Protecting the Shields -- The Nick Cafardo Thread

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Zedia

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The initial mockery wasn't for his suggesting they trade Ellsbury, it was because Nick thinks only a "pink hat" would support the other side of the argument. Cafardo's really in no position to feel superior to anyone.
 

Smiling Joe Hesketh

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Things Nick tells us today:

- The Sox should hire Brad Ausmus,
- He should be allowed to pick his own coaches
- except that the Sox should hire Rick Peterson to be pitching coach
- and the Sox should interview Martinez, Pena, Wallach, Hale, Mills, Wotus, Martinez, Maddux, and Righetti
- and then still hire Ausmus

And then he says this:
It did make sense to go after someone like Valentine, but that didn’t work out because nobody was ever on the same page and Valentine never had a chance with the numerous injuries and brush fires.
I thin he's just fucking with us at this point.
 

E5 Yaz

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It did make sense to go after someone like Valentine, but that didn’t work out because nobody was ever on the same page and Valentine never had a chance with the numerous injuries and brush fires.


I love this line of logic. What Nick is saying is that it would have worked out for BV had most everything gone well. Gee.

The sad thing is that Cafardo's contract is harder to get rid of than ARod's
 

wutang112878

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Was the entire last paragraph written by LL??

The Red Sox seem to be at a different place than they were at this time last season, when Dale Sveum or Torey Lovullo didn’t make sense for a team that had just collapsed but still had veteran presence. It did make sense to go after someone like Valentine,....
Its really a completely unnecessary and irrelevant paragraph, considering the majority of the article discusses the guys the RedSox are currently interviewing, then he throws in this in and it seems completely unrelated.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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ts really a completely unnecessary and irrelevant paragraph, considering the majority of the article discusses the guys the RedSox are currently interviewing, then he throws in this in and it seems completely unrelated.
One could say it was apropos of nothing. Pretty much like the last half of his writing career.
 

bloodysox

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Things Nick tells us today:

- The Sox should hire Brad Ausmus,
- He should be allowed to pick his own coaches
- except that the Sox should hire Rick Peterson to be pitching coach
- and the Sox should interview Martinez, Pena, Wallach, Hale, Mills, Wotus, Martinez, Maddux, and Righetti
- and then still hire Ausmus

And then he says this:


I thin he's just fucking with us at this point.
Thinking about it more, there's a bigger chance that he's just a lazy moron.
Cafardo is never not worthy of being mocked. That should be tattooed on the inside of your eyelids so it's the last thing you see before you fall asleep.
Soon to be the 28th amendment.
 

wutang112878

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Did anyone catch this in Cafardo's article yesterday? In the article Nick slightly criticizes Theo for signing Crawford, but starts off his article by saying:

There are players who should never have left Boston. Fred Lynn, Carlton Fisk, Nick Esasky, Bruce Hurst, Victor Martinez, Jason Bay, to name a few.
If he was pointing out that Bay could handle the pressure in Boston, sure that makes sense. But considering Bay has fallen off a cliff with the Mets, I think its fair to say that Theo got that one right and in hindsight Bay should have left.
 

Corsi

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Did anyone catch this in Cafardo's article yesterday? In the article Nick slightly criticizes Theo for signing Crawford, but starts off his article by saying:



If he was pointing out that Bay could handle the pressure in Boston, sure that makes sense. But considering Bay has fallen off a cliff with the Mets, I think its fair to say that Theo got that one right and in hindsight Bay should have left.
He says this over, and over, and over. It's almost creepy.
 

E5 Yaz

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If he was pointing out that Bay could handle the pressure in Boston, sure that makes sense. But considering Bay has fallen off a cliff with the Mets, I think its fair to say that Theo got that one right and in hindsight Bay should have left.
Much of Bay's falling off a cliff with the Mets is due to injury. You can't assume that the same things would have happened to him had he stayed in Boston.
 

