Have to say, our depth looks good right now.

THEO IS A GENIUS!

The Sox cannot keep going through OF's at this rate.

Mostly because the known supply of OFs would be exhausted by the end of the season.

Luckily the Sox face a good deal of LHP in the next few days, so it's a minimal loss.

This isn't really a big deal. I think we face 5 lefties in the next 7 days, so you wouldn't see him anyway.

Is 5-7 days really enough time for Nixon to feel better enough to play, aggrevate the injury by coming back too soon, and subsequently go on the 60-day DL? I think the medical staff is being a little hasty. It should be at least 8-10 days before he can do that.

I have seen differing opinions of Trot's defense (tangos fan reporting puts him as neutral, a recent Globe article stated he was plus according to the Defense Bible), but he has terrible instincts on flyballs. The play today was only one of many in which he gets a terrible jump. Sometimes his bad jumps lead to diving catches, but how many times have you seen Trot dive for a ball that is less than 15 feet from where was positioned?

I believe that Trot's defense cost Pedro the victory in Game 7 of the '03 series.

Jeter's double could have been caught.

GGMC,

I have never seen the horribleness in Trot's fielding/jumps that seems to be the prevalent opinion in SOSH. He always seemed to get to all the balls he should and a few more, so the Defensive Bible and UZR ratings (great and generally good, respectively) didn't surprise me.

I believe that Trot's defense cost Pedro the victory in Game 7 of the '03 series.

Jeter's double could have been caught.

IIRC, he was playing on a bum leg at the time, and it was certainly stupid not to replace him on defense. Of course, if you can't be bothered to change the pitcher in such a situation...

That play today looked flukish-- Trot was way, way off. Something funny happened there.

And, ready or not (early returns: not), here comes Wily Mo!

I believe that Trot's defense cost Pedro the victory in Game 7 of the '03 series.

Jeter's double could have been caught.

IIRC, he was playing on a bum leg at the time, and it was certainly stupid not to replace him on defense. Of course, if you can't be bothered to change the pitcher in such a situation

Thats a weird way to put it: "Cost Pedro the victory in Game 7."

Nixon's leg wasnt too bum to hit a homer off of Clemens that night.

That play today looked flukish-- Trot was way, way off. Something funny happened there.

The implication on the NESN broadcast was that the tweaked groin was the cause of the bizarre, um, "route" on that play. This sounded like a bit of a posteriori reasoning to me, since Trot wasn't lifed until, what, the top of the fifth?

Nixon falls down and goes boom

Is this reference from a French movie?

Boston Herald: Nixon adds strain to OF issues

Nixon, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday, said afterward that he was only experiencing “mild discomfort,” but said team doctors told him that he could be sidelined 5-7 days, if not longer.

However, manager Terry Francona said he was counting on his No. 5 hitter missing only a minimum of two games, which come at a convenient time considering Toronto is starting left-handed pitchers Gustavo Chacin and Ted Lilly in the final two games of the series.

“I don’t think it’s bad at all,” Francona said. “Doc’s already looked at him and I don’t think that it is anything that is going to make him miss more than a day or two. We have two lefties in a row. Hopefully, we won’t play him and he will be just fine.”

So Francona wants to rush him back... ?
On the other hand, perhaps he's figured out Red Sox doctors are usually wrong when it comes to injuries... if they say one thing, do the opposite :)

the Boston Globe's:

The manager estimated Nixon wouldn't be out of the lineup for long, saying, "I think he was concerned because it was getting tight because it was cooling off out there. Doc's already looked at him and I don't think that it is anything that is going to make him miss more than a day or two."

But that's not what Nixon said, explaining that he had spoken to Scott Waugh, the team's physical therapist, who expected that it "could be a good five to seven days."

Are 'Doc' and the therapist the same guy?

So, who's comfortable with either Manny/Mo/Mohr or Manny/Mohr/Mo in the outfield?

Do we have any particular sinkerballers or strikeout guys? I guess maybe Beckett and Clement, though neither is a really big groundballer. If Dinardo gets a spot start, sure.

With Wells on the mound tonight, I want Stern out there even if he can't hit a lick against the evil robot from the future.

stern needs to play center pretty much all the time until crisp is back.

"the evil robot from the future"

Very nice. He's an evil looking bastid...lets put an all evil looking team together, active players only. I'll start:

SP:Chacin, Padilla (TEX)

2B:Jorge Cantú

RF:That Roider for the MFY's

1B:That Other Roider for the MFY's

#5 Made me laugh bitterly also. TGWWTWSTYA.

"So, who's comfortable with either Manny/Mo/Mohr or Manny/Mohr/Mo in the outfield?"

