5GoldGlovesOF,75
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Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75
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I keep saying it (lately, and earlier). Not one Yamamoto who can get hurt and maybe Sale through a half decade of rehab before returning, but lots of average albeit actual BIG LEAGUE starting pitchers... ... kinda like KC did -- back when the Sox were just "interested" in making Lugo a starter. Every time I see Moon give the history of big Boston deals for ace starters, I keep looking at those packages and noting that these Red Sox just don't have top pitching prospects that other teams want right now in trade. But that's what they'll all want, in addition to one or two of the Top FOUR...
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Bernardino whiffing Alvarez on three pitches with the bases drunk almost made me! I was so excited I wanted to immediately post a Pedroia chant, but out of respect for the new cleaner board, I'll just use the MLB mandate invented to replace Pedroia's favorite concussing: "LET'S GOOOO!!!!" -
I wrote a longer post and deleted it, because I couldn't really find any right now... but there used to be: Hanley for Beckett, Moncada for Sale... ... there's not even a Skenes-like pitching prospect in the minors worth giving up for what Anthony could become.
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Here's a novel business plan for a longterm way to compete and save money: SPEND money! Sign free agent pitchers instead of trading top position player prospects, who you can then ink to team-friendly extensions. Just think of the savings, when you don't have to pay Devers $300 million in his prime. What would be better: a Red Sox team with Juan Soto or one with Roman Anthony, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty (ya, why not get the old high school gang back together; they could rehab at Giolito's house).
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Glad I wasn't here yet. What a bunch of pack mule hindquarters. I would've told them to play Twister with each other until they were all excrementally inextricable.
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Stats are ok if you want to only consider offensive performances, though Mookie may be a tough comp with a villainous Yankee on a Red Sox site. As a Sox fan, I know Betts contributes in so many other ways than just batting: he jump-starts rallies by getting on base and scoring runs -- which may be teammate-dependent, but not so much for his 14-for-15 in postseason stolen base attempts -- and Mookie has delivered on defense; in just the 2018 ALCS, he gunned down a baserunner at second in a big spot, and leaped among fans to rob extra base-hits (when they didn't slap his glove...) ... which brings up ARod's defining moment in the '04 ALCS, with his bush-league slapping the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove.
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This is exactly why career stats are unnecessary in this discussion -- but I certainly understand how some fans always go to stats for info, since it's part of being a baseball fan. But what you described is perception -- a reality based on observation. That exists. Anyone who has played a lot of competitive baseball into adulthood probably knew a few teammates or opponents who earned certain reputations in big moments. A common fact is they were probably good players in the first place. What may be easier to prove is the existence of good players who for some reason were not considered clutch. How reviled was ARod by Yankee fans until he finally won in 2009? David Price couldn't win a postseason start until 2018. Verlander was 0-6 in four World Series before he finally won. Kershaw had a losing record in the postseason for a decade... the pressure of losing builds on these guys, gets in their heads, and affects performance -- and they're professionals!
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Don't forget he also had Netflix cameras dogging him -- and a bad haircut that needed to grow out.
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You guys just ruined it; don't you know interns from other clubs read forums for every team? Mayer's value just nosedived and Brez can't afford to sell low. Wait, Bloom just woke up from an Underdog cartoon and called Dombrowski last year. He said he could have Mayer for a Song.
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Scouts looking at possible pitchers to draft usually like projectable bodies that promise power arms: tall frames with strong arms and legs. But the clever Red Sox strategy going forward will now be to look at big toes. Breslow and Bailey, being realists (since they accepted positions in management for John Henry) have tasked their analytics dept. to study John Hopkins Medicine for the latest treatments for Tommy John surgery, aka ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. As fans know, TJS replaces the damaged elbow tendon with one harvested elsewhere from the body. A "graft" is typically taken from a forearm, hamstring or... big toe extensor tendon. "They're all going to blow out eventually," paraphrased somebody on every thread on talksox. Not to worry, Red Sox boyscouts are always prepared to have a leg up on the competition; at least, a foot up...
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A Realistic View at 2024: Part III
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Yellow shirts still suck, too. -
Ok... "Just trade" "the best prospect in the organization" to another club for their best prospect... as long as he's a pitcher. Otherwise, if he's that good a hitter, find a position for him -- and keep shaking that baseball tree.
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I know -- could be a righty Valdez. Then again, a few years back, Duran was NOT an outfielder... even when he played it in the majors. Then again again, Franchy was not a fielder, anywhere.
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Surprised you didn't just flip Story and Mayer. We know Trevor can shortstop, and we know some scouts have speculated Marcelo could be a candidate to shift to 3B. Ya, Story is the injury-prone old man, but his workout ethic should keep him in shape to play good D through the end of his contract... when someone like Arias or Cespedes should be ready for showtime. Could Mayer morph into a southpaw-swinging Machado or ARod (without the assholishness)?
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Don't worry, you know what's coming - our next core of sustained contenders. They should be established veterans by 2028... 2030 at the latest! THAT'S when they'll spend on major league pitching -- legitimate starters for a deep rotation, and an endless supply of relievers who throw a hundred with a change-up.
