CaliSoxFanViaSWside
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Everything posted by CaliSoxFanViaSWside
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A 4 tool guy instead of just a 2 tool ( speed/base running and defense) is still immensely valuable. Robert still has a lot of power. He just needs to show it. A good 6 to 8 week hot streak, while implausible given how he's preformed since returning from his injury last year, is not impossible. He'll never be great contact hitter or a high OBP guy but he could get a lot closer to the La Pantera skills he usually displayed when healthy. The hitter he's been since June of last year could be a guy who's lost his mental edge afraid to be aggressive because of all the injuries. It doesn't show up in his speed or defense, the things that come more natural to him ,but hitting isn't something that comes naturally to many hitters. It takes a lot of discipline and mental toughness because all hitters have weaknesses that pitchers attack. Your job is to punish the mistakes if you can last long enough in at bats to recognize them. And recognizing them isn't as easy as it sounds especially with aggressive hitters who grew up with the "hitting their way off the island " or " you can't walk off the island " approach so common in poor Latin American. countries. It's a fine line for a free swinger to alter his approach in such a dramatic way. Even the Most valuable version of Robert in 2023 only had an OBP of .315 but that guy at least had a .542 slugging .Sure his walk rate now is better than it's ever been which shows he's trying to change his approach but maybe he just can't be a guy who walks a lot and still be a feared power hitter.
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Robert 2 for 3 with a walk, 3 RBI going back to his 2023 stance/foot lift / leg kick w/e you want to call it, which I'm pretty sure I suggested in the Robert trade value thread. Next step a monster HR so he knows he still got it .
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What a great crowd ! They need more Mexican Heritage Nights or whatever it was today.
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But the fielder is still throwing it to 1st. It just depends where he catches the ball at and how quickly he thinks he has to get rid of it. Runners also used to slide with their arms in front of their face . Of course baseball's a little more gentle than it used to be . Forcing runners to duck and cover on slides was usually because breaking up a DP by coming in high and hard or wide and hard at 2nd was allowed until they changed the rules an you got an auto DP if you try too hard to break up the DP. Better to just get down and stay out of the way now. Sox got fucked on a slide deemed too hard earlier in the year.
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Contact with the ball.Infielders purposely used to sling the ball low to force runners to get down or get smashed the face on DP relays. Not sure how prevalent that still is but apparently it must be if Robert slid like that. However there's no rule that says you can't slide directly into the base and risk it. But I'm sure the Sox prefer he stays healthy and continues to swing the bat.
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Sox need to win this game with that great crowd today . LFG bebe !!
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Good job Eisert.
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Oh yeah lots of people here were all falling in the camp that getting fair value for Robert was impossible and it would embarrass a lot of people here . It's pretty funny that I get accused of being a Getz stan but now all the Getz haters are echoing my theory that Getz biggest mistake was not anything he did but something he didn't do and that was trade Robert in that off season.
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There were a lot of people around here echoing that very sentiment however. Everyone was going gaga over his 5 tool superstar rising and started to believe JR that it could be a quick turnaround. I think that's why it hurt people so much that the Sox were so bad because they felt they were duped. However it became apparent pretty early in the off-season that this was not going to be a quick turnaround and the Sox were rebuilding again. Trading Robert should have been a priority but a first time 1st year GM was probably pretty overwhelmed with trading just Cease. But who are you going to get a better return for Robert coming off his 1st ever good full season or Cease coming off a bad year ? Sox fans were also overvaluing Cease at the time in our famous thread with Orioles fans. If you were going hold onto one and hope for a rebound to increase value , he could have done that with Cease even though I was not a fan of that strategy with Cease.
