5GoldGlovesOF,75

R2&2 Slider, swung on and missed by See:3KO. Sorry, bad pop culture reference... but going back half a century, there was a decent Twilight Zone episode of a robot player. But he/it couldn't have been as good as Herman Munster, who was once recruited by Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Y7MYhgkrA

Sssshhhhh... ignore the elephantiasis in the room. Has four months without baseball -- leaving us to argue about other life-or-death issues -- taught you nothin, notin?

You know the Red Sox will try to tell fans to have some patience with the Baby Bloomers...

I didn't look at the splits, but we do know he was hurting then. We don't know if Peraza will bounce back from a down year, either... but we do know that last year's lineup featured the most prolific whiffers in Red Sox history. If most of the swing-and-miss guys don't or can't change their modern approach, then it would behoove the team to insert more contact in between. At least for the poor viewers...

Verdugo has to hit higher in the lineup; according to last year's stats -- when eight Red Sox batters whiffed over 100 times -- he's the best contact hitter on the team. Peraza is second: 2019 Strikeout % per Plate Appearance Verdugo 13% Peraza 14% Mookie 14% Bogie 17% Devers 17% Vazquez 19% JD 21% Mitch 22% Beni 23% JBJ 27% Chavis 33% Yikes.

Yes to Speier, no to Puig! Back when Gammons wrote the first weekly notes column, a regular feature at the end always cited some interesting numbers from a crazed statistician named Chuck Something (I think). As for personality, that's the ex-jocks department. If they have it, they stick: Remdog, Eck, Pedro si... Monty, Salty, Walker, Timlin I dunno. Wake, Gomes, maybe. Rice never liked the media, and for longest time after he joined it he never contributed any insight, but they like touting his HOF status. He has lightened up more in his old age, sharing barbs with colleagues. Speier seems like a nice guy but it's obvious the reason they have him on is just to present the facts, ma'am. The White House would love him... or not (what happened to that poster?).

Then how will we know if there's a nerd... as we constantly type to strangers about how smart we are about constantly typing to strangers. I like Alex Speier. The data Stat Masterson provides on-air complements the booth banter, and modernizes the broadcast with new perspective on veteran analysis and Ecknology.

I think Beni has to hit leadoff. I know he struggled there last year (and his predecessor was MVP), but he's used to leadoff since at least college. Plus, long-haired Beni is faster on the bases! Then I'd go X, Rafie, JD and Verdugo; Alex may turn out to be a top of the order guy, but we gotta slot Bogie in there so there won't be three straight lefty sticks in order to take advantage of the new three-batter pitcher minimum. Or we could flip X and Rafie -- either way, Devers has to get up in the first... I don't think many fans realize just how destructive he was in '19, leading the MLB in extra-base hits with 90. Since the Integration Era began in 1947, only 12 others cracked more XBHs in the AL (Big Papi holds the Sox team record with 91 in '04).

While watching the 1970 World Series on MLB, I noticed the Reds put a shift on O's lefty Boog Powell (the original) -- three guys on the right side of the infield. They pitched him outside hoping he'd roll over and pull a grounder or worst-case, just take a single to the opposite field instead of crank one. Instead, Powell homered down the leftfield line. This is why we didn't see many shifts 50 years ago, because batters could bat. It seemed like Benintendi lost a hit a week last year ripping a one-hopper up the middle right at an infielder standing behind second base; there has to be a good reason defenders didn't play there for an entire century. Athletes today may be bigger/stronger/faster but in some ways they're not as good at being baseball players. What -- Beni and everyone else can't practice going oppo until it's part of their approach? Or at least push a few bunts down the line for gift doubles? When some manager finally orders his hitters to practice beating shifts, will he be called an innovator or a throwback? Edit: when we coach young players to hit, we always stress hitting the other way in practice -- mainly because it keeps their heads down (when kids try to pull, they invariably pull their heads and miss the ball... just like many modern pros).

This is a Red Sox baseball forum, but politics drove Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball and the Houston Astros to conveniently make Alex Cora the scapegoat in a massively sensationalized scandal last winter. Cora admits he was involved, but subsequent interviews and testimony with front office employees confirm that the sign-stealing system was devised by the organization before he was hired, and implemented by and through every level after. And yet, Boston and Red Sox fans were adversely affected. As one poster said, politics pervade and are unavoidable.

Isn't it obvious by now this is all just a hoax by the lefty players to hurt their conservative-walleted owners (who think they're always right)? So many local left-handed pitchers missing time with the virus: ERod, Darwinzon, Josh Taylor... and now Chapman. Watch, as soon the new CBA is settled, all this will go away.

