FredLynn

Thats not exactly true either. Remy actually breast fed him for the first 14 years.

That statement is incorrect. Studies actually show that if he didn't bond for a minimum of three days his child would likely not be able to hit .250 in the majors. Its important.

Tell you what else: if I am Hembree, while I am keeping my mouth shut about it, I am wondering what else I have to do to make the club and where is the fairness in what just happened. And if I am Kimbrel (or Layne or Ross or anyone else out there), I am looking at someone being sent down that I know helped make the pen what it is today: fourth rated in the league-and I see someone who certainly didn't earn it enter the brotherhood out there. I know all about the possible need for a spot start at some time down the road, and yes, thats a risk we are taking. And as I wrote earlier, there is some chance that Buchholz turns it around in the pen; its not likely. If Dombrowski can secure one more good SP then Kelly can return to the pen, which I believe is where he is best suited, and HE can spot start if need be. This is a risky move. I hope it doesn't upset the cart out in the pen.

As of this morning, the Red Sox bullpen ranks fourth in ERA in the league-with Clay Buchholz pitching a total of one inning for them out of the pen. And as of this morning Clay Buchholz's ERA is 6.24 with a WHIP of 1.46 and a K/BB ratiio of 1.58. This is not the kind of pitcher who is likely going to help an already pretty good bullpen, and his presence and attitude ("They moved me to the #$*& bullpen. Write it down") could very well prove disruptive. There is a chance he might turn it around out there, but there is also a chance that he will be a negative factor in a bullpen that is humming along pretty well. Clay had his chance; he didn't perform. He should have been put on waivers and given a chance to perform elsewhere as Dombrowski addresses our real need: a quality SP.

Just to simplify it, since its Hembree who is likely to be the one demoted, lets focus on him. I agree that ERA should not be the sole determinant of who is better suited for the pen, Buchholz or Hembree, based on performance. Lets look at WHIP, which is also important: Hembree: 1.381, Buchholz: 1.457. I see no reason to just use statistics for May; a larger sample size is needed-the whole season. Another important stat for a RP: K/BB ratio. Buchholz: 1.5; Hembree: 3.6. And you just cannot ignore the fact that Buchholz has an ERA that is about three times that of Hembree. I do not think Buchholz is better than any of our current RP. He will likely weaken the pen.

After watching some of the calls made the game before last I think its time for automation for balls and strikes. These bad calls are influencing the outcomes of games. The human element can be preserved by limiting such automation to balls and strikes and a the few challenges available to the managers. The most important thing is to get the calls right. Just my opinion.

I agree; ideally Clay would have owned what his performance is to date and agreed to go to Pawtucket (can he even do that without waivers?). Instead, his terse comment to a reporter when asked about this was "I got sent to the #%&* pen. Write that down". His presence in the bullpen is going to hurt the chances that this club has to win games, and in my book, winning games is the bottom line. Someone who has performed better than him is going to get sent down, probably Hembree. Other guys in the pen are going to look at that and wonder if their group is being treated fairly; they may resent Clay's presence in the pen. As tough a decision as it would have been, if Buchholz didn't agree to go to Pawtucket, I would have put him on waivers to preserve team chemistry.

Yes. One good inning. While I certainly hope that he has a lot more good innings, what I can't figure out is this: if he stays in the pen, who goes when ERod returns? Who is Buchholz better than in the pen? I can't think of a single RHRP who he deserves to take the place of. If you are thinking Hembree, think again. His ERA is a paltry 2.14. Not Taz, Koji, Kimbrel, or Barnes (ERA: 2.62 with electric stuff). CB might be better than Layne, but we do need two LHRP. So who goes? Clay in the pen makes the pen worse. As difficult a decision as it was, he should have been either traded or waived.

First, they are called umpires in baseball. Second, they were horrible yesterday. I don't expect them to get every borderline pitch right, but the obvious ones: they should be able to handle that. Yesterday during the Jays' three run inning v Porcello, Porcello threw a pitch that was right down the middle that was called a ball. I can't remember who it was to, but I remember if it had been called properly it would have been strike three and the Jays likely would not have scored three runs. On another call, Pedroia's foot was ruled off the bag when replays clearly showed it was on the bag, and a force play out should have been called. The umpires played too large a role in the outcome of yesterday's game. I counted five extra outs they awarded the Blue Jays; there may have been more. They umpires were HORRIBLE yesterday. They are not always that bad, but they were yesterday.

