Maxbialystock

Well, tonight he was also the Guardians kind of guy. They loved him.

I have always loved the name, "Dodgers," maybe the best MLB name there is. Trolley-Dodgers, not quite as much. Dodgers are an old, old franchise that deserves respect, and their move to the West Coast does too. Agree completely on Vin Scully--of course. Your story reminds me of Doris Kearns Goodwin, who started as a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan and switched to the Sox only after moving to Boston to get her PhD. I thought she was pretty good on Ken Burns' Baseball series.

All true. That said, this team so far has been nothing less than astonishing despite the awful defense, the absence of the big bats, the occasional idiocy on the basepaths, the occasional bullpen lapses--and both Pivetta and Whitlock on the IL. No way, no how should the Sox have swept the Pirates in Pittsburgh with what amounted to a pick-up team. No way, no how should a rotation (Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, and Houck) costing $14M in salaries enable the Sox to go 7-3 on a West Coast trip when 5 years ago a much, much better Sox team--who won 108 games the season before and went 11-3 in the postseason--went 3-8 on the West Coast. I am by no means defending JH, but I am unabashedly enjoying this season to date.

And the only thing that makes me a little nervous about what you just wrote is that, if John Henry spends large--as the bulk of talksoxers want him too--the prices at Fenway will go up and up and up. This won't affect me one bit, but it will those attending fans who are in fact part of the experience for us stay at home viewers. Also, don't forget what you've written about the randomness of who wins the playoffs and World Series. I remember both the 1954 World Series--in which the juggernaut Cleveland Guardians with their incredible pitching were swept by the NY Giants--and the 1955 WS when the Dodgers finally, finally beat the Yankees, 4 games to 3 with Johnny Podres getting 3 wins.

Absolutely fascinating. Great stuff!

Cleveland right now is tough--good hitting and good pitching. Their +52 run differential is easily the highest in the AL. However, while no one can say the Sox also have good hitting or that they have even adequate defense, they do have good pitching. Plus, of the 3 losses to Cleveland at the Fens, 2 were highly contested. Sox run differential is +18. Both Devers and O'Neill are expected to play tomorrow in Cleveland. Starters Pivetta (flexor strain in right elbow) and Whitlock (left oblique strain) are due back in May.

Refsnyder's righty bat comes in handy, just like McGuire's lefty bat (DH yesterday against the Pirates).

Divided loyalties. You're a lifelong Sox fan who moved to Pittsburgh, where you have season tickets to Pirates games. I've been in the same boat because of moving around a lot. While I never rooted for the Yankees, I did root for the Knicks when I was on the USMA faculty. When at Carlisle Barracks, I rooted for the Phillies when they won the WS. In Kansas I went to Royals games because I could and because Bo Jackson played. Since grad school at UNC, I've been a Heels fan. In Oklahoma I became a Cowboys fan--also an Astros fan. Since age 9, a Sox fan and an Army fan.

Sox are 7-3 in the 10 games in which Dalbec has played.

Pirates payroll, $83M, is 2d lowest in MLB. Sox payroll, $182M, is 11th. However, the Sox have at least $100M of their payroll on the IL, "resting" but not quite on the IL, pitching or playing for other MLB teams, or simply underperforming. Most everyone on Talksox believes the current 13-10 record is simply blind, stupid luck and that total disintegration is just a game or series away. I do not think the Sox pitching is blind stupid luck. Given that the defense so far is the absolute worst in MLB, with the errors and other mistakes to confirm it's lowliness, the Sox pitching is actually better than their current lowest ERA in MLB. The Sox are 13-10. Of those 10 losses, 3 (of 3 played) were to the Orioles, but 2 of the 3 were definitely contested. Same goes for losing 3 of 4 to the Guardians--2 of the 3 losses were close and affected by Sox errors. Of the 2 losses to Seattle, both were highly contested. Same goes for 1 of 2 losses to the Angels. I believe that adds up to 7 of the 10 losses were contested. What does, however, stretch credulity is that the Sox are sort of, kind of, maybe even hitting the freaking ball pretty much without a lineup. How bad is it? Devers, O'Neill, Casas, Yoshida, and Story are on the IL or resting or just not hitting. And guess who's playing every freaking day? Dalbec, with his OPS--OPS, not OBP--of .188. Reyes played 1b today. Cats and dogs are living together. If the Ghostbusters show up--now my favorite line--the Sox are dead, dead, dead.

