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5GoldGlovesOF,75

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Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75

  1. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Do you refer to Valdez the Big Leaguer with a higher OPS than Devers? As for sample size, he's already played in almost half the games this season (which will be one-third over next week). Hickey was definitely the best AA hitter I saw live this week, way better than Rafaela and Yorke. I didn't notice any major flaws behind the dish, either -- for CERA fans, all three Portland pitchers that night looked really good. But maybe he makes the Show as an Alfaro type. Others: Rosier looked surprisingly dangerous with the bat; Meidroth looked surprisingly harmless. Lugo looked solid.
  2. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Especially since he's the best defensive first baseman on a team with very dubious infield arms. Sacrificing what should be automatic outs at first can really drag on cranky old starting pitchers or already overused relievers.
  3. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Here's another thought (sure to get me hammered, so ball peen away): many researchers have posted data warning about the "overcost" of starting pitching, and the inevitability of most contracts turning into budget burdens -- and certainly in recent Red Sox history. Dice K, Beckett, Lackey, Price, Sale -- all have helped win rings in Boston, but all have also had periods of ineffectiveness or unavailability that have hurt their overall value. But if winning one World Series makes it worth seasons of suckitude, then what fan really, truly cares if an Eovaldi or Wacha or the next (first?) semi-longterm signee eventually breaks down? What does avoiding those guys who we know are good now really give us in the Bloom Era? When it comes to the starting rotation, all we've ever known about Chaim Bloom's coveted payroll flexibility is that he's just going to keep on moving on, every winter, to the next $10-million-dollar Richards or Perez or Kluber...
  4. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Wedon'twannarushim! You might screw up his psyche for life! Lookit Washington -- Thad Ward has almost as many walks as Ks... and he's only 26!!!!!
  5. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Quantity over quality wasn't what I meant, so I should have just posed the label "accomplishment" as a question: what defines it? Making a routine defensive play can help win a game, and definitely contributes to ending an inning -- which in the least helps a pitcher's pitch count, and at best maybe saves a run/s. But is it the same as Benintendi's diving catch with the bases-loaded that quite possibly saved the 2018 postseason and led to a ring?
  6. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Depends on what defines accomplishment: Franchy catching 10 cans of corn, or jogging Jackie reeling one in over his shoulder in the gap...
  7. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    They must be hoping to sell more food concessions. But good luck with a new logo... can uniforms and caps fit an outdoor social gathering where seafood is served? The whole thing stinks of low tide.
  8. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I approve of this post. How many times have we've seen bad endings in the age of relief specialists; a team yanks a pitcher who is obviously lights out for a new guy... who just... doesn't... have it.
  9. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Eye-witness report from the Portland game... Half-empty: Rafaela is still swinging at every pitch, as if he's ignoring selectivity for more results that will lead to promotion. Yorke has adopted the Trevor Story stance of draping the bat down over his shoulder, which we've seen makes it very difficult to be on time vs. velo. Half-full: Lugo's swing and hard contact look solid. His at bats exude confidence. Hickey was very impressive as a lefty batter, slicing extra base hits to the opposite field and motoring around the bases at a higher speed than the average catcher. On the mound, Sharp looked taller than his reported 6'3, with a release point coming over his shoulder that makes the heater hotter. Gomez threw strikes and Fernandez threw gas. Both have potential to move up soon. The Seadogs are a first-place team that should be taken seriously... at least until next year, when new owners have reportedly decided to change their name to -- ... I can't even type it!
  10. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I know, we've both said our opposite views here before on all-or-nothing hitting. The reason I brought it up is because there has already been some coverage of improved offenses in Boston and other cities for the simple explanation of line-ups making better contact. Certainly, lefty pull hitters have benefitted from the no-shift, but there is also more emphasis on the Sox, and talk on MLB network, for example, of more batters using the entire diamond, going with pitches more, opposite field, gap-to-gap. The Red Sox hitters look different this year, including guys with different approaches that were already here, like Verdugo and Duran. More hits = more baserunners = more runs; but it's also about hitting behind runners and moving runners. It makes for better entertainment.
  11. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The Sox are 24-20. No shift, juicier ball, but the main reason: new faces. Devers leads the club with 38 strikeouts. For those pining for the return of Story, through his first 44 games last year he whiffed 60 times. Through the end of last May, JD and Bogie each had 44 Ks, Dalbec 38, Bradley 34. Yoshida has 15 in 160 PA in '23... last year at this time, Franchy had 20 in 83 PA.
  12. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Porque?
  13. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    This is pretty obvious. The Padres' young power hitters will pick on Old Man Paxton, and Snell will throw a no-hitter through the first six. However, analytic guys will run onto the field to pull him off the mound, and the Sox will rally to win late vs. SD's bullpen.
