Maxbialystock

Indeed.

Agree on the weak lineup and on over-reliance on Anthony. Cora was offered the Phillies job as soon as they fired their manager, who may have been fired because Cora was available. I'm beginning to think the problerm is with Breslow. He's not to blame for Story and Yoshida, both overpaid, but last year he dumped two good bats in Devers and Bregman. Bregman's strong suit is pitching, which is coming apart at the seams.

You may have said "don't lead off with Anthony" back during spring training, but, had I read it, I would have disagreed. Anthony was brought up last year because they thought he was ready. They already had three outfielders--Duran, Rafaela, and Abreu--plus Refsnyder as a back up. Anthony was huge leading off last year, the best hitter on the team. And he had been great in the minors. I don't of course disagree he has strugggled this season, but guess what? No one else has excelled leading off. The new guy has Anthony batting 3d. Does that mean he's an idiot too?

i'm smiling because you are one of the optimists. Me more so. My view is that that the starting pitching is looking like what we hoped for and the bullpen is OK. The defense with Contreras at 1b and Durbin at 3b and Mayer at 2b is better than ever. Outfield of Anthony, Rafaela, and Abreu is maybe better than the infield, and catcher is good. The problem is obviously with the hitting., but I honestly think it will come around--especially Durbin, Mayer, and Anthony. Story and Duran I'm less sure of. Rafaela is already off to a pretty good start. I do not however see a quick fix to the lack of power. Those 17 runs in Baltimore have skewed the team's runs scored up to 18th. So the team OPS, ranked 27th, is the truth of the matter. The best W-L records in MLB right now belong to the teams among the top 9 in team OPS's. The three best W-L records also have the three best team ERAs--Braves, Yankees, and Dodgers. Chris Sale, whom Breslow dumped, is having his 3d straight excellent season with Atlanta. He's had 5 superb starts and 1 lousy one. But it all boils down to wins and losses. The Sox have won 3 straight with Tolle on the mound tonight. If he wins and the Sox win with loser Bello tomorrow, there just might be light at the end of the tunnel.

What a crock. I don't recall you saying anything last season when Anthony was our best hitter in July and August. I agree he has struggled this season. I don't agree this is the "real" Anthony of the sub-.700 OPS.

Thanks for the lineup. Good question. This is no doubt a copout, but I wonder if the cold weather has been part of problem.

It Tolles for thee. John Donne. One of my favs.

The smallish budget is 6th largest in MLB. While I agree the Sox needed another big bat after Breslow dumped both Devers and Bregman, his forte is really pitching, and that has not looked very good at all. In his defense, however, is that Story and Yoshida are paid a total of $41M with not much performance--both were signed by CB. Right now I'm very anti-Breslow, but remain hopeful that it's still early and a cold early at that.

Indeed. Succinct and on target.

Meh. I agree the team is depressing but disagree with the manager part. The center of every game is the confrontation between hitters and pitchers and both of those rely heavily on individual performance and not on "enthusiastic responses. " I think the blame rests squarely on Breslow. This is his team far more than it is Cora's. To a degree it's also Chaim Bloom's team and after him it's JH's team. That does not mean Cora can't get fired. Heck, JH fired (didn't renew his contract) Francona.

Oh, stop it. He had a terrific season last year, including leading off, which ended way too soon on Sep 3. So the freaking hype was justified. The pitching savced last year's Sox, but Anthony was a big help with Devers gone and Bregman's hitting dropping off after the injury. This year, I agree, is pretty awful so far. But almost no one on the Sox is having a good season at the plate. Contreras and Rafaela seem to be the exceptions. Maybe Yoshida is. Wong doesn't count--yet. Story leads the team in rbi's with 17, 5 more than 2d best Contreras, and Story's OPS is .531. Now that's just weird. Right now the Sox rank 26th in MLB in runs scored--which is a reflection of their collective incompetence. And their team ERA is ranked 21st. The above two stats point to one guy, Breslow. And you want us to believe it's because Anthony is leading off.

I like Durbin's defense plus I'm sure he can hit better than he has.

Agree the Sox are down, 2 games to 1, in this series. The worse news is that the one win was from the only run, unearned in the 10th inning, in game 1. The pitching is nowhere near expectations, but frankly neither is the hitting. Sox have 2 runs but are 0/8 with RISP.

Fair enough. I am a habitual over-reactor, but right now what scares me is I might be right.

