He is #27 in the majors with a .904 OPS. The guy is anything but struggling. Days off may help him, sure, but I'd call them prophylactic rather than corrective.I'm glad to see him get a couple days off. 3 for his last 21.
Stats like that are meaningless when discussing recent performance.He is #27 in the majors with a .904 OPS. The guy is anything but struggling. Days off may help him, sure, but I'd call them prophylactic rather than corrective.
Well, remove the psychanalysis from this, and it sounds not that different from the talk about JBJ in 2014, or Pedroia in 2006 to early 2007, or Ellsbury in 2008, or or or... for every example you have of a hitter where the narrative is "he's struggling, he's pressing, he needs a break", I can show you a parallel example where the narrative ended up being "he's close to breaking out, he's putting the pieces together, he needs to just stick with it and get some reps and power through a down period".Stats like that are meaningless when discussing recent performance.
I keep thinking about normal people like us. We go through shitty periods at work, weeks where we don't feel well - but aren't sick enough to stay home...sleepless nights that translate into shitty days...aches and pains from the gym or skiing or tennis - and the last hing we need to do is perform on a high physical and mental plane.
I don't know how these guys do it 6 out of 7 days (never mind the red-eyes). I'm still amazed when players skip only 1 or 2 games and feel rejuvenated (it would take me a month). I think one of the most important functions of the coaching staff is to comprehend what a player feels like and intercede when ego, guilt and/or machismo end up with some players masking a downtime.
Shaw really looks like he needs a break this week.
I really like Shaw and his approach. I only worry about his vulnerability to high pitches in and out of the zone. My sense: he should lay off and focus on all other zones he can clearly handle.Well, remove the psychanalysis from this, and it sounds not that different from the talk about JBJ in 2014, or Pedroia in 2006 to early 2007, or Ellsbury in 2008, or or or... for every example you have of a hitter where the narrative is "he's struggling, he's pressing, he needs a break", I can show you a parallel example where the narrative ended up being "he's close to breaking out, he's putting the pieces together, he needs to just stick with it and get some reps and power through a down period".
When physical aches and pains add up to the point where we can perceive it as (astute) viewers, it's almost always to a level where they're basically injured and are likely to need a DL stint. Anything shy of that - needing a day off, Eric Van style day-game-after-a-night-game psychoanalysis, something requiring fixing stance or approach - we seem to be doing no better than guessing, in my experience. So, yeah, perhaps what Shaw needs is a few days' rest. Maybe what he needs is more reps, and to keep his consistency up there. Maybe he's absolutely fine and just got wrong-footed by a few pitchers a few times. Maybe he needs to adjust some kink in his swing and needs a week off to practice that before putting it up against ML pitching. Maybe a dozen other things. I really don't think we're able to judge the difference from a game or two.
The one thing we do know is results. We know that over a plenty-large-enough sample size of his 43 games year-to-date, he has performed at an all-star level. Year-to-date: .904 OPS. Last 28 days? .933 OPS. Last 14 days? .985 OPS. He has had nearly as much success swinging the bat as the league leaders across baseball, so his success PA-to-PA, or night-to-night, seems to me more like nitpicking than anything approaching insightful analysis.
Not that that's the be-all-and-end-all. One of the things I love most about this site is other posters' subtle perceptions about a pitcher's delivery or a batter's swing, as they occasionally illustrate by posting comparative GIFs and whatnot. If someone here has spotted a kink in his swing or approach that wasn't visible a month ago, or evidence that the league is adjusting to him and he has failed to adjust back in the last week or so, I'd love nothing more than to read it. But I've been watching the same games you have, I haven't seen anything alarmingly negative in his PAs, and the stats really don't amount to anything negative either. So I'm having a hard time understanding why the worry.
