jacksonianmarch

This had to be done. Dombrowski will not tolerate meddling and he'll own his moves. I don't like this move as a Yankee fan

JBJ is actually hitting and he's out of options. There is absolutely no reason why he isn't your starter in RF

So it looks like Shaw has earned his way into the lineup. There is absolutely no reason to continue the Hanley experiment and he is supposedly banged up. Make him the part time player, use JBJ and Castillo full time to see who you want to keep come the offseason and go from there. So many weird decisions in Boston, and the choices appear to not have the future in mind. I am not sure if Cherington has given up on the team yet, but he probably should. Seeing if JBJ can play in these last 6 weeks of the season is going to be critical in determining if he stays with the team next year. I think he is out of options for next yr

Severino looked great against Toronto. Too bad Mitchell got hurt yesterday, but good to eek out a win. Keep it up

Tanaka had the mid 90s cheese yesterday. He looked awesome

got to a tired Price and Girardi out managed Gibbons with the Beltran v Sanchez matchup. Betances dominates, Miller holds on. We gotta gain momentum

Not sure the type, but it is in its early stages and is apparently very treatable. He will be replaced by Torey Lovullo for the rest of the year. His chemo starts Tuesday. Godspeed John

Stats are important. WHIP is highly important because there is a direct correlation between runs scored and batters who reach base. Scouting is equally important. I can buy a BA subscription to find out if a guy throws 97 and what his secondary pitches are. Scouts can tell if the guy has nothing going on upstairs and can tell which guys can control their stuff. You learn a LOT about the unmeasurables when you scout someone. Take Craig Hansen, when you guys drafted him. Kid throws 98 with sink and run and has a plus slider! OMFG, DRAFT HIM NOW AND PUT HIM IN THE CLOSERS ROLE IN THE SAME SEASON!!!! Well, anyone who watched him would see that his sinker ran in over the plate and batters swung at his 98 as if he was throwing 85. No deception in his delivery allowed for great visualization. Add to the fact that he couldn't handle it when guys got on base or when the spot lights were brightest and you have a guy with great "stats" who is now out of baseball. Same with minor league stats. There are guys who can get by on pure ability in AA or A+. Put them in AAA or the bigs and they don't have the work ethic or the intelligence to be good.

The craziest thing is, we are 3-6 in our last 9 games. In that span, our starters have thrown 52.2IP and allowed 17ER good for an ERA of 2.90. Of those games, we allowed more than 2 runs twice, and one of those was a win. We are 2-5 in the other 7, where the starters allowed 2 or less runs. The offense should be embarrassed

Why is it that ERod must be tipping pitches? He sucked today, plain and simple. He's a rookie. This is part of the growth of a big league pitcher. Mussina said it best. 25% of the time, everything is working. Those games you usually win. 25% of the time, nothing is working. Those games you usually lose. 50% of the time, something is working. Winning those games is what separates pitchers in the bigs. I tend to go a bit further. The guys who can limit damage or give length in the 25% when nothing is working are top of the rotation starters. ERod doesn't have that yet. He may never get it, but you need to allow him to grow

Your hot stove has to start with the cleaning house of your FO and coaching staff. Ben, Farrell, Lovullo, et al all need to go. The culture needs to change again.

Panda had been on the decline for 3 seasons. Last yr, he had an OPS of .730 and if it wasn't for a near historic playoff, he'd have been looking for a pillow contract in the offseason. His weight always goes up in season and that HAS to effect his mobility. There is no way around it, fat players will slow down at a more rapid rate than players who are fit. It's physics. The idea of throwing 5 years at him at near $20 mil per annum is mind boggling. I don't think they thought his bat would go into such precipitous decline, but he looks like a player that most pitchers have figured out. Why throw him any strikes? He swings at everything, and yes he does get some hits on bad balls. But why throw him anything in the zone if he isn't going to take anything? He and Hanley added "flash" to the team, but pulled away from what made you win. You need good ABs and you need good defense. Neither player provides either and now theyre on your team until 2018 at least

