It's Time To Start Talking About How Good Francisco Lindor Is

Shortstop as a position is absolutely loaded right now. The combination of Corey Seager, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa, and Xander Bogaerts reminds many baseball fans of the late 90s quartet of A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciappara, and Miguel Tejada. Also in the discussion of great young shortstops right now are Trea Turner, Addison Russell, Trevor Story, and Aledmys Diaz. With all these guys producing at such a high level it seems like each has taken a turn in the role of best young shortstop in baseball. Coming off a Rookie of the Year award in 2015 Correa was the guy entering 2016. By June of last year Bogaerts was hitting .350 and had taken control of the race. At the end of the season it was Seager getting all the love when he won his own ROY and finished third in the National League MVP voting. Now it's Lindor's turn and holy shit is he fun to watch.

Lindor was drafted out of high school as the 8th overall pick in 2011 and had a steady rise to the majors before becoming Baseball America's 9th ranked prospect entering 2015. He made his debut in June that season and despite playing in just 99 games he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting. Lindor adjusted to the majors right away and closed his rookie campaign with a .313 batting average. In 2016 he made his first all star appearance, won a gold glove, and finished ninth in the MVP balloting. He did this by slashing .301/.358/.435 with 15 homers, 19 steals, and playing great defense.

Since last October no young shortstop has received more time in the national spotlight (and rightfully so) than Lindor. Despite injuries to several key contributors his Indians made it all the way to extra innings in the seventh game of the World Series. You don't go on an unexpected run like that without having some special playoff moments along the way. In game one of the ALCS versus the Blue Jays Lindor provided one:

I remember watching that hit and realizing something special was happening with Cleveland. In his first ever postseason Franky played 15 games and slashed .310/.355/.466, which is remarkably similar to his career averages. I'm not positive if the clutch gene exists but I definitely believe that some guys are better at keeping their heartbeat steady under duress and not letting the bright lights get the best of them. The fact that Lindor did this as a 22-year-old should have Cleveland fans extremely excited for their future. 

His reputation as a big game player carried over to the World Baseball Classic this year when in seven games for Team Puerto Rico he slashed a ridiculous .370/.419/.630 with two homers. If you're keeping track at home that means his triple slash line increased from the regular season to the playoffs and then from the playoffs to the WBC. Early on in 2017 it looks like he's ready to make yet another leap. 

Rewind to last week - just the third game of the regular season for the Indians, who seem hell bent on rectifying last year's World Series loss. Lindor is known most for playing the game loose, smiling, and having fun. Unfortunately for the Rangers this was the night fans got exposed to angry Lindor. He made an error in the sixth inning and was clearly upset with himself, so as any great player would he homered in his next at bat. Then in the ninth with Cleveland trailing by one he did this:

We've reached the point where any time the Indians are making noise offensively this kid is right in the middle of it all. Happy Lindor is a great player but angry Lindor is fucking incredible. Through seven games in 2017 he already four home runs. Ken Rosenthal made some news before the season began when he pegged Lindor as his AL MVP for the year. It seemed ambitious at the time but not so much any more. If Cleveland winds up with one of the best records in the American League he will be a major reason why.

Recapping The Strangest Red Sox Weekend Of My Life

What a weird start to the year. Through the first five days of the Major League season (Sunday 4/2 - Thursday 4/6) the Red Sox played just twice due to a rainout and two off days. In their second game of the year they were missing their best position player, Markus Lynn Betts, due to the flu. My first thought was that sucks but I expected him back within a day or two. What I did not expect was half the organization to be out of commission along with him. Hanley missed four games due to this and while Andrew Benintendi was able to play he reportedly puked in the middle of a game. 

