What's gone right?

RedOctober3829

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SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
55,299
deep inside Guido territory
3 Red Sox in the top 10 in the AL in wRC+(Ortiz, Bogaerts, and Bradley). Ortiz's 199 wRC+ is 27 runs more than anyone else in the AL. In Fangraph's WAR leaders, 6 of the 20 are Red Sox(3. Bogaerts, #6 Ortiz, #12 Pedroia, #13 Bradley, #14 Mookie, #15 Shaw).
 

Savin Hillbilly

loves the secret sauce
SoSH Member
Jul 10, 2007
18,783
The wrong side of the bridge....
The Sox are currently on their way to having the best offensive May (measured by sOPS+) in baseball history, with a 151. The #2 team (1928 Yankees) had a 143, so the Sox could slump mildly over this last weekend and still come away #1.

Oddly, the Sox are nowhere near the record for runs scored in May--they currently stand at 148, and the record is 220 (1921 Tigers), so they'd have to average 12 runs a game the rest of the way to match it. However, surpassing the club record of 177 runs in May will be a much easier lift.
They matched that record yesterday and surpassed it today.

However, going into today they had slipped slightly below the 1928 Yankees for the all-time May sOPS crown with a 142. But with an OPS over 1.000 for today's game they may have pushed themselves back into the lead.
 

simplicio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 11, 2012
4,728
Can someone tell Pedey and Mookie to step it up a little? They should each have one more hit through today if they really want to keep pace to give this team three 200 hit players this season.
 

Rovin Romine

Johnny Rico
Lifetime Member
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Jul 14, 2005
23,691
Miami (oh, Miami!)
They matched that record yesterday and surpassed it today.

However, going into today they had slipped slightly below the 1928 Yankees for the all-time May sOPS crown with a 142. But with an OPS over 1.000 for today's game they may have pushed themselves back into the lead.
And yet they're only 16-10. Obviously, that's a great month. But one would think an all time OPS would equal something close to all timeish in terms of the W-L record.
 

lexrageorge

Member
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Jul 31, 2007
18,099
And yet they're only 16-10. Obviously, that's a great month. But one would think an all time OPS would equal something close to all timeish in terms of the W-L record.
It's not as far off as it seems. Vagaries of the still relatively small sample of 26 games (16% of a season) and the fact that runs can still bunch together over such a small sample. Had the Sox pulled out 2 of those heartbreaking bullpen losses, they would have been 18-8. That's on place for 112 wins, which is getting close to "all time-ish".
 

Savin Hillbilly

loves the secret sauce
SoSH Member
Jul 10, 2007
18,783
The wrong side of the bridge....
Because we are now a third of the way through the season, the Killer Bs' stat lines now add up to about a year's worth of production. So here you go....the composite Jackie/Mookie/Xander line, through tonight's game:

.320/.373/.542
686 PA, 625 AB, 200 H, 42 2B, 8 3B, 27 HR, 119 R, 107 RBI, 54 BB, 108 K, 16 SB, 2 CS
 

simplicio

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 11, 2012
4,728
Because we are now a third of the way through the season, the Killer Bs' stat lines now add up to about a year's worth of production. So here you go....the composite Jackie/Mookie/Xander line, through tonight's game:

.320/.373/.542
686 PA, 625 AB, 200 H, 42 2B, 8 3B, 27 HR, 119 R, 107 RBI, 54 BB, 108 K, 16 SB, 2 CS
Counting totals should be a little higher even- we've played two months, but only 52 games. We'll see where those figures are at the end of this Baltimore series.
 

gammoseditor

also had a stroke
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
4,219
Somerville, MA
Because we are now a third of the way through the season, the Killer Bs' stat lines now add up to about a year's worth of production. So here you go....the composite Jackie/Mookie/Xander line, through tonight's game:

.320/.373/.542
686 PA, 625 AB, 200 H, 42 2B, 8 3B, 27 HR, 119 R, 107 RBI, 54 BB, 108 K, 16 SB, 2 CS
Adding in Ortiz, Shaw, and Pedroia I get the below.

.316/.378/.553
601 AB, 190 H, 48 2B, 6 3B, 28 HR, 107 R, 107 RBI, 58 BB

Six guys averaging these numbers is pretty nice.
 

