Red Sox sign Mitchell Boggs
- Thread starter Corsi
- Start date
Peter Gammons @pgammo 1m1 minute ago
Boggs has surgery to clear up hernia that plagued him since 2013. Before then three 95 w/sink, workhorse
Boggs has surgery to clear up hernia that plagued him since 2013. Before then three 95 w/sink, workhorse
Another groundball artist:
Season GB%
2008 - 52.4
2009 - 52.7
2010 - 52.8
2011 - 51.4
2012 - 52.7
2013 - 54.4
Season GB%
2008 - 52.4
2009 - 52.7
2010 - 52.8
2011 - 51.4
2012 - 52.7
2013 - 54.4
Apparently one of the top set-up men in the NL in 2012, his career tumbled after he was given a chance at the Cardinals closer role.
Here is some information on how he used to pitch in 2012: http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2013/3/25/4142596/the-st-louis-cardinals-turn-to-mitchell-boggs-at-closer
Here is some information on how he used to pitch in 2012: http://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2013/3/25/4142596/the-st-louis-cardinals-turn-to-mitchell-boggs-at-closer
So if you were someone that bought a road jersey of his in the last 3 years of 11 with the team when they started applying names, you will be all set!Lose Remerswaal said:
Rob Bradford @bradfo 18s19 seconds ago
Last non-Wade Boggs Boggs tweet of the day: Mitchell Boggs will make $750,000 if he makes the major league club
Last non-Wade Boggs Boggs tweet of the day: Mitchell Boggs will make $750,000 if he makes the major league club
It seems like the Sox are acquiring a bushel of under appreciated relievers and will see which, if any of them, will help next season. Miller was a special pitcher who was a successful reclamation project for the Sox but he isn't worth roughly 10 times the value of Boggs and their other relatively recent bullpen acquisitions unless the turns out to be an effective closer. If any of the new pitchers, Boggs, Escobar, Hembree, Spruill and Varvaro, come through as average to above average pitchers in their projected roles, they could get a reasonable facsimile of Miller's setup production at a fraction of the cost. Organizational men, Barnes, Britton (if he isn't designated for assignment and shipped out to make room for Breslow), Layne, Ranaudo, Workman and Wright, provide promising additional depth. If Layne, Escobar or Britton can't claim to lefty bullpen jobs, they may again go outside the organization to improve this aspect of their relief staff. They did something similar to this for the starting rotation once Lester was gone for good.
At the end of the day, the goal is to win more games than everyone else, including the last one you play in late October. Mitchell Boggs is a nice flier, he would be so even if the Red Sox had 3 Andrew Millers and 2 Kojis. But, with 7 bullpen slots talking about him or any of the other fliers they've brought in as "replacing" Miller, is silly talk. They don't give out trophies for finishing first in WAR/$. Sometimes I think posters here would prefer they did.
Miller was a top 5 overall draft pick. That makes him pretty unique among the group.MakMan44 said:
But the main point is that there are 7 bullpen slots. Even if Boggs and Valvaro and a third guy are all excellent, that could will still leave them a reliever short come playoff time. There's a gaping hole in the bullpen right now.
Seriously? All 7 bullpen spots have to be great or its a "gaping hole?" The 5-7 relievers rarely see anything come playoff time with all of the off days they get, and even great bullpens have question marks at the back end of the pen.
Plympton91 said:
I fully expect Ben to use the same approach as with the top of the rotation starter - the young guys and the fliers will get their shot early in the season but if the July deadline rolls around and the Sox are competitive, he will acquire relief help as necessary.
Are people (read P91) just ignoring the existence of Uehara and Tazawa? The Sox don't need three "fliers" like Boggs, Valvaro, etc to all be excellent in order to have a solid playoff bullpen. They might need one or two of them to be passable behind Uehara, Tazawa, Mujica, and pick a lefty (Layne, Britton, Breslow). Not to mention the bullpen gets a bolster from the rotation in the post-season as well...someone like Masterson or Kelly could be the odd man out of the playoff rotation.
Bottom line though...isn't it a little fucking early to be wringing hands over the back end of the playoff bullpen?
Bottom line though...isn't it a little fucking early to be wringing hands over the back end of the playoff bullpen?
If Mitchell eats chicken before every game then we will know that the front office is on to something with this signing.
What I'm not ignoring about Uehara and Tazawa are that the "collapse risk" on Uehara is as high as it could be for a reliever who just got a big-money, multi-year contract and Tazawa is best cast as a 7th inning guy, not a relief ace. Mujica is also a smoke and mirrors reliever who can't be successful without his best stuff and pinpoint control or a whole lot of luck.Red(s)HawksFan said:
IMHO, there is a reasonable probability that we'll get to May 31st and realize the Red Sox have only one reliable relief pitcher, Tazawa, and that even he's not really a relief ace.
