Jump to content
Talk Sox
  • Create Account

5GoldGlovesOF,75

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    14,929

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    29

 Content Type 

Profiles

Boston Red Sox Videos

2026 Boston Red Sox Top Prospects Ranking

Boston Red Sox Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2025 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker

News

2026 Boston Red Sox Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75

  1. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Here's where one stat can be dismissed by other stats -- and rational observers can argue... Is Ceddanne Rafaela literally worth less than a replacement player this year? Do his overall contributions really affect the Red Sox in a negative way? He's made some errors on defense, but anyone who has watched most of the games knows the team D stabilized when he was forced to become the regular shortstop. And while Duran has been surprisingly consistent in the outfield -- 3rd in the AL in dWAR -- Rafaela has already made some plays in CF fans haven't seen since vintage Jackie Bradley Jr. With a bat, Ceddanne is still a hacker, but slowly improving. He actually has less strikeouts than Duran, who is 4th in the AL in WAR. Rafaela has the most RBIs on a team with a winning record. That right there is a lot better than if the Red Sox replaced him with some guy off the street, or gave his uniform to a poster off talksox (who would probably sell it on eBay -- which automatically makes him a positive).
  2. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The only thing we know for sure is that Ottavino would strike out Babe Ruth, like every time. Because he said so.
  3. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Another guy did in the two years right before '78 -- for two different teams -- including one for the Red Sox in '77, when he also led the league in saves... ... and won 30 games in '76-77, all in relief! It makes more sense, in a way, because he also led the majors in games finished in those two seasons with 144. And then... Soup Campbell was oyster crackers. Managers just left him on boil for too damn long. Zimmer shoulda let him simmer.
  4. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    That's because just typing the words Bob Stan- can't do it - gives fans PTSD.
  5. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    What if he Red Sox made the Rays worse by sweeping them?
  6. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Tried to get into a Ground Round to watch it on the big screen, but was too young... so watched every pitch on the edge of the couch, with a six-pack of Schlitz (won't say who bought). Piniella made the lucky stab when Remy's liner came out of the sun, but if it got by him and the Sox won, have to admit Yankee fans would bemoaning bad luck until eternity. The one everyone forgets is Piniella's running catch in the corner on an earlier drive by Lynn with two runners on -- why Lou was playing a lefty batter to pull vs. the best southpaw in the world that year still mystifies me...
  7. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I thought they'd all have a better shot because they only had to beat each other out for spots. But I thought the West was the best... Houston may have a problem, but also has a winning record in May. I also called the East "vulnerable" (from the prediction thread): "But the AL East will not be the mighty division many expect it to be. There will not be three playoff teams in the East" Can the Sox hang in there? I hope they do, at least through June, just to see what Breslow will be allowed to do. We know he's not sitting on his hands; even minor moves for Smith, Cooper and Short are moves...
  8. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    If Devers wasn't so strong, he'd have a few more singles. But all of his oppo hits seem to reach the wall for doubles or go over the wall. I can't wait until Casas returns, and hits almost exclusively to left, to protect his tender core. Pitchers will start jamming the big boys, and by then it will be summer: Raffy's favorite time of year to turn on pitches.
  9. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    You do know that 2007 Red Sox rotation was being paid top of the market salaries in that particular year... except Lester, who was a rookie.
  10. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Sox fans were just mad they didn't have their ace starter taking regular turns in the rotation the past half decade. No one really cared that Sale had the highest salary on the payroll... except maybe the guy who signed the paychecks. It is stupefying that the Red Sox had a pitcher who broke his rib pitching, and now have a batter who wrecked his core batting. If they tried to hire Sale to pitch BP to rehabbing Casas, both might be rolling on the ground, writhing in pain, before one throw even reached the plate.
  11. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Well, a lot of us said it last year, when the starting pitching -- or lack of starting pitching -- was taking them to last place.
  12. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Williams hit 43 homers his last year in the minors, while Dalbec hit 33 HRs last year in the minors.
  13. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Williams urged the Hall of Fame to open its doors to Negro League stars, and Dalbec's walk-up song is actually by The Doors.
  14. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Some would say they wish Masa would call in sick more often. But if people can get over the overhype, the guy punches in, is as productive as just about everyone else in the company, and never says a bad thing.
  15. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    At 5-foot 8-inches tall? No chance... ... that's Mookie height.
  16. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    They didn't make the World Series again until 1967, when literally half their starting position players were African American or Latino. Think they got the message?
