Maxbialystock

Interesting about Houston and Luis Garcia. I say that because Houston should be saying, "did you see that freaking kid Tolle going for the Sox the other night?"

They started no freaking clock when they signed Bregman. But fate sure did. I'm saying Devers was excess once Bregman was signed and even though he was a terrific DH (OPS ,905). Don't forget Casas was already at 1b. Plus his hitting stunk before his injury. Maybe Devers hitting would have stunk too when playing 1b. Good point on the budget.

Rafael at 2b is dumb, dumb, dumb when he has so much talent in CF. One reason why the pitching if flourishing is that the defense behind them is pretty good. Once Devers left on 16 June, a week after Anthony arrived, there was no real need to trade an outfielder. As it turns out, missing the fourth, Abreu, right now sucks because Yoshida is crap as a DH. I'm beginning to think that the five tools should add a sixth--hit, hit with power, field, throw, run the bases, and stay off the IL.

Leadership, shmeadership. At the CBO and higher level in MLB it's smarts that count. John Henry is to me a cold fish who nevertheless has made a lot of good decisions about the Sox. He has never hesitated to fire a manager or CBO or to support the good ones. DD, good as he was, had to go because after the 2019 season the Sox needed a lot more money to fix the pitching and already had the top payroll in MLB. I like Cora too--a lot. But he's the guy who has to be a leader--and to communicate with his CBO. The available evidecne is that he does both very well--and Breslow has done a solid job of bringing in good players.

Devers at 1b and Casas DH would have stunk because Casas' OPS was .477 and Devers needed time to adjust to 1b. To me having 4 good hitting and good fielding outfielders--Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, and Anthony--was never a problem once Devers left. Anthony arrived a week before Devers was traded. You can keep Rafaela in CF all day long and twice on Sundays by making one of Duran, Abreu, or Anthony the DH on days when the opposing starter is a starter. Against lefties, make Ref the DH and give Duran a day of rest. He stinks (.584) against lefties.

There is absolutely no way--none whatsoever--Devers was going to react well to losing the 3b job which was for him a big part of how he saw himself as a MLB player. In fact, Cora did a great job of getting Devers to buy into the DH job, which Devers did well at. Then came the big deal over Devers replacing Casas at 1b. To Breslow it was reasonable. To Devers it was being jacked around. I think losing Devers was inevitable the day Bregman was announced as the Sox 3d baseman. On the other hand, I think his agent or someone convinced him that he needed to be willing to play 1b for the Giants if they asked him to. The Sox overall have been worlds better this season without Devers. His bat is missed, but not the other stuff.

Cora sucks???????? What do you think--that he's knee deep in great hitters against righty starters? Actually, right now he has 8 with OPS's against righties ranging from Lowe's 1.032 to Gonzalez's 689. All 8 of them are starting tonight. The next two choices are Ref (.634) and Yoshida (.619).

Meh. Public utterances by senior management are always calculated and seldom fulsome. You have to go by how this team is playing, which is pretty doggone well. They even have a halfway decent shot at the best W-L record in the AL. Detroit has the most wins, 80, and the Sox 77, but the Sox have been winning since the ASG and the Detroit has been playing .500 ball. And can there be any doubt that the additions of Bregman, Crochet, Chapman, and Narvaez have made a difference? Giolito has helped too. CB gets credit for Anthony, Mayer, Bello, Story, Duran, Rafaela, et al, but the Sox finished last in the AL East in the last 3 seasons. I agree Devers was jacked around, but that was inevitable the day the Sox signed Bregman. Devers hated moving to DH and even more being asked to play 1b. SF has been good for him, and his absence has actually improved the Sox won-loss record. Breslow has a reputation of being very smart but not very personable. Plus he's just in his 2d season ever as a CBO. I don't care if he's personable. John Henry never was. I like results, which both have brought to the Red Sox.

As it turns out, the signature moves of the season were picking up Bregman, Crochet, Chapman, Narvaez, and Anthony and letting Devers go to the Giants. It is no coincidence that all 5 of the additions have been good for the Sox defense as Devers never was.

Actually, I think we have a dogfight among 5 teams in the AL--Detroit has 80 wins, Toronto 79, Sox 77, Yankees 77, and Houston 76. Since the ASG, Detroit is 21-21, Toronto 23-17, Boston 24-17, New York 23-18, and Houston 20-20. Of the five, the Yankees have the best hitting/scoring, and the Sox the best pitching. Run differentials: NYY 134, Boston 104, Detroit 88, Toronto 55, and Houston 20.