I am honestly surprised to see the last 14 day numbers look that good, because he had a string of brutal AB's over the weekend that was certainly coloring my perceptions. He badly missed some fastballs in the zone that looked crushable in real time. Thanks for the post; I love it when my perceptions are shattered by good news.snip
Year-to-date: .904 OPS. Last 28 days? .933 OPS. Last 14 days? .985 OPS.
snip
But I've been watching the same games you have, I haven't seen anything alarmingly negative in his PAs, and the stats really don't amount to anything negative either. So I'm having a hard time understanding why the worry.
FWIW, Shaw left Fenway yesterday wearing a brace on his hand (precautionary) as the web between the thumb and forefinger has been bothering him. Just curious, how many more ABs is a large enough sample size for you to determine that Shaw needs a break because he's either wearing down, needs to get healthy or both? In real life, if you see anything that doesn't seem right do you check it out and make needed adjustments or do you wait for it to self correct? As for any specific kink...seems like he's having a Hell of a time getting the bat on the ball lately. I think he may have had 1 game off so far this season. Would you rather he took a few days now to heal up and have time to work on things if it's determined he needs to work on things or just keep playing him each day until you determine the sample size is big enough and there may be an issue?Well, remove the psychanalysis from this, and it sounds not that different from the talk about JBJ in 2014, or Pedroia in 2006 to early 2007, or Ellsbury in 2008, or or or... for every example you have of a hitter where the narrative is "he's struggling, he's pressing, he needs a break", I can show you a parallel example where the narrative ended up being "he's close to breaking out, he's putting the pieces together, he needs to just stick with it and get some reps and power through a down period".
When physical aches and pains add up to the point where we can perceive it as (astute) viewers, it's almost always to a level where they're basically injured and are likely to need a DL stint. Anything shy of that - needing a day off, Eric Van style day-game-after-a-night-game psychoanalysis, something requiring fixing stance or approach - we seem to be doing no better than guessing, in my experience. So, yeah, perhaps what Shaw needs is a few days' rest. Maybe what he needs is more reps, and to keep his consistency up there. Maybe he's absolutely fine and just got wrong-footed by a few pitchers a few times. Maybe he needs to adjust some kink in his swing and needs a week off to practice that before putting it up against ML pitching. Maybe a dozen other things. I really don't think we're able to judge the difference from a game or two.
The one thing we do know is results. We know that over a plenty-large-enough sample size of his 43 games year-to-date, he has performed at an all-star level. Year-to-date: .904 OPS. Last 28 days? .933 OPS. Last 14 days? .985 OPS. He has had nearly as much success swinging the bat as the league leaders across baseball, so his success PA-to-PA, or night-to-night, seems to me more like nitpicking than anything approaching insightful analysis.
Not that that's the be-all-and-end-all. One of the things I love most about this site is other posters' subtle perceptions about a pitcher's delivery or a batter's swing, as they occasionally illustrate by posting comparative GIFs and whatnot. If someone here has spotted a kink in his swing or approach that wasn't visible a month ago, or evidence that the league is adjusting to him and he has failed to adjust back in the last week or so, I'd love nothing more than to read it. But I've been watching the same games you have, I haven't seen anything alarmingly negative in his PAs, and the stats really don't amount to anything negative either. So I'm having a hard time understanding why the worry.
Shaw also had a 6 game stretch from May 3 to May 8 where he went 4-22 with 8 Ks and a 490 OPS. We are talking about a less than a week sample here. It's not like it hasn't happened before - this month! - and he bounced back just fine. His OPS decreased from 923 to 840 during that week, don't think I saw any posts suggesting he needed some time off but will have to go back upthread to check.Last 7 Games .200 avg .226 ob% .367 slg
Last 15 Games .288 avg .364 ob% .559 slg
IOW he had a bad week, but it came after a very good week (the 15 games include the 7 bad ones). So while it's possible he's heading into some sort of longer slump, it's not a conclusion we should jump to just yet.
