Felger and Mazz - Creating False Naratives one day at a time

joe dokes

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F&M are bizarrely obsessed with the "quitter" thing. For them, the worst offense imaginable in professional sports is apparently "quitting", whatever that actually means. The great thing for them about this particularly dumb sportz-take is that they can freely accuse anyone of quitting at any time, and proceed to blather on and on about it for hours, and no one can really dispute their take, since there is no objective measure for what constitutes "quitting".
 

JayMags71

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It was nonstop too. Allen was incredulous that someone, anyone, could pick any team other than the Patriots for anything. He was finding boogeymen everywhere too. It got to be too much.

I think that Spygate broke a lot of people's brains around here. Myself included BTW, but I skew opposite, I just don't care about anything that comes from the NFL anymore, aside from the games.
I'm in the same boat. I was obsessed with Deflategate in the thick of it. There were a lot of people writing crazy shit here (myself included). But, even in July/August of '15, I finally had to stop following Bruce on Twitter and Facebook. He took crazy to an entirely different level. The guy was flooding my feed with stuff that sounded like Captain Queeg was writing it. He was insufferable.
 

NDame616

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I ALMOST clogged up the Kimbrel thread with this but I decided against it.

Does anyone remember the first few weeks of the season when F&M and Murray were KILLING Kimbrel?

"Mike he doesn't have any STUFF. All he does is whip is fastball and hope for the best"
"This is another case of DD coming in and trading prospects for guys who aren't even any good!"
"No offspeed stuff. I've always hated him. He just isn't good. You sit dead red on a FB and you'll get it and hit it eventually"
 

swyman18

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Commuting from Nantucket to Boston every day during the summer... what is that, like 4 hours each way on a good day?
 

Harry Hooper

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I see... makes sense, I figured there was a small airstrip for private planes, but I didn't realize there was a semi-real airport with commuter flights and such.
They made a tv show about it. Info in that article is suspect as Felger's already on the air with his radio gig at 2:00 PM.
 

swyman18

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They made a tv show about it. Info in that article is suspect as Felger's already on the air with his radio gig at 2:00 PM.
Oh right, how could I forget. Although I get the impression that the fictional airfield on the show was quite a bit smaller than ACK and not having regular commuter travelers. But that was 20 years ago of course.
 

GeorgeCostanza

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I think yesterday I reached the tipping point of even hate listening to these jackasses. Felger's display of ignorance (and calling it that is being kind) while discussing addiction yesterday disgusting. The pure joy in Mazz's voice about what might be on the Tiger Woods dash cam video was bordering psychotic.
 

chonce1

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Apr 23, 2010
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Indeed, listening to these 3 talk about addiction is like listening to Callahan discuss climate change. Worse, probably since this isn't even public policy, this is a medical diagnosis and voyerusm.

I don''t have an opinion on sex addiction -- I defer to the experts (and there is some debate from what I read). But Big Jim Murray...not an expert.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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This is more a culture observation than anything, though I think that Felger and ilk fall into this category, why is it that people take such fucking glee in seeing other people fail? I'm not talking about your every day schadenfreude of seeing a jerk like (take your pick) fall down hard.

I'm talking about someone like Tiger Woods. Aside from dominate in golf, what has he ever done where you look at him and say, "You know what? Fuck this guy. I hope his entire world crumbles down around him and he's eating shit for the rest of his life." I don't get what his "crime" was that has people like Mazz positively giddy at seeing his dashboard tape. Was he ubiquitous? Sure, that's not entirely his fault. Was he dominant to the point of boring? I guess, but aren't we fans of greatness.

And it's not like he's Peyton Manning or Derek Jeter (or Tom Brady) who beat the teams that we like and then we get to see them upstaged in the next round of the playoffs. Who did Tiger beat (HA!) that has these people actively rooting for him to fail?

I guess that the easy answers are a. this is a sports talk show, so lowest common denominator and b. people are fucking assholes and they have really fragile egos, so when someone does something well, it makes them hatable. I've done this a lot (hate watching the Jets or the Yankees in the Series) but rooting against someone is never near as fun as pulling for you own team. After the game is done, I'm not really all that happy when the team I dislike lost, it just makes me feel like I'm the loser*.

* That being said, fuck the Yankees.
 

