I’m Loving Reddick but count me in. That is if they don’t need to give up anyone significant for now or the future.
I like baseball, especially the Red Sox so I decided to write about it...
Ask me anything
July 19, 2011
Beltran to the Sox? the Sox's effort there according to Ken Rosenthal (First reported by Vandy411)?
July 18, 2011
vandy311 asked: Pedroia is NOT the MVP over Adrian. First, you can't just throw out the first two months of the season when Pedroia was killing the team. No MVP has ever had such a shitty start. A-Gon also tops Pedroia in every single offensive category (even triples!) except for walks (which is irrelevant since Adrian has the higher OBP) and steals (which I'd also say is irrelevant since Adrian has more runs). Let's also not ignore the fact that teams pitch to Pedroia and then walk Adrian on a regular basis, but never the other way around. If teams are choosing to give Pedroia the chance to beat them, but not Adrian, that says volumes about how the other teams view the two players. Pedroia's 0.2 point advantage in WAR doesn't trump all the above info as far as I'm concerned.
Well Mr. Vandy, love your blog, but if you had read the entire article, I did say I had Gonzalez over Pedroia. Nonetheless, your points are well taken. Adrian Gonzalez had 1 home run in April, and was not anywhere near what he was in May and June, the 314 average non withstanding. And I think it certainly can be argued that as much as Pedroia hurt the Sox in the first 2 months, in order to have ended up where he is, he’s had to have been that much more ridiculous, and that much more valuable during the past 2 months to still amass almost MVP type numbers. What Pedroia does at second base versus Gonzo at first base, helps shrink the gap between him and Gonzo. Keep in mind 2008 MVP runner up Justin Morneau had 129 RBI and had more home runs than Pedroia that season. The best second baseman in the league rarely has better power numbers than the best first baseman, but that also means in order to provide equal value over the average player, first baseman need to have better stats to justify their worth.I didn’t even mention Pedroia’s SB rate, he’s on pace for 30, not just a minor note, but obviously not as valuable as his offense and defense. Also think about how many of Gonzo’s RBIs have been attributed to Pedroia’s ridiculous on base percentage.
All that said… I agree with you, Gonzo has completely changed the dynamic of the offense and is also my current Red Sox MVP.
July 18, 2011
Dustin Pedroia the MVP Canidate… No really
Dave O’Brien first brought this up on WEEI today, but I agree with his point that the case can be made that Pedroia is not only the MVP of the team, but the MVP of the league. This isn’t supposed to be a knock on Gonzalez or Bautista. Gonzalez has been awesome and exceeded the very lofty expectations; he has been the anchor of the offense. Bautista meanwhile despite on being a 4th place Blue Jays team, has had historically one of the greatest seasons in baseball history. I just want to highlight how truly great Pedroia has been and make the case.
A. His current OPS, 870 is higher than his MVP season. That despite hitting 236 through June 4th. He is on pace to have career highs in walks, home runs, and on base.
B. Since June 1st, he’s been hitting 366, with 9 home runs and a ridiculous 29 walks to just 13 strikeouts.
C. He is on pace for an absolutely ridiculous total of 112 walks. A total that the great JD Drew, the man who wouldn’t swing at anything, has only topped once. An added bonus, Pede looks like he gives a shit.
D. He’s the best fielding second baseman in baseball. UZR says he’s saved 11 runs this year on defense in comparison to the average second baseman. My eyes tell me he may have saved even more. The two web gems he had last night are being overshadowed by his game winning hit. MVP voters tend to dismiss defense, but MLB front offices (See the contracts of Adrian Beltre and Carl Crawford) don’t. Unlike Bautista and Gonzalez, Pedroia plays a position where defense is valued at a premium
E. He is second in major league baseball in WAR (only to Bautista). This measures the number of wins a player adds to his given team with 5.4
F. The guy has been the key proponent of the offense explosion of the past month or so (save last night) that have propelled the Red Sox to first place and the best offense in baseball.
With that said, if I had to submit an MVP ballot right now it would probably go Bautista, Gonzo, Pedroia in that order. Just don’t sleep on the laser show, the American League’s starting pitchers certainly aren’t.
PS It’s kind of a joke that both Pedroia a top 3 MVP candidate, and CC Sabathia a top 3 CY Young candidate (pains me to say it, but it’s true) both weren’t originally on the All Star Rosters…
July 13, 2011
First Half Update
The Red Sox will get the second half of the season kicked off tomorrow in Tampa Bay. This is a perfect time to evaluate the season as a whole. As it currently stands, the first place Sox at 55-35 are on pace to win 99 games. Honestly, that’s about where most people probably had them slated to begin the year. The journey has been far from smooth sailing… a 2 and 10 start, a 4 game sweep by the White Sox… in some ways that makes the overall record maybe even more impressive.
