I do, and that’s before they add another starter, which I expect them to do shortly after they put Hendricks on the 60-day IL.
Houck is a decent to good starting pitcher, and is one of the players whose repertoires best line up with those Bailey has helped in the past.
For years I’ve felt that the biggest advantage to being a big market MLB team is exactly what you suggest… having the flexibility to make mistakes.
This isn’t exactly true; the bulk of innings at SS, CF, and 2B were not from these guys. Hernandez (who was considered excellent defensively at this time a year ago, IIRC) and Duvall each played less than 500 innings at SS and CF, respectively. Valdez played 357 innings at 2B.
Seems to me the team was lacking a 3B who could play league average defense.
Wow.
I said “assuming better health than last years” yes. As in all 5 current starters are relatively healthy all season long. And that doesn’t equalize last year’s team’s health- only its record. I think as is, they’re good for 82-85 wins.
Devers of all people should STFU. Got the big bag of cash while on a last place team. Then proceeds to play absolutely embarrassing defense. Maybe play a little better?
Well Jensen has come out and said he was told the team that they would be in contention this year. You’d have to wonder with, Dever’s recent comments, if similar was hinted to when he signed his extension. I wouldn’t really blame them for speaking out if this were the case. We’ve heard Kennedy flip flop this offseason, so it’s not too difficult to take the players at their words. Ownership just doesn’t want to own up.
If the guy who led the team in WAR while providing decent value ($5M per win) can’t speak up, it sounds like you don’t want anyone to speak up. Or maybe you’d just rather have a gritty dirt dog who plays the game the right way do it.
Given the franchise, the fanbase and market, like you I would expect the Sox to be one of the teams that can live with bad deals.
No shit. If the longest tenured and best player on the club can’t speak up, who can/will?
I'll accept the correction, but Hernandez did have the most SS innings played on the team, in the midst of his 86-game, -1.5 fWAR season — worse on a rate basis than Pablo Sandoval's time in Boston — even if Valdez was second to Arroyo in 2B innings played and Duvall second to Duran in CF innings played.
This is what I've found confusing. There are some ways to improve the team without breaking the budget. It's strange to me that they've not even made more small, budget-friendly moves. Those moves are out there! I'm also a little surprised that they haven't made any "buy" trades; maybe guys like Yorke don't have as much value as some of us may have thought. But still.
Unfortunately Kenley was told that by the guy who got fired. I imagine if Devers was told the same it came from that guy as well.
They used to try. And they won 4 titles!
Do you have Breslow getting replaced by Bobby Valentine? Cause 2012 is the only full season since 1965 they've failed to win 70.
Absolutely. Dude wanted help last year at the deadline. Didn’t get it. Wanted help this offseason. Didn’t get it. I love that he’s fired up about it and I hope he continues to bring attention to the lackluster offseason and garbage messaging campaign from the front office, something that is now apparent to basically everyone paying attention.
Easily my favorite post of this sterling offseason. Sounds like Breslow won’t break camp with the team. And they’ll hate playing
No player on the Red Sox roster has had a better season than Kike Hernandez did since 2021. Let that simmer for a bit.
Wow - one of the leaders of SoSH's "anyone who questions the team's direction is an EEI caller" contingent comes out with a hot take ripped straight from Tommy in Quincy. What a complex character arc!
I think what he is trying to say is that Kiké put up 5 WAR in 2021, and no current Red Sox player has had a season that good since then.
He literally and measurably did more to help the Boston Red Sox win baseball games last year than any other human being. He's the single most productive employee in the whole company; he has more of a right to say whatever he wants than anyone else in the building.
He means that Kiké’s 2021 was a great season, the best by baseball-reference WAR of any of our recent player seasons (fifth by fWAR). It’s true!
Imagine it’s game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. The Bloody Sock Game. Instead of Orlando Cabrera at short, we had some stone-handed AAAA scrub. He makes a costly error, which eventually ties the game at 4, causing the game to go 24 innings. Curt could have bled out in that timeframe. All because of a front office afraid to make bold moves.
The feels cut both ways. You're not telling other people how to feel, are you?
Are you serious with this crap? If (and that’s a big if) that Mookie Betts didn’t want to re sign here, it’s this kind of mentality.
Okay, we shouldn't be surprised that some feel that way. Does that satisfy your need for lawyerly precision?
Maybe people assumed that he’d be a better player in his age 25 year than his age 24 year. I certainly did. Shouldn’t his next few years be his peak?
I don’t know what to tell you, because that number is lower than the ones from the two years before it. It’s pretty much backed by every other metric you’d care to look at. But it’s worth mentioning you’d expect an improvement in performance because Devers is entering his prime. It’s really besides the point, except that the outcome of Devers’ contract might play some role in how responsive ownership will be to the fans in the future.
He did.
What we can't expect is a nice neat linear progression. There are going to be some ups and downs.
I mean, whatever. He’s the holder of the largest contract in team history, by a cool hundred million over the next guy. The burden was already there. Rooting for him but there’s an outside chance that the deal is underwater already. More power to him for signing it, but you’re nuts if you think ownership doesn’t notice.