NortheasternPJ

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I'm talking about someone like Tiger Woods. Aside from dominate in golf, what has he ever done where you look at him and say, "You know what? Fuck this guy. I hope his entire world crumbles down around him and he's eating shit for the rest of his life." I don't get what his "crime" was that has people like Mazz positively giddy at seeing his dashboard tape. Was he ubiquitous? Sure, that's not entirely his fault. Was he dominant to the point of boring? I guess, but aren't we fans of greatness.
Banging Perkins waitresses and having a dozen plus affairs? I really don't get the extreme Tiger height either, but he doesn't seem like a great guy his image promoted. He had the squeaky clean image and turned out not to be that guy, which isn't a huge surprise considering many athletes are exactly the same.

I wasn't a big fan of his as I'm not a fan of golf, but if he came back he'd be the #1 story in the PGA and great for the game.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Tiger of course committed all sorts of shady infidelities on the road while married, which struck people as despicable. I'm not going to excuse his behavior by saying that he pretty much never had a childhood and was making up for it later, but I'm sure that played a part in his actions. He also, pre-image fall, had a reputation as a fierce competitor and a perfectionist, someone who was so good he "broke" golf, and he didn't have the folksy charm of Arnie or the charisma of a Jack, so people didn't seem to warm up to him personally even as they admired his golf.

It's probably worth noting that Steve Garvey, once considered the perfect ballplayer and perfect family man, had a similar fall in image when it came out that he had a bunch of affairs and fathered children all over town.
 

chonce1

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Yes, TIger Woods cheated on his wife but his sex life hardly seems like a reason to root for his demise and laugh at his "junky drip" (or whatever Murray called it).

President Kennedy did the same shit. He took painkillers too. And he is adored publicly.

All I know is that TIger Woods was truly fucked up behind the wheel. And that is bad. But 1) he hasn't been convicted of anything and we don't know what meds he is prescribed to; 2) it is still wierd to watch these videos and get erect, like Mazz appears to be doing.

And still, more offensive yet than Mazz and Felger on Woods, is Murray's commentary on addiction. Look, I have no idea if the disease model is correct (it is the standard consensus in the US, less so in Europe) but mocking "junkies" and suggesting they are morally inferior and use addiction as an "excuse," is some bold commentary for a guy who has no expertise on medicine, addiction or even the social fucking sciences for that matter (or sports).

Anyway, I don't think he should lose his job. If Murray wants to say "junkies' are moral weaklings or what-not, he can. Many feel that way. But it if were at CSNNE I would wonder if this is great fodder for commentary and if it is worth pissing this many people off, about a life/death epidemic of a problem, because Jim Murray needs to have some hot take on the TIger Woods situation.

Honestly, I wonder if Jim Murray has spent 5 minutes reading about addiction before forming his opinion. And then I stop wondering, because it is evident he has not. But the capacity these guys are show for douchiness went from annoying to creepy today.
 

NDame616

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Yes, TIger Woods cheated on his wife but his sex life hardly seems like a reason to root for his demise and laugh at his "junky drip" (or whatever Murray called it).

President Kennedy did the same shit. He took painkillers too. And he is adored publicly.

All I know is that TIger Woods was truly fucked up behind the wheel. And that is bad. But 1) he hasn't been convicted of anything and we don't know what meds he is prescribed to; 2) it is still wierd to watch these videos and get erect, like Mazz appears to be doing.

And still, more offensive yet than Mazz and Felger on Woods, is Murray's commentary on addiction. Look, I have no idea if the disease model is correct (it is the standard consensus in the US, less so in Europe) but mocking "junkies" and suggesting they are morally inferior and use addiction as an "excuse," is some bold commentary for a guy who has no expertise on medicine, addiction or even the social fucking sciences for that matter (or sports).

Anyway, I don't think he should lose his job. If Murray wants to say "junkies' are moral weaklings or what-not, he can. Many feel that way. But it if were at CSNNE I would wonder if this is great fodder for commentary and if it is worth pissing this many people off, about a life/death epidemic of a problem, because Jim Murray needs to have some hot take on the TIger Woods situation.

Honestly, I wonder if Jim Murray has spent 5 minutes reading about addiction before forming his opinion. And then I stop wondering, because it is evident he has not. But the capacity these guys are show for douchiness went from annoying to creepy today.
My wife (and I'm sure others) strongly disagree

Also, re: Jim Murray...I know nothing of him personally (I hate him on the show) but he strikes me as a guy who's known people who have had drug/addiction issues. I don't want to pain a broad brush, but he openly admits to smoking, partying and gambling....
 

