Maxbialystock

Up until Smith's very timely double, I was convinced the Sox were once again going to screw their own starter--this time Pivetta--who, except for the solo dinger in the 1st, has pitched beautifully tonight.

Agree on the mediocrity, but hasten to add the payroll is $182M, 11th highest out of 30 payrolls. Highest is the Mets, $308M, whose record, 19-21, is even worse than the Sox. 2d highest is Yankees, $306M, and they are tied with the Orioles, whose payrolls is $101M. 3d highest is Houston, $250M, who are 16-25. 4th highest are the Phillies, $245M, who are 29-13 (excellent). 5th, Texas, $233M, 22-21, same as the Sox. 6th, Atlanta, $231M, 25-13, also excellent. Same for the Dodgers, 7th, $229M, 28-15. But not Toronto, 8th, $226M, 19-22. Cleveland payroll, $100M, is 27th and their record is 26-16. Tampa's is $100M, and their record is 21-21. Milwaukee's is 22d, $107M, and they are 24-17. So, inflation or not, it's how you spend your bucks, not how many you spend.

A very interesting point. Are you unaware that none of the four WS winning Sox teams in the John Henry era had any 10 year X $30M players?

Attendance 28,663. The Fenway faithful ain't any more.

Absolutely not on the umps. Sox can't hit, period. The first inning dinger by O'Neill was semi-miraculous. For the next 8 innings the Sox looked like the same miserable bunch we've come to expect.

It wasn't a bad call as much as it was an inevitable out. Grissom is so far from a MLB hitter it's painful. He looks to me like a guy whose future was at AAA--and will remain there.

Even worse, he did it on a 1-2 count. These crummy first base replacements make he wish for Dalbec to return. He was at least a better fielder.

They've been using big shifts since at least Ted Williams heyday 75 years ago--because shifts work. They put limits on the shifts because they were working too well. However, smart hitters adjust and try to hit to the holes. There aren't many smart hitters on the Sox. I should note that Ted Williams was not only a great natural hitter, but also a very smart one. He generally avoided "going the other way" because he believed a hard hit ball still had the best chance of being a hit.

This game is probably over. I say this because in the last 9 games the Sox have scored 5 or more runs 1 time.

Interesting reaction by Grissom on that single. First, he stood at home plate admiring the fact that he finally, finally, got a hit. Then he trotted to 1b as if it were a dinger, giving himself no chance to get to 2b if the single was in any way mishandled. The guy (Chris Sale) the Sox traded for Grissom has had huge injury issues, but is as professional as they come when he is on the mound, especially on defense.

What happened on the double off of Grissom's glove? I missed that play. I also missed the theft of 3b, which is usually on the pitcher. Since the dinger in the 1st, the Sox were/are scoreless through the next 5 innings. This is getting so old and is why I keep mentioning the 17 runs against the Cubs--including the 6 runs in the 9th off a Cubs infielder on the mound--as skewing the Sox's hitting in the positive direction. More pertinent are the last 9 games in which the Sox have scored, in order, 1, 2, 1, 9, 2, 0, 1, 4, and 3 runs. The hitting stinks, period.

Duran's DWAR is highest on the Sox, +1.1. O'Neill's is 2d lowest, -0.3. Case closed.

Agree. O'Neill at DH give me lots of confidence. Fact is, the defense has improved. Hats off to SPLENDIDSPLINTER for two very unexpected wins. A hit, a hit--my kingdom for a hit!

Love Miracle Max. Sheer genius. William Goldman, a great writer, did the screenplay, but Reiner let Crystal improvise.

