Is Bogaerts getting a pass?

[Greenwells Gator Farm]

This makes it a little hard to blame his injury for his lack of production this year

VIA

@SmittyonMLB is a hack who has to take a photo of the word doc he typed some numbers into to show splits.

Bogaerts June 24, 2016 through July 6, 2017 (the night he got hit on the wrist):
275/339/421 (760 OPS), 147 ISO, 99 wRC+, 7.8% BB, 18.7% K

Bogaerts since July 6, 2017:
176/243/206 (449 OPS), 029 ISO, 14 wRC+, 7.2% BB, 15.3% K

His batting eye is the same. His ability to make contact is the same. He went from being a league average bat to being the second worst hitter in all of baseball (thanks, Hechavarria).

 

[Greenwells Gator Farm]

Xander Bogaerts is tied with Jon Lester for RBIs since July 7.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

@SmittyonMLB is a hack who has to take a photo of the word doc he typed some numbers into to show splits.

Bogaerts June 24, 2016 through July 6, 2017 (the night he got hit on the wrist):
275/339/421 (760 OPS), 147 ISO, 99 wRC+, 7.8% BB, 18.7% K

Bogaerts since July 6, 2017:
176/243/206 (449 OPS), 029 ISO, 14 wRC+, 7.2% BB, 15.3% K

His batting eye is the same. His ability to make contact is the same. He went from being a league average bat to being the second worst hitter in all of baseball (thanks, Hechavarria).

He might not be worth committing long term money and resources into.... but the guy clearly has a broken bone or something in his swing that is killing his ability. A .760 OPS for a SS is above average. As a SS he provides plenty of overall value, if he has to move off position, only 2nd base, CF or C would make sense for his bat and I don't see any of those options available (maybe 2nd in 2 years if he ends up signing an extension but I'm not sure how much his glove would play there...)

 

[streeter88]

He might not be worth committing long term money and resources into.... but the guy clearly has a broken bone or something in his swing that is killing his ability. A .760 OPS for a SS is above average. As a SS he provides plenty of overall value, if he has to move off position, only 2nd base, CF or C would make sense for his bat and I don't see any of those options available (maybe 2nd in 2 years if he ends up signing an extension but I'm not sure how much his glove would play there...)

From Wikipedia...
"In the hand proper a total of 13 bones form part of the wrist: eight carpal bones—scaphoid, lunate, triquetral, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, and hamate— and five metacarpal bones—the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth metacarpal bones."

If a 90 mph fastball hit me on the wrist, I am pretty sure hitting another one would be the least of my worries. Hurts just to button your shirt...

 

[streeter88]

double post

 

[DanoooME]

I'd honestly say that this season and a shown willingness to even do it to begin with was realistically his now or never point there. As even in the somewhat unlikely event he does late bloom 2500+ PA's into his career, and busts out that put-it-all together/breakthrough season in 2018 (that hopefully includes the consistent display of power as well), Boras will most certainly take him to free agency at that point. Which then means premium money - obviously making the risk vs reward factor a lot less sexy for us. Especially with surrounding LT concerns.

As I've stated before, of all the guys to speculate making a premium type long term investment on Xander makes the least amount of sense to me. In fact i'd probably even put him above Kimbrel. The consistency just isn't there, and the emergence of Devers at 3B probably isn't doing his projected long term roster fit value here any favors either imo (since I wouldn't want to risk making an additional all-in bet that he actually sticks at SS for a extended period of time beyond the next 2 years).

If anything between the two you think more about trading him this winter when DD is already going to be obsessing over the addition of a legit middle order of the bat anyway, and while Xander still has the type of value that might bring back quality cost controlled roster reinforcements that line up up with near future needs. Not that he's doing that possibility any favors either atm, of course.

Why on earth should the Sox trade X? He's cost controlled for 2 more years. And who plays SS in his stead? Deven Marrero?

And there are going to be plenty of free agent bats available in the coming years if DD wants to make a splash.