CantKeepmedown

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Indeed, listening to these 3 talk about addiction is like listening to Callahan discuss climate change. Worse, probably since this isn't even public policy, this is a medical diagnosis and voyerusm.

I don''t have an opinion on sex addiction -- I defer to the experts (and there is some debate from what I read). But Big Jim Murray...not an expert.
This topic made it over to D&C last week as well. Minihane (who spends far too much time talking about/mocking Felger) was killing Felger for his opinion. Gerry, of course, agrees with Felger. Gerry's overall thought is that everyone, even addicts, have a choice. You're either strong enough to do the right thing, or too weak not to. Simple as that.

Minihane has a history, I believe, which you'd think Gerry might listen for some insight on it. He was giving Felger credit for saying what he did because most people would be afraid to take that stance. You could almost hear Minihane fuming.
 

joe dokes

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He fucked over his wife and children in a public and humiliating way. I don't celebrate his personal downfall, but I did say, "miss it you fucking asshole" everytime i saw him take a shot on tv thereafter. But I take no pleasure in his current personal life.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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He fucked over his wife and children in a public and humiliating way. I don't celebrate his personal downfall, but I did say, "miss it you fucking asshole" everytime i saw him take a shot on tv thereafter. But I take no pleasure in his current personal life.
Who cares? How did he "fuck over his wife and child"? Maybe they had an agreement? Maybe his wife didn't care what her husband did as long as the checks kept rolling in? He didn't kill anyone. He didn't bankrupt anyone. He slept around with a bunch of other consenting adults.

When are we going to stop looking to athletes to be moral paragons of virtue?

Edit: I went a little overboard.

TL; DR: I really don't care what athletes do in their private lives. You may and that's fine.
 
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Vinho Tinto

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Maybe Tiger's arrangement with his ex-wife was that she could practice her golf game using his skull as a golf ball. I wonder, when she smashed him with the driver, if he awoke him from his Ambien coma and thought he was driving in California.
 

joe dokes

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Who cares? How did he "fuck over his wife and child"? Maybe they had an agreement? Maybe his wife didn't care what her husband did as long as the checks kept rolling in? He didn't kill anyone. He didn't bankrupt anyone. He slept around with a bunch of other consenting adults.

When are we going to stop looking to athletes to be moral paragons of virtue?

Edit: I went a little overboard.

TL; DR: I really don't care what athletes do in their private lives. You may and that's fine.
Nah, overboard is a reasonable reaction to my admittedly extreme position.

He didn't just have a private life, imo. He humiliated his family.
To the extent that hoping a guy fails at his sport is "caring," I guess I care.
(However, The one iron on the car suggests that if there was an arrangement, he didn't read it very carefully.)
 

GammonsSpecialPerson

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When are we going to stop looking to athletes to be moral paragons of virtue?
When they aren't choosing to market themselves as paragons of (professional) virtue? Woods was as much a brand as a golfer, and a big part of his profile package was the image of the dedicated, committed professional. His infidelity and reckless pursuit of poontang directly contradicted his cultivated image. That he subsequently (concurrently) began to suck as an actual golfer at the same time precipitated his fall; had he kept winning in the wake of his Perkins Plowings, he'd have been able to change his image a bit. But he fell apart seemingly as a direct result of his shitty personal behavior. And that ruined his image as a pitchman, and his career as a "paragon of virtue" on the gold course.

John Daly does not pretend to be something he is not; no one in their right mind is looking to him as paragon of anything, except maybe "hold my beer and watch this drive" - which is, honestly, his wheelhouse. Tiger Woods pretended to be something he most definitely is not. It isn't about "us" looking at him; it is about what he sold us about him. He deserves every bit of the crap he gets for being a philandering piece of shit because he presented himself - for a very long time - as the kind of guy who people should want to be. "Tiger" was far more John Daly than he was ... whatever that red shirted automaton who sold NIKE product like he was born for it. Tiger chose to be that "paragon of virtue" and being exposed as a John Daly like POS is his consequence. I don't blame the people who bought Tiger's bullshit - I blame Tiger.

EDIT: In case it's not clear, I like John Daly quite a bit. Mostly because he's never pretended to be something he's not.
 
