What we learned from Opening Day

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

Literally nothing.

Only thing we learned last night was that many at Soxtalk are back in regular season form and drawing vast conclusions from a singular baseball game that means next to nothing in regards to how good or bad any player or team are.

It's great to have baseball back!

 

[Jerksticks]

3 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Literally nothing.

Only thing we learned last night was that many at Soxtalk are back in regular season form and drawing vast conclusions from a singular baseball game that means next to nothing in regards to how good or bad any player or team are.

It's great to have baseball back!

 

I didn’t check out the game thread yet. 
 

Let’s see...”Madrigal sucks, Leury batting 6th, WTF is Eaton doing hitting 2nd...oh wait...well I mean cool he basically won the game with that homer but still, WTF pulling Gio for Heuer look at what’s happening...oh wait well TLR got lucky there, F this TLR didn’t teach them any defensive discipline in ST, JERRYYYY FU!!!!!!”

 

That about right?  
 

That 8th defensively was brutal.  Unlucky to start and then Madrigal woof.  Clean it up boys. 

[KrankinSox]

7 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Literally nothing.

Only thing we learned last night was that many at Soxtalk are back in regular season form and drawing vast conclusions from a singular baseball game that means next to nothing in regards to how good or bad any player or team are.

It's great to have baseball back!

 

Meh.  I agree 1 game overreactions aren't fair but Madrigal's defense is becoming a pattern.  This was supposed to be a pro-ready draft pick who could run the bases, play defense, and hit for average. So far he hasn't shown any ability to run the bases or play defense. Still rooting for the kid, obviously, but I just don't think he's as good as many thought on draft day.

[Dick Allen]

Obviously Madrigal's bad throw cost them the game. Pujols "grounder" was proof the baseball gods didn't want the Sox to win.

 

The only thing that really concerns me was that last pitch Robert swung at. It was a slider 3 feet outside, and never looked like it would be anything but a ball. Hopefully he either couldn't pick it up for some reason, or was just having a bad night. If he is flailing away at pitches like that from now on, the Sox have a problem. 

[EloyJenkins]

4 minutes ago, Dick Allen said:

Obviously Madrigal's bad throw cost them the game. Pujols "grounder" was proof the baseball gods didn't want the Sox to win.

 

The only thing that really concerns me was that last pitch Robert swung at. It was a slider 3 feet outside, and never looked like it would be anything but a ball. Hopefully he either couldn't pick it up for some reason, or was just having a bad night. If he is flailing away at pitches like that from now on, the Sox have a problem. 

Iglesias was electric last night. Stone said it best after the first pitch...Robert has no chance. But i agree that at bat was the blueprint given to every righty in the league. He will get about 20% fastballs going forward and that is horrifying

Edited April 2, 2021 by EloyJenkins

[Rowand44]

19 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Literally nothing.

 

 

The end.  It's always going to be frustrating to lose games like that but it's 1 game in 162, shake it off and don't do it again.

[Tony]

11 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

I didn’t check out the game thread yet. 
 

Let’s see...”Madrigal sucks, Leury batting 6th, WTF is Eaton doing hitting 2nd...oh wait...well I mean cool he basically won the game with that homer but still, WTF pulling Gio for Heuer look at what’s happening...oh wait well TLR got lucky there, F this TLR didn’t teach them any defensive discipline in ST, JERRYYYY FU!!!!!!”

 

That about right?  
 

That 8th defensively was brutal.  Unlucky to start and then Madrigal woof.  Clean it up boys. 

No. Everyone in the game thread last night was almost unanimous that pulling Gio at that time was the right call, and something Gio wouldn't have done. 

Leury batting 6th and playing Opening Day was a valid question and he didn't do anything to prove TLR right. On the flip side, Eaton had a huge night. Most agreed Bummer got a raw deal last night and the defense let him down. 

It's one game. But a team with World Series aspirations needs to win those games on most nights. Especailly when the rotation has question marks at #4 and #5, you need to win the starts Gio leaves with a lead. 

[fathom]

That apparently Eloy died last week.  

[Blackout Friday]

3 minutes ago, EloyJenkins said:

Iglesias was electric last night. Stone said it best after the first pitch...Robert has no chance. But i agree that at bat was the blueprint given to every righty in the league. He will get about 20% fastballs going forward and that is horrifying

The numbers say he can’t hit fastballs either. He’s a mistake hitter at this point, which isn’t useless given the other skills he brings, but it would be disappointing to say the least. 

