Fun with numbers part 3: Player A - 32 years old 94 games 351 plate appearances 33 runs 88 hits 17 doubles 1 triples 8 HR 38 RBI 3 SB 25 BB 50 K .278/.331/.413/.745 104 OPS + 2.5 WAR Player B - 32 years old 116 games 366 plate appearances 49 runs 77 hits 17 doubles 0 triples 13 HR 52 RBI 1 SB 43 BB 89 K .247/.344/.426/.771 111 OPS + 1.2 WAR Player A makes 6 million this year, Player B makes 5 million this year. Player A will make 9.5 million for the next 2 years with an team option for 9.5 million with a 1 million buy out in 2016 while Player B will make 5 million next year and then will be a FA. Player A is Cody Ross. Player B is Jonny Gomes.
Just stop..... I don't even want to think about it yet. Either way, whoever Boston plays will be a fun series, for different reasons.
Not really fun with numbers but I just saw that Yankee starting catcher Chris Stewart had 10 extra base hits all year in 340 plate appearances. How does that even happen?
It's going to all come down to pitching obviously. I think the Sox have the advantage with the bats and TB probably has the edge on defense. The Sox probably are deeper in the rotation with Lester, Lackey, Buchholz and Peavy vs. Moore, Price, Cobb and I'm guessing Archer over Hellickson/Hernandez but TB has Price who's the key to the whole series.
If this series would of been mid season when Moore and Archer were lights out, Id say TB has a clear advantage. Obviously I am joking as we still could easily lose wednesday. But I believe the series will go 7 if TB plays Boston. Could go either way. Boston would beat cleveland in 5.
I think pitching wise they're pretty evenly matched if everyone is healthy. People forget how good Lackey has been all year and when Buchholz pitched he's been amazing, plus Lester, outside of 1 bad month, has been damn good all year too.Sox don't have the sexy names but have been consistent all year. Like I said I think Boston might have the deeper rotation because the back end of the rotation is better than TB's. I actually think the pens are pretty even too for the most part too. The ALDS is only 5 games but yeah I'd bet BOS vs. TB would probably go to a 5th game.
One last fun with numbers for today: Player A - 29 years old 134 games 636 plate appearances 92 runs 172 hits 31 doubles 8 triples 9 HR 53 RBI 52 SB 47 BB 92 K .298/.355/.426/.781 114 OPS + 5.8 WAR Player B - 30 years old 154 games 712 plate appearances 107 runs 162 hits 34 doubles 2 triples 21 HR 54 RBI 20 SB 112 BB 133 K .285/.423/.462/.885 143 OPS + 4.2 WAR Player A is Jacoby Ellsbury. Player B is Shin-Soo Choo. Both free agents at the end of the year with Scott Boras as their agents. Which one do you want?
Happy Birthday to future Hall of Famer Xander Bogaerts who is 21 today. Now he can legally drink if/when the Sox celebrate next. Just hope he doesn't go out partying with Drake Britton afterwards....
Ellsbury in 2013 vs. LHP .246/.323/.318/.641 for his career .286/.343/.390/.733. Choo in 2013 vs. LHP .215/.347/.265/.612 for his career .243/.340/.341/.680. While I think Choo is probably a better and more consistent hitter, I think I might go with Ellsbury who's 1 year young and can realistically play CF. Plus it looks like Choo might be headed to a platoon player vs. LHPers. I probably wouldn't feel comfortable giving either guy more than 4 years though.
But he's slugging under .300 against them for the past two years (in 2012 his stat line was .199/.318/.286/.605). LHPers might as well throw the ball down the middle and hope for the best. That would scare me. We're in Carl Crawford vs. LHP territory here.
yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! If say Cobb doesnt have the stuff, he gets the quick yank and Moore comes in...I like their chances...
No it wouldnt, it would suck mainly because they would get their **** lit up in 3 games.... You only like it for the Franco factor.....yawn.............
Yeah and it was in that Friday night game. Cody was great for the Sox in 2012 but realistically he's a platoon player.
Haha, I knew I was going to hear about it once he hit it last night. That was actually his 1st HR off a LHP in 2013 and his 9th extra base hit to boot in 221 plate appearances. Last year he hit 2 HRs and had a total of 14 extra base hits off of LHPers. He's going to be one massively expensive platoon player.
For a guy that gets on base 35% of the time against lefties and runs the bases like he does. I'm not so sure he becomes a platoon player. Lefty on the mound and he is a lead off hitter basically. Although probably more so in the AL. But you make good points.
I see what you're saying and yeah Choo can still get on base against LHPers but having a sub .300 SLG against them when he's making what 15 to 20 million would leave me a bit worried especially as he gets older. I'm surprised LHPers didn't attack and challenge him more. Who knows, maybe they will now. It just leaves me with a bit of cause of concern, especially living through Carl Crawford for a year and a half.
Hey hey guys how did Nick Swisher do tonight? You know big playoff game, that Hollywood smile no matter what happens? He came up big right as always?
Haha was anyone defending him saying he's been good in October? Say what you want about Swisher but the entire Cleveland line up disappeared last night, especially once they got runners on base.
The Zobrist play and the Loney DP back to back in the 5th(?) was the turning point of the game. TB was excellent defensively last night. I know Cobb's stat line looks good but he was far from dominate. It was unreal how Cleveland's bat just disappeared as soon as there was a runner on base. It seemed like every inning but the 1st there was runner on 2nd with less then 2 outs.
