How many players will Sox be without for the Jays series? Houck for sure. JDM, I think? Is there anyone else major that will miss that we know of? I know X did get the vaccine. I cant recall anything about Devers.
Pete Abe says JDM was on his way to Toronto last night.How many players will Sox be without for the Jays series? Houck for sure. JDM, I think? Is there anyone else major that will miss that we know of? I know X did get the vaccine. I cant recall anything about Devers.
Not before June. At least for the Casas part. Shaw could be jettisoned anytime as long as they come up with an alternative back-up for 1B.When do they make the move to DFA Shaw and promote Casas?
MLB and MLBPA have agreed to delay going to a 13-pitcher limit on Monday, May 2. It will now go into effect on May 30. But the rosters still drop in size from 28 to 26 on Monday.
We have a legitimate 1B, he's presently in Worcester. Not resigning Schwarber makes sense if you believe Casas will give you roughly the same production but for a fraction of the cost.Hell, Schwarber is way more fun than the current crap at 1B. I haven't looked at his contract, but he's 100× more entertaining than Dalbec and Shaw. He's also better.
I'm currently reading Speier's book Homegrown and it talks about Cherrington's Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 of the rebuild after 2011/12 - I agree this feels like an end of Phase 2 type of scenario as he describes it (I'll have to add quote when I get home as I don't have the book on me)A couple things I'm repeating in my daily mantra is that Chaim is a very patient GM and Cora is a very patient manager and it all paid off last season. I believe they are in the final stages of a rebuild. Teams aiming for an immediate World Series title don't sign an 84 year old left handed starter, a rehabbing former ace, have two platoons featuring JBJ, Arroyo, Shaw and Dalbec (who barely played in the playoffs) and are at a crossroads with their two most valuable players.
While the current play is difficult to watch at times, I'll be fascinated to see where they are in June when several of the players almost certainly will no longer be on the roster.
They’re 7-11.As of today the Sox are 7-10.
Fun fact: both the 2021 World Series teams (Astros and Braves) started 7-10.
I agree with others that this is a long season and especially with a 3rd Wild Card and an abbreviated Spring it feels like the team is taking April/May to evaluate their options.
Fair point change it to “As of yesterday”They’re 7-11.
On Bichette’s grand slam Danish missed with his first pitch, a fastball low and away. The second pitch was exactly the same, except in the strike zone and Bichette was ready for it. What I don’t know is if it was the call or the execution that was faulty.View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1519149442523627521?s=20&t=g4DNAABL1WnbUnOb_CHLFg
Whoever is calling pitches and/or doing advance scouting need to be reassigned. This was amateur hour. Last pitch was right down the dick to Springer who did the only thing he could so with that which was to hit it to Altair V.
Celtics are a pretty good lesson to not judge too early. Things can come together in ways that are surprising and sometimes the difference between winning and losing is not a massive thing but a series of smaller things. Only a little more than 10 percent of the way in.As of yesterday the Sox were 7-10.
Fun fact: both the 2021 World Series teams (Astros and Braves) started 7-10.
I agree with others that this is a long season and especially with a 3rd Wild Card and an abbreviated Spring it feels like the team is taking April/May to evaluate their options.
Sorry, just seeing this. I only keep mentioning 10 years because a few posters mention signing him at any expense. If he is willing to sign a deal for 8/200, no one is having this argument. I am not against signing Devers long term, at all. It's the notion that one player makes the team and that life won't go on without Devers. If the team stops spending money all together, then I'll complain. If the team decides signing Trevor Story is better value mid term than Xander Bogaerts long term... not so much.What would you think of a Devers deal that 7 or 8 years with a bit more AAV?? In your posts you keep trying to push that Devers is asking for a 10 year deal when there's no evidence that's the case.
I know I sound like a broken record, and I agree that Vazquez is not as good as he was. Who was available that would have been an upgrade and would have fit into the budget? I'm thinking Jose Trevino just based on his numbers this year but I don't really know if he is a real upgrade or notI don't know if Vazquez makes the calls or just passes the calls along, but either way... I really didn't want to see him on the '22 team. He'll occasionally have a big hit but otherwise he's cooked. He's been cooked for 2 years. He appears mentally lazy and prone to boneheaded decisions to me (yes, I don't know him personally....) and as a Defacto captain of the team, I complained last season that it appeared that he was rubbing off on his teammates not in a good way.
In baseball, after the first 40 games is a good time to look and analyze what you have. In basketball, that's the half way point. You usually know by then. Of course, the C's were well beyond the half way point of the season and still looking like garbage. They aren't really the norm.Celtics are a pretty good lesson to not judge too early. Things can come together in ways that are surprising and sometimes the difference between winning and losing is not a massive thing but a series of smaller things. Only a little more than 10 percent of the way in.
That said, baseball is not basketball. Fewer moving parts in basketball and easier to turn things around.