On top of all this the team lost Xander Bogaerts and Matt Barnes to the bereavement list due to deaths in their families. I have no problem with players taking time off for this but the situation got magnified in Bogaerts' case since we were already missing some good players and because his flight got delayed which caused him to miss a fourth game instead of just the three he was expecting to be absent for. As if this weren't enough Jackie Bradley Jr. is now on the 10 day DL with a knee injury he suffered running the bases. Ultimately the Sox lost three of four in Detroit and return to Boston for a seven game home stand with a record of 3-3. Regardless of the weirdness surrounding the team the games went on. Here are some thoughts:

--Monday was an absolute waste of a gem thrown by Chris "Best Pitcher in the American League" Sale. In 7 2/3 innings he gave up two runs on five hits while walking one and striking out 10. In the 14 2/3 innings he has pitched through his first two starts the offense has scored a total of ONE run for him. Sale legitimately looks as good as advertised so far, in terms of both his stuff and his demeanor on the mound, so the run support for him is something that needs to change right away.

--Even on a day when he didn't have his best stuff Sale's co-ace Rick Porcello gave the Sox a chance to win Sunday afternoon. He gave up three runs on 11 hits through six innings to go along with one walk and eight strikeouts. It was Rick's second straight outing of throwing a quality start without completely taking the game over, which is alright. Nobody expects Porcello to match last year's numbers but he should still be better moving forward. He got off to a similarly pedestrian start to the season last year before coming into his own once Summer hit.

--A lot is being made of Pablo Sandoval's go ahead three run homer from Friday's game. It was a much needed clutch at bat that unfortunately was squandered by the bullpen. I am rooting for Pablo this year and was happy to see him have his first meaningful Red Sox moment (although it came in year three of his $95 million contract), but aside from that one hit he hasn't done much. Overall he's hitting .130 with a couple of errors in the field. I hope there are more moments like Friday's homer moving forward but he still needs to play better before Red Sox fans fully embrace him.

--First impressions matter so much in Boston, which is why people were anti-Mitch Moreland after just two hitless games from our new first baseman. But right now he's our hottest bat and will enter Tuesday night's game with a .333 batting average and a league leading five doubles. Moreland is one of those left handed hitters that is always described as having "a perfect swing for Fenway". Ironically enough he has done all his damage on the road this year but his weekend resurgence was great to see for an offense missing most of its big bats.

--The other hot hitter in the line up is none other than Sandy Leon. I wrote last week that he will remain this team's starting catcher for as long as he hits. So far he's doing his part and has gotten the game winning hit in two consecutive Red Sox wins. First there was the walk off three run homer from last Wednesday night. Then there was Sunday's go ahead two run single. There has been so much talk about his hitting I nearly forgot he only ever made it to the majors in the first place for his defense. So far this year base runners are 0-for-3 trying to steal against Leon.

Random Stuff:

--Drew Pomeranz makes his season debut against the Orioles tonight. I'm not holding my breath for him to be anything different than the mediocre starter he was last year. Trading away top prospect Anderson Espinoza for him is my least favorite Dombrowski move of the past two years.

--19 of our next 23 games are against AL East opponents. Now would be a good time for everyone to get healthy and for the offense to start hitting.

--Next Monday (Patriot's Day) is going to be a great day for Boston sports. The Sox play the Rays at 11 AM, the Boston Marathon will be underway, and the night concludes with the Bruins' first home playoff game of the year.

It's Not Talked About Enough That The Blue Jays Traded Noah Syndergaard For RA Dickey

Along with Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale, Noah Syndergaard has officially become one of my three favorite starters to watch pitch. Yesterday evening on Sunday Night Baseball Thor was his usual dominant self, going seven innings while giving up one earned run, fives hits, and striking out nine. What makes Syndergaard so appealing to watch is the fact that he has three plus pitches that can all be thrown for strikes during any count of an at bat. Syndergaard combines a 98mph fastball, which was the fastest average velocity among starters last year, with a slider that breaks away from righties and a change up that tails away from lefties. This makes it so difficult to hit the ball hard off him and is a major reason why he surrendered a league low 0.5 home runs per nine innings in 2016.

Over the past calendar year Syndergaard has properly been talked about as one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. What hasn't gotten talked about enough (outside of New York and Toronto) is how the Mets acquired their best player. The majority of their rotation is home grown so I think most people assume they drafted Syndergaard. However, he was actually part of the seven player trade that sent reigning NL Cy Young award winner RA Dickey to the Blue Jays following the 2012 season. 

