cp176

Next weekend is a semi-sacred day for the golfers of the world.

Coaches all know the difference between bad baserunning and aggressive baserunning. It makes no difference at all whether it succeeds or not. Fans tend to laugh and clap which is all good when these mistakes turn out well. Good coaches aren't going to go nuts over these things when they work out for them either. They happen all the time but when the coach is alone with the player I'm pretty sure that if he is a good coach he'll tell the player involved that it was a stupid thing to do whether it worked out or not.

whew - Kimbrel time

just what i was thinking???? really Marcus Walden in this game - say it ain't so.

My guess = could have been Zimmer

I've liked him for a while now. The first winter that he spent working out with Pedroia in Arizona did it for me. Understand though Moon, I'm one of those guys who like him in the field no matter what all the analytics tell. He's bright and he works hard and he plays one of the toughest positions in the game to play. If he is healthy , his combination of positive things would be hard to replace.

I like your post also here Nick probably because I agree with most of it. The jury is still out on most of these guys for me. I don't feel emotionally tied to very many of them as well. If a healthy lot of them do not wind up spending a great deal of time with us, I would be ok with that. Unless what we saw last year wasn't who they really are and we see significant improvement from many of them, I don't care if we keep them or not. Sale - Kimbrel - Betts - Devers - Bogaerts ( I've liked him for a long time - hope he keeps hitting) I know that Devers is with us for a while anyway but I just like how he looks - works - and plays. Why isn't Benintendi on my list? Oh I don't know - just because. I actually do hope that I can develop some positive emotion for some others but I need to see them play better before they get to my list. I think that most of them are replaceable. If Kimbrel has a year anywhere like what he had lat year, I think that they have to make a big run at him. His talent cannot in my estimation be replaced by the normal methods used to build a bullpen. He has been to relief pitching what Sale has been to starting pitching. Tough to put a price on the best.

I guess a lot of strange things happen but I would be very surprised if he got an offer that topped 31 million from anyone. If he does, I hope he takes it. It doesn't look like the market is heading there but you never know what nutbag out there is willing to throw their money around. If he was to be offered more than he is making now, what would be your best guess for Sale moving forward? Do brinks trucks carry that much money?

I think that you should have put that smiley face here. As has been said many many many times before, looks like the market has changed. IMO - 0 chance Price is going to get a better offer from anyone - note just my opinion. If he should opt out, I think that it will be because he has all of the $ he is ever going to need and that he is just sick of playing for Boston.

You think that he stands any chance at all of getting an offer that pays him anywhere even close to what we are paying him?

He rubbed his own nose in it last night!

I knew exactly what you meant and I agree with you.

If the Rays only can manage 4 hits again tonight, I like our chances. The odds are with us.

Absolutely because Sale is what 29 and makes less than 13. Now I realize that that still is a fair sum of money and I really think that this guy is about a lot of other things than money but If continues on the path that he has been on for quite some time now, I hope he gets his payday accordingly. I hope Boston finds a way to keep him. We are very fortunate to have certainly one of the very best in the game pitching for us.

He had some issues yesterday for sure. My biggest concern with him might be that everyone considers him to be a "player's coach" and that means different things to different people. Somewhere along the line he is going to have to make decisions that not everybody is going to like. He doesn't have to be an ******* about it but if he gets to close too the people he has to deal with it will be tougher.

He does know what it is like to play in Boston for sure and I hope everything works out well for him and I think that it will. Still there is a big difference between playing and managing particularly here. What ever he does he will always be under the microscope and he will be second guessed at every turn. I have never really had much confidence in Joe Kelly but Cora has to show a little faith in the guys he has regardless of we think. I'm looking at this differently - 4 hits 6 runs should not happen. Against the Rays, Kelly and Smith should have been able get through one inning. I see it as being on them for the most part.

He is doing very well I guess. He makes more than Chris Sale.

had to be that goddam Luchino don't you think.

Good post and very true! If we had won that game yesterday though I'm on safe ground with this opinion - There were still things that would have gotten criticized by some. Someone regardless of the score would have been critical of the following: baserunning blunders (whether they were or not) Ramirez - 0 for whatever so we need to sit him down so the option doesn't vest Martinez - waste of money - look at Stanton Why have Poyner even up if you aren't going to use him JBJ is still in a slump Should have kept Sale in for one more inning should have held Nunez at second because of his fragile knee Vazquez surly can't catch a cold Nunez sucks in the field (even though the only errors I think were made by Vazquez) his range may not be great but he made the plays. Welcome to the World of managing in New England Alex Cora. I'm kind of chuckling right now but it is who we are up here. We care about our teams and yes we have a lot to be thankful for. Yesterday sucked for sure but we got tonight!

Hey - easy with number 2 - many of us are still on top of the flowers

at least the 10th - It has been written

I hope Alex knew what he was getting himself into when he signed his contract. He should have for sure.

I agree with both of you two to an extent. Tough calls to make I think. A shorter leash for Kelly I guess but Cora has to figure this out as he goes along. Regardless of all the hype and positives that we feel for him, the bottom line for me anyway is that he is still a first year manager. He has to find out for himself what these guys can do. Spring training doesn't help much in this regard. I will say though that Joe Kelly has always made me a little nervous. Also, and you two guys know this as well as anyone, even if we had won the game there would have been plenty of people complaining about this and that. - Vazquez - the base running - whatever.

Was there something dramatically wrong with the way Barnes pitched yesterday? Did I miss something?

We always tried to convince our kids that it wasn't good to ever get to up or to down over a game. Stay steady. I had a hard time buying into this way of looking at things myself. Yesterday - the first game of a season that we hope is filled with good things. A game that we were dominating what looked for the longest time to be a much weaker team. First game - you get through it but boy oh boy this one was painful.