August 18 Red Sox at Orioles

[Old Red]

Hosmer's been worth every penny the SOX are paying him this year.

 

He shored up the infield D. You didn’t expect him to hit too did you?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

The SOX are in need of a shut down inning. Good luck with that.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

He shored up the infield D. You didn’t expect him to hit too did you?

 

Good point. Always be suspicious of anything that's free.

[Old Red]

Pham is not a good outfielder. But I guess his .240 average makes up for it.

 

Dugy should go back to LF, Kike in CF, and the Ref Man in RF. Let Pham be the DH.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Most of the SOX BP can't deal with this stupid 3 out inning rule. Extend Familia before he becomes unaffordable.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

The SOX are in need of a shut down inning. Good luck with that.

 

 

They did it. Mission:Possible.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Dugy should go back to LF, Kike in CF, and the Ref Man in RF. Let Pham be the DH.

 

Makes too much sense, so it probably won't happen.

[Old Red]

Makes too much sense, so it probably won't happen.

 

You are probably right, but that would be the best D for the OF.

[Old Red]

I don’t know if Raffy’s hammy is affecting his swing, but he’s not looking any better than JD swinging the bat.

[Oscars]

If Devers is injured, put him on the IL because he’s is not helping the team .

He flat out stinks right now.

He has left 7 on base in this game alone.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

SOX may have to trade Raffy to Houston this off season so he can be with VAZ. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Devers has sucked since VAZ was traded.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

SOX may have to trade Raffy to Houston this off season so he can be with VAZ. Maybe it's just a coincidence that Devers has sucked since VAZ was traded.

 

More believable is that he's just in a prolonged slump that happens to most ballplayers. He'll break out of it, but I can't give you a specific date.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Barnes has shown improvement. There's some positivity in a desert of positivity.

[moonslav59]

At least we can take some comfort in watching the Yankees go up in flames.

[Oscars]

Let Ref DH until he stops hitting.

He’s much more productive than JDM right now

[redsoxrules]

I don’t know if Raffy’s hammy is affecting his swing, but he’s not looking any better than JD swinging the bat.

 

Let's not make any excuses for him. If he has hammy issues then he probably wouldn't be playing

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

More than likely JD will be back as the Designated Batter tomorrow or Sunday, so I'm sure Cora will insert Dugo, Kike, and REF in the OF, left to right and he will bench Phamtastic Pham. I'm actually only about 40% sure that will happen regarding the OF. Edited August 20, 2022 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Let's not make any excuses for him. If he has hammy issues then he probably wouldn't be playing

 

Yup.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Let Ref DH until he stops hitting.

He’s much more productive than JDM right now

 

 

That's a very low bar, but I agree 100%. Unfortunately, that will be Cora's decision.

[moonslav59]

Barnes has shown improvement. There's some positivity in a desert of positivity.

 

It would be nice to think we have another good RP'er option going into 2023.

 

Plus, we need some dead money coming back to life, at some point.

 

25.6 Sale (When is he not hurt?)

23.3 Story (Still out)

22.0 JD (new sport: Cliff diving)

20.0 Bogey (power outage)

17.0 Nate (when healthy, hit or miss)

16.0 Price (about to finally lose this abyss)

11.2 Devers (August swoon)

10.0 Paxton (a planned outage)

9.4 Barnes (finally, a hint of smoking driftwood)

7.0 Kike (out most of the season)

7.0 Wacha (finally back)

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

It would be nice to think we have another good RP'er option going into 2023.

 

Plus, we need some dead money coming back to life, at some point.

 

25.6 Sale (When is he not hurt?)

23.3 Story (Still out)

22.0 JD (new sport: Cliff diving)

20.0 Bogey (power outage)

17.0 Nate (when healthy, hit or miss)

16.0 Price (about to finally lose this abyss)

11.2 Devers (August swoon)

10.0 Paxton (a planned outage)

9.4 Barnes (finally, a hint of smoking driftwood)

7.0 Kike (out most of the season)

7.0 Wacha (finally back)

 

Hey, MOON, regarding my earlier post that the FO could have 59 million freed up going into the offseason. How would you budget out that money going into 2023?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Hey, MOON, regarding my earlier post that the FO could have 59 million freed up going into the offseason. How would you budget out that money going into 2023?

