36 replies to this topic

[Eck'sSneakyCheese]

Whats going on with the bats latetly? Game 3 is the only one in which this lineup has looked alive or at least played to potential. In that game they went 8-21 with runners in scoring position or roughly .380. Not bad, right? In the other 5 games they're 6-35 or about .171. That's atrocious. Is this just an inherent trait of Red Sox teams or can this be blamed on something or someone else? Is Magadan at fault for not teaching proper plate discipline or is it more of an individualised issue? Is it bad gameplanning overall by coaching?

In the 5 losses I've seen a total lack of patience at the plate. I'm beginning to wonder if this is some sort of hangover effect from last year and the entire team is just pressing in every at bat. You would think that even if that were the case though that coaching would see this and try to preach some focus or composure. I haven't looked at numbers but Salty and Ells jump out at me as being the two most impatient, just from what I've seen. Youks lack of ability so far is also troubling.

It's difficult to blame Magadan because of how good the offense as a whole was last year, but at some point how bad people have looked at the plate lately and going back into September too, has to fall on someone. Whether it's the players or the coaches I'm really not sure, but it needs to change and quick. It may just be too early to pin it on any one thing or person. I've been trying to pinpoint it but can't come to any definitive conclusion. It could be all of the above.

All I know is that right now Nick Punto has the third best OPS on the team and if that continues it's going to be an extremely long season.

[Sampo Gida]

They have faced some decent pitching and it is a SSS.

Every player goes through 20-30 AB stretches during a season where they don't hit well, team slumps come when you have too many players going through a bad stretch at the same time. When you are not seeing the ball well, you tend to chase bad pitches. We saw a lot of that with Bautista this series, not so much with Cabrera and Jackson.,

Maybe they did not get enough AB in ST, or maybe those group of players hate April. Also, friendly Fenway is a good recipe for limp bats. Rays pitching, not so much.

I think Pedey, A-Gon, Papi and Sweeney have been productive, even against the better pitching. If Youk and Ells are healthy, they should come around. Salty got off to a slow start last year as well, he should come around. Punto was lucky enough to get 60% of his AB in a blowout fest, don't read too much into his numbers.

Don't know much about Ross and Aviles, but they should hit better when we run into some bad pitching.

If they are still not hitting at the end of the month, maybe I worry, but I think offense is going to be the least of this teams problems when all is said and done.

[SpruceTrap]

Whats going on with the bats latetly? Game 3 is the only one in which this lineup has looked alive or at least played to potential. In that game they went 8-21 with runners in scoring position or roughly .380. Not bad, right? In the other 5 games they're 6-35 or about .171. That's atrocious. Is this just an inherent trait of Red Sox teams or can this be blamed on something or someone else? Is Magadan at fault for not teaching proper plate discipline or is it more of an individualised issue? Is it bad gameplanning overall by coaching?

In the 5 losses I've seen a total lack of patience at the plate. I'm beginning to wonder if this is some sort of hangover effect from last year and the entire team is just pressing in every at bat. You would think that even if that were the case though that coaching would see this and try to preach some focus or composure. I haven't looked at numbers but Salty and Ells jump out at me as being the two most impatient, just from what I've seen. Youks lack of ability so far is also troubling.

It's difficult to blame Magadan because of how good the offense as a whole was last year, but at some point how bad people have looked at the plate lately and going back into September too, has to fall on someone. Whether it's the players or the coaches I'm really not sure, but it needs to change and quick. It may just be too early to pin it on any one thing or person. I've been trying to pinpoint it but can't come to any definitive conclusion. It could be all of the above.

All I know is that right now Nick Punto has the third best OPS on the team and if that continues it's going to be an extremely long season.

Whats going on with the bats latetly? Game 3 is the only one in which this lineup has looked alive or at least played to potential. In that game they went 8-21 with runners in scoring position or roughly .380. Not bad, right? In the other 5 games they're 6-35 or about .171. That's atrocious. Is this just an inherent trait of Red Sox teams or can this be blamed on something or someone else? Is Magadan at fault for not teaching proper plate discipline or is it more of an individualised issue? Is it bad gameplanning overall by coaching?

