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Is there a chance they would start Iglesias at SS and Aviles at 3B?
Are they gonna get this game in tonight?
I think Iglesias is just up in order to give the Sox the opportunity to pinch-hit for Punto. In all likelihood he'll be sent down and Aaron Cook called up in a couple days. If Youkilis goes on the DL, Middlebrooks should come up (if his thumb is ok).
1) Kroeger or Nava up for Anderson as bench bat, someone crappy like Jason Repko or Justin Thomas DFA'd.
2) Relief help up for Anderson (possibly again with Repko/Thomas DFA'd), and Middlebrooks up for Iglesias.
The thing they oughtn't do is say, hey, Nicky Punto drew some walks last night, who needs another bench bat, and just call up a pitcher for Anderson.
I figure the delay is to let the club evaluate Middlebrooks and Youkilis overnight. I can't imagine they need an extra day to pull the trigger on giving other clubs a shot at Repko or Thomas. It might also have to do with Aaron Cook's opt-out, which has a slightly weird three-part structure. (Per Alex Speier in a longer evaluation of the roster)So they could be waiting to see if Cook opts out, or planning whether they want to wait out their 48-72 hours before calling him up, if he does opt out.
I think what would happen is since they have until Friday to call up Cook (11:59 May 1st + 24 hours + 48 hours) they will call up Middlebrooks and by Friday would either DL Youk or simply send Middlebrooks down for Cook on Friday.
Jed Lowrie is batting .303/.410/.470 with a 146 OPS+ while the Red Sox are playing Nick Punto at third base.
To be optimistic, I will point out that Sweeney is batting .362/.392/.551 - w/ 152 OPS+
Scutaro (the $14m man) is batting .267/.320/.344 with a 73 OPS+
Lowrie - 146 OPS+
Sweeney - 152 OPS+
I don't think there is a sustainable number in that group. Reddick probably has the best chance but he's all power, no OBP with ugly K/BB rates. Lowrie has enough of a track record of both injury and poor performance that I don't think he's keeping this up.
Not sure yet if it means Iglesias returning to AAA or Youk to the DL.
If a player's average can change 30 points in three at bats, it's too damn early to worry about his stats.
SS Aviles
RF Sweeney
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
DH Ortiz
LF Ross
C Saltalamacchia
3B Middlebrooks
CF Byrd
Record for longest last names of back to back hitters in a lineup?
This move also makes it seem pretty likely that Youks is headed for the DL. I guess probably Youks would be DL'd and Cook would take his place.
Woo-hoo! Mortensen could come in and walk the ballpark but he's got filthy stuff and I'm hoping he can be a swing and miss reliever. Even if he does the Scott Williamson memorial 3K/2BB 32 pitch inning I'm fine.
You say that now but I know your bladder is full and ready to burst at any minute during such an inning. ;)
Yeah, cause the current collection of stiffs hasn't done that.
In fairness the bullpen has been pretty good since the Yankee game but I'm still not hopeful. The competition has a lot to do with that.
It's starting to feel like the ship is righting a bit, and not just because of the competition. I never felt like they were out of the game yesterday even when it was 5-1. I fully expected them to come back. That they didn't is just a sign that things are returning to normal, I think. 7-3 in last 10 and their run differential is back in positive territory (just barely).
What could go wrong?
Edit: I shouldn't have looked at his minor league stats because now I'm excited. ############ was striking out people at a ridiculous clip in 2011 and 2010. ####! Why'd you have to mention Prior?
It does? A third of their starting lineup is on the DL (or heading there, with Youk), Beckett is skipping a start, and Buchholz forgot how to pitch.
I am excited to see Middlebrooks, on the other hand.
They lost a game yesterday but it didn't feel like a crazy loss. The crazy, weird and interesting ways of losing seem to be less and less likely. Buchholz #### the bed the other night for one inning, but they stopped the bleeding. If that was the first week of the season, the bullpen would have lost the game by giving up double digit runs. They're not doing that anymore.
Only two of those guys were in the starting nine in 2010. Who the #### are these guys?
Lowrie went 3/4 today so far. As noted above, he's on his Lowrie tear...before he gets a Lowrie tear.
I just want him to hold on to the ASG so my prediction can come true.
I remember last year when MCoA posted on here about the .500 hitting shortstop dilemma. That was on April 18 of last year. Then he proceeded to hit .200-ish the rest of the way. That seems to be about par for Lowrie. Blazing hot for a month or so, then worse than mediocre for the rest of the time.
Just saying....
