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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2022 20:18:33 GMT -5
Prince Hal I think Josh Naylor of the Guardians had more RBI from the 8th inning on last night than the Red Sox have in the 8th inning on all season... -M I'm pretty sure Sox have yet to score more than two runs in an inning all season. Cora shaved his beard and the players finally realized he was still the coach and so Devers hits a grand slam. But in typical 2022 fashion, Whitlock has a terrible start only goes three and gives half the runs back. Or maybe it's playing NL teams that's the remedy and not the beard. Sox have always excelled against the senior circuit. -M
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Post by Prince Hal on May 10, 2022 21:02:42 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure Sox have yet to score more than two runs in an inning all season. Cora shaved his beard and the players finally realized he was still the coach and so Devers hits a grand slam. But in typical 2022 fashion, Whitlock has a terrible start only goes three and gives half the runs back. Or maybe it's playing NL teams that's the remedy and not the beard. Sox have always excelled against the senior circuit. -M Haha! I know! Go figure. Those NL games have often been the difference between mediocrity and pretty good-ness for more than a few Sox teams. Devers smacked a hit-me pitch, and it was a bomb. Nice ot see, but as you say, Whitlock was not himself... sixty pitches before he had seven outs. Everybody eventually has to obey the law of averages, so the Sox will win a few games, but their "average" is a lot lower than that of most other teams. And you may go two-for-two tonight, as last time I could bear looking, the Hartford Hurricanes were slapping around the Bruins, 4-zip. It was so bad I turned to the Sox game.
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2022 21:22:19 GMT -5
Cora shaved his beard and the players finally realized he was still the coach and so Devers hits a grand slam. But in typical 2022 fashion, Whitlock has a terrible start only goes three and gives half the runs back. Or maybe it's playing NL teams that's the remedy and not the beard. Sox have always excelled against the senior circuit. -M Haha! I know! Go figure. Those NL games have often been the difference between mediocrity and pretty good-ness for more than a few Sox teams. Devers smacked a hit-me pitch, and it was a bomb. Nice ot see, but as you say, Whitlock was not himself... sixty pitches before he had seven outs. Everybody eventually has to obey the law of averages, so the Sox will win a few games, but their "average" is a lot lower than that of most other teams. And you may go two-for-two tonight, as last time I could bear looking, the Hartford Hurricanes were slapping around the Bruins, 4-zip. It was so bad I turned to the Sox game. And now Robles is trying to give the game away. Hey, Prince Hal have you hear any chatter up your way about the Sox using Sale as a closer like the ChiSox did when he was a rookie when he eventually gets back? It would help manage his innings this season and fill a need (i.e. a gaping hole) in the roster. I saw one writer on MLB.com mention it as a possibility but not sure if he was reflecting actual New England chatter or pulling things out of his arse. -M
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2022 0:46:42 GMT -5
In tonight's Red Sox game, Red Sox starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi had two takes of 5 pitches. In the first inning, he threw a total of 5 pitches to get 3 outs. In the second inning he threw 5 pitches that resulted in home runs by the Houston Astros, tying a MLB record for most home runs allowed in one inning and becoming only the third pitcher in MLB history to serve up 5 home runs in a single inning. Needless to say Eovaldi didn't make it to the third inning.
Man the Red Sox look so bad this year the Astros hit six home runs without a trash can lid in sight...
