Protecting the Shields -- The Nick Cafardo Thread

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John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Cafardp asked in one part of his column whether you'd except Prince Fielder even up for Hanley Ramirez.
In another part Cafardo said that aside from Fielder, Alex Gordon was having the worst season in the American League.

I guess you answered your own question, didn't you, buddy?
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Tony Clark on how players embrace the mounds of analytics teams provide: “There is value in having information. There is a danger in having too much of it. I know at the plate I have to create a game plan largely against my experiences with that particular pitcher and being able to take some of the most recent information so I can mount a game plan on that particular night. Unfortunately, knowing what pitch he throws on Tuesday day games, on turf, the second week of each month, has no value to me. So you can put yourself in a position where I have so much information I can’t move, I can’t function, I can’t game plan in a way that allows me to perform the way I need to perform.”
Tony Clark, who retired after the '09 season, and is now the executive director of the players association, is definitely the guy you want to go to to get a take on analytics.
 

E5 Yaz

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Nick's mad as hell and he's not taking it anymore (a.k.a., The Manifesto Paragraph)

I do not want a limit on relief pitchers, as commissioner Rob Manfred is kicking around. I also don’t care about pitch clocks. I loved baseball before instant replay, before defensive shifts, before sliding rules, and when catchers could block the plate and it wasn’t called. I liked baseball before visits to the mound were limited to 30 seconds. I liked baseball when managers argued with umpires. I liked baseball before analytics. I don’t think baseball is being played better because of analytics. I liked baseball before unproven minor leaguers were glorified before they played a game in the majors. So there, I loved the baseball the way it was.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/07/23/nick-cafardo-david-ortiz-could-pull-off-improbable-win-mvp-his-final-season/Q51Aqb9hTgobKq8ETn2aqO/story.html
 

Harry Hooper

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Nick's mad as hell and he's not taking it anymore (a.k.a., The Manifesto Paragraph)

I do not want a limit on relief pitchers, as commissioner Rob Manfred is kicking around. I also don’t care about pitch clocks. I loved baseball before instant replay, before defensive shifts, before sliding rules, and when catchers could block the plate and it wasn’t called. I liked baseball before visits to the mound were limited to 30 seconds. I liked baseball when managers argued with umpires. I liked baseball before analytics. I don’t think baseball is being played better because of analytics. I liked baseball before unproven minor leaguers were glorified before they played a game in the majors. So there, I loved the baseball the way it was.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/07/23/nick-cafardo-david-ortiz-could-pull-off-improbable-win-mvp-his-final-season/Q51Aqb9hTgobKq8ETn2aqO/story.html

Did Nick like the 9-balls-to-earn-a-walk era, or the batters being able to request a high pitch or a low pitch?
 

Humphrey

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A Globe poster pointed out that Nick's favorite innings eater, Wade Miley, currently has a 5.36 ERA. A fly ball pitcher pitching in that Seattle airport! Average of exactly 1 gopher ball per game (total of 17, same as he gave up with the sox in 32 starts last year).
 

GreenMonster49

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Nick's mad as hell and he's not taking it anymore (a.k.a., The Manifesto Paragraph)

I liked baseball before analytics. I don’t think baseball is being played better because of analytics.
It's a good thing, then, that Nick only uses old-fashioned stats such as OPS and WAR to compare his top 10 AL MVP candidates.

I could put up with a great deal of disdain from Nick (or anyone else in his position) if the Sunday Notes column were even somewhat useful. I don't have time to keep up with what's happening with 29 other MLB teams, never mind their minor-league systems. Here's an example. I know Nick hates defensive shifts, but what if he actually spent his energy describing what goes into various team's shifting strategies (not just who does it the most, but why), and if and how batters counter the shifting. Hell, even looking at whether 5-man infields actually work in the situations that they work would be more useful than the weekly waste of space we call Updates on Nine.
 

Humphrey

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So the Mike Boddicker trade in 1988 was a disaster? Because Boddicker didn't do well in the playoffs? Jeez.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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So the Mike Boddicker trade in 1988 was a disaster? Because Boddicker didn't do well in the playoffs? Jeez.
Of course. Don't you know that those 14 starts Boddicker made in place of the likes of Jeff Sellers, Steve Ellsworth, and a hurting Oil Can Boyd had no bearing whatsoever on the team winning the division by a single game?
 

DeadlySplitter

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4. Andrew Benintendi doesn’t look like a No. 40. I think of Ken Harrelson and Billy Conigliaro when I see No. 40. Benintendi is more like a No. 5 or a No. 18. I’ll bet he’s wearing one of those numbers next season.
Or you know, #16 he wore in college, Nick.
 

shaggydog2000

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Now I know why I had this argument with my dad on Sunday. He has no concept of the internet existing, and still relies on the Globe as his source of baseball knowledge. He talked about this trade like it was genius, and I of course shot it down with the "why would the Dodgers do that?"

His reply: "Because he (Castillo) is Cuban."
 

