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By Jimmy, 7/7/2009 6:56 am

The Red Sox, featuring a lineup that would make Kenesaw Mountain Landis draw a circle around Terry Francona’s face in the team photo, were completely shut down by Oakland rookie pitcher Brett Anderson.

The amazing thing about this is Brett Anderson’s age: 12.  Brett Anderson is only 12 years old.  General Manager Billy Beane and Anderson’s dad have agreed to not allow Brett to throw curveballs until his 15th birthday, in an effort to preserve the young phenom’s shoulder.

"My parents are away tonight. Let's watch Cinemax."

In better news, SS Jed Lowrie continued his minor league rehab, and went 3-5 with a double for the Portland Sea Dogs.  In addition to this, Mike Lowell appears to be feeling good and is hitting off a tee after he was “lubricated”.

Depending on how quickly these guys can return, the next stretch of baseball could be torturous considering the dearth of infielders.

As much as I enjoy seeing a dark horse like Aaron Bates finally make his MLB debut, and I certainly appreciate the fact that he looks like a raccoon, I’d rather not see him get many more plate appearances for the big club right now.  Let him handle himself in AAA first.

…

Check out T-Ric’s piece on the revolving door lead-off spot here.

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By Jimmy, 7/6/2009 4:23 pm

The Red Sox are being forced to dig deep into their 1B depth chart, much deeper than they anticipated this season.  With injuries to Mike Lowell, Mark Kotsay, and Jeff Bailey, 25-year-old Pawtucket first baseman Aaron Bates has been summoned to make his MLB debut tonight.

In a nutshell: he’s a big, slow-footed first baseman.  A RHH with good plate discipline.  Some power, but nothing great by 1B standards.   Will be able to pull a fly ball or two over the monster.  High K rates.  He might be overmatched by strong right-handed pitching.

Here are his career minor league numbers:

Comments (3)

By TRic,

The Red Sox are suppose to have the prototypical leadoff hitter.  Fast with a high OBP in the minors, Ellsbury looked liked he would be manning the one spot in Fenway for years.  However halfway through the season the Red Sox have had absolutely no production from the spot in the order with the most plate appearances.  The .276/.321/.370 line is the worst of all the positions in the order.  The Red Sox are only getting a worst on base percentage out of the nine hole which includes the pitchers hitting during interleague play.

The year started with local dreamboat, Jacoby Ellsbury doing what he seemed destined to do, leadoff.  Ellsbury was hitting .299 but it was an extremely empty average with an OBP of .332 and SLG .370.  Eventually it got so bad Ellsbury was moved down the order.  Since moving out of the leadoff spot Ellsbury has had a line of .313/.383/.495.

What changed?  Well in the leadoff spot despite Ellsbury saying he was approaching the Abs the same, Ellsbury was trying to force the issue.  He was taking some of the worst swings I have ever seen, trying to slap the ball like Ichiro.  It was almost as painful as to watch as Carrottop trying to do impressions.  Ellsbury also was not patient with the pitches he was getting thinking since he was the leadoff hitter he had to make things happen.  He lost all his power and lowered his OBP.  Since moving down his swing has improved greatly and the results have been staggering.

When the Red Sox realized Ellsbury wasn’t the answer, they called up the reigning MVP to take the leadoff spot.  Pedroia does not have amazing speed but he runs the bases well, has a high OBP, and almost never strikes out (hardest person to strike out in the major league).  Pedroia while being the prototypical 2 hitter should have been able to handle leadoff.  Instead like Ellsbury, Pedroia failed at lead off.  The difference is staggering between lead off Mighty Mouse (.214/.264/.301) and 2 hole Pedey (.326/.413/.436).  Pedroia like Ellsbury was a little too impatient leading off swinging at pitches far earlier in the count then he usually would.

With Pedroia and Ellsbury failing, the Red Sox tried JD Drew, another good around the base paths, high OBP guy.  JD Drew, so far unlike his predecessors, has succeeded in the role of leadoff hitter.  Over the last six games at leadoff JD Drew has hit .308/.400/.615. 

But why does JD Drew succeed where others fail?  The answer comes from the fact JD Drew never changes his batting approach.  Whether he is batting 1 or 9, or Megan Fox is doing a strip tease in LF, or aliens invade decimating downtown Boston, or there is a 2 for 1 special on cases of PBR in the Seven Eleven in Revere, it does not matter to JD Drew.  JD Drew approaches each AB the same way.  This sometimes drives fans crazy watching him watch a called third strike with the bases loaded, however it is this consistency that is bringing some life to the biggest failure of the Red Sox order, the one hole.

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By Jimmy,

Same deal as before. Snubs are in red font on my team, and undeserving players are in blue font on the real team.

The NL team appears to be a bit more sensibly constructed than their AL counterparts. All of the starters are justifiable. The one position I’d change is catcher, but Yadier still deserves to make the team and his anointment as a starter isn’t really a crime against humanity.

Selecting starting pitchers in the NL is tough (as it is every season). There are too many strong candidates and there will inevitably be some snubs. I have Cueto and Gallardo in instead of Lilly and Marquis, but I can see arguments for any combination of the four making it. Javier Vasquez is also a snub, and was destined to be overlooked due to his undeservedly ugly W/L record.

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By Jimmy,

A quick note before I post these: my All Star selections are not bound by that silly “Every Team Needs One Representative” constraint that MLB uses.  This rule alone tends to cause some wacky All-Star choices every season.  I refer to it as the Scott Cooper Clause.

Without further ado, here are your American League All-Stars, along with my All-Star selections.  Names in blue font are guys who should not be on the All-Star team (in my opinion).  Names in red font are snubs.

