Kevin Pillar to Sox for 1 year, 4.25 million

Savin Hillbilly

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Jul 10, 2007
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The wrong side of the bridge....
According to the new rules you can have a maximum of 13 pitchers ..
Right, and if you have 13 pitchers then you have 13 position players -- which means a 4-man bench. So with Plawecki, Peraza and Pillar in the fold, there's only one bench slot left (at least once Verdugo's active).

I think Arauz has to stay on the 26-man roster all year as well per Rule V rules, though he would have options next year.
Good point. That means they'll presumably outright Lin, who's out of options, to Pawtucket.
 

MTKennedy

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Aug 19, 2007
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Painfully true. While he's off the roster, he has no number. If he stays off the roster, he never needs a number.
For whatever it’s worth, when Bloom was asked about the number, he replied that it wasn’t an indication of anything. Then again, what is he supposed to say...
 

mikeford

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Hey remember when this guy got suspended for screaming a homophobic slur at a Braves pitcher?

So glad Chaim Bloom has identified the new market efficiency as "terrible human beings"
 

Hobson's Choice

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Right, and if you have 13 pitchers then you have 13 position players -- which means a 4-man bench. So with Plawecki, Peraza and Pillar in the fold, there's only one bench slot left (at least once Verdugo's active).
Actually, eight (8) starting positions to fill, which leaves five (5) bench slots.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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I thought it was only 4 million. How the hell did freaking Kevin Pillar squeeze the sox for 250k? Jesus.

As everyone else stated he's a craptastic human being too. Oh well at least the Sox signed a JBJ clone who is making 60% less than JBJ.
 

Lose Remerswaal

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simplicio

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As a Canadian, I'm always passively watching the Jays and their highlights get played all the time, so I know Kevin Pillar and what he can (use-ta-could) do with the glove
So I'm not totally unhappy with this signing. $4M does seem a bit high though

Jays Highlights
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yslk8pUUjoU
Is it just me or do a third of those calls end with some variation of "oh I think he's grievously injured"?
 

YTF

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I thought it was only 4 million. How the hell did freaking Kevin Pillar squeeze the sox for 250k? Jesus.

As everyone else stated he's a craptastic human being too. Oh well at least the Sox signed a JBJ clone who is making 60% less than JBJ.
From the opening post...

Chris Cotillo✔@ChrisCotillo

https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1228042995011813378
Source confirms: Red Sox in agreement with Kevin Pillar on 1-year deal in $4 million range. @alexspeier first.

I'd say that's in the range.
 

Tyrone Biggums

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chawson

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Makes sense. I would have rather Domingo Santana. 1 million for a superior hitter. Been a huge fan of that guy since he broke in with the Brewers.
I agree he’s intriguing, but Santana has been incapable of playing the outfield or hitting lefties the last two years, so he’d have been a rough fit with our specific needs.
 

JM3

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Dec 14, 2019
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1 WAR is supposed to be worth $9m. Pillar had a career worst year last year at 1.5 WAR (after 3.7, 2.4, 2.0, 2.0 the 4 previous years). As such, we got like a $9m discount. Great success... :/
 

CR67dream

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.
I thought it was only 4 million. How the hell did freaking Kevin Pillar squeeze the sox for 250k? Jesus.

As everyone else stated he's a craptastic human being too. Oh well at least the Sox signed a JBJ clone who is making 60% less than JBJ.
"Everyone else" has not said this. I think a good number of people think what happened is that he lost his cool and said some vile, stupid, offensive shit. Personally I think the way he addressed it and the lack of a pattern of assholery on Pillar's part makes it more likely that he's simply a flawed human like the rest of us, and is willing to grow and learn. The word hyperbole is insufficient to describe the claim that he's a "craptastic human being".

Anyway, I like the signing, great depth and not the worst thing in the world if he's needed every day for a while.
 

Mikelum

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Jul 21, 2005
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Wow, this board is very different than the Patriots forum.