Actually, our pen ranked 5th in the league in ERA coming into this game. Yeah, they blew it today-with a lot of help from the umpires. It happens. Its our SP that stinks. They are ranked 11th in the AL. Dombrowski is going to have to obtain another very good SP for us to be contenders for a ring. We have the prospects to get one.

I counted five extra outs the umpires gave the Blue Jays; there may have been more. It was without a doubt one of the worst officiated games in any sport that I have ever seen.

Replacing .....who?

At least the Yankees streak is intact. Two losses in a row; still under .500. There is solace for Red Sox fans there.

Its possible, but unlikely in my opinion. Not that I wouldn't love to see him back, but before he comes back he needs to be at 93-94. The worst thing to do is to bring him back too early. The team is winning and in first place; we can wait until he is really ready.

I don't think ERod will be back any time soon. While he pitched decently last night, allowing just one run, his velocity topped out at 92-in the first inning-and ranged from 87-92. I don't think he will be effective at the ML level at that velocity. Last year he was closer to 94. For now we are stuck with Buchholz.

I agree its a no brainer, but probably not in the same manner that you think of it. His ERA is now nearly 6 after almost 10 starts.

Does he plan to pitch with the brace on? I don't remember any pitcher ever pitching that way. Something is not right with the explanation we have been given, not that we are entitled to the truth.

Apologies for the long post here....this is the article that convinced me that Swihart's time has come. First, some excerpts, then a link to the full article: "This brings us back to Blake Swihart. Swihart was a more touted prospect than Bradley. Whereas Bradley was a consensus top-50 prospect in his final minor league season, Swihart was a consensus top-20 prospect. And after being rushed to the majors last season, Swihart adjusted well: In the second half, he was one of the best-hitting catchers in the American League. This season, he posted a .391 on-base percentage in the six games he played. He was the Opening Day starter, and he reached base safely in all six games he played. But he made a couple of defensive mistakes, and was sent to the minors to work on them. There are many problems with this. The first, as I’ve said, six games are not nearly enough to evaluate a player. Second, the team has started letting him play left field. Third, the catchers playing in his stead – Christian Vazquez and Ryan Hanigan – can’t hit. The first and second points are related, and again show Farrell’s itchy trigger finger. I’m reminded of players like Gary Sheffield, Melvin Upton Jr., Troy Tulowitzki and Xander Bogaerts. When they came up, all were plagued by calls to move to different defensive positions. All four were given chances to prove they belong at their original positions. Sheffield was allowed to make 15 errors at shortstop and 88 at third base before being moved full-time to the outfield. Upton made 34 errors at various infield positions before he was moved to the outfield. Both were given multiple seasons in the infield before moving to the outfield. Tulowitzki and Bogaerts both proved their doubters wrong and learned to play fantastic defense at shortstop, because they were given the opportunity to succeed or fail on their own." "Swihart hasn’t been given enough playing time to succeed or fail on his own. The shift to left field, robs him of realizing his full potential as a catcher, and also his trade value at that position. The only way Swihart plays in left field regularly is if an infielder gets hurt and Brock Holt moves back to the infield. Otherwise, Holt is going to be playing left field, and now that he’s an All-Star, Farrell isn’t going to bench Holt for Swihart. Swihart’s only path to normal playing time in Boston is behind the plate, except now they’ve cleared him out in favor of Vazquez and Hanigan. Which might be OK if Vazquez and Hanigan could hit. The problem is that the things that Vazquez does best – his defensive abilities – are not as important as they’ve been made out to be. This winter at FanGraphs, Jeff Sullivan showed how quickly any advantages from pitch framing are eroding. This is backed up by how little teams value defense-first catchers. All-time pitch framing king Jose Molina never made more than $2.75 million a season. Vazquez is good at pitch framing, but he needs to excel at something else. The most obvious thing to excel at is hitting, and he just plain isn’t there. For the season, he is hitting .241/.290/.379, which equates to a 75 wRC+. What that means is that he’s hit 25 percent worse than the average hitter. And as we discussed, he’s been one of the worst-hitting Red Sox catchers in the Henry/Werner era. Ryan Hanigan, meanwhile, has been much worse – .143/.234/.190, for a 14 wRC+, or 86 percent worse than the average hitter. Among the 45 catchers with at least 40 plate appearances, Hanigan’s wRC+ ranks 41st. This isn’t new. In the National League, Hanigan hit .262/.359/.343 – not great, but acceptable. Since coming to the AL in 2014 though, he’s hit .222/.318/.313, which isn’t acceptable, even for a catcher. To say the Red Sox need Swihart’s bat is a dramatic understatement. The team is scoring plenty of runs at the moment, but that won’t last forever, and there is little reason to forfeit one spot in the lineup. Farrell has made a habit out of shunting young players to the side before they’ve had a chance to prove that they do or don’t belong. He marginalized Jackie Bradley Jr. after his slow start in 2013, and he pushed Xander Bogaerts off of his natural position in 2014 so that he could play the abysmal Stephen Drew. Now he is doing the same thing to Blake Swihart, in seeming deference to keeping Ryan Hanigan on the roster and Christian Vazquez as the starter. Hanigan might be a great presence on the team, but he can be just as great of a presence if he retires and becomes a coach. It’s time for the Red Sox to dump Hanigan and stop pretending Blake Swihart is a left fielder, and let Swihart prove conclusively that either he can or cannot be a major league catcher." Here is the link to the full article: http://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2016/05/12/john-farrells-blake-swihart