[Bob Sacamano]

2 minutes ago, fathom said:

That apparently Eloy died last week.  

Lol it does appear that way.

[fathom]

4 minutes ago, EloyJenkins said:

Iglesias was electric last night. Stone said it best after the first pitch...Robert has no chance. But i agree that at bat was the blueprint given to every righty in the league. He will get about 20% fastballs going forward and that is horrifying

Iglesias also has better stuff than probably 99 pct of all righty pitchers. I get the feeling a lot of people haven’t seen him pitch much in the past.  Robert hit the ball in 3 out of 4 ABs. He does that and he will be just fine.  

[Jerksticks]

17 minutes ago, KrankinSox said:

Meh.  I agree 1 game overreactions aren't fair but Madrigal's defense is becoming a pattern.  This was supposed to be a pro-ready draft pick who could run the bases, play defense, and hit for average. So far he hasn't shown any ability to run the bases or play defense. Still rooting for the kid, obviously, but I just don't think he's as good as many thought on draft day.

This is all possible for sure.  It’s going to be one of the main things to follow this year for sure.  I think we’ll know one way or another THIS year whether or not Madrigal has some special ability to find holes and gaps at an elite rate.

The Sox should hire somebody whose only job is to sit in the dugout and punch Madrigal in the face if he hits a fly ball to the outfield.

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by Jerksticks

[JoeyCoralFanClub]

12 minutes ago, KrankinSox said:

Meh.  I agree 1 game overreactions aren't fair but Madrigal's defense is becoming a pattern.  This was supposed to be a pro-ready draft pick who could run the bases, play defense, and hit for average. So far he hasn't shown any ability to run the bases or play defense. Still rooting for the kid, obviously, but I just don't think he's as good as many thought on draft day.

Major league baseball seems too fast for Madrigal. Hopefully he improves but good defense and smart baserunning are supposed to be things that never slump.

Also, I looked around preseason but couldn't find any odds on his homer total for 2021. It is probably something like 1/2 or 1 and half right? Crazy that a top 5 pick has little league power.

 

 

[HOFHurt35]

I didn't learn this, but I was sadly reminded of the stiff Grandal is on defense behind the dish. 

He lost a lot of strikes last night not only to a blind umpire but his exaggerated set up on the RH Batter's Box.   Saw a lot of that last season.  While "the computer" keeps calling him a great framer, please stop stealing strikes away from your pitchers by giving away the other corner. 

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

19 minutes ago, KrankinSox said:

Meh.  I agree 1 game overreactions aren't fair but Madrigal's defense is becoming a pattern.  This was supposed to be a pro-ready draft pick who could run the bases, play defense, and hit for average. So far he hasn't shown any ability to run the bases or play defense. Still rooting for the kid, obviously, but I just don't think he's as good as many thought on draft day.

Yeah, I don't think we learned anything new about Madrigal last night though. I said this in the game thread but I don't think that Madrigal is suddenly a bad defender after being a very very good one his entire life at every level (including the minor leagues). I do think his defense is in his head a little bit at this point, and it's causing him to press and grip that ball a little tighter on plays. I have faith he'll likely figure that side of the ball out - he's fundamentally too good defensively to be terrible - but who knows, maybe he goes full Knoblauch and you never want to go full Knoblauch.

[harkness99]

32 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Literally nothing.

Only thing we learned last night was that many at Soxtalk are back in regular season form and drawing vast conclusions from a singular baseball game that means next to nothing in regards to how good or bad any player or team are.

It's great to have baseball back!

 

yeah game in a baseball season isn't that meaningful... but madrigal's defense was an issue last year.

 

So its not really an overreaction.... until we see different it's what we know.

Edited April 2, 2021 by harkness99

[Look at Ray Ray Run]

Just now, HOFHurt35 said:

I didn't learn this, but I was sadly reminded of the stiff Grandal is on defense behind the dish. 

He lost a lot of strikes last night not only to a blind umpire but his exaggerated set up on the RH Batter's Box.   Saw a lot of that last season.  While "the computer" keeps calling him a great framer, please stop stealing strikes away from your pitchers by giving away the other corner. 

