Protecting the Shields -- The Nick Cafardo Thread

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joe dokes

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Instead of writing stories, there should just be a photo of the beat writers holding cards over their heads, as if they were skating judges.

"Red Sox won, but I give their effort a four."
"Four point five."
"Three."
Things you wont see:
"Despite a teamwide batting slump that has led to a June OPS of 730 (after months of 790 and 802), the Sox are 7-4 in June. That .636 winning percentage for the month is higher than May's .621, and would lead to 103 wins over a full season. This has enabled them to keep pace with the Yankees, who despite playing .800 ball in June, have been unable to pull away from the Red Sox."
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Things you wont see:
"Despite a teamwide batting slump that has led to a June OPS of 730 (after months of 790 and 802), the Sox are 7-4 in June. That .636 winning percentage for the month is higher than May's .621, and would lead to 103 wins over a full season. This has enabled them to keep pace with the Yankees, who despite playing .800 ball in June, have been unable to pull away from the Red Sox."
It's much easier to write, "Durrr, they just don't look good!" over and over and over. The great thing about Cafardo is that not only does he write that, but he'll throw in a little Yankee boogey man just for shits and giggles.
 

Van Everyman

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Granted I'm not super active, but Nick Cafardo is the only guy who has ever blocked me on Twitter.

Now that Joe Morgan has been fired, can we rebrand the site for FireNickCafardo.com? It really is time for him to go.
 

Humphrey

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Granted I'm not super active, but Nick Cafardo is the only guy who has ever blocked me on Twitter.

Now that Joe Morgan has been fired, can we rebrand the site for FireNickCafardo.com? It really is time for him to go.
In my case it's the globe that's banned me...for saying one of Shank's columns "sucked". Exactly that. Nothing personal.
 

joe dokes

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Nick is eating the brown acid again:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2018/06/14/how-long-will-red-sox-wait-jackie-bradley-struggles/sPrrB7j3wLhcpwgw0VzEjK/story.html

SEATTLE — So many people want me to denounce Jackie Bradley Jr. and say it’s time to cut ties, trade him, and all that jazz.
Anyone ever heard of defense?
Would you have said the same about Paul Blair — get rid of him because he couldn’t hit enough (career .250 batting average, with a lot of up-and-down offensive seasons), though his pitchers loved him and they’d revolt if he was let go? Well, that’s the way Bradley’s teammates feel about him.
Paul Blair was a full-time player AND a shitty hitter for only 2 years. (OPS+ of 62 and 54 in 1975 and 76)

Between his age 21 and age 30 seasons, Paul Blair's OPS+ ranged from 81 to 135. He had 81 twice, a 99 and an 83. And two of those years, 1971 and 1972, followed a face-breaking beaning in 1970. In any event 7 of 10 seasons at 99 or above in addition to HoF caliber defense. So Paul Blair is simply a terrible comp for right-now JBJ.

As usual, a non-ridiculous point undercut by facts that Nick can't be bothered with.
 
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geoflin

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If JBJ could hit anywhere near .250 there would be no questions about whether he should be in the lineup daily.
 

joe dokes

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If JBJ could hit anywhere near .250 there would be no questions about whether he should be in the lineup daily.
That could depend whether that .250 BA is part of an 80 OPS+ or a 60 OPS+.

And it doesn't matter what anyone thinks the "right" amount of offense is to keep JBJ in the lineup. The point is that these last 2 posts contain more analysis of the issue than a guy paid to do this did.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Is Cafardo the Pope of Red Sox town or something?

"Your Holiness, you must denounce Jackie Bradley Jr. and excommunicate him from the team! The masses are getting restless, your Holiness. You must do it!"

"Hold your tongue Cardinal LaRussa, do you not remember St. Paul Blair who played for the Orioles of Baltimore? His pitchers loved his defense and I am sure that the Boston hurlers feel the same. I say we exercise caution with this son of Bradley and see where he ends the year."

