Looks more and more like we might have a kung-fu panda in Boston.
Tag: baseball
Speaking of possible Red Sox signings…
I really hope Lester will be back with the Sox next year.
See also [Alex Speier’s breakdown of Lester contractual possibilities](http://fullcount.weei.com/sports/boston/baseball/red-sox/2014/11/19/devil-in-the-details-contract-possibilities-for-jon-lester-and-the-red-sox/).
It would be sad to officially see the end of the Will Middlebrooks era, but I would love seeing the panda heads all over Fenway.
This is just getting my hopes up.
The Phillies trade demands seem ridiculous. If the Sox want a lefty starter, they should just pay Lester a bunch of money and keep all the prospects.
It’s so good to have A-Rod back in our lives…
I do not believe this for a second. I bet the Yankees end up spending a ton this winter, including at least one major free agent.
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The World Series will likely be Lorde-free
This is stupid. How is MLB fumbling such a no-brainer move?
Castillo and Mookie Betts are the only reason I am still half paying attention to the end of this season.
Hopefully Pedroia is back to his old self by the start of next season.
This was horrific to watch. I hope Stanton can make a full recovery.
Alex Speier writing at *WEEI*:
> Now, at the least, Betts has a chance to assert himself as a player with sufficient versatility to offer the Sox coverage at a number of spots on the field. The Sox have been getting a look at him in center (where he’s been a fairly solid option even as a work in progress) and right (where he has more work to do, given that he’d never played the position before a crash course there in late June). He’s verified the Sox’ suspicions that he can play there.
I am going to be bummed if the Red Sox get rid of Betts **or** Pedroia. There has to be a way to keep, and play, them both.
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Why the Red Sox Should Keep Mookie Betts
A good breakdown from Alex Skillin on why the Red Sox should keep Mookie Betts:
Most importantly, Betts has shown an ability to command the strike zone in ways fellow rookies Bradley and Xander Bogaerts have not during their first full seasons in the majors. The Tennessee native has struck out just 13 times and walked on 10 occasions since arriving in the Show.
Betts’ minor league track record also indicates a consistent ability to get on base; he walked 61 times and struck out in just 50 plate appearances over 99 games at Double- and Triple-A earlier in 2014. During that stretch, he got on base at a .431 clip. Even as they impressed at the plate in the minors, Bradley and Bogaerts never showed Betts’ knack for controlling the zone. Bradley struck out 75 times and walked on 41 occasions, while posting a .374 OBP in 374 plate appearances at Pawtucket in 2013. Bogaerts compiled 95 strikeouts to 63 walks along with a .388 OBP over 515 plate appearances between stops in Portland and Pawtucket last year.
I agree with Skillin. I really like Betts' potential, and I would be sad to see him go.
I assume people in North Carolina will still be screwed because we do not get MASN.
Neil Paine, writing at *Five Thirty Eight*:
> It’s always possible that in the roller-coaster world of the Red Sox, last year’s World Series winning squad might be the outlier sandwiched between two terrible seasons. But the best public sabermetric projections available agree with Cherington – this team is much better than its record would have us believe (even if it’s still unlikely to make the playoffs).
After the past few days, it is clear that this is *not* the Red Sox year. Hopefully, they use this opportunity to really lay a good groundwork for the future.
For example, Craig Calcaterra lists a few criticism, including:
> Shifts reward teams with athletic and versatile players, both in the form of defenders who can play out of traditional position and hitters who can hit to all fields. I bet I don’t have to go back too far in Verducci’s archives to see complaints about slow, lumbering take-and-rake dead-pull hitters, inflated offensive numbers and teams not focusing on defensive skills being baseball’s biggest problem. Now it’s this.
I may have to take a trip to Philly.
I took a day to relax before posting a link to this piece because it made me so angry. Verducci is looked at as one of the top analysts in baseball, and this whole piece is just garbage. For example, he compares Big Papi’s stats from 2004 to how he is playing this year, without factoring in the fact that Papi is 10 years older. He also seems to ignore how much injuries have hampered the abilities of players like Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira as they age. It is just a really bad, poorly executed piece.
It might have taken the equivalent of a full season in the majors, but Jackie Bradley is really starting to shine.