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5GoldGlovesOF,75

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Everything posted by 5GoldGlovesOF,75

  1. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I played with a pitcher who dislocated the index finger on his pitching hand. He had to wear a metal splint and doctors told him to give it three weeks to heal. He couldn't wait that long... but man, did that splint make his pitches move. After he removed it, his stuff was never as good.
  2. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    My post noted that people once cared more about winning pennants, in a time before they had televisions. TV changed how Americans viewed sports and concepts like "winners" and "champions".
  3. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The weird thing about the story is he cut his left thumb. That part makes sense, since he is right-handed and presumably holds a knife righty. But he didn't say if the injury somehow affected his balance or delivery when throwing righty...
  4. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Dalbec's platoon partner just may turn out to be Casas, who bats lefty. Is it a stretch to say Casas has a better chance to make the Opening Day roster than Duran? Both have to play, no matter where they land, but there may be more PT at first than in the outfield next year. I'm saying this because I don't think there's any chance JD will opt out, with the uncertainty of the CBA... and that means Schwarber is gone.
  5. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    All I'm saying is the Barnes mystery is underrated when reflecting on '21 (which we're already doing) and certainly going forward. At the end, Cora was using the same phrases he said about Sale, "trying to get him right" -- but Barnes wasn't coming off major surgery. We all want better relievers for '22. The bullpen was the top reason the Wild Sox of '21 didn't go even further on their trail of beers and jeers.
  6. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I'm not trying to mislead. Although admittedly, when I look at data, I am often misled. Statistically, in the past three years, Matt Barnes has twice as many saves as blown saves. There are many AL relief pitchers during that span that have better ratios for those two categories that include the word "save" in their labels. Number guys can defend him all day with quantitative data. But is it that unlikely that qualitative data was also involved when it was determined by management and the front office that Barnes can't be trusted to close games down the stretch this year?
  7. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Schwarbs didn't mention his option but said, "this is definitely a clubhouse I could see myself wanting to stay in". If that interview was printed in a Mad Magazine feature, the thought word bubble might add: "... if Boston backs up an armored truck full of cash to my garage."
  8. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The numbers posted were straight from bb-ref's Stathead for saves and blown saves AL 2019-21. Barnes was certainly the Red Sox closer the past two seasons, and briefly in 2019, when he began as Cora's go-to in any high leverage relief inning before inconsistencies plagued him after only two months. I could care less about Rasiel, and just added his stats for perspective since his name has been coming up here. But I'd take his 76 saves vs. 13 blown over a guy who blows the lead in 50% of his outings (whenever he enters the game). I get the point about the terminology, but wasn't personally trying to mislead. The stat sites label them "saves" and "blown saves", but there are no "let-go's" to counter "holds".
  9. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I remember reading that, but then they activated him and Barnes pitched an inning in the ALDS. I just found it odd that never during the many shaky Red Sox playoff relief outings -- including their first two losses to Houston -- did any uniformed personnel publicly lament missing their All-Star closer. Maybe it was because of his performance in the second half? Btw: Barnes leads the AL in blown saves the past three years with 18. Ottavino is second with 16. Liam Hendriks is next with 14, followed by Taylor Rogers 12, then Chapman and four others with 11. For what it's worth: Hendriks leads the AL with 77 saves in that span, and Chapman is second with 70. Barnes is 10th with 37, one behind Hansel Robles (and his 8 blown saves). So, from 2019-2021, Barnes has 37 saves with 18 blown saves... For those pining for Rasiel Iglesias in '22: 34 saves with only 5 blown saves the last three years.
  10. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    What exactly happened to Barnes? Did I miss the announcement where the Red Sox said why he wasn't used down the stretch and was left off the ALCS roster? Sore arm? Covid side-effects? Seriously, even if there were mental health issues, you'd think someone in the media would have inquired in an interview with Cora or Bloom this month... unless they all know and are keeping it quiet... The reason a team's All-Star closer was unavailable in the playoffs is news that at least the national media would report. Did any players or coaches ever talk about it? At least Devers now admits that he was injured. Maybe we won't find out about Barnes until someday soon when the PR dept. subtly issues a press release about an operation.
  11. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    LA lost Kershaw, Bauer and May... and yet, the Dodgers are now getting hammered for burning out Scherzer so badly in the postseason that he couldn't save their postseason. The problem is that LA had a big-time bullpen, too. At least RS Nation is split on Cora using Nate to try closing on his "bullpen day" because he couldn't trust actual relievers; some fans have selective memories, because when AC used starters in late innings in '18 -- and it worked -- he was smaaaht.
  12. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Cool overall season stats. In perspective, they underscore what kind of shape teams' rotations and bullpens are entering October. Every club is affected by injuries, but it's hard not to think how far the Sox could've gone if they still had Barnes closing like a first-half All-Star. Of course, that is, as long as Tampa was still missing Glasnow, and Houston was without McCullers...
