Sox Therapy: I Don’t Know What To Think

The Red Sox get to enjoy a glorious day off after a grueling 11 day, 11 game road trip that saw them go a somewhat disappointing 5-6.  It was a bit of an odd trip, if you want to see the glass as half full they could’ve been 4-7 if not for the Dustin Pedroia fueled come back victory last Sunday in Anaheim.  Conversely they could’ve gone 7-4 if they had held on in the first two David Price starts (the Hanley error game and the Cano homer game).  In the end I think it’s fair to say they left a ...

SABR - BBTF Chapter: SABR46 Recap

By Mike Webber

SABR 46 in Miami will always be remembered as the year we had “The Greatest Ballpark Experience of All-Time”.  We’ve had good seats before at SABR conventions, but this year we were 40 rows from the field, between home plate and the first base dugout.  The Cardinals pounded the Marlins 11-6, so it wasn’t much of a game, but Ichiro was just two hits from 3,000 yet as I write this a week later he’s still just two hits away.

But the event that made this “The Greatest ...

Gonfalon Cubs: Dog Days of Summer

I haven’t had a lot of specific things to write, and we’ve gotten our fair share of threads lately, but I still thought I’d put up a new open post and people can take it whatever direction they’d like.

Some random assorted thoughts…

- How about Javy Baez?  His defense has been even better than I could have imagined.  He’ll make the occasional error, either on a play he tries to force or where someone isn’t expecting him to make the throw, but I could only imagine what his defensive numbers ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1996 Discussion

The Yankees beat the Braves in the World Series. Vote for 14 this year.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Barry Bonds		37.8		9.6
Alex Rodriguez		32.2		9.4
Ken Caminiti		35.5		7.6
Jeff Bagwell		39.8		7.5
Mike Piazza		33.3		5.4
Ken Griffey Jr		26.9		9.7
Barry Larkin		31.3		7.2
Chuck Knoblauch		31.5		8.6
Bernard Gilkey		25.5		8.0
Gary Sheffield		32.6		5.9
Brady Anderson		30.6		6.9
Jim Thome		28.3		7.5
Chipper Jones		25.5		6.2
Steve Finley		27.6		5.7
Lance Johnson		25.3		7.2
Frank Thomas		27.0		5.5
Mark ...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1995 Results

Congratulations to Greg Maddux on winning back to back MMP awards.

Player Name	pts	ballots	1sts
Greg Maddux	157	11	8
Barry Bonds	137	11	2
Edgar Martinez	127	11	0
Randy Johnson	119	11	0
Mike Piazza	105	11	0
Albert Belle	102	11	0
Tim Salmon	88	11	0
John Valentin	86	9	0
Craig Biggio	70	10	0
Barry Larkin	62	9	0
Frank Thomas	45	6	1
Reggie Sanders	43	8	0
Mark McGwire	36	6	0
Jim Thome	36	6	0
Chuck Knoblauch	28	5	0
Mike Mussina	22	5	0
Bernie Williams	13	3	0
David Cone	6	1	0
Tom Glavine	5	2	0
Jim ...

Sox Therapy: Thoughts on Andrew Benintendi

As you likely know by now the Sox have called up outfielder Andrew Benintendi with Michael Martinez being DFAd to make room for him.  According to WEEI Benintendi and Bryce Brentz will share time in left with Brock Holt returning to his more productive utility role.  The Mariners send lefty Wade Leblanc to the mound tonight so presumably Benintendi will spend the first couple of hours of his big league career as a well paid spectator.

I have had the opportunity to see Benintendi in person on a ...

Sox Therapy: The Tire Fire Brigade

I shared this little bit of data in the OmniChatter after Ziegler surrendered the homer to Cabrera.  It seems like a relevant discussion point at the moment as the Sox embark on a long and crucial road trip.  This is the list of Red Sox relievers in 2016 and their current streak of games pitched without allowing a run (the bold are on the active roster);

Koji Uehara (DL) - 4
Junichi Tazawa - 3
William Cuevas - 2
Matt Barnes - 1
Noe Ramirez - 1
Joe Kelly - 1
Clay Buchholz - 1
Craig Kimbrel - 1 ...Read More...

Hall of Merit: Most Meritorious Player: 1995 Ballot

For 1995, each voter should rank the top 14 players from all leagues combined.

Balloting is scheduled to close at 4pm EDT on 3 August 2016.

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

For detailed rules see one of our previous ballots.

Gonfalon Cubs: 4-2, 5QS

After yesterday’s win, the Cubs are 4-2 after the break and saw their starters give them Quality Starts in 5 of those games with the 6th being Lackey’s 8IP, 4ER start.  The last Quality Start before the break was June 30th, meaning we had 10 straight games where the starter failed to qualify for a Quality Start (the Cubs went 2-8 over that stretch).  Whatever the Cubs did to get them back on track seems to be working. 

Bryant and Rizzo are the top two in the NL in WAR among position players.  ...

Sox Therapy: How Good Does Pomeranz Need To Be?

Boston is 1.5 back of the division lead, 2 up (3 in the loss column) on Toronto. They’ve added Drew Pomeranz for the stretch run. How good does he need to be for them to take the division?

I’m going to look at this somewhat simply because I’m crunched for time.