5GoldGlovesOF,75
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Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75
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I like him. Kinda hides the ball with a tighter release point -- slightly sidewinding, low three-quarters -- that can mess up timing in a deceptive extension sense.
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Basically the order I proposed, and the type managers who played the game have been assembling for over a century. Even the metric police can't deport you from the forum for suggesting batting the supposed best contact man in the 2 hole. How can a guy who supposedly strikes out less than everyone else and therefore hits the ball the most be bad when you're trying to optimize a limited line-up? It's either that or if Abreu is really blossoming into a star, then a top 6 of Anthony-Durbin-Abreu-Contreras-Duran-Story -- because no matter what, Cora wants a LRLR order. -
That's a problem they didn't solve all winter... as many of me, myself and I said all offseason. Maybe they can draft, develop and lock up one with a team-friendly longterm extension soon (because he ain't in the minors) -- and we already know they don't want to pay market prices for an established free agent bat.
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Masa has zero hits and strikeouts but still leads the Sox in On Base %! But they should get rid of him so there's less men on base? Worried about team Ks? Batting your best hitters at the top of the order so they get up the most is a sound strategy if they're good, but so far that sound is whoosh... because our two biggest whiffers bat #1-2. Actually, half the lineup has averaged at least one strikeout per game, but in the grand scheme of the American League, only three teams have struck out less than Boston. Unfortunately, no team in the AL East has struck out more, and Toronto and Tampa are the two best contact clubs in the league. Good times never seemed so mediocre -- so far, so far.
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I was at Saturday's game when Ward stole third, while the pitcher, third baseman and shortstop all just stood there looking at each other. Other positives: decent long relief from Samaniego, clutch hits by Gasper and Delay, HR by Romero. I won't name the negative, a guy who my son said looked like the worst player on the field. Hints: struck out four times swinging, and hit a double that the centerfielder misjudged, but almost got picked off when he tripped over the bag... in the outfield, bounced a throw home that nabbed a runner, then bobbled a single and lost it off his throwing hand as another run scored... finally, misjudged a flyball but recovered with a last-second lunge over his head sideways to catch it. Eeegads.
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A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Duran wasn't even leaning when he got picked off. They weren't even sending him -- your best base-stealer, the potential tying run, to get him into scoring position on a club that obviously is going to struggle to score this year. But don't worry, in the next week the Sox are bound to face a pitcher who has nothing and rack up one blow-out win so posters can argue, "Look, they average 5 runs scored per game!" -
This is a good point, especially in cold-weather games. On the other hand, good batters make adjustments the more they see starting pitchers. In the days before bullpens became a weapon, it's no surprise that legends like Williams and DiMaggio had their highest career OPS in their 4th at bats vs. starters. But this series was an NL Central series. Boston's two new imports from that division -- and only offseason additions to the batting order -- Contreras and Durbin, went a combined 1-for-27. Perhaps Cincy and Francona's familiarity with them led to an effective game-plan to handle the pair. And no, signing Geno Suarez wouldn't have made much difference for the Red Sox, since then he'd never get to face Weissert. I'm not making fun of the Central, because Milwaukee has been a very good team this decade. But the fact is it's been 10 years now since an NL Central club was in the World Series.
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Certain posters -- mostly uncertain -- meet in secret Zoom calls to share websites like merriam-webster.com/thesaurus, rhymezone.com and rollingstone.com to prepare for new threads with one goal in mind: "Don't let notin beat you!"
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Yes, they can if Early throws a complete game... ...(the plan was to save Oviedo as long man for Suarez' start).
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Dunno -- after playing and watching for over half a century, I just need qualitative data to notice when pitchers, managers and teams pitch around a feared hitter to get to the next guy. A lot of times, I was very close to the action -- like in the on deck circle (because often the next guy was me).
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In any inning -- because a leadoff walk is almost guaranteed to score every time. When my cousin pitched and fell behind the first batter, it became a major stressor. All he could think about is Don't walk the leadoff man! If he did, it got to the point where my cousin would point at the guy when he reached 1st and just wave him around... so everyone could start fresh.
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The key to Anthony's batting success -- not on base percentage -- is going to be to find really good protection from whoever hits directly after him, most likely 2nd in the order. Because if Anthony starts maiming defensive players, like when he almost killed Sal Stewart Thursday, then he's not going to see many good pitches to hit. A good #2 batter, say a .300 hitter or .500 slugger, can make the difference between Roman leading the league in hard-hit balls vs. just hard-hit rate.