Even at the time of the deal it was a puzzling move for Toronto. They were trying to take advantage of the Yankees and Red Sox being vulnerable in the AL East but trading for Dickey at the height of his value when regression seemed inevitable was odd. Yes he gave them a better chance to win that year and yes during his Toronto tenure he ate up a lot of innings but the Blue Jays parted with two great prospects in Syndergaard and Travis d'Arnaud (who was actually considered the better of the two at the time). d'Arnaud has been a frustrating player for Mets fan at times, mostly due to injuries, but when healthy he has certainly been a serviceable player. 

Back to Syndergaard. He was was the 38th overall pick by Toronto in the 2010 draft. By the time he made his major league debut in 2015 he had risen to 11th on the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects list. His promotion to the Mets that season was a major reason why the team advanced all the way to the World Series. At just 22 years old that year he struck out 10 batters per nine innings with a 3.24 ERA. In 2016 he took another step forward by lowering his ERA to 2.60 and raising his K/9 to 10.7 en route to finishing eighth in the Cy Young voting.

He entered 2017 looking like a great bet to establish himself as a consensus top three pitcher in baseball (and possibly capture his first Cy Young award). Through two starts he has pitched 13 innings with a 16/0 strikeout to walk ratio and has allowed just one earned run. If you're the type of fan that also needs an ace to succeed in the playoffs well then Thor checks that box too. In 26 postseason innings the 24-year-old has 36 strikeouts and a 2.42 ERA. In last year's NL Wild Card game he went toe to toe with Madison Bumgarner and ended the night with seven shutout innings, 10 strikeouts, and just two hits allowed.

Ultimately Toronto still has fellow young arms in Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman, and they've made the playoffs in each of the past two years - but on some level it has to hurt knowing they traded away the best of the three and were on the wrong end of potentially one of the most lopsided baseball trades of the decade.

Some Takeaways From Game Two Of The 2017 Red Sox Season

Fenway Park was freezing last night. It was a weeknight in April, the Celtics were playing a huge game, the Bruins are entering the playoffs, and hot chocolates were going for $8.25. Yet Sox fans still showed up to see the beginning of the Chris Sale era, which was cool to see. Most importantly the team got the win despite the weather clearly affecting players from both sides (as well as any opportunities for offense). Not a single run crossed the plate until Sandy Leon's walk of three run homer in the bottom of the 12th. It was the type of night where it would have been easy for the Sox to mail it in. Between the cold weather and not having Mookie there were plenty of built in excuses. Instead the team decided not to waste Sale's fantastic Red Sox debut. Here are my major takeaways from game two of 2017:

--Entering the year I figured it was only a matter of time until Leon lost the starting catcher role to either Christain Vazquez or Blake Swihart. That still might happen - it's only been two games. But early on Sandy is clearly determined to keep his job. After a 3-5 performance last night (including the afformentioned homer and a double) he is 5-8 through two games. It's going to take a couple months of swinging the bat well for him to have any sort of job security, but so far so good for Leon supporters. The walk off last night will put him in the good graces of Boston fans and could provide the type of team/fan bonding that is so valuable in the early going of a long baseball season.

--Leon's heroics took away from the main event of the night, which was Chris "Best Pitcher in the American League" Sale's Boston debut. After just one start it looks like the AL Cy Young race is all but over as Sale was everything we could have hoped for and more. He was able to work around early pitch count trouble to go seven innings while striking out seven, giving up three hits, and walking just one. Sale also lived up the his reputation as a bit of a nut job (in a good way). While many players were wearing long sleeves and hoodies, Sale pitched the entire game in nothing but a tee shirt under his jersey. He's going to fit in with Boston just fine.

--Since Mookie missed the game with the flu Bogaerts was bumped up to the three spot in the batting order. We'll give him (and the rest of the offense) a bit of a pass since the conditions were so poor for hitting but it was still discouraging to see him go 0-5 with two strikeouts. It would be foolish to think he won't eventually turn things around from his horrible second half in 2016, but last night's game reaffirmed my belief that he shouldn't be hitting in the top four of the batting order until he strings together a few good weeks of at bats.