"You are infallible as always, your Holiness. I am embarrassed for bringing you the petitions of the unwashed."

"Be not sorry and don't vex yourself, Cardinal LaRussa, the masses are only ignorant in the true stations of the game yet do not mean any harm. For if they knew what Archbishop Jon Paul Riccardi felt of Jackie Bradley Jr., their minds would be less cloudy."

"Blessed be the fruit, your Holiness."

"Under his eye, Cardinal LaRussa."
 

shaggydog2000

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Is Cafardo the Pope of Red Sox town or something?

"Your Holiness, you must denounce Jackie Bradley Jr. and excommunicate him from the team! The masses are getting restless, your Holiness. You must do it!"

"Hold your tongue Cardinal LaRussa, do you not remember St. Paul Blair who played for the Orioles of Baltimore? His pitchers loved his defense and I am sure that the Boston hurlers feel the same. I say we exercise caution with this son of Bradley and see where he ends the year."

"You are infallible as always, your Holiness. I am embarrassed for bringing you the petitions of the unwashed."

"Be not sorry and don't vex yourself, Cardinal LaRussa, the masses are only ignorant in the true stations of the game yet do not mean any harm. For if they knew what Archbishop Jon Paul Riccardi felt of Jackie Bradley Jr., their minds would be less cloudy."

"Blessed be the fruit, your Holiness."

"Under his eye, Cardinal LaRussa."
 

E5 Yaz

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Yes, Nick, the Sox should trade Devers for a half-season of Machado.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Yes, Nick, the Sox should trade Devers for a half-season of Machado.
I swear, the people advocating for these kinds of trades are the same ones that, if they were actually to happen, would be excoriating the front office within 12 months for "giving away" all their prospects/young talent. That's even if the team were to win the World Series thanks to ALCS and World Series MVP Manny Machado.
 

E5 Yaz

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I swear, the people advocating for these kinds of trades are the same ones that, if they were actually to happen, would be excoriating the front office within 12 months for "giving away" all their prospects/young talent. That's even if the team were to win the World Series thanks to ALCS and World Series MVP Manny Machado.
It's in the unwritten rule book ... whatever move the team makes, it's the wrong move
 

Humphrey

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Plus the Nick Cafardo that wrote the article about picking up a bullpen arm made a more compelling case for doing that than the "Machado" Nick Cafardo did. Are there two Nick Cafardos?
 

The Gray Eagle

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Cafardo always wants trades. More trades, bigger names in the trades, always. Trade speculation = easy columns without having to do any work.
And if a trade happens, either you get a bunch of easy columns praising the trade if it looks good, or easy columns trashing it if it doesn't work out.

That's why Cafardo is always speculating about trades all year long, including spring training, right after the trade deadline, and during the postseason.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Why even play the rest of the season, the Yanks have all the bases covered!
I read today's column and assumed that the Yankees were somehow able to gain 15 games on the Red Sox over night. The Yankees have an awesome line-up and their bullpen is pretty great, but the wallpapering job that Wilbur did over the starting rotation was pretty fucking great. Everyone except Severino is "inconsistent" says Cafardo, which isn't a big deal because it's just not. The Red Sox, however, are completely fucked because their inconsistencies are going to kill them in July, August, September AND October (assuming that the team doesn't commit mass-suicide by then) and there is NO WAY in the world that they can help. The Yankees will be able to get every good trade person and are considering reanimating Ted Williams and Babe Ruth.

BTW, passing on Garrit Cole was another stroke of genius by Brian Cashman. Yankees don't need him.

There were updates on three former Sox: Addison Reed, Jacoby Ellsbury and Yoan Moncada. Cafardo insinuated that Reed and Moncada suck and said it was smart for the Sox to move on from them (which is a fine take, I suppose). But he didn't say that about Ellsbury. No comment on whether the Sox were right (meaning the Yankees were wrong) on signing him.