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They both had historic seasons, and even Cora said Judge was clearly the MVP. My point was that if I didn't know their names, for two guys with similar offense (not just HRs and RBIs, but Raleigh was 2nd in runs and walks, 4th in OPS), that I'd subjectively give an edge to the catcher. Before WAR even existed good catchers on winning teams often got their share of MVP votes by expert observers. My first year as a fan was 1968 when pennant winner Detroit's Denny McLain was the unanimous AL MVP. His catcher Bill Freehan finished 2nd, presumably for helping McLain win 31 games. In retrospect, Yaz led the league that season with 10.5 WAR and finished 9th in the voting... but he wasn't even the Red Sox MVP, as Hawk Harrelson had big hits all year and finished 3rd. When I played D3 our centerfielder was drafted because scouts liked his arm and his wheels - two tools you can't teach. But our catcher was voted team MVP. He hit about .250.
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I knew I could count on a numbers person to jump all over that post. Here, let's delete "wild card" and "first place" and call them two great teams! Now... again... on a great team: a catcher who hits 60 home runs -- and all the other things he does to make them great -- is way more valuable than an outfielder who hits 60 home runs. Seriously.
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If I didn't know their names and you asked me who's more valuable between two great hitters -- an outfielder who maybe gets to make one play an inning on a wild card team, or a catcher involved in every single pitch for a club that comes in first place -- it's not even close.
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A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Mike Timlin made fun of my son when they took a pic together.👍 Bronson Arroyo... only started 293 more MLB games and threw 1,847.1 innings after leaving Boston 👎 -
A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
An all-time great offseason may be Theo Epstein's first in 2002-03 when he acquired Todd Walker, Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar and David Ortiz. He also added Brandon Lyon off waivers and a year later traded him for Curt Schilling. -
But wearing stripes means something -- that uniform design was introduced in New York in the 1820s for prison uniforms.
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A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I
5GoldGlovesOF,75 replied to moonslav59's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Ceddanne with another slice of clutch pie. That doesn't mean he's a repeating decimal, just that he never ends... like 22 divided by 7 on my calculator that ran out of room: 3.142857142857143infinity Of course, 7 for 22 is a pretty good modern batting average: .31818181818181818181818.... which could mean a lot of different batters ate a piece of pie -- or three kept repeating the same dessert... ...like Rafaela, Story and Duran coming through with RBI hits; meanwhile Anthony was 0fer with men on base, though he did come through with a clutch challenge. On base four times, almost killed the first baseman -- what a leadoff man! -
I cannot wait for the added Check the CHECK challenge next year. They're trying it out in the minors, with the official angle 45 degrees from top of the barrel to the knob -- videos show the dotted line extending from a righty bat basically parallel to the first base foul line. It will make pitchers go ballistic and supposedly they will be immediately ejected if they throw a fit... ... because mark my words: the Check challenge will change baseball and add offense, which is a good thing. I saw Mookie get banged last night on a literal check swing with his bat at a 90 degree angle from his biggest supporter... Baseball needs to accept this, because pitchers on every single team now throw 100 mph, which humans cannot hit unless they start swings early. It's time for batters -- with the best hand-eye coordination in the world -- to get rewarded for split-second pitch recognition that stops their bats at offspeed pitches.
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Meidroth has more homers than the entire Red Sox team! Hamilton's OPS is a thousand points higher than Durbin's! Hicks has more walks -- in two-thirds of an inning -- than the entire Red Sox pitching staff!
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Is this the game thread? Pitch clock, starters throwing strikes, almost half over already.
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No prob- yikes
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Meanwhile, Tony Vitello, the new manager of the Giants, was hired directly from the college ranks because of his energetic baseball acumen... ... and in his first game as a big league manager last night, he bats his best hitter third in the order.
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Opinion noted, even if your first and last points contradict. If Anthony's skills differentiate him from his teammates -- like experts everywhere are claiming -- then management freaking better get the most out of his production. My point about the batting order this entire decade is that the Red Sox have always had too many strikeout machines and not enough contact hitters. We're about to see if that kind of club -- led by starting pitching -- can do what some reporters and fan addicts predict: possibly win the division, most likely make the playoffs, and maybe just maybe go deep into the postseason.
