mvp 78

@SoxNotes So, in the first 120 years of Red Sox baseball, it didn’t happen once. This year, it will happen twice: Alex Verdugo – CF, RF, LF Marwin Gonzalez – LF, 2B, 3B Now it will be 4 games, 4 positions for Marwin.

#Rays Lineup 04/05/21 1. Yoshi Tsutsugo 1B 2. Austin Meadows DH 3. Randy Arozarena LF 4. Brandon Lowe 2B 5. Manuel Margot RF 6. Joey Wendle 3B 7. Willy Adames SS 8. Kevin Kiermaier CF 9. Mike Zunino C

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/04/05/tom-caron-patience-is-not-a-virtue-of-red-sox-fans/ Terry Francona used to say there’s no better place to play well than in Boston. The former Red Sox manager also liked to say there isn’t a tougher place to play poorly. The 2021 Red Sox already know that. They were swept by Baltimore – the presumptive pick to finish last in the American League East – and heard boos from the 4,500 or so fans allowed at Fenway Park in the early days of the season. In Boston, overreaction to the start of a baseball season is a tradition. And the reaction to an 0-3 start has not been good. It was just the second time in Red Sox history that Boston began the season with three straight losses at home. The last time it happened, Harry Truman was president. The good news is that team went 64-27 down the stretch to win 96 games that season. The bad news is Ted Williams isn’t walking through the clubhouse door this time around. If you sifted through the rubble of a lost weekend you could find a couple of positive notes like J.D. Martinez’s 5-for-10 start (and the team’s only home run) and 3 1/3 scoreless innings from Rule 5 Draft pickup Garrett Whitlock. But no one was talking about any of that Monday. The talk was about a team picking up where it left off after a season, and a year, we all want to forget. That’s not an overreaction. That’s reality. There is plenty of time for the Red Sox to put this behind them but it’s going to get late early for a team that desperately needs to build confidence internally, and externally with fans. A good start for this team was critical if it wanted to avoid becoming irrelevant in the Boston sports scene. Three games isn’t a start. It’s a blip on the radar of a 162-game season. But when those three games come at the start of the year a team’s blemishes are magnified. It’s the worst start for the Red Sox since 2012. You may remember 2012. That was the year Bobby Valentine managed the Red Sox, a year where the team seemed to hit rock bottom every couple of weeks. We’re not sure if this is rock bottom for the 2021 Red Sox. We do know there is no where to go but up after being outscored 18-5 over the first three games of the season.

@UmpireAuditor "It's been a big plate all weekend. That was really big. Like a plate and a half" -@NESN announcers Yesterday, Umpire Bruce Dreckman called a strike on this pitch to Xander Bogaerts that missed outside by 4.43 inches.

Hernández 2B, Verdugo CF, Martinez DH, Bogaerts SS, Devers 3B, Vázquez C, Gonzalez 1B, Renfroe RF, Cordero LF, Pivetta RHP Not often do you see a lineup where the corner outfielders and the 1b are 7, 8, 9.

I don't like Flemming's style, but Lou is a fish out of water. Just horrible.

I hope you are enjoying the Will Flemming experience on WEEI.

MLB fines Castellanos for flexing over an opponent and suspends him for 2 days. Yeah, any time someone does something cool, just fine and suspend him. Let's make sure this stays a milquetoast game for seniors only.

Hopefully, there's more WOW and less LOL in his performance. He pitched ok at times in Spring Training. He's not the guy you want to throw out there when you need a stopper though.

Oh, you don't think I have a working sarcasm detector now?

@ChrisCotillo I'll start warning you all now: Wednesday's Red Sox-Rays game (1:10 p.m.) is available exclusively on YouTube. Not on NESN. Not anywhere else. YouTube. This is the future of baseball that nobody asked for.

He was in the Hembree/Workman deal.

If they get into the playoffs and get swept in the WC round in 2011, do they still blow it up by forcing Theo and Tito out? Would they still bring Bobby V in that offseason?

No, Mookie wasn't on that team. I'm glad we still have Xander though.

I have Major Concerns about this Rock Bottom post title.

If they had only gone 4-8...

He chose not to keep Mookie. The same way he chose not to keep Lester years ago (because he was over 30) and then regretted the decision enough to overpay for Price (who was over 30).

The cliff was Henry's arthritis not wanting to put bigger numbers on Betts' check. The cliff was Werner's tinnitus not wanting to negotiate further.

Man made cliff. Henry could have kept spending. He chose not to.

Eovaldi should not have been brought back. Time has shown that jettisoning Kimbrel was the smart play too. Joe Kelly was very replaceable. Hembree is a nobody. Porcello wasn't even signed this offseason. JBJ didn't sign until the very end of camp and is in a timeshare. Leon? Swihart? Kinsler? Holt? Nunez? Moreland? Benintendi is starting off where he was last year. The only guy aside from Mookie that is in the discussion for re-signing is Pomeranz, but he's overpaid for his relief profile. That team won because Mookie/JD/Devers/Xander were mashing all year. That was the core. Beni could have been part of that core, but he decided to try to be something he's not. I productive Mookie would lift this team to playoff contention. MAYBE, in two years Wong and Downs are productive major leaguers. At that point, MAYBE them and Verdugo exceed what Betts provides to the team. I don't think that's likely though.

May as well go back to Duquette then. I mean, that's the start of the modern version of the Sox.

When he left, the prospects were: Moncada Devers Espinoza (highly regarded) Margot Benintendi Kopech Chavis Logan Alen Dubon Brian Johnson ERod was a rookie. That's a lot of young talent. While the talent is mostly offensive, they could have used some of those guys to bring in young arms.

Sox were 6 - 18 over the first 24 games last year (.250 winning %). Probably the worst start in franchise history. They went .500 against the O's, but I wonder if people are really undervaluing the talent the O's have. People were writing them off as competing with the Pirates for the #1 pick. The young talent seems good enough to get them closer to 75 wins at the very least. The Sox also went 2 - 7 against the Rays. Maybe the Rays take a step back this year and the Sox can grab a few early wins from them? Maybe the Sox continue their slide and don't pull out of it? What if Kiké doesn't get picked off of 1b at the start of the season? Does the offense get a little jolt? Was it really deflating for that to happen and then not have anything fall in afterwards?

What's the remaining fallout from Ben? Drafting a couple of young guys or international free agents? We're pretty far removed from the Cherrington years.