4/12 Angels come to Boston

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

I believe the SOX will be near the top of the league in 'come from behind' opportunities. Not 'come from behind' wins, but just the chance to do so. Edited April 13, 2024 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[redsoxrules]

That was a quick 7-0 loss

[Maxbialystock]

That was a quick 7-0 loss

 

Sox are on a roll!

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

If you got lemons, make lemonade. Since 2020 the SOX have made barrels of lemonade, except for 2021, which was an aberration.

[illinoisredsox]

I'm afraid reality has set in for this team. It is a last place team which got off to a great but unsustainable start. All the flaws are being exposed in this 4 game losing streak. The blame lies with Bloom, Breslow (who did virtually nothing this past off season) and most of all, ownership. Why fans continue to support this product is beyond me. The roster is full of AAA players.

 

No, the blame goes straight to John Henry. He’s the one who has constrained Breslow from signing better players; I think much of the rest of the ownership group is pissed off at JH as well.

[illinoisredsox]

If you got lemons, make lemonade. Since 2020 the SOX have made barrels of lemonade, except for 2021, which was an aberration.

 

Except lemonade tastes good. The better analogy is chicken s***-chicken salad.

[Maxbialystock]

Well fielding stat computer analysis has never been at all as accurate as hitting stat computer analysis has been. You know....the NERD stuff. Not convinced that without their computers to help them they care about fielding. People tend to downplay the importance of what they don't understand.

 

It's also possible you don't understand. Position players have to do two things, field and hit. The Sox have always, always preferred hitting over fielding. Thus in their four WS seasons of 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018, the Sox were ranked 1st, 4th, 1st, and 1st in MLB in runs scored in the regular season.

 

I'm sure the Sox have no moral objection to good fielding, but they never let it get in the way of good hitting.

[Maxbialystock]

It's also possible you don't understand. Position players have to do two things, field and hit. The Sox have always, always preferred hitting over fielding. Thus in their four WS seasons of 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018, the Sox were ranked 1st, 4th, 1st, and 1st in MLB in runs scored in the regular season.

 

I'm sure the Sox have no moral objection to good fielding, but they never let it get in the way of good hitting.

 

If you look at the Sox Gold Glove winners over the years, almost all of them were good hitters. I'm not even sure Ellsbury deserved a GG in 2011, but he got one and also had once in a lifetime OPS for the season of .928. Hmmmmmm. Mookie had 4 and Pedey had 3 or 4, and both were excellent hitters.

[vegasbob]

Dalbec has made it into an art form to be behind in the count.

 

Dalbec still 0 for 2024 but did hit 2 fair balls tonight, with only 1 K... I honestly think he simply cannot see the ball very well and has slow reflexes, despite the glasses. He's not a guy to pick on, his baseball career is virtually over.

[vegasbob]

It's also possible you don't understand. Position players have to do two things, field and hit. The Sox have always, always preferred hitting over fielding. Thus in their four WS seasons of 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018, the Sox were ranked 1st, 4th, 1st, and 1st in MLB in runs scored in the regular season.

 

I'm sure the Sox have no moral objection to good fielding, but they never let it get in the way of good hitting.

 

There's fielding of routine plays which anyone migrating through the HS, College and especially MiLB ranks performs to 95%++ accuracy, some even better with range and good arms. The idiots I see in the Sox current infield /bench are not performing the most basic fundamental plays, like a DP.. Watching the Angels tonight showed what is possible on DP balls. Trust me the Angels will not be a playoff team and have no stars beyond lonely Trout. But their SS (Neto) and 1Bman (Schanuel) , second year man brought up at 20 and pure rookie made plays. They also seem to have a #1 of sorts in Detmers. I see nothing close on the Red Sox.

[iortiz]

… thanks God I didn’t watch this, and I thought the A’s were a minor league team.

 

How we became this? How?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

By the time September arrives we will look back at these early posts and realize just how wrong we were about this SOX team.

 

Now many here would say he's either kidding or he's a damn fool. Well, the only way I can respond to those assertions is to say they would be correct on both.

Edited April 13, 2024 by SPLENDIDSPLINTER

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

… thanks God I didn’t watch this, and I thought the A’s were a minor league team.

 

How we became this? How?

 

 

Well, the SOX have finished last in the AL East 6 times in the last 13 years. It'll be 7 in the last 14(50%) after this season.

How? The SOX FO is still waiting for their HS draftees to reach MLB status. IOW, they're banking on prospects to turn this embarrassing franchise around.

I did notice a lot of empty seats tonight, so that's a start, or is that an end? Stay tuned.