Apparently Francona, since this (the latter) is supposedly what we'll seeing tonight and tomorrow.

Could be fun-- and scary.

And as long as Stern hits a little, just a little, I don't want anybody else out the in CF. I agree with Mr. Ponzi.

Re #17: RHP: Julian Tavarez?

Yeah, he looks like one of those lesser Orcs.

Except for the fits of raging homicidal hysteria.

I suppose the Orcs are known to have those too.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that Wily Mo turned an out into a HR. Running back 60 feet on a ball directly over your head is far from a routine play. Could he have caught it? Sure. Should he have? If he did, it would have been a hell of a catch.

who's mr. ponzi?

Of course, I have only seen the play once. I was in Section 7 and had a good view, though. Pena seemed to hit the wall pretty hard and that's when the ball came out. It was a good effort.

BTW, Pena is ENORMOUS.

He seemed surprised by the wall, too. If he had played RF for a while at Fenway he might have expected the wall and not dropped the ball.

#24-I agree-it would have been a really nice catch. Probably why it was scored a HR?

p is for Ponzi.

Red Sox, Coco Crisp agree to three-year extension

Sign him when he might be afraid that he seems injury prone, get a better price? WTF are the terms?

the timing doesn't seem strange to me. they've probably been working on this since the day the trade was finished.

just posted a coco contract thread. looks very good to me.

Sign him when he might be afraid that he seems injury prone, get a better price? WTF are the terms?

3.5, 4.75, 5.75, 8 (option) w/a 1M signing bonus, $500k option buyout, and salary escalator provisions.

It looks like less than he'd have gotten in arb given that he's making 2.75M this year.

OK, thanks.

"I have never seen the horribleness in Trot's fielding/jumps that seems to be the prevalent opinion in SOSH. He always seemed to get to all the balls he should and a few more, so the Defensive Bible and UZR ratings (great and generally good, respectively) didn't surprise me.:"

I havnt gotten to see him much the last few years but i know he was a really good RF for awhile, could even fill-in in CF and covered Fenways massive RF well. Had a good arm then too, he was actually a good pitching prospect and top QB prospect (in addition to being consensus HS PoY as an OF and LHP) coming out of HS in Wilmington (I think he played one fall of football with NC State but im not sure).

lets put an all evil looking team together, active players only.

The #1 all-time evil-looking player, as far as I'm concerned, is Andy Petitte pitching from the windup. Glowering over his glove, he looks like a charicature of the Prince of Light himself. Other evil-looking players:

3B: Eric Chavez has that whole serpentine-hot thing going on.
SP: Dastardly Doug Davis and his facial hair.
RP: The Gagne. He looks like a robot designed to kill people. Not sure if he qualifies as active anymore, though.

Oh yeah, and more constructively, Trot was considered viable -- and didn't seem ridiculous to me -- in CF until the last couple of years, and while he's no Scratchiro, his arm is strong and accurate.

Nixon looked pretty goofy but then again, he didn’t convert any outs into HRs, so he’s got that going for him.

In the same game, Loretta converted a missed catch into a DP. Maybe he should be in RF.

Is something wrong with my computer or are threads missing?

threads are missing because Jim is retooling the site I assume. But on the other hand, this dead thread is a great place to proclaim...

The Red Sox are kicking some ass!

Went to the game tonight, a few non-game notes:

1) Papelbon gave a pound to the bulpen policeman as he came out of the bulpen, i doubt that was on TV, and it was awesome.
2) Papi comes out to a different song every time, but coming out to Big Poppa by Biggie was awesome.
3) Trot came out to a Johnny Cash song when he pinch it, which raised his status in my book.
4) Varitek kept coming out to that godawful superman song. Lowers him in my book.

I think that is all.

UGH, if that is the Superman song I am thinking off then ugh

REM? Crash Test Dummies? Theme to the TV show or movie?

Does Papel have a set song he comes out to?

I think it's the "Kryptonite" song by I Live Three Doors Down from Creed and My Apartment Sucks.

Li'l Papi apparently now comes out to "Bodies" by Drowning Pool. You know, the one with the wannabe Lemmy guy croaking/shouting, "Let the bodies hit the flo'!"

At the game I went to, they did "Big Poppa" for Ortiz a couple times. I forgot to mention the awesomeness of that.

Wily Mo Pena is at .292/.414/.542.

I'd take that for a season.

He's up to, what, like three hits per ball in play?

Watching Wily Mo swing, I do think it's possible that he'll put up numbers in his non-K at-bats that are basically as good as anyone has ever.

