bobo52

I have no problem keeping Gasper around as a great lefty batter but holding 3 catchers is a luxury. He is a bit of a specialist like Romy or Refsnyder (from the other side) last year but can only really play a serviceable catcher in the field. Im not sure if Wong has reverse splits or if he just sucked last year - Im not disagreeing with you.

Gasper was competing with Rutschman to be the catcher who hits RHP and he wasnt going to win that battle. Wong is the catcher who hits LHP the best and his spot was pretty secure- Adley is a switch hitter but hits much better from the left side. Then you have Anthony coming back and he is another lefty bat who hits RHP better than Gasper. Nice to see Anthony and Story come back strong. Im OK not playing my best in late August as long as we have the playoffs locked up. This team is obviously streaky - let them get hot in late September.

Yankees particularly weak against LHP with Judge out - so Sandoval and Bennet are perfect. Judge and Goldschmidt are the 2 guys in their lineup who crush LHP with both over 940 OPS against LHP - Judge is out and Goldschmidt won the game for them yesterday. Ben Rice neutered by LHP but hits righties hard - look out for him against Bello but watch Goldschmidt sit.

Don't expect to see much of Gasper today with Rodon and Fried starting since they dont play him against lefty pitching. I'll bet Wong starts the second game since he has best OPS of the catchers versus LHP and he and Rutschman will split catching the games. Rutschman will come around and while better against RHP - he is serviceable against LHPs.

Possibly correct - but they wont play him against lefties and thats what most people are missing. Gasper is awful against LHP. Wong hits RHP by far the best of the 3 and is a better fielder than Gasper.

There is a huge lefty /righty factor in everything you are saying. It's obvious that Tracy is using this data in deciding who plays and when. Gasper and Rutschman against RHP and Wong against LHP. Gasper and Rutschman are both switch hitters but they (particularly Gasper) just bat a lot better from the left side. Gasper generally only bats against righties - he has a 222 OPs vs lefty and 804 OPS vs RHP. Gasper has 21 plate appearances vs lefties and 132 versus righties. They just dont bat him against lefties - unless they have to. Rutschman similarly hits righties (788) much better than lefties (657). Rutschman has 112 PA vs lefties 217 vs RHP. Wong on the other hand hits LHP (767) and has problems with righties (689). Wong has 61 PAs vs vs lefties and 142 vs lefties. Wong complements Rutschman and Gasper - they will continue to use him against LHP.

Id love to see the playoffs expanded, the regular season shortened and the playoffs starting in early to mid September. Games being played in 40-50 degree weather in NY and Boston at night in late October are a problem. Eliminate 20 regular season games since the regular season dent mean as much anyways when 8 teams make the playoffs. Then ave the playoffs Start September 8-10 and end by October 15.

Im realizing more and more how the righty lefty matchup is driving baseball and managerial and player decisions. The below chart on the Red Sox is revealing. Micky Gasper has been on a tear - why doesnt he play every day? The answer is he feasts on RHP but cant hit LHP. Adley Rutschman and Conner Wong complement each other because Wong is strong against LHP and Rutschman is strong vs RHP. Contreras hits everything well and Durbin is not as good as Contreras but hits both sides somewhat equally. The bench needs to be stacked with specialists and Anthony feasts on RHP and Mead feasts on LHP. This is a great chart to understand the Red Sox better - the Yankee chart show that their starters are strong vs RHP and weaker against lefties but Judge and Goldschmidt destroy LHPs.

There are 4 WC teams but the WC1 will probably be the division winner in the West. Remember one of the WC teams is the division winner with the worst record - and that division winner is the #1 seed regardless of record. Interestingly in the National League - that was the Dodgers last year and might be them again this year. They simply want to get into the playoffs and then trot out Yamamoto, Snell, Skubal and Ohtani and clean up on you. With WC1 being Houston right now - the Yankees and Sox are #2 and #3 and would play each other. Right now we play the Yankees and all 3 games are in Yankee Stadium. If we catch the Yankees - we still play them but get them in Fenway. If the Yankees catch Tampa - we probably get Tampa. If we catch both the Yankees and Tampa - we can rest in the WC round as those 2 teams play each other. Added bonus to the scenario where the Yankees catch Tampa is that we dont play the Yankees until the ALCS. Id rather face the Yankees later since I think they are the toughest team in the AL. Give somebody else the chance to beat them so that we might not even play them and/or we have a longer playoff run.

Here are charts for Yankees and Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay has a problem with LHP but Yankees with Judge and Goldschmidt are a different animal. They hit well against both sides. Interestingly right now - we appear headed for the Yankees in the WC round as we are both solidly the 4 and 5 seeds (the 3rd division winner is the #3 seed). Only a total TB collapse (or collapse by Red Sox or Yankees) can change that. Catching the Yankees would mean the series is played at Fenway - I think we want that.