UPDATE: Bogaerts was placed on the bereavement list Thursday, which is used when a player has to leave the team due to a death or illness in the family. Hopefully everything is alright with Xander's family but the Sox will definitely miss him this weekend in Detroit. The move means that Bogaerts is required to miss at least three games, which makes him eligible to return Monday.

--Pablo Sandoval had such a good spring (leading the Grapefruit league in RBIs!!!) that I expected him to come out of the gate hot. Again, it's only been two games, but Sandoval's shaky start has Red Sox fans ready to turn on him again - before they even had a chance to love him. What's more concerning than his 1-8 start at the plate is the fact that he has made a defensive error in both games. The crowd had some fun with this last night as they cheered loudly when he caught a simple infield pop up one batter after making his error. Judging by the ovation he got on Opening Day fans seem eager to welcome him into our good graces but for that to happen he'll need to start playing better.

Random notes:

--I have no way of quantifying this and can't find footage of the plays but Benintendi twice played a ball hit off the monster as perfectly as they could be played. Ideally he'll be doing this for the better part of the next decade.

--Your "What The Fuck" fact of the day: Joe Kelly hasn't lost since August of 2015 and in the process has 13 straight wins, which is the longest active streak in the majors.

--The lineup looked extremely thin with Betts out due to the flu. Comapred to last year the offense was missing David Ortiz and Mookie - our two best hitters from last season. We knew we wouldn't have Papi this year but it wasn't until last night when I realized that this team simply cannot afford a prolonged loss from one of the big bats.

--Today's afternoon game was rained out, which should actually help the Sox after having to use the bullpen for five innings last night. Now the team can rest both the pen and Mookie after a long, cold night. The Sox begin a four game series in Detroit Friday afternoon.

What The Chris Sale Era Means For Boston

Boston is a city that wants sports titles. Sorry, Boston is a city that demands sports titles. 10 championships in 15 years will do that to a fan base. And if you're not ending a season with a parade you better be playing hard to keep us on your side. This year's Celtics team is a good example. Most fans realize we likely aren't going to the finals this year, but Isaiah Thomas and company give us everything they have on a night to night basis so they have our support.

This mentality translates to individual players as well. A position in which it has been discussed with recently is the ace of the Red Sox. Dating back to the late 90s with Pedro Martinez the Sox have a history of front end starters with bulldog like mentalities. Boston fans have been lucky enough to also witness Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester possess this trait. 

The low point of this position came in 2015, which was the year with the infamous John Farrell quote of "I think we have five number ones". In reality that team didn't even have a number two starter. David Price was supposed to change this last year but he hasn't exactly endeared himself into the hearts of Red Sox fans. Rick Porcello has come closest since we lost Lester, but even he didn't get all the way there in his Cy Young winning 2016.

Enter Chris Sale. Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski recognizes his team has a chance to compete for a title right now so he went out and got the best pitcher in the American League. Over the past five seasons Sale has averaged 203 innings pitched, and during individual years has led the league in strikeouts once, ERA+ once, FIP once, and K/9 twice. He has five all star appearances during this time and has yet to finish lower than sixth in the Cy Young voting since he became a full time starter. 

The one knock on Sale is...well actually there is no knock on Sale. He hasn't pitched in the playoffs yet but before 2016 neither had Corey Kluber. Judging by Sale's personality and commitment to winning one would expect him to excel in a postseason atmosphere.  One criticism could be his violent delivery leading to arm trouble but as stated before he has averaged over 200 innings per year since becoming a starter. I haven't been as excited to see a Red Sox starting pitcher since I was a kid watching Pedro.

Unless I'm forgetting someone it was Sale who received the loudest ovation from fans during Opening Day's pregame ceremonies. Price's inability to connect with the Boston fans and media has led to us really wanting Sale to become "the guy". So far he is doing his best to just fit in, evidenced by when he acknowledged Porcello should pitch the first game of the season. Hopefully Sale gets his Red Sox career off to a great start tonight but ultimately all the regular season success in the world won't mean much if he and the team don't perform over the next few Octobers. One way or the other it's going to be an entertaining three year window for Boston baseball. As for now, enjoy the beginning of what could eventually be known as the Chris Sale era.

