Maxbialystock

Unfortunately, the signal is also going to the players on the field and in the dugout.

I sure can't tell you that. What we are seeing is nothing less than mind-boggling.

Check your wording. I think you mean to say--in a roundabout way--that you would be happy to see Cora get fired. To be honest, I too question leaving Barraclough in. Yesterday was actually a kind of rest day because Cora left Murphy in for 4 innings and 6 runs and Llovera pitched the last inning. Plus Barraclough went in with a 1 run lead.

One of the best predictions on talksox this entire season--sadly.

You could be right. I like Verdugo, but the experts on talksox--and they do know a ton more than I do--say the smart move is to trade him this off season while he still has a year of "control" left.

Don't mention his name, please. I beat up on him incessantly when he came back from the injury and basically said the first 8 games in April were just luck. Right now his OPS is .920!!!

Did I forget to mention that rotten, stinking, worthless Yoshida is 2 for 2 and scored 2 of our 4 runs? Those should not count, of course, because the Sox are paying him to play great D.

No one else on this team or on any recent Sox team makes the 3d out grab that Casas just made for the 3d out in the 5th. The play by Urias was magnificent of course, but Casas has an unbelievable reach and he's not half bad on bounced throws. But moonslav will never give Casas an ounce of credit for anything he does on defense. The defense just saved a freaking run--made possible, I grant, by Wong's passed ball. I think the incessant caterwauling about the defense is unbalanced. The defense is good enough. Sale (who I think is a good defender, rare for a pitcher) committed the only Sox error, which cost nothing in runs, but he also gave up 2 BB's, 7 hits, including a dinger and 2 doubles, and one wild pitch. The Sox win when their hitting and pitching are good. In that regard, I think Sale was not all that bad in giving up 3 runs in 4.2 innings against the Astros. He didn't have his best command, but did throw 92 freaking pitches.

Show me. Oh, wait, it was that fly ball into the stands in CF that Duvall should have grabbed but didn't go up high enough for. You blame everything on the defense. Is that wild pitch by Sale on Wong?

The only Sox error is by Sale, and he struck out the next guy up. So, yes, I'm saying that.

Baloney. Sale is getting hit really hard. And without Casas—this is unarguable—the Sox are scoreless.

Sale looks great tonight, but that crappy Sox defense is just giving away runs.

He does look a little casual, but you are dead right to give him a rave. He has been terrific in RF.

Amen!

Ahem. You have my permission to glance at the scoreboard and notice that the Sox are leading 2-0 because terrible, awful, worthless Casas nailed a 2 run double. The next guy at the plate, Story, is a good fielding SS who struck out with men on 2d and 3d. Wake up or grow up, take your pick. This game is primarily about hitting and pitching. The very last thing the Sox need is to replace Casas with a slick-fielding, never makes an error first baseman who can't hit like Casas can. Also, FYI, the Sox fielding percentage is I think last in MLB, but it's still 98 freaking per cent, so 2% of the time they make errors.

Agree. 2018 does not prove that the regulars playing less guarantees better play. But it does make it harder to argue that, when players are rested (or injured), they automatically play worse.

You miss my point by a mile. To me a missed game is a missed game, whether because of injury or a decision by Cora. And the 2018 Sox regulars missed a ton of games, but the Sox were hugely successful--in games won (most in MLB), in runs scored (most in MLB), and in fielding percentage (tied for 7th, which is pretty good for the Sox).

Meh. Baseball is almost unique among the five big USA team sports--football, baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer--in not having to rely heavily on great teamwork. Indeed, the center of every freaking game is the confrontation between pitcher and batter, which is all about individual skills. Half of every roster is freaking pitchers, most of whom can't even spell teamwork. And the most important skill among the position players is the ability to hit a round ball with a round bat squarely. If you can hit, you can play. "Good field, no hit" is for guys in the minors. And you better believe that Cora is not unique in shaping his lineup to get the right bats--with some defense--into the lineup. Casey Stengal was renowned for "platooning," and Cora right now has about an even mix of good righty and good lefty bats. I agree the defense stinks, but I also think hitting comes first, so I'm fine living with Devers and his errors--same with Casas. I completely agree that the Sox have used a lot of players this year, but blame that mostly on the injuries. On the other hand, it's also true that most of the 2021 roster is gone, so no question Bloom has been moving guys in and out at a rapid pace--and that does make it harder on Cora and his coaches, but not nearly as hard as it would be in other sports. However, it's also true that the entire talksox board was clamoring for Bloom to bring in new blood--better arms, mainly--to the Sox for the stretch run. This is made easier--even for the position players--by the reality that you can in fact plug players into different positions without risking much. My favorite example on this year's Sox was Turner playing 2b because it put a very good bat where there usually was an awful one--and also allowed Casas to play 1b and Yoshida to DH.

