Maxbialystock

The big difference in pitching is that the Rays pitchers can hit corners and the Sox pitchers usually cannot. Also, I'm impressed that, while I think Rays hitters are fully prepared to swing at pitches in the strike zone, they are also good at not swinging at pitches outside the zone. The pitch that Casas grounded out on was right down the freaking middle. And now Duvall wants to throw a tantrum over a pitch that was in fact a strike.

Well, it's an unfair matchup. Rays do 4 things well the Sox don't do well: hit, pitch, field, and run the bases.

Rays routinely score from 1b on a double. Sox rarely do.

Single, walk, and double steal followed by a single, 2-0.

Love it. You have no peer in laying out solutions--or just data, for that matter. And I actually agree on the infield with Devers, Story, Reyes/Urias, and Casas, especially if Reyes can keep hitting. But the real point of agreement is that to me Devers and Casas are good enough on defense and have the good bats. As for Story, he's got the glove, but it should would be nice to the freaking bat. But my sniveling counterpoint is that the Sox already have this fix right now--except Reyes is on the IL--so this really isn't a fix. As for the outfield, I would keep Dugo, but would have absolutely no objection to moving Duvall over to RF--a good righty bat is pretty important at Fenway. But, when you do that, you put an unproven player, Rafaela, in CF. As for Yoshida as full-time DH, don't forget that having Turner DH now and then was good for Turner. And next year the same could apply to other players. Finally, let's not forget that Manny Ramirez was our leftfielder on two WS teams, 2004 and 2007. Handing LF over to Ref and Duran--in order, as you say, to fix the defense--seems to me to be bass ackwards. LF at Fenway has always been reserved for great bats, not great gloves.

Good point. I agree.

Gotta love fWAR which ignores fielding--which I believe you think is important.

Improve the defense? Good field, no hit is the definition of minor leaguer. Improving the defense is the easiest thing in the world, but a losing proposition. Hitting>>>>>>>>defense.

If Bloom were to pursue gloves over bats, he should be summarily fired.

Absolutely not. Devers is perfect at 3b: very good hitter, good enough fielder. And the guys who want to move him to 1b and Casas to DH are nuts because Casas is also perfect at 1b: very good hitter, good enough fielder. His weakness is grounders, but, because of his reach, he is terrific fielding throws to 1B. Also, his infrequent throws to 2b and to home are not half-bad.

Here we go again with the "fix the defense" crap. I'm perfectly willing to concede to moonslav the point that the defense has cost some runs and even games this season, but I would ask when has that not been the case, not only for the Sox but for other MLB teams? Hitting and pitching win games far, far more often than defense, and that's what Bloom should be going after. I am also fairly sure that Cora, like virtually every other MLB manager, shapes his lineup card based on who is mostly likely to be able to hit the opposing team's pitcher/pitching. The best gauge of whether the Sox will win a game this season is whether they score 5 or more runs. And that is not unlike Sox teams in the past because the Sox have always looked first for hitters with defense secondary. Thus 4 WS wins in the John Henry era. And the best defense is not a bunch of gold glovers (regardless of whether they can hit), but a terrific pitching staff.

He might still be. Who better than one of his faves to criticize? Dugo has easily the best WAR, +3.7, on the team because he is the only good fielder on the team who can also hit the dang ball. I think he gets a reputation for being too casual because of the utter simplicity of his batting stance--and the same could apply to how he moves in the outfield, also a no frills approach.

In the postgame interview Cora said he went to the mound with an open mind and was satisfied when Sale basically said, "let me pitch to one more guy." Sale threw 100 pitches in yesterday's game, and that's a lot of pitches for any Sox starter and especially for Sale. So I think you are way off base in your assumption that Cora had no business going to the mound in the 5th inning.

Good summary of Kike, who seems to be doing OK with the Dodgers (and they with him).

For the record, here are the miscreants who--with their nasty negative DWAR's--have kept the Sox from winning games this year: Yoshida -1.3 Casas -0.8 Turner -0.7 Duran -0.4 Refsnyder -0.3 McGuire -0.2 Urias -0.2 Devers (-0.1, but it was much worse earlier this season) Little known fact: the Sox lost the 1946 WS because they were stuck with having to play Ted Williams in LF. And don't forget these defensive stinkers on the 2004 Sox team-- Manny -1.8 Ortiz -1.2 Millar -0.8 Damon -0.6 Mueller -0.4 Kapler -0.2

I think you are onto something. Instead of shelling out for pitching and hitting, the Sox should aggressively pursue good defenders. I mean, with a good defense, the other teams can 't score. And, if they can't score, you don't need much offense--a couple of runs a game should do it. And good gloves come dirt cheap.