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Red(s)HawksFan

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That he subsequently (concurrently) began to suck as an actual golfer at the same time precipitated his fall; had he kept winning in the wake of his Perkins Plowings, he'd have been able to change his image a bit. But he fell apart seemingly as a direct result of his shitty personal behavior. And that ruined his image as a pitchman, and his career as a "paragon of virtue" on the gold course.
Except he hasn't sucked since then. He came back from that (and leg injuries) to reclaim #1 in the world in 2013. The only thing he didn't do is win another major. Injuries derailed him far more than the "Perkins Plowings". Pretty sure his absence from the tour the last couple years has had a greater impact on his pitchman status than his philandering all those years ago. Granted, this DUI thing isn't helping matters, but if he were active and winning tournaments like he was in 2012-2013, the endorsement stuff would still be there for him.
 

HomeBrew1901

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I don't care about golf and haven't even thought about Tiger Woods since he fell off the map. I chuckled at his downfall because he was held up as this perfect human and was from all accounts an insufferable ass.

I'm on the same page as the rest of you though, the only time I have found Felger to be as insufferable as this was when Junior Seau committed suicide. He didn't take glee at that and in some ways I could see where he was coming from, but the sheer joy between him and Mazz and their little lap dog Murray was too much for me.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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When they aren't choosing to market themselves as paragons of (professional) virtue? Woods was as much a brand as a golfer, and a big part of his profile package was the image of the dedicated, committed professional. His infidelity and reckless pursuit of poontang directly contradicted his cultivated image. That he subsequently (concurrently) began to suck as an actual golfer at the same time precipitated his fall; had he kept winning in the wake of his Perkins Plowings, he'd have been able to change his image a bit. But he fell apart seemingly as a direct result of his shitty personal behavior. And that ruined his image as a pitchman, and his career as a "paragon of virtue" on the gold course.
Right. But you didn't believe that marketing stuff, right? I mean you knew it was all bullshit. Just like Michael Jordan isn't a fun, happy guy to hang out with (despite what those old McDonalds ads might tell you) or that Derek Jeter is "class personified" or that Pete Rose is solely dedicated to baseball and happy to be on the diamond at all times or whatever Madison Avenue shoves down our collective throats.

All of these men are human beings and people are complicated and have a public face and a private face. Getting angry that the private Tiger Woods isn't the corporate Tiger Woods is like being in high school and finding out your teacher doesn't live at the school. It's more than a bit naive.

Tiger Woods had been under his dad's thumb since he was three-years-old and golfed non-stop for more than 20 years. I would bet that more than one person thought that Tiger was the ultimate dork and I bet he didn't get a lot of dates while he was in high school. That he went a little overboard in terms of the sex, is not entirely surprising--especially when you think about the calibre of woman throwing themselves at him.
 

GammonsSpecialPerson

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Right. But you didn't believe that marketing stuff, right? I mean you knew it was all bullshit. Just like Michael Jordan isn't a fun, happy guy to hang out with (despite what those old McDonalds ads might tell you) or that Derek Jeter is "class personified" or that Pete Rose is solely dedicated to baseball and happy to be on the diamond at all times or whatever Madison Avenue shoves down our collective throats.

All of these men are human beings and people are complicated and have a public face and a private face. Getting angry that the private Tiger Woods isn't the corporate Tiger Woods is like being in high school and finding out your teacher doesn't live at the school. It's more than a bit naive.

Tiger Woods had been under his dad's thumb since he was three-years-old and golfed non-stop for more than 20 years. I would bet that more than one person thought that Tiger was the ultimate dork and I bet he didn't get a lot of dates while he was in high school. That he went a little overboard in terms of the sex, is not entirely surprising--especially when you think about the calibre of woman throwing themselves at him.
Well, no. But many people did. And that's beside the point: Woods chose to present himself as a paragon of virtue, mostly because he could get obscenely rich for doing so. Woods was complicit in marketing himself as a paragon of virtue, so of course the people who had been duped were angry. That they were also naive is obvious, and irrelevant. Woods's own actions, and choices, led to Woods's downfall.

