Stealth G.O.A.T.

Palka is not just as good as Pederson offensively or defensively. The fact that Palka “runs faster” doesn’t equate to him being a better player.

They aren’t sacrificing defense for the long ball. Not even close. They’re simply replacing a bad player overall with a good player overall. The end result will mean winning more games. Which the Sox are pushing to do right now.

Nice post. Well said. For me, I think the key is finding the best balance. I personally think the Sox are trying to push to position themselves to, if things go right, win now given where the division sits at the moment. That aside, a balance of what you've outlined is important. For me, I think a young pitching staff pitching with a lead is a much better situation on top of providing the young staff with a solid bullpen. But I am not discounting the importance of defense and I'm definitely not suggesting that I'd be ok with the Sox trotting out a horrible defensive team either. I just personally believe Joc is a far better player and a more balanced player offensively and defensively together.

I did read what you posted on Catch Probability. It's all very interesting and valid. It's just not all I look at where players are concerned. I care about it all. I look at players in their entirety. In a perfect world, you have great offensive players who are great defenders. We can agree on that..... Where Joc and Engel are concerned, as a whole, Pederson is by far the superior player overall. Engel's defense does not even come close to making up for his offensive shortcomings regardless of what other players on the roster are doing. Joc's offense makes up for any defensive shortcomings you've laid out today. The proof is in the data supplied, i.e. fWAR. The bottom line, at the end of the day, Engel's shortcomings on offense are costing a team more wins than Pederson's defense. Wins are what matter in my view.

What is Engel's wrc+?

Scoring runs is relevant to winning games too. Nobody is debating whether or not Adam Engel is better in CF than Joc Pederson. He is. What people are doing is looking at Pederson and Engel's overall performance as a player. I think what people are saying (and anyone can correct me if I'm wrong), is that offensively Pederson is so far superior to Engel, that they are willing to sacrifice CF defense for the huge offensive upside. Especially given that Pederson performs well enough defensively to man CF or any OF position. He is not atrocious out there. Adam Engel should not be starting on any team, unless they are not worried about losing games. Which last year, the Sox weren't. The Sox want to start winning games, which is why they will not have Engel in CF everyday.

I agree with this.

I don't doubt that his fielding could improve if he were faster. All I'm saying is sprint speed isn't all that goes into fielding your position. Just like sprint speed isn't the only thing that goes into stealing bases. I agree that Pederson is a better fielder in the corners. I'm sure that's the case for all outfielders.

So would the Sox be better off putting Abreu in CF over Pederson because Abreu is faster?

Are you saying that Engel should be starting in CF because of his defense?

So is your argument that Pederson is a bad CF because he has slower sprint speed or is your argument that he could be better if he was faster?

I agree with @raBBit. I believe Pederson is perfectly fine in CF. I think your view on sprint speed is flawed when it comes to a player's overall ability to field their position.

You asked James to get real. Looks like he did.

Yeah, @raBBit is ok..... Nothing to write home about..... ???

Yes, he is.

I don't think that's really going out on the limb on his part. I think Manny ends up on the Sox. When? Hopefully any day now. Harper I don't know. I don't think he ends up in Philly though.

I'm not too worried. Obviously anything can happen, but I wouldn't get too worked up about it either way.

Strongly disagree with this. The "sports team" is a business that has to be run properly. Him doing everything he can to sign one or two of these big fish, while negotiating the best contract possible for the team isn't a lack of "putting the sports team first". The Sox know they NEED to land one of these guys. They are "willing to give up more than usual at the bargaining table" to do that. In fact, where Machado is concerned, the Sox are likely willing to give MORE than 29 other teams in baseball. Which is why they will likely land him.

JR has been heavily involved in the negotiations the entire time for both Machado and Harper. JR loves the negotiating process.

Great thread. @Y2Jimmy0 is spot on.

Their ownership won't care about the luxury tax where Harper is concerned.

I really don't think so. I actually don't think the Yankees will ever be "out". I believe they propose what they're willing to do and that's that. If Machado wants to join the Yankees, it will likely have to be on their terms. Maybe that changes, but by all accounts, they are set on the number of years they are willing to go with him. As of now, the number of years falls short.

Machado's final offers that would actually be considered were never going to be at $200M total value. No reason for anyone to be worried about that. Sox are in it to win it.

First time poster. I have followed SoxTalk for over a decade. I can say with 100% certainty that it is not true.