drewski6

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.

Fair enough, but not what I was talking about haha. FOr example, do you think Fernando Tatis Jr should be a fulltime SS today?

Good point, I had forgotten a bit how much run he had there last year. I do think, however, that they will try to be a bit more protective of Anthony this year after the injury last year, plus as Roman ages hes more likelty to trade athleticism for bulk. A lot of guys can do things at 20/21/22 that they lose the ability to do as their body further develops at age 24/25/26.

Im concerned about Anthony's athleticism in RF and staying healthy.

Id prefer Eaton in RF when Abreu sits (if its due to lefty splits). If its injury and someone has to be out there for like 15-20 games. including righty on the mound - I would think ....thats close but I lean Duran because playing RF without experience with RF is how you get hurt, and I think Duran is more durable.

Give him some reps seeing the ball come at him from that angle in case Abreu needs a night off or is dinged up or something.

But not as much as Bello plus others

He has a hit in every game and plays every position and has wheels. Just gotta learn how/when to tag up.

This game is def TV worthy, I agree.