Specifically, no one forced Woods to "complete his image" with a wife and kids; he chose to be married, and have a family. And so, the humiliation he brought to his wife, and family, is his fault. No matter how atypical his upbringing was, he had the option to be single. It worked for Jeter, right? But Woods's choice to marry and then carry on with such gusto - and the "calibre of woman" he chose - is his own damn fault and not Earl Woods's. And he went far beyond "a little overboard" - he tried to be Wilt Chamberlain without any of the consequences. Look, if a famous athlete (like Jeter) wants to go Full Wilt, then by all means, go do you. But don't sell me (and the rest of the naive folk) the image of you as the ultra-professional family man. That's fundamentally dishonest, and Woods deserves all the scorn and public shaming he gets for those actions.
 

the1andonly3003

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Rare afternoon drive today and tuned in. F&M were making their straw man argument that they would rather be the NYY the next 7 years rather than the Red Sox. Cashman was clearly the genius for restocking their farm system last season and they have one of the best farm systems in the game (getting the best prospect from Rangers & Cubs).

Couldn't take it after 5 minutes. Tuned to Chris Mannix talk hockey and Mannix liking A Walk to Remember.

I don't mind F&M blashing FSG and Dombrowski, but they made no sense after their BC bashing...
 

NDame616

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"Well I mean, unlike the Red Sox, the Yankees have tons of young talent, Mike!"
 

j-man

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why do these guys hate the cetets so much good god murray comment i dont want boston to make the finals because they will get smoked by gsw

i know why felger hates the C's because they kicked the bucks ass when they were good and what the deal with felger love for Jayen brown he is good but at best will never be above top 25 -30 in the NBA while KP will be a top 5 player by 2019

if i was ainge vic stevens i would go to EEI first change i get

to be fair they are 80% right on the red sox

and the pats winning so much makes bad talk radio
 

richgedman'sghost

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That's the "big announcement"? What a letdown! Thought they were announcing Mazz retirement...We can wish right? LOL
 

soxfan121

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Mazz actually said that he was "fine" with Marrero's bat.

Let's see how long that take lasts, Cotton.
 

soxfan121

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I mean, @Cuzittt has been writing about Marrero's epically shitty bat for at least three years now, and mentioned Lin at 3b in the offseason and more than once since then.

For years, we've sorta bullshitted about what it would be like if the local media knew things the way SoSHers know things. But this is a concrete example that "random message board guy" is a billion times more knowledgeable than the "expert" employed by the leading radio station in town.

Get it done, Mike Thomas! Save a bunch of money AND make your Sox coverage smarter. Hire Cuz!
 

the1andonly3003

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I was driving in the car yesterday and had F&M on. For whatever reason they were re-litigating the Iglesias-Peavy trade. They kept bashing it, reasoning that Xander would never have been messed up in 2014's move to third if he originally had been playing 3rd to begin with. Peavy had no role in helping the '13 team win the WS and they lost the trade. They would never have to spend for Panda. Stephen Drew would never have been an issue.

Conveniently forgot that Nice Inning Will Middlebrooks was serviceable during the 2013 season.

Oh well.
 

MuzzyField

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I was driving in the car yesterday and had F&M on. For whatever reason they were re-litigating the Iglesias-Peavy trade. They kept bashing it, reasoning that Xander would never have been messed up in 2014's move to third if he originally had been playing 3rd to begin with. Peavy had no role in helping the '13 team win the WS and they lost the trade. They would never have to spend for Panda. Stephen Drew would never have been an issue.

Conveniently forgot that Nice Inning Will Middlebrooks was serviceable during the 2013 season.

Oh well.
Keeping Will Middlebrooks forgotten qualifies as a public service.
 

scottyno

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I wonder if they even bothered to look at what Iglesias has done since he left the Sox. He's been mediocre at best and often injured. Sox won home field that year by 1 game and Peavy gave them 10 solid starts when they had no other viable option on the roster and a great start in the deciding ALDS game, Sox clearly won that trade.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Conveniently forgot that Nice Inning Will Middlebrooks was serviceable during the 2013 season.
Serviceable if the baseline is 2017 Pablo Sandoval, maybe. Middlebrooks spent some time on the DL in late May/early June on 2013. Two weeks after he returned he was optioned to Pawtucket where he stayed, except for a one day call-up, until mid August. While he was optioned, 3B was manned primarily by Jose Iglesias. However, Stephen Drew spent two weeks on the DL in July, at which point Iglesias moved to SS and 3B was held down by Brandon Snyder and Brock Holt. The same pair were the 3B platoon for the first 10 days or so after the Iglesias/Peavy deal was done as well.

