Rob Bolduc

@Travis1 Ron Cey

Without googling, name a past or present Los Angeles Dodger. I’ll start. Mookie Betts

@historyrock_ Not a serious list. Clowns.

Top 10 bands of all time by Spin Magazine. 1. The Beatles 2. Ramones 3. Led Zeppelin 4. Bob Marley & The Wailers 5. Nirvana 6. Parliament/Funkadelic 7. The Clash 8. Public Enemy 9. The Rolling Stones 10. Beastie Boys

@josh__pransky @Jared_Carrabis Isn’t Bresbot Theo’s guy??? Picked him in Chicago…brought him to Boston?

@Jared_Carrabis Get rid of Breslow, move Kennedy to another role, make Theo the face who speaks to the media and the guy who’s the bridge between Henry and the front office. Let Theo find the next head of baseball operations.

I’m starting to think that it might not have been the coaching staff and that perhaps maybe the Red Sox built themselves a flawed roster. Just a working theory I have. youtu.be/hkXhWNdr808?si…

@BBGreatMoments Brock Holt

Who’s the nicest MLB player you’ve ever had the chance to meet?

@TheExtremeMusi1 Absolutely

Is U2 in your top 3 bands of ALL TIME???

Currently, nearly all 30 MLB teams utilize Driveline hitting “concepts” aka Ted Williams “hit ball in air to pullside.” There are over 75 former Driveline employees working in MLB and many of them focus exclusively on the hitting side. Some organizations, like the Sox and Nats, are two of the more heavy adapters of the Driveline concepts and employ several former Driveline employees. Teams like the Dodgers, Braves, Guardians, Yankees, and Cubs have integrated Drivelines biomechanics and weighted-bat training (btw, these concepts also lifted from Science of Hitting). Many individual players train at/with Driveline in the offseason (Ohtani, Arenado, Mookie, Muncy). Many of the teams I mentioned are near the top in Offense this year (Atlanta, LA, NYY, Reds). Point is the Driveline hitting “philosophy” is wide-spread…not just at MLB either. It goes all the way down to the youth level. Obviously, you see teams having great overall success utilizing it and you have teams that aren’t. What we DON’T know is how “nuanced” is a respective teams implementation of the concepts. Are they “all in” or only using “some” of the concepts? We DO know the Sox fall into the “all in” category fwiw. Here is the thing-balls in the air unequivocally produce the highest offensive value. GB are easily converted into outs at MLB level. Ted was right about that too. Where the Driveline hitting “philosophy” appears problematic is in the area of “selling out on every swing” and a lack of “situation awareness/hitting” which @peskypoleseats you raised. In his book, Williams made it clear that a batter “must abandon the long ball, shorten up on the bat, and protect the plate” with two strikes on them. More directly, he said “concede the HR, shorten up on the bat, and simply put the ball IN PLAY.” He also famously mapped out the strike zone into “hot” and “cold” zones to teach hitters to “wait” for exact pitches in those zones. Do I feel these principles have been abandoned or “lost” in translation under the Driveline philosophy? Yes, I do, at least with the Red Sox. It’s either that or we have been oversold on the positional talent we have, OR the Driveline hitting gurus the Sox employ are not effective at teaching the HOW of the very principles they promote. I think we probably have more in common on this issue than we disagree on, I certainly agree that the Sox hitters are exceedingly undisciplined at the plate, sell out on every pitch, are not fundamentally sound on situational hitting, and for a team that literally shouts it from the rooftop to hit the ball in the air, the Sox have the 2nd HIGHEST ground ball rate (47%) in all MLB! Make that make sense smh!!! I don’t care WHAT your hitting philosophy is, that kind of ground ball rate won’t lead to scoring often. To conclude: I reject that the primary Driveline philosophy of hitting ball in the air is incorrect or bs since a batted ball in the air is most productive and optimal BUT concede that employing that approach at the expense of situational hitting, selling out on every swing (especially with two strikes) and being undisciplined at the plate is absolutely stupid. Take those big daddy hacks prior to two strikes, otherwise shorten up, battle, and refuse to K!