The oddest selection is of course Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, who has only played in 35 games and has an OPS almost identical to that of Julio Lugo.  As happy as I am for Pedroia and Wakefield, neither really have the numbers to warrant an All-Star berth.  Wakefield’s circumstances are extenuating, but I was really surprised to see both him and Beckett (also borderline) on the squad.

Teixeira is having a strong year, but a handful of guys have been slightly better.  The same can be said for Mariano Rivera, although at this point I think he (like Wakefield) is entitled to be given the benefit of the doubt when it comes down to a few innings pitched and a few tenths of a run in ERA.

The selection of Michael Young over Scott Rolen is a terrible injustice.  Young is a defensive butcher who isn’t fit to be playing the infield on a beer league softball team (-20.6 UZR/150 at third base this season).  Rolen, on the other hand, is one of the best defensive third basemen who ever lived, and is having a terrific year in the sunset of an often overlooked career.

Stay tuned for the National League All-Star analysis.

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By Jimmy, 7/3/2009 9:32 am

Setting: Pyongyang, North Korea
Date: July 4th, 2009

Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il sits in his imperial throne room, discussing a foreign relations matter with his two most trusted defense analysts.

Kim Jong-il:  It is July Fourth, gentlemen!  The capitalist American pigs celebrate their independence with fireworks.  But little do they know, I have a bottle rocket of my own, hmmm?  Our nuclear facility is fully operational!  The missile calibration is complete!  What say you, analysts?  I am undecided.  Should we transform Hawaii into a pile of uninhabitable radioactive lava rock?

Analyst #1: Sir, I don’t think it would be wise.  First off, it is inhumane and unethical.  Secondly, the Americans would likely retaliate in-kind.

Analyst #2: Sir, we should definitely press the button and take Hawaii off the map, immediately.  Americans are irrational, illogical, and lack the power of free thought.

KJ: Irrational?! Illogical?!  What do you mean?  Explain how you have come to this conclusion, analyst!

A2: Well, you see the Americans play this game called “baseball”…

KJ: Ah, yes, baseball.  Our capitalist cousins to the south play that game quite well.  Go on…

A2: Well, they have an annual “all star game” where the American populace votes on the best player at each position.

KJ: Yessssss?

A2: Just look! Look at the voting results for AL shortstops.  They are selecting Derek Jeter as the best American League shortstop!

KJ: What’s wrong with that?  Derek Jeter knows how to win!  Everyone knows that.

A1: He does know how to win, sir.

A2: Well, let’s look at another shortstop; Tampa Bay’s Jason Bartlett.  He’s hitting .362/.401/.560!  He has a UZR/150 of 8.6.  He was been, without question, the best shortstop in the league this year!  Jeter not only got more votes, he won by a landslide!  No rational person would vote for Jeter over Bartlett!

A1: But, Bartlett doesn’t have rings.  He doesn’t will his team to victory! Does he play the game the right way?

KJ: Does he know how to win?

A2: YES, FOR CHRIST SAKE!! HE’S HITTING .362!!!

KJ: Better offensively!?  Better defensively!? Analysts, say no more!  I have made my decision!  This indefensible All-Star selection just proves that Americans are sheep that will blindly swallow whatever the media sells them.  Derek Jeter’s selection as an All-Star starter has no basis.  This type of flawed logic plagues Mother Earth, and cannot be allowed to fester.  You may fire when ready!

You really should have voted for Jason Bartlett.

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By Jimmy, 7/2/2009 9:26 am

The Red Sox have signed their first round pick, center fielder Reymond Fuentes, with a bonus of a little over $1 million dollars.  Keep an eye on those Gulf Coast League box scores for his professional debut this weekend.

Former Red Sox infielder Alex Cora describes Fuentes as “Jacoby’s clone”.  Since those are Cora’s words, and Cora is basically the Yoda of baseball, there is now a 100% chance of that comparison being accurate.

Check out our draft day report on Fuentes here.

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By Jimmy,

On a list professional athletes ranked by popularity in the Boston area, Julio Lugo’s name can probably be found somewhere in between James Worthy and Aaron Boone.  So, you can imagine the gamut of emotions currently roiling through our collective mindset right now, after witnessing Lugo deliver a game-winning pinch-hit single in the 11th inning last night.

Lugo is now hitting .301/.365/.388.  Say what you want about him, but the guy gets on base, just as he did last year.  And, for all of the talk about him improving his offensive game over the offseason, we may have some more evidence of that actually happening: Lugo’s line drive percentage is at a career high of 24.4%, while his ground ball percentage is at a career low of 37.2%.  Some of this trend can probably be chalked up to the standard errors one would expect to find in a small sample of data.  But, he definitely looks better at the plate than he did in his first two seasons here.

Defensively, he’s still shaky.  But, when faced with the question of which player the team should jettison to make room for Jed Lowrie, I’m not sure Julio Lugo is the clear cut answer.

Do you think Nick Green will outperform Lugo in the second half of 2009?  Before you answer, look long and hard at their respective track records.

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By Jimmy, 7/1/2009 6:45 am

I imagine a lot of people went to sleep during the 1+ hour rain delay thinking this game was in the bag.  Last night’s box score will be a giant turd in the coffee of many New Englanders this morning.

John Smoltz looked sharp, as he did in the final innings of his first appearance.  The outcome of the game would probably be a little different if he would have pitched 6 innings.  Alas, the rain gods bent us over and defiled us, just as they have been doing for the past month.  The bullpen was apparently not prepared to finish this one off, as the quintet of Masterson, Delcarmen, Okajima, Saito, and Papelbon blew a 10 run lead in 2 innings of “work”.

On the bright side, it probably won’t get any worse than this.