Here one player calls another player a bad word in the heat of the moment and he is labeled a craptastic human being.

An 18 year old kid video tapes 3 women he hardly knows fighting and posts a 10 second video of it and he should instantly be cut, be sent to jail, and charged with multiple crimes, even though the police already investigated it and found nothing to charge him with.

And a poster uses the terms girl and cat fight and is instantly attacked.

Patriots forums have a 100 + page thread on how stupid the Patriots were for cutting Antonio Brown, who has been accused of sexual assault, posted pictures of a woman's kids who he owed money to, and forced his way off a team.
 

YTF

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Wow, this board is very different than the Patriots forum.

Here one player calls another player a bad word in the heat of the moment and he is labeled a craptastic human being.

An 18 year old kid video tapes 3 women he hardly knows fighting and posts a 10 second video of it and he should instantly be cut, be sent to jail, and charged with multiple crimes, even though the police already investigated it and found nothing to charge him with.

And a poster uses the terms girl and cat fight and is instantly attacked.

Patriots forums have a 100 + page thread on how stupid the Patriots were for cutting Antonio Brown, who has been accused of sexual assault, posted pictures of a woman's kids who he owed money to, and forced his way off a team.
We're trying to evolve here. It's not always an easy road to navigate and at times we disagree as to how far we need to come or if we've gone to far, but I think most of us are moving in the right direction.
 

jon abbey

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Also it would be a wise idea for lurkers to focus on contributing actual content and not metacommentary on the board's supposed tendencies.
 

CR67dream

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Wow, this board is very different than the Patriots forum.
Yes it is. Very much so, and by design. We don't claim to be for everyone.

Edit: Do you mean our Patriots forum? Because if you did, your characterization of the thread there is, let's just say, not accurate.

Yeah, this makes things so inviting.
If you find it uninviting that we ask for our users to post actual content that has value, this is definitely not the place for you. This is not a shot, just an honest statement of what is expected and required here.
 

njgreenwood

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Dec 9, 2010
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Yes it is. Very much so, and by design. We don't claim to be for everyone.

Edit: Do you mean our Patriots forum? Because if you did, your characterization of the thread there is, let's just say, not accurate.



If you find it uninviting that we ask for our users to post actual content that has value, this is definitely not the place for you. This is not a shot, just an honest statement of what is expected and required here.
I don't know. Most of the content I've seen in the last couple of weeks to a month has been weei caller worthy. This whole thread devolved into whether or not Pillar is a decent human being instead of looking at what he might actually offer. But sure, that's "actual content".
 

jon abbey

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I don't know. Most of the content I've seen in the last couple of weeks to a month has been weei caller worthy. This whole thread devolved into whether or not Pillar is a decent human being instead of looking at what he might actually offer. But sure, that's "actual content".
Yes, we're aware and you're not helping so you can go back to the shadows for a while now.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Is it just me or do a third of those calls end with some variation of "oh I think he's grievously injured"?
Just watched it and you are not wrong. After about the fifth catch I started hearing the George of the Jungle theme in my head: "Watch out for that.....WALL!" I mean, there's giving up the body, and then there's offering it up on a platter with parsley sprig and lemon slices.

It kind of amazes me, after watching that video, that he's averaged 152 games played over the past five years.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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Just watched it and you are not wrong. After about the fifth catch I started hearing the George of the Jungle theme in my head: "Watch out for that.....WALL!" I mean, there's giving up the body, and then there's offering it up on a platter with parsley sprig and lemon slices.

It kind of amazes me, after watching that video, that he's averaged 152 games played over the past five years.
Agreed. Having watched a fair amount of Byron Buxton's thus far injury-shortened career, it's the same spectacular, complete-disregard-for-one's-body approach. I told my son early on that Buxton's fearlessness reminded me of a young Fred Lynn, but that you can't play tackle football with the CF wall.

