Maxbialystock

No doubt the hitting is the biggest weakness.

Feel free to check the following out. I went to Spotrac and looked at MLB team payrolls. The Sox are ranked 12th in total and 15th in "actual" (not counting players on IL) payrolls. If those numbers are correct, I believe it's fair to acknowlege that Breslow is working at a disadvantage compared to all John Henry CBO's before him. It might also be fair to say his budget allows him to acquire good pitching or good hitting but not both. It does not help that two pricey hitters, Story and Yoshida, ain't earning their pay. They were here when Breslow was hired. Also, among the injured are the Sox best starter--Crochet--and potentially their best hitter, Anthony.

Thanks. I reversed the numbers I read. That said, 11 of the 18 losses at home were charged to the bullpen. The starters are 6-7 at home. On the road the starters are 13-9 and the bullpen has 4 losses. The Sox OPS at home is .639 and away .718, a big difference. At home so far the two best OPS's belong To Sogard, .921, and Gasper, .858. Small samples, of course. Both are switch hitters.

Lest there be any doubt I have by far the best insights on game threads. Sox are losing 6-0. Oh, wait.

Am I allowed to mention that Sale in his 3d season with the Braves is 7-3 with an ERA of 1.89 in 10 starts and 62 IP. Breslow was so eager to dump Sale the Sox paid some of his salary and asked for very little in return. I think Sale won the Cy Young his first season with the Braves.

Look at the freaking lineups!!!! Atlanta starts 7 righty bats against lefty starter Early. Thanks to the green monster in LF the Braves have huge advantage. Sox start 4 righty bats and 5 lefty bats against righty Elder. Two of the lefty bats are Sogard and Gasper, both switch hitters.

Sox are desperate for hitting. They stink at the Fens because they start mostly lefties and lack righty power. Breslow had ignored the green monster to his peril.

2020 was a nonseason.

Best comment on this thread.

Lefty arms ain't so great at the Fens. When was the last time the Sox were 8-18 at Fenway Park? But my basic point is that I think Breslow is going in the wrong direction. Sox historically are at their best when they are ranked in top 5 in runs scored, almost regardless of the pitching.

There are two obvious problems: no righty arms and not enough righty bats.

On the surface he looks pretty good. Smart guy, maybe one of the smartest in MLB. 12 years pitching experience in MLB plus a few years in the executive side. This is his his 3d season as CBO and it sure looks like his worst, and I think the reason for that is obvious. Four of his 5 best starters, if we include Crochet in that bunch, are lefties. Grey is a pretty good righty, but Bello is not. Given the preponderance of lefty starters and the lack of good righty bats, it should be no surprise that the Sox are currently 8-18 at the Fens and 14-13 away from home. Plus there's the fact that the Sox are currently ranked dead last in MLB in runs scored. Can anyone remember the last time the Sox were 8-18 (44.4%) at home and dead last in runs scored? I doubt that that happened in the JH era.

In case no one else has state the obvious, allow me to. The problem is Breslow, who has gone after lefty starters with a righty-hitter home ballpark. Thus are the sox 8-18 at Fenway and 14-13 in all other ballparks. When was the last time the Sox were ranked dead last in runs scored? I ask because it sure looks as though Breslow also failed to get enough good righty bats. The Sox away OPS and away ERA are both better than at Fenway.

Completely agree. That's on Breslow more than the hitting coach.

Indeed.

Agree on the weak lineup and on over-reliance on Anthony. Cora was offered the Phillies job as soon as they fired their manager, who may have been fired because Cora was available. I'm beginning to think the problerm is with Breslow. He's not to blame for Story and Yoshida, both overpaid, but last year he dumped two good bats in Devers and Bregman. Bregman's strong suit is pitching, which is coming apart at the seams.

You may have said "don't lead off with Anthony" back during spring training, but, had I read it, I would have disagreed. Anthony was brought up last year because they thought he was ready. They already had three outfielders--Duran, Rafaela, and Abreu--plus Refsnyder as a back up. Anthony was huge leading off last year, the best hitter on the team. And he had been great in the minors. I don't of course disagree he has strugggled this season, but guess what? No one else has excelled leading off. The new guy has Anthony batting 3d. Does that mean he's an idiot too?

i'm smiling because you are one of the optimists. Me more so. My view is that that the starting pitching is looking like what we hoped for and the bullpen is OK. The defense with Contreras at 1b and Durbin at 3b and Mayer at 2b is better than ever. Outfield of Anthony, Rafaela, and Abreu is maybe better than the infield, and catcher is good. The problem is obviously with the hitting., but I honestly think it will come around--especially Durbin, Mayer, and Anthony. Story and Duran I'm less sure of. Rafaela is already off to a pretty good start. I do not however see a quick fix to the lack of power. Those 17 runs in Baltimore have skewed the team's runs scored up to 18th. So the team OPS, ranked 27th, is the truth of the matter. The best W-L records in MLB right now belong to the teams among the top 9 in team OPS's. The three best W-L records also have the three best team ERAs--Braves, Yankees, and Dodgers. Chris Sale, whom Breslow dumped, is having his 3d straight excellent season with Atlanta. He's had 5 superb starts and 1 lousy one. But it all boils down to wins and losses. The Sox have won 3 straight with Tolle on the mound tonight. If he wins and the Sox win with loser Bello tomorrow, there just might be light at the end of the tunnel.

What a crock. I don't recall you saying anything last season when Anthony was our best hitter in July and August. I agree he has struggled this season. I don't agree this is the "real" Anthony of the sub-.700 OPS.

Thanks for the lineup. Good question. This is no doubt a copout, but I wonder if the cold weather has been part of problem.

It Tolles for thee. John Donne. One of my favs.

The smallish budget is 6th largest in MLB. While I agree the Sox needed another big bat after Breslow dumped both Devers and Bregman, his forte is really pitching, and that has not looked very good at all. In his defense, however, is that Story and Yoshida are paid a total of $41M with not much performance--both were signed by CB. Right now I'm very anti-Breslow, but remain hopeful that it's still early and a cold early at that.

Indeed. Succinct and on target.

Meh. I agree the team is depressing but disagree with the manager part. The center of every game is the confrontation between hitters and pitchers and both of those rely heavily on individual performance and not on "enthusiastic responses. " I think the blame rests squarely on Breslow. This is his team far more than it is Cora's. To a degree it's also Chaim Bloom's team and after him it's JH's team. That does not mean Cora can't get fired. Heck, JH fired (didn't renew his contract) Francona.