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5GoldGlovesOF,75

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Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75

  1. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I don't recall any posters that defended the Price signing, and I wasn't on board when Sale was extended. Those contracts are and will always be extremes in Boston about the risks of overpaying for damaged goods (physically and mentally). But Eovaldi wasn't ever getting the biggest contract in the history of pitchers, and was good enough and stable enough to get re-signed for two years at market rate. And no one will be surprised the next time he goes on the IL. Meanwhile, he's pretty good. Bloom doesn't sign starting pitchers for more than a year, though... so be prepared next winter to replace Kluber with the next Kluber. It's what we do these days in Boston.
  2. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    That's bull. There are a few posters obsessed with payroll burdens at the back end of contracts, and other posters who don't care that every pitcher breaks down eventually, and would rather see investments in guys that are good bets at the front end. There are even some that argued through the entire tenure of his Red Sox contract that Eovaldi was overpaid, even though he led all Boston starters in innings pitched and lowest ERA from 2019-22. I'm not arguing guys like Eovaldi and Wacha have improved as pitchers after leaving Boston. Maybe new ballparks, new defenses behind them, and new opponents with weaker bats have something to do with their success. But they don't suck, either.
  3. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Wacha just must be pretty lucky. Last year he goes 11-2 for a last place team, and this year he's 5-1 for another club under .500. And he's only one win behind another ex-Red Sox ex-teammate who leads the majors in innings pitched! But this season is still eovalding...
  4. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    If the Red Sox are the greatest last place team (tied with Toronto) in the history of the ALeast, then the Yanks have to be the best third place team in the history of this month. New York is now three games better than the next-best third-place team -- the Angels (closing fast, blanking Boston). Don't worry -- Sox' bats will break out bigly next month when they get to face the dredges of the NL -- the Reds and Rockies (interspersed around series with Tampa, Cleveland and NY, NY... I gotta wear shades).
  5. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    And yet, over the winter, some posters argued Kluber was the better "pitcher" -- as if a wily senior more likely to get by on guile... it certainly wasn't stuff last year, when Kluber was a .500 starter who lost the final postseason game for a playoff team, and Wacha was an .846 starter on a last place team.
  6. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    ... game-planning, remembering hitters' strengths and weaknesses -- from past and present series and same-day at bats or swings -- setting up batters two or even three pitches in advance, and calling pitches according to the pitcher's actual stuff that day... ... after an especially successful day for a battery, you often hear the pitcher marvel, "I never had to shake him off once." And as for running the defense, don't forget the two most important words a catcher can bark to his hurler (it's not "throw strikes")... groundball to the right side: GET OVER!
  7. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Ha. I want to say that's usually for guys who were never good in Boston, but there always seems to be a Braiser. Just checked team stats = seven pitchers this year with negative WAR: Bleier, Braiser, Kluber, Littell, Ort, Pivetta, Whitlock. A guy like Bleier has never been a good Red Sox (seriously, first pitch 3-run jack to Carpenter?), but it's understandable we cut Whitlock a little more slack...
  8. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Fair enough. Have to think a lot of catchers are affected by the pitch clock and new disengagement rules resulting in better jumps for baserunners. Look at St. Louis and Contreras. Wong, leading all MLB catchers in dWAR, is either better than we all thought... or on a fielding hot streak?
  9. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Wacha lowered his to 3.58 yesterday... must be the mild temps of Mission Beach. For those wondering why Mookie jumped at LA's contract offer with a similar AAV as Boston's, maybe it wasn't just Covid uncertainty. When Jim Morrison slurred, "The West is the best," maybe it wasn't just because of parties and group-- naaah.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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...
  13. 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!!!!!
  14. 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?
  15. 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...
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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!
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Porque?
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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?
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