Maxbialystock

Also, who's going to play 3b when Devers moves to 1b?

I think it's just stupid. Where do the Sox find as good a bat as Devers' to play 3b? Also, when you move him to 1b, it's a whole new position and one he will not play as well as Casas has played it. Devers should field grounders better than Casas, but grabbing throws to 1b? Nowhere near as good. Knowing where to move/go in particular situations? Also not as good. Also, with Casas going to DH, that puts Yoshida in LF full time. To be honest, that's probably the best position for him, but this year, despite Turner being called the DH, Yoshida was DH for a lot of games. And the reason for that is that Yoshida's DWAR in LF this year (83 games) was -1.1. Devers' DWAR at 3b in 150 games was -0.5. So moving Devers to 1b, Casas to DH, and Yoshida to LF significantly degrades the defense and leaves 3d base uncovered. Anybody remember who played 3b for the 2018 Sox, their best team ever? Devers, DWAR -0.9 in 116 games. How about WS winners in 2013? Middlebrooks (DWAR -0.4) and Holt (DWAR -0.5). So, by moving Devers to 1b, Casas to DH, and Yoshida to LF, you have made the Sox defense worse and you still have to find someone to play 3B.

True dat.

Once again I'm guilty of writing way too long. The season to look at is 2021 when Cora absolutely did not have the talent he had in 2018 or that Farrell had in 2013, 2016, and 2017. But the Sox still won 93 games and made it to the ALCS.

Bello is the iron man with more IP, more starts, and more quality starts than Pivetta. However, I do think that Bello, Pivetta, and Sale are a decent start on a rotation next year. Pivetta pitched in 5 games in September for a total of 26.1 innings and an ERA of 3.08. Not too shabby. I think his curve (or whatever it's called) has a sharper break and that his fastball is a little faster. I do think a starter needs a changeup, which Pivetta either doesn't have or doesn't throw very often.

I had the wrong Raffi. That said, however, where do you get this whole leadership thing from? You think Mike Trout is a rotten leader because the Angels stink? How about Bogey--or Machado--and the Padres? Aaron Judge and the Yankees? MLB is far and away the most individualistic team sport on the planet because the center of every game is the battle between pitcher and hitter.

I know, I know. He was just freaking brilliant. Or was he? He took over the 2013 Sox, which led MLB in runs scored and won the WS. The very next season, 2014, the Sox hitting plummeted to 18th in runs scored and they finished the season at 71-91. In 2015, the Sox hitting improved significantly to 4th, but the pitching stunk (ERA 4.31, 25th in MLB), and they finished 78-84. In 2016 the Sox pitching improved to 9th in MLB in team ERA, and they were also #1 in MLb in runs scored. They were a juggernaut, but only won 93 games and lost all three ALDS games. In 2017 the Sox improved again to 4th in MLB in team ERA but the hitting slipped to 10th in runs scored. They again won 93 games and this time lost 3 of 4 ALDS games. Exit Farrell. Enter Cora for the 2018 season, in which the Sox again led in MLB in runs scored, but whose ERA was 8th in MLB. That Sox team won 108 games and 11 of 14 games in the postseason--easily the best season in Sox history and I'd argue the best MLB team/season in the last 40 years. In Cora's 2d season, 2019, the pitching nosedived to 19th in team ERA, but the hitting was still pretty good at 4th in MLB in runs scored. Sox went 84-78 and missed the postseason. 2020 was a nonseason. In 2021 the Sox hitting was still good at 5th in runs scored, and the Sox pitching was OK at 15th in team ERA. Compare that to the 2016 Sox which was 1st in team scoring and whose ERA was 9th best. Both teams, 2016 and 2021, won 93 regular season games. But the 2021 Sox beat the Yankees in the wild card and then the 100 win Rays in the ALDS before losing to the Astros in the ALCS. Do I need to add that the 2016 Sox lineup had Betts (OPS .897), Bogey (OPS .802), Pedey (OPS .835), JBJ (OPS .835), HanRam (OPS .866), and Ortiz (OPS 1.021)? How about David Price with 35 starts (22 quality starts), and 230 innings? Porcello won the Cy Young that year with 33 starts, 26 quality starts, 233 innings, and an ERA of 3.15. Knuckleballer Wright had 24 starts, 15 quality starts, and an ERA 3.33. And Kimbrel had 31 saves with an ERA of 3.40. Gimme Alex Cora over Farrell any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Sox weak hitting this year was just as culpable as the pitching. Call it RISP disease or whatever you want, but the Sox rank 9th in MLB in runs scored and they need to be 5th or better to be competitive. Part of it is too many lefty bats in a lineup that plays half their games at Fenway. Another part is other teams' hitters seem to me to have better command of the strike zone. To top things off, Bloom spent big on Yoshida and Story with piss poor results.

Big deal. Playing 2 games in Texas is a smart way to help adjust to the time zone difference. Also, if memory serves, Pedroia and other Sox players used to begin their season prep in January by going to I think Arizona. These are professional athletes being paid a king's ransom when/if they make it to MLB. In Ken Burns series on Baseball, someone comments that before Curt Flood attacked the reserve clause, the average MLB player made 7 times as much money as the average fan. After Curt Flood, it was 7 x 7 as much money. I just checked a chart from "Statista" which says the average MLB salary is $4.9M. If the average fan today is making $100K/year, that 7 x 7 is still holding up.

The Sox did get off to a bad start in 2019, but I think it was because the rotation wasn't ready after their truncated (fewer innings pitched than usual) ST. They did, however, have a winning record, 49-41, going into the ASG. After the ASG break, they went 35-37, which I think is when the wheels came off the rotation.