  17. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Grissom is just another overhyped bust in his first full-time role: .135 in May. Triston Casas hit .133 in the first month of his first full season in the majors. Dustin Pedroia hit .182 in the first month of his first full year in Boston. Then there was an ancient prospect in the late-1940s the Red Sox thought so overrated -- for some reason -- that they passed on him. Good thing, too, because the guy only hit .048 in his first May (1-for-21)... maybe he felt too much pressure batting in the month that sounds like it was almost named after him. He was also so young when he made the big leagues he read comic books, ate ice cream and played stickball in the street with other kids...
  18. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Imanaga also wondered that in an interview a few weeks ago on MLB TV. Maybe that means he's already working on a contingency plan. Sorta like the Sox didn't when they didn't offer him enough when he signed with the Cubs. Boston always seems to be in on pitchers they think would make good starters in the majors -- Eflin, Lugo last year; Imanaga, Hicks this year... It must frustrate the R & D guys to be overruled by the payroll dept.; one office is all about the cutting edge of the industry, the other is all about cutting corners.
  19. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Devers is already #11. I've said it before, but if this franchise is truly so money-conscious about spending on players these days, then finding a star righty hitter to protect Devers in the batting order should be a priority... because that guy will protect their biggest longterm player investment. Dunno who that may be -- or even if there are even more than a handful of right-handed hitters in their primes in MLB right now... but it's a worthy topic of discussion (not political vitriol) on this forum.
  20. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The actual parallel here is with the first offseasons of the Chaim Bloom and Craig Breslow Eras. Bloom's fresh start was to rid Boston of what had devolved into a miserable David Price experience: miserable to the press, including fan favorite Dennis Eckersly -- and miserable to viewers, who wasted hours of their lives suffering through agonizingly deliberate deliveries (pre pitch clock). Breslow's fresh start was to relieve Red Sox Nation and the organization of the long agony of counting on the return of Chris Sale to regular turns in the rotation. Price and Sale were also the two costliest remnants of the Dombrowski Era, and Boston willingly paid part of their salaries to pitch elsewhere. The big difference is that Atlanta actually wanted Sale, as their immediate extension shows. Price was so unwanted that the Sox had to kick in a Hall of Famer to make him go away...
  21. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Yes, I would. No, you don't: Greenwell and Williams were two lefthanded batters who played left field for Boston for at least a dozen years. Both were career .300 hitters with sub-8% K-rates (Greenie 7.1, Ted 7.2). Both got ripped off of at least one American League Most Valuable Player Award -- Williams finished second in voting three times when he led baseball in WAR, while Greenwell finished second in 1988 to an admitted cheater. Finally, both were known as fighters: Ted in World War Two and the skies of Korea; Mike with Green Monsters in the swamps of Florida and the Fens...
  22. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Interesting article and chart on batters cutting down their swings with two strikes: MLB hitters have a two-strike approach at plate WWW.MLB.COM Do hitters have a two-strike approach these days? To see the strikeout rate, which climbs and climbs each year, you’d say perhaps not; to hear old-timers tell it, you’d hear definitely not. We can’t really tell you what batters were thinking in 1924 or 1974 or even 2014. But in Every MLB team's overall bat speed decreases in two-strike counts. Rays' batters lead the majors with the biggest decrease; the Red Sox have the smallest decrease in the AL. Do those adjustments make a difference? Boston has the third most strikeouts in the AL. Tampa is fourth.
  23. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Devers may have hit a home run in five straight games, but he had to go and snap his streak of solo shots (O'Neill walked in front of him). What is wrong with this guy?
  24. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Physical traits that time erodes include eyesight, muscle mass, metabolism... but factors beyond the individual obviously can greatly affect the individual. When Raffy was having an absolute blast in his first few years, no one was counting on him to be another Big Papi. He was just another spoke in the monster tire, spinning through the batting order with the likes of Mookie, Xander and JD. In the World Series, at least, Devers was one of three "clutch" pinch-hitters, along with Nunez and Moreland. Pitchers might have challenged him more in '17-19; it sure didn't seem like anyone could throw a fastball by him then. For stat researchers, if possible, it may be interesting to compare types and/or locations of pitches delivered to Raffy then and now. Books on hitters also change as hitters adjust to books. Right now, Boston has the majors' worst batting average in May with runners on base. If clutch isn't a repeatable skill, then team-wide suckitude for weeks must be a reflection of the roster.
  25. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    There's also the outside chance Niko comes up in June/July and rakes MLB heat, lays off offspeed stuff, builds a snappy OPS... and becomes a more palatable trade target than Cooper or Smith. Bloom would be paralyzed to include a 25-year old lefty slugger in a deadline deal (even a redundant one, like his endless supply of shortstop farmhands). But Breslow seems like a guy who knows he has to give up something to get something... at least, if we believe his "painful decisions" vow many months ago. That is, if the Sox are confident they can lock up -- and want to lock up -- Casas, longterm.
×
×
  • Create New...