Jake

I haven't really been a Peoples believer, so in principle trading him is fine by me. But I am definitely a little confused about the return. Even if you saw something in this kid you traded for, well, you probably could have had him for a small cash fee. I almost wonder if that's how the conversation between the teams started.

FWIW, yesterday Braden dove for a bloop off the bat of Isaac Collins and came up just short. Some folks thought he might have misplayed it since the ball hung up in the air for a long time. Statcast data is in: 5% catch probability, the first time Statcast has classified a ball hit to him as potentially catchable without him catching it. That's basically at the "only PCA can catch it" tier. So ultimately I'm fairly impressed that he was only a step from catching it and his ability to run down fly balls continues to impress, especially when you consider the scouting reports usually suggested that he didn't know what he was doing out there and would have to develop in order to be a good overall outfield defender. Interestingly, this is his highest difficulty catch so far: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sporty-videos?playId=2131e45a-c7a0-33f5-bc02-8a31eccd7a58 Such a good jump and speed that it looks like a routine out.

This play is going to help, but the metrics have not liked Braden's throwing arm so far. We know he's reputed to have a gun but I've thought the ball has tended to come out of his hand not looking too good in these MLB games. Statcast has not gunned a throw of his in MLB above 92.7mph which is not very fast at all, especially since he's had several opportunities where he's looked like he was airing it out. He hit 100mph+ on outfield throws on the showcase circuit. I think his arm might be hurting him or something.

5 hop assist from Braden, lol

Sam would have lost the challenge that he wishes he had

Saving too many of our baserunners for 2 out situations. Hard to manufacture runs when that happens.

So far, Sox have played them about even on the batter vs. pitcher confrontation, but Sox have an error and allowed them to run wild on the bases. Sox have not gained an edge for themselves in those areas.

I don't want to see Cruz pitch anymore.

I think it's a thing that started coming into fashion around the time I stopped playing baseball. Basically functions as a cushion to reduce the sting/vibration on balls hit off of the sweet spot. If that's what it is, I'm not sure why he'd keep it on while running the bases other than just not wanting to lose it.

I know you were wondering, but no the Sox do not lead MLB in pickoffs. That moves us to 11. There are two teams with 13 (COL and TBR) and one with 12 (HOU). Sox move into a tie with ATL. Interestingly, HOU and ATL have stolen very few bases relative to the others on the leaderboard.

Richards is an interesting player to me. He's essentially a trick pitcher. The trick often works but you never know when it's going to stop working. The trick being that he has a changeup that breaks almost a foot more than any comparable change at the same speed would be expected to.

Jensen has had no problem seeing Kay at all today. I think he's just sitting sweeper or else knows it's coming from tipping/scouting.

On the bloop double, what I see on the Statcast view is that the route was maybe a step or two deep. My guess is when we get the catch probability, it will rank as a difficult play. Up to today, Braden has caught every ball that Statcast has judged as potentially catchable by a major league outfielder thus far. He hasn't had many high-difficulty ones hit his way though.

Kay's inability to stop the running game has been pretty influential in this one

Batted ball luck for all!

Little batted ball luck for Miguel here.

Kay just feels like a guy who would have taken 60 seconds between pitches in the pre-clock era.

It was definitely a damaging error, although it's hard to say exactly how the inning goes afterwards since there was a lot of baseball still left to play and KC is clearly seeing Kay very well.

Wild pitch gets the run in there

FWIW, I don't think they were turning 2 on that play Colson botched. Fast batter-runner and the ball took a beat to get there.

Kay still in pole position for "hardest pitcher to watch" award

Braden has looked really good catching fly balls so far. Beating his scouting report in that regard.

No problem, Kay's pitching style is very amenable to the defense giving up free baserunners

Colson's had a few of those lately.