A Realistic View at 2021: Part III

[moonslav59]

We won the last 3 series as expected after a horrible stretch. It

 

I thought that the momentum could continue vs TB BUT we have lost some key players for whatever reason.

 

Also, Cora has not been sharp managing the BP. At this point of the season you have to send your best arms when you have a short lead in late innings. You don’t send Perez, Robles or Davis to protect a lead. It’s f***ing dumb. At this point of the season is a die or live scenario in every game, so you have to protect every win like a rabid dog.

 

Said that, We still have a chance if some key players come back as soon as possible and 100% healthy

 

Cora can't pitch Whitlock 4 innings everyday.

 

At some point, he has to put the other RP'ers out there, and not just one or two of the others, either.

 

He has to use just about all of them, and it seems like every pen inning pitched has been high leverage over the last month.

 

Cora needs 20 pen IP every 5 games.

 

He's lucky, if he can get...

 

4 from Whitlock

3 from Ottavino (no cake walk- note the irony of the word "walk")

3 from Barnes (a hot mess, right now)

 

That leaves 10 IP or about 2 IP per game from the scrubs. No matter who he picks it's gasoline on the fire. He has to use the worst of the scrubs at some point, and when they fail, he's balmed for using the worst scrub instead of the second worst scrub.

 

With a 3 or 4 run lead, he tries to "save" Whitlock and Ottavino for the 1-2 run situations. Is this wrong? Then, he ends up needing them because the scrub fails, and he's blamed again and again.

 

Our pen is sucking and the defense is giving the opps 4 outs in many late innings. Cora has only lose-lose choices.

 

Blame Bloom, if you want to blame anyone, but nobody can "manage" this pen to do well. It has sucked for weeks- as has the D.

 

Blame Barnes for having the very worst stretch of his whole career, now. (Amazingly, right after his best stretch.)

 

Blame Ottavino for walking the first batter every outing.

 

Blame Whitlock for not being able to pitch 2-3 innings every day.

 

Blame the commish for banning sticky stuff.

 

Go ahead and blame Cora, too.

 

It's everyone's fault the team has achieved way more than 99.9% of Sox fans expected.

 

They chose the wrong time to suck. Had they sucked liek this in April and May, then did well, nobody would be blinking an eye.

[dgalehouse]

The " Dog Days" of August are a real thing. Hopefully, the stretch drive will rejuvenate some of the sagging Sox players.

[Bellhorn04]

The " Dog Days" of August are a real thing. Hopefully, the stretch drive will rejuvenate some of the sagging Sox players.

 

They're toast, Denny. They've been bad for a month and a half. No pitching help at the deadline. Bullpen is in shambles. Fundamentals and defense are atrocious. At least 5 guys out with COVID. Have to play the Rays 6 more times in the next 9 days.

 

It was a good run while it lasted.

 

That Dog Days thing doesn't make much sense, anyway, since everyone else has to go through them too.

[dgalehouse]

They're toast, Denny. They've been bad for a month and a half. No pitching help at the deadline. Bullpen is in shambles. Fundamentals and defense are atrocious. At least 5 guys out with COVID. Have to play the Rays 6 more times in the next 9 days.

 

It was a good run while it lasted.

 

That Dog Days thing doesn't make much sense, anyway, since everyone else has to go through them too.

 

The Dog Days may effect some more than others. They are toast as far as the division is concerned , but the wild card is still very doable.

[moonslav59]

They obviously have a system that is leaving everyone else's in the dust.

 

They can see something in other team's pitchers they know they can fix. Often it's just having them throw more of a certain pitch.

 

They know just when a pitcher is about to lose it, and they trade him away. It makes me think, can't Snell just remember what they told him to do while in Tampa? He sucks, now.

 

They aren't the master of the draft, like some think. They are good at it, but not great. Some of their best draft picks were late rounders.

 

They seem to be very good at evaluating other teams' farm systems and when they make the big trades, which they do often, they often find gems.

 

It's not just pitching, either. Look at their 1B position over the years. They have picked up journeymen after journeymen who go on to have career years with them, then leave and suck, again.

 

It's hard to pinpoint how they do it, and many of the players they acquire would be ridiculed, if the Sox signed them, because their OPS is .710.

 

This board, myself included, would be going nutty over all the "black holes" they have in their line-up, yet they win and win.

 

They make the plays. Not just the routine ones, either, which we can't even do that. Poor D kills a pitcher's heart. They try not to show it, but you know it does. Anybody who has played the game at any sort of serious level knows it's true. Poor D kills a team's spirit more than anything else, except maybe a gaming losing HR.