Yeah, and the day before yesterday, he hit two doubles in 5 PAs en route to a 9-1 stomping.FWIW, Shaw left Fenway yesterday wearing a brace on his hand (precautionary) as the web between the thumb and forefinger has been bothering him. Just curious, how many more ABs is a large enough sample size for you to determine that Shaw needs a break because he's either wearing down, needs to get healthy or both? In real life, if you see anything that doesn't seem right do you check it out and make needed adjustments or do you wait for it to self correct? As for any specific kink...seems like he's having a Hell of a time getting the bat on the ball lately. I think he may have had 1 game off so far this season. Would you rather he took a few days now to heal up and have time to work on things if it's determined he needs to work on things or just keep playing him each day until you determine the sample size is big enough and there may be an issue?
Well now in hindsight, this is looking worrisome. Since this post Shaw has posted an OPS of .498 He's obviously been struggling so I checked it out. May 22nd to last night. Still.... the big 5 are carrying the offense but Hanley, Shaw and the rest have turned into poop at the plate the last 3 weeks.
He didn't get that day off after all either; May 23rd was the day Hanley got drilled in the back foot and Shaw had to fill in (which I believe marked the beginning of Hanley's slump too). I think DOB said last night that Shaw's played in some capacity in something like 141 straight games now.Well now in hindsight, this is looking worrisome. Since this post Shaw has posted an OPS of .498 He's obviously been struggling so I checked it out. May 22nd to last night. Still.... the big 5 are carrying the offense but Hanley, Shaw and the rest have turned into poop at the plate the last 3 weeks.
What's the latest on Holt? It's been nearly a week since I've seen anything and it was the same "just taking it day by day" comment we've seen all along. Maybe I'm just overlooking it but the lack of updates concerns me some.He didn't get that day off after all either; May 23rd was the day Hanley got drilled in the back foot and Shaw had to fill in (which I believe marked the beginning of Hanley's slump too). I think DOB said last night that Shaw's played in some capacity in something like 141 straight games now.
Injuries suck. We need Holt back to give these guys a break.
This is starting to remind me of the Brian Roberts situation. He missed considersable time as a result of his concussion and never really was the same player after he came back. Hopefully, Brock's situation turns out differently.The CBS story is slanted by Farrell's quote that he is hopeful Holt may start his rehab assignment soon. The article states Brock is taking medicine to help with dizziness and headaches but then the headline picks up that he could start his rehab assignment this week.
Well, pretty much every concussion protocol prohibits a return to the field unless the athlete is free of concussion symptoms. This would mean free of concussion symptoms and also not on medicine to supress symptoms. So I would predict that Holt is still a minimum of 2 weeks away from returning to the field. It potentially could be much longer. After the report of symptoms, I would not expect Holt back on the roster until after the AS break and this concussion has the potential to be season ending.
Shaw has a career OPS+ of 109, Daubach 108.Shaw is better than Will Middlebrooks, simply because he can draw a walk. As for Daubach, him as a hitter with the ability to play passable defense at 3rd is a nice player when you have him for controllable years. Daubach was a .259/.341/.476 career hitter; Shaw so far is at .265/.326/.472, so not too far off.
I'm surprised their slash lines are so close. I'd have thought Shaw fairly ahead of Daubach. Perhaps I'm weighting Shaw's performance higher due to the era.Shaw has a career OPS+ of 109, Daubach 108.
It's not position based at all, his peers wouldn't matter. It's adjusted to park and league average as a whole.I'm surprised their slash lines are so close. I'd have thought Shaw fairly ahead of Daubach. Perhaps I'm weighting Shaw's performance higher due to the era.
Regarding OPS+, I also would have thought Shaw to be higher. Is OPS balanced versus the rest of the league on a daily basis? I would guess have Donaldson, Machado, Longoria, et al as peers would make things tougher.
Way too scatter brained today. Must have been thinking of WAR, and somehow convinced myself it was positionally weighted. Derp. Thanks.It's not position based at all, his peers wouldn't matter. It's adjusted to park and league average as a whole.