Still, it is very early days. I'm not an idiot and can see the glaring holes and there is every reason to suspect that the things in the roster that are a problem are not going to get better overnight. And this division is grueling. In short, there's a decent chance that we're a 7-11 team and that's what we're going to be. Maybe that's even the most likely possibility, but it's not the only one.
Well, we know they're 7-11, in fourth place in the division, 5.0 games out of first, and that two of their ostensibly best pitchers won't even be here for another couple of months at the earliest.In baseball, after the first 40 games is a good time to look and analyze what you have. In basketball, that's the half way point. You usually know by then. Of course, the C's were well beyond the half way point of the season and still looking like garbage. They aren't really the norm.
We are 18 games into the season. I'm not sure we know anything.
The 2007 team was pretty dull. I honestly don't care about theatrics or eccentric personalities as long as they are winning and thus far there has been no proven correlation between eccentric personalities and winning.Winning if fun, and losing not so fun. But there is interesting losing and less interesting losing. Like, a losing team with a lot of budding young players, who hasn't put it together quite yet, can be interesting. A team with dynamic personalities can be interesting even if they're losing.
Is it just me, or is this current iteration of the Sox kinda ... boring?
It seems to me, they're being made in the image of their architect: mild, moderate, undramatic. Boring.
Nothing unlikable necessarily, but good lord is this team not particularly fun. No electric athletes. No eccentrics. No Mannys, no Big Papis or Pedros or Pedeys or Millars, no outrageous fielding subs like Peewee, no Native American flashes like Ellsbury, no transcendent athletes like Mookie, no flame throwing clowns like Pap, no fun-loving Japanese magicians like Koji, no Tiants or Freddies or Pudges or Roosters, or Mos, or Cocos, or human vacuum Gonzalezes, or preternatural big nosed palindrome Nomars, or loose cannon Oil Cans, or against my better retrospective judgement bloody sock Schillings, no crazy Carls, no latter day Cansecos or Hendersons, or knuckling Wakes, or glove in your face Captains, no chicken OCD wizards, or Hendus or Deweys or Flyin Hawaiians.
We do have X, who I love (though mild-mannered in his own way), who, as the writing on the wall suggests, is being replaced by a boring Story. Betts replaced by Renfroe replaced by the shell of JBJ. ERod replaced by Wacha (yes he is pitching well, but, kinda zzzzzz). Devers is very fun - though what are the odds they keep him? And who will replace him - Dalbec to third? And while certainly unintentional, they are also a team that is becoming progressively white.
There are some promising young guys on the way perhaps ...but what we have now ... what is this exactly? It could be various things on the stat sheet after 162, but on the field they areborderlinesoporific.
Not sure you can call a team with Pedroia, Youk, Manny, Ortiz, Schilling, Papelbon, Dougie, Beckett, and Tavarez dull. They weren't the "Idiots" of '04 but they had a ton of personality and personalities.The 2007 team was pretty dull. I honestly don't care about theatrics or eccentric personalities as long as they are winning and thus far there has been no proven correlation between eccentric personalities and winning.
Vazquez is still one of the better defensive catchers in the league, and probably an average one overall. Weird stuff happens (like standing up and blocking the ump's view of that missed strike 3 call to Choi the other night) but I wouldn't say he's mentally lazy or prone to boneheaded decisions or anything.I don't know if Vazquez makes the calls or just passes the calls along, but either way... I really didn't want to see him on the '22 team. He'll occasionally have a big hit but otherwise he's cooked. He's been cooked for 2 years. He appears mentally lazy and prone to boneheaded decisions to me (yes, I don't know him personally....) and as a Defacto captain of the team, I complained last season that it appeared that he was rubbing off on his teammates not in a good way.
I'm just a lousy lurker, but I think you could have stopped there.This is a fun team, they're just losing. Often, it seems, in the most dramatic way possible.Winning if fun, and losing not so fun.
Good post!I'm just a lousy lurker, but I think you could have stopped there.This is a fun team, they're just losing. Often, it seems, in the most dramatic way possible.
The new* guys are interesting. Story is an extraordinary (could play many sports at a high level) athlete and shows it off every night. Strahm is a goofball baseball card nerd with a Youtube channel and headbanger hair . Read this story about Diekman. AND Dick Mountain* fer cryin out loud.
I think we know what we have personality and play-style wise with Devers, Bogaerts, Eovaldi, and the like. Everyone seemed to think they were pretty fun at least since, say, 2018. But maybe you need a reminder that Kiké Hernandez is one of the most entertaining players in the game.
I even think Bob and Barnes are fundamentally likable despite their struggles.
This is a good squad that I think is easy to root for, especially if we stop scouring them as some sort of projection of the GM's psyche.
