I really couldn't tell that Cafardo wants Bard as the closer. Because he's only been tweeting about this since the beginning of March. #deadhorse
Its annoying, I HEARD you the first 100000000000 times Nick
I really couldn't tell that Cafardo wants Bard as the closer. Because he's only been tweeting about this since the beginning of March. #deadhorse
// Cafardo // But he's only struck out 3 times, so he's clearly not overmatched"He has not pulled the plug on Daniel Bard as a starter even though every baseball scout you speak to who watches this team knows that Bard should be the closer.
Blame Valentine? Go ahead, if you want to. That’s a sport in and of itself in Boston. But he hasn’t exactly been dealt a great hand."
From today's Globe. Dead horse still being beaten.
Also makes another pitch for Iglesias, he of the 2-18, 1 walk, no extra base hits start down on the farm.
now giving hitters a little different look with a fastball that’s moving in and out of the zone.
Fascinating.Jeremy Kapstein was the prominent agent in the old days, and his clients included many of the top players. Yet there was no fraternization among them unless they were on the same team.
No I did not. But I read somewhere that Johnny Damon was a great one for fouling off lots of pitches!Did you guys know that batters who foul off a lot of pitches get a pitcher's pitch count up?
The long-term contract part of the article was another paid political announcement from Scott Boras.A column that he probably wrote last summer while on the vacation at the beach.Last, and certainly least, Scott Atchison is
- Long-term deals: sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
- Players are more chummy than they used to be.
- Obligatory Kapstein (pere) and Damon references, with a dollop of first person thrown in ("We've been saying for a while....").
- Chris Sale practices throwing change-ups before the game! Nick and BFF JIm Rice have been telling people to do stuff like this forever!
- Nick is really, really hungry. The Moby Dick and Strasburger are mouth-watering contributions to our baseball knowledge.
- Zach Grienke might be an interesting free agent... but then again he might not.
- Bard should be a closer, because Neftali Feliz once got nervous during a start. "This one time... at band camp..."
More to the point, this has been the case for many years. I don't remember a time when David Ortiz et al weren't yucking it up with opposing players before games. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I'm with Nick and also find it off putting, but it's not as if something happened in the last, say, two years to justify that much space in a notes column today.The whole "chummy players not competing as hard" is baffling to me. It's not like this is football where someone might not lay as hard a hit on their buddy. I can't see any baseball player allowing his feelings for his competitor to work against his own self-interests. Or to use his logic, wouldn't he have more friends on his own team, and therefore be more inclined to compete harder?
A column that he probably wrote last summer while on the vacation at the beach.
* Long-term deals: sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
* Players are more chummy than they used to be.
Great point. Was going to post the same thing.I've been reading this bullshit since I started following baseball back in 1986 and Bob Gibson is always used as the barometer. I don't know Bob Gibson, but maybe the guy was a world-class prick.
https://twitter.com/#!/nickcafardo/status/192421901090553856Three Ks for Youkilis. Bad defensive play. Bobby V was right.
Not to mention, Cafardo could easily have tweeted something about BV being wrong to have questioned Youk as it's apparently had nothing but a bad effect on him given his performance last night. This would have been equally illogical.Holy fuck is that infuriating to read. This man has the Globe Sunday Baseball Notes, one of the most prestigious posts in all of sports journalism, and yet his take on things is so backwards, devoid of logic, and just generally stupid. In this one particular statement he:
1) Draws a result from an worthlessly small sample size. If any result can be drawn about a player because of a 3 K day with a bad play in the field, then by definition whatever that result is should be applied to almost every hitter in MLB, because they've all had days just like that. In fact, Youkilis must have never really cared given that this is the 30th time in his career he's had a 3 K game. And you know who must really not give a shit? Jason Bay, because he's struck out more times than Youkilis this season. I eagerly await his mea culpa on Jason Bay.
2) Completely misrepresents the original statement. The statement had zero to do with results, it only dealt with how "into" the game Youkilis has been compared to past seasons. Seasons in which he routinely did what now supposedly proves something is different.