In the 5 losses I've seen a total lack of patience at the plate. I'm beginning to wonder if this is some sort of hangover effect from last year and the entire team is just pressing in every at bat. You would think that even if that were the case though that coaching would see this and try to preach some focus or composure. I haven't looked at numbers but Salty and Ells jump out at me as being the two most impatient, just from what I've seen. Youks lack of ability so far is also troubling.

It's difficult to blame Magadan because of how good the offense as a whole was last year, but at some point how bad people have looked at the plate lately and going back into September too, has to fall on someone. Whether it's the players or the coaches I'm really not sure, but it needs to change and quick. It may just be too early to pin it on any one thing or person. I've been trying to pinpoint it but can't come to any definitive conclusion. It could be all of the above.

All I know is that right now Nick Punto has the third best OPS on the team and if that continues it's going to be an extremely long season.

We're talking about a team that lead the majors in offense last year and if anything, improved over the off-season. There's really nothing to worry about unless Gonzalez gets injured.

[Eck'sSneakyCheese]

Wasn't trying to come across as a reactionary post. Just a thought that I was having. I totally understand SSS, but they've just looked bad and it stems back into last year. We'll see what happens at the Fens over the weekend.

[Sampo Gida]

They scored over 5 RPG in September with an 804 OPS, althoiugh granted, the offense was uneven with a bunch of low scoring games sandwiched between some games where they scored a bunch of runs.

I go back to one of Earl Weavers old sayings, you are never as bad as you look when you are losing or as good as you look when you are winning..

[BostonBrahmin]

It's way too early to be worried about things like this. They're 11th in MLB in OPS+ right now (at 106). If we look up in early May and they're still on pace to score 715 runs, then we can worry.

[Eck'sSneakyCheese]

Yeah, I get that most things are relative, but it's not always as such, our offense looked better in the game 3 loss than it did in the game 4 win.

That's still a pretty good quote, BTW.

[SpruceTrap]

1/3 of our offense finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting last year. Plus, as already noted our offense was great even in September of last year. If you want to panic about the pitching, I may disagree but I'd understand. Worrying about our offense is like worrying about the return of polio.

Edited by SpruceTrap, 11 April 2012 - 09:26 PM.

[MikeM]

1/3 of our offense finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting last year. Plus, as already noted our offense was great even in September of last year. If you want to panic about the pitching, I may disagree but I'd understand. Worrying about our offense is like worrying about the return of polio.

Of course that last year included Ellsbury largely defying even the most optimistic projections on his potential ability up to that point, Ortiz having his best season (by significant margin) since 2007, MR. sub-.300 obp Salty helping to fuel that mid-season tear with 2 straight months of flukey 900 ops+ offense, and some fairly productive offense out of SS. The further declining Youk was also a year younger.

My money isn't on seeing a repeat level performance on any one of the above. I am however expecting some improvement in the OF once Ellsbury settles back into a still-productive reality, and when we are able to stop exposing Cody Ross to everyday at-bats. I love that Ortiz is starting out well too. But yeah....

It's still top shelf in comparison to most of our legitimate competition, and significantly better then some of the pretenders out there like Toronto, but this lineup isn't scoring 875 runs again in 2012. That's not SSS talk there either, that's just the overall probability of cold hard reality showing it's ugly face imo.

[MikeM]

Well, hopefully Ellsbury settles back into a still-productive reality at least.

Having Boras pumping that "you are almost there kid! i'll have a $100m offer from the Sox on the table by next winter, and $150m+ if we take it to free agency. More money then either of us ever imagined!!!" into his head all winter probably isn't helping.

[Sampo Gida]

Sure, there may be some regression with Jacoby and Papi, but projections for both were off since Jacoby had a lost season in 2010 and came back in great shape as he entered what should be his peak years as a hitter, and Papi changed his approach against LHP'ers thanks to A-Gon. Offense at SS, LF and RF collectively should be improved slightly. Scutaro had a great finish, and Lowrie had a great start, but in between, there was a lot of suck.

