Maybe the Red Sox are good?

Red(s)HawksFan

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Even so, it wasn't hard to imagine even a lower-tier offense like the Mets going off on one or both of them.
True. The Mets might be the lowest scoring offense in the NL but they were still averaging over 3 runs per game. Holding them, or any MLB offense, to one run over 18 innings is notable, let alone doing it with the back end of the rotation.
 

edoug

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1 month in, the best record in baseball. Just slightly higher than the Royals but still best record.
 

Cesar Crespo

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EllisTheRimMan

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Lowest Runs/G since 2015. Lowest slugging since 2014. Not an issue.

Lowest OBP since 1968...
lowest batting average since... ummm... uhh... ALL TIME.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/bat.shtml

wtf.

I moved it here because it probably warrants its own thread.

https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/thru-the-month-of-april.33396/#post-4400591
Makes the Sox hitting seem even better and as BC said, we have some really bad hitters on this team. More like JDM, RD, X and AV are crushing those new balls.
 

Jerry’s Curl

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Pretty crazy how the Sox are hitting as a team with three sub .200 hitters in the lineup today. There’s a good chance we hunt for an OF in the summer via trade.
 

Manramsclan

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Pretty crazy how the Sox are hitting as a team with three sub .200 hitters in the lineup today. There’s a good chance we hunt for an OF in the summer via trade they call up Jarren Duran to see if his offensive improvements are real.
fixt
 
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koufax32

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Ottavino pitching in high leverage, set up guy situations is just not tenable.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Yeah, it's extremely obvious that the weak points to this team are the bullpen and 6-9 hitters. The good thing is that theoretically those are things that can be addressed via the minors, or smaller trades. But I agree that Ottavino's aggravating tendency of walking leadoff batters makes him unqualified to pitch in very high-leverage innings. I know they are hoping Whitlock can be stretched out to be a starter or at least multi-inning reliever (which raises the question of why he didn't pitch the eighth as well as the seventh yesterday) but at this point Whitlock should be getting the 8th-inning/high-lev innings that Ottavino currently is. And if Whitlock is unavailable I'd honestly rather see Darwinzon and probably even Andriese in there instead of Ottavino.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Yeah, it's extremely obvious that the weak points to this team are the bullpen and 6-9 hitters. The good thing is that theoretically those are things that can be addressed via the minors, or smaller trades. But I agree that Ottavino's aggravating tendency of walking leadoff batters makes him unqualified to pitch in very high-leverage innings. I know they are hoping Whitlock can be stretched out to be a starter or at least multi-inning reliever (which raises the question of why he didn't pitch the eighth as well as the seventh yesterday) but at this point Whitlock should be getting the 8th-inning/high-lev innings that Ottavino currently is. And if Whitlock is unavailable I'd honestly rather see Darwinzon and probably even Andriese in there instead of Ottavino.
I'd say it's a weak leadoff hitter and the 7,8,9 batters (add in 6 when it's not Vazquez). So if Vaz isn't playing... there's actually 5 weak hitters in the lineup. That to me is too many if all the production is clustered so heavily at the top. I'm still of the opinion that Dalbec will come around....
The rotation really is fine.
The bullpen is decent. Back almost 10 years ago, if a team had a good closer and two other guys in the pen that were just "good", that'd be all that was needed: Foulke, Timlin, Embree.
With the shortening of the starters pitching, needing a 4th guy that can be good is essential. Whitlock, Barnes and Andriese are all pretty impressive (recent Andriese performance aside). As a 2nd tier- Hernandez, Ottavino, Sawamura and Valdez are all decent and I'd take almost all of them over most other teams back end BP guys. Add in that if they can survive with this crew, Sale and Houck will be able to either come back as a starter and bump Perez down to the pen, or just improve the pen.
The biggest need is to get their leadoff man (I prefer Arroyo there if they're not going to move Verdugo there which they clearly aren't) on base more and getting one of the bottom of the order to start hitting!
 