It's shameful that such intellectual dishonesty and straight-up water carrying comes from someone with such an amazing pulpit. He's gone from old-timey cluelessness to straight up lying to his readership, all while taking on an air of arrogance about his own knowledge of the game.
Ugh...You know what Bobby Valentine’s problem is? He needs to find a hobby.
For years Dustin Pedroia and Terry Francona played cribbage before games (he also played with Tim Wakefield, George Kottaras, Mike Lowell and Chris Woodward).
From what I’ve seen, Valentine does none of that.
Maybe Bobby V can break out a scrabble game and play with Dustin and Youk before the game. Or maybe best-out-of seven hangman?
They might like him better.
Maybe he can pass them notes during the game, "Nice swing Youk." Or "Attaboy Dustin, just like we did it in Japan." Or "Thataway we throw that helmet Youk!"
Maybe after a good game, he can put a couple of Bobby V restaurant gift certificates in an envelope and put them in their lockers. Just make sure they’re at least $100 Bobby, or they’ll call you cheap.
Maybe a symbolic back-scratcher with a note, "I have your back."
Big group hug before the game, maybe?
Oh, and make sure in every TV interview, even if the pitcher has walked seven batters, don’t mention it. Just talk about how great he threw.
Would love to hear more suggestions on how Bobby V could improve his relationship with players.
I'm trying to figure out who he's mad at there. Francona? BV's critics? Pedroia? Everyone?Wow, Nick is acting like a petulant child.
I like what he's trying to do - change the culture in clubhouse. They shouldn't do things their old way as pedroia suggests.
Love the fact David Ortiz just busted down the first base line.
Of course Nick doesn't mention that pitches per plate appearance is a common stat that can be looked up on ESPN.com, or that the 2012 Sox are averaging 3.93 pitches per plate appearance, and the 2011 Sox averaged 3.96 P/PA, compared to the '03 and '04 juggernaut offenses which averaged 3.83 and 3.93 P/PA respectively. But Nick doesn't have the 30 seconds it took me to look that up.I feel in the last few years, the Sox have lessened the amount they used to work the count during each AB. Maybe I'm just dreaming, but I thought we used to get to bullpens earlier in games. Is there some sort of statistic for batters/teams like Average Pitches Per AB (APPAB) that is used to measure that sort of thing? If there is, might the Globe staff know what is the trend of the Sox in over the last five years or so?
Alex, Philadelphia
The Red Sox work the count better than any team in the game, right up there with the Yankees. That’s their strong suit. There are some very good starting pitchers in baseball right now. Look at the Tampa Bay, Yankees, Texas, Tigers, Toronto staffs. They’re all pretty good. So there’s less chance of getting their middle relievers.
What is going to happen, Nick? A trade, or WMB being promoted? Thanks for being clear.I believe the Red Sox will be trading Kevin Youkilis before the All-Star break. They need to bring up Middlebrooks. Do you agree?
Ted, Warwick, R.I.
Well Ted, it’s going to happen sometime, but not sure it will be this season.
Why bother taking the time to look it up when it's "got to be a record"?The other day I was wondering how much money in salary the red sox have on the DL or unable to play list. Bailey, Lackey, Crawford, Dice-K and now Ellsbury. Is this a Sox record or perhaps even a MLB record for salaries of injured players?
Jay, Tequesta, Fla.
I’m not sure we even have to look that one up. Got to be a record. You’re talking well over $60 million on the DL.
I was under the impression that injuries might affect bat speed, but Nick says otherwise, so it must be true. A-Rod is clearly a lock to stay healthy and put up 2007 type numbers.Your comment regarding Alex Rodriquez in today's Sunday paper was curious at best. He hits a home run and you say he hasn't lost bat speed. That sounds like the reaction of an emotional fan not a well respected columist. I'd rather let facts be the judge. And we'll not know better by the end of the year. A fairly steady decline since 207.