Of course they weren't all from "rest games." In fact, I insist on that point. You say that the Cora's rest games are excessive, and sometimes I agree with you. However, in 2018 injuries caused a ton of those missed games. See especially the AL MVP Mookie Betts who missed 26 freaking regular season games. My point, which is borne out by winning 108 games in the regular season and 11 of 14 in the postseason, is that at the very minimum those missed games by Mookie, Beni, JBJ, Bogey, et al were excessive and did not prevent the Sox from scoring a ton of runs (876, most in MLB) or from having an almost decent defense (tied for 7th in fielding percentage vs. 30th, dead last, right now). In 2018, beyond any question, fewer games by all 12 of their most used players resulted in better hitting/scoring, better defense, and more wins.

FWIW, espn stats say there have been 817 MLB pitchers so far this year and that -0.9 puts Kluber in at 792d best. Pitchers ranked 429th thru 522d all have WAR's of 0.0. So, out of 817 MLB pitchers, 428 have WAR's of 0.1 or better and the bottom 290 pitches have WAR's of -0.1 or worse.

OK. But the 5 run rule still applies.

You do understand I'm being a pissant.

Interesting. Kluber's WAR is -0.9, which means he cost the Sox 1 fewer wins than they would have had from the average MLB player/pitcher. That's actually a lot in terms of his only having played 55 innings, but does show he didn't do as much damage as most claim he did. I've harped on the fact that this year in all games, pretty much regardless of the starter, the Sox need to score 5 runs to have a good chance of winning. This was the case with Kluber. The Sox won every game he pitched in and in which they scored 5 or more runs--and lost every game in which he pitched and the Sox scored fewer than 5 runs.

You have no peer with the numbers. I think "lead the league in hits with RISP that do not produce actual runs" could be the result of lousy baserunning. Other teams routinely score from 1b on a double, but with the Sox it's a rarity. Same goes for scoring from 2d on a single--forget it if there aren't 2 outs. And, if it's Casas, forget it if there are 2 outs. This reminds me of Al Schact's autobiography, in which he relates a mostly true story: the 1926 Brooklyn Dodgers actually had three men end up on 3d base. Bases were loaded when Babe Herman hit one off the wall. Runner on 3d scores, but the guy on 2b was the pitcher who believed the ball would be caught and stayed on 2b until he saw it carom of the wall. By then it was too late for him to get home, so he parked at 3d base and was soon joined (or almost joined) by the guy on 1b and the batter Babe Herman. I think Herman didn't actually touch 3d base, but both he and the guy from 1b were tagged out between 2d and 3d base.

I have always defended Cora resting guys, but get nervous when you and moonslav (and others) emphatically disagree. Sunday before the ASG is a good point. Nevertheless, one more time with the 2018 season, easily the best season (108 wins) and postseason (11-3) in Sox history. Here are the games played (with their WAR's in parentheses) by the 2018 Sox twelve regulars/semi-regulars-- JDM 150 (6.4) Beni 148 (3.9) JBJ 144 (2.1) Mookie 136 (10.9) Bogey 136 (3.8) Nunez 127 (-1.1) Moreland 124 (0.9) Devers 121 (0.0) Holt 109 (1.3) Leon 89 (-0.5) Swihart 82 (-0.3) Vazquez (-0.8) The above games played are obviously not all the result of Cora's machinations. Injuries obviously played a role. Nevertheless, the actual games played by the top twelve do make the case that perhaps less is more.