Your issues do run deeper than most bad teams, mostly because your GM saddled you with three contracts that appear abhorrent. Coming into the season, you had a real shot at being free of s*** bag contracts which would have allowed your rebuild to proceed unphased. Now, you are stuck with Porcello, Panda, and Hanley, and I am willing to bet that all three are more likely to suck than not. Porcello is probably the only player who would be worth something next year as he couldn't possibly continue to be this bad. Another major issue is that your rotation is terrible. You have Owens and E-Rod as bright futures and maybe Wright makes it as a #5. But if you have 2 "second year" players running your rotation and a knuckler at the back end with a powderkeg in Miley and a dumpster fire in Porcello, then your entire rotation is due to suck. Also, in order to get back to the big time, you need your rookie players and your SS to take the next step and assume leadership roles on the team. You need Ortiz to keep ticking back the clock and you need Pedroia to not perform his best JD Drew impersonation. Panda is 29 and built like he's 49. He cannot move at 3b and his bat has tanked. Hanley has always been about himself and now he has a shiny contract that will pay him whether he tries to go light tower every time or just tries to hit to situation. You have two anchors holding down your team in both the pocket and the field. Your new GM might be better off selling low, eating a boatload of money and trying to change the culture. This team is bad

They get into these spells where they are snakebit. Their offense has been one of the best in baseball, but we go cold so quickly and for prolonged spells, then break out in a 10 game spurt. This most recent run of futility followed a 9 game run unseen in these parts in 50 years. We have to be considering moving Ellsbury down in the order. I don't think he is fully healthy and wouldn't be surprised if he went back on the shelf. We have guys in the minors who could play better than he currently is. 15 days on the shelf and a 10 day rehab stint to get his timing back wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, especially since our 4th OFer is badly outplaying him. I am pleased as hell to see what Severino did last night. He was getting shelled through the first 3 innings, but threw 3 innings of one hit ball to have a solid start at 6IP and 2ER. I am glad we didn't deal this kid off for a pitcher at the deadline. Our issue hasn't been the pitching, we need offense.

I think the Moncada SR coming out of Cuba was that he likely profiled as a CFer. Had the range for middle infield, but there were questions about the glove.

I was at the game yesterday and there was absolutely no life for NY. I know Estrada is a good young pitcher, but he dominated a la Pedro. And he basically threw 2 pitches. His FB topped out at 89 and his change was around 75. They couldn't lay off it.

Guys, you cannot commit any more cash to 1b next year. Papi is locked in at DH. Sandoval can't play 3rd anymore. Hanley is a DH in LF. Until 2 of the three above move on, you can't go looking for a big bopper at 1b

Hanley goes to 1b.

Severino looked damn good. Not economical at all, but his stuff is impressive and he can battle. I like what I saw

In the offseason last year, we heard how Larry was being eased out and that he didn't have a lot of influence on baseball ops. Or at least that's how it was sold to the masses. Then you saw literally no move work in the offseason. So what is it? Is it Larry? Is it Ben? Is it Tom? Is it all 3 or some combination? Who knows, but your house at the top needs renovation. If I were JH, I'd fire Ben, have Werner work on non baseball ops rather than influencing day to day baseball decisions and bring in Dombrowski as the next president. Have him decide the next GM and manager and allow him to work. He was not afraid to take the Tigers through a few dead years to build and when the ashes settled, he had a team that was in the playoffs for the better part of a decade. That's what you need

We have a lot of big arms in the pen and on the farm. Pinder is one of many

Owens was composed and has good enough stuff to stick. ERod's arsenal is more impressive IMO. But your pen is a dumpster fire of abortion parts. Wow. Craig Breslow is my favorite sox pitcher right now. Everything is fat and flat

Lucchino made the owners a TON of money. He also meddled with baseball ops so you could bring in marketable players rather than the best players. He was behind the 2011 signing debacle and if it wasn't for LA willing to eat the sins of the past, you'd be stuck with awful contracts.... Oh wait! He probably also meddled with the whole Panda and Hanley signing as well. You needed pizzazz on the field. All you got was piss. Larry was good for the owners until he torched the product on the field. I think sox fans will be happier with the product after he's gone

Lucchino has been relieved of his post. His position will be filled internally by Sam Kennedy

There are a myriad of f*** ups from the FO this season. Ben has to be blamed for a few. If the sox situation is anything like NY's, the President gets involved only on the big deals and sometimes oversteps his GM, but the trades and roster building stuff is otherwise up to Cash. My bet is that Ben may have been handed Panda or Hanley, but he made a few other blunders that are going to seal his fate. He should be fired