Hurt himself lifting the washing machine. Listen, this guy hasn't looked right since the year started. Why wait a month? He didn't look right in Detroit diving after line-drives. Did he just not say anything?
Jose Iglesias
Nick Punto
Darnell McDonald
Kelly Shoppach
That's moderately underwhelming.
What has it been prior to this? Slightly less than moderately underwhelming? The bench and bullpen are not two of Cherington's greatest accomplishments thus far.
Aggressively mediocre.
Cuban defector so his age is a direct result of his not defecting when he was younger. He sucks, though. Look at his stats before this year.
I'll give Karl credit here. I thought he'd go the "Youk's been a hell of a player for a long time, another great draft pick by the Duke" route but he took it in a different direction. Well done son.
I don't think he sucks. He defected in 2010 so throw that out and 2011 is 17 games. Go back and read some of the stories from last Spring Training (not mine, I was too busy praising Lackey), he was one of the high points.
What did Nabokov write? "The great fraternity of C-minus, backbone of the nation, steadily scribbling on." I'm grading some exams on Hemingway now and I feel like they are resemble what the Sox bench would look like were it in essay form.
That sounds horrifying.
Spring training stories are molehills that look an awful lot like mountains when you squint just right.
They are by turns inept, imprecise, brilliant, awkward, moving, illegible, unconvincing and absurd. And those are the good ones.
The new market inefficiency. Sox are gonna ride this horse to victory.
Good point. Now, who are you and what have you done with karlmagnus?
Edit: I would quibble with Youks a bit. It's not at all clear that the Sox have anyone better than him right now. Middlebrooks might be that guy in a year or two, but uninjured Youkilis is most likely a good deal better than WMB.
How many MLB teams could you staff with $95M?
Opening Road trip - 0-6 vs. 1-5
Home stand (includes rain out) - 5-4 (5-10) vs. 3-5 (4-10)
Road trip - 5-1 (10-11) vs. 6-1 (10-11)
The schedules diverged a bit here. Last year the Sox had three more in Baltimore where they went, you guessed it, 1-2 to drop to 11-13, just as this year's club has. Last year's club was uninspiring for about another week and a half dropping to 17-20 then they got rolling at a time when they might've cashed it in. They swept New York in the Bronx, won a makeup against Baltimore then swept two from Detroit at Fenway. With five tough games in six they went 6-0 to climb over .500 for good. A sweep at the hands of the WHite Sox came out of nowhere at the end of the month but June started and the Sox took off and weren't headed until September.
When I watch this team I feel like it's a .500 team going nowhere but they looked every bit as bad last year and they were fine. While this team probably comes up short versus last year offensively I think the rotation at least has to be viewed as an upgrade. Wherever you stand on Bard/Doubront they are big upgrades over Lackey and Wake/Miller/Matsuzaka a year ago and for all our ######## about the bullpen they have been cooking since that Yankee game. 0 for 13 w/RISP like they were tonight is a positive, not a negative, getting base runners in that frequency is going to lead to wins.
But I still feel a sense of unease about this team.
Also, I'm reading Gertrude Stein at the moment, "Composition as Explanation." It couldn't be a better description of the similarity of this year's and last year's team.
It would help for the Sox to climb in front of .500 by then.
The Rays are playing .680 baseball. They'd have to go 7-3 to maintain that winning percentage. What are the odds that they'll be at or above .680 at the end of that 10-game stretch? 20%?
I'm a procrastinator so I'm happy if the Sox reel off a stretch of say 80-0 baseball in the final 80 games of the season, and go, say 15-67 for the first 82 games.
Yup.
In fairness, Papelbon had pitched 2 days in a row and 3 out of 4 days, so it's entirely likely he wasn't available, and even if he was, you can certainly see where most managers (given that usage) would have reserved him strictly for a save situation.
That's the hidden strength of this Sox team. They never have to worry about using the closer for a third straight day.
Channeling Sons of Sam Horn posters everywhere: Hell, they never have to worry about using their best reliever! Bobby is the AntiChrist!!!111!!11
I think that's at least the 3rd extra-inning game that the Phillies have lost this season w/o using Papelbon. This one made sense, for the reason T-Editor points out and also because the Phils had used a lot of relievers already in the game.
I look at the 2012 Red Sox, if they do this correctly, as a little bit like the New England Patriots' team that lost Brady in Week 1. They were able to go 11-5, compete for a playoff spot (indeed, the best record in NFL history not to make the playoffs), and then flip their backup QB for the first pick of the second round that spring. Jerrod Mayo became the best defensive rookie in the league that season, etc. Nobody talks about that season as an "off season" in a decade of historic performance, but we all knew after Week 1 that this team was not going to the Super Bowl. We were able to enjoy the season because the team got to try players and things that they normally could not try, while still being competitive for a playoff spot.