First, yes, I do remember him and his book lol. My point is rooted in a perspective similar to yours. Hitting the ball in the air pull side has a time and a place in every game, depending on the player and situation. But the Red Sox employ it nearly every at bat and every swing. They completely neglect situational and opposite field hitting, which is more frequently needed than a pull side home run cut that leads to countless strikeouts. The ass out one-handed lunge swings trying to pull the outside pitch we’ve seen so often from most Red Sox players is Driveline in action. It can’t be the only approach, especially with the roster they have. They need to look at who their players are and, with this roster, they need to strive to be Tony Gwynn, not Ted Williams. The other element of this is that players have their natural swing motions. To tweak and distort that natural motion too much is problematic, and could very well cause injury. Not everyone is a home run hitter, but Driveline assumes they are. And a pull side ball in the air with the launch angles they preach are outs if not home runs with more players than not. So, Ted Williams approach clearly worked for him, but it doesn’t and can’t work for everyone. To assume it can is why Driveline’s philosophy is BS, because that assumption is at the heart of their philosophy and what they sell. Smart teams have recognized the need for a variegated approach to offensive baseball and have worked with individual player strengths, the Red Sox have not and have forced Driveline’s one-dimensional philosophy on all of their player throughout all levels of the organization.

Breslow should be fired immediately for what he’s done to this lineup over the last year, but the problems are much scarier than that. The 5 year plan implemented in 2020 is failing. This core is not good enough. Anthony: hasn’t stayed healthy Mayer: significant questions about whether he can hit. Also has injury concerns. Rafaela: can’t hit consistently. Duran: hasn’t hit since 2024. May never hit again. Casas: hurt. Has barely hit. Campbell: can’t even hit in Worcester. There’s a real chance this group will never succeed.

Correction: the Driveline hitting philosophy isn’t “bullshit” it is literally Ted Williams (you remember him, right? He wrote a book called The Science of Hitting…have you read it…I have) hitting philosophy ie hit the ball in the air to your pullside. As in, Driveline built a biz copying that philosophy and combining it with modern day analytics. So, let’s just be clear that when one says the Driveline philosophy is “BS” you are saying that Ted Williams philosophy was also “BS.” Now that that is out of the way, let me be clear, I absolutely DESPISE Driveline. You see, it’s one thing to copy a legends hitting philosophy and repackage it with modern day lingo and data (Ted knew the data back than btw) but their is a HUGE difference between TELLING and TEACHING. I can talk baseball hitting analytics at a very high level like these Driveline employees and explain why balls hit in the air are more valuable, but I can’t effectively TEACH a pro hitter the HOW of that philosophy ie HOW to consistently create a swing that produces optimal LA, Spin, and Exit Velocity. In other words, it’s easy to discuss the optimal results we are looking for but quite difficult to actually TEACH a hitter HOW to produce a swing to consistently ACHIEVE that desired result (fly all in air to pull side). In my personal experiences, many private hitting coaches who never played at a high level (like the Driveline folk) teach Swing Mechanics (ie drills and maybe biomechanics) whereas those who either played at the highest level and/or have successfully been mentored by those who have actually teach HITTING. Hitting and swinging are two very different things. The Sox employ an entire group of data geeks and former low level college players who have an abysmal track record of teaching HITTING. Remember, Ted’s book was titled “The Science of HITTING” not the “Science of SWINGING.” The Sox current hitting coaches from thr FL Complex League up to the big club are clearly failing the players they are supposed to be developing. It’s not just a guy here or there who can’t “hit” it literally is everyone but Contreras and Abreu (and he isn’t exactly crushing dingers regularly). So, it isn’t the Driveline philosophy it’s the lack of competent hitting instruction in the organization. Have to clean house and replace with ACTUAL hitting coaches, not guys who can communicate the optimal results but those who can actually TEACH how to achieve them.

