Padres (King) vs Red Sox (Gray): 4/3/26, 2:10pm

[Nick]

3 hours ago, vegasbob said:

So what are the odds that OVIEDO is over ?

So sick of talking about injury prone pitchers. One thing we're good at...starting a MASH unit. 

[Deja Doh]

Tatis's glove missed it by less than a foot.

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Marcelo bomb off a lefty?!?!?!?

 

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, Deja Doh said:

Tatis's glove missed it by less than a foot.

 

Still went out.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, illinoisredsox said:

I didn't get it Wednesday when Cora left Whitlock in for 30 pitches, figuring he'd be unavailable for a couple days because of it.  In another instance of managers know stuff we don't, it turns out he was not going to be available for a vastly different reason. 

Congrats to Garrett and his wife on a baby boy.

That's a pet peeve of mine.  We have limited information about everything.  I'll voice my opinion, but I'm also completely aware that moves are made in anticipation of other moves.

[Nick]

4 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

That's a pet peeve of mine.  We have limited information about everything.  I'll voice my opinion, but I'm also completely aware that moves are made in anticipation of other moves.

I mean Whitlock didn't help himself by giving up a hit and two walks. But this is typical than 3 up 3 down to me when it comes to Whitlock. He'll be the second coming of Matt Barnes in due time.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

yeah...i woulda loved to have kept the Xman but no freakin' way at those prices. SD probably already regretting that deal. 

Would you have been happy had we extended him to $27M x 6?

He has a 103 OPS+ since he left, and those were the best (3) years of the contract.

[moonslav59]

48 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Still went out.

And, it's not like Fenway's RF is a short porch.

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, Nick said:

I mean Whitlock didn't help himself by giving up a hit and two walks. But this is typical than 3 up 3 down to me when it comes to Whitlock. He'll be the second coming of Matt Barnes in due time.

He ended the 2025 season with 13 scoreless games (14.1 IP, 10 H, 3BB & 19 BB)

What evidence leads you to think he's on the way to Barnes Road?

[Duran Is The Man]

27 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He ended the 2025 season with 13 scoreless games (14.1 IP, 10 H, 3BB & 19 BB)

What evidence leads you to think he's on the way to Barnes Road?

they were both born in June?

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Duran Is The Man said:

they were both born in June?

So were 1/12th of all HOF pitchers.

[Larry Cook]

Can we please flip story and rafeala in the lineup????  

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

Well that was a relief. They needed this win, we all did.  Not sure why Cora is so in love with Weissart, he always makes me nervous with his 9 blown saves last season.  Really happy that Durbin finally got a hit. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Non-contact highlight: Contreras' challenge that he was so convinced was Ball Four he headed to 1st before the ruling. 

Ballplayers don't need to be cocky to be good, but they have to be deliberate. 

Cora's Red Sox need less deliberation and more guys to be deliberate.

[Maxbialystock]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He ended the 2025 season with 13 scoreless games (14.1 IP, 10 H, 3BB & 19 BB)

What evidence leads you to think he's on the way to Barnes Road?

Two very differenet pitchers.  Barnes had that great curve to go with a 95 mph fast ball.  Then the umps started checking for foreign substances, and the great curve was less great.

Whitlock has a starter's repertoire.  

[moonslav59]

20 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Two very differenet pitchers.  Barnes had that great curve to go with a 95 mph fast ball.  Then the umps started checking for foreign substances, and the great curve was less great.

Whitlock has a starter's repertoire.  

I still think Whitlock is a top 30 RP'er in MLB, and that includes 30 closers and other top set-up men.

Barnes was great for a short time and pretty good the rest of the time, before his collapse.

I see no reason to think Whitlock is about to collapse.

[JoeBrady]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Would you have been happy had we extended him to $27M x 6?

No.  But I figured we'd either keep X or Devers.  I thought the gold standard for SS signings was Swanson.  Good, but not great, consistent, and wouldn't break the bank.  Swanson got $177M/7, and was one year younger.  Story was $140M/6.

Part of this might also be that I liked the guy.  He was one of us.  But had the RS walked away without an offer, I wouldn't have thought it was strange.  6 years starting at age 30 is rough, but not impossible.

[moonslav59]

39 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

No.  But I figured we'd either keep X or Devers.  I thought the gold standard for SS signings was Swanson.  Good, but not great, consistent, and wouldn't break the bank.  Swanson got $177M/7, and was one year younger.  Story was $140M/6.

Part of this might also be that I liked the guy.  He was one of us.  But had the RS walked away without an offer, I wouldn't have thought it was strange.  6 years starting at age 30 is rough, but not impossible.

I liked the idea of Swanson, too.

My position on Bogey was that he wanted SS money and he was better as a 3B/2Bman.

I questioned whether he'd have earned even $25M x 6, which was a number thrown around a lot as an extension he might have take a  year or more before he became a FA. (I'm not so sure he'd have taken that, and what he eventually got means he would have been right to say no.)

I don't think he will earn $25M x 6, but most big FA don't earn what they get. The scary thing with Bogey is, he kinda didn't even earn it year 1 and 2. He was close, though.

