|
Post by Prince Hal on Sept 30, 2022 16:49:45 GMT -5
Prince Hal Leading off for the Red Sox in Toronto tonight...CF Jarren Duran. He was part of the taxi squad the team brought to fill in for those unvaccinated players who couldn't go to Toronto today (the vaccine mandate expires tomorrow, so today is the last day it's an issue. The Sox only had one unvaccinated player this time around-Ort, who closed last night's game. Duran replaced him on the roster for the day. -M PS to add: to his credit, this means Duran got vaxxed as he said he would after last time. Hope it makes him that much easier to trade.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2022 22:16:42 GMT -5
Duran's tenure with the Sox lasted 1 game, he was optioned back to the minors and will not be eligible to be called up again this season unless there is some sort of injury emergency.
I think the Sox will be grateful for next season's schedule change that will see the play far fewer games against division rivals with the more balanced schedule plan to play every team in MLB. They have plain sucked against the AL East, particularly Toronto. Nick Pivetta will be especially glad to see less of AL East teams next season as his ERA is almost 2.5 runs higher against the AL East than the rest of MLB.
I think Xander has checked out for the season, not even the lure of a batting title has seemed to keep him interested as the AB I have seen from him have just looked bad. Not in a slump, but not even being competitive ABs.
The Sox have their work cut out for them this offseason.
-M
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2022 9:54:24 GMT -5
This is the Sox line up today. It should be noted both Devers and Xander are getting the day off, and the line up was made up by bench coach Will Venable and hitting coach Pete Fatsi not Alex Cora.
Hernández CF, Casas 1B, Pham LF, Martinez DH, Arroyo 2B, Almonte RF, Chang SS, Dalbec 3B, Wong C, Wacha P
This is the line up of an eliminated team in October that has nothing to play for. The Sox haven't scored in Toronto. Unless someone in that line up gets a mistake and takes it for a solo HR, I don't see them getting off the snide in Canada.
I will say, if Casas continues to see a lot of pitches and draw walks at a high rate, batting 2nd next year might not be a bad idea.
-M
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2022 15:06:42 GMT -5
The Red Sox finished 3-16 vs. the Jays this year, losing their last nine. That's the worst single-season mark vs. a team since going 1-17 vs. the Twins in 1965.
-M
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Oct 3, 2022 15:37:57 GMT -5
I hate to say this, and I'm probably wrong, but Cora seems like a guy who knows he's being fired. Or maybe a guy who knows that Bloom is going to be.) But I don't think Bloom's going anywhere until we see how bad 2023 turns out. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see both Bogaerts and Devers gone before the spring. Devers will probably be here, but I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me if he weren't.
Every time I see Springer in a game, I wonder why the Sox never took an interest in signing him. He's a sparkplug at the plate, on the bases and in the outfield, the kind of dynamo the Sox need. (Cause Tommy Pham ain't it!) Springer's attitude reminds me of Damon's; he was another player I always wanted the Sox to sign. That time I was rewarded, but there aren't many Springers out there. And of course, he has an arm in the OF, too, unlike Johnny D.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 3, 2022 16:33:20 GMT -5
I hate to say this, and I'm probably wrong, but Cora seems like a guy who knows he's being fired. Or maybe a guy who knows that Bloom is going to be.) But I don't think Bloom's going anywhere until we see how bad 2023 turns out. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see both Bogaerts and Devers gone before the spring. Devers will probably be here, but I'm just saying it wouldn't surprise me if he weren't. Every time I see Springer in a game, I wonder why the Sox never took an interest in signing him. He's a sparkplug at the plate, on the bases and in the outfield, the kind of dynamo the Sox need. (Cause Tommy Pham ain't it!) Springer's attitude reminds me of Damon's; he was another player I always wanted the Sox to sign. That time I was rewarded, but there aren't many Springers out there. And of course, he has an arm in the OF, too, unlike Johnny D. I don't think Bloom had the green light to sign anyone last offseason that would entail a substantial layout of money until almost everyone had signed and ownership panicked about season ticket holder grumbling (especially after down attendance years because of the pandemic), and by the time he got the ok, Story was really the only big time player left on the market, so that's who they signed. I'm hoping customer dissatisfaction has gotten to the point where ownership now realizes you can't let everyone the fans root for walk and still get them to come root for the