shaggydog2000

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Yeah, it's extremely obvious that the weak points to this team are the bullpen and 6-9 hitters. The good thing is that theoretically those are things that can be addressed via the minors, or smaller trades. But I agree that Ottavino's aggravating tendency of walking leadoff batters makes him unqualified to pitch in very high-leverage innings. I know they are hoping Whitlock can be stretched out to be a starter or at least multi-inning reliever (which raises the question of why he didn't pitch the eighth as well as the seventh yesterday) but at this point Whitlock should be getting the 8th-inning/high-lev innings that Ottavino currently is. And if Whitlock is unavailable I'd honestly rather see Darwinzon and probably even Andriese in there instead of Ottavino.
Well, their bullpen is 7th in the MLB by ERA, 3rd by FIP, 4th by xFIP, and 3rd by WAR (which is based on FIP). So maybe their weakness is less obvious than you think from watching them? The outfield and first base could definitely use an upgrade though.
 

Kliq

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Well, their bullpen is 7th in the MLB by ERA, 3rd by FIP, 4th by xFIP, and 3rd by WAR (which is based on FIP). So maybe their weakness is less obvious than you think from watching them? The outfield and first base could definitely use an upgrade though.
Yeah, the bullpen as a whole have been surprisingly good with most of the guys being reliable. There have been some noticeable games like yesterday where the bullpen obviously blows the game, but even the best bullpens are going to have that happen to them over the course of a season, and we shouldn't immediately react to it.

The real problem for the team is that they have some excellent hitters and then a lot of very bad hitters. The lineup is filled out with a lot of boom-or-bust guys and so far they have mostly been busts. Unfortunately with a lot of the guys like Franchy, Renfroe, Hernandez and Gonzalez, there isn't a lot of evidence to suggest they are just going to turn things around after a slow start. It isn't like these guys have been tearing the cover off the ball over the past few seasons. Dalbec has potential (and Franchy does too, to be fair) but again there isn't a big track record of major league success with those guys. My worry would be that when our top hitters cool off a bit (I don't think JD is going to have an OPS+ of 215 for the entire season), will the bottom of the order be able to pick up some of the slack?

Right now I think Bloom has fared very well in the bargain bin when it has come to finding starting pitchers and bullpen arms, but his moves with the offense have not really panned out.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Well, their bullpen is 7th in the MLB by ERA, 3rd by FIP, 4th by xFIP, and 3rd by WAR (which is based on FIP). So maybe their weakness is less obvious than you think from watching them? The outfield and first base could definitely use an upgrade though.
I guess my point is that I would not feel comfortable going into the postseason with the bullpen as currently constituted (assuming the Sox make the postseason). Would you? But, I acknowledge that I am probably underrating how hard it is to have a really good bullpen and thus the Sox's bullpen, even with its weak points, is still very good as a relative matter.

My thoughts on the bullpen are also probably related to the Sox's recent offensive struggles since an inability to score a lot of runs puts pressure on the bullpen to be more or less perfect.

Looking at the career numbers for guys like Hernandez, Gonzalez, and Renfroe, there is definitely a concern that, while they probably will improve somewhat over the course of the season, none of these guys are even average hitters at this stage in their careers. Hernandez has an 85 wRC+ which is exactly his average for the past three seasons so it would seem a little optimistic that he will significantly improve. Marwin has a career wRC+ of 99, but hasn't hit or exceeded that number since 2018 (which coincidentally was also the last good year Hernandez had). Very similarly, Renfroe has a career wRC+ of 100 but, again, hasn't hit or exceeded that number since 2018 (although he was basically there in 2019). Put another way, it wasn't wholly unreasonable for Bloom to expect that at least one or two of these guys would have a bounceback year, but the luck just might not be in our favor on that score.

