drewski6

I would agree with fine print added that reserves my right to get overly excited about moon shots off opposing A/A+ pitchers though. Who did Contreras hit that blast against and which way does is jet blue facing? If LF is west from home plate (as in the ball is traveling west) it may have cleared the Gulf.

Wyatt Olds sounds like a great name for a red dead redemption character, Patrick Halligan sounds liike an oil tycoon, P.J. Lavbriola sounds like a frat bro turned OBGYN (avoid, ladies), Vinny Nittoli sounds like a fat italian baker (sign me up), Seth Martinez feels like a pitcher Ive heard before thinks hes the biggest name of the bunch. Sweet can work at Nittoli's bakery.

Some big names here haha

Stolen bases are exciting and thats part of it.

"Clearly, youre not a golfer" - Lebowski

I think its coming back, and I would like to see it come back more. Everything in cycles, you can be so old-school that you wind up new-school because things come around again. Things like moving runners over , stealing, sacrificing....they went a bit out of style back in the early 2000s because it was such a hitter's era. So the last thing you wanted to do was bail them out because teams had so many hitters. So you'd run less because whats the point, the dude behind you is going to smoke a double and probably the dude behind him too. OBP was king because just get on base, "keep the line moving". So things like trade an out to advance the base-runner, sacrficing, stealing.....the juice wasnt worth the squeeze. But things change, then change again, and then change some more. And now in this era, you can now longer count on those guys behind you. So getting on base at any cost is out. Doing everything you can to avoid making an out (e.g. selling out for contact, not stealing, not sacrificing)...That kind of stuff which was new school for early 2000s is kind of old school today. Because then , in an offense era it was , we're gonna score - dont force it and dont give up free outs, just trust the guys coming up. But now its more about capitalizing on opportunities because there are a lot more 3-2 games these days, so if you hit a leadoff double, and you bunt him over, then sac-fly him home.....Or draw a walk, steal 2nd, get into scoring position so any hit brings you home.....This kind of stuff, risking outs or sacrificing outs for a run here and there suddenly becomes worth it again.....Its a downstream effect from the game reverting from hitting dominated to pitching dominated over the last few years. So what was new in the moneyball era is old now and things that were considered dated philosophies in the moneyball era are back in style. Like run manufacturing aka small ball.

In order to win low scoring games you need great starters because it cant be over before it begins. And you need like 4 of them, maybe even 5 because if you are going with the pitching and D model at the expense of offense you cant have 2/5 games be auto-Ls. But we also need a great bullpen because cant blow games. So need to focus resources there. Oh but we also need a great D, because the pitching wont matter if dudes are giving extra outs all day. So we need to focus and improve all 3. Or you could just build a team through the O. Its like trying to win a super bowl without a great QB. You need one of the best defenses of all time. You need great pass rushers, you need elite secondary, you need amazing linebackers. You also need great special teams, and a great RB. You need phenomenal coaching. Or you can just get a QB. The path of least resistance to building a winning ballclub is through the bats. They are more important than anything else individually but maybe not collectively. By that I mean hitting > starting pitching, hitting > relief pitching, hitting > defense....But hitting < starting pitching + relief pitching + defense.....But hitting + small ball stuff = starting pitching + relief pitching + defense I do like the fact that we will have elite pitching. I think we are the fourth best team in baseball. But I go crazy when I read that the only we didnt make that we should have was we shoulda traded Duran. Last year, we gave away our extra base hits champ (devers). People wanna do that again this year? Are we just going to keep taking from the O until theres nothing to take? Joe Brady said that he thinks Duran is the #2 CF in baseball and the most electrifying player in baseball but would trade him (right now) for a #2 starter because that would push Oviedo out of the rotation and into the pen and thats a trade worth making. I undertand that rooting for hitting and power is noob stuff. Ive seen the "chicks dig the longball" commercial too. And saying "I know offense is fun" is patronizing but we'll let that go. Im just saying enough is enough with the pulling and taking and deprioritizing of the offense. Enough is enough with the Duran is extra talk. He just crushed a moon shot off a lefty. Hes probably , at this point in time, the most important to our teams success. If not #1 , hes top 3 behind Crochet and Anthony.