uniform. I think the hedged bet at the trading deadline keeping JD and Eovaldi was a nod in that direction though not enough for them to retain Vazquez. I think they also saw the players were checking out because of it too, not just the season ticket holders and their dreams of winning with a cheap roster like Tampa or the Royals a few years back got dashed on the rocks of reality. I am expecting a kneejerk reactionary response this offseason that will be an overreaction and not address the real issues barring the team from being competitively because it's Bloom trying to get things done as GM and he's not good at roster management in a market like this. He couldn't even stay under the luxury tax threshold in this dumpster fire of a season that showed how thin the 40 man roster and minor league depth is in certain places. I think the owners will want to make a splash this offseason, and hope that translates into making competitive offers to resign Bogaerts and extend Devers, but I don't know. At least Ohtani is off the market having signed an extension so they don't go trying to trade/sign for him and overpay. I think they will be in of Judge and likely try to overpay because it's the splashy media-garnering move. It won't help them be more competitive though. They need to address the rotation, then the bullpen, then the line up. I'm ok with them keeping Hosmer and Pham as regulars if it means adding to the rotation and bullpen. If Pham exercises his side of the mutual option it's only $6 million, which for what he does is not a bad price. They have Hosmer at the ML minimum because SD is paying the rest of his salary. Those two as back-up 1B, 4th OF and DH platoon for that price isn't bad. If their line up looked something like 2B Story 1B Casas 3B Devers SS Boegarts LF/RF power bat signed in offseason RF/LF Verdugo CR Hernandez DH Pham/Hosmer C McGuire/Wong it would be ok and depending on who that power bat at the corner might be could actually be quite good. Not quite happy with Story as lead off, but I like him better than Kiki there. Maybe instead of a power bat, they get a leadoff type for the corner. Not sure. However there's no guarantee Pham or the team exercises his option (he may want more money and be willing to take the $1.5 million buyout, and I am not sure the Sox would pay more than the $6 or even the $6 million for him if he doesn't exercise the option on his end. But a rotation that looks like Pivetta Bello Whitmore James Paxton's zombie and the ghost of Chris Sale is going nowhere. Resigning Eovaldi and/or Wacha might help some, bot both are at best #3 starters at this point in their careers. Pivetta is a decent #3 if he doesn't have to pitch against the AL East. Since he does his a borderline #4 starter more likely #5 starter. Bello has a lot of upside and I would be ok with him as the #4 in the rotation to start the year. Not sure what Whitmore is as a starter. He looks good at times, but lacks the durability to be a top end starter. I wouldn't want to start the season with him as the ! or #2 starter, and I still think his best role is in the bullpen but it seems the team is leaning towards rotation and that's what Whitmore wants. And the bullpen right now is Tanner Houk and a host of low leverage or unproven arms. And how well Houk recovers form disk surgery is still undecided. But there is no question that if they are going to be competitive in this division again they need to spend money on pitchers who can get AL East hitters out. Extending Devers won't do that. Retaining Boegarts won't do that. Getting Judge won't do that. Resigning either or both of Eovaldi and Wacha won't do that. Signing a power bat corner outfielder won't do that. Signing a hitting catcher won't do that. Signing a great receiver at catcher could help that, but that's not Vazquez (despite what some fans and current players are clamoring for) and I am not sure there's one on the market that will be worth what it takes to get them or mare value than the McGuire/Wong combo. And I am not sure that there are really any pitchers out there that will make a significant difference to the rotation and/or bullpen no matter how much they spend that can step in and be an AL East ace or #2 guy. There's some good pitchers out there, I don't think there's anyone who would thrive in the AL East-granted the difficulty will be mitigated some because of the schedule change with fewer games against AL East opponents. And I really don't think Bloom is the guy to deliver the goods. Cora could be they guy to deliver if he's given the goods to work with, but Bloom ain't the guy to get him those goods. And I am not sure ownership is committed to doing what it takes to do it right, I think they just want to make a splashy move or two to appease the fanbase so they can go back to just enjoying the benefits of being big sports franchise owners. -M
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2022 12:08:26 GMT -5
