Maxbialystock

A fair point. However, his tenure was based on not doing what every other GM/CBO for the Sox has been able to do during the John Henry era and probably the last 40 years: spend like a drunken sailor to bring in talent, especially pitching talent.

I admit I worry Devers weight because I know it can affect his long term viability, especially as a position player and on the basepaths. But, if we've being honest, the one thing we should worry about is his swing and "command" of the strike zone. Besides, this season he leads the Sox in games played with 140--also total bases, dingers, and rbi's. Statistically, his 2023 OPS, .859, is right at his career OPS of .854 but below last year's .879, 2021's .890, and 2019's .916. His 114 K's are no worse than last year's or 2021's. His 34 dingers so far are below last year's 42, but will likely be no worst than 2021's 37 in 156 games.

I know this topic was much discussed in 2019--that the poor old rotation had been abused in the 2018 season and postseason, but I think it's just bunk. No starter was overworked in the 2018 season or postseason. Lester and Lackey threw more postseason innings in 2013 than Price and Sale did in 2018. They also pitched more innings in the 2013 regular season than Price and Sale in 2018. However, because Cora apparently believed those guys had been overworked in 2018, he had them pitch less than usual in spring training, which I think was the real cause of their lousy 2019 seasons. But I have one big caveat to the above. We now know that both Price and Sale were basically worthless after 2018. Price's WAR in 2018 was 4.4, but in the next 3 seasons it was 1.8, .5, and .7. Sale's WAR in 2018 was a terrific 6.9, but in the next 5 seasons it has been (note the word choice) 2.3, 0, 1.0, 0, and 0. Those WAR numbers, combined with what the Sox paid for them, poisoned John Henry's belief in simply buying pitching. So he fired DD, hired CB, and gave him guidance--probably through his brain trust--on what he could and could not do in terms of buying/paying players. Mookie became unaffordable. So did any long term pitcher contracts, which led directly to the rotation mess the Sox have today.

I think you have to be a really good hitter to justify being the "regular" DH. Why? Because the DH slot gives the manager opportunities to rest other players, to get the right bats into a lineup against a given pitcher, etc. In Yoshida's case, left field at Fenway is almost perfect for him defensively because it does not put a premium on having a great arm or on having great range. Thus do Manny Ramirez and Ted Williams come to mind. To me the real issue with Yoshida is his hitting vs. his salary, and that's exactly the issue with Story even though Story is a pretty good defensive SS. Story's salary, just like Yoshida's, demands an .800 OPS as an absolute minimum.

His first year Whitlock was a terrific reliever, especially because he was a rule 5 steal from the Yankees. But he throws a lot of different pitches well, so his 2d and 3d seasons they gave him a shot. But you were right all along.

It's role, not roll, and the attempt to make Whitlock into a starter was not unreasonable. A starter pitchers a whole lot more innings than a reliever. The two key questions are: 1) can he go through a lineup 2-3 times successfully; and 2) does he have the physique to throw 80-100 pitches every 5 days? I think Whitlock has a better repertoire than Houck, but Houck has more durability.

I'm not saying he's a good baserunner, but am saying that double play was automatic. Any baserunner who would have been safe on that play would have been a runner with no lead. The guy on 2b is supposed to take a good lead so he can score on a single.

And I'm the only one who said he should at least start the 6th. I did so only because we have in fact seen Houck get guys out the third time through the lineup. He is also the most durable pitcher the Sox have. Enough of the phony self-congratulations. The real credit goes to Cora who made two tough calls--letting Houck start the 6th and letting him finish it--that worked.

I think we under-value Casas's defense. He's made a couple of good plays today--the throw to 2b on the grounder when the play at first would have been easier and now fielding the grounder and throwing home despite interference from Houck. His one weakness is grounders, and for now I can definitely live with that because he is good at the plate.

Interesting. Right now I sure look as wrong as I can be with that leadoff double on the first pitch of the 6th inning. But the Yankees haven't scored yet. Excellent play by Rafaela to come over from CF to back up Abreu who missed the carom of the green monster. I haven't seen many Sox CF's do that.

He actually has gotten over the hurdle several times this season already. But I'm delighted you paid enough attention to see he already got the Yankees top two the third time through. I agree 88 pitches is a lot for a Sox pitcher, but I think Houck is healthy/tough enough to come out for the 6th.

Too bad nobody else is watching this game. If they were, I would ask them to answer this simple question-- Given that just about everyone on talksox--except me, of course--believes Houck is incapable of getting anyone out the third time through the lineup, who besides me wants him to come back out to pitch the 6th inning?

1/6 with RISP.

Sox already 1 for 5 with RISP. The 1 was Abreu's defensive swing on a ball way outside--that softly fell in front of the leftfielder for the Sox' only run.

