Since coming to Boston, Jason Bay has been more than warmly received. His smooth swing is balanced by a persistent hustle and attitude in a way that his predecessor’s was often not.
From his first game at Fenway Park, Bay has seemingly been in the middle of rallies at every turn. In his first fifteen games as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Bay’s near .400 On Base Percentage yielded twelve RBI’s and fifteen runs scored.
Looking at the impact of their new left fielder, Red Sox fan’s shouldn’t have much to upset about. But as good as Jason Bay has been, one thing jumps out at me on the negative side of the ledger. Jason Bay has not been the consistent power threat that I, and many other Red Sox fans, had expected.
author’s note: As I write this, Bay just hit a solo shot in Baltimore
With only one home run, three doubles, and a triple, Manny Ramirez has more home runs (6) than Bay has had extra base hits (5) since the trade that saw them cross paths. For someone that was expected to hit in the middle of the batting order for the Red Sox, his .459 slugging percentage is behind Kevin Youkilis, Jed Lowrie, Dustin Pedroia, and Jacoby Ellsbury in the month of August.
In the power department, Bay hasn’t even been the most prolific home run hitter dealt from the Pittsburgh Pirates to an American League East team this past trade deadline. In six more games with the Yankees, ex-teammate Xavier Nady has six more home runs with his new team than Bay since they crossed league lines.
In Pittsburgh, Bay was averaging a home run every 17.9 at bats and was slugging .519. Since putting on a Red Sox uniform, his slugging percentage is .60 points lower and the power hasn’t been as apparent.
Now sure, sample size and league adjustment have plenty to do with this, but is anyone else concerned? Should I be?
author’s note: As I write this, Bay just hit a two run home run proving me more of an idiot
Sure, I could have deleted everything I had written so far and not put this all out there to be mocked, but where’s the fun in that. Heck, if me calling a player’s ability into doubt is all that player needs to find motivation, I’ll start calling people out regularly.
How has Bay’s performance changed the “statistical analysis above”? His HR/AB is now 21.3, and only one home run away from his Pittsburgh-ian pace. His slugging percentage rose from .459 to .562, dwarfing his SLG as a Pirate.
Now don’t I feel stupid?
So let’s get back to my original thought, because it still holds pertinent. With J.D. Drew turning up a little gimpy, Mike Lowell on the mend, David Ortiz still not all the way back to his “Papi-ness”, and the likelihood of Lowrie, Pedroia, and Youkilis continuing to carry this offense to this extent not likely, the Red Sox need more power out of their new left fielder than we have seen – at least until last night.
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I’m surprised no one had any love for Bolocos or Chicken Lous– a hidden treasure on NU campus, a stone’s throw from Fenway.
Have not been to Fire and Ice.
For burgers, Game On has excellent ones. For fast food burgers I touch none but In n’ Out and Five Brothers.
Hot dogs are only edible at Fenway or Annie’s Hot Dog stand in Leominister (or is it Leicester?).
Yeah, not the best timing, but you were making a salient point.
The point still holds, though, that this Sox club is far less of a HR threat than it used to be (03, 04) … But its being made up for in other ways.
They aren’t as big of a home run threat, but they’re also not exactly the ‘06 ‘07 Angels, who had only one guy (Vlad) capable of hitting 30 homers. This Red Sox team has Papi a 40-homer threat when healthy, Bay 30 hr, and Drew, Lowell, and Youkilis who are all capable of hitting 20 easily
To Sean O from previous thread:
My Dad and I are going to go visit the Aquarium on Wednesday before the ballgame, so maybe we’ll go eat at one of the places suggested! How did the aquarium “underwhelm” you? I looked it up online and they have this thing where you “descend” into the Atlantic Ocean and look at sharks. If that’s what I think it is, sweeeet.
We walked around the harbor early morning yesterday hoping to get a glimpse of some Sox ball players taking in the sights but no dice. Do they all hole up in their hotel rooms until mid-afternoon?
Today we’re sitting in between home plate and the Sox dugout, couple rows back. Woot! Only in Baltimore…
Steven, that shark thing is brand new then. We went in April of ‘06, for the game where Coco broke his finger on a stupid pickoff move. If you haven’t had Chipotle I would highly recommend it for burrito goodness, it’s in the power plant building literally across from the aquarium.
We’re biased because we love penguins, which were conspicuously absent in Baltimore. They were in the process of adding a giant new exhibit at the time, so it’s possible we didn’t get the full experience. Overall, I guess for all the hype we just expected a little bit more. YMMV.
The Baltimore waterfront is awesome, so enjoy it. I remember doing the science center when I was much younger (back when Camden Yards just opened), so that’s another thing to consider.
I was at the game last night, it was great to see Bay and especially Tek hit some over the fence! Awesome game
Lowell has become a bit of a hot dog mecca all of a sudden. Elliot’s is greasy, but good for a plain ol’ hot dog, while Bad Dawgs is a new chain around Massachusetts with some crazy options. My favs are the Norman (sauerkraut, grey poupon, onions, sweet red pepper relish and celery salt) and the basset hound (sport pepers, tomato, onions, a pickle spear, celery salt and spicy mustard).
Most of my family lives in LA, so I’ve spent a lot of time there. In n’ out is AWESOME I don’t eat fastfood burgers normally (except after a night of drinking) but I make an exception for In n’ Out
I like Flat Patty’s for a burger around here (it’s in the Garage in cambridge), and Uburger outside Fenway is pretty nice. Still need to try B-good downtown.