JimBoSox9

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Much of Bay's falling off a cliff with the Mets is due to injury. You can't assume that the same things would have happened to him had he stayed in Boston.
It's the Mo Vaughn argument 2.0. We can talk all day about what Bay's career arc would have been if he stayed in Boston. What you can't do is point at Bay as an example of someone who it hurt the Sox to let go because we just simply don't know. This is what Cafardo does and it's treating a fairly plausible theory as fact. The weird part is that he almost never acknowledges that Bay fell off a cliff and that he's making a "what-if" argument. When he writes about it, nine times out of ten he makes it sound like Bay is a perennial All-Star.
 

Van Everyman

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Except wasn't one of the earliest--and biggest--injuries to Bay the concussion he got when he crashed into the fence at Citi? I hate Cafardo's trolling as much as the next guy. But that seems like a fairly freak thing.
 

Corsi

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Letting Bay walk was one of this organization's best decisions and proved that they learned their lesson from the Mike Lowell contract. Why Cafardo is still hung up on this is beyond me.
 

Super Nomario

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Jason Bay is one thing ... but Nick Esasky? He retired due to vertigo 9 games into a 3-year contract with the Braves. What is Cafardo suggesting would have happened if the Red Sox re-signed him?
 

TheoShmeo

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We may as well forget about that whacky sabermetric stuff. Who can even keep track of it all?!?

From today's Globe Notes column:

1. As the Red Sox give the godfather of sabermetrics, Bill James, more authority on baseball decisions, one veteran scribe pointed out, and it’s true, “You have two teams in the World Series who are the least sabermetrics-oriented teams in baseball.”
 

JimBoSox9

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We may as well forget about that whacky sabermetric stuff. Who can even keep track of it all?!?

From today's Globe Notes column:
Detroit was 2nd in the AL in OBP, and San Fran ranked 4th in the NL. Each were 5th in their leagues in IBB allowed. Detroit was 2nd in the AL in K/9 and K/BB.

I'd kill a man for the Sox to be as anti-saber as that. I'd imagine that Nick's "veteran scribe" pretty much entirely thinks that Sabermetrics is about not liking to bunt.
 

PedroKsBambino

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The one thing you can say about both teams, and especially the Tigers, that is anti-sabermetric is they are willing to pay for current performance and risk contracts 'looking bad' down the road.

Of course, Carl Crawford says 'hi' too on that theory of building a team, so....
 

Steve Dillard

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Detroit was 2nd in the AL in OBP, and San Fran ranked 4th in the NL. Each were 5th in their leagues in IBB allowed. Detroit was 2nd in the AL in K/9 and K/BB.

I'd kill a man for the Sox to be as anti-saber as that. I'd imagine that Nick's "veteran scribe" pretty much entirely thinks that Sabermetrics is about not liking to bunt.
OBP no longer tells us the teams are pro-saber or anti-saber. We're past 2000 now, when those were the measuring sticks. A half decade ago it became trying to quantify wholistic value by incorporating defense and speed rather than just focusing on traditional hitting skills. I'd say playing Cabrera at 3B, Fielder at 1B, Sandoval at 3B (and remember playing the fat Juan Uribe at SS?) pretty much is anti the fangraphs "Carl Crawford's speed and defense make him a $25 million per year WAR player."
 

wutang112878

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How and why do Nick's editors let him write this next sentence :

The Mets parted ways with Bay Wednesday with still a year remaining on his contract. He was due to earn $16 million and a $3 million buyout of his contract for an option year in 2014.

They just paid him $21M to go away and open up a roster spot, but he still 'never should have left'. Nick isnt just lazy he seems to truly be stupid.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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I think Nick is saying Bay should never have chosen to leave, and that had he not left, he'd still be good. I think. It's hard to say whether he, like, blames the Sox for ruining his career by not offering him a fat contract or something.