[JoeBrady]

14 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He ended the 2025 season with 13 scoreless games (14.1 IP, 10 H, 3BB & 19 BB)

What evidence leads you to think he's on the way to Barnes Road?

He looks as good as ever, imho.  He has a 2.47 career ERA as an RP.  I don't see a single negative number on his resume.

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

He looks as good as ever, imho.  He has a 2.47 career ERA as an RP.  I don't see a single negative number on his resume.

The diss seems totally baseless to me.

It's not like he's a junk ball pitcher getting by on smoke and mirrors. The guy has some of the nastiest stuff on the staff. He's had too many good stretches to think it was all a fluke.

Barnes had some long decent stretches, over his career, but was never great, until that one half season.

[JoeBrady]

14 hours ago, Nick said:

I mean Whitlock didn't help himself by giving up a hit and two walks. But this is typical than 3 up 3 down to me when it comes to Whitlock. He'll be the second coming of Matt Barnes in due time.

Since 2021, at a minimum of 200 IPs, Whitlock is #6 in ERA.  And #14 in Whip, so he probably has a fair amount of 3 up/3 down.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Since 2021, at a minimum of 200 IPs, Whitlock is #6 in ERA.  And #14 in Whip, so he probably has a fair amount of 3 up/3 down.

Only 107 RP'ers have over 200 IP since 2021, so despite being used as a SP'er, Whitlock still has a large enough pen sample size to be valid.

He places...

3rd in ERA- (57)

6th FIP at 2.72 and 12th in xFIP (3.10)

13th in K%-BB% (23%)

14th LOB% at 79%

16th HR/9 (0.69)

21st in fWAR at 4..8

33rd in K/9 (10.6) but 14th in BB/9 at 2.4

[JoeBrady]

20 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I questioned whether he'd have earned even $25M x 6, which was a number thrown

No doubt in my mind that I could make an argument for just walking away.  Part of my issue with his value was that he largely a product of Fenway, with a career .869 at the Fens.  His road OPS is only .748, with an average of 16 HRs/600 ABs.  With a mediocre glove, that makes him a mediocre SS overall.  Like you said, even $150M/6 was pushing it.

That said, it probably worked out worse for SD than I would've predicted.

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

No doubt in my mind that I could make an argument for just walking away.  Part of my issue with his value was that he largely a product of Fenway, with a career .869 at the Fens.  His road OPS is only .748, with an average of 16 HRs/600 ABs.  With a mediocre glove, that makes him a mediocre SS overall.  Like you said, even $150M/6 was pushing it.

That said, it probably worked out worse for SD than I would've predicted.

I realize the loss of Betts added fuel to the anger over losing Bogey, but the talk has just about disappeared after watching Bogey's SD production... or lack of it.

I did not think he was worth $25M x 6, but I was okay offering it, with the idea that he would not spend all 6 years at SS.

One issue that makes his loss hurt is that our middle infield has been very bad, since he left.

Story has had one decent year on offense, and it happened the same year his defense was below average. Our 2B clown carrousel has been hideous. Bogey would have been an improvement at either slot, but still not worth $25M/yr.

[notin]

16 hours ago, Deja Doh said:

Tatis's glove missed it by less than a foot.

 

Whats your point?

[notin]

25 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I realize the loss of Betts added fuel to the anger over losing Bogey, but the talk has just about disappeared after watching Bogey's SD production... or lack of it.

I did not think he was worth $25M x 6, but I was okay offering it, with the idea that he would not spend all 6 years at SS.

One issue that makes his loss hurt is that our middle infield has been very bad, since he left.

Story has had one decent year on offense, and it happened the same year his defense was below average. Our 2B clown carrousel has been hideous. Bogey would have been an improvement at either slot, but still not worth $25M/yr.

The Sox reportedly offered Bogaerts 6 years $162 mill before he accepted the superior San Diego deal.  But the Sox first offfere was a 4 year $90mill extension, deemed insulting by fans.

Given that Bogaerts has been a league-average hitter (OPS+ 103) and below average defensive SS since going to San Diego, has he even been worth the 4 years $90mill?

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, notin said:

The Sox reportedly offered Bogaerts 6 years $162 mill before he accepted the superior San Diego deal.  But the Sox first offfere was a 4 year $90mill extension, deemed insulting by fans.

Given that Bogaerts has been a league-average hitter (OPS+ 103) and below average defensive SS since going to San Diego, has he even been worth the 4 years $90mill?

The $90M/4 extension offer did seem low, but it looks like it pretty much nailed what he actually produced in those 4 years.

[Nick]

On 4/4/2026 at 12:11 PM, moonslav59 said:

Only 107 RP'ers have over 200 IP since 2021, so despite being used as a SP'er, Whitlock still has a large enough pen sample size to be valid.

He places...

3rd in ERA- (57)

6th FIP at 2.72 and 12th in xFIP (3.10)

13th in K%-BB% (23%)

14th LOB% at 79%

16th HR/9 (0.69)

21st in fWAR at 4..8

33rd in K/9 (10.6) but 14th in BB/9 at 2.4

All true, but I haven't trusted him since his rookie year in big situations. All I remember is last year's playoffs and what happened pitching for USA.