Red Sox 2016: The Lard of Pablo, or No More Papis in MA

PECOTA project: 88-74 for a probable AL wildcard (we'll see about that)

good things: price, mookie, xander, the possibility of JBJ hitting for league average, eduardo rodriguez, the smith-koji-kimbrel part of the bullpen, the return of vazquez's defense, one more year of ortiz dingers, joe kelly's hair

uncertain/potentially bad things: entire rotation beyond price/ed-rod, hanle y at 1st, the ability of JBJ to hit for league average, every other member of the bullpen, pedroia making it through the majority of the season

unequivocally bad things: only one more year of ortiz dingers, the probable washedness of this man
https://nesncom.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/pablo-sandoval.jpeg

good thread title

thanks!

apparently john henry is souring on analytics. greeeeaaaaaatttttt.

and pablo, hanley and castillo have three of the 25 worst contracts in the league at 6, 10 and 21, respectively http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/14827368/albert-pujols-tops-list-baseball-biggest-albatrosses-worst-contracts-mlb

don't really think castillo's is that bad, other two are p inarguably awful

surely they soured on analytics BEFORE getting Hanley?

i will hear no bad words spoken about rusney

http://www.overthemonster.com/2016/3/7/11171144/evaluating-the-weakness-of-the-red-sox

or Bobby Valentine could return to haunt the halls of Fenway Park as a vengeful-but-somehow-still-living spirit. And at that point we'd all be screwed.

well that's undeniably true

also i forgot rodriguez injured his knee, gahdamnit

don't throw punches with your pitching hand, son

http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2016/03/08/red-sox-top-prospect-michael-kopech-fractures-hand-after-altercation-with-teammate/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeUm66fWwAEKmSO.jpg

lol nice

@PeteAbe
John Farrell says that Travis Shaw is the #RedSox third baseman. Pablo Sandoval to the bench. Met with both players this morning.

2016 29 Boston Red Sox $17,600,000
2017 30 Boston Red Sox $17,600,000
2018 31 Boston Red Sox $18,600,000
2019 32 Boston Red Sox $18,600,000
2020 33 Boston Red Sox *$17,000,000 $17M Team Option, $5M Buyout
Earliest Free Agent: 2020

speaking of salaries is rusney gonna start or what

doesn't sound like it

Holt is gun be the starting LF i believe, which leaves Rusney on the bench.
it's amazing how much talent is riding the pine in Boston.

well my admiration for mr holt is well documented on these boards and the red sox have needed a potent pinch hitter for approx a dozen years so maybe that's not so bad. still, rusney could get around in the outfield, he was nice to watch.

"talent"

no talkin bad bout rusney castillo

i'm gonna miss ortiz. easily in my top five favorite players of his era. i recognize that his HOF case isn't airtight but i'd like to see him go in just the same.

@PeteAbe
The #RedSox’ $37.7 million bench: Pablo Sandoval ($17M), Rusney Castillo ($10.5M), Chris Young ($6.5M), Ryan Hanigan ($3.7M)

plus $9m for allen craig in pawtucket

i saw something today that said they have $170m committed to the bench and $170m committed to the starting 9.

the panda thing is ridiculous, but if he legit can't do a goddamn thing and they can't trade him rn there's not much else to do

i'm vaguely terrified that the padres are going to trade for him

yeah i saw a thing about the padres scouting him lol

sounded like part of the problem, unsurprisingly, was panda's defense -- kinda curious why they didn't move *him* to first and put hanle_y at third. shaw did have a huge spring, tho

evil empires can burn money.

aw morbsie

and poly i would not wish him on yr team at all

i mean ... he would probably be an upgrade on solarte, I guess. But ugh, that contract ( / waistline).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ce6GhUPUsAEQCWi.jpg

that last inning was v much "better to be lucky than good" territory

price's opening day line: 6.0 IP, 5H, 2R, 2BB, 10K.