Middlebrooks finished the 2013 season having played in 94 games for the Red Sox (and 45 for the PawSox), posting a slash line of .227/.271/.425 and a wRC+ of 82. For comparison's sake, Sandoval's line this year is .212/.269/.354 and a wRC+ of 58. It was definitely not Middlebrooks' presence that made Iglesias expendable and Bogaerts the starting SS by default in 2014.
 

the1andonly3003

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Serviceable if the baseline is 2017 Pablo Sandoval, maybe. Middlebrooks spent some time on the DL in late May/early June on 2013. Two weeks after he returned he was optioned to Pawtucket where he stayed, except for a one day call-up, until mid August. While he was optioned, 3B was manned primarily by Jose Iglesias. However, Stephen Drew spent two weeks on the DL in July, at which point Iglesias moved to SS and 3B was held down by Brandon Snyder and Brock Holt. The same pair were the 3B platoon for the first 10 days or so after the Iglesias/Peavy deal was done as well.

Middlebrooks finished the 2013 season having played in 94 games for the Red Sox (and 45 for the PawSox), posting a slash line of .227/.271/.425 and a wRC+ of 82. For comparison's sake, Sandoval's line this year is .212/.269/.354 and a wRC+ of 58. It was definitely not Middlebrooks' presence that made Iglesias expendable and Bogaerts the starting SS by default in 2014.
were many people giving up on Middlebrooks at that point though? it was just his second season.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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were many people giving up on Middlebrooks at that point though? it was just his second season.
My point was more to quibble with the notion that Middlebrooks was serviceable in 2013. He was so serviceable that he lost his job first to Iglesias, then after Iglesias was traded, they delayed two weeks (using Snyder and Holt) before calling him back up to be the starter. Then he was poor enough that they used Bogaerts at third and eventually made him the starter in the post-season.

They certainly hadn't given up on Middlebrooks at that point, as evidenced by him being the default starter in 2014. But it's not as though it was his presence that made Iglesias expendable. They traded Iglesias because they preferred Bogaerts at SS, not because they couldn't move Bogaerts to 3B because of Middlebrooks.
 

chonce1

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Mazz*: Maybe the return of the classic big man is coming back... with Towns and Davis.

Gasper: Those are basically prototypical modern big men.

Mazz: Yeah, but still....


High quality stuff Tony...

*paraphrasing
 

chonce1

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I wonder if they even bothered to look at what Iglesias has done since he left the Sox. He's been mediocre at best and often injured. Sox won home field that year by 1 game and Peavy gave them 10 solid starts when they had no other viable option on the roster and a great start in the deciding ALDS game, Sox clearly won that trade.
Clearly? Peavy was mediocre and did not move the needle in the regular season, really. His impact didn't make a real difference and we won the division by 5.5 games. In the playoffs he hurt us more than he helped: 3 starts, 12.2 innings, 10 earned runs. The great start you mention should not be mentioned without mentioning the other 2 starts and his overall performance. If he won us that game vs TB he cost us his start vs. Detroit (5 runs in the 2nd inning).

We can't say with certainty we would've won it w/o him, but I think it is a reasonable guess. If one wants to argue the trade is justified because we won the WS and that is the ultimate goal, fine (by that logic we won the Gagne trade too). But to say "we clearly won" the trade is too much in my opinion.

Iglesias has been a great defender and his offensive production is above projections. He has had a shitty year, but is a career .271 hitter. That is well above what we expected from him.
 
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shaggydog2000

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Clearly? Peavy was mediocre and did not move the needle in the regular season, really. His impact didn't make a real difference and we won the division by 5.5 games. In the playoffs he hurt us more than he helped: 3 starts, 12.2 innings, 10 earned runs. The great start you mention should not be mentioned without mentioning the other 2 starts and his overall performance. If he won us that game vs TB he cost us his start vs. Detroit (5 runs in the 2nd inning).

We can't say with certainty we would've won it w/o him, but I think it is a reasonable guess. If one wants to argue the trade is justified because we won the WS and that is the ultimate goal, fine (by that logic we won the Gagne trade too). But to say "we clearly won" the trade is too much in my opinion.

Iglesias has been a great defender and his offensive production is above projections. He has had a shitty year, but is a career .271 hitter. That is well above what we expected from him.
In his 4 seasons played in Detroit (including the first partial one and the current partial season) Iglesias' WRC+ has been: 81, 97, 73, 63. He also missed all of 2014 with injuries. He is a proven crappy hitter who would not even have been a utility player in Boston because of our other bench options.