I'm not denying they've got a bunch of talented kids they can throw against the bullpen wall and see who sticks, but that's not planning for a good bullpen, it's praying for one.
Plympton91 said:
Isn't that how bullpens typically work out though? It's been more or less proven that shelling out big money for premier RP talent is not worth it, considering the volatility of the position.
Plympton91 said:
Mitchell Boggs had an ERA+ of 173 in 2012, which is way better than anything Miller had before coming to the Red Sox.
Miller was a flier. Boggs is a flier. Maybe he pans out, most likely he doesn't. Worth a shot.
I don't think that's been proven at all. What I think is that teams haven't figured out how to project relief pitching and to protect the health of relief pitchers when they are going well, and so they make some bad investments, like the Red Sox did with Bobby Jenks. I'd start by including some exogenous controls for natural talent levels--like draft position and fastball velocity--add in controls for prior season and cumulative workload, throw on something like at what point in their career they were switched from starting to relieving, and maybe a few others that I don't think teams look at systematically and that seem to my inter-occular impact tests to matter greatly. When I retire, maybe I'll have the time and inclination to do such a study correctly.foulkehampshire said:
Red(s)HawksFan said:
The following phrase is your friend. Just don't click on the link.
Guess how many bullpens have been solid 1-7 for any part of a season? That's right, zero. Every team has weakness in the back end of the pen. The bullpen right now is pretty good even with a few question marks. I agree with RHF, it's one of the things that shouldn't be worried about at this point.
DanoooME said:
Oh, that's exactly what I've seen for P91's posts for a long time. Unfortunately, that doesn't work when he's quoted by those responding to him.
DanoooME said:
In 2013, the Red Sox had a stellar bullpen. In the playoffs, here's what their bullpen did:
ALDS vs. TB:
- Breslow: 3.2 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 4 k
- Dempster: 1.0 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 2 k
- Morales: 0.1 ip, 1 h, 1 r, 1 er, 1 bb, 0 k
- Tazawa: 2.1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 2 k
- Uehara: 3.0 ip, 1 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 4 k
- Workman: 0.2 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 0 k
TOTAL: 11.0 ip, 7 h, 2 r, 2 er, 2 bb, 12 k, 1.64 era, 0.82 whip
ALCS vs. Det:
- Breslow: 3.1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 4 bb, 2 k
- Dempster: 1.0 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 0 k
- Doubront: 2.1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 2 bb, 1 k
- Morales: 1.0 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 er, 2 bb, 0 k
- Tazawa: 2.2 ip, 4 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 1 k
- Uehara: 6.0 ip, 4 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 9 k
- Workman: 4.2 ip, 3 h, 0 r, 0 er, 2 bb, 3 k
TOTAL: 21.0 ip, 16 h, 1 r, 1 er, 10 bb, 16 k, 0.43 era, 1.24 whip
WS vs. StL:
- Breslow: 0.1 ip, 3 h, 3 r, 2 er, 2 bb, 0 k
- Dempster: 1.0 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 bb, 1 k
- Doubront: 4.2 ip, 2 h, 1 r, 1 er, 1 bb, 3 k
- Tazawa: 2.1 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 3 k
- Uehara: 4.2 ip, 2 h, 0 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 3 k
- Workman: 3.1 ip, 3 h, 1 r, 0 er, 1 bb, 1 k
TOTAL: 15.1 ip, 13 h, 6 r, 5 er, 5 bb, 11 k, 2.93 era, 1.17 whip
GRAND TOTAL: 47.1 ip, 36 h, 9 r, 8 er, 17 bb, 39 k, 1.52 era, 1.12 whip
But during the regular season, the Sox' bullpen ranked 21st in MLB by ERA, at 3.70. That's because during the season, they had to use a LOT of guys, but in the playoffs, your bullpen gets shortened and the key guys, the best guys, get almost all the work.
In the regular season, the Red Sox' bullpen threw 470.0 ip. Of those 470.0, here was their usage by the top guys:
- Uehara: 74.1 (15.8%)
- Tazawa: 68.1 (14.5%)
- Breslow: 59.2 (12.7%)
- Workman: 23.0 (4.9%)
But in the playoffs, the bullpen threw 47.1 ip. Of those 47.1, here was their usage by these same guys:
- Uehara: 13.2 (28.9%)
- Tazawa: 7.1 (15.5%)
- Breslow: 7.1 (15.5%)
- Workman: 8.2 (18.3%)
So especially with Uehara and Workman, their playoff usage went WAY up, with tremendous results - Uehara had a 0.66 era and 0.51 whip, while Workman has a 0.00 era and 1.15 whip. Incredible.
So long story short, I don't think the last guy or two in the bullpen will make or break this team. Always nice to be outstanding in every single roster spot, but….that's not likely. Or necessary.