I think that's kind of endemic to most Sox hitters. They don't know how to "command" the strike zone, which I think means having a good eye/feel for what's a strike and what's a ball, as well as being prepared to swing at hittable pitches in the strike zone.

Weren't you the one screaming for the Sox to play the young guys in September? Last night's lineup included Rafaela (23), Abreu (24), Valdez (24), Dalbec (28), Wong (27), and Devers (26). Devers, Story, and Wong had the Sox 3 hits, all singles.

It is indeed. My son is an Orioles fan largely because we lived in W. Springfield, VA, 1981-84, when the Orioles were pretty good. Same thing happened to me at the same age, 14, when we lived in W. Springfield, MA and I listened to Curt Gowdy call the Sox games.

2019 was the year the Sox went easy on the starters in spring training under the assumption they were overused in the 2018 postseason and had insufficient time to recover. On that 11 game road trip the Sox have up 12, 6, 6, 10, 7, 1 (a loss), 3, 7, 15, 5, and 0 runs.

To me there have been a bunch of bright spots, starting with Casas and Duran, who surprised most of us with their new found ability to hit MLB pitching. Plus Duran is taking better routes on balls hit to the outfield, and his speed on the basepaths is amazing and productive. Both catchers, Wong and Wright, have been better than expected. So has 38 year old Turner. Bello--you already mentioned as well as Martin. Sale had not only his best season since 2019, but it has been better than 2020-22 (3 seasons) combined. I am not saying we shouldn't be skeptical about next season, but am saying we could be pleasantly surprised. As moonslav has pointed out, the Sox have several capable middle/long relievers in Whitlock, Pivetta, Houck, Crawford, and Winckowski. If the Sox acquire 2 or 3 reliable starters in the offseason, those 5 plus Martin and Jansen would be a pretty fair bullpen. Your dismay with this team this season is merited because the pitching and hitting overall have been subpar. Ditto the defense. Thus the losing record. However, as moonslav and many others have said, acquiring 2 or 3 good starters would make a huge difference, and the lineup for next year--with or without Duvall, Turner, Duran, and/or Verdugo--should be pretty decent. Three sniveling excuses for this season: 1) lots of injuries (Story, Duvall, Paxton, Houck, Whitlock, Sale, Duran, Casas, Reyes, etc; 2) killer schedule Aug 4-Sep 20 when the Sox played 48 games with just 3 days off; 3) team payroll was/is ranked 15th in MLB, the lowest team salary ranking in the John Henry era and probably in the last 40 years.

Kind of hard to get pompous on a blog site--especially one with so many acerbic wits.

Nicely said.

I like that last sentence. A lot.

Well, I sure can't blame you for getting pissed at those K's. They bugged me too. In fact, I think the Sox could benefit from a page from the Rays book, the one that teaches them how to "command" the strike zone. I interpret that to mean partly pitch/location recognition, but also being ready to swing at good pitches. Too often the Sox seem unable to avoid swinging at bad pitches, but also not going after fat pitches--or going after them and missing.

Energy guys? Balls out? Boy, do you have the wrong sport in mind. Baseball is all about hitting and pitching, neither of which is affected by how fast a batter can race to the batter's box or a pitcher to the freaking mound. Also, in case you've forgotten--which you obviously have--the Sox made two rookies, Casas and Duran, regulars and semi-regulars. However, both are now on the IL--maybe because they were too "balls out." The one truly old guy, Jason Turner, on the other hand, has played 1b, 3b, 2b, DH, etc in 142 games with 23 dingers and 96 rbi's. Long live old guys.

Of course it was the manager's choice. In fact, I insist on that characterization. It supports my point that Cora is a much better manager than you guys give him credit for being. Go back and look at the 2021 stats and you will see Barnes was the closer--24 saves--for the first half of the season and then went south after MLB started checking gloves, etc of the pitchers every freaking inning. Ottavino was a has been (ERA 4.21) in 2021. And Whitlock could never, ever be confused with a real closer. And let's not forget how lousy Kimbrel, a real closer in the regular season, was in the 2018 postseason with his freaking ERA of 5.91!

Agree the Rays have not missed Bloom. They probably have the best system--people--in MLB for identifying and developing talent. The Orioles might have a good system, but one excellent season is insufficient proof. At the end of the day, I think postseason success, which the Sox have definitely had in the John Henry era, also requires spending some money. But even that requires some smarts--see the non-success this year of the Mets, Yankees, and Padres.

Agree on all. I believe JH's intent with Bloom was to do both, except that he was and may still be gun shy about spending big bucks on starters.

I'm sure he is, and he certainly has the record for it. That said, however, the key to the Rays success is their system for identifying and developing talent. They just lost their best player, Wander Franco, who might be gone for good, and they are still playing solid ball. Same goes for the Dodgers, who spend a lot more but also seem pretty good at identifying and developing and going after (Mookie) talent. As for Cora, let's not forget he's got a WS title and Cash doesn't. In fact, 2018 was the best Sox team ever, in large part thanks to DD and the CBO he replaced. Also, just 2 seasons ago the 2021 Sox had lost Sale (who pitched 42 innings in 2021), Price, Kimbrel, Mookie, Beni, JBJ, Moreland, et al from the 2018 team. And Cora managed them into the postseason, in which they played without a closer and still beat the Yankees and the 100 win Rays to get to the ALCS.

You two are being just silly--or bitter or both. Cash has the pitching, 5th best team ERA in MLB, and Cora definitely does not, 21st best ERA. And 7 runs has been pretty standard for several decades for a starting pitcher who doesn't have it that game. That's especially true for a team with an over-used bullpen. But even with those issues the Sox bullpen gave up just 2 freaking runs in 6 freaking innings. Do you guys know even the first thing about MLB?