Vance Law

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 19, 2014 -> 03:26 PM) No there is not. I was joking, but yes you're right. There is not a winning lottery ticket for every losing lottery ticket.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 19, 2014 -> 03:19 PM) For every Scott Feldman, there's a Scott Baker. For every Francisco Liriano 2012 there's a Francisco Liriano 2013.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 19, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) Re-emphasizes to me the Sox biggest organization need is pitching. We have zero top-of-the-rotation arms. Beck is a back-of-the-rotation arm. Danish is far away from helping. And that's about it in terms of likely ML starters in the organization. Can't miss on this draft pick. Payroll is increasingly heading toward $4 a year. They'll have plenty of room to buy one on the FA market or trade for a well paid one (a la Peavy) once the team is actually competitive, whenever that is.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 19, 2014 -> 11:05 AM) The other three were Paulino, Surkamp and Rienzo. Beck/Bassit at 8/9. Plus Hanson.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 09:47 PM) Sure he can. It's the same thing as moving a guy to a different position. As long as he doesn't get taken out, he can move anywhere. In fact he could pitch go back to second base come back to pitch again to another batter, move back to 2B. Cardinals pulled some shenanigans like that a couple years ago. Put a LOOGY in left field for a batter, then brought him back to face another lefty.

We're talking about a bunch of pitchers, most of whom haven't pitched 8 innings yet this season. Some not even 4. The roles, to any extent that that matters, are sorting themselves out. The bullpen currently sucks. You can't just hide five pitchers. There are people complaining that the great Daniel Webb was not used earlier in the game and somehow contorting themselves to ignore the fact that Webb immediately gave up a run when he got in the game.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 03:36 PM) So what you're saying is that Robin has this problem every year? And the Phillies and the Yankees. As I didn't think there would be a database of these occurrences, I thought I had to rely on games I actually watched. Sox games. But alas: http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/fieldPitch.shtml sort by year. My favorite- Vance Law pitched 8 innings in his career

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 03:05 PM) My point is I don't remember this ever happening? If anybody can give me an example of a team throwing an infielder out there in a tie game, I'm listening.I'm saying this is a monumental managing mistake. Teams just don't do this. It happens multiple times pretty much every year in the major leagues. Last year Casper Wells pitched an inning for us. After we released him and the Phillies picked him up, he pitched in a game for them. In 2012 Dewayne Wise pitched an inning for us. He had, earlier in the year, pitched in a game for the Yankees when he was with them.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 01:48 PM) I still would like to know if Robin EVER played in a game in which his manager ran out of fricking pitchers. Yes. When Robin himself pitched an inning of scoreless ball for the Dodgers in 2004.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 02:35 PM) I think he might retire. He's made his money and he doesn't seem like a guy that wants to push his body well into his mid and late 30s. Not that he doesn't take care of himself but he has had some injuries in the past that could turn into chronic problems in middle age if he continues to push himself. He'll likely be sitting on 470ish home runs after this year. It would surprise me a great deal if he retires.

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 11:33 PM) I found him not challenging that KC home run last week a greater mistake than managing his crap b.p. last night. The manager has pretty much zero say in replay challenges. It's why they consistently refer to the manager taking a very slow walk out to the umpire while looking back for a sign from the people in the booth who are watching it on tv.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 07:22 PM) Robin is a disaster with his tactics He doesn't have tactics in his bullpen. He has pitchers. Bad ones. His pitchers are a disaster with their pitches (tactics).