2007 -- 54 homeruns, 645 OBP, BB 95, 156 RBI's
2011 -- 16 homeruns. 461 OBP, BB 47, 62 RBI's
Paul, Chelmsford
How about injuries Paul? Any consideration of those? How can anyone just look at someone’s stats and indicate someone has declined? You don’t consider the major hip problems he’s had? He looks healthy now, so I guess we’ll just have to see how it ends up.
So defensive, Nick.How could you not know what was going on in the clubhouse last year?
Ray, Cape Coral, Fla.
So hostile, Ray. We certainly knew Rome was burning in September. You knew that too, by watching. As far as what goes on in the clubhouse during games, how would we know? Clubhouse closes an hour before the game and doesn’t reopen until about 15 minutes after. We’re in the press box, we’re not watching the game with a beer and package of fried chicken. For the record, fried chicken was never banned from the clubhouse.
good point... removingFWIW the Prime 9 and Padilla questions appear to be formatting errors: "Wondered what you think about this?... Ralph, Birmingham, Ala." and "Why is it so difficult for the media to pronunce Latino names ... Anonymous, Jamundía" being unbolded questions.
Evan Longoria made 3 errors last night, 2 of them on consecutive batters. Guess he REALLY isn't in to playing this year.
Except Ortiz did *not* bust down the first base line. He ran a bit harder than he usually does on a grounder to second, but turned in on and visibly increased his speed when the ball was bobbled. If he had been busting as Nick claims he was, he would have been safe.Love the fact David Ortiz just busted down the first base line.
https://twitter.com/...436432881725440
This.Except Ortiz did *not* bust down the first base line. He ran a bit harder than he usually does on a grounder to second, but turned in on and visibly increased his speed when the ball was bobbled. If he had been busting as Nick claims he was, he would have been safe.
This one made me laugh. Apropos of everything.Why bother taking the time to look it up when it's "got to be a record"?The other day I was wondering how much money in salary the red sox have on the DL or unable to play list. Bailey, Lackey, Crawford, Dice-K and now Ellsbury. Is this a Sox record or perhaps even a MLB record for salaries of injured players?
Jay, Tequesta, Fla.
I’m not sure we even have to look that one up. Got to be a record. You’re talking well over $60 million on the DL.
No, I don't believe there is one.Just out of curiosity, is anyone aware of a site that lists DL stints for players? I was trying to determine if Jeter and ARod were ever on the DL simultaneously (since that would probably $40mm on the DL just between 2 players) and discovered (in Nick's defense, I guess) that it's harder to figure out than I would've thought.
Dead on target here. Hard to fathom his childish animosity--can't believe that Pedroia or Youks would give him a second of their time after that.Wow, Nick is acting like a petulant child.
What is a beat reporter's primary job? To gather information that fans of the team wouldn't otherwise be able to get and then to serve it back to them in a compelling fashion.How could you not know what was going on in the clubhouse last year?
Ray, Cape Coral, Fla.
So hostile, Ray. We certainly knew Rome was burning in September. You knew that too, by watching. As far as what goes on in the clubhouse during games, how would we know? Clubhouse closes an hour before the game and doesn’t reopen until about 15 minutes after. We’re in the press box, we’re not watching the game with a beer and package of fried chicken. For the record, fried chicken was never banned from the clubhouse.
I’ve said for weeks that after Bailey went down, the starting experiment with Daniel Bard had to be scrapped. Bard can be an effective starter and he is Sunday night’s starter, weather permitting.
But given the needs of this team right now, Bard would solidify the bullpen, putting other pieces in the right places.
Then you recall veteran Aaron Cook from Pawtucket and make him the fifth starter.
Doesn’t that work better?
As is Shank. Blessing in disguise at this point.The Sunday Notes appear to be subscription only now.
Sad I have read them since Gammons started them back when I was a kid. There is zero chance I will pay for them. At least the NY Times let you read 10 articles a month for free. Oh well death of another tradition.The Sunday Notes appear to be subscription only now.