Let's leave this team intact and try to win a couple of WS first before breaking the damn thing up.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

Lots of players have "played through" broken hamate bones. I had mine broken and it hurt, but not enough to know that it was broken. But if my job was to be able to perfectly time and place a swing at a teensy flying projectile and put it in play .300 of the time with some occasional power.... it would likely have stymied that ability

 

[TheoShmeo]

I don't think Xander is getting a pass or being too harshly criticized. He's performing below expectations, and there's likely an injury excuse which explains things but is altogether unsatisfying. Probably especially to him.

But however you characterize the situation, the Sox are seemingly going to need a lot more from him, Mookie and JBJ if they are going to go on a deep playoff run.

 

[JBJ_HOF]

Bogaerts has barreled or made hard contact 14 times this year per statcast out of 337 batted balls. 4.2% is the worst on the Red Sox, worse than Vazquez and Marrero, and 326 out of 345 MLB players.

The only players lower than that are the Aybar Hechavarria Pennington Dyson Suzuki Revere Hamilton Iglesias Gordon group.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

After he was initially hit by that pitch, X-rays were negative so there are no broken bones unless the break didn't show up for some reason or somehow it magically broke after the X-ray. He was diagnosed with a bruise and a sprain. He missed one game, then played two before the all star break, and has missed just three games since. So an easy case to make that he hasn't allowed it to heal properly and it's clearly still affecting him.

 

[wnyghost]

Bogaerts has barreled or made hard contact 14 times this year per statcast out of 337 batted balls. 4.2% is the worst on the Red Sox, worse than Vazquez and Marrero, and 326 out of 345 MLB players.

The only players lower than that are the Aybar Hechavarria Pennington Dyson Suzuki Revere Hamilton Iglesias Gordon group.

Only 14? He has 100+ hits, 30+ extra base hits. That stat doesn't pass the smell test. I'm not questioning you just the stat.

He's played below expectations but I've seen more than a few sinking line drives caught over the past few weeks. A few games to watch might do wonders... seemed to help Benintendi.

Sent from my SM-G955U using SoSH mobile app

 

[JBJ_HOF]

Only 14? He has 100+ hits, 30+ extra base hits. That stat doesn't pass the smell test. I'm not questioning you just the stat.

Here is the link
He doesn't hit the ball hard or in the air enough for contact that does any damage.

 

[j44thor]

Seems like his swing is a lot longer this season and even guest announcers have mentioned it. Has anyone put together some side by side comparisons from his swing last season when he hit 21hr and this season when he is on pace for less than 10?

 

[MikeM]

Why on earth should the Sox trade X? He's cost controlled for 2 more years. And who plays SS in his stead? Deven Marrero?

And there are going to be plenty of free agent bats available in the coming years if DD wants to make a splash.

Let's leave this team intact and try to win a couple of WS first before breaking the damn thing up.

Trading Xander is hardly blowing up the team, at least outside a perspective that essentially insists that we absolutely have to win with some exact set of cards that were previously dealt here.

I don't know who would end up playing SS right now. Maybe they fall back on Lin/Marrero. Maybe Lin's regression at AAA leaves them digging up another more cost efficient option with better defense, and one who might even come back as part of the Xander return. But yeah, we would in all likelihood be "trading down" in salary and upside potential at SS, with the hope that such a sacrifice is being offset (at least on paper) both short/long term by what else we end we end up doing on top of that. Again, such as bringing in another middle of the order bat type to pair with Devers, and hopefully some great near future answers to the upcoming questions over the next couple of years that we probably won't have good internal answers to after trading most of the excess farm away to get to where we are.

Of course ignoring the small window of time left where the above possibility would actually exist and simply keeping him is perfectly valid too. The next 2 seasons might indeed end up being worth more to us then the potential trade return you gave up in favor of what I believe ends up being a post-4th round pick (after DD spends us over the LT cap). I'm just mostly dismissing the surface notion that we'd be doing that while still heading towards some "keeping everybody together" and happily ever after scenario starting a little over 2 years from now.