Also, if you were wondering who would win in a scouts vs. Derek Jeter grudge match, it was the scouts. Cafardo is not too pleased that his buddies are getting pink slips in Miami. I would bet that those paragraphs were amongst the hardest one Cafardo ever wrote. Poor guy.
 

joe dokes

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I’m not thinking about the wild card,” Cora said. “But now that you bring it up, I’ll tell the [players] just in case.”

Tell them for motivational purposes? Tell them because the media is thinking this way? Tell them that the question was raised in pregame?
Tell them that there are some incredibly stupid people covering the team.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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You know why Nick loves those back-of-the-rotation starters so much? Because they're inning eaters. And they save bullpens. Cafardo is an inch-eater. He just types and types and types and types until his section of the paper is full.

It doesn't matter if his words say anything or if his sentences really mean anything, he just fills space. Which, I suppose is a skill. But it doesn't server his reader, it serves his boss. Again, that's fine, you want to make your employer happy but ugh.

I know that this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison due to the time limits afforded to each type of writer, but a person who is writing a book or a magazine article sometimes will fret over the appropriate word choice. They feel that each word has the ability to literally affect how their reader reacts to a piece. I have no doubt in my mind that Wilbur has ever had this conflict in his life. Noun-noun-verb-noun, end of sentence one. Maybe throw in an adverb or an adjective to let the people know that he's trying.

It's the same thing with truly great pitchers, they have a game plan that's been meticulously planned through preparation and study. They then execute that plan. But with these back of the rotation dudes, a lot of times it seems as if they're pitching as if their pants were on fire. They're throwing the kitchen sink to get dudes out, which results in a lot of walks, a bunch of hits, some runs -- it's an ugly game. Though sometime it can be effective.

What I'm saying is that Nick Cafardo is the John Burkett of sports writing.
 

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I think so. Maybe. Two paragraphs later . . . . .


But he also goes on to break down the season series anyway......just in case.......
This reminds me of how anthropologists realized some time back that they had to rethink all their literature on "primitive peoples" because they hadn't realized they'd been doing things like telling the researchers what they thought they wanted to hear to be good guests, making fun of them for what they perceived to be stupid questions, etc.

e.g.
"How did those huge statues get there?"
"Seriously? They walked there."
"Really."
"Obviously. Look, they have faces."
*scribbling furiously* "The primitive people think the statues used to be alive..."
"These new guys are kinda dicks, yeah?"

For the rest of the foreseeable future, I'm going to imagine Cafardo interviewing people he thinks are intellectual primitives who are actually fucking with him.
 

joe dokes

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This reminds me of how anthropologists realized some time back that they had to rethink all their literature on "primitive peoples" because they hadn't realized they'd been doing things like telling the researchers what they thought they wanted to hear to be good guests, making fun of them for what they perceived to be stupid questions, etc.

e.g.
"How did those huge statues get there?"
"Seriously? They walked there."
"Really."
"Obviously. Look, they have faces."
*scribbling furiously* "The primitive people think the statues used to be alive..."
"These new guys are kinda dicks, yeah?"

For the rest of the foreseeable future, I'm going to imagine Cafardo interviewing people he thinks are intellectual primitives who are actually fucking with him.

Thanks. Now my brain is all gummed up trying to think of the ramifications if Nick had written On the Origin of Species, instead of that analytics guy, Darwin. o_O
 

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Thanks. Now my brain is all gummed up trying to think of the ramifications if Nick had written On the Origin of Species, instead of that analytics guy, Darwin. o_O
With respect to the theological view of the question; this is always painful to me.— I am bewildered.– I had no intention to write atheistically. But I own that I cannot see, as plainly as the scouts do, & as I [should] wish to do, evidence of intentionality & game planning on all sides of us. There seems to me too much losing this season. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent & omnipotent front office would have designedly created this roster with the express intention of their scoring insufficient runs to win all their games, or that the Yankees should bother deign to play other teams. Not believing this, I see no necessity in the belief that the new maths can tell us anything new about this game. On the other hand I cannot anyhow be contented to view this beautiful game & especially the gritty old timers who have played for so long, & to conclude that everything is the result of careful study and planning. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from good intuition and gut feelings, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton.— Let each man hope & believe what he can.
 