Meh. I agree the baserunning has been lousy, but that was pretty much a guaranteed double play. A hard hit liner to the 3d baseman's left, the 2d baseman moving to cover 2B, and Rafaela with a lead and absolutely no chance to get back.

While I recognize that all managers and CBO's are hired to be fired, I'm inclined to be supportive of the incumbents. I have supported Bloom because I understood JH's intent to go in a new direction, which included spending less. That was/is unprecedented in the 20+ seasons of the John Henry era, which has been hugely successful because of a willingness to spend to bring in better arms and bats than were coming up through the Sox system. On the other hand, a whole bunch of talksoxers have provided specific examples of Bloom era acquisitions that haven't worked out--as well as Sox players who went to other teams and did well. The current team can no longer gripe about all the talent on the IL because most everyone is healthy/available--and they are still playing lousy baseball. By that I mean hitting, especially with RISP, pitching, defense, and baserunning. Heck, forget all those things and just look at their won-lost record since Sale, Story, Duvall, Reyes, Whitlock, Houck, et al, have returned from the IL.

I'm curious. The name of this website is "Talksox," which carries the presumption that contributors want to discuss the Boston Red Sox. But I can't remember the last time you wrote anything about the Red Sox. Instead, you seem to be obsessed with insulting the rest of us who do want to discuss the Red Sox. In case you're at all interested in the team, I offer the following topics-- The firing of Chaim Bloom. The possibility that Alex Cora could be gone soon. Today's double-header with the Yankees. The Sox pitching staff. The Sox defense. The Sox hitting, especially with RISP. The Rafael Devers contract. The younger Sox like Casas, Duran, Rafaela, Bloom, Abreu, et al

Congrats to mvp 78 for starting this unbelievably predictive thread. By the title I thought it was premature, but in fact it was right on target. Will there be a similar thread on Alex Cora?

You going to change the date/time to 14 Sep, 1:35?

While I agree the players make a huge difference and managers are hired to be fired, I do think some managers, including Sox managers, are better than other managers. JH has the final say in hiring and firing managers, but he's always had a pretty good brain trust to help him in hiring/firing a total of 6 managers: Grady Little (a subpar manager fired after the 2003 season almost certainly for leaving Pedro in too long in the ALCS; the Dodgers also fired him after 2 seasons); Terry Francona (excellent manager fired after 8 good seasons, 2004-11, including 2 WS wins, but had to go after the 2011 September collapse plus players drinking beer during games); Bobby Valentine (one season mistake in 2012); John Farrell (5 seasons, 2013-17, 1 WS in 2013, let go after 2 good teams, 2016 and 2017, stunk in the postseason); Alex Cora (5 seasons, suspended in 2020 but hired back immediately afterward, 1 WS and best Sox season ever, 1 ALCS season in 2021 without Sale, Price, Mookie, Kimbrel, Beni, etc, 2 bad seasons, 2022 and 2023, but with the lowest salary rankings in the John Henry era). From the above I conclude Terry Francona and Alex Cora are easily the two best of six managers if we include Ron Roenicke in the 2020 season. But, while I prefer Cora, I think Francona's record is far better because he's been excellent in Boston and Cleveland. However, of the six managers, only Cora has been asked to do "more with less," which has been going on since the 2019 season.

He could be "better" next year and still be a weak bat. The real question is whether his OPS gets comfortably over .800. Rafaela so far is a partial solution to the righty bat issue--as Story could also be. After those two--and assuming Duvall and Turner are gone--I don't see a lot of righty prowess and even less righty power. Abreu, Dugo, Yoshida, Devers, Casas, and Duran are all lefty bats. And Fenway is best suited for righty bats.

If Llovera was your only complaint, why not give Cora credit for using him successfully? Indeed, when Llovera entered the game, the score was 3-2, which was the final score of the game. Bravo, Cora! Also, why do you ignore Cora's managing in the 2021 season? I think it was maybe better than in 2018.

Hitting is way, way more important than defense or baserunning. Yesterday was an excellent example of weak "situational hitting." In game 2 the Sox were 0 for 15 with RISP.

Excuse me. Does "a long ways in the rearview mirror" include the 2021 season, which was 2 years ago and a season in which the Sox got to the ALCS after beating the Yankees and the 100 win Rays to get there?

I agree completely with anyone who says Nate Eovaldi is having a terrific season this year with the Rangers. In fact, it's far and away his best season ever. And that's my point. For whatever reason, I believe the Rangers--like the Dodgers and maybe other teams--know more about pitching than the Sox do. I don't know what they did, but it is clear to me the Rangers fixed something about how Eovaldi pitches. I therefore believe that, had the Sox resigned Eovaldi for more than $34M for two seasons--the contract he has now--his ERA this season with the Sox would be around 3.90 vs. the 2.90 it is with Texas. Also think he would have missed some starts--as he did with the Sox and has already with the Rangers.