-M
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2022 22:02:22 GMT -5
Prince HalLooks like Trevor Story may be finding his Fenway stroke. 3 homers and 7 RBI. He's now 2nd on the team in HR. Kiki still can't seem to do anything but strike out or pop up, but at least Story seems to be coming around, as does Pivetta. Still to many parts of the Red Sox engine not firing on all cylinders for them to be seriously considered a threat to climb back into contention, but they are starting to play well enough to set up Red Sox nation for heartbreak in August... -M
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Post by Prince Hal on May 19, 2022 22:30:30 GMT -5
Prince Hal Looks like Trevor Story may be finding his Fenway stroke. 3 homers and 7 RBI. He's now 2nd on the team in HR. Kiki still can't seem to do anything but strike out or pop up, but at least Story seems to be coming around, as does Pivetta. Still to many parts of the Red Sox engine not firing on all cylinders for them to be seriously considered a threat to climb back into contention, but they are starting to play well enough to set up Red Sox nation for heartbreak in August... -M Nice to see some of the bats working at least. Story had an all-world night. Here's hoping that means he's finally comfortable here. Brasier looks like a guy who wants to be DFA'd. Gave up a bomb in the ninth, then one to the fence in right that Jackie snagged for the third out. On the post-game show, Jim Rice, as he often does, called out a Sox player -- this time, Verdugo -- for admiring his apparent HR. It was a nice shot to center that hit about ten feet up the wall, and as Rice said, he should have been "rockin' the baby on third," referring to Verdugo's signature gesture when he gets a base hit. Rice, who finished with 13 more career triples than the guy he was inducted into the Hall with, Rickey Henderson, then emphasized what Verdugo should have done by saying that it's "total bases, total bases." Rice, you may recall, finished with 406 of them in 1978, thanks to his 213 hits, which included 46 homers, 15 triples (he led the majors in both categories) and 25 doubles. And he played in all 163 games that year. PS: Yes, I know Rickey often pulled up at second so that he could steal third. Oh, and the Celtics blew out the Heat!
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2022 23:16:29 GMT -5
Prince Hal Looks like Trevor Story may be finding his Fenway stroke. 3 homers and 7 RBI. He's now 2nd on the team in HR. Kiki still can't seem to do anything but strike out or pop up, but at least Story seems to be coming around, as does Pivetta. Still to many parts of the Red Sox engine not firing on all cylinders for them to be seriously considered a threat to climb back into contention, but they are starting to play well enough to set up Red Sox nation for heartbreak in August... -M Nice to see some of the bats working at least. Story had an all-world night. Here's hoping that means he's finally comfortable here. Brasier looks like a guy who wants to be DFA'd. Gave up a bomb in the ninth, then one to the fence in right that Jackie snagged for the third out. On the post-game show, Jim Rice, as he often does, called out a Sox player -- this time, Verdugo -- for admiring his apparent HR. It was a nice shot to center that hit about ten feet up the wall, and as Rice said, he should have been "rockin' the baby on third," referring to Verdugo's signature gesture when he gets a base hit. Rice, who finished with 13 more career triples than the guy he was inducted into the Hall with, Rickey Henderson, then emphasized what Verdugo should have done by saying that it's "total bases, total bases." Rice, you may recall, finished with 406 of them in 1978, thanks to his 213 hits, which included 46 homers, 15 triples (he led the majors in both categories) and 25 doubles. And he played in all 163 games that year. PS: Yes, I know Rickey often pulled up at second so that he could steal third. Oh, and the Celtics blew out the Heat! Story also seems to be the only one who can steal a base on the team as well. I'd love Cora to move him to lead off once he gets a couple of weeks of sustained success in a Sox uniform under his belt. Kiki is an automatic out to start the game and for all his speed is a terrible base runner. -M
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2022 15:28:13 GMT -5
Brasier looks like a guy who wants to be DFA'd. Gave up a bomb in the ninth, then one to the fence in right that Jackie snagged for the third out. Well not a DFA, but Brasier did get sent down to the minors today when they activated Wacha off the IL. -M
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Post by Prince Hal on May 20, 2022 16:15:56 GMT -5
Brasier looks like a guy who wants to be DFA'd. Gave up a bomb in the ninth, then one to the fence in right that Jackie snagged for the third out. Well not a DFA, but Brasier did get sent down to the minors today when they activated Wacha of the IL. -M Hadn't heard that yet. He's ahd his share of challenges on and off the field. I hope he can find some of his 2018 mojo again...
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2022 16:22:35 GMT -5
Well not a DFA, but Brasier did get sent down to the minors today when they activated Wacha of the IL. -M Hadn't heard that yet. He's ahd his share of challenges on and off the field. I hope he can find some of his 2018 mojo again... I think a lot of relievers are the equivalent of 1 hit wonders. They are all world for 1 season and coast off that to make a career for 4 or 5 seasons but are never as effective as they were that one season. Most don't show much promise before the one golden season and revert to their norm after the golden season. Brasier strikes me as one of those relievers and always has. Usually it's a guy who didn't do much in the minors so there's not much of a book on them by scouts, so they take guys by surprise, and they rely on deception and location rather than pure stuff. But once there's a book on them, the deception is negated and the location is the first thing to go in an offseason and the hardest to get back in the preseason. -M
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2022 22:03:27 GMT -5
Story at it tonight with a grad slam (caught by Johnny Gomes up on the monster no less). But I was more excited to see JBJ go deep for the first time this season to put the game away a the Mariners were starting to creep back into it.
