Jump to content
Talk Sox
  • Create Account

5GoldGlovesOF,75

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    14,285

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    21

 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

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75

  1. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Just wondering, is Cano considered a bust for the M's because he got suspended? He had a couple of really good, top-8 MVP years, and the AL's sixth-highest WAR in his five Seattle seasons. What's the formula for equating WAR with salary; in other words, is an AAV of $24 million commensurate with 4.7 WAR per year? At the time his salary was near the top, but 4.7 WAR is never in the Top 10 for position players.
  2. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Somewhere there's a clip of my favorite ever: rookie Lynn robbing Graig Nettles of extra bases at Shea Stadium in July of '75 (Yankee Stadium was being renovated). When lefty power-hitters go oppo, the ball curves towards the line; Lynn full-out sprints to left-center, dives towards the fence, snags, flips over, rolls and slides away from the plate, keeping his glove-hand curled off the ground, as Rice, backing up the play, hurdles his body. Lynn gets to his knees and pumps his arm in the air to show the umps the ball. It was the bottom of the 9th and preserved a 1-0 Sox win. Yanks were AL preseason favorites, but that play basically took the wind out NY for the season. Sox went to World Series, and lost in seven by one run... without Rice, who missed the entire postseason with a broken hand from a HBP.
  3. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    My favorite player of the Seventies was Lynn, the Sox' best all-around centerfielder of my lifetime. But for just pure defense, JBJ wins out. Kike had a great year, but he wasn't great the first month while learning how to go back on balls, at least in Fenway. Bradley was a finished product in the field his first game. Fans and media remember the spectacular catches and throws, but what I recall is that no one made more plays look easy, because Jackie got a better jump on long blasts than anyone. Kiermaier and Pillar were superdupermen, but I'll bet some of those web gems don't even make the highlights if JBJ grabs them without leaving Earth. Can anyone even remember many all-out, scrambling sprints by Bradley Jr.? But any time we saw Jogging Jackie, we knew he knew he had it -- even on flies way over his head.
  4. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    When I first read this bold-faced (the type, not mine), I thought it was a quiz; I actually thought it was about Schwarber, with a pending announcement he'd just signed elsewhere... then I thought it was from the Mookie trade... Seriously, it could be a stock press release from any GM or club about any guy they're walking away from.
  5. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    This whole discussion began when one poster mused that Downs could get called up next July if he was hitting .370 for the WooSox and the BooSox needed a second baseman. Sometimes, minor leaguers figure something out and move fast. That's how Duran made the majors -- he started launching balls at a launching pad and couldn't be ignored... (even if some fans do ignore him, after one blah month in Boston... but he only played two minor league seasons before last year). If you want to go younger, Mookie Betts hit zero home runs with a .658 OPS in the minors at age 19. He wasn't on anybody's list as a top prospect. The next year he busted out with a .966 OPS, and by age 21 was in The Show.
  6. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    We may just have to settle for having interest in the Red Sox having interest in every free agent or guy on the trade block until the CBA is settled. In the meantime, be prepared for bored reporters to show continued interest in any team leaking rumors to try to keep fans interested.
  7. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    What -- no Jack Lopez? He was an unsung hero of Covid week! Seriously, about a possible Downs call-up, we shouldn't expect the Sox to rule out promoting players of any age if they deem them good enough to contribute. Of course, few farms ever produce youngsters as good as Soto or Franco at age 20, but even before Bloom, the Sox didn't blink when they brought up Bogaerts and Devers at age 20. There's nothing more cost efficient than homegrown reinforcements. Or homedeveloped acquired prospects...
  8. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Latest reports include the Red Sox among teams "interested" in Chris Taylor, the all-purpose All-Star in his 30s who rejected LA's QO. The article admits Taylor would presumably cost much more than Kike's 2 years for $14 million contract. Even if Taylor would agree to an ERod-like three for $45 (forget about five) -- does anyone think he's the guy the Sox pick to pay large... in terms of three times as much as they gave the versatile Hernandez? Personally, I'd bank on Schwarber's production over Taylor's for the next four or five years, but could Taylor play second base full-time? He was a negative DWAR this season, struck out 28.7% of his at bats, and led the NL in Ks a few years ago. He's not as good as Baez, but may agree to play for a lesser AAV...
  9. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    You mean, like signing anyone for more than two years? This is Bloom's third offseason in Boston; some posters are furiously typing, "ownership mandates, hands tied, overbudget, taxes, penalties, books closed, lost draft picks, Mookie's height... and the ever clairvoyant I know he'll change because this isn't Tampa" -- but is it at least possible this is just who he is... and why he was hired in the third place? Bloom has been right almost from the beginning. He basically admitted the team would suck in 2020 and that they'd be better in 2021. He has never wavered from his longterm goal of building a sustained contender, and fans have no reason to doubt this pursuit. But he is doing it his way.
  10. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    When half the team caught Covid -- in already their worst month of the season -- few of us (and none of me) thought the Sox ever would get as far as they did. If you don't think Cora was the difference, consider what would've happened if instead Joe Kerrigan or Bobby Valentine were in charge at the time; uniforms would be balled up and thrown into a bonfire, and they'd probably forfeit all of September.