 

There is no solution to fixing the 2021 team's D. When Kike and Arroyo return, it improves a good bit, but it still sucks.

 

We can kid ourselves that we have all these .850-.900 hitters and should be winning more, but we all know how that philosophy worked for the decades before 2004.

 

Pitching and defense. We don't need to be the best at either or both, but being the worst at D is killing us, and it ain't helping the pen's woes, either.

[Bellhorn04]

The Dog Days may effect some more than others.

 

Why?

[moonslav59]

They're toast, Denny. They've been bad for a month and a half. No pitching help at the deadline. Bullpen is in shambles. Fundamentals and defense are atrocious. At least 5 guys out with COVID. Have to play the Rays 6 more times in the next 9 days.

 

It was a good run while it lasted.

 

That Dog Days thing doesn't make much sense, anyway, since everyone else has to go through them too.

 

Well, the Yanks have lost 3 straight.

 

Am I the only guy left with hope?

 

(I'm not bragging about being the best fan. I was the first to jump ship in 2019, but still...)

[dgalehouse]

Why?

 

I don't know why.

[moonslav59]

Why?

 

Maybe dog days don't affect defense as much as batting and pitching.

[Bellhorn04]

They can see something in other team's pitchers they know they can fix. Often it's just having them throw more of a certain pitch.

 

They know just when a pitcher is about to lose it, and they trade him away. It makes me think, can't Snell just remember what they told him to do while in Tampa? He sucks, now.

 

It's crazy, really. Not only did they ditch Snell and Morton, they traded Hill and lost Glasnow and Archer to injury.

 

As the saying goes, it's like they're playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

[dgalehouse]

It's crazy, really. Not only did they ditch Snell and Morton, they traded Hill and lost Glasnow and Archer to injury.

 

As the saying goes, it's like they're playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

Morton is pitching well for the Braves. I wouldn't entirely give up on Snell. I don't think the Rays see a pitcher's decline coming as much as they just don't want to spend the money. It works as long as you can keep finding enough guys who can pitch . They seem to have a knack for doing that.

[mvp 78]

Expecting perfection from anyone is expecting disappointment.

 

 

Perfection is one thing. Competency is another. I like the direction he is taking too, but Bloom seems to have a lot of swing and miss in his game.

[mvp 78]

They're toast, Denny. They've been bad for a month and a half. No pitching help at the deadline. Bullpen is in shambles. Fundamentals and defense are atrocious. At least 5 guys out with COVID. Have to play the Rays 6 more times in the next 9 days.

 

It was a good run while it lasted.

 

That Dog Days thing doesn't make much sense, anyway, since everyone else has to go through them too.

 

It's the Dog Days and that dog is Old Yeller.

[dgalehouse]

How is this for a slogan: " Sustainable mediocrity."

[moonslav59]

It's crazy, really. Not only did they ditch Snell and Morton, they traded Hill and lost Glasnow and Archer to injury.

 

As the saying goes, it's like they're playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.

 

It's 3D chess to checkers.

[iortiz]

Who are the arms you are going to now? Just Whitlock? Ottavino? Do you count Barnes?

 

Whitlock is not going to play in every game this team has a lead in. It's not fair to his arm. I'd rather they punt September than ruin Whitlock's arm.

 

Regardless the result, put whoever you want available no named Davis, Robles or Perez in those situations.

[mvp 78]

Regardless the result, put whoever you want available no named Davis, Robles or Perez in those situations.

 

Then Bloom needs to take them off the roster. It's not Cora's fault that the roster is filled with hot garbage right now.

[mvp 78]

How is this for a slogan: " Sustainable mediocrity."

 

AKA the 1980's Red Sox

[moonslav59]

Perfection is one thing. Competency is another. I like the direction he is taking too, but Bloom seems to have a lot of swing and miss in his game.

 

Face it: every GM does.

 

We don't go from 2020 to 2021 by swinging and missing, too often.

 

He has a lot of misses, and will have more.

 

I, for one, wanted Kluber over Richards. Sure, there are examples of pitchers who have done better while making about what Richards makes or less. Perez looks like a big swing and miss, but he was a major reason we got off to such a great start. He had a 3.09 ERA over the first third of the season and wasn't bad at the half way point. He looks like a total swing and miss, now, but some context is needed. Marwin and Andreise made $3M or less, so it's hard to expect greatness from them.

 

He connected on...

Whitlock

Kike

Renfroe

Schwarber

Sticking with Dalbec

 

Mehs were...

Ottavino

The Beni trade

Sawamura

 

Earlier connects...

