Jack Parkman

I disagree. Wheeler's always hurt, and he's had a pretty bad season. Stuff wise? I agree completely. Durability and Reliability? I'd take Bumgarner easily. Bumgarner got hurt in a freak accident that wasn't baseball related. He's been durable and reliable besides that.

Harper and Machado were supposed to be the best value since ARod and Manny Ramirez and they're already underperforming at 27.

Besides that, I'm pretty confident in Giolito and Kopech being TOR starters. they should grab someone like Bumgarner or Wheeler that wouldn't be as expensive. I keep going to Bumgarner because the Sox are absolutely devoid of LHP starter options in the minors.

You know, that isn't an unpopular opinion on this board. I thought that was pretty much accepted as common knowledge. At best, most people think the Sox are bottom 5 in that regard. I have no way of knowing for sure, but it's pretty obvious that they don't use it. Especially when you have comments from Ricky and Hawk over the years.

Because they don't always throw strike one down the middle. sometimes strike one is in a tough spot to hit. It's weird. More often than not though, if you swing at strike one down the middle you're making an out anyway. It's a weird balance. You have to get your pitch in that spot. A lot of hitters aren't expecting a breaking ball on pitch one of an at bat.

No, but I think that breaking balls are a better option than a changeup in that situation.

Yeah, it's significant because that was one of those things that is counterintuitive. One of Moncada's biggest strengths is his zone recognition but you can't expect him to have a better grasp of the strike zone than the Umpires. That is something that shouldn't have to happen. They actually neutered one of his biggest strengths because Umpires are awful at their job. I understand why he did it, but it should just be a temporary adjustment until he gets some iota of respect from the Umpires. Watching strike one down the middle of the plate is stupid for every hitter tbh.

You have no arguments from me there. I get the overthinking/underthinking stuff because I'm always in a quest for more info, but sometimes having too much is counterproductive. I know that from personal experience. When I talk about advanced scouting reports I'm thinking of something like those fangraphs heat maps where it shows where a pitcher should pitch if they're in trouble. Pitching is always a feel, at bat to at bat type thing. I watch games and watch someone be consistently late on a fastball and the Sox catchers speed up the hitter's bat with a changeup. Stupid stuff like that pisses me off.

Are we saying that being optimistic and giving a valid criticism of the organization are mutually exclusive? I still think the Sox are in good shape, they have a metric shit ton of high end talent. Talent can overcome some of these things, but with lesser talented players than some of the guys the Sox have having proper information could be the difference from Adam Engel being a AAAA guy to being a valuable 4th OF. Those little things go a long way.

I'm telling you that it never even crossed my mind, but you're choosing not to believe me. Whatever. That's your choice. Pretend I never posted that in that other thread and ask yourself if it makes sense.

No, I wasn't talking about that. I wasn't even thinking about that. I made that analogy because this is an example where it makes sense. It has nothing to do with me whatsoever. It has everything to do with the Sox not giving their players the tools necessary to do their job to the the best of their ability. Just because I mentioned that in that thread, doesn't mean this argument isn't valid here. This is about the failures of the Sox to gather data and help their on-field product. Nothing more.

I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about the Sox minor leaguers not being given the tools necessary to do their job to the best of their ability. If the Sox are giving advanced scouting reports that are behind those of top D1 NCAA programs, how in the hell can they expect their players to succeed? This has nothing to do with me, it's just a real life example of what I was talking about in that thread.

You got any arguments against this?

Probably. Again, go read how Sox minor leaguers get drafted and their advanced scouting reports are significantly worse than those they got in college. That tells you all you need to know. If they're behind top D1 programs, imagine how far behind they are from the rest of baseball. This is the equivalent of taking a sales job and your boss giving you zero information about the product you're selling. They're not being given the tools necessary to succeed at their job. If I was a college or HS baseball player there is no way in hell I'd sign with this organization. None whatsoever.

It's actually pretty obvious that is the case if you've been paying attention. Even if they do use some sort of analytics, they're probably a decade plus behind the rest of baseball. Go read what Madrigal said about their scouting reports. He said that Oregon St. was more advanced. That's pretty damning.

Ok, then that confirms the Sox are the only team that remains in the dark ages.

They might be the only team besides the Sox that is completely ass backwards in terms of analytics.

Cole has an injury history as well. Also, he was fairly mediocre his last two seasons in Pittsburgh before going to Houston and their pitching lab. If you have reservations about all of these guys you should have them about Cole too, given he's going to be the most expensive. I wonder what he'd do away from Houston tbh. I think Cooper's philosophy would hurt his performance.

I agree with the clutch=absence of choke theory.

They could be looking at the Cubs as a cautionary tale of losing payroll flexibility as your young core reaches arbitration. But again, what good is payroll flexibility if you never use it?

I think they'll be outside the top 10. It will be interesting to see what they do next June. This next week and a half is tough, but then it lightens up significantly.

Moncada is really a feel based hitter. When he faces LHP a lot he's better as a RHB but when he hasn't faced a LHP in a while he's an automatic out.

I think long term contracts of any kind are dumb, but at least I'm willing to acknowledge that you have to pay to play.

This guy's up there throwing 99 mph cutters. Wtf.

Lol. I made this before they said why he was pulled.