-M
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Post by Prince Hal on May 20, 2022 22:45:29 GMT -5
Story at it tonight with a grad slam (caught by Johnny Gomes up on the monster no less). But I was more excited to see JBJ go deep for the first time this season to put the game away a the Mariners were starting to creep back into it. -M I love JBJ. So glad to see him step up there. Hoping Bogaerts isn't too much the worse for wear after Verdugo clipped him. He never calls off the infielders (or they don't listen to him), and to compound things, he plays too deep most of the time. Gomes was an awful color man when he was on the broadcasts a couple of years ago, but what a character he is! He looked liek he was snot-slinging, legless drunk up there. Had at least three beers lined up in fornt of him. I'm starting to feel just a tad more confident.
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Post by Deleted on May 20, 2022 23:11:40 GMT -5
Story at it tonight with a grad slam (caught by Johnny Gomes up on the monster no less). But I was more excited to see JBJ go deep for the first time this season to put the game away a the Mariners were starting to creep back into it. -M I love JBJ. So glad to see him step up there. Hoping Bogaerts isn't too much the worse for wear after Verdugo clipped him. He never calls off the infielders (or they don't listen to him), and to compound things, he plays too deep most of the time. Gomes was an awful color man when he was on the broadcasts a couple of years ago, but what a character he is! He looked liek he was snot-slinging, legless drunk up there. Had at least three beers lined up in fornt of him. I'm starting to feel just a tad more confident. They still have 6 hitters in their regular starting line up hitting under .250 and no high leverage arms in the bullpen. They have a lot of bad baserunners, and their defense outside of JBJ is average at best and below average in most cases. They leave far too many runners on base (despite Story bailing them out tonight, they had 1st and 3rd in the 1st with 1 out and Boegarts and Story up to bat and got a strike out and pop up, which happens far more often than someone hitting the 3 run homer this season). And Vazquez is still their everyday catcher. Some of those hitters might return to career norms (Story and Verdugo most likely, and maybe Kiki but I don't hold a lot of hope for him), but JBJ and Dalbec are not going to surpass the .250 mark this season (or maybe any season) and Vazquez is on the downside of his career numbers and those averages will only go down the longer he plays at this point. An they have no real depth behind that. Cordero has a little upside, by Arroyo is a versatile glove and that's it, and Plaweicki is the prototypical average glove no hit journeymen back up catcher. Their rotation is thin, they couldn't even find a decent fill in for Wacha for 2 turns through the rotation, and neither Sale nor Paxton is going to chew up innings once (if) they return. And I don't see anyone in the bullpen stepping up to become a dominant high leverage arm. Cora will have to mix and match to try to find a hot hand all season long, and that's going to result in the Sox bullpen being among the league leaders in blown saves in all likelihood. They have no pitching depth ready to go in the minors. A couple of arms look promising, but they aren't ready and rushing them up this season to try to help this team will only result in more Darwinzon Hernandez situations, where the promise is ruined by the rush (as is their value as a trade chip) and they go from prospect to organizational depth player. I still think this is a team on a road to nowhere, and I am not sure Bloom can do much to change things as they don't have either the ammunition nor the financial flexibility to make major changes. Both Toronto and Tampa Bay are better teams than they have played so far this year and both as still well ahead of the Sox in the standings. Regrettably the Yanks look as good as they've played so far and unless (or until) the injury bug strikes them I don't see them falling too far off the pace they've set so far. It's going to take a lot more than 2 series win and a hot streak by one hitter to have any confidence this team can even pretend to be a contender this season. This team took a lot of people by surprise last year and got above career average performances form a lot of depth players. The thing with averages is if your above at some point, you will be below at another. This is that point for a lot of those players at the same time, and this team is not going to sneak up on anyone this season. The only strength moving forward looks to be the rotation with Eovaldi, Whitlock, Pivetta and Wacha all pitching well and Hill a serviceable #5, Eovaldi is a free agent next year, as is Wacha, Hill is 41, so that strength is not a foundation they can build on and more than likely if they make any deadline deals, it's one of those starters going somewhere, possibly packaged with a prospect to entice a team to take Sale and his remaining contract as well (a la Crawford, Lackey, et. al) so they have a cleaner book to try to sign Devers and/or Boegarts or the money to try to rebuild around what's left if they all go. -M
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Post by Prince Hal on May 21, 2022 11:43:00 GMT -5
Oh, I'm not confident that they're going anywhere, believe me, just that the last few nights have been less painful to watch. Their little run here has been built on a split with the Braves, a series win in Texas , an admittedly well played two games against Houston and these two wins over Seattle. But only Houston had been playing well, and they were due to lose after their latest streak.
