Saturday, May 18, 2013
Bradford: Could this be the smartest Red Sox team since ‘07?
(www.weei.com)
Using the Bradford–Binet Intelligence Test…uhh, no.
Read More...The Gomes persona might offer the best evidence of an ‘07 dynamic within these Red Sox.
There might be some frustration for fans who choose to define success and failure by pure numbers with the outfielder hitting .183 with a .643 OPS. Intangibles aside, it certainly would behoove the Red Sox to get Gomes’ digits up a bit. But something as simple of managing to hit a ball in the air when his team needed it the most, as was the case in 10th ...
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1 2 >Isn't getting rid of Lind a positive for the Blue Jays? He's been crap for three years now.
I'm not sure if these means anything for Yunel Escobar. With Kelly Johnson likely gone and Hechavarria not exactly on the cusp of stardom I think Aviles fills a useful 2B/utility role.
What did the Sox get for Epstien? A bad Chris Carpenter? And the Jays get a field player who could start on about 5 or 6 teams in the league?
edit: I guess filler like Lind evens it out. Don't bother flaming me btw.
Toronto acquired Carpenter in a deal with Houston this past summer.
Back problems, the career killer.
Being a lazy dumbass hasn't helped him either, he's expressed his disdain for stretching and hitting the gym on more than one occasion.
I had no problem with giving up Farrell, but I'd rather have a bag of balls from Boston than Aviles. Carpenter was worth Aviles without even bringing Farrell into the equation.
I was really disappointed by the Jays this year-- sucks when you waste an out-of-the-blue MVP season from someone like Encarnacion (who was pretty much despised by Jay fans going into the season, no?) by balancing it with terrible years from guys like Rasmus, Escobar, Lind, and Romero. Aside from EE, with all of the injuries to their normally-deep rotation, they just seemed snakebit this year. But at least the finished ahead of the Sox.
No. He was generally well liked, or at least not disliked. We just hated watching him try to throw from third.
Thanks for clearing that up. I have always pulled for him, since his early days with the Reds, but I don't watch a ton of Jay games so didn't have to endure watching him play 3B. Any speculation as to where he'll finish in the MVP voting? Normally, I'd say his across-the-board line, populated by numbers in the columns writers like, gets him into the top 5, but this year that's far from a sure thing.
I think he'll be lucky to crack the Top 10. I'd imagine the Top 5 would look: Cabrera and Trout in a close race, big gap to Cano adn another gap to Beltre, Verlander. Everyone after the Top 3 is fighting for table scraps anyway.
As RJ pointed out, being a Jay and a 1B/DH hurt him, but he was #3 in the league in raw OPS (which I think might matter a little more to voters than it used to), #4 in HR, and tied for #3 in RBI. And he stole a few bases.
Granted. Hopefully he can keep some of the gains he made in '12-- Bautista/EE's a solid core to build the lineup around.
Trout's year still kind of blows me away-- those are video game numbers, not the kind you see in real baseball.
Is Aviles worse than Cliff Pennington?
He had a really nice April, but sucked after that. He had a lot of HR and RBI for a middle infielder though, if you're into that.
Unfortunately, John Farrell does not.
In KC I recall him being surprisingly competent at SS and surprisingly awful at 2B. He is one of the worst baserunners I have ever seen though. He also gets more bloop hits and doubles than any hitter I've seen.
He's decent. For a cheap SS with some pop, he's not a bad deal at all if you can overlook his bad OBA. I think he's fair value for a cromulent manager like Farrell.
This is someone who knows what he's talking about.
and then...
This is someone who knows what he's talking about.
Fun. I wish there was more of this. Primer must be a lot less populated/attended than it was in the early 2000's, because there is so little traffic on this topic considering the Red Sox just got a new manager.
Last year one could have thought Valentine had been sworn in as both the new Pope and President based on the sheer number of threads and commentary.
Disagree. Agree.
Let me elaborate - I think that our colleagues here shouldn't drag reputations around. Most of the time, I think it's out of bounds to bring up an observation based on someone's past in other threads.
But the lack of attention to this particular topic is very surprising. When the White Flag trade happened, there were at least seventy-five threads about it at all times.
No doubt, and I likely read through a lot of 'em. That doesn't help my entertainment need now though does it? ;) It's expected a forced Valentine hiring would draw in higher numbers of comments and blood pressure from folks.
They're looking for the opposite of Farrell. So someone with good tactical skills who doesn't check out late in the season and lose the clubhouse.
Maybe the Red Sox will make John Farrell available?
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!
I suspect the Cubs would do the same with Alfonso Soriano.
Lovullo is expected to go w/ Farrell to BOS. As bench coach was mentioned yesterday in someones column.
Sandy Alomar Jr apparently interviewed well last time. Butterfield is apparently on record somewhere this year as saying he's *not* interested in managing in MLB anymore. People assume Manny Acta might get looked into because Anthopoulos made a comment yesterday that he'd like to interview people he couldn't at the time he hired Farrell because they were employed elsewhere. They were also denied access to Tim Wallach then too. Sal Fasano manages TOR double-AA club and people think may be interviewed. He seems to be a interesting character based on a few interviews he's done since turning to managing. Today Keith Law on Twitter and on TSN radio has mentioned a Doug Davis (not the former pitcher) who is in the TOR Org who is very well thought of by the TOR Front Office according to him.
Yup
This is the Doug Davis that Law was referring to.
The Sox hiring of Farrell is not the interesting. Valentine was a polarizing figure with a lengthy track record and an awful lot to talk about, Farrell is a pretty generic manager, I don't think there is a lot to be said about him at this point.
Considering a year under Valentine the Sox players may consider him a ray of sunshine. It might just be what they need.
As a Jays fan I can't blame him for our injuries but I still feel we underperformed. We need a new sheriff.
Not disagreeing. Maybe he likes what Fasano is doing with that Double-AA group, continuity, etc. But when he said that obviously he was expecting Farrell to be his manager in '13 and his MLB clubs situation is slightly more important. All this assuming he actually has that high an opinion of Fasano at this point.
How much time do you think he devotes to his farm team clubs? 10% of his hours? 15%?
Given how much of the minor league roster was up in Toronto, and the need to get the heck out of Vegas, maybe even a little more.
Derek Jeter.
Yes. He's also the manager of the rookie ball team, the head of accounting, the head janitor and the bat boy on Sundays. How many salaries do you expect Rogers to pay?
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