Hugh2

I beg to differ. Running on a treadmill for 30 minutes is 100X more physical than sprinting 60 feet 4 times in 30 minutes (at least it requires more physical activity) but the latter will dramatically increase your chance of injury and thus provide for much wear an tear. I think people who are saying that baseball isn't that physically taxing don't understand human physiology that much. Something being physically challenging to do, and something being physically taxing on your body ARE NOT analogous. A lot of the motions that are functional in baseball are very unnatural movements. The Act of swinging a baseball bat, pitching a pitch, and going from 0-60 in a split second are very taxing on the body. Also, someone who sits down and only has to get up to bat is probably less warmed up sitting on the bench, which if anything puts someone at a much larger risk of suffering an acute injury. People who are looking at this, are looking at it from the wrong angle. I worked as a trainer, I was 30 credits shy of a degree in health and human performance before I switched to a business degree, I've worked in gyms my whole life and I've worked with a PT and professional athletes as well.....I know what I'm talking about. P.S....I come in peace!!! not trying to sound stand offish.

Part of that is because baseball is a very 0-100 sport. I mean, freak accidents can happen in any sport, or even in our everyday lifes. You literally go from standing still to an all out sprint in the game, couple that with the risk of running into walls and other people and it's easy to see how easy freakish accidents can occur. Going from doing nothing, to giving something your maximum effort probably puts you more at risk of an acute injury than almost any other physical type of activity. And when you also consider everything inbetween including guys playing through injuries and it's easy to see how baseball can add a lot of wear and tear to an individual.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/y/youngch04.shtml

Young certainly has picked a good time to start stepping it up. He now has a .295/.368/.577 slash line on the year with a .807 OPS vs. RHP.

If people want to argue that playing other positions are more physically demanding they have a point. But that is a stupid argument to make if your point is that David Ortiz should be more able to handle playing baseball because he doesn't have any "wear and tear" I apologize but if that is your mind set then you really have very little knowledge of health and human performance. Sitting at a desk all day shouldn't produce any wear and tear, yet those people see just as much shoulder impingements and rotator cuff injuries. This isn't because they have a "physically demanding position" or they play a lot of basketball or softball rather it is because of the muscular imbalance that sitting in front of a computer all day creates. Not only do you need to understand that the physiological aspect of swinging a baseball bat is a very violent and unnatural movement, but you also should consider these things HAVE to be looked at on a case by case basis. Yes, David Ortiz plays a less physically demanding position yet that does absolutely zero to validate the argument that he should be able to play well into his 40's due to "less wear and tear". We know for a fact he's been injured, and has played through multiple inuries in the past and that is way more harmful than running around more in the outfield everyday. Also, every time he runs the bases he does so with more weight pounding down on his knees than most other players. That is just one thing of many to consider. David Ortiz is probably going to spend the rest of his life with a heightened risk of foot, knee, and shoulder injuries in retirement. I hope he takes care of himself well. If you want to offer Ortiz more money to entice him to play another year that is fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion but if anyone thinks David Ortiz SHOULD NOT be worn down at his age because of the nature of his work.....then I'm calling you out for having no ideal what you're talking about.

I was just thinking the same thing. If there was a catcher who can catch a knuckleball well to be had he could help increase our chances of winning every 5th day. As good as wright is, the Sox are 5-5 in his starts.

Not really, deals happen like this because a team is in sell mode and they find a buyer. Just because it happens doesn't mean the market is flush with sellers in early June. Yes, Shields got put on the market but the majority of guys who will be for sale in 6-8 weeks from now have G.M.s who are either not taking calls or it would take a much higher offer to get them to bite early.

I think just about anyone would delay retirement or come out of retirement for one more year for the right price, and that applies to all ranges of self interest. I say respect Papis decision....if he really wants to come back for one more year he will/should express interest. I really think there is something to be said about a guy who goes out on top of his game.

I'll eat crow, I lost our bet and I'll be the one to remind you. He started more than 10 games. But calling it "stupid" is absurd. As evidence of my last post. I would have been 100% signing him, he would have been a great depth option but the risk was very very very high. High risk/high pay out. It's paying out for Oakland but lets not all pretend that the risk wasn't/isn't there. I still very highly doubt he can start 32 games, and if he does his arm will have been fatigued by October time. He has not pitched that many innings in over a decade, and even a fully healthy, young spring chicken can't double or triple their workload in one year. It would be almost unprecedented for him to pitch 190 innings + and that's before even talking about being available for the playoffs.

