I think so. I should have gone back to the start of the thread. I would have seen the clip. It was typical late career Timlin suckering some chump batter into lining the ball 380 feet right into a fielder's glove.
All Time Great Red Sox Plays
- Thread starter Snodgrass'Muff
- Start date
Naw, he was trying to put the hex on JBJ. Fenway security shoulda ejected the little voodoo prick...
I agree 100%. Various outfielders have made fantastic catches but Pedey's play was the best.. But what about the worst play in Red Sox history. It was a number of years ago and The Sox had a guy named Willy Mo Pena playing right field. I forget who hit it but the batter hit a deep fly ball to right field. Willy Mo got under it, reached up to catch it and missed. The ball hit him on the top of his head and bounced over the fence for a home run. It was hilarious. Willy Mo was soon released. It didn't help him that he also couldn't hit.
Wily Mo? I know Jose Canseco did exactly that once, but I don't remember that happening to Wily Mo.
Edit: Not fot nothing, it got me googling some old Wily Mo Home runs. Damn that dude was a BEAST. It's too bad he couldn't play baseball.
Edit: Not fot nothing, it got me googling some old Wily Mo Home runs. Damn that dude was a BEAST. It's too bad he couldn't play baseball.
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He wasn't released either. He was traded to the Nats for a Chris Carter. Not the decent one, the other one.
We are so used to it we never discuss it, but Mookie absolutely should be in line to be the platinum glove winner. He is gobbling up everything in right. Making it look easy.
Does this partly support the idea that Mookie is "stealing" outs from JBJ? JBJ has 7 DRS for 8th among CF. For what it's worth, beni has 5 DRS for 5th among LF.
I've seen Mookie cross in front of JBJ to make catches I'd swear we're on the left field side of center. Might just be camera angle though. Mookie is definitely faster than JBJ, so he's probably doing what you're saying. If Mookie doesn't catch them, they drop in for hits. I don't think he's hogging balls out there.
This thread has been a nice reminder that I shouldn't worry about Bradley's offense too much. Personally I'd go with the throw Bradley made on Headley. "Great plays" come in a lot of forms that can't easily be compared: athletic catches, dangerous catches, heads-up plays, significant plays, etc. For me, a great throw is a mastery of baseball technique and athleticism, so I'll lean in that direction. Also, Vaz should get his own category soon. That pickoff throw Friday night at second might not look as impressive as a good long-range hosing, but it was sick. Hope this is the correct link:
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/white-sox-vs-red-sox/2017/08/04/491725?#game_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=491725
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/white-sox-vs-red-sox/2017/08/04/491725?#game_state=final,game_tab=videos,game=491725
Mookie is definitely "stealing" balls from JBJ. The Sox outfield appears to be intentionally taking advantage of a combination of Mookie's better speed and more accurate arm, along with JBJ's stronger arm as backup. But they do this on the other side, too. JBJ lets Beni take most of the plays in LCF and backs him up, as well.
The reason we notice it more in RCF is that Mookie is a better fielder than Beni, and there's much more real estate in Fenway's RCF for these plays to take place. Also, most of the balls hit to deep LCF carom off the monster to be played by JBJ because the Monster is angled to bounce balls back toward CF. This again plays into the stronger arm of JBJ getting those balls back into the infield.
The main goal is clearly to avoid outfielders colliding when all three have excellent range, and in that it's succeeded. The only unfortunate downside I can see is that JBJ's stats don't reflect what his value would be if he was playing on a team that let the CF 'take charge' in the conventional sense. But the benefits far outweigh that, and JBJ has been a great team player on this, knowing his defensive stats have suffered from it.
But this has been the Sox strategy since at least the start of 2016, and it's working tremendously well. A few games in April of last season had some peculiar plays showing that JBJ hadn't quite fully adapted to being the backup rather than the general of the outfield that CFs usually are. But it has been flawless so far in 2017.
Excellent assessment. It would be interesting to hear from the outfielders and the outfield coach if this is something intentional, how they arrived at the strategy, and how they've adopted it into practice. I totally agree with your main points - that JBJ could be making a lot of catches that he cedes to Mookie and Beni.
Excellent assessment. It would be interesting to hear from the outfielders and the outfield coach if this is something intentional, how they arrived at the strategy, and how they've adopted it into practice. I totally agree with your main points - that JBJ could be making a lot of catches that he cedes to Mookie and Beni.
Interesting that you think they have a plan out there, instead of run like hell and sort out the "I got its". Not disagreeing, just never heard of that. I really like that in the outfield Venn diagram there is so much overlap.
I started paying attention to the OF defensive positioning after this game. It definitely seems intentional at this point, even if it wasn't fixed as a strategy beforehand.
If there have been any collisions or near-collisions since that game, I haven't heard of them. Which is pretty remarkable, given all the ground each guy can cover out there.
It might be instructive to look at how many runs the entire team outfield has saved and compare it to other teams to evaluate the overall impact. Also, given the analysis that statcast does, it would be interesting how the outfield (and those of other teams) do relative to the hit probabilities allocated to balls in play based on exit velocity, launch angle, and location. Although as I type that I'm sure there must be an advanced fielding stat that accounts for that.