drewski6

Doubt that.

Trade our best bat, again? For prospects? Did you hear he laced a double off Crochet? Duran is once again, our best acquisition.

Sure, we dont know whats in his head. But I hope its not what some old school minded folks want it to be. It should be "no to that pitch, I cant really drive it. I think a better one is coming" "no, not that one either, I was looking for a fastball and got a change and it was a good pitch selection and I cant adjust in time , wait for the next one" Then if you find yourself 3-1 or 3-2 and you get a ball in the dirt, you TAKE your walk. Its DISAPPOINTING but the best you could have done. Unless you are a noodlebat, then you celebrate. But good hitters should not being trying to walk or even drive a pitch count up. Thats like for guys who are out there for their glove, but they are trying to contribute anything offensively. Im not saying good hitters shouldnt ever take a walk. Its like folding in poker. Sometimes you gotta do it, but its not the goal. Going up there to work a count or draw a walk or even sell out for contact (let the ball get deep, slap it oppo) is SUCH a "play to not lose" mentality. Play to win. Go up there hungry and confident. Pass on pitches because you are looking to crush one and that aint it. Not because "if I see 5 pitches, IVe done my job". Thats nerd talk.

I want him to put the ball in play before theres 2 strikes.

The Red Sox did everything they could to make it easy for Bregman to sign ...........with the cubs

Absurd take, Sam.

If you are going up there trying to draw a walk, it hurts you in more places than just called strikes looking, even though I agree that is one place where it hurts you in a measurable way.

Exactly, its this OBP is king mentality that is hurting his overall production. The Yankees arent celebrating in the dugout when Aaron Judge gets walked.

I dont even really like the phrase "drawing walks" implying that its some kind of goal/achieving. To me, most of the time, its akin to settling. Take your walks, but they should only be drawn situationally. Like down by 2 runs late. Or speedster leading off an inning. Or a #8/9 hitter in there for his glove. I dont like the mentality of approaching the box and hoping to grind out a walk.

Who has a harry bum?

Got further in the playoffs last year, Im expecting positive regression to the mean for their pitching, Donovan/JROD/Cal/Naylor is a stronger front 4 than we have Just my reasoning.

Anthony Contreras Duran Story Abreu Durbin Mayer Narvaez Cedanne

Babe Ruth was traded in 1919. You are thinking of Gabe Tooth, the RS pitcher traded in 1960 for a pack of Joe Camel Cools cigs and a coat of green paint to touch up the wall

In 1993 I thought the Mendoza line was Ramiro Mendoza, the yankees reliever, as in "you are so bad , you cant even outhit this pitcher" and I was always confused why of all pitcher, Ramiro Mendoza was chosen as the bar/standard

Hope he was good in the field

That doesnt feel right but Im not immune to home team homerism. I think that the Yanks and Ms are the T1 of AL and tier 2 is Jays, us, Tigers, Orioles, T3 is Stros , Rangers, Cleveland ,,,,My opinion....Not sure why Pecota thinks of us as T3. I think if we're heading that way we'll add like Michigan Adam was saying. At least I hope so. Plus the pitching is going to win a lot of games. I think to go deep in playoffs we'll need either a breakout bat (or multiple) internally or to add bats externally as the season progresses....But even without further additions/unforseen breakouts, 82.2 feels quite low. HATERS!

I was trying to compare your optimistic leaning post to his pessimistic leaning post, and it didnt work and I apologize. I agree, 4th place at best is nowhere near reasonable, and you were never unreasonable. I think 4th is more realistic than I wish it was, but I think thats a function of the division's strength , and I think 3rd is still most likely. 2nd 3rd and 4th are all close to equal in likelihoods.

At this point, you would have won the wager. But it would have had to go to arbitration if you claimed victory due to IKF (had we never gotten Durbin). I remember it being left vague as in "a good or solid starting infielder", it could have been subsequently defined. I know Fred tried to define it as .820 OPS which was too high.

Thats what I said , then he regurgitated his definition of "at best", which remains incorrect.

Aaron Judge was hurt last year pretty significantly. He just played through it and was still the best hitter by a mile and has had an offseason to recover. Two sides to look at that. If you are feeling optimistic - yes reinjury risk, yes maybe had they shut him down last year hed be more healthy today, yes hes still not 100% recovered (but hes more recovered since we saw him last when he was still pretty darn good) That 6'8 body will probably crash out eventually. He plays hard in RF. Hes prob too good hitter to play the field.

I expect the AL East to be a good 3-way battle for second but with the yanks out in front. I think the Yanks and Mariners are easily top 2 in AL, and then you can make a case for either us, Toronto, Orioles, Tigers for 3rd in AL - put personally I think its a reach to put Tigers there. But I think the favorites in the AL are Yanks/M's. We might be 3rd.

The Yankees are a powerhouse of a team. The Jays are very beatable. PECOTA and the other projectors have Os either a tiny step ahead of us or behind us/practically tied. With the Jays closer to the Yanks than they are to us. Personally, I think the Jays should be roughly equal to us and Orioles but Yanks still a significant step ahead.

My point is Im happy about the Quinn trade because I think it was part of the reason they overpaid for Harrison. "Last time we got a Red Sox depth starter, it really worked out for us, yes Durbin + 2 depth pieces that I can see contributing + a comp pick is surely steep for a RS depth starter + Hamilton + the Shane Drohan experience - but Hamilton is even higher ranked than Priester and look at how much he worked out for us." I wonder if they think that because QP did so well for them that Harrison will improve as much as QP did since both came from RS, and if thats one of the reasons they overpaid. Kinda like how people told me for years that Jed Lowrie was untradeable because Pedroia didnt hit the ground running either, or like how now whenever a Bruins prospect struggles everyone yells Marchand struggled when he first came up, therefore this must be the new Marchand! And Im like isnt it more likely that this guy will NOT follow Marchands extremely rare career arc or coming up expecting to be a third liner, struggling to do even that for 1/2 season, about to be sent down and deemed a minor bust (cant call him a big bust because he was never expected to be anything more than a 3rd liner) - then poof - outta nowhere one of the best goal scorers for years and years. Some people use stuff like this as a lesson that every prospect that struggles will be Marchand and every prospect that doesnt struggle will be better than marchand and I dont think thats the right takeaway.

We we sure on these years? Could it have been 23-24 where he was rule 5 drafted and got hurt/struggled, came back last year, pitched will in minors , and grew into an "enough value to be protected" I think I remember him repairing some value at some point, to answer your question more directly. Might have been second half of year after being returned in same year drafted. Im sure he had some value in the deal, so Im glad we protected and traded him. Even if he wasnt the main piece, maybe he is what got the comp pick included. Everyone loves the comp pick. So much so, you almost dont want to make them. Kinda like driving a new car off the lot.

Shane Victorino had a HR that should not be forgotten