 

[Sam Ray Not]

Hopefully not even a little bit comparable to Nomar's wrist issues (which involved split tendons or something, not just bones), but he was never really the same hitter after the lost 2001 season.

Heal up, X-man.

 

[Rough Carrigan]

His fielding is not good by both eye test and numbers. He's just good enough that it doesn't seem clearly unacceptable.

Fielding Bible had him at -8 plays in 2014 in 2/3 of a season, +2 in 2015, -15 in 2016 and -12 so far this year.

 

[savage362]

Seems like his swing is a lot longer this season and even guest announcers have mentioned it. Has anyone put together some side by side comparisons from his swing last season when he hit 21hr and this season when he is on pace for less than 10?

I haven't seen any side-by-side comparisons but it seems to me like he's swinging off his front foot. He's out in front of every pitch causing him to wave at anything low and away. Occasionally he'll make contact and flip those into RF but more often than not it seems, he's missing them. Looking back at some youtube videos from last year, he seem's to have been staying back and letting the ball get to him which produced better contact.

I wonder if the wrist injury/soreness is slowing down his swing causing him to start sooner to compensate? Keep in mind this isn't a scientific observation, just something that appears to me to be happening.

 

[Sampo Gida]

XB is hurt IMO although I thought there were signs last homestand that he was improving. People hear a diagnosis of "its not broken and its just a bruise " and sigh with relief. However I fear a bone bruise as much if not more than a fracture because I know the player will try and play through the bruise, and usually play poorly , while they dont play through fractures. A bone bruise can take as long as a fracture to heal. Obviously location is important and hand/wrist is a poor location for a hitter. Playing through a bad bone bruise on a load bearing bone can result in fracture or a delayed union and also affect hitting.

What is a "bone bruise"?

https://www.tsaog.com/connect-learn-interact/blog/2013/03/06/dr-marvin-brown-on-why-bone-bruise-is-a-misnomer/

You may have read in the news that tennis player Victoria Azarenka recently dropped out of the Dubai Championships due to an injury in her right foot, attributed to a bone bruise. If so, you may be thinking that a bruise doesn’t sound like enough of an injury to make someone drop out of a championship!

TSAOG’s Dr. Marvin Brown tells me why it should.

What is a bone bruise?
The term bone bruise is a misnomer and makes the injury seem less serious than it is. A so-called bone bruise is actually a fracturing of the inner layer of bone.
Bones are composed of 2 different types of bony tissue, the compact (cortical) bone and the cancellous (spongy) bone.

• The compact bone is the outer layer of bone and is highly organized, solid, and extremely strong. When you injure this layer of the bone, it is referred to as a stress reaction or an occult fracture.
• The cancellous bone is the innermost layer of bone. Unlike the outer layer of bone, it is not arranged in concentric layers, but in plates (called trabeculae) which form an irregular meshwork that is neither as organized nor as strong as the outer bone. An injury to this area of the bone represents very small fractures to the trabeculae in the meshwork of the bone and may be referred to as a bone bruise.

How long do you normally expect recovery to take?
Recovery can take several months because the inner layer of bone takes longer to heal than the outer bone.
---------------


As for his future with the Red Sox, even before the hand injury his lack of power was a concern. I personally believe XB needs nothing more than to get stronger and join Benny Biceps in the gym lifting, but probably needs to wait for the bone bruise to heal. I'd hold off on any extension talks till he shows more power. I would not consider trading him.

 

[simplicio]

After he was initially hit by that pitch, X-rays were negative so there are no broken bones unless the break didn't show up for some reason or somehow it magically broke after the X-ray. He was diagnosed with a bruise and a sprain. He missed one game, then played two before the all star break, and has missed just three games since. So an easy case to make that he hasn't allowed it to heal properly and it's clearly still affecting him.