And im including bunting and small - balling to be part of offense. If you want to parse out small-ball stuff then you have HItting + small ball stuff (bunting, stealing, sacrificing) = pitching + defense

Think of it this way A good rotation will leave less innings for a bad bullpen. A good bullpen can keep you in games if the starters bomb. Good starters and good relievers can make things easy for a defense (if the 27 outs are pop-ups, weak grounders, lazy flies, k's). A good defense can save the bacon for a starting pitcher or a reliever. But if you cant offense, you arent going to score.

What happened to the 6'7, 270 lb beast?

Wait , so now starting pitching, relief pitching, defense, and offense are all of equal importance? We went from pitching , defense, offense (implied 33% of the game is offense) to separating out RP from SP and now offense is 1 of 4, down to 25% in importance? Should I shut my mouth before it becomes 10% importance? Less? Regarding what I have bolded - exactly. Offense is always 50%. It cant be cut into. Unlike RP whose importance to the team may go down if the starters go deep, or a great defense which would effect the game less if the pitcher is doing his thing and getting k's and lazy flies and soft grounders (plays that you dont need a great D to handle) or even the starting pitching can matter less if they are giving up hard hit balls but D is making good plays behind them or if the bullpen is strong. These can all cut into each other.

I agree that defense should not be ignored. Im saying not every positional change is to improve the defense. Sometimes its to fit in another quality bat.

All D , no O players are cheap. So many things in baseball have changed, except that. Its for a reason. Yes, there is a point, where your D is so bad that it prevents you from doing anythig. Same with pitching and same with offense. All 3 can sink you. But run creation matters just as much as run prevention, an 8-7 victory counts just as much as 1-0, and run prevention is split between pitching and defense. They rob from each other in terms of importance. A great pitcher gets a lot of strikeouts, or gets weak pop ups or weak grounders or lazy flies (uses strong D less). A great D gets pitchers out of jams (takes pressure off pitching). Great pitching diminishes the return of great D and vise-versa.

Best move: not trading Duran Worst move: Agree with Alex Mayes (not adding a power bat)

Duran hater says what?

Okay but why did they go out and get ARod in the first place despite having an established SS? It wasnt because they thought that they would make the overall D better. Regarding who would be moved, it was a move for the bat. A lot of times, maybe even most, guys get moved to fit in another bat. Not everything is defense, defense, defense.

Offense (50%) = pitching (35%) + defense (15%) I will die on this hill

well, no example is perfect and there are always secondary reasons. But my point is simply that guys get moved around, a lot, to fit the best 9 bats in. Not every positional change is made to optimize the D. ANd I disagree that this points to bad roster construction. Because I dont think great roster construction is having 9 guys playing their ideal position. I think hitting is significantly more important than defense (and pitching). I dont think playing a CF at RF or playing a 3b at 2b is even a big deal. They went out and got Durbin because he can play 2b or 3b. Not because they plan to always play him at 1 vs the other. Im sure Durbin is better at 2b or 3b (and lets not make it an argument about which one, because I dont care). But Im sure hes not a lets say 85.7 defensive 2b and an 85.7 defensive 3b. Hes obviously (even if slightly) better at one or the other, and Im not sure which one, and I dont care. They like that he can play both and that adds to his value. ANd when you scrutinize it and maybe decide hes a 91 defensive 3b and an 88 defensive 2b and then you decide youll only ever play him at 3b, you just made the player worse. Because you took away his defensive versatility which was an asset.