Grandal lost a lot of strikes last night and you saw a lot of that last season? LOL

Grandal was a top 4 framer last year by literally every metric that exists and is the best framer in the game on a consistent basis. I honestly think people are just willfully delusional regarding Grandal and slander the guy just for fun.

[harkness99]

oh one thing i learned from last year...

 

 

we still need robot umpires... typical shitty important missed balls and strikes per usual.

[caulfield12]

5 minutes ago, Jerksticks said:

This is all possible for sure.  It’s going to be one of the main things to follow this year for sure.  I think we’ll know one way or another THIS year whether or not Madrigal has some special ability to find holes and gaps at an elite rate.

The Sox should hire somebody whose only job is to sit in the dugout and punch Madrigal in the face if he hits a fly ball to the outfield.

 

They’ve been trying that with Billy “Willie Mays Hayes” Hamilton for a decade now.

 

This made me chuckle thinking of Rongey back in the day. Poor long-suffering Cleveland fans.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/cleveland-broadcaster-goes-off-on-fan-after-opening-day-loss-youre-an-idiot-and-you-dont-know-baseball-001536007.html

https://twitter.com/timandfriends/status/1377752647210577928

[Rowand44]

2 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Grandal lost a lot of strikes last night and you saw a lot of that last season? LOL

Grandal was a top 4 framer last year by literally every metric that exists and is the best framer in the game on a consistent basis. I honestly think people are just willfully delusional regarding Grandal and slander the guy just for fun.

He's easy to pile on because of the passed ball stuff which is absolutely frustrating but ya saying he's a bad pitch framer is obviously silly.

[HOFHurt35]

1 minute ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Grandal lost a lot of strikes last night and you saw a lot of that last season? LOL

Grandal was a top 4 framer last year by literally every metric that exists and is the best framer in the game on a consistent basis. I honestly think people are just willfully delusional regarding Grandal and slander the guy just for fun.

Defense on Catcher has a lot to do more of than just framing.   He's average to bad in everything outside of framing (which we'll give to him based on "the computer").

 

[caulfield12]

We learned this bullpen isn’t going to be perfect after the 6th/7th inning...like some of those Twins’ teams around 2002-2004 with Hawkins, Guardado and JC Romero.

[SonofaRoache]

4 minutes ago, Look at Ray Ray Run said:

Yeah, I don't think we learned anything new about Madrigal last night though. I said this in the game thread but I don't think that Madrigal is suddenly a bad defender after being a very very good one his entire life at every level (including the minor leagues). I do think his defense is in his head a little bit at this point, and it's causing him to press and grip that ball a little tighter on plays. I have faith he'll likely figure that side of the ball out - he's fundamentally too good defensively to be terrible - but who knows, maybe he goes full Knoblauch and you never want to go full Knoblauch.

Badrigal's problem is that he is being annointed as a King too quickly. He needs to earn those stripes and let the game come to him. He has shown elite defense everywhere, but this is the Show, so things are a little different. Let the game slow down and perfect the fundamentals first, then talk big game. And I'm kidding with Badrigal, I just wanted to use it. 

[caulfield12]

5 minutes ago, HOFHurt35 said:

Defense on Catcher has a lot to do more of than just framing.   He's average to bad in everything outside of framing (which we'll give to him based on "the computer").

 

This sounds like a direct Fathom quote.  On Madrigal as well.   The problem is we tend to be really stubborn with Top Ten draft picks, so he will stick around like Gordon Beckham for years no matter what...just hard to imagine pulling the plug and playing Leury there everyday because he has his own obvious set of flaws as an everyday player.

Heck, I can almost imagine them going to Tim Beckham in two months.  That’s where Profar or someone like Chris Taylor who could play both LF and 2B would have been perfect.

[fathom]

1 minute ago, caulfield12 said:

This sounds like a direct Fathom quote.  On Madrigal as well.   The problem is we tend to be really stubborn with Top Ten draft picks, so he will stick around like Gordon Beckham for years no matter what...just hard to imagine pulling the plug and playing Leury there everyday because he has his own obvious set of flaws as an everyday player.

Heck, I can almost imagine them going to Tim Beckham in two months.  That’s where Profar or someone like Chris Taylor who could play both LF and 2B would have been perfect.

If the org was really shopping him this offseason, then they see the weaknesses as well