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This makes sense although it might might not have anything to do with TLR .It makes a lot more sense than those who think they know what TLR is thinking or feels about certain players.

Welcome to Soxtalk . You are our 2nd English fan. @Bazox is the other one. That's a very good question and one can only speculate as to why he was leading off. There is probably no satisfactory explanation since he could 've played at the bottom of the lineup. I think the most rational explanation would be with Anderson resting ,the pitcher for the Twins does worse against left handed batters and Eaton is better against right handed pitchers. Now that pitcher was very good yesterday and almost no one hit well except for Collins and the Sox held a 2-0 lead for a while even though the whole team only had that 1 hit for many innings . Also without Anderson the Sox don't really have anyone else who is what you might call a typical leadoff hitter . The only ones who come closest are Billy Hamilton or Brian Goodwin. Hamilton is a switch hitter but currently not able to bat left handed because he is nursing an injury . Goodwin has been hitting right handed pitching well and taking walks with a .450 on base percentage against right handed pitching so maybe he was a better choice. One last chance for Eaton to show his worth perhaps. Maybe the decision to be DFA'd was made after the game though that seems unlikely.

Good call. You stand out because you have original thoughts and don't parrot popular sentiment .

ANd if you can give me some stats where managers used reverse splits to their advantage or when TLR could've used reverse splits but didnt have at it, but its rare that pitchers or hitters have reverse splits throughout theirs careers. I spoke about how it happens in most instances. Saying that there are times when there are reverse splits where a RHB may PH or start against a RHP isn't worth discussing. You probably would have a hard time finding some type of article discussing it unless it's talking about All STar type players having good stats against lefties and righties. Like Eloy seems to hit both well but that's how you normally treat good players When you are talking about starting or PH one bench player over another with reverse splits it's pretty meaningless. Can you find me one bench player on the Sox or fringe level pitcher who is better against same handed handed players ? Goodwin, Lamb, Eaton are lefty and better against righties. Vaughn , Engel, Abreu, Robert, Madrigal Anderson all better against LHP. Switch hitters most of them also have a strong side. It's not a flaw because it rarely makes a difference. In fact I challenge you to find one article where a manager intentionally batted a RHB over a LHB because of reverse splits and it worked, or choose a LHB over a RHB against a LHP who isn't normally in the starting lineup.

And conversely opposing managers usually make pitching changes based on the guys coming up to bat handedness .Plus before the rule change about facing 3 hitters it was often done that way for 1 or 2 hitters. All of this is nothing new to baseball by both sides. There is nothing old school about it. Acting like it's some TLR flaw is very strange.

Pretty much no one does except elite Cfers.

Depends on the RHP. Can't just make a blanket statement like that. Berrios has great stuff but LH hit him about .100 batting average points better than RH . His stuff was just very good tonight. Would you rather have a .200BA up there against him or a .300BA ?

There is only a handful of guys who get that ball and Billy is one of them

Look either he did or didn't cost the Sox the game. Pick one. If you are talking about the triple , you are nuts. That ball was in the air 3 seconds and was a laser. You're talking like you're angry because he isn't Buxton and sometimes you know balls get by Buxton too because he isn't superman either. Balls like that do find gaps even with the best CF's around.

I would suspect most will say he can't call a game ,cant block pitches and cant frame so there's that.Pretty much the same stuff we hear about Collins. Yet he plays. If Zavala can do all those things then is Collins only here for his hitting and being LH ?

Probably a good idea

Not that shocked. The Sox have lost a ton of HR power between no Eloy, Grandal, Moncada not hitting many, Robert. Mercedes going back down. The only legitimate HR threats on the team besides Abreu are Vaughn, Sheets and Burger . Goodwin's hit 3 in a short amount of time but if you have 3 guys like Sheets and Burger +Vaughn you might as well play them all now. Early in the season you still had , Abreu, Grandal Moncada Robert being counted on for power and Mercedes was raking. Now it's down to just Abreu and Vaughn.

Yep the more chances of a HR the better.

Yea it's pretty bad . I think I agree with saying Vaughn, Sheets and Burger in the middle of the lineup and saying screw defense at this point. Burger at DH. Like 3-7 should be Moncada ,Abreu ,Sheets (if RH is pitching) Vaughn, Burger or you could make it 2 through 6. There's a better chance our 6 7 8 guys will hit a HR more than our 4 and 5 guy in that lineup. Plus didnt Hinch use 2 lefties in relief yesterday? Not sure if he has any more lefties in the pen or would use them in back to back games .