I honestly would have been fine with Plawecki as the primary starting catcher, Wong receiving 2/5 starts. Keeping an eye on Hernandez in AAA for defensive improvement.I know I sound like a broken record, and I agree that Vazquez is not as good as he was. Who was available that would have been an upgrade and would have fit into the budget? I'm thinking Jose Trevino just based on his numbers this year but I don't really know if he is a real upgrade or not
Yeah, what a spicy take. Pedroia in the World Series ("Ask Jeff f--king Francis who the f--k I am. I'm the guy who hit a bomb and just ended their f--king season."); Jon Lester, having beat cancer, returning and winning the clinching game of the WS; Beckett lights out and thowing a shutout in the playoffs; the quintessential Manny home run.... And I haven't even mentioned my free taco at Taco Bell or the large father.Not sure you can call a team with Pedroia, Youk, Manny, Ortiz, Schilling, Papelbon, Dougie, Beckett, and Tavarez dull. They weren't the "Idiots" of '04 but they had a ton of personality and personalities.
Luckily that is still an option.I honestly would have been fine with Plawecki as the primary starting catcher, Wong receiving 2/5 starts. Keeping an eye on Hernandez in AAA for defensive improvement.
Going by the early results, I wouldn't call it lucky. They've all hit worse than Christian. I'm not a fan of Christian either but the alternatives are just as ugly. The C spot is a pretty weak one in the organization. Enderso Lira could help but he's forever away and could just as easily bust.Luckily that is still an option.
One of the highlights of my baseball fandom is drunk Papelbon doing an Irish step dance on the mound after beating the Indians. I couldn't find good video of that celebration, maybe someone could help me out.Not sure you can call a team with Pedroia, Youk, Manny, Ortiz, Schilling, Papelbon, Dougie, Beckett, and Tavarez dull. They weren't the "Idiots" of '04 but they had a ton of personality and personalities.
I do enjoy these details you offered - certainly not aware of the stuff about Diekman or Strahm, thanks for these links (though couldn't access the story on Story).I'm just a lousy lurker, but I think you could have stopped there.This is a fun team, they're just losing. Often, it seems, in the most dramatic way possible.
The new* guys are interesting. Story is an extraordinary (could play many sports at a high level) athlete and shows it off every night. Strahm is a goofball baseball card nerd with a Youtube channel and headbanger hair . Read this story about Diekman. AND Dick Mountain* fer cryin out loud.
I think we know what we have personality and play-style wise with Devers, Bogaerts, Eovaldi, and the like. Everyone seemed to think they were pretty fun at least since, say, 2018. But maybe you need a reminder that Kiké Hernandez is one of the most entertaining players in the game.
I even think Bob and Barnes are fundamentally likable despite their struggles.
This is a good squad that I think is easy to root for, especially if we stop scouring them as some sort of projection of the GM's psyche.
It was remarked on heavily over the offseason that C is a point of concern for almost every team. The Sox almost landed Jacob Stallings before the lockout, so it's not like they weren't looking to improve on the position (he's hitting for a 49 OPS+ now, compared to Vazquez's 58... and is a year older)Going by the early results, I wouldn't call it lucky. They've all hit worse than Christian. I'm not a fan of Christian either but the alternatives are just as ugly. The C spot is a pretty weak onein the organizationacross all of baseball. Enderso Lira could help but he's forever away and could just as easily bust.
Daniel Flores would be 22 years old. Who knows if he would have worked out, but the Redsox gave him $3.1 million and he was one of the higher ranked international prospects.
I'd rather see him in the outfield.Cordero getting 1B starts again, something to watch.
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1519813361625886720
Deja vu all over again.Cordero getting 1B starts again, something to watch.
View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1519813361625886720
I sure hope they are ready to splurge in the outfield should a 27-year-old five-tool player with a record of sustained excellence at baseball’s next-highest level ever become available.That and the fact they aren't really investing in the positions right now, so they are playing matchups until they are ready to splurge in the outfield and wait for Casas. If they squeeze a little extra value out of them great.
Or even a poor man's Rusney Castillo.I sure hope they are ready to splurge in the outfield should a 27-year-old five-tool player with a record of sustained excellence at baseball’s next-highest level ever become available.
Well, we're certainly poised if one or more of our ML OF or 1B options stink up the joint - poised. Absolutely poised. Just in case that ever were to happen.
Used a couple paper towels to clean up the sarcasm dripping from my monitor this morning...very well done.I sure hope they are ready to splurge in the outfield should a 27-year-old five-tool player with a record of sustained excellence at baseball’s next-highest level ever become available.
Maybe its a simple as the point made upthread about limited benches meaning more position flexibility, but this remains one of the most curious aspects to me of the roster management. JBJ in RF indicates they care about defense, but hot swapping players into new roles (midseason Schwarber for example) seems like pretty qualitative choice rather than quantitative. I know there exists research for players moving down the traditional defensive spectrum but this seems less deterministic.Have they considered acquiring players who actually play the position of need? Seems like an obsession over the last years with teaching players how to play new positions.