BTW, I like the "recent newsbeat entries" thing in sox therapy.

Watching Wily Mo swing, I do think it's possible that he'll put up numbers in his non-K at-bats that are basically as good as anyone has ever.

He's downright Sheffieldian in terms of how hard he seems to hit every ball that he manages to make contact with. If he could manage even average strikezone control skills he'd be one of the best hitters in baseball. Unfortunately, at this point it looks like he needs an astrolabe to find average.

I've been surprised at the number of walks Wily Mo has taken so far. Of course, he's hitting in front of Alex Gonzalez, so there's no reason for pitchers to give him anything to hit, but at least he's been getting on base rather than taking those breathtaking swings at everything.

Wily Mo is k'ing in the same # of PAs (~33%) as his career line.

If he goes ~25 PAs without a BB (as he did to start the 2005 season) his BB rate is back at his career average. He doesn't look particular good at taking pitches (and his P/PA is pretty low).

I feel little bad writing this, but I don't thik we've seen much to view Wily Mo as any different from the hitter he projected to be.

Li'l Papi apparently now comes out to "Bodies" by Drowning Pool. You know, the one with the wannabe Lemmy guy croaking/shouting, "Let the bodies hit the flo'!"

LET THE LOOGIES HIT THE FLOOR
LET THE LOOGIES HIT THE FLOOR
LET THE LOOGIES HIT THE FLOOR

YEAH!!!

FWIW, last night Papelbon came out to the Ultimate Warrior's theme song.

That's what that was Temple! thanks. Papelbon, btw, chats it up with the fans when he's in the pen, it's pretty awesome. And standing next to Timlin, he looks like a young Timlin a bit. Anyway, the crowd has really taken to him coming out of the pen (how could it not).

I was trying to think of different but good closer songs.

I sort of thought Folsom Prison Blues would be kind of a good one, just to hear "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die." It seems like a closer should feel that way, but then he says "i hang my head and cry" and I don't want that. Any thoughts for what the ultimate closer song would be?

On Wily Mo from last night: Does anybody think a player like Wily Mo, or Soriano, basically just need to play a little game theory here, mixed strategies? Basically, I'd say about one in every 6 at bats or so, just go up there with no intention of swinging at anything.

a good closer song? how about closer ... by nin!

rain king by sonic youth might work.

FWIW, last night Papelbon came out to the Ultimate Warrior's theme song.

Did he go all the way with it - i.e., run full-tilt to the mound, and ended up gassed before his warmup pitches even started?

JoelW,

Did you read this article?

http://www.slate.com/id/2139937/?nav=mpp

I think there was a Newsblog thread about it at some point. The author nominates "Hate Me Now," by Nas, which Huston Street uses.

Did he go all the way with it - i.e., run full-tilt to the mound, and ended up gassed before his warmup pitches even started?

Yup.

Luckily, he also brings a mirror out to home plate, and only the batter can see Papelbon talking to him in the mirror. Thinking that he's going crazy, the batter can't focus to hit Papelbon's fastball.

Game theory coaching.

Excellent suggestion there, Joel. Very apropos.

And while you're at it, send Gonzalez to remedial game theory, the class for game theory retards.

You know, watching Gonzalez hit, he isn't that bad, from a tools point of view. He's way, way ahead of Bellhorn in that category. But he can only dream about Bellhorn's self-control, his ability to lay off pitches he can't handle, his ability to recognize pitches that aren't going to cross the plate as strikes, his ability to swing right through one pitch, thencrush the exact same oneof his next AB.

If Gonzalez just had an idea up there, any idea, other than swinging at anything that even smells like a strike, he would be a good hitter, and a great player. Instead, he's an average player, and a sucky hitter.

Yes, but he's our sucky hitter.

For the game theory aspect to work you would have to put a six-sided die in the on-deck circle and have Wily Mo roll it and not swing on any roll of a six. He also couldn't tell anybody. Anyone know what percentage of at bats where the batter doesn't swing end in walks and what percentage end in strikeouts?

Also, on Gonzalez, isn't there a general sense that pitch-recognition, albeit one that, like power, occasionally develops later in a player's career (and does it even)? Point being that Gonzalez's failing may not be mental, but physical.

Also, on Gonzalez, isn't there a general sense that pitch-recognition, albeit one that, like power, occasionally develops later in a player's career (and does it even)? Point being that Gonzalez's failing may not be mental, but physical.

same with wily mo. actually espeically with wily mo. it's clear that he's tryign to be more patient, but that'll only get you so far with crap pitch recognition.

I tend to think, with very little evidence, that pitch recognition skills are heavily tied to physical characteristics that are not easy to change - that is, eyesight.