Dombrowski has been here what-six months? Of course this team is mostly assembled from players Theo and Cherington acquired; they were here much longer. Don't forget however that the 2014 and 2015 last place teams were also put together by Theo and Cherington. Dombrowski is off to as good a start as anyone could have expected. No one hits it out of the park every time, but getting Price, Kimbrel, and Smith signed were all very good moves. Hopefully he has more up his sleeve as its looking like we need more starting pitching.

It was the right move at the time, to pick up Clay's option. Too bad it didn't work out.

The issue isn't with keeping Vasquez in the lineup, its why the second catcher is Hannigan while Swihart languishes in Pawtucket. Its time to see if Swihart has what it takes to be a ML catcher. Right now Vas is playing about 60% of the games; Swihart should be playing the other 40%, at least. Management is screwing around with putting him in the outfield. This can only reduce his value as a trade chip as he can't hit or field that position well enough to make it there. There was a long article a while ago in the Globe saying the same thing: dump Hannigan (and I love the guy) and give Swihart a chance.

Smith has hardly pitched at all this year, yet as of this morning our pen is fifth in ERA in the league-top third. Thats good enough to win. Its up to the lower tier SP to start to do their jobs-and if they can't, its up to Dombrowski to get someone who can.

We needed an ace; Dombrowski got us one. Price will be fine. We needed someone to replace Koji as closer; DD got us that too. Do you really have any doubt that both Price and Kimbrel will perform this year? They are the least of our problems. The success of this team depends on three guys: Buchholz, Kelly, and Eduardo Rodriguez. If our starting pitchers do well, the whole team will follow suit.

Actually, we need to have a comfortable lead by the time Sept rolls around. Have you looked at that schedule? Its a brutal Sept schedule and it will be very difficult to make up ground that month. In regards to Rodriguez and Smith: I do not have any faith in the Red Sox medical staff to correctly diagnose and treat the players. I am pretty sure they missed something when they guessed what injuries were actually suffered. Hopefully both players will get sent out to a competent medical doctor outside the system for another opinion-before its too late.

I believe Rodriguez is starting on Wed; Kelly on Thu. From what I hear Rodriguez has not regained the velocity he had last year and is not performing well. Kelly is back at 96 and is closer to returning. Clay will make his next start, but I doubt management has a lot more patience for a SP whose ERA is over 6-if there is an alternative.