Let's talk about this ballclub.

ledsox

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 14, 2005
398
Pedro just asked Sam Kennedy on MLBN about how horrible the Sox have been and if they will be selling off more assets.

Sam responded about how busy he expects the deadline to be but mentioned a core that they hope to build around....Xander, Devers, Bradley, Vaz were the 4 mentioned.

edit- Verdugo was also on and said all the right things (except he didn't know Scherzer was going tonight) while wearing a BLM shirt.
 

The Needler

New Member
Dec 7, 2016
1,803
Sam responded about how busy he expects the deadline to be but mentioned a core that they hope to build around....Xander, Devers, Bradley, Vaz were the 4 mentioned.
I find it very hard to believe that the Red Sox are committed to keeping a weak-hitting, speed-declining, relatively expensive CF who will be 31 as part of their "core." Is it possible that they sign him if the price is low enough? Sure. But he's not a guy they should be hoping to build around.
 

nvalvo

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
21,510
Rogers Park
Yup, looks like it from checking their roster on B-Ref. I had been fooled because I had assumed they had one due to Kenley Jansen, but he's from Curacao, so he's not African-American.

Pretty shocking that the Dodgers who broke baseball's color line didn't have a single Black player.
Just because Jansen isn’t African American doesn’t mean he’s not Black. I’m not sure why this distinction matters.
Totally, but I think SJH is right that the African-American/Afro-Latino/West Indian taxonomy makes this stuff more complicated insofar as what we're talking about is the role baseball likes to cast itself in in America's civil rights history.

Whether that's how the conversation *should* be framed is a good question.
 

nvalvo

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
21,510
Rogers Park
I find it very hard to believe that the Red Sox are committed to keeping a weak-hitting, speed-declining, relatively expensive CF who will be 31 as part of their "core." Is it possible that they sign him if the price is low enough? Sure. But he's not a guy they should be hoping to build around.
You're probably right about this, but while we’re talking about Bradley, he’s also been on fire with the bat since returning from his mini break for a hand injury. Seven games of .304/.370/.609/.979 has his season OPS up to .687 from a low point in the .500s.

Meanwhile, Pillar has been awful since his hot start in July, and is now down to .735 (.542 OPS over his last 7). I predict their OPSes cross sometime next week.
 

The Needler

New Member
Dec 7, 2016
1,803
You're probably right about this, but while we’re talking about Bradley, he’s also been on fire with the bat since returning from his mini break for a hand injury. Seven games of .304/.370/.609/.979 has his season OPS up to .687 from a low point in the .500s.
Sure, but we've seen this movie a thousand times. I think we can all acknowledge that JBJ is capable of ripping off a couple of stretches each year where he's a menace at the plate. But we should have seen enough to know what he's likely to deliver over the course of a season at the plate, which is not positive. And the baserunning and defense are and will continue to get worse, which shouldn't be surprising because he's getting older and slower. Sprint speed:

2018: 27.8
2019: 27.6
2020: 27.3

He's among the very slowest CF in MLB now, and he's not going to get faster.
 

LostinNJ

New Member
Jul 19, 2005
479
Quick thoughts: (1) I'm proud they skipped last night's game. (2) JBJ has been my favorite player since he came up. I like his skill set, and I like that he's a classy guy. His driving in those runs against the Astros two years ago is one of my most satisfying baseball memories. I hope he plays his whole career in Boston. (3) It is not good optics if a team has only one or no African-American players; on the other hand, why is this happening? Are teams (intentionally or not) shying away from African-American athletes in the draft, in player development, in promotions? Once upon a time they did; I remember reading somewhere that major league utility infielders were much more likely to be mediocre White guys than talented Black guys. But I don't think that's the case now. Rather, the best African-American athletes are choosing other sports for whatever reason, perhaps because those sports have more cachet in their communities. (4) I don't know if this says something good or bad about me, but until I read this thread, it didn't occur to me that the two players traded to the Dodgers are both African-American. (5) If we're thinking about race and diversity, I don't see a compelling reason to distinguish between African-American players and Black players from the Caribbean. Jackie Robinson paved the way for all Black players.