Maxbialystock

Brilliant!

Long, long ago there was an expression--"muscle bound." To me that describes O'Neill, who looks far more like a weightlifter than a baseball player.

As far as I know--and I don't know much--Bello is the only Sox pitcher with a good enough changeup to actually use it.

Those first two hits were partly on Bailey or whoever called the pitches. Both singles were off sinker/fastballs, which Arizona was looking for and swung on the first pitch both times. Then suddenly it was time to mix it up, but without having thrown any sliders or especially changeups. So batter #3 was walked--bases loaded, no one out. Then came the 2d walk and a run because Bello is fully capable of getting an 0-2 count and then frittering it away. Finally, he got serious and got 3 straight outs, one of which drove in run #2. Exactly the same thing happened in the bottom of the first--back to back doubles by Duran and Abreu off of fastballs. But Nelson got lucky when Casas lined out. Then the weak ground outs by Devers on the first pitch and Ref on the second pitch. Bello straightened up in the 2d and 3d, and the Sox continued to look weak at the plate in the 2d and 3d, especially Ref striking out on 3 pitches with the bases full.

Bats first, gloves second. Exceptions now and then at SS/CF, but by far the longest serving SS in the JH era has been the good bat, Bogaerts. Which reminds me. Duran has pretty good range and excellent DWAR (CF and LF), but his primary asset is his freaking offense--hitting and baserunning (which includes extra doubles and extra triples). To me it is criminal to put his range in left field at Fenway Park, and the next time Cora does it I'm bringing charges, probably in Federal District Court.

No disagreement on 2025. I read your post on the other thread and commended you. But my point is that 1) I trust Cora; and 2) Cora has used Rafaela at SS a lot--I think because of his range and arm. But I'm sure you're right about the errors and the missed double plays (which didn't count as errors). Thus tonight in yet another important game, righty bat Rafaela is back at SS against a good righty starter, Nelson. The other two righty bats are Ref in LF and Jansen catching.

The minors are filled with good field no hit infielders--and outfielders, for that matter. The best thing any MLB team can do for their defense is to accumulate good pitchers. Thus are pitchers exactly 1/2 of every MLB roster. And the job one for the lineup players--the other 1/2 of the roster--is to score runs. Good defense can definitely help, but it is 3d most important and well behind pitching and hitting. As for the 2024 Sox, I guess you've forgotten that Breslow already had Story, who is pretty darn good on defense--just not healthy. Rafaela has good range and a good arm, but is hampered by having to play both CF and SS, often in the same freaking game. So he is error prone.

Good stuff. Thanks.

I've been harping all season for righty bats and agree O'Neill is probably gone after this season. But I also agree the Sox need not add any big bats this winter.

I like Casas, and goodness knows the Sox haven't often had a good bat at 1b. Youk was. But the real point--just as you say--is that 1b is the easiest of the infield positions. Thus Youk, a thirdbaseman, and thus Napoli, a catcher. This year Wong has played 1b. And Devers is clearly in that mold when the time comes. The point for now is that Devers is not a big liability defensively at 3b, and he is having a career year at the plate. Casas best position might be DH, but for now that's Yoshida.

All out commitment to defense at 2b and SS is horsehockey. Bats first, gloves second at all positions. Thus did Bogaerts last 10 freaking seasons with the Sox. Pedey was in fact a good defensive secondbaseman, but he lasted because he could hit. The intent with Story was to get a good defensive SS/2b, which he is, who could also hit, which he hasn't. Plus he's played just 145 games in 3 seasons. The best defense is a good pitching staff, and that's what the Sox need to invest in.

Too bad it's me saying this, but I think you've made a heckuva point, especially that brilliant phrase, "temporary All-Star arm." That's Sale, Price, Beckett, Lackey, and a whole bunch of great arms who didn't pitch for the Sox. There are of course significant exceptions--like Verlander--but that's the point: they are exceptions and absolutely not the rule. I also like your notion that there is strength in numbers: that is, acquire pitching depth. I think that is exactly what has happen this season to the Sox lineup players, who constitute half the team. I call them the no-names, which really means underpaid. Casas, Wong, Abreu, Hamilton, and Duran are all @ $750K. Rafaela is $1.25M. That's 2/3 of the Sox starting lineup for $6M. The two big righty bats, Ref and O'Neill, are @ $1.85M and $5.85M. Lurking @ Worcester are Mayer, Teel, Anthony, and Campbell. Plus let's not forget that DFA'd Smith and McGuire definitely contributed to this Sox team. I hasten to add that I think Devers ($30M) and Yoshida ($18.6M) are pretty close to earning their pay, but they are just two of 9. The rotation started out like a house afire, and then stumbled badly after the ASG, but I think Houck, Bello, Crawford, Pivetta, and Criswell are right now borderline adequate. Including Pivetta @ $7.5M and Bello at $1.2M, their combined salaries are around $11.5M. And their WAR's are, in the same order, 3.4, 0.8, 1.6, 1.0, and 0.0. Plus we also can't forget the failed (so far) investments of Giolito ($38M for 2 years, which are now 1), Story ($22M x 6 years?), and of course Sale, whom the Sox are paying $17M so he can star for the Braves. That's a whole lot of money for zippo performance.