joe dokes

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What steps might Cora take to keep Chris Sale fresh for the remainder of the season? Will he plug in a sixth starter on occasion? Will he seek to reduce Sale’s innings or pitch counts if the Sox have good-size leads in his starts?
Nick awakens from his coma, wonders if there's anyplace he could look to see if the manager has ALREADY reduced Sale's workload, but ........nahhhhh, why bother.
 

Humphrey

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His "On Baseball" column was a total waste...he's only written what he wrote at least a dozen times. Friggin sick of reading who teams might acquire. The proverbial broken record.

Also sick of the Tomato Can theory of baseball. Head-to-head during the regular season mean little in this particular sport.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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His "On Baseball" column was a total waste...he's only written what he wrote at least a dozen times. Friggin sick of reading who teams might acquire. The proverbial broken record.

Also sick of the Tomato Can theory of baseball. Head-to-head during the regular season mean little in this particular sport.
I liked in his Q&A with ARod, Wilbur asked a question, ARod gave a thoughtful response that was the complete opposite of what Cafardo thought he was going to get and the followed up with, “Really?”.

Also his Amaro back rubs are getting annoying. I loved how he glossed over perhaps one of the worst contracts in baseball history (the Ryan Howard deal) as if it completely didn’t matter.
 

geoflin

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Also his Amaro back rubs are getting annoying. I loved how he glossed over perhaps one of the worst contracts in baseball history (the Ryan Howard deal) as if it completely didn’t matter.
Nick also quoted Amaro as saying "I wish I had been more aggressive analytically. We were in that transition phase when I was let go. I felt we were doing fine without it. I wish I’d been out in front of it more." So Amaro used to be where Nick still is but swallowed his pride and learned. Not likely that Nick does the same.
 

Humphrey

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"Harper is becoming exceedingly frustrated with defensive shifts, which are eating him alive. It’s even prompted Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, to opine that shifts are killing power-hitting lefthanders and that they’re unfair and should be altered."

And the rest of the article is another rehash of the Tomato Can theory of baseball (copywright Dan Shanknessy).
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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"Harper is becoming exceedingly frustrated with defensive shifts, which are eating him alive. It’s even prompted Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, to opine that shifts are killing power-hitting lefthanders and that they’re unfair and should be altered."

And the rest of the article is another rehash of the Tomato Can theory of baseball (copywright Dan Shanknessy).
If only Harper could hit it the other way! Damn it. Curse the magician that altered his swing so that Harper can only hit to right field.

I wonder if it’s easier or harder to write with Boras whispering in your ear? I would get annoyed (and turned on, frankly). I’m surprised Cafardo didn’t use the word “discriminatory”.
 

joe dokes

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Notice how Nick has shifted from Sox record against over 500 teams to their records against particular heavyweights? I haven't done the math, but I think that's because his original calculation was based on the opponents current record, and TB's surge added a 9-4 to the Sox over-500 ledger, which didn't fit Nick's narrative.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Bryce Harper only has 21 home runs so far and it’s already July 4!! These shifts are killing him! Just killing him! Baseball needs to change the rules to help poor Bryce! Waaaaah! Waaaah! Won’t someone please think of Poor Scott Boras???
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Notice how Nick has shifted from Sox record against over 500 teams to their records against particular heavyweights? I haven't done the math, but I think that's because his original calculation was based on the opponents current record, and TB's surge added a 9-4 to the Sox over-500 ledger, which didn't fit Nick's narrative.
I didn't read his story from today when he wrote this bullshit, but I did read 108 Stitches and they used the first few paragraphs of his game story to take the Sox to task about not treading water against the heavyweights.