I don't see Pedroia regressing, and A-Gon should have a better season since he is 1 year removed from surgery and probably won't participate in the HR Derby. Depending on which theory you believe, one of the 2 issues was responsible for his poor 2nd half (powerwise). Youk, if healthy, should put up better numbers than last year as his 2nd half slide was not all due to decline, but due to injury. The only thing that should stop this team scoring as many runs as last year, short of significant injury, is stupid stuff like Punto batting leadoff, running into outs, 3rd inning SF bunts with 0 outs and 2 men on, etc. Also, significant help offensively may be on the way with Kalish replacing Sweeneys bat and Lavarnway replacing Shoppachs bat and a power bat off the bench.

note-for some reason I can not change the above from italic

Edited by Sampo Gida, 12 April 2012 - 12:18 AM.

[MikeM]

I don't see Kalish realistically presenting any "significant" help to this lineup. Lavarnway maybe, but that will be because we cut bait with Salty and he ends up seeing significant at-bats as the fill-in starter imo, not as a backup.

As far as i'm concerned, Sweeney + a lower volume dose of Ross should pretty much negate any need/chance we see much of Kalish at the MLB level in 2012 to begin with. Barring injury, of course.

[Eck'sSneakyCheese]

1/3 of our offense finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting last year. Plus, as already noted our offense was great even in September of last year. If you want to panic about the pitching, I may disagree but I'd understand. Worrying about our offense is like worrying about the return of polio.

I honestly wasn't trying to project anything going forward, or come across like we're doomed, I was hoping for some other ideas on what the issue was at the moment. I hardly think this is a foreshadowing of things to come. I believe that the talent on this team is too good to look the way it has for long. Hopefully Fenway is the cure for what ails.

Going forward I would've liked to see Ross' spring transfer into the regular season, but he's looked outmatched to this point. On the other hand Sweeney has performed pretty well. As far as Kalish goes I would think after all the injuries last year at best he's a September call up.

It would be great to see Lavarnway here earlier but it's only going to come to fruition if Salty is the backup and that's probably not going to happen. Would love to be proved wrong though.

The rest of the team I'm not overly concerned about with the one exception being Youkilis. His overall game has been last year Crawford ugly.

Edited by Eck'sSneakyCheese, 12 April 2012 - 08:25 AM.

[TOleary25]

They've scored more runs to this point than the team last year, it's a little early for any major concerns for an offense that should be top 5 if healthy. Youk is the only one I have a slight worry of at the moment but that's more concern about his age and coming back from an injury than anything.

[koufax37]

I'm mostly in agreement with Sampo, and not overly worried.

Ellsbury is showing some signs that 2011 might be an outlier and not a baseline, but I think he will heat up and be very productive even if he regresses. Papi similarly is at an age where some regression is to be expected, but I don't think it will be a drop off.

I expect Pedey and A-Gon to be more productive for health reasons.

I think Salty/Shop can be expected to match Salty/Tek, with the Lavarnway option moving that needle into positive territory at some point.

I expect Aviles to be better in 2012 than Scutaro is in 2012, but I'm not completely sure he will be better than Scutaro was in 2011, so while I am happy with the trade, I expect us to lose some production at the position.

I think we clearly get more out of the corners, with Sweeney/Ross/Kalish outperforming our miserable RF from last year, and Ross/McDonald/Crawford outperforming Crawford's miserable 2011 in LF. Our bench will also look better when Crawford returns and we drop the 13th pitcher and have Ross or Sweeney available to pinch hit.

So adding up the parts, I expect this team to be able to score more runs in 2012 than in 2011, with the one item I have left out: Youk.

He is an enigma to me right now. He is clearly in a slump, and shouldn't have any injury issues, and his age isn't itself a cause of this (but will affect his health and gradual decline going forward). I would not try to judge him by statistics because of SSS, but I have felt his approach and swings look absolutely miserable. He is a complicated guy without a simple swing, and with a big anger/complaining factor, so I would think it is more likely that he is in a prolonged slump than that he has forgotten how to hit or no longer has the physical tools. But he has looked so bad for so many swings so far, that I don't feel as certain about that as I know I should.

