Red Sox (Tolle) vs Braves (Elder): 5/16/26, 7:15pm

[Brandon Glick]

I can't lie. I'm starting to get a little worried about the Red Sox.

	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	TOT
Zack Kelly	0	11	0	26	0	37
Tyler Samaniego	0	16	0	8	5	29
Ryan Watson	0	0	0	10	0	10
Justin Slaten	0	0	14	8	0	22
Jovani Morán	0	0	0	0	21	21
Greg Weissert	0	0	0	0	13	13
Garrett Whitlock	0	0	11	11	0	22
Brayan Bello	0	88	0	0	0	88
Aroldis Chapman	0	0	22	0	10	32

[Bellhorn04]

It feels like the only question is whether we lose 3-1 or 3-2.

We've scored 10 runs in 6 games. And the worst thing is none of us really feel like it's going to get much better. There is not one positive sign LOL.

[moonslav59]

46 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

There is not one positive sign.

That's the sad part. 

I guess we can point to the pitching a defense and think maybe the bats can just move towards their career norms and we might have a shot, but this offense has looked so pathetic and lifeless that it offers zero hope, right now.

Anthony's return is not really a point of optimism.

Rafaela's decent hitting seems tentative.

Even Abreu & Contreras could do worse, and it wouldn't be unexpected.

The whole idea of moving one our worst hitters back to the one slot was absurd. Keeping him there this long exposes the lack of any clearly better choice in the whole system.

Durbin looks great on D, but that can't outweigh an OPS hovering between .450 and .500.

Story is burnt toast on D and O.

Maybe Narvaez can rebound, but it's just a hope.

People say wait until the weather heats up, but it's heating up for all teams.

[Old Red]

32 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That's the sad part. 

I guess we can point to the pitching a defense and think maybe the bats can just move towards their career norms and we might have a shot, but this offense has looked so pathetic and lifeless that it offers zero hope, right now.

Anthony's return is not really a point of optimism.

Rafaela's decent hitting seems tentative.

Even Abreu & Contreras could do worse, and it wouldn't be unexpected.

The whole idea of moving one our worst hitters back to the one slot was absurd. Keeping him there this long exposes the lack of any clearly better choice in the whole system.

Durbin looks great on D, but that can't outweigh an OPS hovering between .450 and .500.

Story is burnt toast on D and O.

Maybe Narvaez can rebound, but it's just a hope.

People say wait until the weather heats up, but it's heating up for all teams.

So you’re saying Tracy is absurd for batting Duran in the one slot. At the time I thought it was a great idea for Duran to play every day, and move back into the leadoff spot. He started to come around for a brief period, but now is even worse than he was before. DUBin can’t get his BA even close to 200, but he did hit a Homer off a non pitcher. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Burnt toast you say, so that must be another absurd thing that Tracy does by playing Story. Oh well another bad manager.

[notin]

19 minutes ago, Old Red said:

So you’re saying Tracy is absurd for batting Duran in the one slot. At the time I thought it was a great idea for Duran to play every day, and move back into the leadoff spot. He started to come around for a brief period, but now is even worse than he was before. DUBin can’t get his BA even close to 200, but he did hit a Homer off a non pitcher. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Burnt toast you say, so that must be another absurd thing that Tracy does by playing Story. Oh well another bad manager.

Duran’s been awful all year, and he’s been in the lineup everyday lately.  He had a brief 3 game hot streak, but since then his OPS is about .250.  Thats a bad OPS for a pitcher, never mind a leadoff hitter…

[illinoisredsox]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

So you’re saying Tracy is absurd for batting Duran in the one slot. At the time I thought it was a great idea for Duran to play every day, and move back into the leadoff spot. He started to come around for a brief period, but now is even worse than he was before. DUBin can’t get his BA even close to 200, but he did hit a Homer off a non pitcher. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Burnt toast you say, so that must be another absurd thing that Tracy does by playing Story. Oh well another bad manager.

You are assuming Tracy has full control over the lineup.  I don’t think he does, and if he defies orders from above, they aren’t going to send him back to Worcester to manage the WooSox, they are going to show him the street.

Duran in any slot in the lineup is problematic, but the place you font want him is shortly after Abreu and Rafaela, who are the only guys who actually seem to get on base with some regularity.  Leadoff really only means something in the first inning.  After that, anyone can lead off an inning.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Duran’s been awful all year, and he’s been in the lineup everyday lately.  He had a brief 3 game hot streak, but since then his OPS is about .250.  Thats a bad OPS for a pitcher, never mind a leadoff hitter…

While I said it was absurd to promote one of our worst batters to the one slot, I also said we have no clearly better options.

The move clearly back-fired, but somehow I was still wrong for calling it absurd.

[notin]

1 hour ago, illinoisredsox said:

You are assuming Tracy has full control over the lineup.  I don’t think he does, and if he defies orders from above, they aren’t going to send him back to Worcester to manage the WooSox, they are going to show him the street.

Duran in any slot in the lineup is problematic, but the place you font want him is shortly after Abreu and Rafaela, who are the only guys who actually seem to get on base with some regularity.  Leadoff really only means something in the first inning.  After that, anyone can lead off an inning.