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 05:11 PM) It is not about just last night. I never said it was,not reading the whole comment is bizarre. He made Jesse Crain unhittable last year. That was a good move.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 05:03 PM) Nah. The 9th is Webb time. Deep down, you know this. And yet he has a worse ERA than Cleto. The bullpen is a pile. Nobody's supposed to care as we're not supposed to compete this year. But some early season fireworks have people hopeful, ignoring the fact that this bullpen isn't built to win. If you want to blame Ventura for the bullpen's performance, I'd like to nominate him for manager of the year because Belisario pitched a scoreless 7th inning. It was a genius move deploying that terrible pitcher with (now) a 12.79 ERA at just the right moment for him to succeed.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 04:31 PM) Robin is one of the worst managers EVER in handling a bullpen! He has been clueless since day 1 on the job. It was not just about last night. The bullpen, made up of rookies and reclamation projects in this rebuilding year, has a 6.38 ERA. Complaining about the manager in a game where the pitchers walk 15 is bizarre.

what happened? (out of towner)

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 15, 2014 -> 02:44 PM) You can cherry pick if you want, but career-wise, Keppinger has been only slightly better hitter than Beckham, hasn't usually been a full time player and in fact was given beneficial platoon assignments, is a worse defender, and is SIX years older. Beckham also has a year of Arb left and has no cost obligations past this year, by the way. Fortunately, the Sox GM has a long term view on things and isn't going to overreact to 2 weeks of play. He's got a plan and he's sticking to it, which is great. Semien is ready - no argument there. That isn't what this is about, since everyone is agreeing either he's ready, or certainly at least very close. The question is about what is best for the long term plan for this club. Whether Semien spends a couple months in AAA in the early going or not, is not going to do anything negative for him, or the club. Giving up on Beckham too early and losing the chance for potential value, could. The choice is clear, unless you A) think this is a likely playoff-bound club as constructed today or B) you simply are reacting emotionally because you (like everyone else) have been frustrated that Beckham never turned into the above average player we all wanted him to be. A+ post.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 11:37 PM) Unless you select Keppinger coming off a career season, haha. (Yes, yes, I know there are many things that Hahn has done quite well, this was the only real black mark so far on his regime). I would say it's not even a black mark. Paying Youkilis $10 or $12 million for the 17 games he played would have been. We were coming off almost making the playoffs and had no one for 3rd base. Keppinger was the best option available. It's free agency. It's the convenience store. You overpay. But its not like it's an enormous amount of money overall.

Blue Jays just lost their second baseman for the season.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 03:52 PM) No one is under the impression he's going to land an elite prospect. But him coming back and looking OK for a couple months will likely mean a team would give up something for him. Exactly. And when and if (when), one of the 18 or 20 teams in June or July who still think they have a shot this year loses a middle infielder for the season, an experienced and playing-pretty-decently Beckham would be an appealing stopgap. s*** happens during the season. Teams develop needs they didn't anticipate. Carlos Beltran played 1st base for the Yankees the other night and we're not 2 weeks into the season. It will be nice for the Sox to have those players available when those needs arise. All of this made possible because there is zero actual urgency for the Sox to get all of their future regulars playing NOW! instead of a few months from now. There is only soxtalk.com-thread-urgency.

Big Frank seems to think MLB is juicing the ball this year. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseba...icing-baseballs I don't know what juicing the ball would entail. I do know that a few days ago Abreu literally 'knocked the cover off the ball.' http://msn.foxsports.com/ohio/story/photo-...baseball-041114 And in the Yankees vs. Red Sox game right now, Carlos Beltran did the same thing. I have never seen that happen before, much less a couple times in a week. Anyone else ever seen that in the past?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 08:09 PM) The pitching isn't this bad though either. The offense will get worse and the pitching will get better. Exactly. If you take a 13 game snapshot of any teams season you will find all sorts of huge anomalies. The fact that this is the first 13 games and therefore these are the "whole season statistics" seems to have a disproportionate psychological effect on some folks looking at the stats. Johnson and Paulino will pitch good games. Flowers won't hit .300.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 06:18 PM) Why does this happen to the Sox year after year? This happens to every team year after year. Fans only pay attention to things going wrong with their own team.

Adam Dunn has a higher OPS than Jose Abreu.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 04:18 PM) 13 game hitting streak to start the season, 17 games going back to last year. I was wondering about that. There was a game at the end of the year where he played but didn't have a plate appearance. That doesn't count against the streak, correct?