Phillies (Luzardo) vs Red Sox (Suarez): 5/14/26, 6:45pm

[drewski6]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

Maybe but you probably watched “The Comeback” on Netflix.  Henry was clear about in game decisions hen in the 2003 ALCS, at one point he said of Little “Can we just fire him now?”

thats exactly what i was thinking about haha, and probably the coolest thing Henry has ever said.

[drewski6]

Im still distrubed by the phrase kiss my ruby-red backside.  Why is your backside ruby red?  Are you getting spanked by somebody?

[drewski6]

Hey consenting adults, none of my business

[Bellhorn04]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

To be clear, TYPM is not a current poster. 

Aha.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 minute ago, drewski6 said:

Im still distrubed by the phrase kiss my ruby-red backside.  Why is your backside ruby red?  Are you getting spanked by somebody?

Embareassed.

[FredLynn]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Why  not switch to another team and spare us?

You're going to switch to another team? 

Good choice.

[FredLynn]

2 hours ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

Yeah we all knew this all winter, this is not a surprise although I didn't see last place  They were counting on much more from players like Anthony and of course Duran.  Both have given them nothing and that was not expected.  But it was a poor plan from the start, what a shame we are wasting such a good starting staff. 

And now with the Bello thing looking more promising, as weird as it is, the staff just got stronger. 

I predicted fourth place because the FO did not significantly improve the offense or the pen. The addition of Ranger Suarez was a plus, as was getting Contreras-but it was woefully insufficient. The proof that I was right over the winter is our record. To be fair, too many of our current players are underperforming. But that is understandable. They are demoralized by a FO who clearly doesn't believe in them.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

I predicted fourth place because the FO did not significantly improve the offense or the pen. The addition of Ranger Suarez was a plus, as was getting Contreras-but it was woefully insufficient. The proof that I was right over the winter is our record. To be fair, too many of our current players are underperforming. But that is understandable. They are demoralized by a FO who clearly doesn't believe in them.

You also thought they'd be way above .500. 

[FredLynn]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

You also thought they'd be way above .500. 

Yup. I overestimated them. I was counting on the current roster to perform as expected, and they aren't doing that. I should have taken into account how demoralizing it must be for the players to realize that the FO is too cheap to pay for the kind of help they needed over the winter. Schwarber said that the FLOPS expressed what he called "tepid interest" in signing him, consisting of one zoom call. Thats pathetic.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

Yup. I overestimated them. I was counting on the current roster to perform as expected, and they aren't doing that. I should have taken into account how demoralizing it must be for the players to realize that the FO is too cheap to pay for the kind of help they needed over the winter. Schwarber said that the FLOPS expressed what he called "tepid interest" in signing him, consisting of one zoom call. Thats pathetic.

We all overestimated them. They actually flopped this year unlike last year. 

[FredLynn]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

We all overestimated them. They actually flopped this year unlike last year. 

Last year was fine. It was a rebuilding year where our top prospects made an entrance. I was happy just getting into to playoffs last year but I wrote many times that I would not be satisfied this year with just putting in an appearance in Oct. They had everything they needed to make a deep run this year except for a couple of key additions, and we all knew what they needed (as did the players). But Henry was too cheap and BrewLOW too incompetent to get it done. Hence, we are here.

[moonslav59]

15 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

You're going to switch to another team? 

Good choice.

Nice one.

I'm an addict stuck on the first step. I realize I'm an addict but will not budge from step one.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Last year was fine. It was a rebuilding year where our top prospects made an entrance. I was happy just getting into to playoffs last year but I wrote many times that I would not be satisfied this year with just putting in an appearance in Oct. They had everything they needed to make a deep run this year except for a couple of key additions, and we all knew what they needed (as did the players). But Henry was too cheap and BrewLOW too incompetent to get it done. Hence, we are here.

The roster was incomplete for the 5th year running (at least). 

[drewski6]

12 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Yup. I overestimated them. I was counting on the current roster to perform as expected, and they aren't doing that. I should have taken into account how demoralizing it must be for the players to realize that the FO is too cheap to pay for the kind of help they needed over the winter. Schwarber said that the FLOPS expressed what he called "tepid interest" in signing him, consisting of one zoom call. Thats pathetic.

Your never-ending optimism gets the better of you again!

[mvp 78]

I don't see how the Sox could have signed Schwarber. They already had 4 OFers, 1 DH AND a Trevor Story that now needs to be moved out of the IF. If you sign Schwarber, that's possibly 3 roster moves they have to make to fit Schwarber onto the team.

[notin]

18 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Yup. I overestimated them. I was counting on the current roster to perform as expected, and they aren't doing that. I should have taken into account how demoralizing it must be for the players to realize that the FO is too cheap to pay for the kind of help they needed over the winter. Schwarber said that the FLOPS expressed what he called "tepid interest" in signing him, consisting of one zoom call. Thats pathetic.

If the current hitters were performing as expected, this team is rivaling NY and Tampa…

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I don't see how the Sox could have signed Schwarber. They already had 4 OFers, 1 DH AND a Trevor Story that now needs to be moved out of the IF. If you sign Schwarber, that's possibly 3 roster moves they have to make to fit Schwarber onto the team.