Agree with virtually all you've written. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Bloom tries to pull off a fire sale before or at the deadline. The Sox' spin on things right now is that, hey, they're only whatever, four and a half back in the wild card race and anything is possible, blah, blah, blah. But four and a half might as well be forty and a half with the number of teams ahead of them.
There's entirely too much unjustified attention (Look over here!) being paid to the guys in the minors and their roles as future saviors than on how poorly constructed this year's team is.
Dalbec is an absolute mess. Really, that they keep throwing him out there virtually every day for three automatic K's and a weak grounder to short is criminal, cruel even. He either has the mental constitution of a Gulag survivor, or he's in the late stages of trauma, because he never shows any real emotion, let alone rage.
I wonder if this may all eventually come down to a "me or him" moment for Cora, because he just can't keep trying to make chicken salad with the ingredients that Bloom's given him.
The last time we went through this, it was Cherington, who was similar in some ways to Bloom in his commitment to the farm system and building from within, tossed under the bus and Dombrowski brought in. Sox management is commited to a particular philosophy only if it's working. Once the natives get restless, as they did during the lean years after the sudden success of 2013, and the TV ratings plunged. Not sure how much patience the public will have this year, especially if Bogaerts leaves and especially if Devers doesn't stay.
My guess is that given a choice, the Sox would keep Cora over Bloom. And really, given the way the Sox attend to the fundamentals, I wonder if the ownership wouldn't want to just blow it all up.
A market like this can't become a Tampa Bay-style place, especially in a divison as strong and aggressive as the AL East. Much is made of Bloom's tutelage under Freedman, but Freedman is not the same guy in LA as he was in TB. If you're not going to use the financial resources you have, you're headed for years of lackluster ballclubs. You just can't have the Christian Arroyos of the world palying the outfield for a franchise like this one. Watching him out there makes you realize again just how good a player Brock Holt was.
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Post by Deleted on May 21, 2022 13:10:12 GMT -5
Oh, I'm not confident that they're going anywhere, believe me, just that the last few nights have been less painful to watch. Their little run here has been built on a split with the Braves, a series win in Texas , an admittedly well played two games against Houston and these two wins over Seattle. But only Houston had been playing well, and they were due to lose after their latest streak. Agree with virtually all you've written. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Bloom tries to pull off a fire sale before or at the deadline. The Sox' spin on things right now is that, hey, they're only whatever, four and a half back in the wild card race and anything is possible, blah, blah, blah. But four and a half might as well be forty and a half with the number of teams ahead of them. There's entirely too much unjustified attention (Look over here!) being paid to the guys in the minors and their roles as future saviors than on how poorly constructed this year's team is. Dalbec is an absolute mess. Really, that they keep throwing him out there virtually every day for three automatic K's and a weak grounder to short is criminal, cruel even. He either has the mental constitution of a Gulag survivor, or he's in the late stages of trauma, because he never shows any real emotion, let alone rage. I wonder if this may all eventually come down to a "me or him" moment for Cora, because he just can't keep trying to make chicken salad with the ingredients that Bloom's given him. The last time we went through this, it was Cherington, who was similar in some ways to Bloom in his commitment to the farm system and building from within, tossed under the bus and Dombrowski brought in. Sox management is commited to a particular philosophy only if it's working. Once the natives get restless, as they did during the lean years after the sudden success of 2013, and the TV ratings plunged. Not sure how much patience the public will have this year, especially if Bogaerts leaves and especially if Devers doesn't stay. My guess is that given a choice, the Sox would keep Cora over Bloom. And really, given the way the Sox attend to the fundamentals, I wonder if the ownership wouldn't want to just blow it all up. A market like this can't become a Tampa Bay-style place, especially in a divison as strong and aggressive as the AL East. Much is