Succinct and informative. Anthony came up because Abreu went on the IL. Once Abreu returned, the cries of "too many dadgum outfielders" were incessant.

What a stupendous chart. The dots are great, but so is the outline of the very irregular dimensions of the playing field.

True. The Sox team OPS is 9th in MLB vs 5th a month or so ago. We have all seen too many recent examples of weak scoring, RISP disease, etc. Nevertheless, the sky is not falling because of the Sox pitching, the best in a long time--as is the defense backing them up. In just the last 10 days, the Sox won 7 of 8 on a road trip to Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards (home of the Orioles who won both games at the Fens on Aug 18 and 19). When Devers left, his OPS with the Sox was freaking .905--and the Sox have improved without him despite Yoshida, our current lefty hitting DH, having an execrable OPS of .609. Indeed, the addition of Bregman at 3b and moving Devers to DH and then to SF has fundamentally changed the Sox. So have the additions of Crochet and Chapman and even Narvaez. Don't get me wrong. I get as mad as anyone at the so-so hitting, the latest example being yesterday's 14 hits and 6 measly runs. On the other hand, without Bregman (on the IL) and with just Devers as our big bat, the Sox were 30-35 on June 6. Then came 2 wins at Yankee Stadium, a loss to the Rays, and a sweet 6 game winning streak, thanks largely to the Sox pitching, to which Devers, our best hitter with Breslow on the IL, contributed almost nothing. Since June 6 the Sox have gone from 30-35 to 77-62, mostly because of pitching and defense. The scoring drought notwithstanding, the Sox still have good bats with Bregman, Anthony, Duran, Ref, Gonzalez, Lowe, Abreu, Duran, and Story. On defense, Narvaez, Wong, Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Anthony, Bregman, Story, and Hamilton all have plus DWAR's. Narvaez leads all MLB catchers, Rafaela is 2d among CF's, Abreu is 3d among rightfielders, and Hamilton is 4th among 2d basemen.

Agree on both. Anthony and Bregman bat 1 and 2. Anthony's great strength is that, when he gets a pitch to hit, he seem to hit it squarely. Bregman playing is both vital and heroic. This team has strength in five key areas: hitting, starting, relieving, defending, and baserunning. Right behind Bregman these days is Story with the most rbi's, dingers, and freaking SB;'s, plus he is a solid shortstop. Duran can't hit lefties worth spit, but his OPS is a very decent .787 and he leads the team in total bases and WAR. Rafaela is in a slump, but his WAR is 3d best, 3.5. Two catchers good enough to allow Cora to alternate them. o Ref is back and is one of 6 Sox hitters (Bregman, Anthony, Ref, Gonzalez, Lowe, and Abreu) with OPS's over .800--well, at least when Abreu gets off the IL some time this month. When that happens, I predict Yoshida is through as DH. When facing righty starters, one of Anthony, Duran, or Abreu can DH and keep Rafaela in CF. When was the last time the Sox had 5 starters as good as Crochet, Bello, Giolito, Tolle, and May? Yet Chapman has the 2d highest pitching WAR and Whitlock the 5th highest. Heck, as moonslav pointed out, the Sox in August were good at avoiding unearned runs. All that said, ups and down are inevitable, and the Sox have had their share of both. But you have to like the Sox chances with 77 wins and just 23 games to play.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Gutsy start for Bello.

I doubt that the 36K or so fans at Fenway would agree--and they're paying a lot to be there.

Not much difference between Bello and Houdini. Good grief was that a happy ending to the top of the 4th.

Bello would agree, but you can't be great every game. Be happy he had a decent 3d and could go 5 IP. Cleveland's winning percentage is .504 and the Sox .551. Not that big a difference.

Now he's 2/2.

The star of yesterday's game, Duran, is not starting because he struggles against lefties. Eaton is in for him and has already singled.

Both starters needed about 60 pitches to get through the first 2 innings, so this looks like a bullpen game and maybe ours is tired Nice 3d for Bello. 10 pitches, no runs.

Still another hotshot rookie, also a lefty, coming in to face the Sox. You know what this team needs right now? A good DH. Do you know who had a hot August for the Giants?

Are you kidding me? Wow.

I'm glad the Sox dumped Buehler but can see why the Phillies want to give him a shot.