THROW THE BUCH AT EM

fuck man

i always get down on my dad for having no faith in The Buch but he is pretty much always vindicated

brock fuckin holt

buch gets his first 1-2-3 inning, long may it continue

honestly if joe kelly and eduardo don't have it this year i don't know who we got behind price

https://i.imgur.com/mVE4Egy.gif

and then his true form emerged out of the cocoon-mouth

is it churlish to say that dave o'brien is good? so good that i'm not even missing orsillo?

ok that's how we're doin it this year #b2b

BROCK FUCKIN HOLT

brock fuckin holt

buch gets his first 1-2-3 inning, long may it continue

honestly if joe kelly and eduardo don't have it this year i don't know who we got behind price
--illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand)

the (small, unlikely) hope of porcello having an ERA under 4

obrien is fine he's just kind of a standard issue broadcaster - he'll never have orsillo's wonderful batshit surrealism

yeah

so the idea this year is offense (+ 1 ace + 4 no. 3 through 5 starters) wins championships?

tbf it is better than last year's offense + all no. 5s model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niJk3wJi9Zo

well, he was gonna have to get an AB sometime

hat trick, error, broken belt. impressive

indeed! but hey, the reds aren't gonna break my favorite team's winning streak

robbie ross jr. throwing 2 shutout innings to seal a win is...not something you see every day

hanle y is playing...pretty well at first!

one of the sox beat writers mentioned that boston isn't too generous with its getaway days either

All Thursday games at Comerica start at 1:00ish.

Thousands of fans would have been thrilled to change/scrap their plans to ensure a good night's sleep for the visiting team.

such a weird non-story. it was fine for the sox to ask, and fine for the tigers to say no!

All Thursday games at Comerica start at 1:00ish.

Thousands of fans would have been thrilled to change/scrap their plans to ensure a good night's sleep for the visiting team.
--Andy K

sorry about the Ls

benintendi just made the sox catch of the year

https://vine.co/v/5OhjYHJnUat

now if he can just learn to hit the cutoff man.....

I happened to have that game on at the time, great catch. Even better was him trying to look professional and not grin ear to ear afterward.

Scott Lauber
ESPN Staff Writer:

Red Sox rookie left fielder Andrew Benintendi has been placed on the 15-day disabled list after twisting his left knee awkwardly as he dove into second base. Benintendi underwent an MRI exam Thursday, and manager John Farrell told reporters that it's too soon to know whether the injury is season-ending. Benintendi, the Red Sox's 22-year-old outfield prospect, was batting .324 since getting called up earlier this month. In his absence, veteran outfielder Chris Young will get the majority of the at-bats in left field, with utilityman Brock Holt filling in against tough right-handed pitching.

no structural damage, should come back for the final games of Sept and the 'offs (however long the sox are in them, I for one don't think that long but wouldn't mind being proven wrong)

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2/7/0/198802270/083116_tbbos_papilego_med_o22mzlqf.gif

perfect expression on his face

damn moncado's got a rifle on him huh?

moncadA

clay buchholz

clay buchholz

i hadn't realized just how truly, truly awful bogaerts has been. his august line was .219/.274/.325, good for a 55 wRC+. and september hasn't been much better

dude has some WILD home/away and lefty/right splits too

like recently? his whole-year lefty/righty split looks normal.

he seems to have gotten worn down this year. even back in july he was vocal about needing a day off.

yeah i meant the combined splits, which admittedly are small sample sizes. for example against lefties on the road in 71 PAs he's got a wRC+ of 41, while against lefties at home it's 228. i don't think this "means" anything tho it's just interesting

oh ok, yeah that is an odd one.

Hanley hitting 500 with 9 home runs in first pitch, holy cow

(on first pitch, oops)

What's this, the fifth or sixth time Boston and Baltimore have come back from 3+ runs down the past week? Every time I leave a game involving one of them happy, I come back to disaster.

rick porcello was blowing ppl away throwing 89 tonight. he's fun to watch when he's sharp.

dude hit clayton kershaw's 2014 win-loss record tonight, which is hysterical, because obv wins are a somewhat misleading stat and in no way will he ever be that type of natural genius, but he manages to do a lot right that I didn't expect him to do based on how much he sucked for most of last year

it's completely nuts!

i like to think my visit for the ARI series in mid-August is what vaulted this team to their current form - they have basically been on fire ever since

i was there too, u know

Difft day tho I thought - but yes! It was totally us!

papi just crushed #37, moved into a tie w/gehrig for #10 on the XBH list, now has the most RBI in a final season (one more than shoeless joe jackson)

Sox staff has struck out 21 Rays in 9 innings (major league record) including 11 in a row (major league record).

i think 21 may only be a franchise record

great game tho, totally cobb-esque prancing fro pedey there

the way they clinched is sort of a perfect summation of this team.

Can I just say I SAW THIS?