So if Youk is able to get back to some reasonable decline version of himself (keeping his OPS over 800, not necessarily over 900) I really am optimistic that these things will work out fine over 162. Otherwise I think we could be slightly weaker as a lineup, but still strong, and need to rely on our improved 3-4-5 starter performance to overcome our worsened bullpen and slightly worsened lineup.

[Trotsky]

I'm mostly in agreement with Sampo, and not overly worried.

Ellsbury is showing some signs that 2011 might be an outlier and not a baseline, but I think he will heat up and be very productive even if he regresses. Papi similarly is at an age where some regression is to be expected, but I don't think it will be a drop off.

I expect Pedey and A-Gon to be more productive for health reasons.

I think Salty/Shop can be expected to match Salty/Tek, with the Lavarnway option moving that needle into positive territory at some point.

I expect Aviles to be better in 2012 than Scutaro is in 2012, but I'm not completely sure he will be better than Scutaro was in 2011, so while I am happy with the trade, I expect us to lose some production at the position.

I think we clearly get more out of the corners, with Sweeney/Ross/Kalish outperforming our miserable RF from last year, and Ross/McDonald/Crawford outperforming Crawford's miserable 2011 in LF. Our bench will also look better when Crawford returns and we drop the 13th pitcher and have Ross or Sweeney available to pinch hit.

So adding up the parts, I expect this team to be able to score more runs in 2012 than in 2011, with the one item I have left out: Youk.

He is an enigma to me right now. He is clearly in a slump, and shouldn't have any injury issues, and his age isn't itself a cause of this (but will affect his health and gradual decline going forward). I would not try to judge him by statistics because of SSS, but I have felt his approach and swings look absolutely miserable. He is a complicated guy without a simple swing, and with a big anger/complaining factor, so I would think it is more likely that he is in a prolonged slump than that he has forgotten how to hit or no longer has the physical tools. But he has looked so bad for so many swings so far, that I don't feel as certain about that as I know I should.

So if Youk is able to get back to some reasonable decline version of himself (keeping his OPS over 800, not necessarily over 900) I really am optimistic that these things will work out fine over 162. Otherwise I think we could be slightly weaker as a lineup, but still strong, and need to rely on our improved 3-4-5 starter performance to overcome our worsened bullpen and slightly worsened lineup.

Pretty much nails it.
Expected regressions from certain players should be mostly covered by improvement from other positions, etc....

And then there's Youk, which, if he continues to fall off this cliff that he apparently is teetering on... our whole offense will be pretty hurt. He's a middle of the lineup guy, a .900 OPS hitter +/- a bit, and despite the optimism on Middlebrooks, I wouldn't paint anyone at AAA (Lavarnway included) as any sort of potential offensive savior this season.
I fear our offense will sink or swim according to Youk's production.

[alwyn96]

I honestly wasn't trying to project anything going forward, or come across like we're doomed, I was hoping for some other ideas on what the issue was at the moment.

Bad luck, and running into good pitchers. Boring, but the most likely answer.

And then there's Youk, which, if he continues to fall off this cliff that he apparently is teetering on... our whole offense will be pretty hurt. He's a middle of the lineup guy, a .900 OPS hitter +/- a bit, and despite the optimism on Middlebrooks, I wouldn't paint anyone at AAA (Lavarnway included) as any sort of potential offensive savior this season.
I fear our offense will sink or swim according to Youk's production.

I'm not sure why you'd assume that Youkilis is more important than say, Adrian Gonzalez (who Youkilis would probably cross the diamond to replace) or Dustin Pedroia (whose bat would probably be replaced with Iglesias or Nick Punto), but as long as Youk stays healthy he should be fine. The guy was battling a bad back/hip for a good part of the year, and was still an outstanding hitter when he played.

If Carl Crawford ever comes back and manages to pay off whatever gypsy put a curse on him, the Red Sox could probably weather a major injury to one of their stars and still have a top-5 offense.

Edited by alwyn96, 12 April 2012 - 05:33 PM.

[koufax37]

What is encouraging with Youk is that we have no physical reason to expect a dramatic decline.