Regardless, it's beyond absurd that he continues to beat this horse. NO ONE CARES WHAT HAPPENS TO JASON BAY NOW, NICK. You're Sox beat writer. Stop flogging a guy that barely anyone even remembers from his short stint. Sure, he could hit, but he was maybe the single worst defensive left fielder I've ever seen play in Fenway. In retrospect, I'd still rather they rolled the dice with Crawford.
 

BobVealeFan

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“In 2012, Troy Tulowitzki had 8 doubles and 8 homers, 19 walks and 19 whiffs, 2 steals and 2 times caught stealing, and a .486 slugging percentage and a .486 OPS.”
So his OBP was .000?

Actually Baseball reference shows OBP .360 and OPS .846 which adds up. It must have been a typo where he wanted to show a sort of palindromic relation between SLG and OPS.
 

OttoC

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So his OBP was .000?

Actually Baseball reference shows OBP .360 and OPS .846 which adds up. It must have been a typo where he wanted to show a sort of palindromic relation between SLG and OPS.
Well, if his OBP was .000, then his SLG must have been .000, too. However, he was using data from Bill Chuck, so we do not know for certain who made the typo.
 

Dummy Hoy

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My favorite part was when he mentions the newfangled stats like WAR, VORP, UZR, and PECOTA. What exactly does PECOTA measure, Nick?

I don't care if someone doesn't like some of the newer all encompassing statistics, but does he have to be so ignorant?
 

joyofsox

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Refers to former Red Sox "Jed Lowrey" in the current mailbag.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2012/11/ask_nick_10.html
 

Spud

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I didn't notice the typo on Lowrie, but this nugget jumped out at me. It's in response to a question about a possible deal with the Rays for David Price:

"I like your thinking and your matchups are great except for the one where Jacoby Ellsbury goes to Tampa Bay. No way the Rays can afford that. I just never believe these two teams would make a deal. I never see Andrew Friedman anyway near Ben Cherington."

So can the Rays not afford Ellsbury this year, or are you talking about affording him after this year?

Why don't you ever believe the Rays and Sox could make a deal? Is it this deal? Some other deal? Any historical perspective that you can point to?

And most obviously, what the hell does the last sentence mean? Do they have to be standing next to each other in order to make a deal? If that's not what you meant, what did you mean?

If I had asked the question, which was a pretty good one, I would be tremendously disappointed with the answer.

But the beat goes on. Why the Globe has this knucklehead writing every day and Chad Finn writing once or twice a week is beyond me.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Someone should tell Cafardo that "Long time Astro Carlos Lee" was traded to the Marlins last year.

And honestly, I know it's a small nit to pick but it's really part of the sum that make up the shitty parts.
 

Corsi

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Is Josh Hamilton in nashville?
https://mobile.twitter.com/nickcafardo/status/275439552766803968#!/nickcafardo/status/275439552766803968
 

wutang112878

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I really can not believe he wrote this:

You saw what the Angels did. It’s probably what the Red Sox should have done. They should have made a splash and signed Josh Hamilton, one of the best players on Earth, warts and all.

But five years for Hamilton is a great deal. It was an affordable deal for the Red Sox and not the seven- or eight-year commitments they were trying to stay away from.

But they chose to stick to their plan of good value players at lower cost and years and we’ll see how that turns out.
It sounds ridiculous to justify a move with 'make a splash' logic. But its as if he didnt realize that the Crawford contract wasnt a mistake because it was 7 years, but because he was never going to be worth what they were paying him yearly, and that was a problem in the first few years not the 5th and 6th.
 

sox sufferer

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To me that says the Globe should consider hiring headline writers who can pass 6th grade English.
Or a proofreader!

I don't agree with that article that the Sox should have gone after Hamilton. High maintenance and would need a babysitter. Excellent ballplayer but Bradley is coming up with excellent upside to his game so don't need the Hamilton headache for all those years.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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The timely reporting of Nick Cafardo:




Updates on nine

1. Nick Swisher, OF/1B, free agent — The Red Sox are trying to avoid losing a draft pick, which is why they haven’t gone real deep with Swisher yet. However, the longer this Mike Napoli contract dispute goes on (over concerns about his hip) and the longer Swisher is out there, could there be a match? The timing may not be right, as Swisher seems to be closing in on where he might play. The Indians are making a compelling case, but it’s hard for a player to project Cleveland as a winning situation given their financial restraints.