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I'm not talking about a bad month or two, like Pedey had when he started -- and then won Rookie of the Year. The next season he celebrated his Sophomore Slump by winning AL MVP. I'm just wary these guys might take some time, once they make The Show, and even encounter some ups and downs. Anthony, as a lefty power hitting outfielder, isn't projected to be another Yaz or Lynn, but looks like he has 30 HR potential (led the Eastern League in XBH when called up)... and at his age, can he do that for a decade (only four outfielders reached 300 longballs for the Red Sox: Ted, Yaz, Rice, Evans). We should at least hope he's in the dirtdog mold of another high schooler drafted by Boston: Trot Nixon, with a career .844 OPS... Mayer and Teel, when they were promoted to Worcester, were 1-2 in batting average in the Eastern League. If you lead your entire league in hitting, that promises more than average at another level, once it's populated by many of the same peers. Bello dominated Double A two years ago; it's why I expect him to eventually be more than a #3 starter in the rotation...
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The Red Sox hype machine has fans ready for a big letdown if half their Top 10 prospects don't instantly turn into Fisk and Lynn -- or Nomar and Pedroia -- when they make the majors. Notice I didn't include Mookie, because he's a once-in-a-century Boston talent (like Babe Ruth, Johnny Appleseed and Paul Revere in previous centuries). What's more likely is most of these guys will take a few years of ups and downs, and sophomore slumps to reach stardom. Bogaerts hit .240/.660 his first full season in the bigs, then was a Silver Slugger five of the next eight. Varitek wasn't a #1 catcher until he was 27... nor an All-Star until he was 31. Marcelo Mayer may become a star hitter, but not even as a shortstop... While we all wait for a green core to coalesce, better brace for more bare-bones pitching rotations -- like last winter, when getting rid of Sale and signing Giolito (even if he played), did absolutely nothing to address adding pitching depth. The Sox' biggest improvement to the staff was getting a new coach to coax the most out of starters who never took regular turns through a rotation for an entire season before.
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Beating Cy Young with a cow patty bullpen Friday was the Great Escape. But Bello beating a lefty Saturday was progress. Bello's stuff that Bugs Bunnied the O's -- if he can regularly replicate it over the next two months -- is top-of-the-rotation worthy of a contender. Today's finale pits the pitcher who leads the majors in home runs allowed vs. the team that leads the majors in home runs hit. What could go right? Answer: the weather forecast... or, at least, Boston gets to bat nine times, too.
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A Realistic View at 2024: Part III
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
We know what the Sox really didn't do -- which is what Kansas City did do last winter -- immediately zero in on mid-level affordable MAJOR LEAGUE arms, like starters Lugo and Wacha, and relievers Smith, Stratton, Schrieber and Nick Anderson. And this summer the Royals added the perfectly average Lorenzen, who via trade deadline or free agency the past two years joined his fourth club -- none of them named Boston. It seems to be working out ok for KC, playoff-bound right now with the third-best Runs Allowed per Game in the AL. -
A Realistic View at 2024: Part III
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
So maybe a smart strategy -- once an owner decides to spend big on pitching in the offseason -- isn't to break the bank to outbid everyone else for the best pitcher available (and pray he doesn't get hurt)... ... instead, why not spread out the same money and sign three or four average, but established MLB starters (who aren't over the hill, injury-prone or recently cut by other clubs). It doesn't matter if a staff goes into the season with an 8- or 9-man rotation... because we know half of them will be on the IL the first month, and one or two will be out through the summer or next year. But a key for authentic contenders is having legitimate depth -- not a few arms in the high minors who might be able to help in an emergency. -
A Realistic View at 2024: Part III
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
They did it in April, and if anyone's wondering what happened, check the names again of that pitching staff and see how many of those guys were ever above-average big league pitchers for an entire season (couple relievers, but not even Whitlock when he was in the pen...). We can blame B & B for assembling the roster, but here's what really happened: it was just a test from the owners to the new CEO (Chief Excuse Option). This probably happens in a lot of businesses. A new boss gets a probationary period to prove he can be trusted, before being allowed free reign with the budget to expand the company. Just wait until this winter, when John Henry gives the combination of the safe to Craig and Andrew. Because old people change... -
A Realistic View at 2024: Part III
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Most of those Red Sox teams in the Seventies were contenders, supported by both fans and team owners. Boston was actually in first place in August or September in 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978. But the Sox only won one division title and pennant, in '75. The difference is the 2024 Red Sox aren't good enough to choke. Ownership made sure of that. -
Luis Garcia as a Red Sox: G 7, ERA 14.09 -- but it gets worse... per 9 IP: H 18.8, HR 4.7... BA .400, OBP .415, SLG .825, OPS 1.240 (Babe Ruth's MLB career record as a batter was 1.164; as a pitcher, he allowed an OPS of .576). How bout a new ice cream flavor: No More Garcia Por Favor
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Bernardino worked out ok in the 1st, whiffing the lefties Cowser and Henderson. But I couldn't help thinking: that's one less southpaw the Sox will have for late innings with the game on the line... Meanwhile, with the luxury of flicking back and forth on two NESN channels tonight, watching two Sox -- the Red and the Woo -- and... what about lefty Zach Penrod (now a one-inning reliever)? He throws an 88 mph cutter and a 98 heater.
