Maxbialystock

The best use of Devers is to leave him where he is at DH. Think David Ortiz, who only played 1b when the Sox were playing at an NL team. He did not get into the HOF because of his fielding nor for his versatility. It may have helped that he hit well when the Sox won the WS in 2004, 2007, and 2013. It also helped the 2018 Sox to have JD Martinez (OPS 1.073) at DH. So far this season the Sox have had just two good lefty bats--Abreu and Devers with OPS's of .988 and .834-with Duran lagging at .709. Despite missing ST and being moved from 3B to DH, Devers could be headed for an OPS well above his career .854. At the very same time, his not playing 3b has dramatically improved the 3B defense with Bregman. On top of that injuries to DH's are significantly rarer than to third basemen or first basemen. Also, replaceing Casas is the easiest thing in the world right now. His WAR was -0.8 was the lowest on the team. Gonzalez's OPS is .785 and his WAR +0.4. Problem solved! All that said, I'm also in favor of bringing up Anthony and Mayer--both good lefty batters-- as soon as practicable. Mayer (or Story) to 1b and Anthony to LF (Duran to CF). If the pitching (ranked 16th in MLB in ERA) doesn't improve, the front office may decide to wait until next year.

Good win, mostly thanks to Bregman and Abreau and the bullpen. Tomorrow it's Bello vs. Leiter at 1:35. Then off to KC and Detroit for six road games.

I see it very differently and wonder why in the wide, wide, world of sports did Bregman think he had to go home when he was on 3b with nobody out? If it was the third base coach's call, one has to wonder why he sent Bregman home.

Casas was indeed good at catching throws on the hop. Plus he had reach.

While I firmly agree home plate umpires miss calls on balls and strikes, I also think the griping is pointless. If the rectangle were removed from our screens, we would see what everyone on the field of play sees--no freaking rectangle. My favorite call by an ump is the one by the 1b and 3b umps when they are asked to rule on whether a swing was checked in time. They make the call quickly, and it's not up for debate.

The injury to Casas has been overblown. He had a negative WAR for the season because he's neither a good fielder nor a good hitter (I know he was terrific before the injury). So literally anyone would be an improvement over Casas. Well, probably not Dalbec. Back in March I was sure 1B was right for for Devers, but now I think he was made for DH the same way Ortiz was, especially now that both Leagues use the DH. Devers' value is his hitting, period. Wherever he fields, he will be a liability and at greater risk of injury. I would love to use the absence of Casas and the poor hitting by Rafaela as an excuse to bring up both Mayer and Anthony. Mayer goes to SS and Story goes to 2b or 1b. Rafaela becomes a supersub, Duran goes back to CF, and Anthony to LF. All that said, the real problem with this team is the pitching, especially the bullpen.

Alex Mayes got it right--these Sox are as good as they are bad. The problem--my opinion--is that we are getting tired of the bad because the Sox were good as recently as the 2021 season when they they made it to the ALCS game after beating the Yankees in the wild card and the 100 win Rays in the ALDs. Before that, 2004-2018, 4 World series wins after 86 years of frustration. The Rangers can pitch, but not hit, and the Sox are the reverse. We're 4-6 in our last 10; they are 3-7. They are 5-10 on the road and 12-8 at home. The Sox have hit righties well, especially Bregman OPS 1.017, Abreu .977, Gonzalez .908, Devers .890, Campbell .888, Refsnyder .800. Less good are Rafaela .618, Story .612, Narvaez .610, Hamilton .478, and Wong .322. So my guess the line up could be Duran, Devers, Bregman, Abreu, Campbell, Gonzalez, Story, Refsnyder, Narvaez with Rafaela and Wong sitting. Last year the Sox were lefty bats heavy. This year the reverse.

Thoughtful, as always. I love the title of the latest Alex Mayes offering--"The Red Sox are as good as they are bad"--because it's hard for me to give up on them. The hitting is above average and the pitching below average. Mayes points out that the Sox are tied for the most quality starts (6 or more innings, 3 or fewer ER's) in MLB with 16, but have won just 18 games. I see Casas' injury as an opportunity, and I think Rafaela needs to become a handy-dandy backup CF/SS. I see little value in moving Devers to 1b. He won't do it well, and he will have greater risk of injury than as DH. Campbell or even Grissom would be a better choice. If Campbell goes to 1b, Story goes to 2b, and Mayer takes over at SS. And Mark Anthony replaces Rafaela in the outfield. However, I am absolutely clueless on how to fix the bullpen, which is far and away the biggest problem. If the bullpen is deemed unfixable, I can understand management's reluctance to make bold changes/bring-ups to the lineup.

It's simpler than that. The hitting is fine. I even like the baserunning and defense. But the overall pitching stinks despite the addition of Crochet. The Sox ERA, 3.95, is ranked 16th in MLB.

I wouldn't object to Grissom at 1b, but wonder why Campbell shouldn't play 1b.

I do like that last line. Ruth pitched great for the Sox, but was better in RF for the Yankees. Mookie was a second baseman until he was told the Sox needed an outfielder, plus Pedey was anchored at 2b. Some firstbasemen are better than others, but it's the easiest position in the infield, so of course I think Campbell to 1b, Story to 2b, and Mayer to SS makes sense. Story was excellent at 2b in 2022 when Bogey was the SS.

Your last sentence was prophetic. Casas seems to have taken himself out with that episode hitting first base the wrong way.