Prince Hal Did you catch any of the season ending press conference with Sam Kennedy, Brian O'Halloran, Chaim Bloom and Alex Cora? It was on the official Red Sox MLB page that I found after seeing some of the Sox beat reporters starting to tweet about it, so I watched it as I ate my lunch. They certainly talk the talk well, but it's a matter of whether they can walk the walk. Some highlights... -process of trying to extend Xander has already started, and considering the timeline of his opt out and free agency it is their #1 priority -they are also prioritizing extending Devers and want to build around those two moving forward. Trading Devers if they can't extend him this offseason is "not on their radar" but you never know when someone makes you an offer you can't refuse -they are planning on retaining their entire coaching staff and those with expired contracts have indicated they want to return -no current plan on what roles Houck and Whitmore will have next season, a lot depends on how they recover form surgery/injury, but they hope to have clarity for those roles by spring training or early in spring training after they have a chance to evaluate their recovery and readiness -adding power to the line up is a priority -they like what they saw from McGuire and Wong but they won't ignore catcher as they look at ways to improve the line up to give Cora the best mix of players to put in the line up each day -when asked about having two left-handed hitting 1st baseman in Hosmer and Casas, Bloom responded that after this season, having too many options at 1B is not a problem, but when they acquired Hosmer the focus was on what he could add to the team in '22. They will see how the roster develops as the offseason progresses and their goal is to make the best moves for the team regardless of other factors. -when asked is Casas looked ready, Bloom said that the results were up and down, but the process was there for Casas, that he didn't lose what made him so good in the minors when he made the transition to the majors. And what impressed him was that despite the results being uneven, Casas was a touch at bat for pitchers in every plate appearance and made them work to get him out. (my observation-that's true, and not something you could say about players like Dalbec and Duran who were relatively easy at bats for pitchers even when they managed to get a hit or a homer). -Cora and Bloom are looking for players to be more athletic, more dynamic to improve defense and baserunning, especially in light of the rules changes in place for '23 -Bloom doesn't anticipate the roster being the same come spring training, so he hasn't thought about whether the current group of players could be more competitive next season since there are fewer games against the AL East with the new schedule -Bloom also says you have to make the best baseball moves, but remember these are people not chess pieces and how they fit together and how they react to making Fenway their home has to be a factor in those decisions, not just analytics, but those factors are the +/- factors on making baseball moves, not the core factor, which remains talent and production so again, talking the talk well, now let's see if they can manage to walk the walk. The first test is what happens with Xander. -M
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on Oct 6, 2022 15:08:58 GMT -5
Hi, @mrp, and thanks for the update.
I was busy till just now and hadn't seen all of this. Naturally, Werner and Henry were nowhere to be seen, just as they have since February of 20202, the last time they faced a press conference.
You did an excellent recap, to which I will only add a couple of things.
It's clear that the higher-ups have heard all the noise re Bogaerts -- even the homiest of homers on NESN, O'Brien and Caron, have ben beating the drums for re-signing him. And Cora has been profuse in his praise for what he brings to the clubhouse as well as to the field. Lifting him after he went to short in the 7th yesterday was just the latest bit of theatre Cora orchestrated.
Bringing everyone back may not be what people want, but even if Henry et al were tempted to do any housecleaning, they didn't want to look panicky. I agree with you that Bloom's future hinges entirely on 2023; I'm assuming Cora's on a short leash, too. He's been -- for Cora -- quite critical of his team these last few days. He says he and his staff will be visiting all the players during the off-season to tell them face-to-face his expectations for each of them. In particular he mentioned that Verdugo is no longer a kid and needs to turn the corner (my words) on his defense and baserunning. He has been mentioning those skills in general as well, saying that the team's less than admirable performance in those areas is a reflection on him. I get the idea he's laying the ground work for a more stringent spring training.
Bloom also seems to have been told the areas where he needs to step it up, hence his remarks that players aren't robots. In both his and Cora's cases, we'll see if this is eyewash or if the criticism is making a difference.