Franchy and Dalbec are in a different category because they are both effectively flyers with little track record to compare to. So some patience is warranted there but I don't think Bloom should at all hesitate at sending them down or moving on from them if better options present themselves in the minors or via trade if Bloom doesn't have to give much up.
 

shaggydog2000

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I guess my point is that I would not feel comfortable going into the postseason with the bullpen as currently constituted (assuming the Sox make the postseason). Would you? But, I acknowledge that I am probably underrating how hard it is to have a really good bullpen and thus the Sox's bullpen, even with its weak points, is still very good as a relative matter.

My thoughts on the bullpen are also probably related to the Sox's recent offensive struggles since an inability to score a lot of runs puts pressure on the bullpen to be more or less perfect.

Looking at the career numbers for guys like Hernandez, Gonzalez, and Renfroe, there is definitely a concern that, while they probably will improve somewhat over the course of the season, none of these guys are even average hitters at this stage in their careers. Hernandez has an 85 wRC+ which is exactly his average for the past three seasons so it would seem a little optimistic that he will significantly improve. Marwin has a career wRC+ of 99, but hasn't hit or exceeded that number since 2018 (which coincidentally was also the last good year Hernandez had). Very similarly, Renfroe has a career wRC+ of 100 but, again, hasn't hit or exceeded that number since 2018 (although he was basically there in 2019). Put another way, it wasn't wholly unreasonable for Bloom to expect that at least one or two of these guys would have a bounceback year, but the luck just might not be in our favor on that score.

Franchy and Dalbec are in a different category because they are both effectively flyers with little track record to compare to. So some patience is warranted there but I don't think Bloom should at all hesitate at sending them down or moving on from them if better options present themselves in the minors or via trade if Bloom doesn't have to give much up.
Your own bullpen always looks worse than other teams because you see the frustrating walks and bombs as a pattern. Pitching is hard, and overall the Sox bullpen has been pretty good at it.

I think the idea wasn't just that you'd throw a bunch of crap at the wall and see what sticks, but also that you could mix and match them to play to their strengths. And they have mixed and matched, but the players didn't deliver. But they were cheap flyers and the Sox can always try again on the trade market. And AAA starts up tomorrow, so every time Duran gets a hit we can start speculating about when they'll bring him up. That should be fun.
 

Cesar Crespo

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I'd say it's a weak leadoff hitter and the 7,8,9 batters (add in 6 when it's not Vazquez). So if Vaz isn't playing... there's actually 5 weak hitters in the lineup. That to me is too many if all the production is clustered so heavily at the top. I'm still of the opinion that Dalbec will come around....
The rotation really is fine.
The bullpen is decent. Back almost 10 years ago, if a team had a good closer and two other guys in the pen that were just "good", that'd be all that was needed: Foulke, Timlin, Embree.
With the shortening of the starters pitching, needing a 4th guy that can be good is essential. Whitlock, Barnes and Andriese are all pretty impressive (recent Andriese performance aside). As a 2nd tier- Hernandez, Ottavino, Sawamura and Valdez are all decent and I'd take almost all of them over most other teams back end BP guys. Add in that if they can survive with this crew, Sale and Houck will be able to either come back as a starter and bump Perez down to the pen, or just improve the pen.
The biggest need is to get their leadoff man (I prefer Arroyo there if they're not going to move Verdugo there which they clearly aren't) on base more and getting one of the bottom of the order to start hitting!
Hernandez is really only a problem because he's leading off. If he's the worst hitter on your team and he's further down the lineup, you are doing ok. Dalbec, Cordero and Renfroe have been a different level of suck so far. Cordero especially so.
 

