5GoldGlovesOF,75

The problem some of us dinosaurs have with yanking starters too soon isn't because don't we have faith in the good relievers scheduled to follow. It's because we don't have faith in good relievers always following with good performances. Let's say your starter is throwing lights-out -- we'll call him Blake Snell. You know Snell is on that night, but no one can guarantee the next arm will be (especially if that arm was used many times in the past week). And the more guys you bring in, the higher the chances that at least one of them will be ineffective. This is where phrases like over-thinking, over-managing, or lately -- over-analyzing -- clash with about 100 years or so of baseball strategy. But just to show that old dawgs can learn new tricks, the three-batter minimum rule will hopefully help such some pitching-change decisions be made more logically...

Actors flub a line, musicians miss a beat -- Ringo even forgot the lyrics of "It Don't Come Easy" in the Concert for Bangladesh. But there are probably not too many viewers or paying customers of any form of entertainment who stay amused watching the same mistakes over and over and over again...

Papi always seemed to snap out of slumps when he started taking outside stuff the other way. This approach is nothing new -- it's what we teach young hitters; to focus on the opposite field, if for nothing else, to keep from pulling their heads, and eyes, off the ball. Remy always suggested it was the best hope for JBJ, too. Not going oppo seemed to hurt Beni, once he hit the dark days. We know JD can use the whole field... at least he used to. I was at a game in '18 when Alex Cobb struck him out in the first. The next two ABs vs Cobb, Martinez doubled down the right field line and then doubled down the left field line.

Nothing mechanical is going to allow him to reach pitches low and away outside the strike zone, unless he uses an extension taped to the end of his bat. p.s. this is why I fear there may a vision issue, because you know he knows they're going to keep throwing the same crap every time he has two strikes.

... and got robbed of another extra-base hit his last AB. Good thing stats don't matter in ST... or Nate and Martin would be in mid-season form.

Right? Why would a rebuilding club with designs on returning to the postseason soon want to lock up an ace pitcher just entering his prime in his 20s? He's exactly the kind of guy any GM would love to trade for prospects who might -- I dunno, someday mature into an ace pitcher in his 20s and lead a rebuilding club back to contention...

I've said it a few times. My concern is that I haven't seen any adjustments to the same pitches he keeps getting that have plagued him in the recent past. That doesn't mean he's not trying to adjust... most likely something is holding him back: muscular, skeletal, deteriorating vision -- veteran pros don't suddenly forget how to be good. But we'll never know, because employers and employees are smart enough to keep such info private so opponents won't exploit them even more.

We all know we shouldn't overrate the Red Sox' strong start in Florida... I mean, come on? Second in the Grapefruit League in wins... behind only the great Yankees! Now that pitching staff -- man, New York is gonna be lights out all season. Wait, you mean Spring Training stats don't mean anything for ANY TEAM?

I really wasn't, and though virtually all my research begins with the Integration Era, I was thinking more of the faces and bodies on my baseball cards when I was a kid. Most weren't porkers, just not quite the physical specimens that tower over modern mounds and often get drafted for their dimensions. Back in 1974, for example, the Top 10 in Complete Games had nine men with 20 or more CG. But to Bell's point, they were all staff aces, which is how it should be -- if a guy was mowing 'em down, a manager let him finish (cough, Nate Snell). From that '74 list, only one had his career cut short via injury: Busby, he of two no-hitters. CG Leaders, 1974: Jenkins 29, GPerry 28, Lolich 27, Ryan 26, Tiant 25, Hunter 23, Wood 22, Busby 20, Cuellar 20, Blyleven 19. Most were also in the Top 10 in Innings Pitched, all pushing 300 IP... IP Leaders 1974: Ryan 332, Jenkins 328, GPerry 322, Wood 320, Hunter 318, Tiant 311, Lolich 308, PNiekro 302, Grimsley 292, Busby 292, Messersmith 292. Extending it to 200 IP -- ERod's goal he reached for the first time in 2019 -- in '74, the number of hurlers throwing a minimum of 200 frames was 65. In '19 there were 15. 1974 was also the third year in a row Oakland won the World Series with ace reliever Rollie Fingers pitching the fourth-most innings in those postseasons, behind the A's top three starters. Just tying this back into the multiple-inning bullpen guy discussion...

Good point. If modern athletes are bigger/stronger/faster, then why can't starting pitchers go deeper in games on the mound -- like the bad, old days? I'm sure analytics has stats about burn-out, and trainers can cite more frequent injury risk in muscle-joint ratios... but how were smaller/weaker/slower and even fatter pitchers once able to throw hundreds of more innings per year? Maybe the quicker-paced games and four-man rotations kept them in a different kind of condition: more loose, warm, durable, too-desperate-for-jobs-and-money-to-care, etc. It couldn't have been ancient medicine, old-fashioned diets, and obsolete training techniques... could it? Were recreational, pre-craft beer drugs cleaner, cut with less toxins?