I cannot resist using the line attributed to Tonto when the Lone Ranger observed they were surrounded by hostile Guardians: "what's this "we" stuff, paleface? Of course you're entitled to self-identify as a Pirates, Red Sox, or any other kind of fan you want to be. You love baseball enough to go to the ballpark (s) to watch the games.

Given the unavailability of a whole bunch of Sox, including a starter in game 3, this was one heckuva sweep of the Pirates. Thanks to the pitching, these 2024 Sox are better than they seem. The cautionary note is that they are nevertheless 0-3 against AL East opponents and have 49 AL East games still to play. Here are five OPS's from today's Sox lineup: Rafaela .494, Dalbec .188, Reyes .441, Heineman .500, and Valdez .489.

Forget? I didn't even know he was on the payroll. But there he is for a cool $19,250,000. He's right there with Sale, who's pitching for the Braves but being paid $17M by the Sox.

Only Pivetta and Whitlock are out. Bello, Crawford, and Houck are all pitching up a storm. The missing biggies from the lineup are Story, Devers, and Casas in the infield and O'Neill in the outfield. While Story leaves a hole at SS, his bat isn't missed much. Same goes for Devers. Casas' bat is missed, but his DWAR is -0.4.

What cheap? Payroll this year is $180M, 11th highest in MLB. Yoshida, Story, and Jansen all have pretty good contracts. What we can be sure of is that he hates the idea of big/long contracts for starters--and that of course dovetails with your point. The current Sox rotation is pretty much the best in MLB and their (Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, and Houck) combined salaries amount to $14M. Pivetta is out, but expected back in about 10 days. Whitlock sometime in May I think. The investments are primarily in lineup players, Story and Yoshida, who have yet to deliver.

Lack of focus is endemic to MLB if only because the games last forever. That's getting better with the new rules, but lack of focus is still a problem. That said, it's clear a whole bunch of players are able to maintain focus.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing.

I think Thunder moved to Pittsburgh.

I said that already on the game thread, including the 88 wins. However, I also admitted we still have a lot of ALE games to play and so far the Sox are 0-3.

1. 2020 was a nonseason, period. All kinds of players missed games because of COVID, plus it was a short season, plus basically no fans. So to me what Mookie did in 2020 is irrelevant. 2. The WAR's are the best measure of each season, and Mookie's average WAR--for 5 full seasons-- with the Sox was definitely better than the average of 2021-2023 with the Dodgers. 3. By the way, I do think Mookie is headed for the HOF. He's that good. But it is a rare player who gets an incredible contract because he's already had a bunch of great seasons and then plays even better baseball with the new team. 4. Moreover, a position player, even with a WAR of 10, can only do so much. He's one batter out of 9 and one fielder out of 9. Mookie was fantastic in 2018 (MVP), but that lineup included Beni, JDM, Bogey, Devers, Moreland, et al. And in the outfield he was joined by JBJ and Beni. And on the pitching staff were the good Sale, the good Price, plus ERod,Porcello, Eovaldi, closer Kimbrel, Joe Kelly, Wright, et al. 5. So my point is that, had the Sox kept Mookie at whatever cost, he would not have had remotely as good a supporting cast, especially pitching, as he had in 2018. Ironically (if you are a Sox fan), the best team for him to be on was and is the Dodgers. He would have been wasted on the Sox.

I definitely misunderstood you. My point is that moviegoers and music lovers have choices and real baseball fans don't. When your team stinks, you're screwed.

Far from it. Sandoval makes Raffy look trim. At 27 Raffy carries his weight well, even on the base paths. But I fear it makes him injury prone.

I hate to jump back into the Mookie discussion, but can't resist this. If we ignore 2020--which absolutely, positively was a non-season--as we should do, the Dodgers haven't done nearly as much with Mookie as the Sox did. I hasten to add that Mookie's WAR's with the Sox were significantly higher than they have been with the Dodgers, who are paying twice as much for lower value. And that's exactly what would have happened if Mookie had stayed in Boston--twice as much for lower value. In addition, had Mookie stayed, the Sox would still have had no freaking pitching.

Honestly? I think Devers is a good guy. But I would be crazy if I didn't worry about his weight which I think is tied to his now being injury-prone.

That cutter today looked better than last time. Jansen threw it harder and mostly kept it low. Sox now 12-10, which translates to 88 wins in 162 games. I obviously like that projection, but agree completely with anyone who says, "yes, but don't forget the 52 games against AL East teams." So far, the Sox are 0-3 against them. Once again, a great start by our magnificent rotation. I have defended the heck out of Joely. No more.