Ticket prices for the AL East's last-place team are going up by 1.5 to 2%, but Fenway will still be an ATM for Henry and his sports group, thanks to its being marketed asa tourist destination. The place is also packed by a legion of opposing fans, too. It's the TV ratings that will concern Henry more, and they can't have been decent over the last month or so for sure. Low ratings were a prime impetus for the signings of Panda and Carl Crawford a few years ago. (Panda was going to be the new fan darling, marketed to the hilt, and Crawford's stolen bases were going to be a hallmark of the new action-packed Sox. Yeah, how'd that work out for ya, Tom Werner?
I love how they referred to Connor Wong as home-grown talent. Yeah, by way of delivering Betts to LA.
I do think Bogaerts wants to stay. If he doesn't, it's going to be that much harder to convince Devers to stay or any decent FAs from settling in here.
Sox have a helluva lot of holes to fill next year; the FA market isn't a good one for their needs, Bloom seems like Ben Cherington when it comes to nit trading "prospects," and Henry still isn't convincing me that he wants to do more than paper over those holes.
I'm hoping that Casas is the real deal; his at bats were not giveaways, you're right. A far cry from watching Dalbec, Duran and Chavis, who could air condition the Fens with their swings and were unable to learn the concept of a strike zone. Listen, if they can get 20 HRs and 75 RBIs from Casas with a decent OBP, he'll look like Rizzo over there next year.
Bogaerts is the first domino, though, and I am fairly optimistic he wants to stay. But this is not a typical Sox front office. So if you hear a couple of oinks, it was that pig flying out of my butt.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2022 15:56:31 GMT -5
Hi, @mrp, and thanks for the update. I was busy till just now and hadn't seen all of this. Naturally, Werner and Henry were nowhere to be seen, just as they have since February of 20202, the last time they faced a press conference. You did an excellent recap, to which I will only add a couple of things. It's clear that the higher-ups have heard all the noise re Bogaerts -- even the homiest of homers on NESN, O'Brien and Caron, have ben beating the drums for re-signing him. And Cora has been profuse in his praise for what he brings to the clubhouse as well as to the field. Lifting him after he went to short in the 7th yesterday was just the latest bit of theatre Cora orchestrated. Bringing everyone back may not be what people want, but even if Henry et al were tempted to do any housecleaning, they didn't want to look panicky. I agree with you that Bloom's future hinges entirely on 2023; I'm assuming Cora's on a short leash, too. He's been -- for Cora -- quite critical of his team these last few days. He says he and his staff will be visiting all the players during the off-season to tell them face-to-face his expectations for each of them. In particular he mentioned that Verdugo is no longer a kid and needs to turn the corner (my words) on his defense and baserunning. He has been mentioning those skills in general as well, saying that the team's less than admirable performance in those areas is a reflection on him. I get the idea he's laying the ground work for a more stringent spring training. Bloom also seems to have been told the areas where he needs to step it up, hence his remarks that players aren't robots. In both his and Cora's cases, we'll see if this is eyewash or if the criticism is making a difference. Ticket prices for the AL East's last-place team are going up by 1.5 to 2%, but Fenway will still be an ATM for Henry and his sports group, thanks to its being marketed asa tourist destination. The place is also packed by a legion of opposing fans, too. It's the TV ratings that will concern Henry more, and they can't have been decent over the last month or so for sure. Low ratings were a prime impetus for the signings of Panda and Carl Crawford a few years ago. (Panda was going to be the new fan darling, marketed to the hilt, and Crawford's stolen bases were going to be a hallmark of the new action-packed Sox. Yeah, how'd that work out for ya, Tom Werner? I love how they referred to Connor Wong as home-grown talent. Yeah, by way of delivering Betts to LA. I do think Bogaerts wants to stay. If he doesn't, it's going to be that much harder to convince Devers to stay or any decent FAs from settling in here. Sox have a helluva lot of holes to fill next year; the FA market isn't a good one for their needs, Bloom seems like Ben Cherington when it comes to nit trading "prospects," and Henry still isn't convincing me that he wants to do more than paper over those holes. I'm hoping that Casas is the real deal; his at bats were not giveaways, you're right. A far cry from watching Dalbec, Duran and Chavis, who could air condition the Fens with their swings and were unable to learn the concept of a strike zone. Listen, if they can get 20 HRs and 75 RBIs from Casas with a decent OBP, he'll look like Rizzo over there next year. Bogaerts is the first domino, though, and I am fairly optimistic he wants to stay. But this is not a typical Sox front office. So if you hear a couple of oinks, it was that pig flying out of my butt. A couple of things-Bloom noted the failure of shock and awe signings after bad seasons in the past and said they have to avoid those to make good baseball signings. They only work if its a good signing for the