A Realistic View at 2018: Part II

[Slasher9]

Yankees fans are fucking dumb. Pitching (and D) gets parades not your 8 & 9 hitters

[Slasher9]

And the inconsistency at the bottom of your order will kill your team, especially if you have to gain the division in order to avoid playing a series with the Yankees having home field.

I fucking LOVED what happened the last time the Red Sox played the Yankees when NY had Home field advantage. How about you???

[S5Dewey]

And the inconsistency at the bottom of your order will kill your team, especially if you have to gain the division in order to avoid playing a series with the Yankees having home field.

Look at these OPS's for a second
Batting 7th- .603- 13th in the AL
Batting 8th- .562- 14th in the AL
Batting 9th- .617- 8th in the AL

Do any of your guys remember Rey Ordonez? Mets SS who played insane defense but absolutely sucked with the bat? The aggregate OPS of your 7-9 is below Ordonez's career OPS. You are giving an inning away per turn of your lineup. And it isn't like you're killing it outside of your top 4.

Batting 1st- 1.054- first by .203
Batting 2nd- .764- 11th in the AL
Batting 3rd- .832- 5th in the AL
Batting 4th- .953- 2nd in the AL
Batting 5th- .760- 5th in the AL
Batting 6th- .749- 4th in the AL

Your lineup is being carried by 1, 3, 4, 5. Your 2 slot is hitting well enough, but not compared to peers. That being said, the guy occupying it with regularity now has an OPS over .900. No moves to be made. 1-5, you have guys in your lineup OPS'ing at least .849 or higher, with 4 of those guys above .900. The 6 spot at 4th in the AL is more an indictment on the rest of the AL. 7-9 is a ghost town.

It's a funny thing about inconsistency. It means that sometimes they hit and sometimes they don't. I'm saying that given our pitching staff they may not have to hit in order for the Sox to win, and just one hit from one of them might be the difference in a low scoring game.
Low scoring games between quality teams come down to pitching and which pitcher makes the mistakes. I like our staff. Not as much as I'd like the advantage YS gives the Yankees if I were a Yankees fan, but I like them.

My point - which you chose to ignore - was that the Yankees are going to beat in Yankee Stadium". But thanks for your "concern".

[jacksonianmarch]

JBJ has looked lost at times, often long stretches, every season. Maybe he never gets hot. Maybe he does.

Vaz and Leon are middle of the pack over-all catchers. They are below average hitters, but they get the most out of the staff. They are not weak links.

2B has looked bad, and who knows if Nunez is hurt or just sucking. Holt has buffed up over the winter, so maybe he won't fade this year.

We may make a trade to beef up the bottom 3, but we may not need to.

I brought up the Yankee players who are struggling to make a point. I notice you did not answer. Of course you expect the players I listed to do better-- just as I expect our strugglers to turn things around- at least some of them.

I expect and all star catcher and an MVP to play like their track record suggests. JBJ doesn’t have nearly the offensive prowess of either

[S5Dewey]

Gloat -T-ing

[Bellhorn04]

We have a 50-26 record, tied for the second-best record in baseball. Normally a team in that position wouldn't be subject to as much criticism and analysis as this 2018 Red Sox team is.

But of course the catch is, we're behind the Yankees, and if we end the season that way we have to play a damn Wild Card game. That changes the way everything is being looked at.

[Maxbialystock]

Yankees, Astros, and Sox are the three best in the AL in won-lost, run differential, and, amazingly, OPS (hitting) and ERA (pitching). Astros clearly have the best pitching, and right now the Yankees have the 2d best ERA by a small margin. I think our pitching will be better. But I do think the Yankees have the best hitting even though moonslav makes some good points about their issues.

So what it boils down to is you gotta play the games and we will see what happens. Speaking of which, ain't it great to say that in June? Ladies and gents, we got ourselves a horse race.

[jacksonianmarch]

It is fun. The play in game definitely changes the game a bit, especially if the top WC team has the 2nd best record in baseball. That being said, we both know on June 22 that the Sox and Yanks are making the playoffs which makes it somewhat anticlimactic.

[Maxbialystock]

It is fun. The play in game definitely changes the game a bit, especially if the top WC team has the 2nd best record in baseball. That being said, we both know on June 22 that the Sox and Yanks are making the playoffs which makes it somewhat anticlimactic.

The play in game changes things a lot and puts a premium on winning your division. I think four teams with one wild card was a better format because very often the wild card team had a better record than one or more of the division winners. This year, if Seattle keeps winning along with the Sox, a 5th team--the current format--would make sense.

[notin]

It's a funny thing about inconsistency. It means that sometimes they hit and sometimes they don't.

Finally, someone properly posts the definition of the word. "Consistency" isn't a good thing if you are consistently bad...

[moonslav59]

Yankees fans are fucking dumb. Pitching (and D) gets parades not your 8 & 9 hitters

It's our weak spot, so Jacko attacks it.

I get that, but the disrespect shown towards our SP'ers is not logical.

He assumes our weak hitters will continue to be weak all season, but I guess he does not assume the Yankees' starting pitchers will continue to not be anywhere near how our starters have done and presumably should continue to do by his criteria of judging our weak hitters.

Here's a look at SP'er ERA- (adjusted ERA):

AL Ranking:

1. Wright (10)
5. Severino (54)
9. Sale (64)
19. Sabathia (79)
21. Porcello (80)
23. ERod (81)
27. Montgomery (27)
30. Price (89)

Yes, we have 5 starters in the top 30 with all being at 89 or lower.

53. Tanaka (110)
60. Gray (117)
65. German (122)
77. Pom (150)


I don't see Pom starting for us in the playoffs. I do think Gray and/or Tanaka are expected to be playoff starters.

Team numbers:

73 Astros
80 Indians
83 Red Sox
90 Yankees
95 Angels
96 Twins

To be fair, the Yankee pen looks mightier:

68 Astros (1.05 WHIP)
68 Yankees (1.10 WHIP)
75 Red Sox (1.21 WHIP)

Overall:
71 Astros
80 Red Sox
82 Yankees

[moonslav59]

Yankees, Astros, and Sox are the three best in the AL in won-lost, run differential, and, amazingly, OPS (hitting) and ERA (pitching). Astros clearly have the best pitching, and right now the Yankees have the 2d best ERA by a small margin. I think our pitching will be better. But I do think the Yankees have the best hitting even though moonslav makes some good points about their issues.

So what it boils down to is you gotta play the games and we will see what happens. Speaking of which, ain't it great to say that in June? Ladies and gents, we got ourselves a horse race.

ERA- is a better stat than just plain old ERA.

We edge the Yanks in ERA-, but our starters have been much better.

[jacksonianmarch]

Tanaka has a rough spot every year. He had his early. Gray has been dominant this month. Tanaka has a middling year last year and was lights out in the playoffs.

Btw, I find it funny you use Wright’s ERA-. He’s thrown 3 starts

[moonslav59]

Tanaka has a rough spot every year. He had his early. Gray has been dominant this month. Tanaka has a middling year last year and was lights out in the playoffs.

Btw, I find it funny you use Wright’s ERA-. He’s thrown 3 starts

I find it funny you explain away Tanaka's troubles as "rough spot every year", but you fail to recognize JBJ's history as being very similar in those terms.

[jacksonianmarch]

Tanaka has also been slightly worse than average when comparing ERA-. JBJ has been far worse than average. It’s comparing apples and watermelons