I'm rooting for him. But not because of payroll. A dangerous, middle-of-the-order bat that wears down pitchers has such a positive effect on the batters hitting before and after him in the line-up. We think younger players like Devers, Verdugo and Bogaerts will be good; we can only hope JD will be, too...

That HR was great, and I'll bet a lot of fans forget it won the game when Varitek stuffed his mitt in ARod's face. But I'm sticking with Mueller's game-tying slapshot past Rivera's late kick-save as the most underrated, mainly because of what it represented, where and when it occurred, why it's overlooked (after Roberts steal), and who wasn't there -- like a Yankee upside-down in the bullpen, a cop refereeing a touchdown, and an announcer yelling, "Billy Muel-LER, Billy Muel-LER, Billy Muel-LER!"

I think most fans would keep JD, especially if he hits 30 home runs again and strikes out less than Renfroe or Dalbec. I also think most GMs will be trying to be as creative as possible in freeing up the roster spot and DH position as soon as they can.

Gee, let's see: exactly one year after blowing a three-run lead just five outs away from going to the World Series and finally beating our arch-rivals who had won five pennants the past seven years, down three games to none in the bottom of the 9th with the season on the line vs. the greatest postseason closer of all-time who would someday become the only unanimous Hall of Famer in history... all we needed to come back was to win four straight for the first time in baseball history. I'm sure there were loads of confident Red Sox fans who knew we had it in the bag.

Mo still give me nightmares. For an entire decade he was the one player that separated great New York teams from good Boston teams. I remember him for pitching three scoreless in Game Seven of the '03 ALCS until Boone's homer. The whole outcome just seemed so inevitable once Rivera, the MVP of that series, took over. It also made Bill Mueller's rip up the middle in '04 that much more of a miracle (still to this day the most underrated hit in Red Sox history).

It was a good signing, especially for what turned out to be half of what JD and his agent were seeking. My point was about how vital he may be this year, and how modern GMs -- not fans -- would want to move him. Martinez was, in effect, a replacement in the batting order missing since Papi retired. But he turned out to be a difference-maker; his home run in the first inning of the '18 postseason meant that those playoffs were going to be different than the Sox' previous two quick exits.

Goose was certainly one of the best in the era before relieving was changed forever by Automatic Eck (and I'm not saying Eckersly was better, but that every team since 1988 thought it was better to find or fabricate an Eck of their own). Ah, the Seventies and Eighties... when ace relievers regularly threw multiple innings, and the average game was about 2 1/2 hours long. re. Rivera... in the context of his specialty -- like Eck before him -- he may have also been the best in MLB history at his position: closing. I'm also factoring in his postseasons.

We also have to keep in mind that Bloom has never been top dog for a franchise before. So as for being in charge, he can only be defined by what he has actually done in Boston. As for the current state of the Sox and how it relates to JD Martinez going forward, any rebuilding GM would be counting down the days to wipe a contract of such a one-dimensional player off the books. There was a sense the Red Sox were hoping for him to opt-out even before hiring Bloom...

All this makes sense if you or I were running the club. But the cost-conscious current officer in charge may view the DH position as a vital spot to platoon match-ups, rest regulars and try out low-budget hitters. JD may just be the last full-time designated hitter for a franchise refurbished around versatility.

What are the odds JD and his contract get shipped and subsidized so Bloom can buy another A or AA arm by the deadline? 50-50?

No doubt it's about the "respect" that equates with the status. There's a reason Barnes -- a free agent -- said he prefers to close this year. These guys are just so wired by modern bullpen use to aspire to be closers in save situations. Even great relievers like Papelbon and Kimbrel were different pitchers coming into the 8th or tie games. And I'm not looking at stats, just remembering how their focus, counts and accuracy seemed to change.

I know, I acknowledged this. He supposedly went back to the drawing board this winter. We just haven't seen his adjustments yet, and until the league does, there's no reason to change the book on him. I think JD -- for as much as he makes and where he hits in the order -- is still an underrated swing factor (pun unintended) on the fate of the Sox in this year's standings. He may never again be the absolute monster he was in 2018, but Boston desperately needs at least the 2019 JD. Martinez' successes or failures may have the biggest impact on the 2021 lineup...

Holds should be Saves, if a guy is facing top hitters in a tight game or anyone with tying runs on base. Three-batter 9ths with a big lead should be Closures.

I think by the time Casas is hitting 40 bombs in the bigs that JD will be gone. I know JD has retooled his swing before, but from what I've seen in ST at bats, he hasn't changed from what seems to totally sap his strength -- feeble swings at breaking balls off the plate. Until he starts taking those pitches, I can't see any reason why any team would ever throw Martinez another fastball in the strike zone.

Here's one the league devised: they built a room connecting each clubhouse and dugout, then installed monitors with game videos for employees to review for instant replay... and told them to ignore the catcher's signs.