And so far his line drive rate is about 1/3rd of his career numbers, and his ground ball rate (which has trended up over the last few years as a likely part of his bat speed aging) is more than double his career number. So regardless of whether he ends up being 750 OPS disappointing Youk, 850 OPS strong Youk, or 950 OPS fountain of youth Youk, he is going to have a pretty significant up trend from how he has impacted these first six games.

From visual evidence I think the probability is strong he will be 850 OPS strong Youk, and his slump is related to some correctable mechanical struggles, small sample size, and above average pitching, along with the psychological funk a hitter can get into.

To answer Alwyn96's question, the reason that Youk's production is more importan than A-Gon or Pedey is because he is much less predictable and certain. I think the chances that those two guys significantly underperform their recent career lines is pretty low, but we aren't sure with Youk.

In terms of staying healthy, yes, the other guys missing time would be a bigger impact, but I think this discussion is focusing on reasonable expected performance and playing time, and not on who would be the worst guy to break his thumb diving into a base.

Crawford is another big wild card. I think we are pretty sure to get more performance form his spot regardless (which isn't the case with Youk), but there is also the chance we could get a bounce back and get SIGNIFICANTLY more performance from his slot in a way that has a big impact on our total offense. I'm not holding my breath on that, but I certainly acknowledge the possibility and am hoping for it.

[Trotsky]

Yup. Not that any of our core is more important, more just that my confidence in Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz, Gonzalez are more solid and I'm not too certain how Youk will be going forward. My prediction (in that thread) on Youk was that he has a very solid (yeah... .850 OPS sounds good) first several months. Ends up on the DL for about 5 weeks, Middlebrooks comes up and shows some great stuff, and then Youk comes back up for the last two months and beats the snot out of the ball (1.000ish) OPS the remainder of the season. We decide to let him walk after the season and someone offers him a huge contract in which he plays only half the games due to injury.
Crawford also I have no idea if he'll be a sub .700 OPS guy or a plus .800 OPS guy anymore.

[koufax37]

I think Carl will benefit from the time off, not being a part of the pressure of the start of the season, and also benefit from a change of managers to the more aggressive Bobby V. I think he will get more time at the top of the order than he deserves, and that will help his confidence even if it hurts the ballclub.

If he is able to put the wrist behind him and be healthy, I expect a very solid rebound season for him. I don't think he will justify the contract and feel like a game changer, but I think he will be definitely valuable. If his wrist lingers it could make it a very tough year though, so he is as much of a wild card as Youk in terms of uncertainty between upside and downside.

[SpruceTrap]

Of course that last year included Ellsbury largely defying even the most optimistic projections on his potential ability up to that point, Ortiz having his best season (by significant margin) since 2007, MR. sub-.300 obp Salty helping to fuel that mid-season tear with 2 straight months of flukey 900 ops+ offense, and some fairly productive offense out of SS. The further declining Youk was also a year younger.

My money isn't on seeing a repeat level performance on any one of the above. I am however expecting some improvement in the OF once Ellsbury settles back into a still-productive reality, and when we are able to stop exposing Cody Ross to everyday at-bats. I love that Ortiz is starting out well too. But yeah....

It's still top shelf in comparison to most of our legitimate competition, and significantly better then some of the pretenders out there like Toronto, but this lineup isn't scoring 875 runs again in 2012. That's not SSS talk there either, that's just the overall probability of cold hard reality showing it's ugly face imo.

Of course that last year included Ellsbury largely defying even the most optimistic projections on his potential ability up to that point, Ortiz having his best season (by significant margin) since 2007, MR. sub-.300 obp Salty helping to fuel that mid-season tear with 2 straight months of flukey 900 ops+ offense, and some fairly productive offense out of SS. The further declining Youk was also a year younger.

My money isn't on seeing a repeat level performance on any one of the above. I am however expecting some improvement in the OF once Ellsbury settles back into a still-productive reality, and when we are able to stop exposing Cody Ross to everyday at-bats. I love that Ortiz is starting out well too. But yeah....

It's still top shelf in comparison to most of our legitimate competition, and significantly better then some of the pretenders out there like Toronto, but this lineup isn't scoring 875 runs again in 2012. That's not SSS talk there either, that's just the overall probability of cold hard reality showing it's ugly face imo.