You could be right on both points. I'm one of the few who ithinks leaving Devers at 3b is the right move because you can't have a team filled with DH's. Those who can field--and Devers can field and throw--should. Devers has had 50 total chances so far with 1 error. That said, Devers has just 52 total bases compared to Duran's 67, O'Neill's 62, Wong's 50, and Abreu's 49. Also 14 rbi's to Rafaela's 22, Duran's 22, Wong's 14, and Abreu's 14. I hasten to add those other guys are also pretty decent on defense. As for Whitlock, his WAR so far is terrific, but I do think his fragility is an issue. However, I guess you're right that, even though $3M is a lot on this pitching staff, it's actually not much.

Love both the "dead" and "alive" categories. Very helpful. But I would add "mostly dead" to include Story, Giolito, and Yoshida.

I look at salaries vs. performance this way-- Sale, $17M, pitches for the Braves. Turner, $7M, plays elsewhere. Story, $22.5M, out for the season after diving for a ball. Yoshida, $18.6M, WAR (as a DH) to date, +0.2, now on IL with an undiagnosed hand injury and could be out awhile. Unlikely to be missed. Giolito, $18M, out for the season and maybe some of next season Whitlock, $3.5M, 4 good starts, ERA 1.96, 18.1 IP, WAR +0.9, due back this month, but almost certainly fragile. Devers, $29M, shoulder issues, defensive issues, WAR +0.9--so not earning his pay. Jansen, $16M, good closer, but the combined salaries of starters Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, Houck, and now Criswell add up to $15M. So Jansen was/is clearly an overspend, and the rotation an unbelievable bargain. Pivetta, $7.5M, WAR +0.3, and overspend so far, but who knows? O'Neill, $6M, WAR +0.9, about right, but his hitting has cratered since the concussion Contrast the above with the astounding pitching, which is underpaid (except for Jansen, who is overpaid), and with these bargain basement performers so far-- Duran, WAR +2.2, min MLB salary $750K Abreu, WAR +1.6, ditto Wong, WAR +0.8, ditto McGuire, WAR + 0.5, $1.5M Rafaela, WAR +0.2, ditto, leads Sox in rbi's with 22 over 2d best Duran 16.

Despite my nonstop griping, I agree we should at least peek at the wild card standings. This is a lousy hitting team who won today on a prodigious error by the Nats centerfielder and a failure to try by the their rightfielder who could have grabbed Rafaela's ground rule double. But the pitching held up, yet again, and the defense was pretty decent. I'm on blackout, but can watch if I wait 2 hours. I just now saw Rafaela almost grab that freaking dinger by the Nats. He did get his glove on it and he did go over the wall. Very impressive. Plus, of course, he leads the team in rbi's. This team of basically no-names is in fact in the hunt for the postseason despite the execrable hitting and a defense that was the worst in MLB but probably isn't these days. With Pivetta and now Bello back, the pitching just might retain their best ERA in MLB. If you ever doubted the importance of pitching, this season should change your mind. The same just might apply to the Sox manager, what's-his-name. As for the Rays, I can't think of a better time to play them right freaking now.

Two much-needed, excellent wins which, however, do not--as everyone has already said--assuage our angst about the hitting. Those three runs depended on the dropped fly in CF and Rafaela's miracle double which actually was catchable. It was the Nats who had the 2 run dinger. Sox are now 2 games over .500 which, all things considered, is semi-miraculous and primarily due to the pitching. The fans, however, are not impressed and are finally voting with their absent fannies. So far--and it is definitely early enough for cold weather to be a factor--the Sox attendance is the lowest in at least 25 years. It does not help that the sightlines for the fans are among the worst in MLB. Fenway is antiquated. But my guess is that two biggest factors are the absence of star power (except for Devers, these guys are no-names) and, not quite as important, marginal won-loss record for the 3d season in a row.

I consider this a big win, both because it counters some of the negativism which I'm been expressing and because it puts the Sox back above .500. Given the Sox lousy defense and hitting, being 1 game above .500 is remarkable.