Rosters for the ALDS just announced: Red Sox: Pitchers (11) Jon Lester (L) John Lackey Clay Buchholz Jake Peavy Felix Doubront (L) Ryan Dempster Franklin Morales (L) Brandon Workman Craig Breslow (L) Junichi Tazawa Koji Uehara Catchers (2) Jarrod Saltalamacchia David Ross Infielders (5) Mike Napoli Dustin Pedroia Stephen Drew Will Middlebrooks Xander Bogaerts Outfielders (6) Daniel Nava Jonny Gomes Jacoby Ellsbury Shane Victorino Quintin Berry Mike Carp DH (1) David Ortiz Tampa Bay Rays Pitchers (11) Matt Moore (L) David Price (L) Alex Cobb Chris Archer Jeremy Hellickson Alex Torres (L) Jake McGee (L) Jamey Wright Wesley Wright (L) Joel Peralta Fernando Rodney Catchers (2) Jose Molina Jose Lobaton Infielders (6) James Loney Ben Zobrist Yunel Escobar Evan Longoria Kelly Johnson Sean Rodriguez Outfielders (6) David DeJesus Desmond Jennings Wil Myers Matt Joyce Delmon Young Sam Fuld
Red Sox Line up for today: CF - Jacoby Ellsbury RF - Shane Victorino 2B - Dustin Pedroia DH - David Ortiz 1B - Mike Napoli LF - Jonny Gomes C - Jarrod Saltalamacchia SS - Stephen Drew 3B - Will Middlebrooks SP - Jon Lester Tampa Bay's Line up: CF - Desmond Jennings 2B - Ben Zobrist RF - Wil Myers 3B - Evan Longoria DH - Delmon Young LF - Sean Rodriguez SS - Yunel Escobar 1B - James Loney C - Jose Lobaton SP - Matt Moore
Oooofffff.... Will Myers tends to make some dumb plays. I do t think it would have mattered much as they were hitting everything last night....
I don't know, I think that was really the play of the game there. At the time it looked like the Sox were a bit sluggish from all the time off and once that misplay it seemed to really give them new life. Granted Matt Moore wasn't pitching great before that leaving a lot of balls over the plate with the Sox just missing them so who knows. Don't forget too the Rays were coming off of 3 elimination games where they scored earlier and kept the lead. And yes Wil Myers has made some really weird plays in the OF all year and just thinking back I think scouts said he was a pretty decent fielder too. I also think Maddon had a bad managing game yesterday, he absolutely left Moore in too long. I would have pulled him after he got Ortiz out in the 5th and went with Archer when the game was still 5-2. Plus I didn't understand the two IBB and obviously they came back to bite the Rays. For whatever reason managers still treat the playoffs like the regular season where they don't pull their SPers when its obvious they have nothing or hold on to their closers until a save situation. I always go back and remember Joe Torre pulling Roger Clemens in the 2003 ALCS Game 7 for Mussina when the Yankees were down 5-2 and the Yanks were able to shut down the Sox the rest of the away. Also I always remember Francona using Keith Foulke in 2004 ALCS in earlier innings and ditto with Papelbon in 2008 ALCS in big spots. Today's game is obviously huge for the Rays but big for the Sox too. It could be a huge crushing blow for Tampa to go back home down 2-0 and a huge lift for the Sox too for being able to beat Price. I still think it's strange that the Rays are going with Hellickson in Game 4 over Archer but that's another discussion for another day.
A key in last night's game is Koji didn't pitch. He hasn't pitched in nearly a week. Don't be surprised to see him get more than 3 outs in today's game. If the Sox are up, I could see him throwing two innings.
I got offered a ticket top go, Pavilion Club 13, I don't have **** to do today, I am thinking about it hahahah
Why not? Should be a good game especially with Price pitching. And you'll get to see David Ross catch for the Sox.
Not sure if serious? hahahaha yeah I am going....it has full waiter service, get to enter 2 hours before and grub from an extended menu....pretty psyched...going to hopefully bring some bad luck to the Sox
Well Ross is going to play today but it was tongue in cheek. Have fun, sounds like a good deal to me. Go Sox!
Fun was had by all yesterday....solid seats, good atmosphere....the ball must look as big as beachballs right now to the Sox, they are pounding it. They just made 2 really good pitchers look like Phil Hughes...
Huge huge huge win yesterday. I think it really felt like a huge stomach punch to TB as they probably all expected to win that game. David Price just didn't have it last night, even the outs the Sox made were hard hit. I think he only had 2 swings and misses in the first 5 innings. I'm actually surprised he lasted as long as he did. Hopefully the Sox and Buchholz can end it for good on Monday. No need to even let TB think they have a shot to come back and win this series. The Sox offense has been outstanding, ditto for the pitching, defense and base running. Sox are simply playing on another level right now.
I will say Joe Maddon's act is starting to get a bit old and fast. Yeah he's a good manager but Maddon has a lot of Bobby Valentine in him in that the guy just loves to talk and talk and talk. Also man did anyone have a worse day and night then David Price? Not only did he pitch badly, then he complains that David Ortiz watched his 2nd home run too long (this isn't exactly new news) but check out his Twitter timeline. He lists all the awards he's won in his career, while saying he's not bragging about it and then bashes the TBS post game show because the announcers said he pitched bad. It sure seems like Price is thinned skinned or just shocked he got knocked around, maybe both? http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/06/david-price-bashes-tbs-baseball-show/ http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...z-watched-his-second-home-run-a-bit-too-long/
