Sox Therapy: Happy (Belated) Anniversary Tim

21 years and 1 day ago the Boston Red Sox signed a guy who posted a 5.84 ERA in AAA Buffalo the previous season.  All Tim Wakefield did is dominate the American League for the next several months and by the time he was done he had won more games than all but two Red Sox pitchers in the 111 year history of the club.

Wednesday the Sox sent Wake’s spiritual descendant to the mound in the form of Steven Wright.  All Wright has done in 2016 is be arguably the best pitcher on the club.  With David ...

Sox Therapy: Guys Who Are Not Major Leaguers

I figure we need a bit of a minor league thread to go along with the Major League one, don’t you?  Today I’m going to go with a bit of a gimmick and just pick a guy at each position I feel like focusing on.  In all seriousness I could just say “hey, look at Hi A Salem” because the collection of talent there is pretty amazing but I’m an equal opportunity guy (all stats through Saturday).

1B - Josh Ockimey - Greenville - I saw Ockimey a few times in Lowell last year and at the very least he ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1992 Ballot

For 1992, each voter should rank the top 13 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 4 May 2016.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 3 May 2016.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Sox Therapy: We Still Know Nothin’

No I didn’t go anywhere, why do you ask?

So the Sox are a couple weeks into the season and so far…I don’t think we know anything particularly new.  When the season began I felt this was an 83-79, third place team.  I like the offense but I had concerns about a few of the down order hitters and I was more troubled about the bullpen than most people.  I was confident in Craig Kimbrel of course but 41 year old guys are always question marks, Junichi Tazawa has slowed down badly in three of the ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1991 Results

Congratulations to Cal Ripken on winning the 1991 Most Meritorious Player award.

Player Name		pts	ballots	1sts
Cal Ripken		146	10	8
Barry Bonds		137	10	0
Roger Clemens		108	10	0
Frank Thomas		104	10	1
Ryne Sandberg		101	9	1
Ken Griffey Jr		88	10	0
Tom Glavine		76	9	0
Barry Larkin		57	7	0
Terry Pendleton		52	6	0
Jose Canseco		40	6	0
Mick Tettleton		39	6	0
Julio Franco		36	7	0
Lou Whitaker		33	6	0
Will Clark		32	4	0
Rafael Palmeiro		21	3	0
Tom Candiotti		18	3	0
Paul Molitor		17	3	0
Devon ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1992 Discussion

The Blue Jays defeat the Braves and become the first “World” Series winner. Bud Selig becomes the “interim” Commissioner of Baseball. Don’t get upset, there’s no crying in baseball.

Vote for 13 this year. MLB expansion in November means we will vote for 14 next year.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Barry Bonds		41.5		9.0
Ryne Sandberg		32.3		7.8
Darren Daulton		28.5		6.9
Gary Sheffield		33.1		6.2
Frank Thomas		36.0		7.0
Barry Larkin		29.6		5.6
Dave Hollins		25.7		6.1
Andy Van Slyke		35.4		6.0
Larry ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1991 Ballot

For 1991, each voter should rank the top 13 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 6 April 2016.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 5 April 2016.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1990 Results

Congratulations to Rickey Henderson on winning his first Most Meritorious Player award. Let’s hear it for Rickey!

Player Name		pts	ballots	1sts
Rickey Henderson	134	9	8
Barry Bonds		125	9	1
Roger Clemens		115	9	0
Len Dykstra		106	9	0
Ryne Sandberg		90	9	0
Cecil Fielder		72	8	0
Alan Trammell		71	9	0
Chuck Finley		45	8	0
Cal Ripken		41	5	0
Eddie Murray		41	6	0
Darryl Strawberry	31	4	0
Dave Stewart		28	5	0
Fred McGriff		27	5	0
Barry Larkin		25	4	0
Frank Viola		24	3	0
Jose Canseco		17	3	0
Julio ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1991 Discussion

Twins beat the Braves in seven games.

Vote for 13 this year.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Cal Ripken Jr.		35.2		11.5
Barry Bonds		32.9		7.9
Ryne Sandberg		33.2		7.0
Barry Larkin		26.4		6.1
Mickey Tettleton	27.0		5.6
Ozzie Smith		25.5		5.0
Ken Griffey Jr.		31.5		7.1
Lou Whitaker		25.9		6.7
Jose Canseco		32.5		5.3
Terry Pendleton		30.7		6.1
Chris Sabo		22.2		5.0
Frank Thomas		33.6		7.0
Rafael Palmeiro		30.5		5.7
Will Clark		29.7		5.2
Matt Williams		23.3		5.5
Ruben Sierra		26.5		5.0
Tony ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1990 Ballot

For 1990, each voter should rank the top 13 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 2 March 2016.

Anyone can vote, even if you do not normally participate in Hall of Merit discussions. If have never participated in an MMP election, just post a preliminary ballot in the discussion thread by 2 February 2016.

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.