Rovin Romine

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Yeah, it's extremely obvious that the weak points to this team are the bullpen and 6-9 hitters. The good thing is that theoretically those are things that can be addressed via the minors, or smaller trades. But I agree that Ottavino's aggravating tendency of walking leadoff batters makes him unqualified to pitch in very high-leverage innings. I know they are hoping Whitlock can be stretched out to be a starter or at least multi-inning reliever (which raises the question of why he didn't pitch the eighth as well as the seventh yesterday) but at this point Whitlock should be getting the 8th-inning/high-lev innings that Ottavino currently is. And if Whitlock is unavailable I'd honestly rather see Darwinzon and probably even Andriese in there instead of Ottavino.
Are they?
Apr 4 3.1 innings 59 pitches
8 2 20
14 1 10
19 2.2 29
23 2.1 41
28 2 31
May 2 1 15


Unless he's got a medical issue, this is pretty weird usage.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Are they?
Apr 4 3.1 innings 59 pitches
8 2 20
14 1 10
19 2.2 29
23 2.1 41
28 2 31
May 2 1 15


Unless he's got a medical issue, this is pretty weird usage.
I think the "stretching him out to be a starter' thing is more of a future consideration than a track he's actually on. Their usage of him thus far on the lines of a starter's schedule though. His days rest between appearances since his first have been 3, 5, 4, 3, 4, 3. That is intentional, though I think it has to do with easing him back from the elbow injury/Tommy John surgery that took him out of much of 2019 and all of 2020. As well as the fact that this is his first time pitching above AA. They're trying to pick their spots as far as using him in a way that fits the schedule and doesn't push him too far too fast.

Anyone expecting that Whitlock is about to become the regular set-up option leading to Barnes is setting themselves up for disappointment, IMO.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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Not only that, but nobody has seen this guy pitch in 2+ years, and maybe he's a different pitcher after Tommy John than before as well. Maybe he got off to a great start because there was no book on him. Now that teams have seen what he's got, hitters will start making adjustments and he in turn will need to try to adjust. I'm not saying this is inevitable, but maybe he's the Michael Chavis of pitchers - off to a fantastic start but mediocre or worse once the league figures him out.

He's been one of the best stories of the season so far, but there's a lot more of his story to be told. Hopefully, it has a happy ending.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Not only that, but nobody has seen this guy pitch in 2+ years, and maybe he's a different pitcher after Tommy John than before as well. Maybe he got off to a great start because there was no book on him. Now that teams have seen what he's got, hitters will start making adjustments and he in turn will need to try to adjust. I'm not saying this is inevitable, but maybe he's the Michael Chavis of pitchers - off to a fantastic start but mediocre or worse once the league figures him out.

He's been one of the best stories of the season so far, but there's a lot more of his story to be told. Hopefully, it has a happy ending.
Great point. Regardless of the injury issue, I'm trying to keep my expectations of him at zero solely because he's a rule 5 guy who's never been above AA before. It's rare that such a pitcher makes the jump and not only sticks but excels immediately.

On the plus side, the HR he gave up yesterday was on one bad pitch (middle-middle changeup). Otherwise he was just as effective as he'd been in his previous outings.
 

Rovin Romine

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I think the "stretching him out to be a starter' thing is more of a future consideration than a track he's actually on. Their usage of him thus far on the lines of a starter's schedule though. His days rest between appearances since his first have been 3, 5, 4, 3, 4, 3. That is intentional, though I think it has to do with easing him back from the elbow injury/Tommy John surgery that took him out of much of 2019 and all of 2020. As well as the fact that this is his first time pitching above AA. They're trying to pick their spots as far as using him in a way that fits the schedule and doesn't push him too far too fast.

Anyone expecting that Whitlock is about to become the regular set-up option leading to Barnes is setting themselves up for disappointment, IMO.
If I had to guess, like you I'd say the rest days, coupled with the pitch count, indicate they're worried about over-stressing the elbow. I'm sure there was a handedness matchup consideration in some of those games, but the (relatively) short outings aren't long enough for him to be pulled to avoid facing the batting order for a second time.

Maybe they did think about stretching him out early, and then found the rotation was better than they feared. But if that was so, you'd expect his usage to have changed.