Fixing Devers would be like fixing Yogi Berra, a notorious bad ball hitter. Where you and I disagree is that you hate his defense, and I think it's OK. Same goes for Casas, who also has a negative DWAR. I think his defense his OK too. I'm pretty sure Duvall has a negative DWAR, and I'm fine with him in the outfield. How dumb is that? So I have to ask this semi-related question. What do you think of the Dodgers shifting Mookie to SS and lately to 2b even though he is a terrific right fielder and barely adequate in the infield? Isn't that what the Sox did, of which you not only disagreed but believe Kike at SS was why the Sox couldn't win?

Over on last night's game thread, I ask the question: is this Sox rotation tanking? I do not for a moment think any of them is tired because Bello leads the team in IP with 131, and that ranks him 61st in MLB pitchers. Pivetta is 2d with 109 IP--89th.

One more time. While I acknowledge that Bloom could/should have gone after pitching, I nevertheless do not understand why the rotation seems to be collapsing. Bello leads the team in IP with 131, which ranks him 61st in MLB in IP. Next is Pivetta (no longer a starter) with 109, then Crawford 103, Paxton 96, Sale 78, and Houck 76. No way, no how can any of these guys be tired. And don't forget I'm the guy who keeps yelling about 48 games with just 3 days off (which started Aug 4 is still going on). But Cora has done everything possible not to overwork the rotation--and to a degree he's done the same for the bullpen. So this time I'm asking a serious question. Is the rotation tanking?

From what I've seen (Sox down 6-0 in the 2d), it sure looks as though there was a team meeting or simply a general agreement not to win any more games.

Well, he does have a reputation for being immature, which apparently grates on Cora. But here we are on Sep 1 with just 28 games left and guess who leads the Sox in WAR with 3.5? Verdugo. Everybody on talksox is screaming about the lousy defense, but on the other hand a ton of talksoxers, including moonslav, want to dump Verdugo even though he has--by a wide margin--the best WAR in the Sox outfield. It's +1.0, which is only the 2d best among MLB right fielders. Right now no other Sox outfielder has a + DWAR. Five years ago when Mookie had his AL MVP season, his DWAR was +1.8. Right field at Fenway is one of the toughest places to defend in MLB. But somehow Dugo is comfortable out there, makes some good grabs--pretty good range--and has 11 outfield assists to 2 errors.

I'm sure you're right. And that's what worries me because I honestly think the Sox don't have any really knowledgeable scouts or coaches--with respect to pitching. And I'm basing that no doubt insane conclusion on just one pitcher--Brasier. He stunk for so badly for the Sox this season he was DFA'd. The Dodgers, who I suspect do have knowledgeable scouts and coaches, snapped him up and he has had two terrific months for them.

Ahem. Don't believe me. But, please, on your own just go and check the box scores for all the 2019 post-ASG games. If I didn't miss any, I think you will find that the Sox gave up no 9th inning runs in any of the close games they lost.

I just said I didn't like him and his showboat ways. Plus the 2018 postseason was a big deal to me if not to you. And don't try to convince me Kimbrel in 2018 was anywhere near as good as Uehara in 2013. I provided two significant data points about 2019 dgalehouse chooses to ignore. The first is that the rotation had 30 fewer quality starts in 2019 than in 2018. The second (and more important) is that in the 2d half of the 2019 season there were exactly zero blown saves in the 9th inning, which is normally the only inning in which Kimbrel or Jansen pitched/pitches. For good measure I pointed out that the closer situation in 2021--after Barnes went south on us-- was horrible, but the Sox still made it to the postseason and even got to the ALCS (without a closer).

One more time. The rotation was the bigger problem in 2019 because they produced 30 fewer quality starts than they did in 2018. Also, as I've also said, a quick look at the 2d half of the 2019 season shows that no--repeat, no--leads were lost in the 9th inning in close games. So this lack of a closer crap is just that. I also reminded you that the 2021 Sox also had closer problems and did pretty well--92 wins and getting to the ALCS. You like to boast about DD's brilliance in putting together the 2016 and 2017 Sox, but both those teams crapped out in the ALDS despite having Sale, Porcello, THE GREAT KIMBREL, ERod, Price, Barnes, Kelly--as well as Mookie, Beni, Bogey, JBJ, Moreland, Pedroia, Vazquez, Leon, etc.