I think Tracy has full control of the lineup.  That was he can always be fully blamed.

Leadoff hitter also leads the team in plate appearances.  Thats the more important part of the role…

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, illinoisredsox said:

You are assuming Tracy has full control over the lineup.  I don’t think he does, and if he defies orders from above, they aren’t going to send him back to Worcester to manage the WooSox, they are going to show him the street.

Duran in any slot in the lineup is problematic, but the place you font want him is shortly after Abreu and Rafaela, who are the only guys who actually seem to get on base with some regularity.  Leadoff really only means something in the first inning.  After that, anyone can lead off an inning.

The leashes are about as tight as any can ever be allowed to stretch. The poor dogs are choking to death!

Okay, Story to the IL- phantom or not- gets one leash unhooked, but how much longer on the others?

IKF was never signed to hit, but we didn't expect .445 of even .545.

Duran is at .528 and headed in the wrong direction. (I used the word "headed" on purpose. His head is in the wrong place- someplace dark and smelly.) He has a .278 OPS in his last 9 games. That's not even a good OBP. He's at .518 since game #8.

Durbin has at least shown some signs of improvement, but he was so low, it's not a good thing. His D has been great. A .502 OPS is over 150 points lower than what's barely acceptable, these days. It's .568 since game 5 and .592 over his last 19 games. If that's the best I can do when cherry-picking sample sizes, I think the story has been told. Okay, it's 1.167 over the last 2 games... LMAO. Bat him first!!!!

Narvaez at .629 and Wong at .674 is pretty bad, too, but Delay & Thaiss are not really better options. Gasper to catch? UGH!

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, notin said:

I think Tracy has full control of the lineup.  That was he can always be fully blamed.

Leadoff hitter also leads the team in plate appearances.  Thats the more important part of the role…

Most PAs and OBP, yes.

Worst OBP on team?

.238 Duran (That's even a bad BA!)

.244 Story

.250 IKF (When he's better than Duran and Story, you gotta make some moves.)

.252 Durbin

The next guy is at .284 (Narvaez,) so it's really these 4 guys that have been horrific. What really drives this home is that Story is #3 in PAs (soon to change) Duran is #4 (soon to become #3) and Durbin is #6, comfortably above Mayer (.302 OBP) and more than double the PAs of Monasterio (.310 OBP)

So, our three worst everyday player OBP guys are top 6 in PAs. It's not absurd to think some line-up changes and or benchings might help.

[notin]

6 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Most PAs and OBP, yes.

Worst OBP on team?

.238 Duran (That's even a bad BA!)

.244 Story

.250 IKF (When he's better than Duran and Story, you gotta make some moves.)

.252 Durbin

The next guy is at .284 (Narvaez,) so it's really these 4 guys that have been horrific. What really drives this home is that Story is #3 in PAs (soon to change) Duran is #4 (soon to become #3) and Durbin is #6, comfortably above Mayer (.302 OBP) and more than double the PAs of Monasterio (.310 OBP)

So, our three worst everyday player OBP guys are top 6 in PAs. It's not absurd to think some line-up changes and or benchings might help.

Know what else will help?  
 

BRAY DEN WARD!! BRAY DEN WARD!!

Chant with me!  Join the cult and become a Bray Head! 
 

BRAY DEN WARD!! BRAY DEN WARD!!

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

Know what else will help?  
 

BRAY DEN WARD!! BRAY DEN WARD!!

Chant with me!  Join the cult and become a Bray Head! 
 

BRAY DEN WARD!! BRAY DEN WARD!!

I'm not against the diea, as Anthony is not due back soon enough to bench Duran. Yoshida in LF does not float my boat- hell even at DH, he does not.

We'd have to IL, trade or DFA IKF or trade/IL Duran. We'd have to add Ward to the 40, but that is simple- just move Crawford to the 60.

DFA'ing Cheng, Gamboa, Anderson or Rivera is not too scary, either.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

Tonight it will be Tolle's turn to walk through the minefield created by his team's lack of offense.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

53 minutes ago, notin said:

I think Tracy has full control of the lineup.  That was he can always be fully blamed.

Leadoff hitter also leads the team in plate appearances.  Thats the more important part of the role…

Also, the reason most managers want the team's best hitter to bat second.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

7 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Tonight it will be Tolle's turn to walk through the minefield created by his team's lack of offense.

Not easy to pitch well under that kind of pressure.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 hour ago, notin said:

I think Tracy has full control of the lineup.  That was he can always be fully blamed.

Leadoff hitter also leads the team in plate appearances.  Thats the more important part of the role…

The ideal leadoff batter is having a good OBP and good speed. Duran is good at one of those and terrible at the other.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

...

[moonslav59]

21 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Tonight it will be Tolle's turn to walk through the minefield created by his team's lack of offense.

It puts a lot of pressure on the pitchers to not allow even 1-2 runs.

[moonslav59]

Tonight, we still see Jaded Duran up first and Mr. Weak Grounder to 2B up 5th.