Next year, fine, Rafaela in CF. But this year his quickness and arm make him our best defensive SS--see yesterday's out from deep in the hole. When will you ever agree that being fast afoot is actually an asset for a centerfielder? I'm looking at the ESPN listing of MLB centerfielders' DWAR's and Duran's is second best at +1.9. To me it is criminal to put Duran with all that speed in freaking left field, especially at Fenway Park. Think Manny Ramirez or, better still, Ted Williams.

Don't forget tomorrow's game thread.

Agree. To his enduring credit, he kept at it despite ongoing pain, especially, when fouling off pitches.

Terrific stats. Peerless.

I'm fine with Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF because both have speed/range. Sox Prospects says Rafaela has a plus arm and Duran an average arm. Plus Abreu/Ref in LF makes sense. This year I prefer Rafaela at SS because of his better range and better arm. No one else could have made that play he did deep in the hole today. Plus Duran is comfortable in CF and has pretty close to the same range. To me it is just stupid to put Duran in LF and Hamilton @ SS--except that Cora will do that to get as many lefty bats in the lineup as possible.

Well put. We all hope exactly that and moonslav has proposed it relentlessly.

I mostly did as well. Criswell does not have good stuff, but it worked today. Verlander gave up 2 early runs, but then got nasty. Thus the Sox led 2-1 when the bullpens took over and the Sox bullpen was miraculously unscored upon for the 2d straight game. Also impressive are the Sox ongoing ability to score runs. I absolutely did not expect Casas to be an asset early, but he is--hitting and catching throws to 1b.

Back to 2024, the topic of this thread. I think the last two series, 4 @ Baltimore and 3 and Houston, are very encouraging. The split with the Orioles, tied for best team in the AL, was terrific, and taking 2/3 @ Houston was even better because the Sox bullpen, our biggest weakness, was fantastic last night and again today. The #2 and #3 wild cards, KC and MN, are both playing at a 90 wins pace (.556 x 162 = 90). That's a pretty good standard for getting the wild card, but I think the Sox are capable of that. How so? Consider-- The Sox have 5 viable starters in Houck, Bello, Crawford, Pivetta, and Criswell (even though I thought Criswell was lucky as heck today). Just maybe the bullpen is viable. I loved that K by Bernardino to get THE GREAT ALVAREZ with the bases loaded and 2 outs today. The hitting is amazingly good, especially with Casas hitting like he did in April and despite Devers struggling this month. Sox are 4th in MLB in runs score and 3d in team OPS. With a whole bunch of no-names. The fielding is better than earlier this season. In the Houston series, our defense was demonstrably better than theirs. Best manager in MLB and one of the best pitching coaches. Between them they have compensated for an inexperienced CBO (who has done little to help the team) and an owner who no longer wants to underwrite a top 3 payroll.

Duran's WAR is now 7.3, 5th best in MLB. He is the driving force on this Sox team. He is the most valuable offensive and most valuable defensive player on the team. Now that he seems to be taking better routes, I think he's absolutely the best choice to play CF because that frees Rafaela to play SS, where I think he is clearly our best choice on defense. Any game in which Duran plays left field, especially left field at Fenway, is an unpardonable waste of talent.

Again, I disagree. The Sox have DFA'd, released, dumped, whatever Smith and McGuire and both contributed to this year's Sox team. I love having great players on the Sox, but sometimes OK is good enough. Apparently, the wretched trainwreck named Nunez was OK in 2018. Now and then he got a key hit. And you Grissom advocates keep sidestepping the fact that he's who we got for Chris freaking Sale while also paying Sale's $17M salary this year. And that happened in a season/offseason when it was obvious the Sox biggest weakness was pitching, not 2b.

Then we disagree. The 2018 team was the best Sox team ever with an absolutely dreadful second baseman. I thought of Nunez as a saboteur. The 2021 Sox made it to the ALCS--which makes them better than the 2016 and 2017 Sox teams everyone incorrectly raves about--and that year a cast of thousands tried out for the 2b job. Iglesias turned out to be the best, but only played 23 games.

One heckuva win!!! Plus the series. Plus beating Verlander. Plus an outstanding pitching job by Criswell and the bullpen--supported by excellent Sox defense. Now back to the Fens and a day of rest.

Devers OPS was .919 in May, 1.015 in June, 1.132 in July, and so far .808 in August. So whoever said maybe the shoulder is having an effect on him could be right. And of course I was wrong.