[Maxbialystock]

There's fielding of routine plays which anyone migrating through the HS, College and especially MiLB ranks performs to 95%++ accuracy, some even better with range and good arms. The idiots I see in the Sox current infield /bench are not performing the most basic fundamental plays, like a DP.. Watching the Angels tonight showed what is possible on DP balls. Trust me the Angels will not be a playoff team and have no stars beyond lonely Trout. But their SS (Neto) and 1Bman (Schanuel) , second year man brought up at 20 and pure rookie made plays. They also seem to have a #1 of sorts in Detmers. I see nothing close on the Red Sox.

 

Agree completely. No team should ever allow itself to get this bad at this many positions. Yes, hitting comes first, but, just as you say, there has to be a minimum competency level that right now is well above what this team is doing because it's infuriating.

 

As I said elsewhere, it's so bad right now--fielding especially, but also the lack of hitting--were I JH I would be tempted to fire Cora just to send a message. This mess is not Cora's fault, but managers are hired to be fired.

 

And, yes, I agree this is probably mostly JH's fault. But he's still paying $180M, the 11th biggest payroll in MLB, and what he's got is an incompetent team--at least, right now they are. They were pretty good on the West Coast, so maybe it's a time zone thing.

[Maxbialystock]

… thanks God I didn’t watch this, and I thought the A’s were a minor league team.

 

How we became this? How?

 

What a great question(s). I'm serious. The Sox are doing everything wrong back home at Fenway and after going 7-3 on the dreaded West Coast. It passeth all understanding.

[moonslav59]

We put starting pitching and defense on the back burner, after the Sale & Nate extensions.

 

I think that is the main reason.

 

We can blame JH, Bloom, Brez, Cora, the system or whatever, but the fact is, these areas have been in a pretty steady decline for over 5 years.

 

It's not like our hitting has been great, but we've avoided investing in pitching, and when we did invest some, we swung and missed more than we hit.

 

[Maxbialystock]

Well, the SOX have finished last in the AL East 6 times in the last 13 years. It'll be 7 in the last 14(50%) after this season.

How? The SOX FO is still waiting for their HS draftees to reach MLB status. IOW, they're banking on prospects to turn this embarrassing franchise around.

I did notice a lot of empty seats tonight, so that's a start, or is that an end? Stay tuned.

 

Oh, stop it. Just stop it. This is the same franchise that ended the 86 year drought and won 4 WS. You haven't lived long enough to be allowed to comment on what really bad is. Just 6 years ago was the best season in Sox history--and it followed two seasons when the Sox won the AL East but lost in the ALDS both years--thus was Farrell fired. So in comes Cora plus JDM, etc--and bingo!

 

And, since you're on a run, please identify which other MLB team is doing so much better than the Sox over the last 20+ seasons!

 

We all know what happened. JH got pissed after the very pricey Sox--top payroll in MLB--bombed in 2019 and simply fired DD and brought in Chaim Bloom of Tampa Rays fame. And it's irrefutable at this point that that move simply didn't work. Not enough time to build a whole new system like the Rays--and definitely not enough smarts in the Sox so-called "system." Fact is, the Sox farm system has produced some good players, but JH made sure he bought what the farm failed to produce--especially hitters and pitchers. And DD was pretty good at using JH's bank to fill in the key slots--like JDM after Ortiz retired. Like Price and Sale and Kimbrel and Eovaldi. Like dumping HanRam and the fat thirdbaseman from San Francisco.

 

And now we're in the twilight zone where any freaking thing can happen. Dogs are living with cats! We need the Ghostbusters!

[jung]

It's also possible you don't understand. Position players have to do two things, field and hit. The Sox have always, always preferred hitting over fielding. Thus in their four WS seasons of 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018, the Sox were ranked 1st, 4th, 1st, and 1st in MLB in runs scored in the regular season.

 

I'm sure the Sox have no moral objection to good fielding, but they never let it get in the way of good hitting.

 

Oh and you think this year's sox team features good hitting? They could not hit a barn door with a base fiddle.

 

 

Their most consistent asset this year is their pitching and that SUCKS, most particularly their bullpen which will soon enough turn to dust.

Edited April 13, 2024 by jung

[moonslav59]

Here is a look at our worst pitching staffs, since 2003:

 

ERA-

120 2020

111 2012

110 2022

105 2005

104 2015

102 2006

100 2014

100 2023

 

3 of our worst 10 defensive (DRS) seasons since 2003 were

2023 (6th worst)

2022 (7th worst)

2020 (10th worst)

 

Our best ERA- seasons since 2003:

 

82 2017

83 2007

84 2018

89 2004

89 2008

90 2013

 

It's no fluke that the 4 ring seasons were in the top 6 staffs of the last 21 seasons.