Not buying it. Ortiz was not one of the top 10 MVP vote getters that I mentioned.

[MikeM]

So yeah, completely reserving the right to flip-flop my previous stance on Bobby V being this team's manager based on the post-Ellsbury lineup/s we see trotted out there in the near future.

You'd think it would have to be Sweeney that gets the ideal move up......but here's to hoping Aviles starts hitting asap.

[Eck'sSneakyCheese]

With Sweeney's production right now he would seem the likely choice to replace Ells at leadoff. If Sweeney continues and one of Ross and D-Mac can contribute regularly the OF wont be terrible, by all means it's not great, but it wont be awful. It looks as if Lin is going to be the added player to the bench, although his offensive numbers aren't good, he can be a more than serviceable pinch-runner/defensive replacement. I'm hoping someone else (Ciriaco/Spears) gets called up with Lin, and Thomas goes the way of the dino's. The bench really needs depth right now.

I wonder if the Lars to the outfield project comes into play now that there's a significant need.

Edited by Eck'sSneakyCheese, 14 April 2012 - 08:38 AM.

[koufax37]

Yes, without Ells, and with platoon split outfielders, I think Thomas has to go, and we have to have a little more thunder to mix in. I don't think we are quite ready for the LF version of Lars, and I don't think Lavarnway is benefitted most by the role available to him now, and I don't think Ciriaco/Spears adds that element yet. I think hanging in there until Crawford is back with a temporary callup probably makes the most sense. I wouldn't mind it being Lars or Lavarnway, but don't see it happening.

Ross and D-Mac have shown hitting righties recently, but I'm not so confident in Sweeney performing against lefties, or Lin performing offensively against anybody.

So what is the timeline for Crawford? Can't he be back up even at less than full speed as soon as his throwing elbow is ready? DH in minors until he can throw, then just a couple games in the OF before coming back? I know there is the 50 AB talk and getting timing back, etc., but given the circumstances of Lin getting meaningful at bats, Sweeney hitting against lefties, or Crawford coming back a few games before he is fully clicking, I would take the last option.

[MikeM]

So Aviles it is. I've personally always had a hard time attempting to balance an optimistic pov there with those 1535 PA in AAA (.328obp), and the fact he's been a sub.300 guy at the MLB level since that rookie year, but to each their own i guess. Definitely digging Bobby a little less today though.

Been attempting to scour the potential non-signs and/or minor league deal guys who could potentially pop up on the radar, given i'm fairly confident there's zero financial flexibility going into any potential trade front equation there. Not seeing much of anything.

Wonder how Magglio Ordonez's ankle is looking/feeling nowadays. Not that he was looking all that great before he went down.

[judes63]

So what is the timeline for Crawford? Can't he be back up even at less than full speed as soon as his throwing elbow is ready? DH in minors until he can throw, then just a couple games in the OF before coming back? I know there is the 50 AB talk and getting timing back, etc., but given the circumstances of Lin getting meaningful at bats, Sweeney hitting against lefties, or Crawford coming back a few games before he is fully clicking, I would take the last option.

Apparently they are planning on bringing Crawford back sometime next month: http://www.boston.co...aying_in_games/

My biggest fear about bringing him back a little earlier would be that he'd push himself too hard again and get another injury. He's already strained his throwing elbow while he's been on the DL.

[Sampo Gida]

Now that we have gone back to leading MLB in scoring, I guess the angst over the offense has lessened. Youk seems to have found the fountain of youth returning to Fenway and has ended his 24 AB walkless streak to boot.

However Jacoby being out for an extended time is going to hurt a bit, Can not afford an injury to one of Pedroia, A-Gon, Papi or Youk.

I don't mind Aviles leading off with Jacoby out, it was the idea of having him leading off and moving Jacoby out of the lead off spot that was nutty. Sweeney might be another option, but neither are another Jacoby at lead off. I think Aviles gets some better pitches hitting ahead of Pedroia and may be more productive capitalizing on these than Sweeney, especially at Fenway.

Edited by Sampo Gida, 14 April 2012 - 06:57 PM.

