cp176

Wait a second - they have a budget just like the rest of us. lol Or maybe they don't! i think that we worry more about their budget than they do.

I think that you are right overall although everybody just jumps out of their shorts with every lineup change and the possibility of one happening.

I really think SoxHop that it is very much about repetition of things, the little things, that lead to the big things. All players at all levels want to be coached. What you emphasize and talk about in practice and if you have high expectations then if the talent is there stuff gets done. All good coaches have ways of getting the most out of the players they work with. I'm not sure that there is any one best way. You find something that works and you stick with it but more often than not it comes right down to doing correctly what you work on the most. If situational baseball is what you have been working on and things still continue to look bad, then maybe you are not demanding enough or your players just can't do what you expect of them. i have no idea what jF works on or how he goes about his business. I think that we assume that since they operate at the highest level then they must work on every component that has to be worked on. If that is the case, then maybe we overrate our guys. On the other hand, if they don't work on all of the little things that need to be worked on because they assume that because someone else must have taught them what they need to do already, they just aren't a very good staff. i tend to think that jF could be a little more demanding but I would bet that they work on everything that needs working on and that we (me) might overrate the overall ability of our guys just a bit.

About the time I start thinking that Sandy Leon has reverted to the old days of good glove no stick, look what he does. You never know with these guys.

i do think that the righty lefty thing tends to get overdone, looks like it is here to stay though.

Now I realize that it was unusual for JF to bring in Kimbrel when he did. At least it was unusual for him. Do you really think that what he did is an example of panic or desperation. If it was, what can the guy do to get something right?

I agree with you here. i just don't think that jF breaks with the current established ways of doing business vey often. i really don't know how else to say it.

lol - you sharp little new yorker!

I understand what you are saying. i guess my question would be though, when does Farrell actually break from the script? Not taking advantage of today because you constantly worry about tomorrow isn't much of a way to get things done either. I liked what he did yesterday.

One of my problems with JF is his lack of consistency. One day he looks like he actually has a plan and the next day he pulls a 180 on me. Athletes at all levels want to know what is expected of them. i think that JF gets along well well his players. he supports them. Big difference comes when you talk about what he gets out of them. if our players are as good as all of the projectors say they should be then i'm sorry he isn't very good. i'm thinking that his job is on the line. We will soon find out what they think of him and what type of leadership we do have in that clubhouse. if the mental mistakes continue, he is gone as well he should be. lets hope they don't continue.

i agree with you.

Now you are talking my language too to and two

They all know the basic fundamentals of the game. They have been taught and they have learned them. it is a known fact in any sport at any level, if they aren't continually emphasized they will not tend to be executed properly. If this team continues to make the same mental mistakes that they have been making over and over and over it falls onto the shoulders of JF and his coaching staff. Physical mistakes (errors) and batting slumps will happen but continually running into outs, not knowing how many outs there are, throwing the ball to the wrong bases - not acceptable.

he has been one of my favorites for years. still can't understand the prolonged slumps. i feel sorry for one so talented. i still think that he is of great value to us.

It's almost like things have to be scripted for Farrell when it comes to game decisions. I might be a little softer on him for playing it so closely to what the current trends are if as a team they looked like they really new what was going on. Sometimes you just do what it takes to win the game.

plus the fact, I'm bored. What else you got? lol

i must have been a bigger a-hole of a coach than i thought I was. i would have gone nuts on this one in the locker room of course. lol

Why - beats the hell out of talking about what the ideal batting order for this team might be. i actually like reading and talking about something that deals with what is going on on the field of play.

So you are asking me what they should have done. i like this because it deals with a real baseball question so understand before you blast back at me that i'm just telling you from my own experience what I would have liked to have seen done. First of all you can't just assume that the infield fly rule is going to be invoked on any given play. maybe it should have in this instance but it wasn't. moreland has to be a little off the second base bag, as he was, because you know he isn't tagging up on that ball. Pedroia should have been at least a third of the way up the line. Maybe he gets thrown out going back to the bag if Hardy catches the ball and maybe he doesn't. i'm thinking that maybe JBJ should have just run down the first base line. In any event, when that ball hits the deck, moreland should have been on his way to third - Pedroia on his way to second- Bradley standing on the first base bag. Baltimore gets one out but not two. I don't agree with you that it is way down the list in terms of baserunning mistakes and if people want to blame the coaching staff for this then i guess if we have a group of players who need to be told to run when the ball hits the deck we might be in some trouble.

not possible based on where these guys were standing. moreland should have been able to take one giant step back to the bag. pedroia was standing on first base. They weren't where they should have been but at most if hardy catches the ball it is one out.

i can tell you that certainly with respect to the 1967 season we were very surprised. Kind of thought that we were going to be better and it was exciting to see some talented young players but no one I knew at that time had any real expectations of winning. i think that your observation is a very good one. In '67, .500 would have looked pretty good. In '17 not so much.

i might have been what some people thought of as a reasonably tough coach although I always thought of myself as a fun-loving kind of guy but in this case I would have been fairly upset.

Not for me. You know me by now. I do not think that Red Sox are operating within the framework of any kind of budgetary restriction that most people think they are and I absolutely believe that the best players you have should be on your ml roster regardless of available options. if there is any chance that the comedy of errors that we call third base can be solved from within it definitely should be explored.

There is no way under any circumstances at all that Moreland gets tagged out 3' from second after watching the ball fall to the grass whether or not an infield fly was called. Pedroia just standing on the bag really isn't acceptable and I really don't know what to say to anybody who wants to give Bradley any kind of break for not running to first on that ball. Those are simply stupid mistakes that very good teams just don't seem to make. These types of situations probably aren't points of emphasis everyday for these guys but it does kind of make me wonder exactly what baseball activities they do before games other than repetitive hitting and fielding. It's safe say that at some point in time they were taught everything that every kid who has ever played this game in America has been taught. It is also safe to say that just like the rest of us, saying you learned something ten years ago doesn't mean that you can be expected to remember exactly what it was that you learned. Sad!

Pretty sure that Sandoval will get one more very good look. If he can't do it, and Devers is still playing well, there is nothing that could be hurt by bringing him up. if he comes up and can't get it done, back he goes. If his psyche is so fragile that a move like that might hurt him in terms of future development it would be good to find that out now as opposed to later as well.