Red Sox are built to beat the Dodgers. They have 4-5 lefty starters in Tolle, Sandoval, Suarez, Bennet and Crochet. The only righty is Gray. Just look at the Dodger splits below. Ohtani is almost mortal with an 885 OPS. Freeman is around league average against lefties at 719 and Mookie sucks at 589. Dalton Rushing also is much worse against lefties at 692 OPS and Will Smith is even worse at 434. I think the Dodgers picked up Skubal who is a lefty because they just didnt want the Brewers to get him so they dont have to face him. I will also point out that the Dodgers will soon be on a big decline. Betts already declining at 33 (they have to pay him $30 million a year until 2033), Freeman is 36 and Muncy is 35. Ohtani struggling with injuries is 32 but they need to pay him $46 million a year (CBT payroll which also happens to be the right number) until 2033 when he will be 38. Dodgers age is showing now as they are 5 and 10 in August. A long season is tough on 35 and 36 year old guys. These will to just easily be replaced in free agency either - the payroll is already massively bloated and they have to keep paying underperforming players like Betts for a long time. 2026 MLB Hitting OPS Splits Dodgers Dodgers Starters Hitter Bats OPS vs RHP OPS vs LHP Shohei Ohtani L .915 .885 Andy Pages R .751 .880 Freddie Freeman L .943 .719 Max Muncy L .852 .851 Mookie Betts R .749 .589 Kyle Tucker L .688 .763 Teoscar Hernández R .708 .725 Tommy Edman S .928 .848 Dalton Rushing L .836 .692 STARTING 9 AVERAGE .804 .731 Reserves Hitter Bats OPS vs RHP OPS vs LHP Alex Call R .536 .875 Miguel Rojas R .533 .852 Enrique Hernández R .750 .761 Ben Rortvedt L — —

If you have Devers - you have to pay him $29 million a year until he is 37. There is no money for Contreras this year and you dont get Durbin and Monasterio. Nobody at this point would trade Durbin for Devers - never mind taking on $29 million a year until he is 37. Durbin is getting paid $800K this year. This trade was a home run and offloading the Devers contract is one of the best parts. Good point by the commenter saying we had to eat the Hicks contract but obviously chump change compared to the Devers liability.

Trading Devers and his $29 million a year contracts looks like an excellent move with him having a mediocre age 29 year with the Giants - currently posting a 786 OPS and 1.6 WAR. The real trade was to use the Devers money to pick up Wilson Contreras for $18 million a year (for 3 years) who is more productive at almost half the cost with a .912 OPS and 4.0 WAR. In addition the Red Sox got Kyle Harrison in the Devers trade - who (along with Shane Drohan) was traded for Caleb Durbin (.729 OPS and 3.3 WAR) , Andrew Monasterio (.776, 1.5) and Anthony Siegler (.708, .5). Receiving anything back in return - was a bonus - the real win was unloading the big-money contract that will pay a declining skill hitter that we would have paid for 8 more years - until he is 37 in 2034. Of course Durbin on his own looks to be better than Devers right now and they pay him $800K and have 2 more years of team control. So to recap: We got Contreras, Monasterio and Durbin who now cost us under $20 million a year combined - and the Red Sox gave up Devers and his $29 million a year contracts. Devers contract made him replaceable by a highly paid free agent - he just wasnt worth it. Team control and good contracts are a necessity to build a winner. If you throw money in bad contracts away to keep a star on the decline the team will suffer. Breslow gets an Aplus for this move now that we can look at other in hindsight.

Eric Miller and Tarik Skubal are in demand because they are hard throwing Left Handed Pitchers. You beat the Dodgers with LHP. The Dodgers wanted Skubal partially so they wouldn't have to face him. Breslow has built the Red Sox with 4 LH starters (and Crochet!) and now Chapman and Miller as hard throwing lefties out of the bullpen - to beat the Dodgers. See the facts below - Freddie Freeman is a league average hitter against Lefties and an MVP candidate against Righties. Mookie Betts is an easy out against lefties. Dalton Rushing is below league average against lefties and Will Smith is abysmal with a .434 OPS against lefties. Even Ohtani is a bit more of a mortal against lefties. Dodgers Starters Hitter Bats OPS vs RHP OPS vs LHP Shohei Ohtani L .915 .885 Andy Pages R .751 .880 Freddie Freeman L .943 .719 Max Muncy L .852 .851 Mookie Betts R .749 .589 Kyle Tucker L .688 .763 Teoscar Hernández R .708 .725 Tommy Edman S .928 .848 Dalton Rushing L .836 .692 STARTING 9 AVERAGE .804 .731

Agree totally - if you actually look at Breslows moves - they have been fantastic. The problem is that Trevor Story and Roman Anthony haven't performed/are injured and Duran, Durbin, Mayerhave underperformed so far - looking for a reversion to the mean.