I had a wrist sprain earlier this year; it took over two months to regain full range of motion without pain, and the only stress I was putting on it was in keeping up with my kids. I can't imagine trying to recover while playing pro baseball every day, but that's exactly what these guys are asked to do as long as there's no break or tear. Hoping he can get right by October.

 

[JimBoSox9]

When's the last time someone can remember Bogey check-swinging on a breaking ball?

 

[The Gray Eagle]

From today's 108 Stitches:

"On July 5, Xander Bogaerts hit his sixth homer of the year in a 1-for-4 game that left him with a .308/.361/.455 line that placed him among the top offensive shortstops in the American League. On July 6, he got smoked by a pitch in the hand. After sitting out on the 7th, he hit just .176/.236/.206 with three extra-base hits (and no homers) over his next 26 games.

“That definitely hit me hard, you know?” said Bogaerts. “I stopped playing well after that. I just couldn’t use my hands. I started creating a lot of bad swings, a lot of bad habits because if I wanted to swing the way I normally swing it would hurt. … It was definitely tough on me.”

No earthly idea why he wasn't put on the DL for 10 days to try to get better. Instead he plays badly though the pain and messes up his swing, and ends up hitting horribly for a month. Who does that help? Not the team, and not Bogaerts.

Just like when Moreland breaks his toe, but doesn't go on the DL and plays through it, but plays terribly. That hurts the team and the player.

 

[Devizier]

From today's 108 Stitches:
No earthly idea why he wasn't put on the DL for 10 days to try to get better. Instead he plays badly though the pain and messes up his swing, and ends up hitting horribly for a month. Who does that help? Not the team, and not Bogaerts.

Seems to me that the lack of upper level organizational depth -- in light of the fact that Marrero was at the time being pressed into service as a 3B -- is a big culprit here.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

I've only seen the stat lines, but his last few games have looked better. He, Mook and JBJ are my favorite players on the team and all 3 have looked pretty meh at best the last 5-7 weeks. Definitely hoping he's coming around and can stay healthy and locked in.
Who's to blame here? The Sox management or him or both? Every player is going to try and play through this stuff unless they can't walk....

 

[tonyarmasjr]

This is so frustrating, because we see it every. single. year. A guy gets hurt but can play through it - at a level that hurts the team. Often, he ends up needing a DL stint or surgery to resolve it anyway. Just from the last two years, off the top of my head: Hanley, Wright, Pedroia (multiple), Bogaerts, Moreland, Holt, potentially Price. I just can't understand how they can't identify these injuries and sit a guy down for a couple weeks to heal, while we recognize it from our limited viewpoints. A single-A SS can put up a .176/.236/.206 line for 3-4 weeks. A good defensive SS (of which there are two in Pawtucket) provides positive value over an injured Bogaerts even if he can't hit. I'm no doctor, but my guess is that a deeply bruised hand or a broken toe is going to heal more quickly with rest and treatment than by incessantly aggravating it with baseball actions. Is there an argument for having guys play through these that I'm missing (the only thing I can come up with is that they think a guy would lose his edge/conditioning mid-season and it would take him an additional couple weeks to get back up to speed), or is the organization just at a total loss in identifying these issues?

 

[Bertha]

Is there an argument for having guys play through these that I'm missing (the only thing I can come up with is that they think a guy would lose his edge/conditioning mid-season and it would take him an additional couple weeks to get back up to speed), or is the organization just at a total loss in identifying these issues?

I've also been frustrated with this pattern. 10-day DL seemingly makes it easier to go that route, but I'm not seeing that.

Beyond not healing as quickly, the bad habits developed when compensating for an injury can last even longer. I would have guessed the team would welcome an opportunity to give a regular a 10-day break in the heat of the summer as well. We've seen this with pitchers in the past, which seemed to be an intentional plan.

I assume the player typically claims they are fine. In those cases, it is up to management to overrule them. Seemed fairly obvious that Bogaerts wasn't taking good swings for a number of weeks.

 

[MikeM]

I assume the player typically claims they are fine. In those cases, it is up to management to overrule them. Seemed fairly obvious that Bogaerts wasn't taking good swings for a number of weeks.

