He was above average as a hitter each of the last two years. I don't love his bat but he has made it work.
hat is fine. I wouldn’t put up much of a fight of Arroyo over Hernandez. I value the flexibility over the slightly better hitting.
A totally fair point of view. I don't think it matters much either way. Kike obviously has the longer track record of success.
Yes, we know, that's what we've been talking about
Its interesting to consider how much predictive value this has in the context of a team like the Red Sox. We started with a bunch of nominal starters on the IL, got them back, then suffered injuries, but got lucky with the call-ups. I'm mildly surprised guys like Rodriguez and Bleier have done well since their recall from the IL.
Would have been convenient, but when juggling a 30 team schedule you're going to get some of this. Also, aren't they in Seattle next? With an off day it's not that big of an issue.
Worth noting that Duran and Wong are both older than Devers, who will turn 27 this October.
It's a great point. Some proportion of the so-so prospects flame out every year, but some much smaller proportion break out and materially improve their projections. If you could reliably predict which were which, well, you'd make an excellent farm director.
This is a good point, and probably one of the things that makes this sport such a rewarding long-form narrative.
AL East Standings on July 1st:
I think the latter are doing better than reported, though both were fV40 prospects which is a bench player for a hitter, and a back end starter for a pitcher.
Much of my youth was spent in suburbia, out of range of the late edition of regular morning newspapers. So I often felt like I had some kind of insider knowledge.
Forgive the equivalent of some kind of emoji, but I really love this post. Totally relate.
My thoughts as well. These West Coast trips always make me nervous. Even the best Sox teams were pretty shaky on these annual trips out West. However, I think Seattle are starting to just run out of gas.
I know there have been many bad ones, but for some reason, 2 good ones stick out from memory: a weekday game in Oakland when Manny hit a big, late HR into the empty OF stands; and a weekend day game in Seattle when Steven Wright pitched several crucial long relief innings in a comeback win. Maybe 2007 &13.
Per Cora:
