A Realistic View of 2024: Part II

[Randy Red Sox]

well back to .500 again. SP other than Houck is starting to perform as many projected

[Bellhorn04]

The Even Freakin' Stevens!

 

13th time they've been at .500*:

 

1-1

2-2

7-7

9-9

10-10

19-19

22-22

24-24

26-26

27-27

28-28

29-29

30-30

 

*excluding 0-0, wiseass.

[moonslav59]

well back to .500 again. SP other than Houck is starting to perform as many projected

 

Criswell bounced back, last start.

[Old Red]

The Even Freakin' Stevens!

 

13th time they've been at .500*:

 

1-1

2-2

7-7

9-9

10-10

19-19

22-22

24-24

26-26

27-27

28-28

29-29

30-30

 

*excluding 0-0, wiseass.

 

That’s, because you have a lot of teams just like the Red Sox who are not that good, so someone has to win, so there will probably be a lot of teams around 500.

[Duran Is The Man]

well back to .500 again. SP other than Houck is starting to perform as many projected

 

and right where Henry wants to be ....just ahead of Tampa. before long his attendance numbers will be right there with Tampa.

[moonslav59]

and right where Henry wants to be ....just ahead of Tampa. before long his attendance numbers will be right there with Tampa.

 

It will never come close.

[Randy Red Sox]

It will never come close.

 

because there are too many fans that refuse to realize Henry COULD CARE LESS how the Sox fare.

[Randy Red Sox]

Criswell bounced back, last start.

 

big deal. he is far from a long term answer

[Randy Red Sox]

The Even Freakin' Stevens!

 

13th time they've been at .500*:

 

1-1

2-2

7-7

9-9

10-10

19-19

22-22

24-24

26-26

27-27

28-28

29-29

30-30

 

*excluding 0-0, wiseass.

 

just good enough to make Sox fans feel the turn around is nigh. IT'S NOT !!!

[Old Red]

just good enough to make Sox fans feel the turn around is nigh. IT'S NOT !!!

 

The Red Sox have sunk to the level that playing 500 ball is an improvement. It’s a pretty low bar.🤭🙈

[moonslav59]

because there are too many fans that refuse to realize Henry COULD CARE LESS how the Sox fare.

 

Some fans don't care.

 

IMO, most who pay attention don't think JH could care less. They just think he's being cheap- perhasf for just a while, perhaps not.

 

He cares about making money, and if we keep sucking, eventually it will reach a point where the balance tips and more attention will be needed to spending on the payroll budget. When it makes financial sense, it will likely happen. If we ever reach that point, nobody knows.

 

Caring doesn't mean doing everything some or many fans want done.

[moonslav59]

just good enough to make Sox fans feel the turn around is nigh. IT'S NOT !!!

 

That's because there are too many fans that refuse to realize the future looks brighter than the present.

[Old Red]

That's because there are too many fans that refuse to realize the future looks brighter than the present.

 

That’s, because most fans care about the here, and now, and not about the future, and that’s something you just can’t comprehend. The Red Sox could pull off another season next year like 2018, but that wouldn’t make what has happened the last three years alright.

[a700hitter]

Bright futures are for the young, something that I am not.

[moonslav59]

Bright futures are for the young, something that I am not.

 

Well, when we were young, we had dim nows and future team outlooks.

 

Even after 2003, and up to that Yankee series in 2024, the feeling was still doomsdayish.

 

Hey, I'm not happy about suffering through almost 5 years of this crap, but I do still value the future, and to me, it looks brighter now than it did in 2018. (I know many never felt the day of reckoning was coming, but some of us did.) If you are one that never felt a dip was coming, the future still looks brighter now, than at anytime since after the Betts trade. (Maybe after 2021, but only because we felt the spending might increase, not because of us having a promising young core on the 26 and a few very promising prospects nearing the bigs.)

[Larry Cook]

The Even Freakin' Stevens!

 

13th time they've been at .500*:

 

1-1

2-2

7-7

9-9

10-10

19-19

22-22

24-24

26-26

27-27

28-28

29-29

30-30

 

*excluding 0-0, wiseass.

 

Considering all the injuries. This is actually a miracle.

I am very pleased that we are a few pitchers and some returning injured bats away from being a really good team.

[moonslav59]

Considering all the injuries. This is actually a miracle.

I am very pleased that we are a few pitchers and some returning injured bats away from being a really good team.

 

While I don't disagree, this has been our mantra for too many seasons, recently, and it never works out as hoped.

 

Sale- every year

Nate, Paxton & Whit- a couple years

Houck '23

Wacha '22

Hill '22

 

That's just the rotation.

 

Note: in 2021, we got 31+ GS from Nate, ERod & Pivetta.

 

 

[Nick]

I'm not sure everyone is upset RIGHT NOW with our record.

 

Didn't we decided we were going to pretty bad when we didn't sign anyone of note during offseason? At best we thought the addition of Giolito and trading of Sale was a wash assuming Sale was healthy.

 

Then Giolito got hurt. Most of us thought Bello was our 'ace' and Kutter close behind. Hell most of you still trashed Houck saying he couldn't get through second time around the lineup let alone the third time.

 

Having Casas out really has hurt the team. That is something we did not even factor in. Then Story was lost for the year.

 

I just don't get the whining NOW. We did all the whining in December. What are we mad about? Hell we're ahead of Tampa and Toronto.

 

I'm upset about our ss, 2b, 1b and DH spot. I figured our rotation was going to be thin and probably couldn't withstand much more in terms of missing starts due to an injury.

 

We NEED another bat to go with Devers and Casas next offseason. I think we have solid complimentary hitters in Wong, Abreu, Duran and eventually Rafaela. We need to plug the 4 holes in our lineup.

 

Heck I'd spend $50M on two players, a starting pitcher and a right handed power bat that's proven and healthy. Not the broken down guys.

[Elktonnick]

Considering all the injuries. This is actually a miracle.

I am very pleased that we are a few pitchers and some returning injured bats away from being a really good team.

 

Speaking of injuries, in the nearly 70 years of closely following Major League Baseball, I can not recall a time when injuries have been this prevalent throughout the game. Something is fundamentally wrong. MLB at the commissioner and ownership level needs to recognize the threat that the frequency of injuries especially among pitchers poses to the long term future of the game.

 

There is no reason for this injury frequency should be acceptable as the normal cost of doing business and producing a winning team. Baseball needs to commission a high level study by leading sports medicine experts and physiologists to chart a best practices study with the expressed purpose of reducing injuries to players.

[Dipre]

Pitchers will keep getting injured left and right. They are pressured to maximize velocity, movement and spin rates at a level that the human body can't handle. They don't care about timing or cleaning up mechanics in general, just velocity and spin rates.

[Maxbialystock]

I'm not sure everyone is upset RIGHT NOW with our record.

 

Didn't we decided we were going to pretty bad when we didn't sign anyone of note during offseason? At best we thought the addition of Giolito and trading of Sale was a wash assuming Sale was healthy.

 

Then Giolito got hurt. Most of us thought Bello was our 'ace' and Kutter close behind. Hell most of you still trashed Houck saying he couldn't get through second time around the lineup let alone the third time.

 

Having Casas out really has hurt the team. That is something we did not even factor in. Then Story was lost for the year.

 

I just don't get the whining NOW. We did all the whining in December. What are we mad about? Hell we're ahead of Tampa and Toronto.

 

I'm upset about our ss, 2b, 1b and DH spot. I figured our rotation was going to be thin and probably couldn't withstand much more in terms of missing starts due to an injury.

 

We NEED another bat to go with Devers and Casas next offseason. I think we have solid complimentary hitters in Wong, Abreu, Duran and eventually Rafaela. We need to plug the 4 holes in our lineup.

 

Heck I'd spend $50M on two players, a starting pitcher and a right handed power bat that's proven and healthy. Not the broken down guys.

 

I'm not sure your caveat, "not the broken down guys," is reasonable. Thus $22M on Story, $18M on Giolito, and $17M on Sale--all of them on the Sox payroll and none of them playing for the Sox--is not that unusual.

 

My view is much simpler. Players with big salaries are always a gamble because those big bucks are always guaranteed, sometimes for 10 or more seasons.

 

As I've said too many times, the Sox had the biggest payroll in MLB in 2019, and it wasn't going to be nearly enough to keep Mookie from going to the Dodgers and to replace Price and Sale while also paying their salaries.

[moonslav59]

I'm not sure everyone is upset RIGHT NOW with our record.

 

Didn't we decided we were going to pretty bad when we didn't sign anyone of note during offseason? At best we thought the addition of Giolito and trading of Sale was a wash assuming Sale was healthy.

 

Then Giolito got hurt. Most of us thought Bello was our 'ace' and Kutter close behind. Hell most of you still trashed Houck saying he couldn't get through second time around the lineup let alone the third time.

 

Having Casas out really has hurt the team. That is something we did not even factor in. Then Story was lost for the year.

 

I just don't get the whining NOW. We did all the whining in December. What are we mad about? Hell we're ahead of Tampa and Toronto.

 

I'm upset about our ss, 2b, 1b and DH spot. I figured our rotation was going to be thin and probably couldn't withstand much more in terms of missing starts due to an injury.

 

We NEED another bat to go with Devers and Casas next offseason. I think we have solid complimentary hitters in Wong, Abreu, Duran and eventually Rafaela. We need to plug the 4 holes in our lineup.

 

Heck I'd spend $50M on two players, a starting pitcher and a right handed power bat that's proven and healthy. Not the broken down guys.