Doubront and Bard having good years in the rotation? Middlebrooks in the lineup? Crawford coming back in the summer and performing well? Iglesias gets to play a lot by the end of the season? Lavarnway gets at bats as opportunities arise? Tazawa gets meaningful innings? If we're not going to win the Wold Series this year, than let's see stuff like this in 2012...
Is this also from the parallel universe where John Henry's hedge fund caused the Sox to become a low payroll team? or is it some 3rd universe?
I think that's up in the air. If Ortiz has a big year (and he's started on his way) and Middlebrooks shows he is ready would you give Youk $13 plus $4-5 million for Cody Ross to DH or simply give Ortiz the $15 million qualifying offer that would guarantee draft pick compensation and throw Middlebrooks into the lineup everyday?
Lot of "ifs" there but I think on May 3rd it's at least as possible that the Sox will view not picking up the option as the right call.
Oh, definitely. But if I had to predict either at this moment, I would predict that they pick up the option. Youk also won't have 5-and-10 rights, so they could trade him.
Lighten up Piehole.
Have you been over there lately? I didn't mean you, in particular. I don't even know if you post over there. I had one of my posts over there nuked because I questioned the seriousness of the "Blaming Bobby" discussion and a dope sent me a bullying post about it.
No, I don't go over there. And while I didn't like the Bobby V hire, I think the histrionics over him through a couple dozen games are absurd, and have said so elsewhere.
Exactly. We're on the same page. I really was just channeling SoSH posters (and not you). Your name, unfortunately, contained SoSH so it looked like it was directed at you. It was not.
That'll make any team look bad. But some of this is the presence of either marginal major leaguers or role players who are pressed into full-time duty in the lineup.
I think that's probably the direction to go in this season if things continue to look this bleak for another month or so. See what they've got on the farm. The bad news is that there's almost no trade bait on this team - almost no one on the roster who isn't an obvious keeper has any real trade value.
Baltimore: mid-market team with lousy record taken over by Duquette and zooming ahead, with lots of young players breaking out
Boston: team full of overpaid aging mediocrities on long-term contracts, with no new homegrown talent since 2007, the little that emerged all having been traded away.
It is an absolute TRAVESTY that Duquette was out of a job for a decade, while Theo is still regarded as god-like (though diminishingly so.)
I would strongly favor using this year as a rebuilding year, playing the kids and using eg Youkilis to get some more young talent. Especially after 2007 Theo's moves were very damaging -- we might well have won again in 2008 if he hadn't traded Manny, for example. I can forgive him for Crawford,other than that he overpaid, and still believe AGon will be fine -- but Cameron, Scutaro, Lugo, Lackey, Beltre (you have to subtract Ellsbury's potential 2010 production from what Beltre gave us) etc. were all expensive aging mediocrities. And I moderately regret Reddick and strongly regret Lowrie, Hanley Ramirez, Anibal Sanchez and Justin Masterson. (I don't regret Bronson Arroyo much, but recognize that I should.)
Baltimore will no doubt fall back to earth -- but the AL East now has 5 competitive teams, and a Duquette-run Baltimore should get at least a Wild Card or two.
Good sarcasm there NN, I snickered.
Which right there makes you a better man than me.
Theo was a good bargain basement shopper...but my stars, his free agent signings, especially the big name/big dollar ones, were beyond awful.Dice-K, Lackey, Crawford, Lugo, disasters all.
Cripes-I can't tell you how much I wish the Sox had ponied up a few more million for Matt Holliday and avoided the whole Crawford situation in the first place.
What the #### is wrong with this guy? He's definitely not the intelligent manager with a good tactical acumen that was advertised. The sooner he's out of this job, the better off we'll all be. Last night he PH Salty for Shoppach AGAINST A LHP! Is he just making moves with no actual thought behind them? Does he even look at splits or scouting reports or anything or is he just pulling this all out of his ass?
I feel like there is something to be done on how the Sox can/should fix this. I have been thinking about it since the Wednesday loss but I can't put it together in my mind.
They're a .500 PR team with obvious injury issues. I've mentioned before the parallels to last year (same record still) and the rational portion of my brain feels like it is too early to write them off but this feels different. Lester in particular is causing me great concern but I don't know if it's just a usual rough stretch for a pitcher or something more.
Tl;dr - nope, I got nothin'
Incidentally, you couldn't get me to play third base for the Red Sox for love or money. Apparently it's a death trap over there.
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