I'm not sure how that realistically plays out though. If a player checks out other then a potential discomfort level and they stubbornly wait until after a period of suck to finally own up to it, you are left basing those initial decisions on what essentially amounts to a guessing game between who is lying and who isn't.

I mean outside the benefit of hindsight how soon after do you make the call that he's lying and apply the 10 day DL overrule? Does every bump and bruise scenario, which I'm guessing vastly outnumber the singled out after-the-fact cases, get the same cautionary treatment?

 

[tonyarmasjr]

I'm not sure how that realistically plays out though. If a player checks out other then a potential discomfort level and they stubbornly wait until after a period of suck to finally own up to it, you are left basing those initial decisions on what essentially amounts to a guessing game between who is lying and who isn't.

I mean outside the benefit of hindsight how soon after do you make the call that he's lying and apply the 10 day DL overrule? Does every bump and bruise scenario, which I'm guessing vastly outnumber the singled out after-the-fact cases, get the same cautionary treatment?

I don't know that you even need to play that game. If a guy gets HBP on the hand, has to leave the game after running into a wall, fouls a ball off his foot and has a fracture - sit him down for 10 days. Sure, that may not be enough time for it to fully heal, but it's a start. And, hopefully, they can get a better grasp on the injury in the meantime. It also provides the benefit of giving said player an extended break partway through the season. And even if he were 100% healthy, missing any player for 10 days isn't going to cost the team its season.

To your point, though, it's management's job to put the players that offer the team its best chance of success on the field. If they think Option A is better than Option B, it's their right and duty to make that decision. I don't see how the player or MLBPA could have a legitimate grievance to a 10 day DL trip (minimum), when there's demonstrable evidence that there is an injury. I agree there are gray areas like you're describing, but if there's discomfort, that should be reason enough to sit a guy down. I think the staff and players should have at least some idea of the difference between most bumps and bruises and something that affects performance.

 

[benhogan]

I'm not sure how that realistically plays out though. If a player checks out other then a potential discomfort level and they stubbornly wait until after a period of suck to finally own up to it, you are left basing those initial decisions on what essentially amounts to a guessing game between who is lying and who isn't.

I mean outside the benefit of hindsight how soon after do you make the call that he's lying and apply the 10 day DL overrule? Does every bump and bruise scenario, which I'm guessing vastly outnumber the singled out after-the-fact cases, get the same cautionary treatment?

Manager combined with management and medical staff make the call here, but ultimately it's the manager who fills out the line up so it's Farrell's judgement call. Seems like they have improved communicating with Pedroia to take a break, who until recently resisted taking days off. If they could convince DP than Bogey and Mitch should be relatively easy. Everyone went uh-oh when Bogey got hit, so it was flagged, the manager/management/trainers need to make a judgement call after getting the X-rays and watch the player closely the following days after. They missed on these two, and the blame is on the manager, it's as simple as that. Otherwise, Farrell has done an excellent job this season managing the players healthwise. Bullpen pitchers haven't been run into the ground, starters have received extra days, positional players have been juggled well. He just whiffed on Bogey and Mitch.

 

[ifmanis5]

I really hope this is rock bottom for him. He looks like he has no clue up there.
FanGraphs had a recent look at his stats and came to the conclusion that he is a good player having a bad year: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-struggles-of-three-shortstops/

 

[Mueller's Twin Grannies]

Not saying he is, but at what point do we call him Andy Marté 2.0? When do even the most ardent supporters throw in the towel? Honestly wondering.

 

[Cumberland Blues]

He's having a bad year. He'll still have a better season than Andy Marte's whole career...so at no point will he be Andy Marte 2.0. Marte was an epic bust, Xander's a mild disappointment (who is still only 24).

 

[BoSox Rule]

Xander Bogaerts is a disappointment only in that he was the #2 prospect in baseball that didn't (or hasn't) turned into Nomar Garciaparra. In the real world he is 24 year old shortstop playing hurt and coming off of back to back 4+ fWAR seasons.