I used the All star break also as an opportunity to go over my first half awards for the 2011 edition of the Boston Red Sox.
MVP: Adrian Gonzalez:
July 12, 2011
All Star Game thought
If CJ Wilson is the reason the Phillies beat the Red Sox in the World Series, I will not be happy… Honestly I’ve never really understood the home field advantage rule. If the All Star game really did game really did matter, then the best players should play 9 innings, Roy Halladay should pitch 7, and Mariano Rivera should show up. Second teir pitchers and or players… cough CJ Wilson and Russell Martin(and when you have 84 all stars, you’re bound to have some of those players) shouldn’t effect weather or not the Red Sox can start or sit David Ortiz in game 7 of the world series…
One of Bud Selig’s brilliant ideas… (PS how sad is it that Bud Selig may be the most popular commissioner of the 4 major sports right now)
July 5, 2011
Laser Show
Since my last article, Pedroia has been raking. Hitting over .333 the past 2 weeks and coming up big with a HR from the cleanup spot.
It was only a matter of time
July 3, 2011
July 1, 2011
Is Alex Rodriguez more delusional or overpaid?
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6731297
“They have the world’s greatest player playing shortstop over there, and the most exciting,” Rodriguez said, referring to electrifying New York Mets leadoff hitter Jose Reyes. “I turn on the TV every time I get a chance to watch him.”
Those were the words of Alex Rodriguez today on Jose Reyes. While it’s a given that Reyes is one of the elite shortstops in baseball, this is an absolutely outrageous claim. While at least Rodriguez is aware enough to realize that Reyes is indeed better than Rodriguez’s own teammate, Derek Jeter, I think he forgot about… Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, Roy Halladay, Matt Kemp, Jose Bautista… Alex Rodriguez… should I keep going? and if we’re counting non position players…Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Justin Verlander, should I go on?
Listen the .352 average is great, but considering a guy in A-rods own division is hitting 352 with 17 home runs, and 71 RBIs… well come on now. I’m not even proposing the idea that Adrian Gonzalez is the best player in baseball, but really… Jose Reyes? Let’s just say I don’t expect Rodriguez to get any GM offers when he and his nearly 300 million contract is out of baseball…
June 29, 2011
Gonzo Finally Gets to Play OF (Oh the horror!)
Listen, I really like Terry Francona. The guy has been great at managing the various egos that he’s had to dealt with, and unlike his predecessor, he actually looks at something people living in the 21st century like to call, statistics (Stories that Grady Little would just toss out stat sheets handed down from Theo are half hilarious, but also given his ultimate fate infuriating). With that said, I think many times he can be too protective of his players… Does this sound like a confident manager? “if something did happen I would deserve to be ridiculed, I’d deserve some criticism. So I hope it doesn’t happen.”
The fact that he had spent so much time and stressed so much over the decision of putting Gonzalez in the outfield is ridiculous. Now I’m not saying he should play out there every day, and obviously it’s not the best defensive alignment, and yes there is a slight injury risk, but Terry, it’s not like Adrian Gonzalez is going to trip and fall over his own shoe lace and tear his ACL the first time a ball comes his way! Anyways, let’s hope this overdue and long over thought decision finally leads to some runs…
Ps. If Gonzalez does get hurt tonight, I think I might have to discontinue this blog
June 27, 2011
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Welcome Home, Harry.
By Gina Baldassarre, writing from Sydney
After a tiring, drawn-out saga, a contract has finally been signed,...
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I swear, if that hurricane touches Fenway…
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I agree with this 10000%. I don’t understand the Scoots hate!
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bothteamsplayedhard asked: So excited that this blog (and Jed) is back.
it’s dangerous to be near Jed when he is excited
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4. El niño que grito lobo
Maravilla, Balon d’or, talentosos, los mejores… deberían ser los únicos adjetivos que describen al FC Barcelona....
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Empire State Building, NYC, New York
by Jerome Suard (jeromesuard)Gorgeous portrait of the ESB and a neighboring...
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Shane Vereen was back at Patriots practice today, it’s been easy to forget they actually drafted him before Stevan Ridley, who has looked dynamic....
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Tomahawk Chop
Guess it’s all good to Ellsbury.
