Pirates (Keller) vs Red Sox (Giolito): 8/31/25, 1:35pm

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Just now, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

It appears the Phillies have picked up Buehler.

Loosing Wheeler I'm sure prompted this move.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

It appears the Phillies have picked up Buehler.

Minor league deal.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Minor league deal.

True, but he's expected to start for the Phillies quite soon. He's also PO eligible.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Just now, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

True, but he's expected to start for the Phillies quite soon. He's also PO eligible.

Very low risk for the Phils.

[Donnie Sadler was short]

11 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Very low risk for the Phils.

well its risky if he pitches...lol

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Donnie Sadler was short said:

well its risky if he pitches...lol

I was hoping the Yanks would add the risk.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I was hoping the Yanks would add the risk.

Phillies FO is probably hoping he can be effective for them in the PO's like he was for the Dodgers. No pitcher in recent history has gotten more mileage just for his performance in the PO's, while his regular season before the PO's was completely ignored.

Oh well, win some, lose some.

 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

3 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Phillies FO is probably hoping he can be effective for them in the PO's like he was for the Dodgers. No pitcher in recent history has gotten more mileage just for his performance in the PO's, while his regular season before the PO's was completely ignored.

Oh well, win some, lose some.

 

Btw, Phillies ballpark is more HR friendly than Fenway.

[Maxbialystock]

48 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Minor league deal.

They don't have to pay Buehler, do they?  

[Maxbialystock]

16 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Btw, Phillies ballpark is more HR friendly than Fenway.

I'm glad the Sox dumped Buehler but can see why the Phillies want to give him a shot. 

[Maxbialystock]

5 hours ago, FredLynn said:

Lower calf sprains take a long time to heal

Are you kidding me?  Wow.  

[FredLynn]

25 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Are you kidding me?  Wow.  

A couple of weeks for mild sprain. Six weeks or more for severe sprains. Moderate is in between. 

Calf strain recovery time

Most people recover fully from pulled calf muscles without any permanent damage. Ask your healthcare provider when you can gradually start to do light activities again. Depending on the severity of your injury, it may be several weeks or even months before you can return to full activities.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21558-pulled-calf-muscle

 

[moonslav59]

Maybe Abreu can DH. We have too many OF'ers.

Ooops, I forgot. Yoshida must DH.

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

Well that game was a relief.  They could not get swept at home by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Gio on the bump.  Huge hit by Duran who needs more of these.  

[Bellhorn04]

8 minutes ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

Well that game was a relief.  They could not get swept at home by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Gio on the bump.  Huge hit by Duran who needs more of these.  

He also had the game-deciding 3 run homer in the first game of the Orioles series, so 2 huge hits in 7 games.

[notin]

14 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

True, but he's expected to start for the Phillies quite soon. He's also PO eligible.

So he replaces Wheeler in the rotation for the season and Alvarado in the bullpen for the postseason…

[notin]

9 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Maybe Abreu can DH. We have too many OF'ers.

Ooops, I forgot. Yoshida must DH.

It’s a shame they don’t just DFA Yoshida so that on of the outfielders can get hurt and the Sox can call up Trayce Thompson to DH…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

30 minutes ago, notin said:

It’s a shame they don’t just DFA Yoshida so that on of the outfielders can get hurt and the Sox can call up Trayce Thompson to DH…

No worries, the TWO SEPTEMBER CALL-UPS for the stretch run are Ali Sanchez and Zack Kelly!!!!!

Reinforcements are here.

[Bellhorn04]

37 minutes ago, notin said:

It’s a shame they don’t just DFA Yoshida so that on of the outfielders can get hurt and the Sox can call up Trayce Thompson to DH…

Yeah, really.  I'm pretty glad they didn't trade Duran, personally, especially with Abreu on the shelf.  Depth is not such a bad thing.

 

[notin]

14 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

They don't have to pay Buehler, do they?  

Pro-rated MLB minimum.  Sox are on the hook for the rest…

[notin]

38 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yeah, really.  I'm pretty glad they didn't trade Duran, personally, especially with Abreu on the shelf.  Depth is not such a bad thing.

 

The difference is, however, anyone advocating a trade of Duran is advocating trading for something.  No one wants Duran just DFAd or out the door to remove Cora’s temptation from starting the allegedly inferior players. (Wouldn’t that make Cora the problem?)  
 

If the problem with Yoshida is the salary, then it’s pointless to pay him to play elsewhere.  Plus some of us dont live in this FantasyLand where Henry and Co. re-invest every dollar saved back into the roster…

[notin]

58 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

No worries, the TWO SEPTEMBER CALL-UPS for the stretch run are Ali Sanchez and Zack Kelly!!!!!

Reinforcements are here.

I see why Sánchez was called up - having a third catcher can be a big deal, especially if ping hitting for Wong is a necessity.

Not wild about Kelly.  What other pitchers were available and healthy?

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

The difference is, however, anyone advocating a trade of Duran is advocating trading for something.  No one wants Duran just DFAd or out the door to remove Cora’s temptation from starting the allegedly inferior players. (Wouldn’t that make Cora the problem?)  
 