Pivetta

Arroyo (waivers)

Plawecki

 

Seabold

Yorke

Jordan

Mayer

 

I wont get into Verdugo, Wong and Downs

[iortiz]

Then Bloom needs to take them off the roster. It's not Cora's fault that the roster is filled with hot garbage right now.

 

The other day he put Perez and He loaded the bases while putting the lead in jeopardy. Then he called Ottavino and somehow he saved the day.

 

Point is, you don’t need to go through that risk. Just put Ottavino from the beginning and don’t create all this drama.

[mvp 78]

What's the big improvement from 2020?

 

Dalbec playing instead of Chavis? Moving on from Peraza at 2b? Trading Beni for MiLB guys? Allowing JD to look at monitors again? Adding Pivetta? Whitlock I guess? Pillar was a better 4th OFer than what they have this year. If the big improvement was ERod and Sale coming back from injury, well then he really didn't do anything. They lucked out in Whitlock (learned a new pitch in ST). Kiké was an upgrade, but not better than JBJ's 2020.

 

Why does this team have a much better record? Simply because they had 5 adequate starters to start the season? Why didn't Bloom do that last year instead of going with Weber, Mazza and friends?

[mvp 78]

The other day he put Perez and He loaded the bases while putting the lead in jeopardy. Then he called Ottavino and somehow he saved the day.

 

Point is, you don’t need to go through that risk. Just put Ottavino from the beginning and don’t create all this drama.

 

And Ottavino came in and got out of it, but looked pretty bad in the process. I think Cora was trying to win some games without having to use the same 2 guys every time. You need more than just 2-3 arms in the bullpen.

[moonslav59]

Regardless the result, put whoever you want available no named Davis, Robles or Perez in those situations.

 

Name names.

 

Espinal?

 

Okay, Robles should never pitch another pitch for the Sox, and he may not, but look at the choices:

 

7 Days ERA- OPS Against

9.00 Sawamura 1.071

9.00 Espinal .804

6.75 Barnes 1.433

6.75 Davis .717

6.75 Perez .853

 

Several players are worse than Robles over 14 days. Who do you think deserves to pitch more foetn?

10.13 Barnes 1.270

9.00 Espinal .804

7.71 Perez .926

6.43 Robles .854

4.91 Sawamura .851

4.91 Taylor .764

4.05 Davis .644

 

I see lots and lots of losing choices. Robles and Davis had the epic breakdowns that led to memorable losses, but bringing in any of these other guys offered no better guarantees.

 

Again, we are facing lose-lose choices almost every pitching change we make.

 

[Bellhorn04]

What's the big improvement from 2020?

 

Dalbec playing instead of Chavis? Moving on from Peraza at 2b? Trading Beni for MiLB guys? Allowing JD to look at monitors again? Adding Pivetta? Whitlock I guess? Pillar was a better 4th OFer than what they have this year. If the big improvement was ERod and Sale coming back from injury, well then he really didn't do anything. They lucked out in Whitlock (learned a new pitch in ST). Kiké was an upgrade, but not better than JBJ's 2020.

 

Why does this team have a much better record? Simply because they had 5 adequate starters to start the season? Why didn't Bloom do that last year instead of going with Weber, Mazza and friends?

 

2020 was a tank job. Didn't help not having a real manager, either.

[Bellhorn04]

And Ottavino came in and got out of it, but looked pretty bad in the process. I think Cora was trying to win some games without having to use the same 2 guys every time. You need more than just 2-3 arms in the bullpen.

 

In that particular game, the second and third hitters due up were lefty hitters. One thing Perez has is consistently good numbers against lefties.

 

It was a perfectly logical move.

[mvp 78]

Where we are right now, I don't see the harm in DFAing Robles, calling up Ort, DFAing Perez, calling up Feltman. Why they opted to bring up Espinal is beyond me. Valdez has been better than Davis/Robles and they stashed him in AAA for some reason.

[mvp 78]

In that particular game, the second and third hitters due up were lefty hitters. One thing Perez has is consistently good numbers against lefties.

 

It was a perfectly logical move.

 

Not sure I want Ottavino going against a lot of LHB either.

[mvp 78]

2020 was a tank job. Didn't help not having a real manager, either.

 

Roenicke was good with the Brewers. Not sure what happened here.

[Bellhorn04]

Roenicke was good with the Brewers. Not sure what happened here.

 

2020 was just a total mess. Can't judge much by it. Nice getting the #4 pick though.

[mvp 78]

2020 was just a total mess. Can't judge much by it. Nice getting the #4 pick though.

 

Especially when the #4 pick was the best player in the draft. Even if he flames out, he's not Trey Ball.