Fastest-mlb-teams-in-2023, Sox 29th

[caulfield12]

https://www.mlb.com/news/fastest-mlb-teams-in-2023

Guardians 3rd...much better set up for a new era of baseball.  KC Royals top tier as well.

Seems incredible a team with Robert (even at 75-85%), Moncada, TA7, Engel, Leury, Harrison, Andrus, etc., could be THAT low in the rankings.

Obviously not going all out intentionally and then the plodding nature of Vaughn, Grandal, Sheets, Seby, are a pretty big part of the story.  Jimenez has been well- documented as well with his assortment of injuries and conditioning issues.

Abreu always busted his butt and was surprisingly decent despite his advanced age.

Oscar Colas is at the very least a slightly above average to average RFer in terms of sprint speed.

Abreu, Harrison and Engel would be subtracted for their 2023 teams/projections.  Benintendi added to Sox, along with Colas.

Edited April 2, 2023 by caulfield12

[soxfan49]

Good s%*# cauly

[The Grinder]

Egads. We are a team of sloths

[Sambuca]

I think Sox players never actually sprinting last year plays into this. All 2022 data is more like jog speed or limp speed.

TA was the only “fast” player who actually looked good on the bases last season. Hopefully we get a full season of that.

It is natural for players to slow down as they age, but I expect Robert, Moncada, Eloy to look a lot better on the base-paths this year.

Even Grandal who is always terribly slow was surprisingly immobile on the base-paths. He seems to be moving better this year.

Not sure how much playing time Romy will get this season, but he’s got some wheels on him as well.

When I look at their roster, it doesn’t scream near-slowest-team-in-MLB, but we will see.

[kitekrazy]

Don't give this organization the bad idea to return to drafting athletes instead of baseball players.

[ron883]

20 minutes ago, kitekrazy said:

Don't give this organization the bad idea to return to drafting athletes instead of baseball players.

They went the route of "baseball players" with Madrigal and Vaughn, just saying. 

[bmags]

Is the title hyphenated to make it seem faster

[Lip Man 1]

There's no one way to evaluate and judge players, the key is having competent scouting and player development individuals as well as a good system in place to give them the best chance possible to make the Major Leagues and help the team.

The Sox simply don't have these which badly hurt their chances. I remember reading a story by Mark Gonzales when he was writing at the Tribune and Gonzo had as part of it the fact that the Sox between 2009 and 2012 for example spent the least amount of money in all of baseball on the minor leagues.

JR has publicly said (when he was still talking to the press) that he never believed in paying for "potential" which is partly why the Sox never exploited the loopholes in the old drafting/signing system unlike other teams. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Lip Man 1

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, ron883 said:

They went the route of "baseball players" with Madrigal and Vaughn, just saying. 

Burger and Collins, etc.