But he's clearly not on the starter's track at this point.

Maybe he got off to a great start because there was no book on him. Now that teams have seen what he's got, hitters will start making adjustments and he in turn will need to try to adjust.
If true, all the more reason to have actually used his hot hand when it was such?
 

joe dokes

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If I had to guess, like you I'd say the rest days, coupled with the pitch count, indicate they're worried about over-stressing the elbow. I'm sure there was a handedness matchup consideration in some of those games, but the (relatively) short outings aren't long enough for him to be pulled to avoid facing the batting order for a second time.
Whether its really Cora or the medstaff in the background, Cora has stressed a couple of times the TJ surgery, the lack of experience above AA, and the fact that he hasn't pitched is a long while as considerations. Its pretty hard (for me anyway) to reverse engineer what they're thinking based on that usage, but, at a minimum, I would not expect the sort of back-to-back or 2-days-in-3 that we see from the usual relievers for at least another month or 2.
 

Manramsclan

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Right now I think Bloom has fared very well in the bargain bin when it has come to finding starting pitchers and bullpen arms, but his moves with the offense have not really panned out.
I agree with this almost completely. It bears mentioning that while the position players have not panned out offensively, they have played very good defense at important positions in the field (CF/RF/2B). Additionally, they have provided a great deal of flexibility with regard to lineup construction and keeping guys rested.

I don't think the expectation with any of these guys is that they would be much more than league average bats. I think the idea to was surround the superstar level talent (Devers, X, JDM) with competent Major league regulars to stay under the cap and buy time for whatever improvements may come from the farm.
 

grimshaw

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Wonder how long they stick with Franchy if he isn't going everyday now that the minor league season has started. He really needs consistent at bats. The only other close to big league ready OF on the 40 man other than Durran is Marcus Wilson. It might be time to give him a looksie to see if he can contribute since he is 24. He at least has good fielding tools and could play all three positions so has a floor as a more current useful player. There's not much to lose since none of the platoon guys project as long term solutions and are playing at and have a recent history as well below average players.

I'd give him a month to see what they have, and get Durran a little more time and Franchy some confidence.
 

nvalvo

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Wonder how long they stick with Franchy if he isn't going everyday now that the minor league season has started. He really needs consistent at bats. The only other close to big league ready OF on the 40 man other than Durran is Marcus Wilson. It might be time to give him a looksie to see if he can contribute since he is 24. He at least has good fielding tools and could play all three positions so has a floor as a more current useful player. There's not much to lose since none of the platoon guys project as long term solutions and are playing at and have a recent history as well below average players.

I'd give him a month to see what they have, and get Durran a little more time and Franchy some confidence.
Wilson is certainly an option. For another: what about Yairo Muñoz?

I was just at mlb.com and clicked on his scouting report.

It has one of the odder lines I've read:
He is such a strange prospect. I can imagine him succeeding massively as a Byron Buxton-type speed/power phenom, or just... completely busting on both sides of the ball. The floor and ceiling are just extremely far apart.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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what about Yairo Muñoz?
He was one of the few bright points last season... I was wondering where he was at and what his potential was like. He seemed like a pretty poor defensive fielder but with a solid bat.... very similar to Franchy
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Wilson is certainly an option. For another: what about Yairo Muñoz?
My guess is that if they call someone up to send Franchy down, it will likely be Wilson or Chavis (or both and send Dalbec down too). Both on the 40-man already so no extra move required. Next might be Danny Santana should he be healthy (currently on the IL) since he's got an opt-out relatively soon. Then I think they look at Munoz or Cesar Puello (who has been traveling on the taxi squad). Then finally Duran.

I think Cordero gets a bit more rope though. As long as the team isn't struggling and in desperate need of a shot in the arm, they can afford to give him time to figure it out.
 

Cesar Crespo

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I was just at mlb.com and clicked on his scouting report.

