jung

We actually had more than clues before Kennedy became the CEO. Now its unclear at least to me whether the Pres of Baseball Ops makes his case to Kennedy and then its Kennedy that decides if he will take major signing's to Henry himself for Henry's approval or if the CEO brings the Pres of Ops along and allows him to make his case in person. Based on what we "knew" before Kennedy became CEO, it appeared obvious that the Pres of baseball ops (or GM if there was nobody titled as Pres of Ops) would go directly to Henry to get final approval for high ticket contracts with Larry Lucchino along for the ride while he was around, throwing his weight one way or the other. We also no longer know where the cutoff is in a definition of a signing as high ticket. I would think that the organization would have had to go to Henry for a final approval on the Sale extension but not the Eovaldi or the Pearce signings. To be clear, keeping ownership in the loop is not the same thing as seeking approval for a big deal. I would expect the owner to be kept in the loop for Major League signings....all of them. This is not to say that rejecting a proposal for a high ticket contract from the organization to the owner in this town is an easy decision to come to. NOT IN THIS TOWN. Lets say Henry rejected the Sale extension. Does anybody think that would not have gotten out in the media eventually and picked over in painful detail if that went wrong? If it were me in Henry's position, I would have preferred that my Pres of Baseball Ops and my CEO figure out that the Sale extension in light of his issues with wear on his arm and his recent late season issues was premature and whatever money it cost to let the 2019 season play out was better than being stuck with that contract for 5 years given that better information, more complete information was only months away.

Oh I will watch. We already have too many "fans" that don't watch the games and then can claim "well I didn't see that. Must not have happened." My form of fandom does not include deluding myself into thinking this team did not dog its way through the entire season. Was it a tough row to hoe? YES. Was the schedule unfavorable? YES. Was LONDON absurd? YES. Did their manager literally hand them all personalized crutches to lean on all season long. YES. Was exec management oblivious to what they had down in that clubhouse? YES. For clarity sake in the world I come from, there is a difference between an Exec Management team that is unmoved and one that is oblivious. Does that mean the players had the right to swoon before our very eyes and die like dogs? NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! How I wish I could say there was not gobs and gobs of historical context for a September Swooning Sox team. But that would again be deluding myself.

Joe Castig is beside himself in his own deadpan way. Raising the ghost of the late great Ned Martin. "In a word......MERCY"

Seriously, IMO the biggest mistake Cora made was he simply would not let 2018 go. Reveled in it....wallowed in it which gave the team a ready crutch. My God Cora probably had a crutch rack next to the bat rack with the name of each player laser engraved on his personalized crutch. Odd for an ex-Sox player to not realize that they had the potential to just nose dive if he gave them any sort of chance to do so. That MISTAKE, he must never ever make again if he gets the opportunity.

This is a new version of the September Swoon. They will have eased into the season and eased back out of it again! Sort of like a mystery f***. They were in and out so stealthy like all we got was an odd feeling between the cheeks.

Can't you just wait to see tomorrow's lineup card?

Cora to Henry: "But you told me and the team that I would be back for 2020" Henry: "Who are you again"

Its just nice to know that traditions die hard around here. Its comforting to be able to reach over and touch that rock of granite that just won't die. 4 world titles could not even knock this one out.

It is worth noting that the Red Sox have had so many September Swoons in the illustrious history of the franchise that the term was literally invented for us. Four world titles and some things just never change.

We have all these defined terms for pitchers now. Openers......Featured pitchers......who comes in after the Featured pitcher. Whenever you see MLB try to institutionalize something with a term, its a means to create a leverage point for agents. "Yea...my guy was a "FEATURED PITCHER" pitching 30 innings for the Jays last year. You'll give me $20m per for that won't you Mr GM?" We need some new defined terms for our guys: - Bum - Reprobate - Arsonist - Criminal - Wet Noodle "Yea my guy was a Wet Noodle pitching 30 innings for the Sox last year. You'll give me $20m per for that won't you Mr GM?" "Wait a minute. I just had an agent in here telling me his guy was a FEATURED PITCHER pitching 30 innings for the Jays and HE wanted $20m per!" "And your question is"

We must have violated some Tellez family property rights or something. I don't get it.

Geezuz his ball moves alot. I like watching him pitch. Well crap...that one moved like a homing pigeon right at the hitter's bat.

Gas Grill to the rescue. Actually that would be a good nickname for Weber if he was a FB pitcher.

Nicely done Beni. Open your mouth why don't you.

One thing you can say for our boys in Red Hose, when they are swooning, they don't leave much of a doubt about it. Would not want to confuse us would they.

Well just to the point of "rules" the forum allows a Yankee troll to post in game threads for games that are not Sox/Yankee games based on some sort of convoluted logic and that is an outright NO-NO. Most of HIS stuff belongs in the general forum or in fact off of here entirely and on a Yankee board. So I am not sure the rules are all that meaningful.

Sigh...Really nice AB JD.

IMO Cora deserves the chance to show us if he has learned from his 2019 mistakes in 2020.

Whoops ...did I miss it or did the cameras not show us Kelly warming. EEI never mentioned that he was warming.

The Fat Lady was warming up her pipes at the start of that important 14 game stretch around the trade deadline and she was in full throat by the time that was over. Not a pleasant experience. Last week the Twins and Yankmees took whatever starch was left in them right out of them.

Broadcast is not telling us that THE NEXT guy is up and throwing. Looking more like Cora will let him pitch another.

I was thinking about the discussion about the size and strength of the contemporary MLB player and with Jr in this game its worth mentioning that I actually think the one position on the field that DOES benefit from all this size and strength is 3rd base. It is a step and a dive position for making plays in the field. Step and dive left. Step and dive right. Most of what is left is coming in. So I can make a case for all this size and strength at 3rd base as more big quick acting muscles should help. Turns it into more of a power bat position and if anything probably helps them make the plays they have to make. Everywhere else....I just don't see much advantage and plenty that can go wrong with all this size and strength stuff UNLESS one is purposefully trying to turn it into a one dimensional power game. Jr is a good fielder. Sano is a good fielder. Chapman is decent sized. Not that tall but carries some weight. Rafi is about the same height and carries even more weight. Machado is big. Arenado is a good sized fella'.

Cora has already been told he is safe for 2020. If I were Henry I would not like it. Henry has so many pins stuck in the DD voodoo doll that I am not sure he has any left for his Cora voodoo doll.

Poyner v Font at least for an inning. 1. Brock Holt (L) RF 2. Xander Bogaerts ® SS 3. Rafael Devers (L) 3B 4. J.D. Martinez ® DH 5. Mitch Moreland (L) 1B 6. Andrew Benintendi (L) LF 7. Christian Vazquez ® C 8. Jackie Bradley Jr. (L) CF 9. Marco Hernandez (L) 2B 1. Bo Bichette ® SS 2. Cavan Biggio (L) 2B 3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. ® 3B 4. Rowdy Tellez (L) DH 5. Randal Grichuk ® RF 6. Teoscar Hernandez ® LF 7. Jonathan Davis ® CF 8. Brandon Drury ® 1B 9. Danny Jansen ® C

Great...so that is what justifies 4/$68. Glad to know! Still didn't make sense. For the record, just responding to Moon's post #202