[alwyn96]

Man, Aviles leading off is the one thing that gets me. Why is he leading off? He's not that fast, he doesn't get on base, he seems particularly unsuited to it. I like Sweeney leading off way more. Dude at least gets on base - he's not going to steal a bunch of bases, but I think he's fast enough to score from 2B on well-hit singles ,and maybe go 1B-3B on well-hit balls to RF. That's about all you can ask. I don't think Aviles is much faster, if at all. Aviles leading off frustrates me way more than any bullpen silliness.

Edited by alwyn96, 17 April 2012 - 01:31 AM.

[alwyn96]

Also, that "strikeout" of Ross to end the game today was bullshit.

[MikeM]

I like Sweeney leading off way more. Dude at least gets on base - he's not going to steal a bunch of bases, but I think he's fast enough to score from 2B on well-hit singles ,and maybe go 1B-3B on well-hit balls to RF. That's about all you can ask. I don't think Aviles is much faster, if at all. Aviles leading off frustrates me way more than any bullpen silliness.

Well, Sweeney's career split hitting leadoff is .245/.294/.310, which is significantly lower then any spot he's hit in the lineup for his career other then 8th. SSS size there for sure mind you (235 PA), but then again it's relatively SSS's across the board atm, given how much Oakland slotted around.

Might simply boil down to a matter of Sweeney telling Bobby he'd be more comfortable *not* doing it, and Bobby going with the guy he feels is his next best option.

[alwyn96]

Might simply boil down to a matter of Sweeney telling Bobby he'd be more comfortable *not* doing it, and Bobby going with the guy he feels is his next best option.

It could be. There's so much stuff that happens behind the scenes that we can never know that it's hard to truly evaluate managerial moves. Guys have nagging injuries, they don't feel comfortable doing certain things, they're sick or have personal issues - fans can never really know everything that goes into a decision.

[Minneapolis Millers]

...
Might simply boil down to a matter of Sweeney telling Bobby he'd be more comfortable *not* doing it, and Bobby going with the guy he feels is his next best option.

Could be, but if you're Sweeney, a guy who (1) has never been an established regular, (2) is playing for a new team and new manager, and (3) could be fighting for PT when Ells, Crawford and Kalish are all healthy, are you really going to respond to a plan to bat you leadoff with, "Skip, I'm not actually that comfy batting first. I like 6th better"...? I doubt it.

I don't get the Aviles love from Bobby V. Really wish the media would push the question on him.

[The Best Catch in 100 Years]

While I think having a guy who is at least kind of a threat to steal leading off is good (leads to more fastballs for the heart of the order if he can get on) I agree that Sweeney's likely OBP is so much better that it's difficult to justify not choosing him over Aviles. Alternating lefties and righties for the first five or six lineup slots is also nice (Sweeney/Pedey/Gonzalez/Youkilis/Ortiz/Ross).

Edited by The Best Catch in 100 Years, 17 April 2012 - 04:06 PM.

[The Best Catch in 100 Years]

ugh double post

Edited by The Best Catch in 100 Years, 17 April 2012 - 04:05 PM.

[Sampo Gida]

Some concerns about the offense despite being 2nd in the league in runs scored after losing Jacoby and Youk who were hitting 192 and 219 respectively and a bad stretch of 5 games..

Red Sox have faced some good pitching. Using Pedroia as a proxy for the team since he played in every game, the oppRPA+ is 95, which means opposing pitchers the Red Sox have faced have allowed 5% fewer runs per PA than league average.

http://www.baseballp...php?cid=1096095

A-Gon and Pedey have yet to get hot, and Youk will be back in another week. My bet is the bats get hot again as the weather warms and they face lesser pitching.

People should not over react to a small number of games, but I guess that is human nature.

[Eck'sSneakyCheese]

I haven't fallen into the over react category yet but things haven't changed since my original post. They still lack plate discipline and they're stagnant with runners in scoring position. The 2nd in the league in runs scored is a little misleading due to a small sample and a few very high scoring games.

I agree that there's going to be a peak to this valley and warmer weather will bring better performances. They're just in a rut right now.

[sancap14]

Heart of the lineup just got shut down by a DH. The offense sucks. What the hell is Gonzo's problem?