IMO, JBJ's fielding greatness lies in large part in his tremendous sense of where he is at all (ok, most) times and his ability to make the play and then land/hit/roll with enough self-protection to keep from seriously maiming himself.
 

chawson

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It occurred to me that this is the second consecutive year we’ve signed a 31-year-old Giants starting outfielder, so I went to compare them:

A: .234/.285/.391, 6.0 BB%, 25.1 K%, 85 wRC+ in 451 PA (+6 fielding outs above average)
B: .259/.287/.432, 2.8 BB%, 13.8 K%, 85 wRC+ in 645 PA (+2 fielding outs above average)

This isn’t much of a surprise, but player B is Pillar last year and player A is Gorkys Hernández in 2018.

It feels like common knowledge that Pillar’s the better player. I don’t dispute that, but I question how much. Without the juiced ball, those two seasons look pretty similar.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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It occurred to me that this is the second consecutive year we’ve signed a 31-year-old Giants starting outfielder, so I went to compare them:

A: .234/.285/.391, 6.0 BB%, 25.1 K%, 85 wRC+ in 451 PA (+6 fielding outs above average)
B: .259/.287/.432, 2.8 BB%, 13.8 K%, 85 wRC+ in 645 PA (+2 fielding outs above average)

This isn’t much of a surprise, but player B is Pillar last year and player A is Gorkys Hernández in 2018.

It feels like common knowledge that Pillar’s the better player. I don’t dispute that, but I question how much. Without the juiced ball, those two seasons look pretty similar.
A: .230/.292/.351, 7.2 BB%, 23.2 K%, 74 wRC+ in 1091 career PA
B: .261/.296/.405, 4.0 BB%, 15.8 K%, 86 wRC+ in 3263 career PA

Seems like the difference between them is a bit greater than two cherry picked seasons might suggest.
 

koufax37

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Jul 20, 2005
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I think most people are evaluating him as a normal player, not a 4th outfielder.

As a 4th outfielder he is protected by his platoon splits as he has consistently done better against LHP, and he should be facing primarily LHP except when the schedule or an injury requires otherwise, so we are replacing our weak L/L matchups of our three outfielders with him (he has never had platoon protection, and has gone 628, 584, 632, 542, 628 the last four years which is pretty consistently getting more PAs against RHP).

Also, he has been sliding a little on defense, but that has been primarily as a center fielder. The list is long of players who grade slightly negatively as a CF and above average as a corner OF. Fenway expects a little more out of a RF than most parks, but his mark isn't too high to be a net positive defensively playing three positions.

We have to see how the season plays out, but facing lefties for the most part and spreading his innings across three defensive positions somewhat equally and I see this as a really solid potential pickup. Add in the strategy of the extra offensive player on the roster, and there is a chance he can be even further put in positions to succeed, rather than be measured on where his abilities as a 628 PA CF would land him as a 31 year old. So don't compare the 2020 Red Sox Pillar probably usefulness with a 2015-2019 full time CF Pillar when figuring out what he can contribute.
 

Al Zarilla

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Has anybody ever read the the bio's on Ted Williams? He was a mean SOB.
You might say Williams had a wide behavior spectrum. For example, his Jimmy Fund work was as far from mean as you can get. Also, in the hall of fame speech he gave at his own induction, he gave a resounding recommendation that great Negro players like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson should be eligible to be inducted into the hall some day. He didn’t have to say that at his own induction. Others have said that what Ted said had a lot to do with their gaining eligibility later on.

Off topic, I know, but you have to give the big guy his due.
 

Le Bastonois

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Jun 16, 2019
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You might say Williams had a wide behavior spectrum.
I have all of Ted's books. Enjoyed them.

Pillar won the Willie Mac Award in 'Frisco. The Willie Mac award is presented to the player on the Giants who best exemplifies the spirit and leadership consistently shown by Willie McCovey throughout his long career.

He beat out Panda?