Rovin Romine said:If I'm reading it correctly, WMB was 0 for 10 in Pawtucket with 5Ks and no BBs. http://m.milb.com/milb/player/519025/#nav_last_ten
I think they should have stuck with Holt for a bit.
Having Bogaerts and his ~.400 OBP bat lower in the order than AJP or WMB is virtually indefensible.absintheofmalaise said:I really liked what Holt brought to the team at the plate too.
Based on Farrell's comments on the line up, I think we might see this tonight against Buehrle. I could see them going with Ross instead of AJP because of the match up.
Pedroia 2B
Victorino RF
Ortiz DH
Napoli 1B
Gomes LF
AJP C
WMB 3B
Bogaerts SS
JBJ CF
pokey_reese said:Or maybe they just thought that he could hit 3 HR off Buehrle.
absintheofmalaise said:I really liked what Holt brought to the team at the plate too.
Based on Farrell's comments on the line up, I think we might see this tonight against Buehrle. I could see them going with Ross instead of AJP because of the match up.
Pedroia 2B
Victorino RF
Ortiz DH
Napoli 1B
Gomes LF
AJP C
WMB 3B
Bogaerts SS
JBJ CF
Looks like Farrell agrees with you. XB hitting 6th and AJP hitting 7th tonight.JakeRae said:
Having Bogaerts and his ~.400 OBP bat lower in the order than AJP or WMB is virtually indefensible.
Joe Shlabotnick said:
Glad to see WMB back, but too bad it came at Holt's expense. This isn't a bad lineup. Now if we only had a catcher.
Ross was so uncharacteristically bad behind the plate last night that I wondered if he is injured/ill.dbn said:
Indeed, it is a pretty darn good lineup - when 8/9th of it isn't slumping or hurt/rusty. Good thing Ortiz (OPS up 0.148 over the last week) and Pedroia (OPS up 0.152 over past ~10 days) are showing signs of heating up.
And we do have a catcher and his name is David Ross. Sox are winning at a 116 win pace when he plays!
I agree, the amount of stolen bases, plus WPs/passed balls was very much unlike him.InsideTheParker said:Ross was so uncharacteristically bad behind the plate last night that I wondered if he is injured/ill.
trekfan55 said:I agree, the amount of stolen bases, plus WPs/passed balls was very much unlike him.
Would Vazquez get the call up?
I'm ready. SSS but Vazquez has 0 passed balls and a 50% caught stealing rate so far at Pawtucket this year. But, do you carry three catchers?trekfan55 said:I agree, the amount of stolen bases, plus WPs/passed balls was very much unlike him.
Would Vazquez get the call up?
Al Zarilla said:I'm ready. SSS but Vazquez has 0 passed balls and a 50% caught stealing rate so far at Pawtucket this year. But, do you carry three catchers?
I hope WMB gets it all going this time.
InsideTheParker said:Ross was so uncharacteristically bad behind the plate last night that I wondered if he is injured/ill.
Damn, where do you find vs. FP stats?Savin Hillbilly said:Well, he is 6 for 15 off Buehrle. No HR yet, but a double. The only pitcher he has more hits off is Chen.
More generally, Buehrle is the kind of pitcher he has hit well so far in his brief career:
vs. LHP: .288/.342/.502
vs. finesse pitchers: .294/.328/.516
Victorino was 1 for 11 with 3 K's. AAA pitching must be tough this year.Rovin Romine said:If I'm reading it correctly, WMB was 0 for 10 in Pawtucket with 5Ks and no BBs. http://m.milb.com/milb/player/519025/#nav_last_ten
I think they should have stuck with Holt for a bit.
Joe Shlabotnick said:
Glad to see WMB back, but too bad it came at Holt's expense. This isn't a bad lineup. Now if we only had a catcher.
Al Zarilla said:Harold Reynolds on MLB Tonight about tonight's game: The thing about Mark Buehrle, he's around the plate too much, and when you have a club like the Red Sox who are free swingers, who will be hackin...
To me, Reynolds makes Tim McCarver sound like a guy with a BS from Harvard and an MS from Stanford.
Yeah, those three. I think Harold just says what comes into his head and feels good to him without considering the correctness of it. Buehrle may be around the plate too much at that and he doesn't have any heater at all.koufax37 said:
Reynolds has that rare ability to make McCarver and Joe Morgan sound like Bill James and Keith Law. But I guess since Nava got sent down and AJP plays a lot we are now confused for Vlad/Soriano/Sandoval.
Al Zarilla said:Yeah, those three. I think Harold just says what comes into his head and feels good to him without considering the correctness of it.
wolfe_boston said:Damn, where do you find vs. FP stats?
What are we looking at there? Link goes to Middlebrooks' career splits. And, Will is so much better early in the count, or ahead in the count. But then, so is everybody.Savin Hillbilly said:
BBref splits.
To be fair to Reynolds, any team with AJ Pierzynski on it can be called a team of hackers without too much absurdity. He has the hack of many men.
Vs. Power/Finesse Pitchers, down from the count splits, up a smidge from where link takes you.What are we looking at there? Link goes to Middlebrooks' career splits. And, Will is so much better early in the count, or ahead in the count. But then, so is everybody.
I think you're answering Wolfe's question, but thanks, I didn't know how to look that up either.judyb said:Vs. Power/Finesse Pitchers, down from the count splits, up a smidge from where link takes you.