Traveling around, Steak and Shake was an awesome 3 AM burger spot, with tremendous shakes. The double Steakburger is a dream, and nice, salty fries. And then there is White Castle, the #1 all-time perfect 3AM meal. A friend and I used to dust off a Crave Case and feel equally guilty and wonderful.
Not a huge fan of Steak n’ Shake, I’ve been disappointed the 3 times I’ve been there. White Castle is definitely good for late night munchies (hence the movie). Although, in my book nothing really beats Waffle House when you’re out super late.
Chicken Lou’s is a top pick for meals during the day, no one comes close if you want a quick bite to eat.
Then there’s two choices for late night/early morning: South Street Diner (a scene was recently filmed there in the new movie “21″) and I-HOP.
I’m gonna have to keep some of these in mind when I get to Boston for college next week.
Keep the food tips coming!
“21″ is so December.
Wow. This thread went right to the (hot) dogs. Getting hungry.
To reinforce what Bob said about power outage. I have been thinking about 2009 for some time and it makes me hungry.
We have only two hitting problems in the lineup: Ells/Coco and Tek/Cash . . . CF and C. These are the only two places where a trade for a Holliday or Mauer TYPE would be enough of a power upgrade to warrant the huge cost for the trade it would take to get them, and the upside may not be worth it.
Assuming Ells gets back to .280 and 50SB with 10 – 15HR, and Tek back to .240 with 15HR, getting rid of their defensive and game skills for added power would be a mistake in the light of the development of Youk, Dustin, Lowrie as MVP and ROY candidates and hitters with HR and Xbase power.
IMO, we have a built -in solution in place for 2009, all predicated on very conservative “ifs”. (As background, remember that Manny only hit 20HR last year, and probably 35 this year, so Bay’s 30HR and better D and baserunning are comparable.) Here’s the scenario: If Papi gets back to 35 – 40HR; if Bay and Youk again hit 25 – 30; if JD hits 20 – 25; and Pedroia and Mike do 20; our weakest HR hitters would be Ells, Lowrie and Tek with a combined 30 – 45. All these combined numbers hover around the rarely reached 200 mark. The pattern for this is being laid this year. We are moving towards a 9 man roster in which can all hit for average and power; a pitchers longest nightmare.
Also, if Casey and Coco move on, which could be in the cards, bringing up Bailey and Carter or VanEvery to the bench as 4th/5thOF-1B-DH would add additional power with high average, with a decline in D over Coco and Sean. But with Ells in CF, that loss is mitigated.
Carter and Bailey will finish around .300/30HR/high OPS in Pawtucket, so should combine to deliver another .280/20 – 30HR/high OBP, doubling or tripling power output from Sean and Coco. Finally, this should be the year of the catcher, be it Salty, Laird, Kottaras or Brown, with or without Tek. Any which way, the catcher position will again put up 20HR with decent average. If this lineup, in 2009, can deliver +/-200HR, high BA and OBP, great D and aggressive baserunning, it will be a younger, better, faster, more powerful team. Worst case scenario would be 2008 numbers, which most teams would covet.
So, the problem remains: back end of the rotation and the 8th inning.
Gerry hates food, and fire brand by proxy. Get back on topic.
I don’t think that Carter will ever play regularly for the Red Sox, I have nothing against him I just don’t see it happening.
MR weren’t you looking for a column topic? Why don’t you do a breakdown of the best places to satisfy late-night munchies? Weigh them based on price, satisfaction level, physical damage, and guilt factor. For example, Mickey D’s gets a 10 for price (Dollar Menu!), an 8 for satisfaction (3 Double Cheeseburgers are pretty awesome when you’ve been out all night, 1 for physical damage (3 Double Cheeseburgers makes your heart hurt), and a 1 on guilt factor (nothing makes you feel more likea slob than walking into the kitchen in the morning and seeing a McDonalds bag)
Bob-
I actually thought about it, but since I live on the West Coast and haven’t eaten at a chain (with one exception) in 10 years, It’s probably better for me to discuss navel lint than any of the places mentioned so far.
Wow haven’t eaten at a chain in 10 years. Good for you man, I honestly wish I had your fortitude, it would probably make my future much healthier.
This is a beverage related comment. I was thrilled to see the Magic Hat summer variety pack at my local grocery store last week so I picked it up since we usually don’t get Magic Hat down here. I just tried the summer odd notion and I really like it. Apparently it’s an english mild ale. I’m a beer fanatic and basically try everything I can find and I really like this one. Has anyone else tried it? Thoughts>
I apologize for wandering so far off topic. I work with a bunch of Belgians who have introduced me to their home brews. I thought Germany was good, which it is. The Belgians are at the next level, and they just bought Budweiser.
And I agree with MR about fast food eateries (pizza not being fast food of course) which are super-gluing Americans to their couches. I have learned that if it’s not fresh prepped and cooked, it’s not worth eating.
And I can see no reason why a 25 year old proven pure hitter like Carter couldn’t fit a Sox uniform perfectly, and help fill an anticipated Sox need for more power, while also hitting for average. With age he could become an Adam Dunn with 40+HR, but with high BA and OBP, as that is his pattern. I have no idea what his favorite food is, but Pawtucket has some excellent pizza parlors.
If it’s okay with Evan I will do a food, beer and wine pairing menu for each member of the current roster. Is mentioning adult beverage okay if it’s placed in the context of a meal?
Of course, were all adults here.
*Ahem*
I’m not an adult yet…
…oh wait, I turned 18 on Monday. Dammit.
Looking forward to it, MR.