So they made the D worse but the overall team better because the offensive gain exceeded the defensive drop off. And I agree. And there would be other situations where I would jsut sub in your backup 2b rather than move Cedanne if for example, I had a better backup MIF, which you are also saying and I agree. My point is that whether you sub in a backup 2b for a 2b when your 2b goes down or move a cf to 2b because your backup cf is better than your backup 2b and youd rather get the former in there, and its not really about defense its more about who is the best player overall.... We're agreeing here. But teams dont try to have the best defense possible without any regard for the offense. Otherwise, IKF would be starting. And not every positional change or play a dude out of position is for defensive reasons. Sometimes you play Duran at RF because thats how you fit in the best available 9 bats, not because Duran does great at RF when its a shorter throw. Its not as much as about defense as you all make it. Offense comes first.

I dont think Boston/Cora are #1 in moving guys around. I think we're like 4th. So towards the top but not the top. Again, I think its a league thing, not an us thing.

They didnt move Arod to 3rd base to make their D better, they moved Arod to 3rd base so they could get arod despite already having jeter. Its not always about , "need to align the best way we can on D". Ideal defensive alignment is less of a priority than hitting.

Defensively you mean? Not overall. Because the best overall players get moved, but maybe not the best defensive players (as much). Im more hesitant to move Cedanne out of CF than I would be if he were a B+ CF who can also play infield because taking him out of CF is a loss. I would agree that stuff needs to be factored in and is often factored in. I disagree with your phrasing here, however, as I dont think its only reserved for guys who are bad at the positions being moved from. Cedanne played infield last year after being proven great at OF. I really do think they strongly considered playing Bregman at 2b. Maybe like Tatis is a good example of what you are saying "you arent a good enough SS to stick at SS" we've seen that for so many shortstops (and catchers). So maybe thats the most common reason why guys are moved. But I dont think its exclusively/always the reason. I think a lot of times, you are moving guys around simply and for no other reason than "thats how you play the best nine hitters". E.g. Its the world series, we arent going to sit Papi, sorry Youk, you are playing 3rd even though you havent done it in a few years because we certainly not going to bench Papi or play him at 3rd." A lot of times, you are moving guys around not to improve your defense, but to improve your offense and you are sacrificing the D. Which is a move I make 8/10 times because y'all overrate the importance of ideal D alignment.

Sure - my point was that it isnt exclusively a Cora thing. Whether or not its in the best interest of the team to move a guy off position for whatever reason or play a guy out of position for a game or a spell of games (if someone hits the 15 day DL) .....All of those decisions, if you were to ask me what I feel about them, I would prob give the ole....."case by case"

Bill Belichick was paraded around on shoulders as a genius for moving guys around. And I understand its a different sport, but baseball is the old-schooliest of sports, the most hesitant to modernize....And what you are seeing with the positional chnages is baseball folks getting dragged into the present kicking and screaming about how things use to be.....When football and basketball positional changes were a thing 5-10 years ago. Baseball is just catching up that positions are suggestions. And versatility is better than rigidity.

Sure , but I think its more "MLB managers" than Cora. Oneill cruz, Dalton varsho, Fernando tatis, mike trout, mookie (3x), jonathan india, raf devers (in SF),jose altuve, javy baez, cam smith, tyler soderstrom (again), bryce harper, jazz chisholm, willson contreras (st louis). Bo Bichette, Addison Barger, Jurickson Profar, and so many others ....Guys are just moving around more these days. Cora may be above average in willingness to use positional versatility/move guys around, but its not like exclusively a Cora thing. And all of those guys are not injury fill-ins, they are permanent position modifications. Im sure some changes were kick-started by mixing up positional alignment due to injury but in the mentioned cases, that was just the catalyst and it stuck for other reasons. ANd another thing is guys moving around, its for all sorts of reasons. E.g. having 2 good second baseman and then a 3b gets hurt so you put a guy there, realize he can do it, and he sticks....Or its player x outgrew his ability to play former position or aged out of it , or always kind of struggled at their position so it was swapped.... Guys are moving around for all sorts of different reasons on almost all teams. I think Cora might be ahead of the curve on it or do it more than most, but I dont think its a cora thing. Dave Roberts moves guys around just as much.