Red Sox (Bennett) vs Pirates (Chandler): 08/14/26, 6:40 PM

[mvp 78]

Sox continued to play uninspiring baseball.

[illinoisredsox]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Just remember when Sam Kennedy said, "Roman Anthony coming off the IL from FLA will be better than any Roman Anthony who could've rehabbed in Boston with a sprained ring finger wrist."

In this rare instance, Sam may not have been lying. I truly believe the Florida thing was about getting Mayer and Anthony separated.

Cora was past his due date in Boston, but he was likely correct when he called Marcelo’s work ethic/attitude out in spring training.  Be interesting to see what happens to MM in the Giants organization.  He began a rehab assignment last night; there was no indication of that be imminent 2 weeks ago.

[notin]

9 hours ago, vegasbob said:

So we got a young switch hitting catcher. voted as an All Star in 2026.

Problem solved, right ?

Who knows ? AR , like many coming off the IL mid or late season is not in physical nor mental shape to just step in and perform 

  It will be mid September before you can begin to assess ARs abilities.

This will be the issue when Roman and Story return.  They  will need multiple weeks to catch up to speed. Do not think of them as filling key roles with great success 

If Roman Anthony replaces Duran, he can succeed right away simply by being an improvement.  Story replacing Monasterio will very likely be a downgrade. And that’s saying something given how Monasterio has defended the position…

[dannycater]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Sox continued to play uninspiring baseball.

32-5 t-shirts still on sale

[moonslav59]

10 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

IMHO, the Sox didn't need a catcher. What Breslow gave the O's for Rutschman he could have gotten a decent starting pitcher.

Oh well, it is what it is.

We needed both.

SSS, but our post deadline losses are...

2-1

4-3

5-3

7-3

6-4

8-4

Looks like a mix between poor offense and not so good pitching.

Almost all our wins look like equally good O and good D:

14-2, 13-1, 7-0 (Both)

4-0 (Pitching)

12-11 (Batting)

I mentioned Catcher as my position of choice, but I had mentioned SS or LF/DH as other options.

It looks like we have to hope that last night was not a sign of Bennett hitting a wall. Or, we have to hope one of our pitchers on the IL, rehabs, soon and can get into shape by September 1-7thish. (highly unlikely.)

OPS Against vs SP'ers

.608 Bennett 14 GS/ 3.46 ERA

.632 Tolle 20/ 2.97

.633 Suarez 21/3.25

.678 Gray 22/ 2.79

(.720 Early 17/3.44)

.818 Crochet 6/ 6.30

.839 Sandoval 6/3.30

1.057 Bello 8/ 10.35

The scrubs and pen games:

.800 Miller 1 (5 PA)

.811 Rivera 3 (34)

1.417 Samaniego 1 (9)

1.433 Moran 3 (18)

These 4 allowed 16 ERs in 11.2 IP.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

If Roman Anthony replaces Duran, he can succeed right away simply by being an improvement.  Story replacing Monasterio will very likely be a downgrade. And that’s saying something given how Monasterio has defended the position…

Totally agree, but I'm so done counting on long term IL players returning, and if they do, doing well.

I'm thinking Giolito, but even he missed the whole season before.

Crawford and Sandoval were supposed to return AUG-SEP 2025. LMAO!

Casas is the poster boy for Sox on the IL with Story right next to him.

Losing Houck hurt, but so far his timeline to return is not stretched like Gumby.

I'm not sure Oviedo would have helped even if healthy, but he likely would have done better than Rivera and the pen games. Maybe he could have displaced Bello before 8 bad starts.

We are not getting anyone helpful off waivers, so the only hope is in injured players getting healthy, of someone(s) turning their season around -kinda like Durbin did, or a bunch improving slightly, all together.