Al Zarilla said:I think you're answering Wolfe's question, but thanks, I didn't know how to look that up either.
Jon Heyman @JonHeymanCBS 3m
asked tom werner if the red sox are commited to current bogaerts/middlebrooks ss/3b alignment. "for the moment," he said.
RedOctober3829 said:
Jon Heyman @JonHeymanCBS 3m
asked tom werner if the red sox are commited to current bogaerts/middlebrooks ss/3b alignment. "for the moment," he said.
I'm guessing that Werner is plugged into what the baseball ops guys are saying and that Will's .225 average last year and current Mendoza like average have him on a reasonably short leash. I also think that the fact that the Sox have some good options in the minors factors in.Red(s)HawksFan said:Jesus. As if Tom Werner is in any position to say anything else. The guy isn't in baseball ops. I'm betting he isn't briefed on a regular basis as far as what is going on in baseball ops.
I'm assuming that Heyman is jumping the non-committal nature of a quote from a guy who isn't likely "in the know" and use it to generate clicks and discussion for his puppet-master's client. Heyman is such a hack.
WenZink said:MIddlebrooks only has 72 plate appearances this season, so I'd like to give him time to get hot, and then cool off before evaluation. Although I admit I go "waaaah, waaaah" in the privacy of my own home. He cause me great anxiety, since his success/failure is critical as to how the Red Sox build a lineup over the next couple of years, unless David Ortiz continues to perform past 40.
teddywingman said:One positive is that his pitch recognition seems improved. Less hacking at outside pitches.
WenZink said:Bruce Olney weighed in on WMB during the Mutt & Merloni show, today. http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/05/14/buster-olney-on-mm-al-east-hasnt-defined-itself/
The WMB content of the interview:
“I am curious about Will Middlebrooks. I’d love to be in the room and give truth serum to the guys making decisions to know what they are seeing and what they are feeling about him. Because of course they’ve seen times when he’s been a help with his power, but then they’ve seen times when he goes into an absolute funk. Before I came on with you guys I was looking at some of his numbers, and the thing that jumped out at me was his performance with two strikes. The numbers suggest that he’s been absolutely helpless: 5-for-33 in two-strike counts — and not [just] 0-2, but 0-2, 1-2, 2-2 and 3-2, with 19 strikeouts. … With 0-2 counts, for example, 0-for-11, nine punchouts. That makes you wonder exactly how he’s approaching his at-bats, and is he one of those guys that once the pitcher gets an arm up on him in the ball-strike count that he becomes a really vulnerable hitter.”
Again, I'm not sure if a 33 AB subset of a 72 plate appearance portion of a season is meaningful. Yes it's worse than in his 2012 BA with 2 outs (35/148 with 70 K's), but if he had gotten 3 more hits in those 33 0-2 counts this year, it would be the same. I don't know why Olney would use such a small sample, except to sound smart.
But, although a 2014 sample size of 400 PA's would be best to evaluate WMB, I don't think he has that much time left without showing some improvement. My guess is the Sox will have to make some sort of evaluation before the trading deadline. -- 2 months, 50 games, 225 more PA's or 300 PA total?
kieckeredinthehead said:
Yeah... the AL is batting 178/251/265 (515) with two strikes this year, compared to Will's 181/217/296 (512 OPS) career numbers.
WenZink said:Bruce Olney weighed in on WMB during the Mutt & Merloni show, today. http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/05/14/buster-olney-on-mm-al-east-hasnt-defined-itself/
The WMB content of the interview:
“I am curious about Will Middlebrooks. I’d love to be in the room and give truth serum to the guys making decisions to know what they are seeing and what they are feeling about him. Because of course they’ve seen times when he’s been a help with his power, but then they’ve seen times when he goes into an absolute funk. Before I came on with you guys I was looking at some of his numbers, and the thing that jumped out at me was his performance with two strikes. The numbers suggest that he’s been absolutely helpless: 5-for-33 in two-strike counts — and not [just] 0-2, but 0-2, 1-2, 2-2 and 3-2, with 19 strikeouts. … With 0-2 counts, for example, 0-for-11, nine punchouts. That makes you wonder exactly how he’s approaching his at-bats, and is he one of those guys that once the pitcher gets an arm up on him in the ball-strike count that he becomes a really vulnerable hitter.”
Again, I'm not sure if a 33 AB subset of a 72 plate appearance portion of a season is meaningful. Yes it's worse than in his 2012 BA with 2 outs (35/148 with 70 K's), but if he had gotten 3 more hits in those 33 0-2 counts this year, it would be the same. I don't know why Olney would use such a small sample, except to sound smart.
But, although a 2014 sample size of 400 PA's would be best to evaluate WMB, I don't think he has that much time left without showing some improvement. My guess is the Sox will have to make some sort of evaluation before the trading deadline. -- 2 months, 50 games, 225 more PA's or 300 PA total?
wade boggs chicken dinner said:
In addition, Oakland as a team is hitting .090 / .106 / .108 in 0-2 counts - 10 for 111 with 63 punchouts - so does that mean the entire team is in an absolute funk?
I don't think the Red Sox wait until the trade deadline. I think they give him to the All-Star break, and if he hasn't made marked progress, the Sox are going to figure out how to get someone else some of his ABs. Like maybe benching him against righties - currently in 40 ABs, he is .150 / .306 / .325.