I think Speier had mentioned a AAA promotion was near right before he missed close to a week. The 3b timeline may have been bumped up a few days otherwise.Since the AS Break Shaw is 263 / 429 for a 692 OPS.
Moncada played 3B last night. I figure Shaw has until September 1st to adjust to what teams are doing to him, particularly in the OBP part of OPS, if he's going to keep his job in September.
Due to the happy fact we have two or three guys on the 60 day DL, they just have to be in the organization as of Sept. 1st. to be replacements for the DLed guys.Calling up Moncada 1 September is ridiculous. Bank him on 31 August so he's eligible for the post season in case he pulls a Bogaerts (Shaw pulls a Middlebrooks).
I forgot about Sandoval. Not really. I just want to forget about him.They have Sam Travis and Pablo Sandoval still too. I'd guess you won't see Moncada until sometime next year, and probably not at the beginning of the season. I don't know if Travis will be able to play winter ball or w/e, he'll need time to get back into form and may not be part of the solution anyway.
Thanks.Due to the happy fact we have two or three guys on the 60 day DL, they just have to be in the organization as of Sept. 1st. to be replacements for the DLed guys.
In other words Moncada easily qualifies.
If you have an injured major league player--the Sox currently have five on the 60 day dl--then you can replace the injured player with anyone who a) was in the organization as of midnight 8/31 and b) didn't go to another organization and come backThanks.
I need a lawyer to explain this to me in my native tongue:
"(3) Replacements for Injured Players Before a Series. ...a Club may name a player in its organization to a roster for such series in order to replace an injured Major League player...
...(B) the injured Major League player is unable to render service in such series because of a specific injury or ailment;
(C) the injured Major League player’s Club has submitted written proof of the player’s disability...
{The Replacement must...}
...(E) have been on a Minor League Active...List of such Major League Club as of Midnight Eastern Time on August 31, or on such date be designated for assignment or under control, but not yet reported, on assignment from another Major League organization;
(F) have remained reserved to such Major League Club (at the Major or Minor League levels) through the time of replacement; and
(G) be placed on the Club’s Major League Reserve List."
Josh Rutledge...that infielder whose name I can't remember...
That link didn't take me to the article; this one did:Slumping Travis Shaw troubled by diminished role
http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/08/19/soxnotes/ER2DJ48D4fzDW1KEl4CpSJ/story.html#comments
That's funny, I can see the article with my link, but Thank You, maybe others cannot. I'll delete mine above. I have noticed a change in Shaw's attitude since he's cooled down. Don't like him chirping in the news.That link didn't take me to the article; this one did:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2016/08/19/soxnotes/ER2DJ48D4fzDW1KEl4CpSJ/story.html
Shaw seems a little spoiled to me--he was born into a baseball family and has had a pretty nice (and easy) life.
I see Shaw as a trade candidate in the off-season. He doesn't hit well enough to start at 1b--trade him to a team looking for a third baseman. Third base is pretty crowded next year with Sandoval returning and Moncada waiting in the wings.
You 'say how you feel' to your wife, parents or close teammates. You don't say in a media interview that you're not happy with playing time , and in so doing you disparage the Hill signing and perhaps the opportunity Holt is getting at third. Yes, it's chirping, and frowned upon by all mlb teams. Hill starting tonight.I read the article and don't see him as chirping or spoiled. He makes the perhaps unforgiveable error of answering questions truthfully. He spoke the way he feels. Now, you don't like that, but I do.
“I was told [the trade for Hill] wasn’t going to change much. But obviously it did. We’re in a pennant race and it’s different than where we were last year. We can’t just throw guys out there. I understand that every game is a must-win and the situation is different.I read the article and don't see him as chirping or spoiled. He makes the perhaps unforgiveable error of answering questions truthfully. He spoke the way he feels. Now, you don't like that, but I do.