jacksonianmarch

Not this year. The games at the beginning of the year were played in 35-40 degree weather. By the postseason, our nights should be mid 40s-50s

You’ve got the capital to make one upgrade. It’s just as important that you’re right against the cap as it is your farm being depleted.

In April, in arctic temps

Or like last post season. We’d have played in the WS against the Dodgers last year if we had home field.

Swihart has no value. Hembree has slightly more value. You’ll get a bucket of balls with that package

Cole doesn’t scare me. We took the Stros to game 7 in the ALCS and they couldn’t come close to us at home. We’ve also whipped them thus far this season. If we get home field vs them, we should beat them.

Exactly. You’ll run into the standard conundrum of keeping the band alive even when the cost to do so doesn’t make sense. We saw it in NY. It took some ridiculous GM work to get us out of that hole, but it took 2013-2016 to rebuild even though we did have one token wild card playoff game and 3 yrs of barely above .500 baseball. You need to continue to have talent coming through the system. If you deal it all off, you won’t be able to sustain anything

Betts is a rare talent. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, he is the closest thing to Willy Mays in the last 60 years. He’s a unicorn.

Imagine being a 105 win wild card team and not having home field when playing an 88 win Cleveland club. That’s BS

Exactly. DD timed it to coincide with the cheap years of your young stars. His timing was solid. I just question the wisdom of such a move in the current structure of the MLB salary cap. Gone are the days where the Yankees and Sox can just outspend everyone to their hearts delight

And your lineup will be lengthened. Devers needs work on his approach. He’s jumpy and that’s not him. This is what young players do when they struggle, especially a guy who never struggled in the minors. Sometimes it’s best to have struggled and overcome at a lower level than it is to first struggle as a big leaguer. I think a month in AAA could do him wonders. And yes, it significantly worsens Your OF defense, but the bottom half of the lineup is atrocious. Eventually, playoff teams will not pitch to JDM and your offense will stagnate more. Lengthening the offense with a proven hitter and giving the kid a breather to adjust could turn your offense from stalled to supercharged

Shocking that Betts couldn’t hit 1.200 OPS all year and Moreland wouldn’t hit over 1.000 OPS. Your drop in offense from your insane beginning has been the easiest thing to predict. It’s not indicative of your guys playing poorly, it’s far more indicative of poor roster construction

I think the Sox will pry Beltre from the Rangers. Beltre is a 10 and 5 guy, so he’d have to play it, but he owes Boston something for reviving his career and getting him that second big contract. At the same time, the Rangers are rebuilding and keeping him around makes no sense. Beltre will be in demand, though, as he’s still managed to hit despite his body betraying him a bit. He’s an FA at season’s end, which will allow for Devers to resume his spot. I could see a Sox dream scenario where Beltre comes in, Devers goes to AAA and kills it. He comes back up as a 1B/3B/DH option with Beltre manning 3b mostly full time. If Devers is going, and Beltre comes in as a steady presence, the lineup of... Betts RF Beni CF JDM LF Beltre 3B Moreland 1B Bogaerts SS Devers DH Holt 2B Vasquez C That lineup is deep, especially if a trip to AAA gets Devers hitting like the all star he is destined to become. What would it take to get Beltre? Probably a fair amount. I’d assume Houck, Groome, Mata, or Beeks would be a headliner with a secondary piece also going like Shawaryn. But that’d be a heck of a get for you guys

Yeah, but how many GM’s can say they took a two time defending last place team and in one offseason, put them into the playoffs and won the division twice in a row. It’s always a temptation as a GM to get the shiny object that your team needs regardless of cost. DD has been known for the splashy move. He doesn’t ever seem to get the reasonable option, it’s always the best or nothing and he’s willing to pay for it. For the Sox, it’s worked out. That being said, I think he was pushed into that direction by management. If Henry wasn’t so impatient and allowed the Sox to stockpile their system like the Yankees did, he’d have created a pipeline of talent that would be sustainable.

We have been an amazing team wherever we play this year, but last postseason was a reminder of how important home field is for us. We were 1-6 on the road in the postseason and 7-0 at home. And it is t like we’re some lefty loaded lineup that excels at popping the ball just over the short RF porch. We’re a team filled with RH power hitter capable of using the RF short porch to our advantage. But it’s not just the hitters. Last year, we had a 0.40 ERA different home vs away. That’s strange for a team that plays their home games in a HR prone place. This year, we have a minuscule difference in the direction of being better at home. Either way, we need to get that 1 seed. If we do, I don’t think anyone can beat us.

The Sox are more than fine. We’re about 40% done with the season and the Sox are 9.5 games up on a playoff bid. Most seasons, their start would have them well in front in the ALE. Heck, move the Sox to any other division. ALC- 10.5 games up ALW- 1 game up NLE- 6.5 games up NLC- 5 games up NLW- 8 games up The s***** thing for you guys is the Yanks are 4 games up in the loss column and 1 game up in the traditional counting metrics. There’s a reason for consternation here. Your team may win over 100 games and end up in a play in game. This is why bolstering the club is at the center of most discussions. Not because of what you’ve done, but by what others have around you. Your team needs to be bolstered in the lineup. They’ll still go to the playoffs, but with half your lineup either in a year long slump or just not good, the Sox aren’t likely to put up enough runs against quality pitching to get past where they’ve stalled out the last two seasons. It’s s***** that a 100 won team could end up in the playing game. That being said, a few years ago, the Pirates were in on with High 90s in wins as well as another club from the central. The ebbs and flows of the game are like that

Your team requires Beni, Betts, Bogaerts, and JDM to carry you. When they have an off night in tandem, you won’t win. The rest of the lineup is too poor to carry you.

That closer is dirty. Just woke up. How the heck did Wade Leblanc shut them down?

Our 45-20 mark before today’s game was the third best at the 65 game mark since 1987. Only the 2001 Mariners and 1998 Yankees were better

We started 5-6 with a few games blown by the pen. Since then, if we have a lead when the pen takes over, we win. With Warren returning strong, we’ve got one weak link out there in Shreve. Heck, even Cole has been dynamite in his few appearances.

And they won’t have the money. This is the quandary. The yanks didn’t have to worry about that after the 2001 WS loss. They just stacked the payroll and didn’t care. Once the lux tax was added, they didn’t care either. Once the navigation under the limit meant $100 mil back in the bank and exceeding the top limit meant limiting funds in the INTL forum AND moving your first pick back 10 slots, now you’re talking a real punishment. Any money over the top limit is taxed at 90%. So for the dopes our there hoping for Harper and his likely $30 mil salary, that’s actually a $57 mil per year contract. It’s untenable at those marks

You might be able to sign Kelly, but I’d doubt it. The arb process values wins and with ERod winning lots of games, he may end up breaking the bank. My guess is the Sox will sign a pen arm for cheaper than what’s Kelly will get

This is an important series for the Sox as it will be for the yanks coming up. SEA is 7 games up on a playoff spot and with the Astros projected to win the division, it seems like one of us will be playing them in the playin game. The Sox are 2.5 games up on the Mariners at start of play today. If the Sox or Yanks finish with identical records as the Mariners, home field is determined by head to head matchups

Says the team that faced the Rays 10 times by May 1

7-2 in the last 9 while only scoring 31 runs in those 9. The pitching has been incredible