Sounds like a #Driveline problem to me, and the #RedSox inexplicably & incessantly suckling the Driveline teat. It’s a bullshit hitting philosophy that can’t do anything with any pitch that isn’t down and in. And it has no awareness of the value of situational and opposite field hitting. And, I’m starting to think that all these hand and wrist injuries (Anthony and Contreras this year, Mayer last year) is a product of Driveline’s launch angle emphasis. That sort of swing puts a lot of stress on hands and wrists.

@rocknrollofall With Or Without You- U2 One- U2

Recommend us some songs that you consider everyone should listen to once in their lifetime. I'll start: Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

@td_nash Never saw Ernie play. Obviously he was great. Nomar was arguable the most dominant SS and hitter in MLB for a 5 year run. Gotta go with Nomah!

Who ya got?

@VinnysCorner1 @td_nash This kid Earl I played LL against. He was a MAN amongst kids. Early puberty. Crushed balls. Than, everyone caught or surpassed him by HS.

Who was the most INTIMIDATING batter in baseball when you were a kid?

@Back2Foulke YES!!!!

Whatever your overall take on Breslow is I think we can all agree that when you look at this roster you think "yeah this was assembled by a middle reliever"

@FacetheFacts15 @RedSox @John_W_Henry @skennedysox Yep, instead of Orsillo and Eck or Orsillo and Middlebrooks we get O’Brien and Merloni. SMH…

This is such a joke @RedSox I mean just listen to how awesome Don Orsillo is. Time and time again. It’s one of the worst decisions and moves in franchise history firing Don Orsillo! Disgusted still 10 years later! @John_W_Henry @skennedysox

@RedSoxDoug Henry is analyzing his P&L in this photo and laughing all the way to the bank!

@TerryLSwartz @MLFootball Goodell is a Progressive Woke DEI Liberal. He has brought that ideology to his job and ruined the league. What does one expect?

@MLFootball The NFL has went backwards since the lamebrain Goodell took the reins. He likes to mingle in the officiating but thinks it’s ok for some idiot that kneels and dishonors the greatest country on earth. Ruining greatest sport ever. Just a cash cow to him.

THE PLAY THAT CHANGED #NFL HISTORY: When the refs ruled Dez Bryant’s spectacular catch incomplete against the #Packers in the 2014 Divisional Round. Years later, the league admitted that it was a catch. Dallas lost… they could have won a Super Bowl 😳

@20th_Centurygal Juiceworld

If you could see any band or artist, past or present, live today… who would you choose?

@ThatEricAlper The Smiths

Which band do you wish you discovered 10 years earlier?

He has some serious offensive flaws most notably an awful bat wrap during his loading process. His swing is a “pushy” arms driven swing not lower body/core driven which explains a his pathetically low exit velo. He needs to go away, find a private hitting guru and start from the ground up. Yes, it’s THAT bad and NO, the Sox under-30 something hitting “instructors” are NOT capable of fixing him (or anyone else). Bresbot has set the hitting side of the organization back a decade with his Driveline hires.

Seriously. How much more do we need to put up with Caleb Durbin? Don't give me the defense nonsense. There isn't enough offense on this team to carry his weight. He is ranked 178 out of 179 qualifying players in OPS. He is ranked 177 out of 179 in slugging. He is ranked 176 out of 183 in on base %. The sample size is not small anymore. Get him out of here.

@Travis1 Juan Gonzalez

Without googling, name a past or present Texas Ranger. I’ll start. Josh Hamilton

Exit velo has always played in every decade. I don’t think it is an either/or. Back in Marty’s era, you didn’t have everyone in the lineup selling out for extra base hits. Guys took pride in not striking out and putting balls in play. Plus, most teams only had a couple guys capable of mashing consistently. The game today doesn’t value players like Marty. All that said, catching barrels and hitting the ball hard has and will always be preferable to the Punch and Judy hitter.

The part of me that grew up loving to watch Marty Barrett lob base hits down the right field line will always be at odds with baseball's present-day obsession with exit velocity.

@tylermilliken_ When he was around Bregman who unlocked him. Since Breggy left Roman’s side, it’s been a shit show

I miss him.