BuellMiller

New Member
Mar 25, 2015
449
They've got 6 players (all offensive) on pace for 6+ bWAR (just by multiplying their current bWAR by 3 since we're almost at the 1/3 mark of the season). Don't know if that's ever happened before for a whole season (although, certainly don't expect all 6 to continue at this pace). Rick Dempsey's more talented team only has 2 (but that Machado guy is pretty good...and the Red Sox manager isn't worth 5-10 Wins a year like BS).
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,376
The Sox have 7 guys with 200 PA or more. Here they are, along with their OPS+ numbers:

Betts: 246 pa, 121 ops+
Bogaerts: 237 pa, 143 ops+
Pedroia: 228 pa, 127 ops+
Shaw: 215 pa, 128 ops+
Ramirez: 211 pa, 106 ops+
Bradley: 203 pa, 165 ops+
Ortiz: 202 pa, 195 ops+

That is sick.
 

geoduck no quahog

not particularly consistent
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Nov 8, 2002
13,024
Seattle, WA
Nice article in this morning's NYT:

Red Sox Hew Rough Diamonds Into Bats That Are a Cut Above

It may be behind a paywall for some, so I'll quote as much as is reasonable.
...“It’s the youth that we have, the core group of guys that we have,” Price said...

Price was speaking in the visitors’ clubhouse this week at Camden Yards, where the Red Sox scored 29 runs in splitting a four-game series with the Orioles. He could have pointed to all corners of the room to illustrate his point. Dynamic young hitters surround him, and they should for years to come.

...their next generation of hitters seems ready to win big, as David Ortiz — who smashed his 16th homer of the season on Thursday — faces retirement.

“You look at the amount of success we had in the minors,” said third baseman Travis Shaw, another young cornerstone.... "...We have an extremely tight-knit group, on and off the field.”

...The 2011 draft was Epstein’s last with the Red Sox, and the last under the old collective bargaining agreement, when teams could spend whatever they wanted, without penalty, and stockpile high picks by losing free agents.

The Tampa Bay Rays had 11 of the first 75 picks that June, yet they found only two players who have appeared in a game for them: outfielder Mikie Mahtook and Blake Snell, a top pitching prospect. The Red Sox found Bradley, from the University of South Carolina, with the 40th overall pick; Betts, from a Tennessee high school, in the fifth round; and Shaw, from Kent State, in the ninth. Left fielder Blake Swihart, from a New Mexico high school, and three pitchers were also part of the haul.

...While the Yankees try in vain to develop position players — leaving them with an aging and feeble lineup — their rivals are well positioned for the future.

“We lived the growing pains and are reaping the rewards of them finally getting established in being productive, everyday players,” Farrell said. “On any given night, it’s a proud moment for the Red Sox when you look down and you’ve got nine of 10 guys in the lineup that are drafted and signed and developed in-house. I think there’s a tremendous amount to be said for that.

“There’s an ownership that those players have with their original organization. As a player, you feel a certain responsibility to your organization, and I think that changes when you shift to another organization. When you’re with your original organization, there’s an intangible there that runs deep.”

...The low salaries of players like Betts, Bogaerts, Bradley, Swihart and Shaw help the Red Sox survive mistakes, like Castillo and Sandoval, and afford other high salaries, like Price’s. And the athleticism of young players helps fuel the Boston offense.

“Look at Betts, he’s a total package; look at Bogaerts, he’s a total package; Jackie Bradley Jr. — total package,” said Dombrowski, who went on to praise others. “Other than Big Papi,” he said, referring to Ortiz, “and our catcher, everybody can score from first on a double. Everybody can score from second on a single. Everybody goes first to third. That’s kind of fortunate.”

...From the start of the 2015 season through Thursday, only one player in the majors had a higher average than Bogaerts’s .327: Cabrera, who was two points higher. Bogaerts has the most hits in that span, with 275, yet he cannot match Betts for power and could not top Bradley, over all, in May.

...The Red Sox would go on to lose another slugfest, 12-7, and they probably need another pitcher or two before the trading deadline. But life was full of promise
.
 

Erik Hanson's Hook

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Jun 20, 2013
1,079
Don't know how much credit he gets - probably a fair amount, since his job title is "hitting coach" - but there were many folks last year calling for Chili Davis's head. He should get some props for the leap the lineup has made this year. I officially forgive him for hitting the one solo homer during the Pedro 17 strikeout game at the old Toliet.
 

BestGameEvah

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Oct 21, 2012
1,089
Don't know how much credit he gets - probably a fair amount, since his job title is "hitting coach" - but there were many folks last year calling for Chili Davis's head. He should get some props for the leap the lineup has made this year. I officially forgive him for hitting the one solo homer during the Pedro 17 strikeout game at the old Toliet.
Chili has been preaching using an all-field approach since he's been here. He and Victor have everyone on the same page this season after and abundance of perseverance! When there is success it's a lot easier to buy in.