Hugh2

I have the only real big difference is in OBP .373 to .318 but the rest of very similar numbers. Marco also has reached the majors 2 years younger than Holt whose lifetime .704 OPS doesn't exactly make him a great offensive player. Marco Hernandez has shown an obvious up progression in the upper minors which has carried over into the majors and as of so far he has much better number than Holt at the MLB level. It's a sss though, I'll admit and as I said earlier the only thing Holt has over Hernandez is a track record.....but a .704 career OPS track record doesn't exactly put someone in a "different stratosphere"

so did you by looking at one level of milb ball and ignore everything else. Also, age should be taken into context as well.

Marco's OPS down there is also .787 this year, there's not a big difference in their stats. Marco's first month in AAA weigh down his overall stats. keep in mind he's also 23 and when Holt was 23 he was in AA and his numbers weren't as good. Also, if I wanted to cherry pick stats.....Marco has a better MLB slash line than Holt. I think he needs more time to judge, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the statement that Hernandez might be better than him because I think he could be with the bat.

I disagree, the only thing Holt has over Hernandez is a track record at the MLB level.

There's a big difference between subjective and voodoo. By that definition an umpires strike zone is voodoo, I think all non cynical baseball fans would agree that while umpires can have a bad day and be a little off a strike zone is subjective. It might vary but it's pretty darn close, and like Moon said they have trained observers. Even though we know umpires are imperfect we trust them enough to never blame the umpire for a pitcher with bad control. No one would ever say that we can't trust Henry Owens WHIP, and BB/9 because umpires strike zones are voodoo....you just wouldn't. Defensive metrics are very similar in this sense, people just don't see it that way because it's new and what is new scares people.

Betts kind of reminds me of a younger Carlos Beltran. Great tools across the board on both sides of the ball.

Agree 100%

I got no problem going after either Chapman or Jansen, then after the big name revert back to bring in a bunch of guys and see who sticks. I also would not be surprised to see a guy like Barnes take a step forward next year.

I highly doubt in the history of baseball one relief pitcher has ever been the difference between a last place team that's competing and even been in 1st place for much of the year. I don't think this team would be where it is without him......but Kimbrel isn't a guy making an 18 win difference.

I do remember at the time it was considered a huge hometown discount. Maybe not as extreme as it seems now for two reasons. First off salary inflation has been on the rise every single year and 12.5 million seems a lot cheaper today than it did several years ago. Also, I think Pedroias year this year is a reminder that he's either not in decline at all because he's fully healthy.....or his decline is going to be much smaller than some may of anticipated a few years ago.

It is worrisome that Kimbrel has these sub-optimal outings, but for what it's worth when he's in a save situation he's much much more reliable.

I think that's an exaggeration. I highly doubt we lose 18+ games because we dont' have Kimbrel on this team.

Porcellos first full 3 seasons in the majors he was age 21-23, must pitchers are still in AA/AAA ball at that point. I'm not saying to ignore those numbers but you have to take that into context. When you combine that with his improvement of numbers every year then he really looks like a pitcher coming into his own. That was a narrative destroyed last year with a horrible season, but this year is making it look like it was just a bad first year in Boston.

I agree on Koji, I'm hoping his time off and rehab will be enough to recharge him to finish off the season strong and help this team to a WS!!!! I also hope it doesn't fool the Sox into another contract. There are a few guys on the market this year I wouldn't mind picking up one of the more polished arms (including Chapman) and even keeping Zeigler. With Smith coming back the bullpen could look very strong. A Kimbrel/Chapman/Smith bullpen would be pretty sick, and I expect the rotation to be stronger next year as well.

I think so too. I'm still not 100% sold on Leon not being the next great flash in the pan but I'm loving what he's doing and at this point it's his job to lose.

3B has become a black hole on this team. Ok that's probably an exaggeration but the production from the hot corner has been pretty bad on both sides of the ball for about 3 months now. Moncada doesn't have to come up and become a starter, or a star. If he gives us something marginally better, then it was worth a call up. Even if he just swipes a few bags off the bench he adds value in September as the organization doesn't really have any other base stealing options in the minors.

