How do you know their eyes don’t agree with WAR?
The definition of arrogance is “having an exaggerated sense of one’s own abilities or importance.”
I would think assuming one’s own eye test and assessment to be the one true answer fits that definition far, far more than reliance on objective statistical data...
It is Ridiculous to say that I am on a mission against Porcello. I recently proposed resigning him for 3/$45 million. I thought he was overpaid at $22 million/year for 4 years, because he is a 4.25 ERA Middle to bottom of the rotation pitcher. What he is going through now, he has been through before. Some years it has lasted the entire season. Last year, I think his final two months were 5+ ERA, but he was able to step up in the post season. This season he has been consistent garbage. I think he can straighten himself out and the team needs him to pitch well. I am not giving a pass to the other 3 pitchers. Each has been more consistent and far better than Porcello this season since the end of April. The argument is what the team needs — bullpen or starting pitchers. We have 2 Cy Young winners (Price and Porcello) plus Chris Sale and ERod is in the midst of his best season. We have a talented starting Corps. We don’t have a talented bullpen. They are full of minor league and borderline major league arms. The deficit in talent couldn’t be any more clear.
Your bias accusation is ridiculous and I will chalk it up to you having missed your morning coffee or something else that threw off your game.
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.
I would bet the farm , if I had a farm , that the Sox would be in much better shape today if they still had Kimbrel and Kelly . As I said before , our current saves leader , with a grand total of seven saves , is now pitching for Pawtucket . That is absolutely terrible . I think Kimbrel already has that many in three weeks with the Cubs .
I've seen a lot of great plays by CF'ers on many teams while watching them against the Sox. I have no idea what they do in the other 144 to 159 games. Some guys I only see every 3 years, and then only for 3 games on TV.
To me, JBJ looks like he's top 8 to 14. His 3 year ranking is 12th, so I have no problem thinking he's around 12th best. He may better, if you take away some intangibles but probably not top 3 or 4, IMO.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
Trout is in front of him but only because of offense. I wouldn’t want anyone else playing CF for the Boston Red Sox. We are lucky we have JBj and when he is gone the hole will be glaring. Glaring.
other names i have posted under: none
Not even Mookie if the Sox get another RF? Mookie did darn good job out there too. I feel if Mookie is still here past July 31, JBJ will be dealt, this Off -Season. Might not be right decision too. I feel Mookie is not a 30+ a year player. But that is what the Sox will have to give him to keep him.
We can go back and forth on the Positional Players, but if the Sox don't start getting some real talent in the Farm for Pitching, or Young Major League Pitchers, who can come in and contribute. Wont matter much who's playing the Outfield.
Pitching wins Championships.
I don't think you can be 9 games over .500 and have "shown nothing." We have a top 2 or 3 offense, for one. Our rotation did go 4-5 weeks pitching very well. Our pen did okay for the first 2 months. Our defense has improved at 3B.
Look, I agree, we have yet to "put it all together" for any meaningful stretch, but there is still 2+ months to go. I know it is hard to ignore a 99 game sample size, and I'm not. We do have serious issues. We have some in-house options like Eovaldi and long shot Johnson that may solve 2 issues. Moreland's return could help, too. A trade for a solid RP'er could also help. Adding 4 players to a team already 9 over .500 can make a difference. I'm not saying it will. I'm not saying I have any hard evidence, other than this is close to the same team as 2018, to say we are likely to be a top contender by October, but it is possible.
I know it wasn't you saying it, but even last year some posters were very pessimistic about our chances vs Houston in the playoffs. That was after winning 108 games. Houston "had a better rotation." Houston has a "better pythagorean record."
We came close in 2003, despite going 60-49 for 4 months in a row (.550 winning % that is very close to the one we have now). That team went 17-9 in September and 7-3 to end August. They were 72-55 on August 20th, which is much better than our record is now, but I seriously doubt many Sox fans had hope as late as August31st after we just lost 2 of 3 to the Yanks and were 5.5 out.
In 2004, we had a stretch where we went 43-43 from May 1st to Aug 6th. That's a very long stretch of worse baseball than we have played in our first 99 games. The sample size is almost the same. If I add 13 games on the end of that stretch to equal 99 games, they were 7 games over .500- worse than this year's stretch. There was not much hope that year, either, but we finished the season 40-15, and the rest is history.
We won the division in 2007, mostly on the strength of our great start (36-15). We went 60-51 the last 4 months of the season, including a 54-48 stretch (worse record than this year for a longer stretch).
Nobody expected a ring in 2013 from day one. We had a shorter stretch of pretty bad play by going 48-38 in one 86 game stretch- better than this year, but not by much.
All those championship teams, except for last year, looked pretty bad for very long stretches.
Let me say one more thing about our team, we've made the playoffs 9 times since 2004. We've won it all in 4 of them- once as a wild card entry. That's pretty amazing, and it speaks to our ability to step it up when it counts most. I realize those were different teams, but 2018 was not.
Last edited by moonslav59; 07-21-2019 at 11:39 AM.
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?