2. Joel Hanrahan, RHP, Pirates — The Red Sox and Dodgers are competing for him, but which team has the starting pitcher to meet Pittsburgh’s demands? The Dodgers have Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang, and the Red Sox haveFranklin Morales and Alfredo Aceves. Not sure any of those four will get it done, as the Pirates may be thinking more along the lines of Felix Doubront. Even with Francisco Liriano signed to a two-year deal, the Pirates are looking for one more starter.

6. Cody Ross, OF, free agent — The Rangers remain interested, and it appears they will have to dive into the Ross/Michael Bourn market in an effort to replace Josh Hamilton and Michael Young. Ross was surprised that the Red Sox didn’t make him a top priority, but now the Phillies also have some interest.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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Ya, I'm sure the Pirates would be very interested in Doubront for Hanrahan. I'm sure they'd also be interested in Dustin Pedroia, Clay Buchholz, Fenway Park, the Samuel Adams Brewery, and the ghost of Ted Williams. Solid reporting Nick, no need to bother with common sense or even a hint of reality.
 

David Laurila

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The timely reporting of Nick Cafardo:




Updates on nine

1. Nick Swisher, OF/1B, free agent — The Red Sox are trying to avoid losing a draft pick, which is why they haven’t gone real deep with Swisher yet. However, the longer this Mike Napoli contract dispute goes on (over concerns about his hip) and the longer Swisher is out there, could there be a match? The timing may not be right, as Swisher seems to be closing in on where he might play. The Indians are making a compelling case, but it’s hard for a player to project Cleveland as a winning situation given their financial restraints.

2. Joel Hanrahan, RHP, Pirates — The Red Sox and Dodgers are competing for him, but which team has the starting pitcher to meet Pittsburgh’s demands? The Dodgers have Chris Capuano and Aaron Harang, and the Red Sox haveFranklin Morales and Alfredo Aceves. Not sure any of those four will get it done, as the Pirates may be thinking more along the lines of Felix Doubront. Even with Francisco Liriano signed to a two-year deal, the Pirates are looking for one more starter.

6. Cody Ross, OF, free agent — The Rangers remain interested, and it appears they will have to dive into the Ross/Michael Bourn market in an effort to replace Josh Hamilton and Michael Young. Ross was surprised that the Red Sox didn’t make him a top priority, but now the Phillies also have some interest.
Where is this from? I have today's Globe and neither the Hanrahan or Ross are in his Notes column. [The Swisher is.]
 

E5 Yaz

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This was the online Notes column. Adding an update probably would have taken all of five minutes.
Adding a link would have taken less

http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/12/23/the-other-ross-may-most-significant-sox-addition/WAcdNcDX7ZIV7uo5F3AmWL/story.html
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Why would I bother linking to something that, as far as I know, is going to send most people to a Globe sign-up page? I followed the MLB Trade Rumors like which seems to work, or is a loophole, because they pay for the Globe.
 

E5 Yaz

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Why would I bother linking to something that, as far as I know, is going to send most people to a Globe sign-up page? I followed the MLB Trade Rumors like which seems to work, or is a loophole, because they pay for the Globe.
No sign up page for me on that link. Though, again, you failed to link to ANYTHING
 

CoffeeNerdness

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If you copy the link and then paste it into your address bar you'll see what I thought linking would do for a non-subscriber. Seeing how so few people seem to pay for the Globe that would be fairly useless, no?

Hope the stress of having to resort to your bookmarks, or :: shudder:: google, hasn't ruined your holidays. :smith:
 

URI

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His point is that if you're going to kill someone for lack of effort, you should put some effort in yourself.

It's good advice.
 
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