 

Houck had done fine the second time through. It was always about the third time.

 

I think most preferred Houck over Whitlock, but not Crawford & Pivetta, before opening day.

 

I agree with your needs assessment, and we can't count on Story as a FT middle infielder.

 

I think we roll the dice with Mayer & Grissom/Story and neglect adding to the infield in '24.

 

We need a mega RHB better, next winter. Maybe, DH who can back up 1B or RF (or both) will be what happens.

 

Ref at DH looks good now, but I'm not sure what he is doing will continue for 1.7 more years.

 

[Maxbialystock]

Speaking of injuries, in the nearly 70 years of closely following Major League Baseball, I can not recall a time when injuries have been this prevalent throughout the game. Something is fundamentally wrong. MLB at the commissioner and ownership level needs to recognize the threat that the frequency of injuries especially among pitchers poses to the long term future of the game.

 

There is no reason for this injury frequency should be acceptable as the normal cost of doing business and producing a winning team. Baseball needs to commission a high level study by leading sports medicine experts and physiologists to chart a best practices study with the expressed purpose of reducing injuries to players.

 

I go back to 1949, but cannot claim to have followed the game as closely as you. I basically checked the Red Sox box scores for what Ted Williams had done. I did listen to almost all the games in 1953 and 1954.

 

Speaking of Ted, he missed 3 WW II seasons and 1+ Korean War season, and was still an All-Star 19 times.

 

So I think you could have a point about injuries. For sure with respect to pitchers.

[dgalehouse]

At the one third mark of the season, our Red Sox are already 11.5 games behind the arch rival Yankees. If that doesn't tick you off, I don't know what else to say.

[mvp 78]

At the one third mark of the season, our Red Sox are already 11.5 games behind the arch rival Yankees. If that doesn't tick you off, I don't know what else to say.

 

Yankees are good this year. Red Sox are not good this year. This is unsurprising to all of us.

[dgalehouse]

Yankees are good this year. Red Sox are not good this year. This is unsurprising to all of us.

 

Why are the Yankees so good ? And why are the Sox so bad ? Is it the owners ? The front offices ? The managers ? The players ? All of the above ? Lastly, why have our expectations become so low ?

[mvp 78]

Why are the Yankees so good ? And why are the Sox so bad ? Is it the owners ? The front offices ? The managers ? The players ? All of the above ? Lastly, why have our expectations become so low ?

 

On offense:

Volpe

Stanton

Judge

Soto

 

Pitching:

Cole (DNP)

Cortes/Stroman/Rodon/Gil/Schmidt

 

Sox only have Devers and Casas (out) that can compete with the Yanks offensively. Houck and Crawford have pitched as well as the Yankees rotation, but everyone else has been less than.

 

Yankees have a higher payroll. Red Sox did a bad job developing players under Ben and DD. With Bloom, a lot of strides were made, but he drafted HS guys that took longer to develop so they just aren't ready yet. Also, there was no focus on pitching at all until Breslow. Sox are just hopelessly behind right now. It will take a few more years.

 

No reason to be permanently pissed about it since we can't fix the problem ourselves.

[Old Red]

On offense:

Volpe

Stanton

Judge

Soto

 

Pitching:

Cole (DNP)

Cortes/Stroman/Rodon/Gil/Schmidt

 

Sox only have Devers and Casas (out) that can compete with the Yanks offensively. Houck and Crawford have pitched as well as the Yankees rotation, but everyone else has been less than.

 

Yankees have a higher payroll. Red Sox did a bad job developing players under Ben and DD. With Bloom, a lot of strides were made, but he drafted HS guys that took longer to develop so they just aren't ready yet. Also, there was no focus on pitching at all until Breslow. Sox are just hopelessly behind right now. It will take a few more years.

 

No reason to be permanently pissed about it since we can't fix the problem ourselves.

The heart of the Yankees order has stayed healthy so far, and that could change at any moment. Dugy has chipped in with 33 RBI also. Getting Cole back will only make them stronger, and having Cole with a fresher arm come postseason should be a plus too.

[Bellhorn04]

Why are the Yankees so good ? And why are the Sox so bad ? Is it the owners ? The front offices ? The managers ? The players ? All of the above ? Lastly, why have our expectations become so low ?

 

It's the combination of the owners and the front office, a combination of reducing the payroll, shifting emphasis from the present to the future, and just downright disastrous moves (like Story and Yoshida).

 

I've been saying for a while now they have succeeded in lowering our expectations.

[Duran Is The Man]

It will never come close.

 

ya' know...maybe not now, but losing teams don't draw new fans like winning teams do. and like it or not, thanks to a ******** f***ing owner, the Red Sox popularity is slowly fading away. people want to root for winning teams -teams like NY, LA, PHILLY, ATL and Baltimore. they are gaining new fans. not a loser like John Henry's Sox.