It has one of the odder lines I've read:
I've read that line before about other players and it was strange then too. I guess if the ball is on the ground it makes sense but they are probably talking about overall value.
 

Rovin Romine

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I've read that line before about other players and it was strange then too. I guess if the ball is on the ground it makes sense but they are probably talking about overall value.
Like he's able to reach some grounded balls faster, so his noodle arm is that much closer to the target, and throws a moment earlier? Or like he's able to use his speed to catch more balls that average, offsetting guys who will sac-fly run on his arm, or take an extra base?

I'd be curious about the math behind each of those statements. (If it's not just a filler line.)
 

Tuff Ghost

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There has been a lot of talk about the struggles at the bottom of the line-up, but after writing a post about how poorly Franchy Cordero has performed, I wanted to also show how the Red Sox hitters have stacked-up based on their Statcast measurements so far. Basically, this post will be a long way of saying how Bobby Dalbec has had a very different season from Franchy Cordero.

Tier 1: Best (90th Percentile xwOBA or above)

Player xBA xSLG xwOBA xwOBA Percentile
Devers .351 .742 .483 99
Martinez .311 .608 .419 93

Tier 2: Very Good (70th-89th percentile xwOBA or above)

Player xBA xSLG xwOBA xwOBA Percentile
Verdugo .336 .549 .398 88
Bogaerts .306 .527 .365 74

Tier 3: Above Average (50th-69th percentile xwOBA or above)

Player xBA xSLG xwOBA xwOBA Percentile
Dalbec .266 .505 .347 55

Tier 4: Below Average (25th-49th percentile xwOBA or above)

Player xBA xSLG xwOBA xwOBA Percentile
Hernandez .236 .454 .319 37
Gonzalez .235 .334 .313 33
Renfroe .230 .439 .310 32

Tier 5: Bad (Below 25th percentile xwOBA)

Player xBA xSLG xwOBA xwOBA Percentile
Vazquez .263 .385 .294 19
Arroyo .237 .324 .271 11

Tier X: Worst Player in MLB So Far in 2021?

Player xBA xSLG xwOBA xwOBA Percentile
Cordero .124 .166 .161 Worst.

It's easy to see who has been a bit lucky or unlucky based on actual numbers versus their Statcast expected numbers. Quickly grouping them, I'd go with:

Lucky (wOBA is more than xwOBA by at least .030):
  • Bogaerts +.055
  • Martinez +.053
  • Arroyo +.047
Unlucky (wOBA is less than xwOBA by at least .030):
  • Dalbec -.102
  • Devers -.089
  • Plawecki -.078
  • Gonzalez -.037
Edit: Changing the "Worst Player in MLB?" tier to read "Worst Player in MLB So Far in 2021?" to clarify that I still believe in Franchy Cordero despite his incredibly poor start.
 
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Red(s)HawksFan

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Like he's able to reach some grounded balls faster, so his noodle arm is that much closer to the target, and throws a moment earlier? Or like he's able to use his speed to catch more balls that average, offsetting guys who will sac-fly run on his arm, or take an extra base?

I'd be curious about the math behind each of those statements. (If it's not just a filler line.)
I think the implication of the line is that if he got better jumps and took better angles to balls (in air or on the ground), he could get to them with enough time to set up and be in the best position to throw once he had the ball. In other words, getting to a fly ball so that he can set up and have his momentum going forward to optimize the timing of the throw rather than catching it on the run or at an angle that forces him to stop and/or change direction to make a throw.

A fair example is that Kiermaier play the other night when he raced across and cut off Arozerena to make a catch. The argument for him doing it is that he's got the stronger arm and had a better shot at gunning down the runner, but he caught it on the run and had to stop and throw across his body so he made a poor throw. Meanwhile Arozerena was camped under it and setting up to make a textbook throw. Even with a weaker arm, he probably had the better chance to throw the runner out in that spot. So what the scouts want out of Duran is more Arozerena and less Kiermaier when he has to make a throw.
 

curly2

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This 14-man pitching staff is too much. You don't need Brice and Valdez on the team. There is not enough work for them. One of them should go in favor of a position player.