A good plan for sure but that means you'd have to find a taker for Eaton or just cut him loose or Lamb , Hamilton . I think the Sox were hopeful that among the OFers they have that RF was OK if they didn't want to eat up too much minor league depth in trades. After all 2nd base and the bullpen were really the priority . But if Grandal is injured for a significant amount of time they need a lot more HR's and walks now more than ever . Gallo and Escobar not just Escobar becomes more of a necessity. But if you now have to address RF, the bullpen and 2nd base it's very hard to imagine the Sox doing all that.

I've had a lot of stepping back moments but they are usually in terrible years when there is no hope for making the playoffs (Most of the time) and many times when the Sox come far down the list of life's priorities.

I didn't say he was good at the things I mentioned. I just said I don't like seeing all the people parroting the things you usually say when most people have no idea if Collins is actually as lousy as so many say he is. It's easier to be a sheep than it is to do actual research with an open mind or give him the benefit of the doubt on things people may not understand such as game calling. I mean if Rodon and Gio like throwing to him there has to be a reason. I know Grandal has his share of defensive critics too about this game calling/passed ball, but at some point you have to think there are a lot of benches in baseball calling pitches and pitchers have the ultimate say by nodding or shaking their heads and executing the pitches.

His power is very important to this team as is his OBP . If we think the Sox offense has been sputtering but has survived because of next man up working Grandal is a huge loss. Now Collins isn't a terrible replacement . After all he has power and a good eye and an increase in PT might be good for him but I would imagine I won't be venturing into too many game threads because it will be hard to look at the 100's of posts blaming him for pitches that aren't called strikes, pitcher's pitching bad, how he calls a terrible game and how he sucks at framing. You'd think Collins had a 666 on his skull.

Not even sure what you are saying here besides that Yoan plays more games than our most injured players. He plays through pain and that's great but he's about as smart as Eloy.

Injuries suck no doubt and we are far from seeing the team at it's best. But while still in first how could you not love this team and want to watch ? You had Mercedes in April. You have Vaughn making adjustments, you have Sheets and Burger coming up and hitting well right away. The whole Burger story is just amazing. You get stories about how Burger and Sheets were roomies n the minors and going through the Sox initiation by having to sing. You got Billy Hamilton a fan favorite. You got the Big Bastard Lynn, you got Rodon's out of the blue success. There's hardly been any player who hasn't contributed to keeping this team in 1st place with Lamb , Leury Goodwin and Collins all having significant games . Hendricks is about as good as we could have hoped for. Sure there's that guy in me who says it could come crashing down at any moment . But it's like a very slow roller coaster , where you have all this time to think. Don't think ,just relax and enjoy the ride.

You would think it would be a no brainer just like the play Yoan got thrown out at home when he was on 3rd and no outs or hanging on the fence going after a HR in an exhibition game . Some people need other people's brains to remind them if their bran doesn't function as well. I could also throw in the non baseball related getting Covid if the stories about him partying are true.

I thought we knew his right hand was injured because of that slide into 3rd. That's why he missed a few games. Reminding us his right shoulder is injured though is good and perhaps the reason for the lack of power and inconsistent defense. People talk about Eloy like he's a bumbling fool and his own worst enemy as far as injuries go. You might be able to put Moncada in the same class. If you have a shoulder issue why the hell are you sliding head 1st ? Surely at some point of your life you were sliding feet 1st. And now you have a hand injury on the same arm. He's got all kinds of team mates, coaches and trainers around him and no one can beat it into his head to slide feet 1st ? I mean you shouldn't even be saying "Good Morning Yo", it should be "Feet First Yo".

Our serious competition is every road game.

The first part about reaching across the plate isn't a complaint by Stone. What he is saying there is if Collins sets up on the outside part of the plate because that's where the pitch should be and then the pitch goes to the inside part of the plate , it's not the catchers fault it isn't called a strike. It's on the pitcher to hit his spot. To frame a pitch properly it usually has to go in the vicinity of where you expect it to be. If a catcher has to reach all the way across the plate from where he set up, no catcher can possibly frame that pitch. Stone is saying umps just won't give you the call on pitches like that .

I'm just thinking it's cool seeing Venus and Mars in the sky now.