Red Sox 2017 Opening Day Thoughts

Opening Day is in the books and the Sox are off to a great start after beating the Pirates 5-3. Lets break down the top stories for your undefeated Boston Red Sox:

--Without a doubt the story of the afternoon was Andrew "Benny Baseball" Benintendi's three run homer that contributed to a five run fifth inning for the Sox. Benny became Boston's youngest Opening Day left fielder since Carl Yastrzemski, which is fitting because all the old timers will tell you he reminds them of Yaz and Fred Lynn. While his swing is very similar to Lynn's Red Sox fans should be careful to temper expectations for this year. There is a lot of hype surrounding Benny but it's unrealistic to expect him to be an All star right away, never mind the fact that Lynn won MVP his rookie season. Benny is the favorite for AL Rookie of the Year right now but in the grand scheme of things 2017 is not going to be the best season of his career. Ultimately a .290 batting average with 18 homers and good defense should be considered a successful season for the 22-year-old. 

--In his first start post Cy Young award Rick Porcello picked up right where he left off. His final stat line - three runs, five strikeouts, one walk in 6.1 innings pitched - isn't anything spectacular but it doesn't do justice to how in control he was for most of the game. Two of his earned runs crossed the plate after Porcello left the game and he had a shutout going through his first six innings. The common thought is that Rick will regress this year and while that's a likely scenario I expect him to be much closer to his 2016 form than his 2015 one. Most teams would be lucky to have Porcello as their staff ace but since the Sox got Chris Sale this winter he becomes perhaps the best "number two" starter in baseball.

--The good news from Craig Kimbrel's first appearance of 2017 is that he didn't walk anyone. The bad news is he gave up a leadoff double and later hit a batter before closing out the 5-3 win. The Sox will take the win but a shaky first outing is the last thing fans wanted to see from their closer who walked an alarming 5.1 batters per nine innings just a season ago. Kimbrel still has the "stuff" to be a top reliever in the league as he was consistently hitting the upper 90s with his fastball Monday afternoon. But just like last year there were pitches where he seemingly had no idea where they were going. His fastball and competitiveness will help maintain his status as a top ten closer but it's time for Red Sox fans to acknowledge that his days of being an elite shutdown arm might be over.

--I like the move of batting Xander Bogaerts sixth. He had a horrible second half in 2016, looked over matched in the playoffs, and then did nothing to inspire confidence in the World Baseball Classic when he played for Team Netherlands. So it was encouraging to see Bogaerts go 2-4 yesterday, particularly since he was turning on pitches and using the whole field. When he first came to the majors he had a tendency to spray singles to right field, which is great. But the key to his monster 2016 first half was pulling balls for power, and while there was no home run yesterday he seemed a little more comfortable in this regard. How Bogaerts responds to batting sixth will be one of the keys to Boston's season.

--The last thing I want to point out is a reminder of how nice it is having two aces on a team. There's a baseball cliche that momentum is only as good as your next days starting pitcher. Red Sox fans know both sides of this saying. In 2015 when Clay Buchholz pitched Opening Day we had zero aces and could never count on any one guy to stop a losing streak or help continue a winning one. Now that the 2017 Red Sox have won their first game we hand the ball to perhaps the best pitcher in the American League for a great chance to start the year 2-0. Anytime Porcello and Sale pitch back to back games this year you have to figure the Sox have a floor of one win and often times should win both. Cue the duck boats!

Breaking Down MLB's 2017 Opening Day Slate

It's been a long time coming but we have finally made it to Opening Day. While most teams will begin their seasons on Monday there are three games being played on Sunday, April 2nd as part of an ESPN triple header. It's not the best slate of games I've ever seen but it's definitely worth watching. Let's take a look at the outlooks for each team playing:

1:10 PM Yankees (Tanaka) at Rays (Archer)

Chris Archer will throw out the first pitch of the 2017 season following a very disappointing year prior. Archer had a mild breakout in 2015 when he finished fifth in the Cy Young voting with 252 strikeouts in just 212 innings. Now he's a major bounce back candidate entering the year with enticing 14/1 odds to win the AL Cy Young. According to Bovada the Rays have an over/under of 77.5 right now, which would be a big improvement on last year's last place finish of 68 wins. This figures to be another rebuilding year for Tampa Bay as they try to build a team to make the playoffs for the first time since 2013.

