5/10: Drop the Chop

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

has big, douchey shoulders
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Seriously, even with the ugly game yesterday, this had to be confidence booster tonight. That is a really, really good team (and what the Sox aspire to be in a few years).
I agree. But it was also showing the league that this Sox team shouldn't be taken lightly. And tonight it wasn't just offense. The pitching was lights fucking out.
 

hunter05

Member
SoSH Member
May 29, 2006
7,659
Hokkaido
Duran couldn't field, hit, or take an ounce of criticism/blame last year for his mistakes. I don't know who the hell this guy is, but I'm happy he's here.
 

TFisNEXT

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 21, 2005
12,529
If Bello can start getting it together more consistently like he was tonight, that could be so huge for this team. I’ve felt that he and Sale are kind of keys to this rotation if they can right the ship going forward. They have the most upside.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
14,283
Hell, I'm not even sure I made one.
This is as glowing as I got...

I mean, one can be skeptical about Duran's future & very skeptical that he would be useful player in '23, but tons of players develop later, especially with no minors in '20.

& some of the criticisms read more personal than objective (for example Baseball Savant rates him as having 69th percentile outfield arm strength).

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jarren-duran-680776?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

Happy to trade the guy if another team values him, but if not? The rule changes should be good for a fast lefty who hits mostly grounders & if he's figured things out? Who knows. Definitely a bad plan A. But fine as a plan C.
 

teddywingman

Looks like Zach Galifianakis
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2009
11,168
a basement on the hill
What’s the Merloni story for those not listening?
First:
That was maybe the best Win of the year.

Regarding merloni: There was some footage of him on deck with a gold necklace in his mouth. He said it was a superstition and he always did that. Somehow he lost that necklace (which he had had since college) but then had a new one made, partly using gold from his dad's dental fillings.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
14,283
Oh & this lol

MLB steals in their 20s:

Dave Roberts 12
Jarren Duran 9

Roberts had 243 for his career (245 including post season), but he didn't really get much Major League playing time until his age 30 season.

I've kinda written off Duran for a while now, buuut...maybe he's not entirely irredeemable?

93rd percentile sprint speed, 69th percentile outfield jump (surprising), 69th percentile arm strength, & he's 26 which isn't like young, but not so old that there can't be more there there. 132 & 120 wRC+ in AAA the last 2 seasons.

& he's lefty, super fast, & has a groundball rate over 50% (only a .217 BA on those balls last season in MLB), so he could certainly be someone helped by the shift rules.

He had a 22 wRC+ last year against lefties (& an amazing -12 at home against lefties), but his 91 against righties isn't so awful that he couldn't become competent if platooned correctly. Idk, I'm probably over thinking it. Fangraphs projects a bump from 78 to 92 wRC+ & from -0.4 WAR to 0.3 WAR in only 245 PAs. If we got something slightly above replacement level that wouldn't be a bad result.
 

The Gray Eagle

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
16,724
Where the hell did this Martin dude come from
He threw 21 scoreless innings for the 2013 Portland Sea Dogs. Then he moved around a LOT. He went 0-2 for the 2015 Yankees (embedded Red Sox!) then was a Nippon Ham Fighter in his early 30s. Then he pitched for a few minor league teams, then went up & up, pitching for the Rangers, Braves, Cubs, Dodgers, and now finally at age 37 he is fulfilling his destiny as a solid strike-throwing setup man for the Red Sox.

Plus he is the lead singer and songwriter for Coldplay.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPNTC7uZYrI

Duran has suddenly transformed from 2010 Jacoby Ellsbury to 2011 Jacoby Ellsbury.
Now if he is a key player for a Red Sox World Series winner in the next couple years, then signs one of the worst contracts in Yankees history, the transformation will be complete. And we will all rejoice.
 
Last edited:

InsideTheParker

persists in error
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
40,371
Pioneer Valley
I wonder if anyone saw/heard the game as broadcast on mlbn. I heard clips of it on Quick Pitch and I got the idea they had hyped Atlanta and Acuna in particular, and seemed to think the Sox had just gotten lucky. But this could be my imagination. One of the voices was Bob Costas'.

Anyway, I agree that this was a very fun game, despite the disappointing at-bats by Masa and Wong. It's so interesting to me the way different guys "win" the game at different times and the same guys struggle in other games.
 

trekfan55

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 29, 2004
11,587
Panama
I wonder if anyone saw/heard the game as broadcast on mlbn. I heard clips of it on Quick Pitch and I got the idea they had hyped Atlanta and Acuna in particular, and seemed to think the Sox had just gotten lucky. But this could be my imagination. One of the voices was Bob Costas'.

Anyway, I agree that this was a very fun game, despite the disappointing at-bats by Masa and Wong. It's so interesting to me the way different guys "win" the game at different times and the same guys struggle in other games.
Actually I think it was Costas that said that any MLB player can have a "Hall of Fame game" and that is unique to baseball (talking about Wong's 4 for 4 at Fenway last week). I liked this comment.

What I could see I did not get too much bias from him.
 

Al Zarilla

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 8, 2005
58,874
San Andreas Fault
I wonder if anyone saw/heard the game as broadcast on mlbn. I heard clips of it on Quick Pitch and I got the idea they had hyped Atlanta and Acuna in particular, and seemed to think the Sox had just gotten lucky. But this could be my imagination. One of the voices was Bob Costas'.

Anyway, I agree that this was a very fun game, despite the disappointing at-bats by Masa and Wong. It's so interesting to me the way different guys "win" the game at different times and the same guys struggle in other games.
I watched it on MLBN. I've found Costas to be fair in recent years. Always a historian, he will wax historic over great Red Sox players and Fenway Park nowadays as much (almost as much?) as over his favorite team, the Yankees. As for Acuna's home run, it was 470 feet, after all. If you could "straighten out" the two home runs though, Casas' was probably longer. Silly. I thought Costas was fair last night.
 

JM3

often quoted
SoSH Member
Dec 14, 2019
14,283
Actually I think it was Costas that said that any MLB player can have a "Hall of Fame game" and that is unique to baseball (talking about Wong's 4 for 4 at Fenway last week). I liked this comment.

What I could see I did not get too much bias from him.
That's a pretty silly comment by Costas if he thinks that's unique to baseball.

Just to take 2 random examples...

NBA
In 2014, Terrence Ross, at 22 years old, scored 51 points on 16-29 shooting, 10-17 on 3s, with 9 rebounds. In a close game against the Clippers that mattered to both teams.

Now, in his 11th season, Ross has career averages of 11 ppg on 42% shooting.

NFL
In 2012, Matt Schaub threw for tied for the 2nd most passing yards in a game in NFL history at 547 in a 43-37 win. He was 43 for 55 with 5 TDs.

In his other 15 starts that season, Schaub averaged 154 passing yards per game.

Schaub was 31 at the time & only started 11 more games in his career over the next 7 seasons after that.

I mean I guess technically the bar is lower for baseball because the sample size is much smaller - 4 ABs, but meh.