If the problem with Yoshida is the salary, then it’s pointless to pay him to play elsewhere.  Plus some of us dont live in this FantasyLand where Henry and Co. re-invest every dollar saved back into the roster…

I'm 100% certain that Yoshida's playing time is as much a Breslow decision as a Cora decision.  They're obviously giving him a lot of time to get the rust off.  Just as obviously if he doesn't start hitting soon he's in jeopardy of bad things like being left off the playoff roster if we get there.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

It’s a shame they don’t just DFA Yoshida so that on of the outfielders can get hurt and the Sox can call up Trayce Thompson to DH…

We already have an OF'er hurt (Abreu.) I'd still rather see Garcia & Romy or Garcia & Ref DH over Yoshida.

When Abreu returns, we could DH Duran or rotate OF'ers to get them some rest.

[notin]

19 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I'm 100% certain that Yoshida's playing time is as much a Breslow decision as a Cora decision.  They're obviously giving him a lot of time to get the rust off.  Just as obviously if he doesn't start hitting soon he's in jeopardy of bad things like being left off the playoff roster if we get there.

I have to think it’s more Cora.  I’ve never gotten the impression Breslow is a Yoshida fan.

Yoshida sat rusting  away not playing in Worcester for a reason, and one not related to his ability to swing a bat, as he had done so in March.  Certainly Cora wasn’t responsible for keeping Yoshida off the active roster in Worcester.  Not to mention Breslow always had the plan to push out Yoshida and make Devers the DH…

 

[Bellhorn04]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

I have to think it’s more Cora.  I’ve never gotten the impression Breslow is a Yoshida fan.

Yoshida sat rusting  away not playing in Worcester for a reason, and one not related to his ability to swing a bat, as he had done so in March.  Certainly Cora wasn’t responsible for keeping Yoshida off the active roster in Worcester.  Not to mention Breslow always had the plan to push out Yoshida and make Devers the DH…

 

We're all just speculating.  But Breslow has shown he's a pretty decisive guy IMHO.  

In any case it's only common sense to give Yoshida a fair shot.  

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, notin said:

I have to think it’s more Cora.  I’ve never gotten the impression Breslow is a Yoshida fan.

Yoshida sat rusting  away not playing in Worcester for a reason, and one not related to his ability to swing a bat, as he had done so in March.  Certainly Cora wasn’t responsible for keeping Yoshida off the active roster in Worcester.  Not to mention Breslow always had the plan to push out Yoshida and make Devers the DH…

 

This post seems to be evidence that it's more Breslow's fault when Yoshida does or does not play. He could pull the plug on Cora's choice, anytime he wants.

Brez must be okay with Yoshida as the platoon DH, right now.

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

This post seems to be evidence that it's more Breslow's fault when Yoshida does or does not play. He could pull the plug on Cora's choice, anytime he wants.

Brez must be okay with Yoshida as the platoon DH, right now.

If they're going to give up on him now they might as well release him.

We all know he might start hitting.  Why wouldn't he?  He hit righties very well in 2023 and 2024.  He's healthy.  He's just rusty. 

Look at how Story shook off the rust after people were giving up on him.

I think you have to give him a couple more weeks.    

That's just playing the percentages.    

 

[moonslav59]

22 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

If they're going to give up on him now they might as well release him.

We all know he might start hitting.  Why wouldn't he?  He hit righties very well in 2023 and 2024.  He's healthy.  He's just rusty. 

Look at how Story shook off the rust after people were giving up on him.

I think you have to give him a couple more weeks.    

That's just playing the percentages.    

 

I understand why they are playing him. I agree he still has .770+ potential, and in this league, that's 50 points above average. It could just be rust, but why wasn't he DHing with WOO all summer? We still have never gotten an answer to that mystery.

We are in the race, now. There can be no pulling punches. I've listed all of the long stretches of slumps Cora has allowed to continue, this year. Some, such as Story's and Rafaela's have paid off. (Maybe Wong will be the 3rd example as he has begun showing life, after a long death-like stretch.)

With Abreu out, the pressure on playing all 4 OF'ers was lifted, and the need to play Rafaela at 2B further lessened the bottleneck, but when Abreu returns, I don't care if Yoshida hits .770 or even .800: there is no place for him in the starting line-up, even versus RHPs.

I guess one could argue for playing Rafaela at 2B FT, so Anthony, Duran & Abreu-Refsnyder can all play everyday, but I have to think that weakening of our defense is counter to putting our best team on the field and in the line-up. I'd rather DH an OF'er- mostly Duran, and play DHam-Romy at 2B than keep Yoshida at DH.

If that means DFA'ing him, okay, but I'd keep him in the system at Woo for the reasons you mentioned. If he can ever get back to .770+, he could have value in 2026. Let him prove it in Woo, first. We can't afford to rehab him on the big club during a pennant chase. Plus, he can play FT at Woo and not platoon.

[notin]

4 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

We already have an OF'er hurt (Abreu.) I'd still rather see Garcia & Romy or Garcia & Ref DH over Yoshida.

When Abreu returns, we could DH Duran or rotate OF'ers to get them some rest.

That didn’t even make sense.

Yoshida has shown himself to hit RHP better than either Refsnyder or Gonzalez.  And if the complaint is too many OFs, why is bringing Garcia the acceptable solution?  Thats just as complicated.  Not to mention, how long until the fascination with Password wears off?  If he’s still mediocre after 200PA, does he get packed away on the Forgotten Shelf next to Kristian Campbell?

Given the weaknesses the Sox OFs have vs LHP, there are plenty of ABs to go around for Refsnyder and Romy.  Not sure why the urge to force one or both into the game vs LHP.