 

[The Gray Eagle]

His hand is still hurting him and now his wrist is sore too. He's still dealing with fighting the bad habits he picked up since his injury.

"The issue isn’t just the pain Bogaerts is dealing with; the issue is how the pain has altered his mechanics.

“I started creating a lot of bad habits, and some of them have stuck still with me,” Bogaerts said. “I changed [my swing], and I can’t find it back. That’s the trouble swinging the way I used to swing: it would hurt a lot. So I started creating bad habits, and that’s where I am right now — bad.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever dealt with pain like that,” Bogaerts said Wednesday at Rogers Centre. “Lower half wouldn’t be an issue. But something with your hands wouldn’t be a small thing. That affects a lot of stuff.

“We’re in first place. You want to play, you want to help the team out. Sometimes you feel like you don’t do it. You’re fighting, you’re grinding.”

Bogaerts is still fighting through pain in that hand, which has been exacerbated by soreness in his right wrist over the last two weeks. He’s unsure of why that started — whether there was some impact that caused it or whether changes to his swing led to soreness elsewhere.

The shortstop said it was frustrating to deal with another injury just as he seemed to be overcoming the initial one."

Great. His hand is getting worse, he has a new wrist injury, and yet he is still playing, to "help the team."
He needs to go on the DL after this series in NY, if not before. Marrero and Lin will be active tomorrow, we should be covered at SS.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

There's no need for DL after today, but I agree if he's hurting, he needs to sit.

At the very least, once Pedroia is back, they shift Nunez over to SS. Yes, he's not the greatest defensively, but at least this year, neither is Bogaerts.

 

[MikeM]

Kinda baffled that Lin/Marreo aren't on the call up list tomorrow.

Unless the team is viewing the above to be more a matter of playing up surface excuses then him being legitimately hurt, I just can't see the logic in not sitting Xander down immediately.

 

[The Gray Eagle]

If they don't put him on the DL, he is going to play almost every game.
They aren't going to put him on the DL, and he is going to continue to suck.
That's just how it is in baseball, you have to play through pain to prove your manhood and to "help the team." Instead of taking some time to get healthy and trusting your teammates to do a decent job while you're getting right.

If some team can break through that mindset and get players to go on the DL when they need it, instead of playing terribly for months, they will have quite an advantage.

All players have to play through some pain, and it can be hard to judge where the line is, but Moreland and X are two cases this year where the players clearly should have been put on the DL and weren't. When there's a real injury that everyone knows about that is having an impact, and the guy is playing way below his standard for weeks, the team needs to step in.

 

[bankshot1]

He needs to sit at least couple of games. He is close to useless in that line-up. With the 9/1 call-up they can sit him and not DL him.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

Nevermind the callup, Pedroia should be back at 2B tonight or tomorrow and Nunez can go to SS

 

[theXman]

Huge fan of Bogaerts (as my username implies), and I've been generally disappointed with Bogaerts this year like most in this thread. Chalking a poor season up to injury without any data to support that claim is extremely unsatisfying, so I dove into the Statcast/Pitch FX data to try and see any differences between this year and the last two years. I basically analyzed every pitch he's seen in the majors, and compared his '17 season to the past two seasons.

Ultimately, I think the data shows that his hand injury has had a significant impact on his plate coverage and success against 4 seamers.

If you're interested, check out my analysis and writeup here - I have a couple density maps that I think are cool and show his lack of success on the inside third of the plate and his tendency to chase low and away - things that are unique to his '17 season.

Certainly not a bulletproof analysis - would love to hear from the smart folks here and see if it helps generate any other thoughts/hypotheses on X's performance.

Cheers!