First, I would definitely like to see the swtich made between Mayer and Story. Second, however, making that switch won't fix the hitting, which is killing the Sox. I agree it would help the pitching, but not by much. This season the Sox have pretty good defenders in the outfield and in the infield except at SS.

None of their stats are good. Plus W-L is the one that really counts. Right now that's 8-13, which is lousy, but the Sox are still just 4.5 gsames behind Yankees @ 13-9. The Sox now ranked 25th in MLB in runs scored and 21st in team ERA. As far as I'm concerned. those two stats are directly attributable to Craig Breslow. He needed to get another good bat. Even worse is that his expertise is in pitching and right now that's in disarray. Oh, and the Sox payroll is ranked 6th in MLB. Meanwhile, the Sox fans have been hugely supportive given both the lousy play and lousy weather.

Meh. Tonight's game was clearly a pitchers' duel. Tigers pitched 9.1 IP with no ER's and lost. Also, you seem to have forgotten all those games--like Crochet's last start--in which the Sox starter didn't even go 5 innings. Suarez now leads the team in total IP, 22.1 in 4 starts, which is less than 6 IP per start.

It's Durbin, but I could not agree more that the game was amazing. Riveting. I think Anthony and Durbin can/will hit, but have my doubts about Mayer. Absolutely fantastic game by Suarez. He's the game MVP and no one else is within a mile of him. Chapman's final 3 pitches were 99 mph, 100 mph, and 101 mph.

i've made my case fo leaving Story at SS. I think it's reasonable, given other factors. Lots of luck convincing me the Sox would have a winning record if Story weren't playing SS. I find it hard to quarrel with the lineups when Story leads the Sox in rbi's by a margin of 6. Tonight was another game when Cora's management of pitchers and pinch hitters and defensive positioning was impeccable. And don't forget that two of his best hitters, Contreras and Anthony, failed to drive in runners in scoring position with 2 outs. Do I need to add that Narvaez was rested and did not play tonight?

Fascinating takes on Cora. I think a case can be made that he is being stubborn about Story at SS. On the other hand, I think "fixing" SS is not nearly as important as fixing the hitting and pitching which are both well below average among MLB teams. In that respect Story leads the Sox in rbi's with 17 in 18 freaking games. The Sox have won 7 games and Story had rbi's in 4 of them. He also had 1 rbi in a 3-2 loss @ St Louis and 2 rbi's in an 8-6 loss to Milwaukeee and 1 rbi in 6-5 loss @ Cincy. Story and his lousy .560 OPS is also 3d in total bases. Mayer is confortable at 2b and but not at the plate where his .572 OPS is below last year's .674. Back to the Sox team defense. I think the Abreu, Rafaela, Duran, and Anthony constitute a pretty good outfield. So do Contreras, Durbin, Mayer, and Wong/Narvaez 4/5 of a decent fielding infield.

To me it's this simple. So far--and I agree we're just 18 games into the season--the Sox pitching, hitting, and defense all stink. 25th in team ERA, 22d runs scored, and tied for 4th in most errors.

No doubt I missed the sarcasm. Nevertheless, I contend the Sox bats stink, but not Yoshida's.

Agree. Of course.

Thanks, MVP. Tigers come in with a 6 game win streak. However, all were home wins. On the road so far they are 2-8. Sox are 3-3 at the Fens and 4-8 on the road. Tigers are 10-9 overall and just 1 game back of Central Div leader Twins. Sox are 7-11, last in the AL: East, but only 4 games out of 1st, held by the Rays with their 28th biggest MLB payroll. Speaking of whom, anyone remember the guy JH fired about 3 years ago? Chaim Bloom is now the Cardinals CBO and their payroll is ranked 24th and they are 10-8. But it's way early. Right now the Sox pitching is ranked 25th in ERA, the hitting 22d in runs scored, and the defense tied for 4th in most errors. Thank goodness it's still April. Suarez stunk his first 2 starts but went 6 shutout IP last time out against those very same Cardinals. Trevor Story has an OPS of .560 and leads the Sox in K's with 24. However, he also leads comfortably in rbi's with 17 and has the 3d most total bases,26. Contreras is looking good with an OPS of .936 and a WAR of 1.0, so of course he has bad back and is day to day. c

Agree with Brock that starting Grey has risks. He's 36, 5'10", and definitely hittable. I hardly dare mention this, but so far Grey is 2-0 with an ERA of 2.76 and 16.1 IP. Tonight will be his 4th start--same as Crochet last night. However, after tonight, if Grey's form remains good, he will lead the Sox in innings pitched.