo 1B - Justin Turner 3B - Rafael Devers LF - Adam Duvall DH - Masataka Yoshida SS - Trevor Story CF - Jarren Duran C - Connor Wong 2nd - Kike Hernandez I'm hoping Casas is the first baseman. I still have a very high level of confidence in the kid. He's putting together great plate appearances and I said the same thing about Masa weeks ago. Anyone who has the mental acuity to see balls and strikes better than most other people in the MLB will eventually hit. He's young, he'll be fine. BUT if the playoffs started today and everyone was healthy, you just can't be starting him right now. Turner can play 1B and Duvall is a better fielder than Masa. Depending on how things shake up during the next couple months, I could see a trade for some help at SS/2B

Kind of makes me feel a little hypocritical haha.

yup. Like me, I will always complain about people complaining.

It's not that some people don't believe in "clutch" it' just that some think there's a "reverse clutch" at play. Lets say for example said hitter has a lifetime OPS of .800 and he becomes an .800 OPS guy in the playoffs. Ok status quo, lets say for arguments sake that 25% of the population do not have the mental acuity to control their emotions and often let their anxieties get to them. I think this is reasonable, we've all seen a guy lose the strike zone, or a slumping hitter look lost at the plate. Baseball IS a mental game. What happens to said players' .800 OPS when 25% of the people he's facing in these clutch situations fold? his .800 OPS goes up to .950. Did it go up because he got better? or because the other guy folded? It seems much more plausible to me that "reverse clutch" is a thing, and clutch players are good players who have a high-level ability to control their emotions in those situations. I think that is a REAL skill and perhaps this is just semantics and we can attribute that to a "clutch" factor. But I don' think anyone is getting better. No one is increasing their cognitive ability to pick up a spin rate faster or magically becoming stronger driving the ball further. Maybe in a sense "reverse clutch" and "clutch" are the same thing. If you can continue to be the person you are under circumstances where many other people would fold that's a real skill. It's a debate I've always been fascinated with, but I'm a firm believer that there is a major "reverse clutch" component of clutch hitting.