team was his sentiment. And I agree. Secondly. Bloom talked about now hving the depth in the organization where it is not only possible, but necessary to make trades to make the 40 man roster work and to provide the best mix of players for Cora to deploy possible, so I am not sure we will see as much of the holding on to assets for the future as we have in the past. But again, will they just talk the talk, or will they walk the walk? Chris Cotillo is beating the Werner and Henry need to be here drum very loudly. My reaction is this-what could they bring to such a press conference that Kennedy, Bloom, Cora and O'Halloran didn't? O'Halloran got asked one question and it was not even a question bit more of a reporter/fan venting frustration to him and expecting some kind of validation. So my question to the press corps is-what kind of cogent question could you ask of Werner and Henry that would elicit an insightful and informative answer would you ask that isn't more petulant frustration venting? Do you want them at a press conference so you can ask them questions and get relevant answers or do you want them there so you can shout at them to make yourself feel better? Yes ownership needs to be accountable, no they don't have to be some frustrated reporter or fan's punching bag. If that's the only reason they're there, then I wouldn't be there either. What answers do folks want from them? Do they intend to cut spending or keep spending? Kennedy addressed that. How is the money being allocated and spent? They could answer that, but so could Kennedy, and none of the reporters were on point enough to ask questions beyond "Are you going to resign/extend Devers & Boegarts" and "are you going to go after Judge?" If they are going to be there, then you need an informed press corps asking pertinent, relevant questions about the organization as a whole beyond just the on the field product. If all you are going to ask about is the on the field product, the four guys that were there was all you needed. The Sox press crew (and I like them a lot) know a lot about the game of baseball. But they all seem at a loss as to being able to investigate/formulate good questions about the business of baseball to the business men who run the team, and the owners showing up for that presser and those like it is about as useful as a barn door after the cows have escaped. As much warranted criticism as there is for ownership (and there is a lot) I challenge any Sox fan to point to any ownership in the past who has been as committed to delivering a quality product and spending on the team top to bottom without tarnishing the Sox rep through their own peccadillos and ignorant biases as this ownership has done. I think a lot of fans and the press corps take this ownership for granted and forget how bad ownership can be. Thank god we don't have someone like Arturo Moreno owning the team. Chances are if these owners sell, we'd be much more likely to get a whole lot worse instead of better from ownership. Have they backed off since their early days? Most likely, but that's because they have set the course early on by being hands on and may feel they can step back and trust the people they put in place to run things to actually do that. Have the Sox been inconsistent? Yes they have. There have ben many highs and many lows. It's better than a consistent mediocrity that is the best many franchises can attain. One of the reporters had to point out the Sox had the most last place finishes of any team since X year (I couldn't hear the year) as a condemnation of ownership and said even these bad teams have had fewer last place finishes (1 less than the Sox in that time). If I were on that presser answering him, my first question would have been how many last place finishes do you think those teams would have had if they had to play in the AL East which consistently produces multiple playoff teams every season when most divisions don't have more than one team good enough to make the post-season? For me a lot of the frustration stems form unrealistic expectations and a lack of perspective from both fans and reporters. Can the Sox be better? Absolutely. Is pointing fingers and voicing whiny frustrations or hurling invectives at the owners going to do one iota to make the team better? Absolutely not! The Sox made a lot of miscalculations and outright bad decisions last offseason. A large part of it may have been ownership being to cautious and wait and see because of the CBA negotiations hanging over everyone's head and the aftermath of the pandemic impacted seasons for sure. They are business men who measure risk/reward in all things and make that a primary influence on the decisions they made. I'm disappointed, but I find it hard to be mad that they erred on the side of caution last offseason. In 2021 they did the same, and every coin flip decision they made worked out, in 2022, every coin flip decision didn't. That's baseball. The decision making process for 2021 was no different than the process for 2022. Everyone loved them in 2021 because it worked out, 2022 not so much. But the process was the same. -M
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2022 19:36:10 GMT -5
AL East teams dominated the Red Sox in 2022. The Sox did well against the rest of the AL though. Both AL East Wild Card teams were swept out of the first round of the playoffs. Just another sign that a dominant regular season doesn't always translate to post-seasons success.