Bloom is just pulling a sly one on the sprint season -- he knows the MLB changed its mind on the new rule that limits position players pitching.

On their uniforms: Tributes (official name: the Cleveland Tributes to 600 Different Indigenous Tribes baseball club). The Tributes play in the Central Division of the Continent Named for the Italian Merchant/Explorer/Chief Navigator for Spain Who-Was-Not-A-Mass-Murderer League.

I wouldn't call it a grudge, but there's no underestimating the ego factor in young professional athletes who have always been adored as the best at basically anything they ever tried their entire lives. No matter how much guys like Mookie publicly rationalize that they know "it's a business", there's always an initial shock period after getting dealt for the first time, adjusting to the novel concept that someone (for whatever reason) actually didn't want them on their side. Then, once they're gone, there is also the possibility they realize that the grass is actually greener somewhere else -- and no simile is better in Betts' case than the literal weather conditions in LA compared to Boston. Ultimately, a traded player's new team -- if they have the resources to compete for his services longterm (like the Dodgers) -- then has the added advantage of showering him with the love and re$pect he felt was just denied him at his old address. And remember, going into free agency, he knows his new club sincerely wants him because they already gave up actual bodies for the rights to make him the first offer.

That was always my position -- once he is traded, he is gone (though some posters still insist it is all about money).

That would be a Theo kind of move, to get back at the Yankees in some way a couple decades ago... maybe Epstein is Bloom's mentor from Chief Baseball Officer school -- like Charles Bronson tutoring his protege in The Mechanic -- and Chaim's compelled to out-GM him...

It would be a great -- for Red Sox fans... and the one gesture that would best renew vows with John Henry, and result in a flood back through the Fenway turnstiles. But let's not kid; if Dombrowski was still around, and Cora, too, it might be possible. However, every time I see the look in Chaim Bloom's eyes, I see a guy determined to break from the past, as he refashions the Red Sox brand through his own machinations, justified by the literal reasons he was recruited: rebuilding by buying low to stockpile disposable, revolving bullpen arms and the Nick Yorkes of the world.

Mike Lupica, in today's column on MLB.com: "No player in the history of the Boston Red Sox ever had more all-around talent, at the plate and on the bases and in the field, than Betts." ...not that I need another observer to tell me what I knew I watched the past half dozen years. Reading Lupica doesn't make me feel justified for all my Mookie posts last winter. It just makes me feel a little sick...

If he's telling the truth, that sounds to me like he no longer wanted to work in Boston... for which we cannot begrudge him. Put it this way: being from the South -- if, say, comparable offers came from all over, I'd be shocked if Betts signed with Minnesota or Detroit. Same with JBJ; we know they're close buds, ex-minor league roomies and all, and both talked in the past tense recently about their fond experiences with the Sox. A consideration: playing in crappy weather gets old when you get old. Now if either signs with a New York club, then they'll be mere mercenaries and as booable as Damon.

Me, too. It would seem organizations may be faced with a lose-lose: losing a year of a top prospect's development (with no minor leagues) or wasting a year of service time in a truncated season that may not even finish. As fans, we would of course rather see the young guys -- especially on a team that our GM already told us would be worse when he traded his best player. As for Duran, RR really liked what he saw four months ago... which now seems like four years ago.

You're not looking at the benefits: older fans will have more opportunities to watch advertisements for products they don't need (cars), don't want (airlines) or already can't live without (beer). It's all about the sponsors... though subliminal jingos won't make a difference if there's no disposable income in a pandemic.

I swear I thought I read "midsection form".

Without researching, I'm wondering how the Red Sox and MLB think later games will lead to an increase in viewers? Games already run too late for kids to watch in their entirety, so I guess the Sox are just giving up on that segment of fans (you know, the future of fandom)? Political pundits may argue the MLB is just appealing to its base... except old white guys pass out earlier than everyone else.

Why reduce the expanded rosters (with more injuries expected from the sprint season, teams are going to need more players present)... unless, they want fewer players together as possible in case of a positive. I'm staying neutral -- don't wanna sound negative, and certainly don't wanna be positive (in a Covid sense).

Left, right, black, white, red, blue -- hey, aren't you at least glad the Red Sox don't have to change their names? (yet?) The Washington DC football team was long over for a new nickname... and the Cleveland hardball contingent... but what about the Atlanta club (originally from Beantown)? If we consider the Braves as a worthy adjective, we could also have teams named the Gallants, the Valiants, the Stalwarts, the Valorous... but maybe not the Stouthearted (folks would be campaigning for IPAs and lagers)...