a700hitter

Very nice play up the middle by Holt.

Bradley with a 4 for 4 day and continues with the extra basehits. They may have to promote him from the 9 hole.

Yep. I realize that the Blue Jays are a big home run team and they victimize everyone. Porcello's gopher ball rate bears watching going forward, but today is not necessarily a negative indication, because these Toronto guys are bashers.

Doji gives this stuff a lot of thought an analysis. He likes to discuss the off beat possibilities. I think there is enough disagreement about the obvious. Lol!

That is the way he will be successful -- groundballs and double plays.

I am thinking that Bradley can hit major league pitching.

he gave up a home run in his 13 k outing. What is to his credit today is the Red Sox sticks. His home run rate needs to be watched. That is not a successful formula for him.

Two more home runs given up by Porcello. He is never going to be consistently successful if he continues to give up home runs at this rate.

Ship him and his stinking annual 30 homers and 100 RBI out of town.

Ortiz and his early season slump are why we are not in first place.

Pitching is more important than anything else. He did a poor job drafting of, developing it or using our trade chips to acquire it. He is gone for a reason, not because he had done such a great job.

I agree. I think if we continue to play winning ball it will give the whole organization and the fans a positive feeling of confidence going into the off season. Also, not finishing last would save the organization from the ignominy of 3 last place finishes in 4 seasons. .500 also is a meaningful milestone, but it will come to late for Ben.

Yes, I agree. If I had to list reasons why they are fun to watch this September, I would list the same reasons as you.

I really don't care about the inner workings of the organization or their power structure. I also don't want to peer into the kitchens of my favorite restaurants. I judge the moves for or against the FO. Unfortunately in bad times, the GM has the title that carries the responsibility. Their organizational dysfunction is not my concern. Also, my recollection FO the Beckett deal is that Theo was opposed to it.

I just like baseball and the Red Sox.

Sure he gets credit for the good moves, but pitching wins. And this organizations record in signing, acquiring and developing pitchers has been undeniably dreadful for several years. It is the biggest problem in the organization. The fairest evaluation of Ben's building of the organizational talent is that it has been very unbalanced.

Lol! Yes, I did. Crawford was ahead of Jeter at the same point in their careers for hits, runs etc. His career was on a trajectory easily for 3,000 hits. I didn't know that his skin was so thin, and I never expected him to turn into the dog that he has become. He used to play so hard, and he used to kill us. I liked Theo's off season moves that year and was very vocal about it. If Tito hadn't run a beach vacation camp and they had been somewhat ready to play at the opening bell, I still believe that team would have steamrolled. As it was, it took an epic collapse to lose on the final day of the season. My criticism of Theo that season was that he sat on his hands as the epic collapse was unfolding. I don't think he believed it could happen. It took a worse case scenario to lose that season. With one or two breaks, the collapse doesn't happen. The team played horribly and for the entire month of September every break went against us. Theo didn't plan for the worst case scenario. On the last weekend of the season after it was too late, he was desperately trying to get Bruce Chen and Chris Capuano to start the final games. As with any GM, there are moves that I like and moves that I don't like. The difference is they all go on his record, not mine. Ben made a few moves that I liked, but he stubbornly sat on his hands as obvious problems went unaddressed. That was his biggest fault. He only addressed issues after it was too late. His last set of moves were atrocious and no set of stats or metrics can prove otherwise. I don't care what Panda's WAR was and how that equates with salary. If Ben had any thoughts of getting Hanley, Panda never should have been signed. Just terrible planning. If he couldn't get Hanley, he should have rode it out with Holt at third and he should have used the money to address the real problem -- the pitching.

Extra innings on direct TV usually gives a choice of home or away broadcasts, except for Yankee or Mets games. Who is your TV provider?

Strong starting pitching is a better building block than a strong bullpen for consistent year to year success. The variance in bullpen performance is usually much harder to predict than the performance of your starters. Strong starters can also help bullpen performance by allowing managers to stay away from the 5th and 6th options except in blowout games and helps the good bullpen arms stay fresh. Either way, you can't win if your whole pitching staff comes in at a 4 + ERA. Toronto's ERA is better than league average --around 3.77 or so. The real enigma is the Royals. Before getting Cueto, their starting pitching was bad, but they had a phenomenal bullpen. They have managed to maintain an extremely high level of bullpen performance two years in a row. That is very unusual. All you need is one good one to leave or have a bad season and the way the bullpen is usedthe whole dynamic changes dramatically and can negatively impact the rest of the bullpen. KC could easily turn into a 4 th place team next season if their bullpen is disrupted. I would prefer to build the strong starting rotation, because I believe it is a proven method for consistent success as opposed to relying on a bullpen for pitching success. It is also easier to tinker and add to a bullpen in season than to rebuild a starting staff. Is that too simplistic? It is a fairly simple game. Lol! Those who think it is rocket science are mistaken.

Lol! I remember that drum. As to the discussion of Bogaerts moving to third base, it isn't going to happen. Our Infield defense is not a problem. Bogaerts is getting better everyday and Pedroia is still one of the best. If you want to improve third base, put Holt over there for half the games. The problem may be first base. A good first baseman can save a ton of errors. Will Hanley be our first baseman? What will that be like? Moving Bogaerts off shortstop will not be part of the off season plan, imo.

Come on Nick... we know that you lurk here. LOL!!

It is just a very accurate and truthful assessment of a record of 3 last place finishes in 4 years leaving behind little pitching talent for the future. It is not a good record. Apparently, ownership didn't feel great about his record and that is why they hired Dombrowski.

How do you think it turns out... Miley or Kelly? Also, you think they will add only one pitcher?

Nice sweep. Nice thread title. The Phillies are a bunch of nobodies.

5 pitchers come north as starters. You carry depth in the bullpen with a long reliever. I don't think Buch can pitch out of the bullpen, so he will either be a starter or be gone. I don't see Miley pitching out of the pen with his contract. There are 5 spots. Which of the current crop gets those spots? Sure we will use more than 5 pitchers to start games during the season, but that is not the question.