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/195181944/jackie-bradley-jr-makes-highlight-reel-play/

First pitch of the game: Segura lofts a long fly ball to right-center, Jackie Bradley Jr. lazily tracking it back, back, back, and just as he's about to catch it he SLIPS on something - the lip of the warning track? And he tumbles over, the ball bouncing off his glove and into the grass. Segura makes it all the way to THIRD by the time the ball comes in. The crowd groans. Not the greatest omen for the three hours we have ahead of us.

Second pitch of the game: A frozen rope line drive to dead center, looks like a base hit for sure. JBJ barrels towards it, and amazingly, implausibly, catches it off the tops of his shoes. Everyone gasps. And in one motion, he fires the ball home with such unbelievable power that Segura, tagging at third on the catch, decides whoa, I'm going back to third, I can't beat that. But it's too late. The throw was so hard, and so accurate, that Bryan Holaday (who he?) grabs it and fires to third before Segura can get back. Double play. Nobody on the bases, two out.

(Morbs were you there??)

call all destroyer I disagree that it's a perfect summation! Buchholz was great (he has mainly been terrible); Kimbrel was terrible (he has mainly been great); etc

i was thinking more about the clinching-with-a-heartbreaking-loss aspect, seems to fit a team that has overcome some glaring issues and frustrating stretches to arrive here.

i agree w/ CAD

at the same time, when you go back and think on it...they won the fuckin' games, and while they def pulled a couple of wins out their asses with 9th inning comebacks and such, most of them came from the offense just pulverizing teams day in/day out

i'm most worried about the rotation going into the playoffs. rodriguez is showing good signs again, as is buchholz, and the bullpen (barring last night's colossal fart) has seriously improved, but porcello-price-buchholz-rodriguez just feels iffy

Porcello and Erod feel the most solid to me. Price has been AWFUL. And Buchholz, I mean, he either throws a shutout or gives up 6 in 3 innings.

i dont think price has been awful of late at all - 7 of his last 9 starts, which were sox wins, had him yielding only 2 runs apiece, and he was never the type of ace who always shut teams out completely. his historical numbers reflect that. BUT, his start on tuesday was an object lesson in all the problems he's had the entire season.

so i'm still worried.

as always, buchholz is a coin flip

lollllllllll http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ftw/2016/09/30/red-sox-manager-john-farrell-responds-to-yankee-stadium-heckler-shut-your-expletive-up/91340268/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

that is the softest 'expletive' anyone in baseball has ever used

Can I just say I SAW THIS?

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/195181944/jackie-bradley-jr-makes-highlight-reel-play/

First pitch of the game: Segura lofts a long fly ball to right-center, Jackie Bradley Jr. lazily tracking it back, back, back, and just as he's about to catch it he SLIPS on something - the lip of the warning track? And he tumbles over, the ball bouncing off his glove and into the grass. Segura makes it all the way to THIRD by the time the ball comes in. The crowd groans. Not the greatest omen for the three hours we have ahead of us.

Second pitch of the game: A frozen rope line drive to dead center, looks like a base hit for sure. JBJ barrels towards it, and amazingly, implausibly, catches it off the tops of his shoes. Everyone gasps. And in one motion, he fires the ball home with such unbelievable power that Segura, tagging at third on the catch, decides whoa, I'm going back to third, I can't beat that. But it's too late. The throw was so hard, and so accurate, that Bryan Holaday (who he?) grabs it and fires to third before Segura can get back. Double play. Nobody on the bases, two out.

(Morbs were you there??)

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, September 29, 2016 9:15 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

WOW

that is the softest 'expletive' anyone in baseball has ever used

― mookieproof, Friday, September 30, 2016 5:02 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

farrell saves the best ones for when he's being ejected

http://a2.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F0930%2Fr133571_1296x518_5%2D2.jpg

the president of the dominican republic is here to send off ortiz

Ortiz's 1994 Arizona League teammates who made it to the majors:

Wilson Delgado
Tommy Hinzo (before '94)
Dusty Wathan
Ken Cloude
Shawn Estes
Aaron Scheffer*
Roy Smith
Kerry Woodson

*Faced him in high school and barely got a bunt down. Terrifying.

Played some pick-up ball and was high school teammates with another one of this team's pitchers (local demigod, didn't make it out of A-ball).

too bad ortiz won't match dusty wathan's career .600/.667/.800 line

lol