Moncada was 17 when he was playing down there. A teenager doesn't just walk onto a team and take a guys job, so it was probably some no name but more polished player ahead of him. Also I think it's worth noting we will never know where Moncada would have ended up had he stayed in Cuba.

No offense but that is complete ********. It's a nice little narrative but your argument has zero merit. Fortunately we live in 2016 and we actually track every single pitch, every single out, every hit etc etc, and we track exactly where it lands. If a player hits the ball 75% of the time to the right side, what his slash line is or how good of a hitter he is has zero meaning. If you plug another defender where he hits the ball, you will get him out more often than you would otherwise. Not saying shifts should be used 100% of the time, but when the spray chart is extreme enough to warrant it then the shift should be employed regardless of a players batting average. have fun watching the game from your arm chairs everyone. Go Sox!!!

This is a great point because I don't think you ever really truly know when a guy is ready. It's not like the Sox were sitting around back in July saying on September 2nd Moncada will be ready.

If this argument is valid, then you are just 100% against shifts in general because why would you force a pitcher to pitch the strength of a good hitter? Most hitters who pull the ball tend to be good at pulling the ball...that's why you shift against them. You can still pitch that guy to get him out, but pitchers are going to come inside at times and they are also going to miss....MLB players will wait for there pitch and hit it that's why pull hitters are pull hitters. You can be a .240 pull hitter or a .280 pull hitter or a .330 pull hitter. If you are a pull hitter you will get that guy out more often if you shift against him. 70% of the time...it works all the time.

I would agree that teams can get shift happy, but shifting often is optimal. It's a basic math equation, you play where the guy hits the ball more often and get more outs for every hit you give up. I don't think your narrative that low average batters shouldn't be shifted against. If you take strike outs out of the equation a .240 hitter puts the ball in play exactly as often as a .340 hitter per at bat. If anything it makes more sense to shift against them because a worse hitter is less likely to be able to use the whole field. If you DON'T shift a .240 hitter that is pull happy then he'd probably become a .260 or a .270 hitter if he played all his games against your team.

If anything it makes more sense to shift against crappy hitters.....good hitters are better at using the whole field.

Shifts are determined by where the guy hits the ball not his average. A lot of those averages are lower than they would have been because teams shift on them. I mean, why would you not want to shift against some of these guys? https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/player?player_id=475174&player_type=batter# https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/player?player_id=501981&player_type=batter# https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/player?player_id=502143&player_type=batter# https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/player?player_id=519390&player_type=batter#

about 362,880 of them. And this is just with the starting 9

Not that I completely disagree with you here but I do want to add my critique. 1.) while this is true, I think it is partially due to them being in a different system than other international players. Most guys taken internationally and subjected to the international rules get signed when they are 16 years old, a lot of these high profile cubans are much older when they sign. When Puig signed he was 21 years old and was 22 when he made his debut. Moncada is year older than Puig was when he made his debut. Jose Abreu was 27 when he made his MLB debut. Profar made the jump to the bigs in about the same time as Moncada, but was sent down for the next 2 years and has only made it back up this year as a 23 year old and is doing pretty mediocre. Jose Iglesias rushed through the minors in about 2 years but he was rushed for his defense and didn't really establish himself as a player until he was 23. Moncada is being rushed for the opposite reasons. 2. I don't think it really matters that he did or did not have a "true" position in Cuba. It's the concept of sticking a guy where you think he will play best, and you let him develop there. You don't screw with his head and make him learn new things when you want him to focus on his offensive game. If the team feels a guy can help the club and needs to switch positions he doesn't need the mental focus on developing an approach that he had before. 3. I doubt this, day one he was barely 20 years old and put up a .813 OPS in low A ball, he did have a .950 left handed....but again this was in LOW a ball. I don't think we can decipher how he would have handled making the jump up 4 levels at that point. I think he's ready from the left side now. If anything, I think I'd be more on board with your argument if we were to say that the Sox should give him more time at 3B, but he's ready to close to ready and the club thinks he can help now. He can still go to the Arizona fall league and get reps in at 3B and get some time there in spring training as well. He could also spend a month in Pawtucket next year to polish up his game in the beginning of the year too.