 

And if Bogey is let go then Story is the SS. So that would affect the use of the budget. Signing a good 2nd baseman is usually cheaper than signing a good SS.

As much as I'd love Trey Turner coming to Boston, he's probably too expensive to make that a reality.

Edited August 20, 2022 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Here's a serious question. Has a 1st place team ever fired their manager?

[Oscars]

Perhaps the Orioles in this series will do the Sox fans a favour by sweeping, and hastening the inevitable resignation that this season is done for the Sox.

The Sox are not good enough, end of story.

A 200 million dollar sh itshow.

[moonslav59]

Hey, MOON, regarding my earlier post that the FO could have 59 million freed up going into the offseason. How would you budget out that money going into 2023?

 

I have about $80-85M in winter spending, including estimated arb raises and taking Pham & Paxton's option.

 

I see us signing a 2Bman like Wong.

I see us signing a CF'er like Nimmo or maybe bring Kike back, if he looks healthy finishing the season. (Maybe trade for one.)

I think we add a solid number 1 or 2 SP'er via trade.

I think we go a little heavier in pen building but not much more than we did, this year.

 

I see us leaving 1B/DH to Hosmer, Casas and Dalbec (maybe E Valdez competes for DH or 2B)

I see us maybe leaving catcher to McGuire, Wong & RHern (maybe adding a cheap vet)

I see us leaving RF to Dugo & Ref and LF to Pham & Duran, but this is one area we may upgrade, too.

 

Probably more likely we add someone significant to one of these 3 above positions (C, RF, 1B/DH)

 

We'll spend enough to stay under by $4-6M, which will allow us to add players at the deadline, if needed.

 

Just my opinions.

 

 

 

[moonslav59]

The pitching does fine, and the bats never show up.

 

The batters go bananas, and the staff implodes.

 

The pen looks great- the pen sucks.

 

Crawford gets our hopes up, then dashes them.

 

Wacha is back! Then, so what?

 

This season has been one swirling mega mess!

[moonslav59]

Good point. Always be suspicious of anything that's free.

 

So, should we trade Ref and Screib?

[jad]

As John Madden once said during a memorable SanDiego game: "They just don't have enough good players." Yes. But what Madden did not say after that was "Therefore they need to get rid of the good players they have."

[vegasbob]

75 year old Bill Lee collapsed yesterday while warming up in the bullpen for the Savannah Bananas exhibition game. I guess this precludes his return to the Red Sox as a Loogie, since he has to face 3 batters unless the inning ends Spaceman was helped off the field where he recovered over a couple cold brews and a smoke.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

75 year old Bill Lee collapsed yesterday while warming up in the bullpen for the Savannah Bananas exhibition game. I guess this precludes his return to the Red Sox as a Loogie, since he has to face 3 batters unless the inning ends Spaceman was helped off the field where he recovered over a couple cold brews and a smoke.

 

In his 10 years as a Red Sox Bill's W/L record was 94-68. His ERA over that period ws 3.64. He averaged 3 K's/game, 10 hits/game and 3 BB's/game. His WHIP over the 10 years was 1.380.

From 1973-1975 Bill was 51-35, winning 17 games in each of those 3 years. Also during that same period, Bill averaged 280 innings pitched.

In 1974 Mr Lee led all major league pitchers in hits allowed with 320.

And in the 7th game of the '75 WS Bill really pissed off YAZ. I wonder if they've talked since?

 

Similar to Jimmy Piersall, Bill's antics on and off the field sometimes overshadowed the fact that he was a pretty damned good ballplayer.

Edited August 20, 2022 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER