Maxbialystock

The White Sox hit three line drives for three outs. This was not one of Martin's best outings. Excellent game, however. Good pitching by the Sox and just enough hitting.

Completely disagree. Devers and Casas have two of the best bats on this team and are adequate at 3b and 1b. Nothing needs to be fixed. You want something worth fixing? How about that rotten bat hefted by our starting SS? That's a much bigger problem than 3b and 1b defense. The Sox have a worse record with Story at SS than they had with Kike at SS.

Story has been good for the infield defense, but he sure hasn't helped the Sox win games. Little known fact: the Sox had a better won-lost record with worthless, rotten, stinking Kike at SS than they have had with Story at SS. Historically, especially during the John Henry era which so far includes four WS wins, the Sox have preferred good bats at every position over good gloves. Ideally, of course, the good bat comes with a good glove, but the bat has priority.

Sheer blather. Intensity and aggressiveness are apt football terms but ill-suited for MLB where hitting and pitching require relaxed attention and focus.

AL East has the best W-L record in MLB. I agree this hasn't been a good season, but your whining is excessive. The Sox haven't had good pitching since 2018, but they weren't half bad 2 years ago--not two decades ago as your whining seems to suggest--when they got to the ALCS.

Not really. The two walks to the 8th and 9th batters--their 2d time facing Houck--were the real problem. The rbi single by the Rangers leadoff batter was a GIDP that found a hole. Houck gave up 4 walks in 4 innings. He was lucky they didn't do more damage.

I thought Ortiz, given his bat, was adequate at 1b when the had to play there to play at all. Of course Casas is better. He's 6'5" with a good reach which he has worked hard to make better on those throws to 1B. When he has to throw to 2b, he's been fine. His weakness is grounders, but I expect he will improve there. Meanwhile, he's got the best Sox bat at 1b since Youk.

I believe the sticking point with JH is the 5, 6, or 7 years in your hypothetical contracts. That's exactly what DD did when he brought in Price and the Sale. Don't those contracts apply for both trades and purchases? So it isn't just an $80M commitment, but a $400M to $560M commitment.

Don't you have things backwards? Isn't the first priority for a SS his defense? Story's DWAR (.6) in 27 games is higher than Bogey's (.4) in 136 games.

All good points. Of course the Sox should do both--develop and trade for/buy. But you have also said you want to go for 5 x $25M, 6 x $25M, and 7 x $25M starters. And you have said the best time to do that is in the offseason and very definitely not o/a August 1. I'm defending Bloom's choices/decisions 7+ weeks ago. I am not disagreeing the Sox must obtain starters from outside their minor league system.

I think you and other have over-simplified things. You don't go out and get starters like you're buying groceries at the supermarket. If Kluber and a bunch of other guys have taught us nothing else, it's that the starter market is tricky and, in my opinion, vastly over-priced. I used to listen to a radio show called "Wait, wait, don't tell me" and one Sunday they talked about Whole Foods and how they were joining a coop so that could save up to buy a pear. To me that's the starting pitcher market in MLB. Plus everyone seems to have forgotten that on 1 August Sale was about to return (11 August?), as were Houck and Whitlock. All three were known quantities and paid for. Since roughly August 11, the Sox have pretty much stopped going with reliever starts/games. Even with Paxton out, the Sox rotation right now is Bello, Crawford, Sale, Pivetta, Houck, Pivetta, and Sale--and their WAR's are 4.0, 2.2, 1.6, 1.4, and 1.3. Also, as I have argued far too often, the Sox are about to complete 48 games with just 3 days off--a killer for any pitching staff. Those 48 games end tomorrow, and it's worth noting that in the most recent 8 games the Sox pitching staff has given up 3, 4, 0, 8, 3, 4 (13 innings), 3, and 2 runs.

I like a flexible DH, basically what the Sox have had this year. But I agree Yoshida should get most of the games--to make way for good bats/gloves coming up (Duran, Rafaela, etc). Unlike you, I'm not a big fan of Refsnyder because his overall OPS is below .700. I'm not sure I agree with moving Devers to 1b, part-time or full-time, because I think he is fine where he is, an excellent bat who is good enough at 3b. Same goes for Casas at 1b--good bat, good enough glove (especially on throws to 1b). The thing I don't like about losing Duvall and Turner, which I now think is likely, is that both are good righty bats, which I think every Sox team must have. This makes Story doubly important--and concerning.

On the other hand, neglecting your farm system is a recipe for disaster. You must do both: develop good players who will contribute in Boston; supplement them with acquisitions from other teams.

Hah! If you mean 5, 6, or 7 X $25M, you are probably right. Clever me for pouncing on those numbers, which came from moonslav, not me. But your real point, a valid one, is that the price of good starters has steadily risen. I remain skeptical, however, that money buys success because it hasn't this year. The top 3 payrolls--Mets, Yankees, and Padres--are not going to the postseason, let alone win their divisions. The 4th payroll, the Rangers, are fading and could lose out for a wild card. 5th, the Phillies, look like a good bet for a wild card, but are well behind the Braves for the NL East. Meanwhile, the 27th and 28th payrolls--the Rays and the Orioles--have the best records in the AL. Maybe the Orioles are lucky with all those good young players, but the Rays low payrolls have produced competitive teams going back to at least 2008.

Ortiz was decent at 1b, but only played there when the Sox couldn't have a DH. 3B is a much harder position than 1B, especially that long throw from outside the 3d base foul line. Plus running in on dribblers. And just where were you when Bogey inherited the SS position in 2014 and held onto it for 9 freaking seasons? Most people agree that SS is the most important defensive position, but the Sox have always preferred good bats in that position. Devers is a good fit at 3b and currently leads the Sox in games played, OPS, dingers, rbi's, runs scored, total bases, etc.

Pretty good insights. Plus the latest commentary says he has adjusted his swing to take advantage of going to the opposite field. Plus, as I've already said on another thread, this year Devers has been hands down the healthiest guy on the team with the most games played. He also leads the Sox in OPS, total bases, rbi's, dingers, runs scored, etc.

Agree, but too often the dice seem to be loaded against the Sox so-called brain trust with DD being just the latest example of over-spending for over-taxed arms.

Agree with you and mvp 78. Leave Devers at 3b and Casas at 1b--right now the two best Sox infield bats by a wide margin. Their defense ain't great, but it's good enough. It's their bats that count. Speaking of which, I'm surprised there has been so little discussion about Story's terrible bat. His defense, I hasten to add, has been pretty doggone good, but the Sox ain't paying him those big bucks to play freaking defense. Good defensive SS's are a dime a dozen.

To be honest, I consider your numbers to be authoritative. That said, however, you did use the verb "should," which to me means nothing is certain or guaranteed. And here's the problem with that uncertainty. The Sox management seems incapable of figuring out which pitchers are worth--will deliver on--7 x 25, 6 x 25, or 5 x 25. If you think I'm wrong, please name just one 5 x $25M, 6 x $25M, or 7 x $25M starter the Sox hired who actually delivered on that salary. Go ahead. I dare you. I double-dare you.

I keep reading about how overweight Devers is, but at the same time notice he leads the team in games played, WAR, OPS, dingers, total bases, rbi's, runs scored, etc.

Agree. I only watched bits and pieces but did see Refsnyder's single. Pitching was again excellent and the hitting was again in the doldrums.

RISP has been an issue all season long, but lately the Sox are making it into an art form.

Name the games, please. But my real point is that, even if you are right, you can't then claim that no other MLB teams have lost games because of errors/mistakes. Errors/mistakes are the cost of doing business especially if your first priorities are good arms and bats.

Actually, no, they can't. By that I mean they still love sabermetrics and sabermetrics says never bunt. So very few Sox players can actually bunt effectively.

How many times have I said on talksox that the Sox need to score 5 runs to have a good shot at winning? Too many times. In this game they've scored 2 freaking runs. And of course they have now failed to bring home the "ghost runner" on 2d base in the 10th and again in the 11th inning. This year that is signature Sox baseball: they stink with RISP.