made of Bloom's tutelage under Freedman, but Freedman is not the same guy in LA as he was in TB. If you're not going to use the financial resources you have, you're headed for years of lackluster ballclubs. You just can't have the Christian Arroyos of the world palying the outfield for a franchise like this one. Watching him out there makes you realize again just how good a player Brock Holt was. I agree for the most part, but I will say I think the owners have handcuffed Bloom making him have to shoulder the consequences of Dombrowski, in particular Sale and JD's contract. If JD had opted out in any of the years he was able to do so, The Sox would be a different team and we would be having a different conversation, but as vast as the resources of the Sox might be, Dombrowski tied up a lot of those resources in those 2 players paying them for past performance rather than what they would bring to the Sox in the final years of their contracts because it allowed him to win while he was there and he was always a no GM and who cares about the future. JD and his agent were known to max every penny out of every possible deal and they both knew that they were not going to get a dime more form another team than the Sox were paying JD with that terrible contract, and probably would get significantly less. Bloom is also shouldering the burden of the collective owner's sins leading into the end of the CBA and this offseason's work stoppage and the owner's inability to impose their will on the negotiations. I believe Bloom's hands have been tied as far as access to those resources the Sox have since he came to town. The owners have closed the purse strings on him, so no resigning Betts, no quality extension offers to Devers of Boegarts, no big signings, and get the prospects to fill out the roster, except Dombrowski had raided that pantry and the organization has failed to produce quality pitching prospects for a decade, and by the time the loosened them a bit after the CBA, Story was really the only domino left standing they could take a run at and the damage was already done with Boegarts and Devers. If ownership does pivot because their decisions hurt attendance and ratings an fire Bloom, it won't be because of his sins, it will be because they need a scapegoat to blame for their own role in the situation, and hiring someone new and reopening the purse will make them look like heroes again the fanbase. Friedman is doing wonders with the Dodgers to be sure, but people forget the lean years the Dodgers had to go through to get that homegrown talent and then supplement it with free agents and trade acquisitions. The Sox have had a lot of lean years, but the fan base has gotten a bit spoiled since 2003, but teams with vast resources, even the Yankees, go through lean years every so often because baseball is a cyclical game and player lifespans as consistent contributors exist on a razor thin line that can snap at any moment. Prospects fizzle, veterans lose a step, injuries change the course of a career trajectory, etc. and teams that manage anything near consistent competitiveness are the exception, not the rule no matter what their resources. Bloom should shoulder some of the blame for sure, but he's often had to make choices of the least worst option available to him because of the straightjacket the owners have placed on him. Bobby Dalbec-is an excellent defensive third baseman, but he's forced to not only adjust to major league hitting but continue to learn a new position, one that negates one of his strongest tools-a plus arm. Both he and Boegarts (who played there when he came up) would be better defensive options at third than Devers. Devers should be the everyday DH and maybe play 3B or 1B once or twice a week, but we can't do that because Dombrowski and the owners saddled the team with Martinez's contract and DH only status quo. He has offensive pop, but now strikes out too much and deprives the team of any position flexibility, requiring them to have some kind of superutility glove on the bench even if they can't hit a lick (hence Arroyo's spot on the roster). Dalbec has seen his value fizzle too, and what could have been a trade asset if his defensive skills at third had been showcased even if his bat fizzled are now gone as he is seen as a but hitter and a bad defender. Dombroski also extended Vazquez, making him essentially untradeable and now an albatross on the roster as well. These kinds of things aren't on Bloom though, but he has to deal with them. So it many way I think Bloom was handed a turd and is being blamed that the coat of white paint he was asked to put on it isn't foiling anyone, while the owners who laid that turd escape the ire because of their choice of scapegoat. -M
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