Twins (Paddack) vs Red Sox (Crochet): 5/4/25, 1:35pm

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

56 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

I admit that. They made some significant additions. But it seems to me that they failed to address the bullpen adequately. Maybe the plan is to rebuild in 2-3 years rather than all at once. But what I am seeing so far is that as currently constructed we are not a playoff contender.

Some of us agreed and said as much last winter.

The pen they were counting on consisted of guys either past their primes, hoping to recapture glory after injuries or unproven. 

None were current top relievers going into the season -- though Chapman has been as good as ever so far. Yet, he was what the Sox considered a reasonable investment.

Unlike primetime Tanner Scott, the kind of closer teams truly all-in are willing to pay for.

How's he doing so far? 2025 Scott: G 16, K 15, BB 0, 9 SV, WHIP 0.85, ERA 2.25,

[jdc69]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Some of us agreed and said as much last winter.

The pen they were counting on consisted of guys either past their primes, hoping to recapture glory after injuries or unproven. 

None were current top relievers going into the season -- though Chapman has been as good as ever so far. Yet, he was what the Sox considered a reasonable investment.

Unlike primetime Tanner Scott, the kind of closer teams truly all-in are willing to pay for.

How's he doing so far? 2025 Scott: G 16, K 15, BB 0, 9 SV, WHIP 0.85, ERA 2.25,

It seemed pretty simple. If you have a good offense, pair it with a good bullpen to protect a lead.

[mvp 78]

Bullpen is struggling and the offense is unable to score after the first 3 innings. Good combo!

[moonslav59]

8 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

July 31 is a long wait to do something about the bullpen.

It is.

I did mention the possible influx of SP'ers moved to the pen, as a few come off the IL, but that is hard to plan for nobody else going on the IL, as some come off it.

Criswell seems to suck at relief, and I don't see him bumping Gio or some others to the pen.

Maybe, we end up trying Dobbins as a longman pen arm. I'm not sure Drohan will ever figure into the equation. More likely, if and when Buehler, Fitts and or Crawford return, we'll see who might join the pen. Buehler is a cinch to go to the rotation and Dobbins back to AAA or the pen. I'm not sure Fitts or Crawford bump Gio to the pen, but adding them to the pen might work. Maybe Houck ends up in the pen, again (doubtful.)

I mentioned one problem with having a lot of depth that is heavy on quantity vs quality is that by the time we "trial and error" it to the point where MAYBE we find 8 good pen arms, the errors along the way lost us too many games to make the playoffs. Brez and Cora need to select well, and make changes at the "right time" with the "right" pieces. That's not easy, and our past history has not always been something to bolster confidence in fans.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Some of us agreed and said as much last winter.

The pen they were counting on consisted of guys either past their primes, hoping to recapture glory after injuries or unproven. 

None were current top relievers going into the season -- though Chapman has been as good as ever so far. Yet, he was what the Sox considered a reasonable investment.

Unlike primetime Tanner Scott, the kind of closer teams truly all-in are willing to pay for.

How's he doing so far? 2025 Scott: G 16, K 15, BB 0, 9 SV, WHIP 0.85, ERA 2.25,

I was really high on Scott. I wonder if it would have been at the expense of Buehler.

[Kimmi]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Bullpen is struggling and the offense is unable to score after the first 3 innings. Good combo!

The offense not scoring is more frustrating to me than the bullpen.  At least our starting pitching has been pitching pretty well.

[Kimmi]

All is not lost.  We've been losing a lot of 1-run games.  While these losses tend to be a lot more frustrating than losses by 4 or 5 runs, it bodes better for future games that we are losing close games rather than getting blown out.

And we are still only 2 games back in the division.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Kimmi said:

All is not lost.  We've been losing a lot of 1-run games.  While these losses tend to be a lot more frustrating than losses by 4 or 5 runs, it bodes better for future games that we are losing close games rather than getting blown out.

And we are still only 2 games back in the division.

Despite mediocrity in Boston, the Sox keep their heads above molasses in the morass of the AL East.

A .500 club remains inconsistent at losing, so they might never get buried by a seven-game losing streak...

... but that also means that a seven-game win streak to put them over the top is unlikely.

[Randy Red Sox]

12 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

If Whitlock and Slaten both keep crapping the bed like this,  the Sox are just dead meat. 

Looks like Brez should have done more for the pen.

the guys we have should have good enough just not getting it done.  Not on Brez.

[moonslav59]

9 of 16 AL teams are within 5 games of .500.

7 teams are within 3 games of .500.

The A's are tied with the Yanks, and could be up on them, if the pull out a win vs SEA (tied 5-5 in 8th.)

Most baseball fans knew DET and SEA would be pretty good, this year, but probably not #1-2. CLE and KCR at #3 & 4 were maybe not ranked so highly.

The Yanks, Sox, A's, Astros and Rangers are all within a couple games of each other, as they struggle to me ranked high enough to make the playoffs.

The NL is way more "Haves & Have NOTs." 5 teams are 8+ games over .500 and 3 are 8+ games below .500. That's more than half the NL teames.

[mvp 78]

11 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

the guys we have should have good enough just not getting it done.  Not on Brez.

The offseason acquisitions all worked out. Calling up Campbell worked out.

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The offseason acquisitions all worked out. Calling up Campbell worked out.

A lot of cracks showing in the bullpen though.  Feels pretty scary right now.  

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

A lot of cracks showing in the bullpen though.  Feels pretty scary right now.  

What's scary is how smart the front office always thinks it is when it comes to reinforcements for the pen.

And that's not just for overhyping the stuff of a guy like Zach Kelly. What kills the Red Sox every summer is the obvious company policy of not acquiring one of the top relievers available at every trade deadline.

Such refusal fools no one, especially the Sox coaches and players. We don't know what's said behind clubhouse doors, but we listen and read quotes from the manager saying, "The roster is the roster," and the star slugger saying, "They know what we need."

Instead, Breslow or Bloom wait until the last seconds tick on the deadline clock and pick up whatever scraps are left, just to make it look like they did something positive. But when the calvary trots in on Shetland ponies, it basically disillusions the team and leads to losing records every August.

 

[Kimmi]

19 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Despite mediocrity in Boston, the Sox keep their heads above molasses in the morass of the AL East.

A .500 club remains inconsistent at losing, so they might never get buried by a seven-game losing streak...

... but that also means that a seven-game win streak to put them over the top is unlikely.

That's a good way to look at it, "inconsistent at losing,"  Every time the team has a mild winning streak and gets to 2 or 3 games over .500, I think we can finally put .500 in our review mirror for good.  {Sigh}

[moonslav59]

We will finish over .500.

Book it.