Read J-man's sig, he may have some issues with the keyboard, but he's a smart guy and valuable member. I think we can work with the opening post, and IMO we really need a dedicated discussion for our thoughts on the actual product we will see on the field, in a thread where I don't have to see the name "Werner".
As a point of order, sig lines don’t show on mobile… that limits the context a bit
It's only really a turnaround if they manage to continue to compete through September, so I don't think this is too far off. They were right there last year until the bottom fell out. There are many ways to address the issues that led to that, so yeah, I'm hopeful that lightning won't strike twice.
Agree with all of this. I think Houck takes a big step forward as does Bello. Whitlock is in his relief ace role. Get some more length out of Crawford and you’ve got a solid 4/5.
I'm not sure, but I added a poll, and there is an option to change one's vote, and the option to change one's tune in the thread is always available if there are changes.
This won’t go down on my permanent record?I'm not sure, but I added a poll, and there is an option to change one's vote, and the option to change one's tune in the thread is always available if there are changes.
Violent Femmes rule.
Still some time to make a move or two. I’m very excited to see Casas and Devers mash. At one point last year Duran was one of the most exciting player in baseball. Defense improvement having Story at short has to be a huge swing improvement. Better coaching of the pitching staff.
Maybe they were Camper Van Beethoven fansViolent Femmes rule.
I can't remember who, but a member here once complained to the Sox because they played the bass riff from Blister in the Sun between innings. Not even the lyrics. I am still perplexed.
Went to see them in ‘87. A band called the Pixies was the opener.Violent Femmes rule.
I can't remember who, but a member here once complained to the Sox because they played the bass riff from Blister in the Sun between innings. Not even the lyrics. I am still perplexed.
Holy shit, that sounds like one of those "I didn't know what I was experiencing in the moment" experiences. Awesome.
It is the pitching in a very talented division which will lead to another 5th place finish unless an other team suffers catastrophic injuries.
A bass riff from "Add It Up" would have really got that person going, I'm sure.Violent Femmes rule.
I can't remember who, but a member here once complained to the Sox because they played the bass riff from Blister in the Sun between innings. Not even the lyrics. I am still perplexed.
Well played! And Pixies as opener? Holy smokes.Holy shit, that sounds like one of those "I didn't know what I was experiencing in the moment" experiences. Awesome.
The way I see it, the worse thing that can happen this year is that the Sox will hurt me bad. But I won't mind, they do it all the time.
Yeah, I used ranges on the long end mainly because I couldn't come up with a tighter range that fit for me personally. A floor and ceiling thing I guess. Not scientific for sure,
It's also good to leave room for clarification and discussion. I'm definitely on the lower end of 84-91 right now, but not breaking .500 by a few games would be a disappointment.
That would be huge and keep me interested. Say Soler and Montgomery and we may be in it at the deadline, then we can see if ownership wants to win.
A bunch of us have taken the time to argue the opposite while explaining our reasoning. What's your argument that they're "worse"?
Offensively I wouldn't be surprised if we were slightly better or worse. I think Dugie, Turner and Duvall are simply better than O'Neill, and Grissom, but YMMV. The rest of the offense is the same, so we're really just banking on improvements from a few guys while hoping that the rookies September's weren't a mirage.
Thanks, fair enough, that's all reasonable. Do you see an improvement in defense, particularly in the infield? And I think the offense is different in that Story comes in with a full spring, and I think he's been largely ignored as an upgrade. Also, I won't quibble with Grissom vs Dugie, Turner, or Duvall, but I will say I expect significantly better offense from second base this year.
Oh, for sure. I don't think expecting improvements is out of the question, and I certainly won't be calling people out for having a different opinion.
Does anyone have any theories on why this happened? I was looking at monthly splits the other day and noticed our K rates exploded in Sep. Here are the increases from Apr-Aug vs Sep for the hitters that had meaningful PAs in both time frames:
I could see Duran not causing disruption on the bases being one factor. I think Yoshida was just worn out. Duvall is the definition of a streaky hitter, but that jump is just nuts. Casas only played in about half the games so that's a smaller sample. A handful of good games could easily change that number. No idea on the others. You could also throw in lack of protection in the lineup.