 

[Rough Carrigan]

It doesn't explain his still being a lousy fielder.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Huge fan of Bogaerts (as my username implies), and I've been generally disappointed with Bogaerts this year like most in this thread. Chalking a poor season up to injury without any data to support that claim is extremely unsatisfying, so I dove into the Statcast/Pitch FX data to try and see any differences between this year and the last two years. I basically analyzed every pitch he's seen in the majors, and compared his '17 season to the past two seasons.

Ultimately, I think the data shows that his hand injury has had a significant impact on his plate coverage and success against 4 seamers.

If you're interested, check out my analysis and writeup here - I have a couple density maps that I think are cool and show his lack of success on the inside third of the plate and his tendency to chase low and away.

Certainly not a bulletproof analysis - would love to hear from the smart folks here and see if it helps generate any other thoughts/hypotheses on X's performance.

Cheers!

Excellent post and article. Hope he continues his hot streak.

 

[Sprowl]

Excellent post and article. Hope he continues his hot streak.

I agree. Welcome to SoSH, theXman!

 

[streeter88]

Huge fan of Bogaerts (as my username implies), and I've been generally disappointed with Bogaerts this year like most in this thread. Chalking a poor season up to injury without any data to support that claim is extremely unsatisfying, so I dove into the Statcast/Pitch FX data to try and see any differences between this year and the last two years. I basically analyzed every pitch he's seen in the majors, and compared his '17 season to the past two seasons.

Ultimately, I think the data shows that his hand injury has had a significant impact on his plate coverage and success against 4 seamers.

If you're interested, check out my analysis and writeup here - I have a couple density maps that I think are cool and show his lack of success on the inside third of the plate and his tendency to chase low and away - things that are unique to his '17 season.

Certainly not a bulletproof analysis - would love to hear from the smart folks here and see if it helps generate any other thoughts/hypotheses on X's performance.

Cheers!

Excellent article - good research and support of the hypothesis.

The only question I would have as a fan is have the plots changed in the past month that we can say he has addressed the weakness that developed during the middle of the regular season? Also, stats show X wasn't that great in June (.763 OPS) either after a scorching May (.949 OPS), so I guess I am wondering if a monthly split of his results would show whether the weakness developed before the injury, as well as whether X was able to address it once his wrist started to feel better.

I wish I worked in Sports and Data - I would hire you for sure!

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

From the article.....

September 11th on, the date where returned from rest to heal his hand, Bogaerts has slashed .307/.422/.440

inspires some hope. Sox will need every little scrap of offense to compete this playoff season. Here's to hoping we'll see another month of this line!

 

[smallball]

He should probably be benched for the rest of the post season.

 

[AB in DC]

Now that's the kind of deep, thought-provoking analysis that I come to the main board for.

 

[Montana Fan]

Now that's the kind of deep, thought-provoking analysis that I come to the main board for.

Here’s more.

He’s due.

 

[The Mort Report]

The biggest problem I've had is this stubbornness to keep him in the leadoff spot. Everyone keeps using the "all hands on deck" for the pitching staff, I don't understand why this isn't applied to the lineup. Regardless if you're in the "he's just not that good" camp or "its due to the injury," he's in a slump. If its in the middle of the season sure let him work through it, but with the hook that JF has for his pitching it baffles me he seems to apply the opposite logic to the lineup

 

[canyoubelieveit]

Is he one of the guys that had a cold / flu? Because he was actually looking very good from the leadoff spot at the end of the season, and I was looking forward to seeing if that meant his hand was finally healed and if he'd be a real contributor in the post-season. He certainly hasn't looked good though, and we can't afford more o-fer's from the leadoff spot. Who else could bat leadoff? I don't want Pedey there, Mookie should stay where he is, 10D might actually be a good choice but Farrell would never try that for the first time now. And other regular season options (Holt / Davis) are bad ideas.

I assume it will continue to be X, and either he'll get some hits or we'll be frustrated.

 

[smallball]

Here’s more.

He’s due.

Now that's the kind of deep, thought-provoking analysis that I come to the main board for.

What's to analyze? He can't hit. He needs to sit. If that's self-evident, it reflects on Farrell, not me.