The Alex Cora Managerial Decision Thread

[moonslav59]

what are your thoughts on batting a sub 300 OBP guy in the leadoff spot?

Without Betts in the line-up, it wasn't a big deal, to me. It had the effect of lengthening the line-up, for what that's worth.

Unlike many of the posters I agree with most, I do believe in the "hot hand", and Nunez has been over .300 in his last 14 and 28 days.

I'd have made the line-up differently, but I could say that every day with every manager. It doesn't mean I think he was wrong. (Usually)

I did call JF criminally negligent for batting Holt in the 1 or 2 slot last year something like 8 times, so I'm not above being micro critical.

[SoxHop]

No doubt he's made some mistakes. But if he was making a lot of significant mistakes, this thread would be rocking. And it's not.

True that.

[OH FOY!]

After first at bat Mookie should be looking at Slugging %, never mind OBP. If he had Runners in Front of him on Base, his RBI's totals would be great. 38 Rbi's with 18 HRS, tells you bottom of order not doing their job. Unless he has 18 HRS leading off the game.
Your not going to get 9 great hitters throughout the line-up, its up to the 7,8,9 hitters to try to keep the line moving. Grinding out good at bats, getting on base anyway possible, to get the better hitters to drive them in. Important runs, in the course of the game.
Runs scored should be a stat looked at more. Any stat with the word Runs, is a good stat.

[Maxbialystock]

i agree with you 100%. it seems i am the only one posting the errors as i see them and that has only been..what? maybe 6 or 7 instances that i have pointed out in all the games played so far. and with many of them we still had a positive outcome (W) so it is easy to sweep them under the proverbial rug.

Target hit. I'm a member of the sweep it under the rug mob. Thus to me it makes a difference that we did not need Kimbrel yesterday. Of course, I still would have argued in support of Cora using Kimbrel Tues night because I really have faith in the guy. He is clearly different from Farrell and whatever he is doing, including in game decisions, seems to work. Rest days. Replacing starters earlier. Keeping Hanley Ramirez in the lineup and in fact high in the lineup right before recommending his DFA. His handling of Swihart as part of his overall effort to use all 13 lineup players. His handling of JBJ. Ditto the two catchers. I especially like the latter because I think CERA is real if hard to pin down statistically and that both of them are good for the staff. What especially impresses me is that Vazquez is as good with Wright as Mirabelli was with Wakefield in his prime.

It also impresses me that the Sox after 69 games (42.6% of the season) and DL stints by both Bogie and Mookie when they were red hot, the Sox have won 3 more games than anyone else in MLB and are simply not backing down to the Yankees or Astros. And now it's the Mariners for 4 in Seattle. So me, I try to hold off the bitching because I'm really rooting for these guys who are collectively way better than I expected. And I definitely think Cora is part of the better.

[Maxbialystock]

After first at bat Mookie should be looking at Slugging %, never mind OBP. If he had Runners in Front of him on Base, his RBI's totals would be great. 38 Rbi's with 18 HRS, tells you bottom of order not doing their job. Unless he has 18 HRS leading off the game.
Your not going to get 9 great hitters throughout the line-up, its up to the 7,8,9 hitters to try to keep the line moving. Grinding out good at bats, getting on base anyway possible, to get the better hitters to drive them in. Important runs, in the course of the game.
Runs scored should be a stat looked at more. Any stat with the word Runs, is a good stat.

Pretty good. Maybe the best I've read on why 7,8, and 9 need to be better. The upside of Mookie leading off is that, even with all those games missed, he is just behind Trout for most runs scored in MLB--54 to 56.

[Kimmi]

They matter, but not nearly as much as wins and losses. The Sox have 3 more wins than any other team in MLB. So me, I give this manager the benefit of the doubt on practically any decision he makes. Plus he has more information and more MLB experience than everyone on talksox combined. On pitching moves he can even check with both his pitching coach and his bench coach, both of whom also have more information and experience than any of us.

I harbor a special resentment toward Kimbrel because more and more he looks to me like a prima donna. Nobody on base when he goes in. No 2 inning saves. No 4 run leads (and therefore no save). Rested. This would make more sense if the Sox weren't paying him $210K/inning and if Kelly, Velazquez, and Barnes weren't almost as good according to WAR ratings.

I pretty much agree with you about Cora. He is doing a great job overall, and he deserves the benefit of the doubt. That said, that doesn't mean that we can't question some of his moves.

As far a Kimbrel is concerned, I don't resent him. I'm very glad that he's on our team. At the same time, there is no way I'm re-signing him to an enormous contract.

[Kimmi]

what are your thoughts on batting a sub 300 OBP guy in the leadoff spot?

Strongly opposed.

[Kimmi]

After first at bat Mookie should be looking at Slugging %, never mind OBP. If he had Runners in Front of him on Base, his RBI's totals would be great. 38 Rbi's with 18 HRS, tells you bottom of order not doing their job. Unless he has 18 HRS leading off the game.
Your not going to get 9 great hitters throughout the line-up, its up to the 7,8,9 hitters to try to keep the line moving. Grinding out good at bats, getting on base anyway possible, to get the better hitters to drive them in. Important runs, in the course of the game.
Runs scored should be a stat looked at more. Any stat with the word Runs, is a good stat.

Runs created stat!!!

[notin]

After first at bat Mookie should be looking at Slugging %, never mind OBP. If he had Runners in Front of him on Base, his RBI's totals would be great. 38 Rbi's with 18 HRS, tells you bottom of order not doing their job. Unless he has 18 HRS leading off the game.
Your not going to get 9 great hitters throughout the line-up, its up to the 7,8,9 hitters to try to keep the line moving. Grinding out good at bats, getting on base anyway possible, to get the better hitters to drive them in. Important runs, in the course of the game.
Runs scored should be a stat looked at more. Any stat with the word Runs, is a good stat.

Mookie has come up with 102 runners on base and driven in 20 of them, or 19.6%. That's an excellent percentage. RBI leader JD Martinez has come up with 176 runners on base and driven in 33 of them, or 18.75 %. (Most hitters run about 16-18%.)

So yes, Mookie needs more people on base. But such is the way of the lead off hitter.

[S5Dewey]

Just to keep his production in perspective, Mookie has also scored 54 runs in 50 games, or about 1.1 runs/game. I have to wonder how his total run production (RBI's + Runs scored) compares with other leadoff hitters.

[oldtimer]

Strongly opposed.

We may well have the best 1 and 2 hitting combination in all of baseball. Beni is now over 300 after a slow start. He has 78 hits and 38 walks. Lets hoe they can stay healthy as the long season is a real grind.

[StephenCurry30]

nunez needs to sit on the bench. he blows

[moonslav59]

We may well have the best 1 and 2 hitting combination in all of baseball. Beni is now over 300 after a slow start. He has 78 hits and 38 walks. Lets hoe they can stay healthy as the long season is a real grind.

Remember that Bogey was one of our best hitters before going on the DL. if he can return to that form, we'd have a very very solid 4:

Betts
Beni
Bogey
JDM

[notin]

nunez needs to sit on the bench. he blows

He certainly has not outplayed Holt.

Nunez has an OPS of .564 since April 20. Holt has an OPS of .914 since April 17.

[Station 13]

nunez needs to be gone. he blows

Fix that for you.