 

[moonslav59]

Oh and you think this year's sox team features good hitting? They could not hit a barn door with a base fiddle.

 

 

Their most consistent asset this year is their pitching and that SUCKS, most particularly their bullpen which will soon enough turn to dust.

 

14th is runs scored is not great, but the D has been the killer.

[Maxbialystock]

Oh and you think this year's sox team features good hitting? They could not hit a barn door with a base fiddle.

 

 

Their most consistent asset this year is their pitching and that SUCKS, most particularly their bullpen which will soon enough turn to dust.

 

The rotation has been incredible given that their total salary is $14M and all 5 of them started for the Sox last year.

 

Agree completely the hitting sucks, but it still had/has higher priority than fielding.

 

The Sox were 7-3 on the West Coast and are 0-4 at home. Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

[jad]

Oh, stop it. Just stop it. This is the same franchise that ended the 86 year drought and won 4 WS. You haven't lived long enough to be allowed to comment on what really bad is. Just 6 years ago was the best season in Sox history--and it followed two seasons when the Sox won the AL East but lost in the ALDS both years--thus was Farrell fired. So in comes Cora plus JDM, etc--and bingo!

 

And, since you're on a run, please identify which other MLB team is doing so much better than the Sox over the last 20+ seasons!

 

We all know what happened. JH got pissed after the very pricey Sox--top payroll in MLB--bombed in 2019 and simply fired DD and brought in Chaim Bloom of Tampa Rays fame. And it's irrefutable at this point that that move simply didn't work. Not enough time to build a whole new system like the Rays--and definitely not enough smarts in the Sox so-called "system." Fact is, the Sox farm system has produced some good players, but JH made sure he bought what the farm failed to produce--especially hitters and pitchers. And DD was pretty good at using JH's bank to fill in the key slots--like JDM after Ortiz retired. Like Price and Sale and Kimbrel and Eovaldi. Like dumping HanRam and the fat thirdbaseman from San Francisco.

 

And now we're in the twilight zone where any freaking thing can happen. Dogs are living with cats! We need the Ghostbusters!

 

SpSp wasn't complaining about the RS success (a point you address here). He was complaining about their failures--i.e., their last place finishes.

[Bellhorn04]

Well, the SOX have finished last in the AL East 6 times in the last 13 years. It'll be 7 in the last 14(50%) after this season.

How? The SOX FO is still waiting for their HS draftees to reach MLB status. IOW, they're banking on prospects to turn this embarrassing franchise around.

I did notice a lot of empty seats tonight, so that's a start, or is that an end? Stay tuned.

 

Correction - if the Sox finish last this year it'll be 7 times in 13 years - 53.8%.

[d-money]

Our old friend ryan brasier blew a game for the dodgers last night. Lol

[Bellhorn04]

Our old friend ryan brasier blew a game for the dodgers last night. Lol

 

The only fun for a lot of us this year will be Yankee losses and Dodger losses.

[jad]

Our old friend ryan brasier blew a game for the dodgers last night. Lol

 

Yeah and Mookie went 1-6. Thank god we got rid of those guys!

[Maxbialystock]

SpSp wasn't complaining about the RS success (a point you address here). He was complaining about their failures--i.e., their last place finishes.

 

And I'm just saying Sox fans, especially those who've been fans since John Henry bought the team, should be grateful for the all the good times. In the John Henry era the Sox have pretty much been the standard for MLB--not nearly to the degree the Yankees have been in the past, but still the standard--but that doesn't mean there can't/won't be bad years.

 

I do not at all disagree that right now is unprecedented in the John Henry era because the money is drying up, and historically the Sox have never had a good enough farm system not to need some big bucks to provide the odd big bat or two--or great arm or two--their so-called system doesn't provide.

 

To make matters worse, someone else pointed out that, if Devers goes on the IL because of his bad shoulder, that would be $29M to add to Story's $23M, Giolito's $18M, Pivetta's $7M, Sale's $17M, and Turner's $6.7M--a total of $100M--the Sox would be paying for players who ain't playing (or not playing for the Sox). That $100M is out of the total payroll of $180M.

[gojohn99]

That was a pathetic display of baseball...I was unlucky enough to see it in person

[Bellhorn04]

That was a pathetic display of baseball...I was unlucky enough to see it in person

 

I hear there was a chorus of boos from the fans still there at the end.

 

Still, it was a Fenway Experience, right?

[gojohn99]

I hear there was a chorus of boos from the fans still there at the end.

 

Still, it was a Fenway Experience, right?

 

It was an "experience". I booed after the Ward HR. Houck was toast, he should never have come out for the 6th.

And the "defense"...ugh!