Meh. The Sox are ranked 4th/5th in runs scored and 6th in team OPS. I personally think the defense is much better than last year, despite the errors. I like the infield with Bregman, Story, Campbell, and Casas, the outfield with Duran, Rafaela, and Abreu, and the new catcher Narvaez. The team ERA, on the other hand, is 4.05 and ranked 14th. As I said elsewhere, the Sox currently have 4 starters with ERA's below 4.05: Crochet 2.05 in 44 IP, Dobbins 2.45 in 11 IP, Fitts 3.18 in 18 IP, and Bello 3.27 in 11 IP. In addition, Giolito's only start was a quality start (6 IP, 3 ER's). Plus, if you throw out Houck's 2.1 IP and 11 ER's game, his ERA for the season is 3.96. Is it worth mentioning that Chris Sale's ERA is 4.84 with the Braves this season? So the problem is demonstrably with the bullpen, a reality reinforced by the last two losses.

Very good comments and exactly the way I see Slaten, Whitlock, Giolito, and Houck. Houck's ERA stinks because he gave up 11 runs in 2.1 innings. For all other games, his ERA is 3.96

All that makes sense. However, I think Mayer, Anthony, and/or Grissom comes up as a bat--with the glove secondary. Anthony goes to the outfield to replace Rafaela if his hitting continues to stink. Mayer or Grissom goes to 1b to replace Casas if his hitting doesn't improve.

Pitching is the big weakness, no question. But I think it will come around.

They are 10-6 at home and 5-10 on the road. The Sox win all three if Whitlock isn't horrible in game 2 and Slaten in game 3. Before tonight Slaten pitched 8.1 innings in April with 0 ER's. Before last night Whitlock had pitched 16.2 innings with 3 ER' and an ERA of 1.62.

I have, as you know, gone with very small statistical samples, but my defense usually is that those are the only ones we have. So splendidsplinter is definitely cherrypicking. On the other hand, the professionals do it all the time. When a guy's in a slump they focus strictly on the bad games, same for when a player's hot. So of course 80 games tells a story--I believe with the intention of exposing mediocrity. I disagree with that because I this year's team more positively than last year's. Before tonight, the Sox were ranked 6th in runs scored, and I think they can go higher. If Casas doesn't come around, bring up someone else to play 1b, the easiest position on the field, especially if he is already an infielder/catcher. Same goes for Rafaela. Anthony, Mayer, and even Grissom all look ready to move up. Meanwhile, the current Sox have starters Crochet with an ERA of 2.05, Fitts with 3.18, Bello with 3.27, Dobbins with 2.45, plus, if you ignore Houck's 2.1 IP and 11 ER's in one horrible game, his ERA is also under 4. Giolito's one start was a quality start, even with the 3 run dinger in the 6th. I even like the baserunning and the defense despite the errors. To me the only question about this squad is whether the bullpen can come around.

Love your stuff, but the above is just wrong. There are endless articles about the importance of the bullpen, largely because the third time through a batting order is risky. Had Houck stayed in to pitch the 8th he would have been facing Bichette for the 4th time. And, if any of Clement, Lukes or Bichette got on base, he would face Guerrero for the 4th time. As I've already said, going into this game Slaten had pitched 8.1 innings in April and given up 0 ER's. Your commentary reeks of 20-20 hindsight that also lacks any analytical basis.

You really mean that crap about Houck going 8, maybe 9 innings? Pitch count is important, but so is the number of times through the lineup. That's supposed to give a huge advantage to relievers because they rarely face batters twice. Before tonight Slaten had pitched 8.1 innings in April and given up zero runs. You can look it up.

Agree on your first statement. Horrible bullpen. Disagree on the 3d, that this is a .500 team. The Jays ain't much, except at home where they are now 10-6, compared to 5-10 on the road. That's at least twice in this series when Abreu took the wrong route, both times he went too far toward centerfield. The first time he corrected just in time to grab it. Tonight he was nowhere near the ball--complete flub (but not an error of course). Going into tonight's game the Sox ranked 6th in MLB in runs scored. Among the starters, Crochet's ERA is 2.05, Bello's is 3.27, Fitts' is 3.18, and Dobbins' is 2.45. And tonight Houck went 7 innings while giving up 1 run. Giolito looked almost decent his first time out in a long time--5 IP, 3 ER. While this week is a lesson--on the wrong side--of how important a bullpen can be, I think this team nevertheless has 3 strengths: hitting, starting pitching, and, believe it or not, fielding. They are ranked 4th in MLB in double plays. A 4th strength is the farm system.

Sensible. I tend to resist hype, but agree the outfield hitting--Duran and Rafaela--sucks right now, so why not give Anthony a shot?

Great game to watch. Both teams had opportunities they did not capitalize on, but the pitching on both sides was pretty tough. I was frankly stunned the Sox pitching could be this good without Crochet starting, but, as others have commented, Weissert, Whitlock, and Slaten were especially tough for 4.1 innings. 13 K's in 9 innings. Could be Casas's weird injury (from swinging a bat) last year is carrying over. Last year's Sox were also 10-10, but I like this team more, despite the early issues in pitching and hitting and errors (which I think are misleading because the Sox lead MLB in double plays).

I've seen some nasty errors, including at least a couple that led to a loss. But overall I like this defense. They lead MLB in turning double plays, which are the pitcher's best friend.

Much ado about nothing. The 2020 season was meaningless even though I understand why MLB decided to do something rather than nothing., 2021 was a pretty good season, but 2022-24 weren't. The worst season, however, had to be 2019 when the Sox had the biggest payroll and couldn't even make the postseason. Thus did JH let DD go.