I know Verdugo's hurt and Arroyo had to leave early, but playing Vazquez at second is bad, and it would have been nice to at least have the option to pinch-hit for Dalbec in the 10th.
 

JimD

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9-10 since the initial 9-game winning streak ended, no thanks to a 2-4 run against the lowly Rangers and Tigers.

Meanwhile the Yankees are on a 11-4 streak since April 20th. It just feels like they will be comfortably in front of the division by Memorial Day, like the last month never happened.

Starting off the season unexpectedly well is better than the alternative, but It's likely the winning streak was a bit of a mirage and that the Sox are who we thought they were - a promising but still incomplete team that can compete for a wild-card spot, but not a serious playoff contender. The focus still needs to be on figuring out who is part of the team's long-term plans and not on short-term fixes this summer in pursuit of 2021 roster improvements that at best may yield an extra win in October, if that.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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This 14-man pitching staff is too much. You don't need Brice and Valdez on the team. There is not enough work for them. One of them should go in favor of a position player.

I know Verdugo's hurt and Arroyo had to leave early, but playing Vazquez at second is bad, and it would have been nice to at least have the option to pinch-hit for Dalbec in the 10th.
I agree that they're carrying too many pitchers. The fact that I forgot Valdez was even on the roster is all the evidence I need (he hasn't pitched in 12 days!). Given the weak spots and the nagging injuries, Chavis seems like the guy they need to bring up. He's redundant if Dalbec, Cordero, and Arroyo are healthy and productive but they are none of those things at the moment.
 

joe dokes

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I agree that they're carrying too many pitchers. The fact that I forgot Valdez was even on the roster is all the evidence I need (he hasn't pitched in 12 days!). Given the weak spots and the nagging injuries, Chavis seems like the guy they need to bring up. He's redundant if Dalbec, Cordero, and Arroyo are healthy and productive but they are none of those things at the moment.
I suspect the 14-man staff was a hedge against the rotation shitting the bed. One more time through and I think they make changes by the time the weekend is over.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Jan 23, 2009
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I suspect the 14-man staff was a hedge against the rotation shitting the bed. One more time through and I think they make changes by the time the weekend is over.
No doubt, and I didn't have a problem with it to start the year given the flexibility that guys like Gonzalez, Hernandez, Arroyo, and Verdugo gave them to strategically play match-ups despite a shallow bench. They've gone six times through the rotation at this point. I'm not seeing why a seventh is necessary before making moves. Now that some position players are dinged up and they've got a pitcher approaching two weeks without any action, there's no longer a reason to wait.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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No doubt, and I didn't have a problem with it to start the year given the flexibility that guys like Gonzalez, Hernandez, Arroyo, and Verdugo gave them to strategically play match-ups despite a shallow bench. They've gone six times through the rotation at this point. I'm not seeing why a seventh is necessary before making moves. Now that some position players are dinged up and they've got a pitcher approaching two weeks without any action, there's no longer a reason to wait.
Assuming the Sox are rational actors, it occcurred to me that they could have planned it out to wait for minor leaguers to play a few games before starting up the Worcester shuttle. But on substance, I agree that there's no real reason to wait, especially with the fielders dinged up.
 

grimshaw

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May 16, 2007
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Assuming the Sox are rational actors, it occcurred to me that they could have planned it out to wait for minor leaguers to play a few games before starting up the Worcester shuttle.
Agree that is probably the hold up.
They're going to need to start easing off Barnes too. He's on pace for 85 innings and has appeared in16 of the 31 games.

When the position players are healthy I'd like to swap out Brice for Bazardo and see if he can be a 7th inning guy. Hernandez is just too volatile to trust and they haven't exactly been facing juggernaut lineups.