Maxbialystock

Actually, no. Here are six decent OPS's Cora can call on: Duran .784; Abreu .830; Wong .900; Devers .902; O'Neill .924; Refsnyder .964. Rafaela, batting 9th with his .595 OPS, leads the team in rbi's with 23. So that's 7 semi-decent bats. The problem with this team is that they simply can't score/drive in runs. And, since we're talking about the lineup, it's worth adding that the Sox defense has given up 36 unearned runs. The Yankees have the 2d best ERA (2.91) and have given up just 19 unearned runs. In short, while the Sox lineup can sort of, kind of hit, they can't drive in runs and they give up way too many unearned runs.

Enough on Sale v. Grissom. I'm looking at the MLB standings and can see the Sox run differential is +29. That's pretty good, but it's misleading. The Rays run differential is -28, and they just took 3 of 4 at the Fens and are now 1/2 game ahead of the Sox in the AL East. To me nothing could be clearer than that this Sox team, whose pitching staff leads MLB in team ERA, simply doesn't know how to win games as reflected in their abysmal defense and weak hitting. They are ranked 16th in MLB in runs scored, which is really lousy for a Sox team that plays home games at the Fens. Plus, as I persist in reminding people, those 188 runs scored are juiced by the 17 scored against the Cubs last month when they used an infielder to pitch the 9th inning and gave up 6 more runs. One telltale--we all know about this--is that Rafaela, who bats 9th and has an OPS of .595, leads the team in rbi's with 23. That's 6 more than Duran, 7 more than Devers or O'Neill, and 8 more than Wong or Abreu. Duran's OPS is .784, Devers .902, O'Neill .924, Wong .900, and Abreu .830.

One giant caveat by me is that the Sox rotation this year has been fantastic without Sale. Plus the biggest need is infielders who can field and hit, which theoretically Grissom has the potential to do. That said, the Sox are paying Sale's $17M salary this year, and so far he is headed for a WAR (for the season) of over 4. If he accomplishes that, it will be pretty close to his cumulative WAR, 2019-2023, for the Sox. I find that galling even though, as I said, the Sox rotation has been excellent.

Fair enough. Whoever said O'Neill is flaming out just might have a point. Sox lose 7-5 while give up 2 unearned runs. Tonight it was Rafaela with his 8th error. The kid has range, but . . .

Apparently, Cora wanted to force the Rays to change pitchers. Is that right?

What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on? Are they discussing Cora's complaint with MLB headquarters? This is just crazy.

Good. Cora did make an issue about that pitcher or the manager or somebody. I'm a good lip reader and I think it was about "too many different pitches." Finally, maybe we can get a level playing field. Jansen only uses one pitch, so the other side should too.

Not this year. Every game has been close.

I think the Rays closer is cheating and Cora should tell the umpire so. He's using too many different pitches plus he is not charging enough per inning pitched.

In Jansen's defense, we should not expect him to be good every time. He's paid a mere pittance--$16M. That's about $250K per inning pitched.

He should. His OPS is almost down to the .200 mendoza line, which is for batting average.

Bloom is off the rose. Jansen only has one pitch, the cutter, and the Rays are tuned in. 2 runs in.

He has the highest WAR.

Nice play to get the 3d out (and with a man on 2b) in the top of the 8th.

All 5 of the Sox runs have been earned. 3 of the Rays' 5 runs have been earned. This is Red Sox baseball in 2024.

One heckuva game. Badges, awards, or whatever need to go to both Cora and McGuire for hanging in during the top of the 6th inning when Kelly gave up 4 freaking walks, but no runs. When the Rays went up 5-1, I simply quit watching, but that lasted about 1/2 inning because I must be addicted to punishment. That throw that Devers didn't catch last night was in fact so right on the money it was hard to believe. Low and just to the right (toward the runner) of the bag.

You are so far off base, you should be called/thrown out. DD was good, I agree, but absolutely, positively, no better than the GM/CBO's before him in the John Henry era. Those guys won WS in 2004 (to end the 86 year drought), 2007, and 2013. And all of them, pretty much like DD, were given a pretty good budget/payroll to work with. But something happened in 2019 when the Sox had the highest payroll in MLB, had just had their best season ever, and couldn't even make the postseason. Mookie wanted and deserved a huge contract, which the Dodgers were more than willing to pay. Price stunk, so did Sale, and the Sox owed both of them jillions of salary. So John Henry hired Chaim Bloom the same way he almost hired Billy Beane way back in 2002. He wanted someone who had a system for developing good players at low cost--or one who could do that while still spending some money, but who didn't need the highest payroll in MLB as DD had with the Sox. And it didn't work. But right now we still don't know what John Henry intends. We do know that the current rotation of six starters--Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Whitlock, Houck, and lately Criswell--are being a total of $15M, $1M less than closer Jansen. We also know that the Sox are paying Sale $17M to pitch for Atlanta, Turner $7M to play elsewhere, Story $22M to be on the IL until next year, Yoshida $19M to do the same but maybe return in June or July, and Giolito $18M to miss this entire season.

Box score gives the error to Devers. Devers is the most experienced and highest paid player on the team. He should set the example, but routinely does the opposite. I believe he tries hard, but simply is incapable of setting a good example, and the other players have to be aware of that reality.

Horrible job by Weissert. Horrible.

We just saw a good example of what I meant by the above. With no one on in his previous at bat, Abreu hit a dinger. This time, with the bases full and the pitcher very intent on getting Abreu out, he K'd in 3 pitches--two of them swung on when well outside the zone. This was not good luck for the pitcher nor bad luck for Abreu, it was a pitcher doing his job and a young hitter folding like a cheap tent.

Good point. Plus my "insights" are opinions--except about the flu.

I think hitting with men on base is in fact a skillset because I believe good pitchers throw better when they are are in trouble, defined as either men on base or men in scoring position.

Good word, conjecture. I thrive on it because it's 100% guesswork and 0% statistical analysis.

I'm sorry, but I've never heard of anyone in this era of modern medicine who lost 15 lbs from the flu. My thought is that Grissom hit AAA pitching but can't hit MLB pitching--exactly the same as Dalbec and probably a bunch of other players. I definitely hope I'm wrong, which is a good bet anyway because I don't know jack about baseball. I prefer to rage about Grissom because Sale--whose $17M salary the Sox are paying--is looking so good this year.

Here's my 2 cents on Whitlock. It's simple, really--way too much repertoire for a reliever. The best ones use at the most 3 pitches. Right now Jansen is getting away with just one pitch, a 90-92 mph cutter he moves around the strike zone. Three years ago Barnes emerged as this amazing closer--he had 24 saves--because he threw just 2 pitches, a pretty decent fastball, and the big freaking curve. Then MLB umpires starting checking pitchers for foreign substances or whatever and somehow that really affected Barnes confidence/effectiveness. Kimbrel has prospered with the exact same two pitches--fastball and big curve. When Koji Uehara was at his best circa 2013, he had two pitches, a slow fastball (88 mph on a good night) and a splitter that really worked. Plus he had good command and just tons of confidence--and was absolutely incredible in the 2013 postseason--in fact, the polar opposite of Kimbrel in the 2018 postseason. Whitlock has probably 5 decent pitches and is more than happy to use all of them. Sale for most of his career--and I'm talking about the good Sale--basically went with 3 pitches--fastball, slider, and changeup. This year I've seen a cutter, but he doesn't use it that often. That slider works against righties because he can consistently hit the outside corner with it.