SCCWS

Heard a beat writer say the other day that "a player isn't a prospect until he has succeded at AA. Every team has a bunch of players who put up great numbers in A leagues."

You would hope so but this year he has more than doubled his plate appearances over last year and he has dropped from 32% to 34%. It seems to me that he has reduced his SO rate when they have got him out of the leadoff spot recently.

With the expected announcement next week that pitching coach Don Cooper will retire, sources say James Sheilds has emerged as the top candidate to replace him.

Or not batting leadoff........................

Red Sox are already juggling guys in and out of lineup and 10 day DL to rest players.

I think Kopech 6'3-205 has a much better body than Sale 6'6-180. I hope Kopech's build translates into more durability. Both have showed poor judgement in the past but both have seemed to settle down the last few years.

I agree but maybe I am missing something. If they left him in Charlotte till the end of August and then called him up in September he would still get the same amount of innings. Actually he would probably get more innings by staying in Charlotte since he is overpowering in AAA so he most likely won't get knocked out early from a game. In Chicago he may get a Gialto/Lopez 2-3 inning start and get pulled. I think he was ready and the Sox want him to pitch against better competition and maybe they even feel some extra time w Coop. Hope he dazzles Boston at the end of the month.

But now he is 2-12 with a walk and 4 strikeouts. This month, he could probably sit out and still have a bad game. Maybe he will have a good September and have a positive heading to the off-season.

I guess they based it on the opposition. They dropped him going into Cleveland series and then switched back w KC coming in.

How about "Yeah we picked him and what an awful decision that was"

But think of how good the Charlotte Knights will be.

So they finally move Yoan out of the leadoff spot after a really rough start to August and then after 6 games move him back again.

FWIW; There is also this school of thought on the Red Sox hiring of Alex Cora. But I think Dombrowski is looking at it from a good team versus a struggling. rebuilding team. Another factor can be a good team bringing up a young player versus a bad team bringing up 3 or 4 at once. MLB coaches could get spread out helping too many young players at once. " Dombrowski believed then, as he does now, that a younger manager made sense given the increasing number of young players in the game. Since 2004, the average age of major league players has decreased steadily. For position players, it was 28.3 last season, a one-year drop since 2004. The Red Sox have experienced an even steeper decline. They went from 30.1 in 2011 to 28.4 last season. As teams better understand aging curves, the value of younger players has increased. It’s better to get a talented player to the majors too early and finish the development process there instead of wasting one of his peak seasons in Triple A." https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2018/03/23/development-young-big-leaguers-taken-another-level/6s29HWcy6vRyoFh4edMLDI/story.html

I understand. My question goes back to the problem with umpires making bad strike calls against him. Does Gallo also get a lot of bad strike calls. What does Yoan do that causes it. It sisn't a coincidence when it happens this often. Unless most batters who take a lot of pitchers get a lot of these bad calls. When Yoan was a young player in Cuba he was overly aggressive and the coaches pushed him to be more patient. But he was 16 at the time.

I think the better question is why does it happen?. For example, does Joey Gallo have the same complaint?. Last I looked, Gallo had a worst SO% than Yoan. Is there something with Yoan's stance or movement in the box that is affecting the umpire's view? Is this fake news?

Agree but it can also be a negative indicator. Teams are now aware that too many IP can hurt some starters ( Maybe Sale) in the Post-Season.

Greg: I agree. I was trying to show that he had a solid April then dropped since then. But BA directly affects XBH and speed because the lower the average the less likely XBH and speed come in to play. His strikeouts are very up and down. He has had several 40+ and August may end up worst than any. So overall, I don't see August as a slump since he really struggled in May and July.

It is more than a 20 game brutal stretch. He hit .274-April, .205- May, .197-June .231-July .182-August. Luckily he had a solid April. He is not extremely young by today's standards but he is fairly new to US baseball.

I would add he does have youth on his side but that is also moving up.

Dennis Eckersley said a few weeks ago that he felt Sale has the best stuff of any pitcher he has ever seen in person.

With their lead, it will probably be the "October Sale" since they will milk him through August and September barring a collapse.

I am hoping he doesn't sign with Boston after next year. But he seems very content in Boston right now. Obviously the year they are having helps and Cora and staff has been very popular with the players so far.

LIP: That is from a Capital Gains standpoint. But I think the heirs have to resell after the death (within a few years) or they take a huge hit from an income tax standpoint. Also buyers get major tax write-offs to purchase teams.

Getting a top 1/2 pitcher in your rotation is so hard to find. I think you build your staff around him.

Not at all. My comment was " My point is that JR may not see it that way since financially the rebuild has been a success despite poor attendance. The question is JR more concerned about revenue or wins/losses. We will find out. I actually think at his age, JR may not care how much he makes since it is probably monopoly money at this point. Hence my last sentence "we will find out". But Jerry will be 85 in 2021 so I would not be surprised if he steps down or sells by then.