Put him back at catcher!

[Bellhorn04]

30 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Im still distrubed by the phrase kiss my ruby-red backside.  Why is your backside ruby red?  Are you getting spanked by somebody?

Well, sbf said he had a whole room full of Red Sox stuff.  Maybe he has other rooms with interesting stuff too.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Well, sbf said he had a whole room full of Red Sox stuff.  Maybe he has other rooms with interesting stuff too.

It's Friday, I'll allow it. 

[moonslav59]

If you look at the 2015 team, unless you think they were lucky and overperformed, the hopes were high for 2026.

The loss of Devers appeared to be not as impactful as we thought, as Anthony and others covered up his loss. We knew we had holes, especially thinking of Devers and the pending loss of Bregman, Ref and N Lowe. The loss of Gio was kinda offset by the losses of Buehler, DMat and other failed pitchers coming off the books/roster.

The general consensus was we needed two big bats, one big arm and some pen help.

We can argue that Contreras filled one of the big bat needs and Suarez the big arm need, so that left one more big bat and pen help. Those two areas have proven to be major issues, as we expected.

The idea that Sonny Gray and Oviedo, plus more time from Tolle & Early could make up for the missing bat and that some SP'ers could help out the pen might be argued as a bad plan/choice, but to me, it was still an effort made towards winning more in 2026 than 2025. The addition of Durbin and planning on major time from Mayer was supposed to improve the defense at 2B and maybe stay even at 3B (Breggie & Toro gone) and 1B D would improve. Better pitching and D was supposed to make up for one too few bats.

It turns out we are still 2-4 bats too short, as several players flopped- some unexpectedly, some sort of predictably. Sure, blame the GM for this and for not seeing it coming. It's the nature of the job.

I look at 2025 and see adding Contreras, Suarez and Gray as the best 3 additions we've seen any GM make in one winter in a very long time. That's not kissing Brez's butt. This team has failed, and he made some wrong choices and non-moves.

I'm not going to blame injuries, as other teams have had many and even more than us. The Durbin, IKF and Oviedo deals have not worked well. The winter was not a rousing success, but the fact is the big 3 moves have worked, so far- in isolation.

We should have been better, this year. The rest of the AL rated to get worse. I think higher expectations were reasonable but with cautions and concerns.

This team has flopped, and to call a team a flop, means they are doing worse than they should be doing. Of course, the "flop" has been directed towards Brez & Co. by several posters, and those points have merit, but let's not forget, too many players have flopped- some are pre-prime or in prime. They are flops, too.

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The roster was incomplete for the 5th year running (at least). 

It's like wack-a-mole.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

 more time from Tolle & Early could make up for the missing bat

Yes! Your best line -- Tolle batted clean-up and hit homers in college. 

Just don't bat him leadoff in Boston, like the Dodgers do with their two-way superduperstar.

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Yes! Your best line -- Tolle batted clean-up and hit homers in college. 

Just don't bat him leadoff in Boston, like the Dodgers do with their two-way superduperstar.

I get your point, but teams have won without good or even a decent offense.

Having a bottom 3-5 offense is another story, and TBH, nobody expected a bottom 5-10 offense.

[notin]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I get your point, but teams have won without good or even a decent offense.

Having a bottom 3-5 offense is another story, and TBH, nobody expected a bottom 5-10 offense.

They were a top 8 offense last year after Devers was dealt (in RPG, anyway).  Subtract Bregman, add the equally productive Contreras, and theyre bottom 3 in RPG…

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

They were a top 8 offense last year after Devers was dealt (in RPG, anyway).  Subtract Bregman, add the equally productive Contreras, and theyre bottom 3 in RPG…

Exactly, so why is this all on Brez?

Half the players have taken a cliff dive. Is Brez a fortune teller?

[notin]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Exactly, so why is this all on Brez?

Half the players have taken a cliff dive. Is Brez a fortune teller?

That’s why i dont accuse him of ignoring the offense…

[drewski6]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Exactly, so why is this all on Brez?

Half the players have taken a cliff dive. Is Brez a fortune teller?

In a preseason breakdown, our offense was ranked #19 by a neutral source.

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

That’s why i dont accuse him of ignoring the offense…

He did seem to plan on Contreras and Bregman, and then he pivoted to Durbin & Suarez, so I do think he knew he was making a choice to skimp on O while hoping the pitching and D would take up the slack.

The major impact to the drop in O was not so much the lack of signing Bregman, Alonso or Bichette, it was the cliff dives by Duran, Story, and Anthony. (Narvaez has not helped.)

[notin]

2 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

In a preseason breakdown, our offense was ranked #19 by a neutral source.

And if they were 19, we’d probably be .500 or better.  They just limited a Philly to 6 runs in a 3 game series and lost twice…

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

In a preseason breakdown, our offense was ranked #19 by a neutral source.

If we were 19th, now, we'd maybe be in the last WC slot.

19th would mean 25 more runs scored.

(FYI, fangraphs projected Contreras at .791.)