  14. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    And yet, what separates Toronto from Boston, maybe not in the standings quite yet, but in most, if not all, season outlooks? It's not the offense, because even though the Jays have a few young star hitters, the Sox score more runs per game with a higher batting average. Count me as in on some of those of the next winter starters, because we have to start somewhere. But I have no reason to think Bloom will suddenly be competitive for any #1 or #2 guys, because he's never been. Maybe it's just his own policy. Remember, Eflin -- his supposed below-market find and a pitcher with starter upside -- threw exclusively out of the bullpen in the postseason for an NL team that made the World Series, with 10 relief appearances. Now he's 5-1, 3.38, in 7 starts for the AL pacesetter.
  15. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Good examples. The Jays are a club that wants to win, willing to pay market prices for good starters. The trade for Berrios hasn't set the world on fire, but it was also the right approach: acquiring a durable All-Star just entering his prime, and then locking him up longterm.
  16. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    If it was Eflin -- who was reportedly offered $40M/3 (which would've made him the costliest "starter" of the Bloom Era, at $13,333,333 AAV) -- then Kluber was a blah Plan B consolation prize. And was it really just coincidence that Bloom's old colleagues were just as interested in his prize target... or that he even had to fall back and take one of their leftovers? Hey, it worked with Wacha -- but can he think outside the Trop and get someone actually good from somewhere with his old Tampa brain before the like-minded Rays nerds out-swoop him?
  17. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I don't know if he likes any of them, but the only one he has done is buy old vets who are either past their primes or trying to comeback from age-related injuries (and yes, both characteristics are interchangeable on the cause-and-effect barometer). And even though Bloom obviously has set a budget limit on the annual salaries he'll pay for starting pitchers, I'll bet someone like Moon can add up all the cut-rate contracts (below market of #1 or #2 guys) expenditures on the Richards, Klubers and Paxtons of the Bloom Era to see just how much the Red Sox -- I won't say wasted -- allocated on rotations...
  18. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The Brewers, Guards and Twins are contenders, and because of their divisions, usually are. The Pirates and Dbacks are surprises so far. That leaves the disappointments in SD and St. Lou -- and no starters on those staffs are pitching like an upgrade right now (except maybe Wacha). But the White Sox, another flop, have two AL-tested guys that would definitely help. But they'd want young pitching to replace them. No matter what Sam Kennedy says, is it rational to go for a ring this year and trade Drohan? Discerning posters just cringed. The Red Sox could really use a difference-maker, a George Kirby type, but the cost would be very painful. But that's what would have to happen if they're serious about this season.
  19. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Pablo has the same + and - as a hitter and pitcher. Let's see Ohtani do that!
  20. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Great lists, as always, moon. I remember when they let Pedro and DLowe leave saying that the latter would be the guy with more longevity -- and IP -- going forward. I didn't think Bronson Arroyo would be "the one that we let get away," but he had even more wins and WAR than Lester post-Boston. This has been said before here, but the way staffs, starters and bullpens are used nowadays, a guy like Houck would seem most valuable as a 2-3 inning reliever... since everyone knows he is at his best and often lights-out one time through the order. No need to fix him in that role; he's already very effective at it and can help a team win and contend right now in the modern game.
  21. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    ... for two prospects!
  22. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Pablo is a .421 hitter in Boston! The A's tried to stash him in the minors until their big move to Vegas, but Bloom saw right through their little ruse. Chaim's like Branch Rickey running Pittsburgh, going up to Canada to pirate Clemente away from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Reyes could be his legacy!
  23. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Pablo Reyes is the turning point in the season, from 30 mph Leephus pitches to 2-run doubles off the Monstah. Sox should extend him to a longterm contract now, at least through the summer solstice. Bloom needs to lock him up, literally, until the trade deadline...
  24. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    What I suspected all along... Bloom got rid of him before scribes like us disclosed the scandal of the sham of his "awkward clunkiness," saving Pivetta, and making a hero out of Vazquez. I actually tried that once playing centerfield. A long blast landed over my head and bounced away on an open field... with my back to the plate I gave it a little boot into the bushes and held up my hand for a ground-rule double. The ump wouldn't fall for it, and signaled home run. Moments like that explain why I just type about baseball nowadays.
  25. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Pivetta is now saying the right things after a talk with AC, but can anyone blame him if he's thinking he just turned 30, while Kluber just turned 37, with the same basic stats this season (except on their paychecks)... Nick was also a postseason hero coming out of the bullpen in '21; Corey hasn't pitched a good playoff game since '16.
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