As of July 5, 2018 the Red Sox are 10-10 against the iron of the AL (NY, Houston, Seattle and Cleveland -- even though they haven't played the Indians yet). Since Wilbur didn't want to do the same fo the other four teams, I added up the wins and losses these five had against each other. BTW, I can see why Cafardo didn't want to do this, it took forever*.

* It did not.

Cleveland: 5-12
Seattle: 10-13
Houston: 12-12
New York: 16-6

Obviously the Yankees' number is outstanding, but they have also given up more runs against the Sox (53) than they've scored (49); so maybe the Sox don't suck quite as much as Nick Cafardo thinks. But you're not going to get that sort of in depth, deep dive into the numbers as you would here. I mean, this was grueling stuff and I can't believe that someone who stinks at math like me, was able to put the Sox' record against the iron of the AL into some sort of context.
 

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"Harper is becoming exceedingly frustrated with defensive shifts, which are eating him alive. It’s even prompted Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, to opine that shifts are killing power-hitting lefthanders and that they’re unfair and should be altered."

And the rest of the article is another rehash of the Tomato Can theory of baseball (copywright Dan Shanknessy).


JDM earns a zillion dollars for his launch angle approach, which DOB and Gomes were discussing earlier this season as a natural evolution in the game in response to the shift...



@teddywingman
 

timlinin8th

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Obviously the Yankees' number is outstanding, but they have also given up more runs against the Sox (53) than they've scored (49); so maybe the Sox don't suck quite as much as Nick Cafardo thinks. But you're not going to get that sort of in depth, deep dive into the numbers as you would here. I mean, this was grueling stuff and I can't believe that someone who stinks at math like me, was able to put the Sox' record against the iron of the AL into some sort of context.
The Yankees schedule against those teams has also been disproportionate to this point in the season, in that the bulk of their games played against those teams have been at the Stadium. Against those 4 teams, they still have 7 games left at Fenway, 4 @ CLE, and 3 @ SEA, with only 3 games against the Sox at the Toilet remaining. 14 games on the road vs 3 at home vs those top teams ought to even out that 16-6 a bit.
 

DeadlySplitter

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wow Nick finally makes a good point Ive been harping on for years. blind squirrel finds a nut

5. Who was the last pitcher the Red Sox developed? Clay Buchholz? My goodness, it’s been a dark hole for this organization for a long time and the result has been having to sign pitchers to enormous contracts.
 

The Gray Eagle

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"the top two managers in the league have been Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash and Oakland’s Bob Melvin..."
Huh, I would have thought that maybe the defending champion manager who's got his team playing .656 ball so far, or either of the rookie managers who are on pace to win over 100 games, or maybe Scott Servais (who has his team 7.5 games ahead of Melvin's team) might be up there too but I guess not.

I mean Cash has done some creative work and has an unimpressive roster near .500, but why would Melvin be mentioned ahead of any of the playoff contenders?
 

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Barnes? Workman? Brian Johnson? Tazawa? Bard? Etc?
Exactly. Buchholz is the last *starting* pitcher the Sox drafted and developed sucessfully (Johnson as the #6/#7 doesn't quite qualify IMO), but hardly the most recent pitcher to come up through the Red Sox farm system and contribute.

And while the rotation might be missing a truly homegrown and cheap starter, there is still Rodriguez who, aside from not technically being a Sox draftee/signee, is essentially that. Wright too, for that matter. I'm not sure I buy Cafardo's premise that the lack of homegrown starting pitching has forced the team to sign pitchers to enormous contracts. The only one that fits that description is Price. Sale, Porcello, and Pomeranz were trade acquisitions and none of those trades could be construed as regrettable or over-pays.

I suppose the prospect of paying Sale to stay after next season is an "enormous" contract (or the extension given to Porcello 3 years ago), but isn't that something they'd be facing to retain an homegrown ace anyway (like so many were moaning that they didn't do with Lester)?
 
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