Rays (Baz) vs Red Sox (Bello); 6/9/25, 7:10pm

[jdc69]

18 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

This isn’t a small market team with limited resources like the Rays. We should be competitive nearly every year. This is the fourth year in a row where we stink. That’s inexcusable. Something is rotten with this franchise-probably a lot is rotten, starting with the owners.

Getting one of the best farm systems in the league was worth it. Combining deep pockets with it is the right way to build a team, which we have done. After that though, I can't stand the things we do and have done. Its not the players though, it's the management and general management.

[FredLynn]

9 minutes ago, jdc69 said:

Getting one of the best farm systems in the league was worth it. Combining deep pockets with it is the right way to build a team, which we have done. After that though, I can't stand the things we do and have done. Its not the players though, it's the management and general management.

I think we do have a good farm system now-and that bodes well for the future. But we should be competitive nearly every year. We aren’t-at least we haven’t been 

[Old Red]

7 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

These gut-punch losses are killing me.

Gut punch losses? Talk about being over dramatic.🤭 The Red Sox are a 36 loss team that are more losses than  every team in the league except for three. It was no surprise to me that the Red Sox took 2 of three from the Yankees, but it’s also NO surprise to me that the Red Sox looked like a Little League team losing last night, so the Red Sox losing again certainly isn’t a life, and death situation.

[notin]

7 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

I agree losing provides a compelling argument for firing the manager.  However, it is unarguable that the quality of Sox players, especially the pitchers, has gone steadily down since 2019,  and that's mostly because JH didn't want to keep paying big bucks for pitchers who crap out--like Price and Sale on the 2019 team. 

Also, 2021 was not a bad year, not when the Sox made it to the ALCS.  

 

The idea of the ever-replenishing farm was slowed by Bloom and his repeated use of high draft picks on safer position players.  He actually did a very good job with them, but the pitching void remains…

[notin]

This loss might be on Cora.  Not sure why he would walk Aranda to load the bases for a white hot Junior Caminero (who thankfully only walked). I get Aranda hits left-handed, but not all lefties are Ted Williams…

[mvp 78]

8 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

I agree losing provides a compelling argument for firing the manager.  However, it is unarguable that the quality of Sox players, especially the pitchers, has gone steadily down since 2019,  and that's mostly because JH didn't want to keep paying big bucks for pitchers who crap out--like Price and Sale on the 2019 team. 

Also, 2021 was not a bad year, not when the Sox made it to the ALCS.  

Cora is not picking the players. All over this board, people are overstating what some of these players bring to the table.

Duran is a 104 wRC+ guy right now (16th ranked LFer in MLB), but people say we can't possibly trade him. Why? What about his 745 OPS is untradeable? For a leadoff guy, his bb rate is 22nd for LFers. Yuck! Abreu has been a consistent performer every year he's been in the league. If you pair him with a weak side platoon bat (easy to find and maybe it's Jhostynxon), you're golden.

It's similar with Houck. Everyone is mad at Bailey for ruining Houck. Houck wasn't very good before Bailey showed up. If it wasn't for Bailey, Houck would have never made the AS team. 

People thought Bello was going to be a #2. When he didn't end up being that guy, they had to blame anyone but the player. It makes no sense. Maybe just take a breath and stop overrating these guys?

This team is fine, but they will be on the outside looking in of any sort of real playoff run without massive roster changes. 

 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, notin said:

The idea of the ever-replenishing farm was slowed by Bloom and his repeated use of high draft picks on safer position players.  He actually did a very good job with them, but the pitching void remains…

The problem with Bloom's draft strategy is that he picked HS bats that take longer to develop which just slowed the timing of providing help to the big club. He did a decent job of drafting and hoarding, but didn't help the BoSox and wasn't really great at identifying pitching.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Gut punch losses? Talk about being over dramatic.🤭 The Red Sox are a 36 loss team that are more losses than  every team in the league except for three. It was no surprise to me that the Red Sox took 2 of three from the Yankees, but it’s also NO surprise to me that the Red Sox looked like a Little League team losing last night, so the Red Sox losing again certainly isn’t a life, and death situation.

I don't think there are gut punch losses this early in the season for an under .500 team. It just doesn't seem possible. 

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I don't think there are gut punch losses this early in the season for an under .500 team. It just doesn't seem possible. 

What if that team has 36 losses, but 17 of them are by 1 run?

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

What if that team has 36 losses, but 17 of them are by 1 run?

What does that matter? A loss is a loss. They are still far behind the other teams and have lots of ground to catch up. It's not like they'll automatically go 17-0 in the next 1 run games or project to be anything better than .500 in those. If anything, you should be fine with the "gut punches" if there are so many close losses. 🤔

[Old Red]

13 minutes ago, notin said:

What if that team has 36 losses, but 17 of them are by 1 run?