There was a piece in the Globe over the offseason about how Kevin Youkilis had 20/11 vision or something like that. Preternatural pitch recognition might be exactly that - a natural tool - rather than a measure of intelligence or hard work or anything like that.

(Obviously there's a lot of hard work in the middle space between tools and skills, but I think the ground-level physical ability is quite important.)

"Lasik - Steriods for Statheads"

MCoA - I remember an article about Giambi that had some similar thing about his eyesight - there was some pattern recognition, or depth perception thing in which he scored really really well. I don't remember where I saw it, but that gibes with your sense.
DB

i heard somewhere that hgh helps eyesight.

MCA, I think you're probably right, but that's why I think batters can compensate for their eyesight by making pitchers pitch to them. Just sort of randomly, maybe take the Dan Harrington look at your watch approach, go up and don't swing unless a ball is coming right down the middle of the plate, it will just force the pitcher to come at you, instead of throwing junk constantly.

joel, it's not that simple. your "stategy" won't cut it against a good pitcher.

Well...why not? Because a good pitcher will just hit spots?

Lets say you have a pitcher like Schilling who studies Wily Mo religiously "usually swings at everything." Schilling is going to know that in 5/6 at bats Wily Mo is going to swing at everything, but in 1/6 he's going to walk him if he just throws pitches out of the zone. Schilling doesn't want to walk him 1/6 times does he?

What would a good pitcher do against this strategy? The idea is simply to shrink the zone.

And you could make it random in clumps to: for 5 games, do it once an at bat, and then for 3 not at all, the advanced scouting will get all messed up.

Well...why not? Because a good pitcher will just hit spots?

well yeah, that's the idea, right? he doesn't have much of a problem with bad pitchers. from what i've seen of wily mo, his problem is that he's impatient. he's taken his walks. he clearly wants to be a complete hitter.

also, your strategy is way too simple. it'd be trivial to exploit it with a little video study, which i would expect any team to do before a playoff series.

his problem is that he's impatient.

there's supposed to be a "not" right before "impatient"

1) Your theory is premised on Wily Mo's ability to easily recognize what a "ball coming right down the middle of hte plate" is. I doubt that initial premise.

2) Are you suggesting the use of this radical and deeply suboptimal (in its individual uses) strategy in any high or moderate leverage situations? That seems like a dangerous idea, but it also seems like if Wily Mo is just going to go back to his normal strategy when it matters, it seems like you lose most of the benefit.

3) Major league pitchers can strike out just about anyone with pitches off the center of the plate, if he's only going to swing at pitches right down the center.

As long as we're talking about Wily Mo's approach at the plate, did anyone here read Papa Jack's comments in the Globe recently?

If not, here they are:

***
''He's very coachable," said Jackson. ''It's going to be a slow process. We don't want to change things all at once. That's not good for everyone.

''He's facing a lot of lefthanders right now and he has success against them, so we don't want to get him to change things that he's successful at. So we work hard on things and, like I said, it's a long process that we'll keep after. He's a young kid with all kinds of potential. We want to make sure he keeps getting better."

Jackson said there are things he wants to see Peña do better -- such as seeing the ball longer into the mitt and hitting the ball up the middle.

''We would like to see him trust his hands," said Jackson. ''He's got great hands. He can really handle the bat, so we want to see him use those hands and track the ball a little deeper. I think that would make a big difference for him."

Another issue is Peña's bat. Jackson says it's one of the biggest in the game, about 35 inches and 33 ounces.

''It's similar to the types of bats that we used to swing when I played," Jackson said. ''But that's not something I'm even looking at right now. I know from experience that when you change someone's bat -- especially going from a bigger bat to a smaller bat -- you can really change the dynamic of someone's swing, and there's a lot that we like about Wily Mo's swing. So we're not going to touch that."
***

That's interesting about the bat size. To my untrained eye, his bat does look too heavy. But I guess you wouldn't want to mess with him too drastically.

Manny! Fastball, the swing, IT'S UP, AND IT'S GONE!!! Home run.

Why the heck would Tito put in firestarting Seanez in at that point in the game!?? What a horrible move. Theo needs to send that guy packing before he does any more damage. Foulke had every reason to kick the water cooler as NESN caught him doing.

I don't like to go overboard with the Papa Jack thing, but it's starting to appear that he (or something in the org) is doing a pretty good job bringing out the best in the hitters that join the team. Same can't be said in the bullpen, though.

Darren, agreed, though I have to wonder if it also is perhaps a side effect of having a cadre of very good hitters on the team each of the last several years, teaching and bringing out the best in each other.