I get your point, but if the solution is to outspend every team every time to get the guy you want this team would easily have a payroll north of 200 million with likely less talent on it. Every other team is trying to compete and they have money too. This is also a hindsight decision. Hill hasn't started this many games since 2009, which was 2 more than he has this year. The last time he started more than that was in 2007. It's 2016, he's 36 with an extensive injury history, no matter how good he pitches the odds of him crashing or fatiguing are getting higher and higher every single game. Lets not pretend that there wasn't a huge amount of risk in signing him.

I disagree, I say let Ortiz retire on top. Regression is not always linear....players like Papi aren't always going to give you exactly 1-.5 less WAR per year, rather he's just going to fall off a cliff one year. It could have been this year, maybe it would be next, or maybe it would be in 3 years but at 40 years old it would be coming sooner rather than later. I hate seeing players get pushed out of the game because they stink, and I think the offense will survive without him. Invest in pitching and let Ortiz ride into the sunset on top of his game. He deserves that.

Right, I remember after Ortiz wrist injury everybody thought he was in a serious decline and his career wouldn't last much longer.....he's lasted almost a whole other decade. It did take about 2 seasons to get him right though.

I forgot about that.

At the absolute VERY least I think Pedroia is showing us this season that any type of decline he may be in is nowhere near as big as we thought it could have been last year.

I see an extension of JBJ/Bogaerts/Betts highly unlikely. Our time is now, this team is in now mode....I say buy Strasburg next offseason and go for a run for the next few years. With some luck in several years guys like Benintendi, Devers, Moncada, and Espinoza will fill the talent pool those guys leave behind (Price aging). And with some money freed up by then you can still probably extend at least one of those guys to a monster contract and maybe trade another to replenish the system. Of course a lot can happen between now and then and this assumes a lot. I think any good long term plan is NOT a concrete long term plan. You have to be able adjust accordingly with the market, your team, and your system. Like for example, lets say all of a sudden the CHW want to trade a Chris Sale for a prospect heavy package to replenish their system (highly unlikely) perhaps you reconsider holding onto an Espinoza in a situation as such.

No but you and all the other new members should at least try to comply with the wishes of the two people who run this board. I'm not responsible for anyone besides myself. Everyone who has been a member here for a while likes this place and how it is run. Fantastic. Your dissension is conspicuous. Good. Emp, I'd say to give their way a chance. I've been posting on another forum besides this one long before the BDC forums shut down who have followed a similar model. I would say from my experience that the conversation tends to be much better that way. I happen to think redundancy was a big problem over at BDC too so what do I know but in the end they are going to run their forums the way they want them run. We chose to be here, so I think it's more likely we disseminate into their "culture" rather than the opposite.

Hey I didn't say I liked the guy, only that with Sam Travis out for the season and likely to begin next year the odds of Sandoval getting playing time in Boston next year have increased.

Benintendis is batting .243/.293/.324 so far in Portland. What's the over/under of when he reaches .300???? I'll put it at June 21st.

I think he would have got a cup of coffee this year and if all was well he'd have an opportunity to compete for a spot next year. Guess whose probability of playing time in 2017 just went up???? Here's a clue P.S.

Well Hernandez is performing at the highest level. I've seen no one rank Basabe ahead of Devers. Not that the kid doesn't have potential but I don't think he's done anything yet to place himself above him. He's struggling at a level Devers mastered at more than 1 whole year younger than him. I mean Basabe is on everyone's top Ten, But Devers is on some peoples top 10 in the whole game. Here's how I would rank them. Moncada Benintendi Espinoza Devers Kopech Travis Basabe (Alexander) Ockimey Chavis Lakins I think you can make a case for Dubon and Hernandez in there. The top 4 in my mind is interchangable. Ockimey isn't in anyone's top ten, but I'd be willing to bet when mid seasons top 10's come out soon he will be.

Guys like Gausman are why DD (the other DD) traded Erod. Show em what they are missing Eduardo!!!

Yup and I was one of them. I'll eat crow....but I'll wait a little longer. Let's see if he can hold up in a rotation for a full season

Yes but that's not what I was referring too. I saw what you did there though, touché.....touch....

That last pitch was a strike on a swihart. Why is Hanigan Wrights catcher?

I agree and think this is a good point. I made a similar point on the Patriots thread in defense of the MIT physics department who validated the Patriots story in deflategate. This is a job to these people, while I'm sure it exists, biased calls probably happen much much less often in sports than us fans like to admit.