  13. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    All at once, yes... but a couple this year, then swap one for a couple more next year, then the next, and before you know it: you win 100 games and finish first without any full-time starting pitchers... But that's just one method of bullpen-building. It can help you throw a shutout in the opener of the ALDS, but you also risk getting your doors blown in three straight when an opponent with a stacked line-up exploits a weak reliever or two who just aren't on in each day's endless parade to the mound.
  14. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Hard to believe this, but there was a time in history when winning the pennant was actually held in higher regard than the World Series. It was certainly before television -- where viewers of all ages are now inundated with and indoctrinated by pile-up celebrations in various sports and levels in stadiums and arenas every month of the year. Finishing first after battling familiar and sometimes hated rivals for six months and 154 games was more important than a single series that decided which of two clubs was hotter in one October week. Perceptions really turned post-WW II, with more leisure time, the pursuit of happiness, technology, and certainly, with the almost annual WS showdown for bragging rights of New York, New York -- usually, the Yankees vs. Brooklyn.
  15. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Something like ('21 salaries, in millions): Wisler $2 + Kittredge $1.5 + Anderson $1 + Fairbanks $.5 + Rasmussen $.5 + Feyereisen $.5 + Thompson $.5 + Chargois $.5 + Flemming $.5...
  16. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Thanks for the permission; I know a few LA fans who still feel that the Dodgers' 2020 title was legitimate, too.
  17. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    Thanks for the reminder. I watch or listen to all the games. The comparison for me as a fan is that I witnessed 24 Ws last year and 98 Ws this year.
  18. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    With a team that was decimated by Covid the year after the pandemic-shortchanged season!
  19. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    To me as a kid it was, at the time. The Sox had an exciting team of young stars who always won more than they lost. For young fans without color TV, going to Fenway Park was like Dorothy waking up in Oz. The standings, of course, were more a reflection of the Reserve Clause, as Detroit won with a starting nine that was basically together for a decade, and Baltimore built a dynasty and ran away from everyone.
  20. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    In my post I specifically wrote "the guys wearing the current laundry" to make sure to differentiate them from people (mostly posing as pitchers) that Bloom gave uniforms to a year ago. 2020 was the bottom of the barrel for a lot of reasons -- and I've been watching since '67 -- but the fact is that this year's team won 74 more games... It's seriously doubtful the '21 Red Sox could've won more games if Bloom had gone out last winter and signed all the free agents posters (myself included) were hoping for.
  21. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    The reason the 67s were more impossible than the 21s is because they had losing records the previous eight years, including 9th the last two, and 8th, 7th and 8th right before that. The 21s had eight World Series champions from three years before, and 10 guys with rings. The 67s had Elston Howard for two months. However, the 1967 Red Sox also had the best player in baseball and almost history; only one guy all-time ever had a higher single-season WAR than Yaz' 12.4 (ironically, that man was once a lefty pitcher who won three World Series for Boston). The 67s also had the AL Cy Young winner, Jim Lonborg. Yaz and Lonnie were pretty good before '67, but the timing of both erupting to dominate both sides of the ball in the same year on the same team made their season more improbable than anything. Despite all that evidence, the Red Sox won 24 games a year ago... while the guys wearing the current laundry finished yesterday with a total of 98 wins. That's just impeccable.
  22. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    We would've been clamoring for him, if we thought he was being shopped. Who knew a team very much in contention, not called Rays, would be willing to deal their closer?
  23. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    I'm not in favor of signing an old, expensive pitcher. Scherzer has a tired, dead arm and can't start with his club facing elimination. He won't be any younger a year from now. Meanwhile, pre- primetimers like Vlad and Wander will be even better next season. Stop-gaps won't stop them. The best way for the Red Sox to compete with that kind of talent is to develop their own (including adding players to the system via trades). Bloom could go out and sign this year's version of Teixeira, CC and AJ -- Crankee trivia; see NY's last ring (before my son was born) -- and the Sox still may not get as far as they did this year. I prefer dealing for a guy like Berrios -- someone 20-something, with upside, under control. Where are the candidates? Astute posters are already pointing to Oakland, Colorado and Miami...
  24. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    You lost me with that last line, because as much as a lot us disagree on all things Sox, I don't remember any posters saying our pitching was great this year or even this month (except when Houck was perfect in DC). Our starters were certainly solid for the most part in the postseason, and Eovaldi had some great moments battling the most murderous lineup in baseball. But the overall difference in the ALCS was that Houston's pitchers fared better against Boston's batters than the Sox staff did retiring Astro bats.
  25. 5GoldGlovesOF,75
    We can credit the Astros' pitchers or blame the Sox' pitchers, but the fact is they both faced two of the top offenses in the MLB. There's little doubt which one was better in the ALCS; it's also arguable Boston didn't have one clutch hit in the entire six games -- at least, not in the realm of "late-and-close". Houston, however, pulled off two late-inning comeback wins and never let up.
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