1. It's still early in the season, so those 17 runs make a big difference. 2. Few teams give up 6 runs in the 9th with a non-pitcher on the mound. 3. Dodgers lead MLB in runs and their most runs in one game is 12. Rangers are 2d and have scored 15 twice. Astros, on the other hand, are ranked 14th, right ahead of the Sox, and their biggest game so far is 10 runs. Cincy, ranked 16th in runs scored, has scored 11 runs in their best game. 4. So 17 is unusual, especially for a lousy hitting/scoring team like the Sox--and therefore has them ranked higher than they should be. And I say this in the context that the previous worst for the Sox was ranked 18th in runs scored. My claim is that this Sox team is the worst hitting Sox team in a quarter century--or longer.

I disagree. I think it's natural for real fans--fanatics--to react to every game and even to over-react. Yes, of course there is the long view which can be measured in decades or months or however one chooses to see the Sox. 162 games are divisible by 9, which means there are 18 games in each "inning" of a 9 inning season. At 38 games, the Sox have just started the 3d inning of this season. And just like any 9 inning game, we've already seen a lot of interesting things-- --Injuries galore, but especially to Story and Casas and 3 of the original (and magical) rotation of Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, and Houck; --Worst defense in MLB; --Best pitching, defined as the team ERA, in MLB. This is in fact unprecedented and seems likely to end this month; --Historically bad hitting, especially with runners in scoring position; --Nevertheless, a 19-19 record thanks to the rotation (and sometimes to the bullpen); --Also nevertheless, Sox attendance @ 31,229, the lowest in at least 25 years.

Sox are currently 10th in MLB in OBP. Not great, but not horrible. Team OPS is 11th. Their problem is RISP disease. Last night they were 1/9.

About the Sox hitting, I claim credit for identifying the depth of their malaise by pointing out that although they are ranked 15th (which is pretty bad for the Sox) in runs scored, it's actually worse than that because of those 17 runs scored against the Cubs, including 6 runs in the 9th inning off a position player who took the mound. Right now the Sox average 4.34 runs per game. So, if we subtract that average from those 17 runs, leaving 13 runs, we should then subtract 13 runs from the 165 runs scored by the Sox to date. The result, 152 runs scored, puts the Sox offense at 21st best in MLB, which is truer reflection of how bad the hitting is. Last year the Sox were ranked 11th in MLB in runs scored. In 2022, they were 9th. In 2021, they were 5th. Skip 2020, which was a nonseason. In 2019, the Sox were 4th in runs scored, and in 2018 1st, 2017 10th, 2016 1st, 2015 4th, 2014 18th, 2013 1st, 2012 8th, 2011 1st, 2010 2d, 2009 3d, 2008 3d, 2007 4th, 2006 9th, 2005 1st, 2004 1st, 2003 1st, 2002 2d. In short, the Sox hitting this season is historically bad.

As for Breslow and the 2024 Sox, my impression is simply that most of the problems were/are too deep and ingrained to fix in one offseason. Among those problems, and here I'm just guessing, are-- 1. Lack of intelligent coaching and assessment in the Sox minor leagues. 2. An owner who has backed off of paying top dollar for talent, probably as a result of the 2019 season, after which he plowed megabucks into paying Price and Sale even though Price pitched for the Dodgers, and Sale simply stayed on the IL. 3. The MLBPA, which, along with players' agents, has brilliantly ensured that almost all contracts are guaranteed, which means that owners and CBO's are almost always gambling on the continued health of their most expensive acquisitions. I hasten to add that sports commentators of all ilk seem to share the notion that the owners are all billionaires and should share that wealth with the players, regardless of the risks. 4. The ongoing dynamics of MLB rule changes, which are invariably intended to allow for more scoring, but nevertheless seem unable to combat the ongoing refinement of pitching techniques/effectiveness. 5. He replaced Chaim Bloom, who proved to be the wrong guy to execute whatever John Henry and his brain trust intended as a sea change for the Sox. Bloom came from the very good Rays system for identifying and developing MLB-level talent, but could not bring that system with him.