Guardians and Mariners set to face the Yanks and Astros. I'll root for either of them over the Yanks and Astros for certain.
-M
|
|
|
Post by commond on Oct 8, 2022 22:53:44 GMT -5
berkley Did you catch the rest of The Rugby Championship? What did you think of the controversial call at the end of the first Bledisloe test?
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Oct 8, 2022 23:53:33 GMT -5
AL East teams dominated the Red Sox in 2022. The Sox did well against the rest of the AL though. Both AL East Wild Card teams were swept out of the first round of the playoffs. Just another sign that a dominant regular season doesn't always translate to post-seasons success. Guardians and Mariners set to face the Yanks and Astros. I'll root for either of them over the Yanks and Astros for certain. -M The Mariners are the only MLB team that has never made it to the World Series. I’m rooting for them to get that far ... and then lose to the Dodgers.
|
|
|
Post by berkley on Oct 9, 2022 10:37:40 GMT -5
berkley Did you catch the rest of The Rugby Championship? What did you think of the controversial call at the end of the first Bledisloe test?
It seemed the kind of thing that, if the refs called it as consistently as they should, there would be no controversy. But because it isn't always called and also it came at such a crucial point near the end of a razor-thin match and led to NZ getting a last-minute, come-from-behind victory, there was bound to be an uproar and I would totally understand any Australian fan who was upset over it. (for anyone curious, it was a kind of "delay of game" penalty against Australia deep in their half that led to a NZ try that won them the game).
More impressive to me in the greater scheme of things was how the All-Blacks came back to dominate in the next game. This was the first time they looked like their old selves for a long time but it remains to be seen if it was a blip or a sign of a definite turn-around. Their Norther Hemisphere tour next month should be telling, though it<s too bad they won<t be playing France or Ireland.
I was really hoping Argentina would win their second game against SA but it was not to be. Still, both SA-Arg matches ended up being quite competitive after relatively lop-sided first halves in favour of the Boks.
I'm now trying to find a way to watch the Women's RWC*, though I suspect England is a little too advanced over the rest of the top sides in women's rugby right now for there to be much doubt over who the eventual champions will be. But there should still be some good games and I want to get to know the women's game more, having seen very little of it up to now.
*edit: Women's Rugby World Cup, I was trying to say - I had typed RFC before
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2022 19:44:46 GMT -5
A little factoid for Sox fans down on the current ownership...
John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group bought the Boston Red Sox in December of 2001. The Sox had an 83-year World Series drought. Since then, Boston has the most postseason wins (63) and most World Series titles (4) of any team in MLB.
But still folks call them terrible owners because it's not about what they ahve accomplished since taking over the team, but what have you done for me lately? No perspective. No gratitude. Just greedy entitlement. And I say this as a greedy entitled Sox fan. I want to win every year. The fact we don't isn't just on ownership or even mostly on ownership. Sometimes you do exactly the right things and it doesn't work out because the baseball gods are cruel and fickle, and sometimes you do the wrong this and win it all because the baseball gods are cruel and fickle. But it's been 20 years of elite post-season results for the team, just in a roller coaster fashion. If you can't take the good with the bad, you might be a fair-weather bandwagon jumper. JMHO.
-M
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on Oct 10, 2022 0:35:17 GMT -5
Of course I’m ultimately rooting for the Dodgers.
But ... I also root for the teams that have never been to the World Series and also for the teams that have been but have never won.
The Mariners are the only MLB team that have never been to the World Series. I hope they make it this year. First they have to get past the Astros.
There’s a few teams that have been to the World Series but have never won. This year, the Padres made it past the Wild Card, but they are facing the Dodgers in the next round. Of course, I’m rooting for the Dodgers. But if the Padres somehow get past them, it would be fun to see them make it to the World Series against the Mariners. I don’t know who I’d root for. Whoever wants it more, I guess.
|
|