If all 36 losses were by 1 run it would still be 36 losses, and most likely most would be from bad fundamental baseball. They are what they are a bad fundamental baseball team.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Gut punch losses? Talk about being over dramatic.🤭 The Red Sox are a 36 loss team that are more losses than  every team in the league except for three. It was no surprise to me that the Red Sox took 2 of three from the Yankees, but it’s also NO surprise to me that the Red Sox looked like a Little League team losing last night, so the Red Sox losing again certainly isn’t a life, and death situation.

Gut punches don't kill. Talk about being "overly" dramatic.

The loss hurt. Shoot me for being hyperbolic.

[jgar658]

12 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Didn't take Roman long to join the Sox error club.

He looked like a deer in headlights.  I did that same error in right field at age 11 when they first put me in the game.  That hurts!

[Old Red]

14 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Gut punches don't kill. Talk about being "overly" dramatic.

The loss hurt. Shoot me for being hyperbolic.

Why don’t you go do a  Wildcard Standings update? Maybe you’ll feel better. By the way you are the one who said the gut punch losses were killing you.😉👋

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Why don’t you go do a  Wildcard Standings update? Maybe you’ll feel better. By the way you are the one who said the gut punch losses were killing you.😉👋

Still not sure why you are so obsessed with my standings postings and hyperbole, but carry on.

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

What does that matter? A loss is a loss. They are still far behind the other teams and have lots of ground to catch up. It's not like they'll automatically go 17-0 in the next 1 run games or project to be anything better than .500 in those. If anything, you should be fine with the "gut punches" if there are so many close losses. 🤔

It matters when you’re talking about “gut punching” losses or whatever team you use to describe disheartening losses.

They just lost a game a couple days ago because they opted for a 5-4-3 double play over cutting down the run at home…

[notin]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

The problem with Bloom's draft strategy is that he picked HS bats that take longer to develop which just slowed the timing of providing help to the big club. He did a decent job of drafting and hoarding, but didn't help the BoSox and wasn't really great at identifying pitching.

It seemed like his plan was simply to collect blue chip prospects in hopes of increasing the quality of the farm.  The easiest way to do that is to avoid those risky pitchers with high draft picks…

[notin]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

If all 36 losses were by 1 run it would still be 36 losses, and most likely most would be from bad fundamental baseball. They are what they are a bad fundamental baseball team.

How are they a bad fundamental team? That’s a vague criticism that probably confuses fundamentals with skill…

[Bellhorn04]

7 minutes ago, notin said:

How are they a bad fundamental team? That’s a vague criticism that probably confuses fundamentals with skill…

That's a big question with this team - how much is the players and how much is the coaches. 

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, notin said:

It seemed like his plan was simply to collect blue chip prospects in hopes of increasing the quality of the farm.  The easiest way to do that is to avoid those risky pitchers with high draft picks…

Pitchers taken after Yorke in the 1st round: Bryce Jarvis, Cade Cavalli, Nick Bitsko, Jared Shuster, Bobby Miller (probably should have taken PCA, Jordan Walker, Austin Wells, or Jordan Westburg though)

Pitchers after Mayer: Frank Mozzicato, Sam Bachman, Kumar Rocker, Andrew Painter, Will Bednar, Gunnar Hoglund, Jordan Hicks, Ryan Cusick and others (Cowser, Lawlar, House, Frelick, Watson, Merrill also taken in this loaded 1st round)

I agree that not taking a pitcher in the first round may be a good idea, my thought was that college bats like Westburg, Wells and Cowser take less time to get to the show and provide more immediate impact to the MLB roster. 

 

 

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

That's a big question with this team - how much is the players and how much is the coaches. 

The fundamentals are bad across MLB when you watch a lot of other games. It's not just the Red Sox. Even the Rays 3b was let off the hook last night by instant replay because he was going to tag the runner, but chose to throw to 1b and Wong was called safe with the bases loaded and 2 outs.

[notin]

38 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

That's a big question with this team - how much is the players and how much is the coaches. 

With Anthony up, this team has what, eight rookies right now?  That is certainly an important factor.

(I’m counting Van Belle because he’s here, but I don’t think he will last long.)

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, notin said:

With Anthony up, this team has what, eight rookies right now?  That is certainly an important factor.

(I’m counting Van Belle because he’s here, but I don’t think he will last long.)

With all the pitching injuries, he may be here a while unless (a) he gets injured or (b) is overused by Cora. 

[notin]

44 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

With all the pitching injuries, he may be here a while unless (a) he gets injured or (b) is overused by Cora. 

Or he’s awful…

[notin]

45 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

With all the pitching injuries, he may be here a while unless (a) he gets injured or (b) is overused by Cora. 

And for all the hype on the big three, the current front runner for Sox ROY has got to be Narvaez.  And by a lot…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

44 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

With all the pitching injuries, he may be here a while unless (a) he gets injured or (b) is overused by Cora. 

B = A = C U later

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Just now, notin said:

And for all the hype on the big three, the current front runner for Sox ROY has got to be Narvaez.  And by a lot…

he's a real CAR-NARV-ore

batting high as number 4

isn't he a bit like Big Three wannabees