The Yankees are also in the middle of a rebuild, but thanks to their prospects and budget are a lot closer to contending than Tampa. Oh and they have perhaps the best offensive catcher in baseball in Gary Sanchez. That helps. "El Gary" is the face of the Yankees rebuild after he hit 20 homers with a .299/.376/.657 triple slash line last year. Despite playing in just 53 games Sanchez finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting (and probably should have won). Now obviously he isn't going to be hitting homers at the rate he was last season but 35+ isn't out of the question. It remains to be seen if New York has the starting rotation to be playing meaningful games come September but even if they don't in 2017 it won't be long until they are.

4:10 PM Giants (Bumgarner) at Diamondbacks (Greinke)

It's tough to screw up an off-season worse than the Arizona Diamondbacks did coming into last year. It was a classic example of a team thinking they are way closer to the playoffs than they really were and now the franchise is in a much worse spot than they could have been in. The first major mistake a year ago was trading NUMBER ONE OVERALL DRAFT PICK AND BLUE CHIP PROSPECT Dansby Swanson (plus Ender Inciarte) to the Braves for Shelby Miller. While Miller pitched well in 2015 there were stats to show it wasn't repeatable. He got sent down to AAA last season while Swanson looks like he's going to be one of baseball's next great shortstops. Then the team signed Zack Greinke to the highest average annual salary ever for a starting pitcher. This move wasn't as egregious at the time because when you need an ace in free agency you have to overpay, but so far the signing has back fired. Last year Greinke registered a 4.37 ERA and so far this spring his velocity is down to the 88-89 mph range. It's going to be a long summer in Arizona.

The visiting Giants are in a much better place than their division rival. The magic of the "even year" narrative died in 2016 when the team lost to the Cubs in four games in the opening round of the playoffs. If it wasn't for a game four bullpen collapse the Giants would have forced a deciding fifth game against Chicago with the Cubs playing under the weight of a 108 year World Series drought, which means anything could have happened. Giants President of Baseball Operations Brian Sabean recognizes that the time to win is now with Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey in their primes, so he went out and signed closer Mark Melancon to anchor the back end of the bullpen. The Giants haven't made the playoffs in an odd numbered year since 2003 but if they find a way into the dance then their postseason experience makes them the Cubs' biggest threat in the National League.

8:35 PM Cubs (Lester) at Cardinals (Martinez)

Major League Baseball hasn't seen a repeat champion since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000. Yet since then no reigning champ has been better positioned to defend their title than the 2017 Chicago Cubs. That isn't to say nothing can go wrong for them this year. Last year's team defense ranked as one of the best ever so that is bound to regress, the starting rotation piled on a lot of extra innings from the post season, and the bullpen won't be as dominant without Aroldis Chapman. Still, the Cubs are as perfect of a baseball team as you're ever going to find. It honestly feels like a team constructed through franchise mode from a video game. That's how easy roster building has become for 2020 President elect Theo Epstein. The Cubs are so ridiculously well set up for both the present and the future that it's time to start guessing how many rings this group will end up with.

Oh how the tides have turned in the NL Central. For the past century the St. Louis Cardinals have been to the Cubs what a poor man's version of the Yankees were to the Red Sox for all those years. Now that there's no end in sight for this expected run of Chicago dominance the Cardinals will have to adjust to the reality of competing for the NL wild card for the foreseeable future. The Cardinals spring got off to a terrible start when they lost baseball's top pitching prospect to Tommy John surgery. It's unfortunate the Cubs aren't opening their season at home but I expect the St. Louis crowd to be fired up Sunday night. Their bid to dethrone the Cubs as division champs will begin with their new ace of the rotation Carlos Martinez. It will be the first Opening Day start for the 25-year-old. In 2016 he won 16 games with a 3.04 ERA.