Originally Posted by moonslav59
But... but... but... this is the AL EAST!!!!
But... but... but... this is the AL EAST!!!!
Kimbrel came out of the gates on absolute fire. I think he went most or all of April before a right-handed hitter even reached base against him.
But he cooled off like Hawaiian lava and became a source of hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing himself after the All Star break...
That's the problem with Kimbrel...... When he is on.... he's very good (much like he was in the World Series) but when he is off.... it's ugly like he was in the Yankees and Astros series. It happens to all pitchers. I know I can be hard on him but it does happen to the best. With that said I still think Kimbrel's agent is asking too much for him but meh.
Yes, so how can the Yanks possibly win with a below average 1Bman? A position the rest of the league gets big offense from?
If Sale is toast due to his health issues at the end of 2018, then the Yankee SS position is toast, too. How can you win the AL East with the 1B and SS positions being abject failures?
Although the great start to 2018, and another great run in May to early June, the Sox still went 40-24 in it's last 64 games.
This happened despite Sale only starting 7 games and ERod 4. This happened despite Kimbrel's WHIP going from 0.885 to 1.200 in the last 64 games (not counting his horrendous playoff WHIP).
This team showed the ability to play .625 ball with a mediocre Kimbrel and basically no Sale or ERod.
Last edited by moonslav59; 02-20-2019 at 11:47 AM.
That was all Joe Kelly, obviously...
Both guys are replaceable. It just remains to be seen if the Sox have a replacement. I'm not worried about Joe Kelly leaving. I think someone like Travis Lakins could match what Kelly did last regular season. I still think they should reach out to Kimbrel and bring him back on a short deal.
Plus, these guys only started these many games out of the last 64:
0 Pedey
12 Vaz
28 Devers
What was devers' and vaz's replacements' numbers over their respective seasons numbers?
You are assuming they will repeat their 2018 numbers in 2019. This is not a valid way to project future output, but if you want to go by that....
.731 Devers
.677 Nunez
.540 Vaz
.511 Leon
While the gain might look slight here, I don't think I'm being a homer to believe they can at least give us their career norms (or better) in 2019:
.760 Devers
.632 Vaz
Both would be a significant improvement over their 2018 replacements' numbers.
But both of their "career norms" are relatively small sample sizes, no?
Yes, as is the case for most younger players moving towards prime. (999 PAs by Vaz and 672 by Devers)
If you really are expecting .731 from Devers and .540 from Vaz, then I can't make any more points, but even that would be better than what their replacements gave us last year.
I'm thinking .800 from Devers and .670 from Vaz is not a stretch.
Steamer projects:
.805 Devers (.805 THE BAT and .787 ATC)
.672 Vaz (.659 THE BAT & .637 ATC)
These numbers blow Nunez, Leon and Swihart out of the water.
Steamer projects Devers to hit >.800 OPS? Seriously? I don't see it...not until he learns to stop consistently swinging at balls that are out out of the strike zone. Devers is a poster boy for someone who has lots of *potential* according to many people-but who has shown little to live up to those expectations.
Devers is only 22 years old.
He has a .760 OPS in 179 regular season games.
And an .884 OPS in 15 postseason games.
Projecting an .800 OPS is hardly a big stretch.
Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
Plus, he worked with JD for a good bit of the offseason.
He should be on an upward trend.
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