E5 Yaz

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3. Here’s one thing to consider when it comes to choosing a starter to pitch a one-game playoff: several teams could be in the wild-card hunt on the final day of the regular season. That means the wild-card game could come down to which pitcher is in line for his turn. For the Red Sox, that could be anyone from Drew Pomeranz to David Price, which is why the best thing to do is win the division outright.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/08/13/concerned-about-david-price-look-rick-porcello-for-reassurance/CGPyp4LVeIbDTetMeIcysI/story.html

Thanks, Nick. No one who has ever followed a baseball season has ever considered this scenario.
 

Van Everyman

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Mike Rizzo: Nick's kind of baseball man:

“We have great discussions with our staff. We have great debates. I want people to tell me I’m wrong and back it up with how they feel about a player. We love analytics, but what this is all about is the scout who drives that extra 100 miles to see a player and make an evaluation and a scout who is strong in his convictions about what he sees and how that player can help our ball club. That’s what we have that’s so great.”
 

Harry Hooper

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Rizzo may have just said that to pump up his scouting staff, or he' really believes it.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Two weeks in a row Nick has referred to "my idea" of expanding gameday rosters by deactivating the four non-starting pitchers.
 

TheoShmeo

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Nicky wants E-Rod to man up and take the ball already. He knows that Eddie COULD have pitched yesterday but, like Ells and Clay before him, he's just the kind of guy who needs to be in perfect health before he will step inside the lines.

How Cafardo has the balls to even think these thoughts without knowing really everything about Rodriguez' condition would be amazing if he wasn't such a putz.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/08/21/eduardo-rodriguez-absence-troubling-sign-for-red-sox/BxrmggedrpMxvBvTLeDyCL/story.html

In addition to the basic stupidity and presumptuousness as noted, Cafardo is a little schizo in the article itself. There he is, asking and the answering the ultimate question in almost the same breath. Or he digs the socratic method.

We will continue to ask should E-Rod have taken the ball and at least given it a go. Had he decided to pitch, the Red Sox had no reason to hold him back and say no. Rodriguez held himself back, and in that case the team has to abide by the the pitcher’s wishes.

Rodriguez should have taken the ball.
 

joe dokes

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Rizzo may have just said that to pump up his scouting staff, or he' really believes it.
Or he knew he was talking to Nick Cafardo, so why bother.



And Nick's continuing to ride the "Buchholz is soft" train in his attack on Rodriguez just makes him Nick an asshole. Buchholz himself said this year -- two weeks ago -- that he thinks that compensating for pitching while injured may have contributed to the sucktasm from which he finally *might* be emerging.
Rodriguez is 23, got hurt this spring in a way that really threw him out of whack, and Nick has the gall to call him "soft," and imply that his teammates are pissed. Does Nick have any sources expressing pissed-ness. ("A former National League player said that they must be.....") Are they also pissed at Wright? After all he only throws a knuckleball, right Nick?
 

Humphrey

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.Why have him pitching when he would be pitching as well as Henry Owens does when you have Henry Owens available to do that? I mean, he kind of proved that a couple of months ago coming off the knee injury.
 

Humphrey

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Josh Hamilton released. Nick was all bent out of shape when the didn't sign him a few years ago.

Would Nick be stupid enough now to suggest the Sox pick him up with all the young outfield talent they have. Or would he? :D Another candidate to replace Papi, perhaps?
 

timlinin8th

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Josh Hamilton released. Nick was all bent out of shape when the didn't sign him a few years ago.

Would Nick be stupid enough now to suggest the Sox pick him up with all the young outfield talent they have. Or would he? :D Another candidate to replace Papi, perhaps?
"With Benintendi now on the DL, could the Sox see Hamilton as a LF replacement for the remainder of this season and transition to DH next with Ortiz vacating the position? An unnamed GM source in baseball says Hamilton could benefit from a change of scenery."
 

joe dokes

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"With Benintendi now on the DL, could the Sox see Hamilton as a LF replacement for the remainder of this season and transition to DH next with Ortiz vacating the position? An unnamed GM source in baseball says Hamilton could benefit from a change of scenery."
"And since he and Edwin Encarnacion were teammates in Cincinnati in 2007, Hamilton's presence could smooth the way for the Sox to sign the soon-to-be free-agent Toronto slugger and STD-giver."
 

joe dokes

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How many times have we written about this? How many times have we broached this subject?
Redundancy?


And I dont know if Nick is a "lets speed up the game" guy but allowing each team to deactivate the "other starting pitchers" and possibly add 4 more relievers sounds counterproductive.
 
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Lupe Whalewatch

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"Some teams will have an advantage because they have better players on their 40-man roster." Teams with better players will have advantage, story at 11.
 

nattysez

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As long as by "nobody," he meant "everybody," I think Nick has it right in his last sentence.
 

E5 Yaz

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Oh, was that in there. I fell asleep during the rehash of Earl Weaver quotes
 
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