  11. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Bogaerts may not be a Hall of Famer, but here's the list of AL shortstops who have won four or more Silver Sluggers in 40+ years of the award: Ripken, ARod, Jeter, Bogie. Career OPS: ARoid .930, Jetes .817, X-Man .812, Cal .788 (all but Captain Intangibles also spent time at 3B).
  12. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I've never seen or heard anyone confuse speed with slowness.
  13. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I believe them both. Weaver beat Anderson in their only head-to-head World Series, but Weaver teams also lost three other WS. Stolen bases mattered little in any of them. When Anderson's Reds finally won -- still the only NL club with back-to-back rings in over 50 years -- he had arguably the most relentless power/speed batting order in history. But speed also factors on defense -- the main reason those teams were so dominant back then. Quickness can affect range as much as positioning by analytics (whose departments were housed in dugouts and the minds of veterans on the field in olden times).
  14. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I don't know if this has been said here yet, but if the Sox commit to $25M AAV to Baez, don't they have to at least match that for Bogaerts -- if they plan to extend him? So five for $125M for Baez might turn into a minimum investment of $250M total to also keep and not disrespect Bogie... If not, 2022 could be awkward with hard feelings and a lame-duck X preparing to opt out. An amicable agreement with Bogie about moving on is possible, but maybe not as much if they try to negotiate -- and fail -- on an extension this winter, at the same time they're inking Baez. And this doesn't even factor how much a longterm Devers will cost.
  15. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I'm not saying it, but if his contemporaries get $300 million, does anyone expect Baez to expect to settle for one-third of that? Remember, it's never about the money -- just who will give him the most respect.
  16. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Bryan Mata was the Sox' top pitching prospect before TJ surgery. Let's hope he doesn't take several years to recover like Groome has.
  17. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Don't forget, if the 2020 Red Sox had 2020 Kenta Maeda, then Boston most likely wouldn't have Marcelo Mayer on the farm right now...
  18. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Neither is Baez. Let's see where the pixie dust settles after Correa and Seager sign.
  19. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Cora may have a good rapport with Baez, and maybe already has a pro connection, similar to with other fellow countrymen in the MLB. Wonder if Baez also has a positive relationship with former teammate Schwarber, whose approach at the plate was a good influence on the Boston batting order (excluding the last three October games). There's no doubt Baez is a very good player, and could give the Sox their own Arozarena-type spark. Baez stole home four times for the Cubs, which is more than the number of Red Sox with SBs of the plate that I can recall in 50 years. Sparky Anderson once said, "If you have to choose between power and speed -- and it often turns out you have to make that choice -- you've got to go for speed." Then there's this: https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2021/5/27/22456548/javier-baez-pirates-steal-home-error-video
  20. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I'm unsure. Baez is the biggest whiffer of all the big time free agent infielders, and the only one that had an attitude problem with his fans last summer. Are you sure that kind of guy will get $100+ million dollars from Chaim Bloom, who has yet to sign any Red Sox player for more than two years?
  21. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Gray, Montas and Matz -- get it done. They'll make a solid rotation, along with Pivetta and a youngster (unfortunately, the most likely candidates for '22 IL stints are a still-recovering Sale and due-for-an-age-related setback Eovaldi). Although, realistically -- and especially, financially -- acquiring young bullpen arms is more probable... Here's a decent read off WEEI.com today: https://www.audacy.com/weei/sports/red-sox/dont-forget-chaim-blooms-top-priority-this-offseason
  22. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I don't see Bloom giving up a draft pick for a lifetime space in the new parking garage soon to be built on Jerry Remy Way.
  23. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Baez long term in Boston is asking for trouble. In his eight-year career, the guy has struck out 29.3% of the time. That's more than Schwarber, JD, Renfroe, Devers -- every regular in last October's starting lineup. In addition, playing in a new league facing and learning new pitchers can be a struggle initially (ask JBJ, a career 25.9% whiffer). Imagine Baez having issues adjusting, fanning continually in big spots, and hearing boos -- will he react the way he did for the Mets? Red Sox fans won't be so forgiving, especially if he's owed nine figures.
  24. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The Sox would be better with just Matz and Graveman for $18M combined instead of one ERod for 18.
  25. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Agreed, but considering modern usage of pitching staffs, transitioning from two-inning relievers to five-inning starters shouldn't be too much to ask of young, strong professional arms. No matter their roles, there is just too much potential to ponder trading either in a multi-player deal for a more established pitcher (as some posters suggest). Whitlock delivered the most clutch outing of October, entering the final ALDS game tied, with Arozarena on second and no outs, and going on to retire the last six straight Rays until the Sox walked it off. Houck's five-inning perfect game the week before displayed literally unhittable stuff, whether it was vs. the Washington Nats or Washington politicians. Keep them both.
×
×
  • Create New...