Maxbialystock

Failed subject-verb agreement. Failed to bide your time before committing to the wrong prognosis. Sox now 7 games back of the Rays, who have the best W-L record in the AL--and one game on Seattle for the 3d wild card slot. It's the players who deserve the credit. but to me Breslow has earned some kudos for bringing in so many good arms plus Contreras and Durbin, to say nothing of replacing Cora (I'm a big fan) with Chad Tracy. I thought our best returning pitcher was Crochet, who's out with no predicted time of return. I thought Anthony was our best returning bat and he too is missing what could be 3/4 of the season. Defense looked lousy tonight but has been good this season.

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Oh ye of little faith. Slaten could have taken the 7th but took the 8th and it worked perfectly even though we know the manager is clueless.

Not lazy but tentative. We know that both of them are willing and able to go hard for a fly ball. This time they both seemed to want to avoid a collision.

All true.

A fair point. It's his ring finger, and goodness know when he will return. Still, without him or Crochet the Sox are 1/2 game out of the wild card. The hitting stinks (but not lately) and the pitching is fantastic. So now I'm saying don't trade away Contreras or Gray.

It could well be a seller's market, but why sell when you have a real shot at the postseason? To get there, as you point out, the Sox will need Gray and Contreras, our best pitcher and best hitter. As you also say, guys like Crochet and Anthony seem stuck on the IL. If the Sox are in fact selling, they better be getting fantastic returns.

I would love a big bat now, but think the Sox woud have to trade more than one good starter. The big bat is Anthony, who could return in August, almost as if the Sox traded for him. last season the Sox hitting suffered when Anthony went on the IL on Sep 3.

I'm not in favor of midseason deals. With 9 straight wins, now 2 gqmes below .500 and 1/2 game behind the wild card, I want Breslow to be cautious unless he can get something really good back for Contreras or Gray. Why keep all three? The Sox pitching is the best it's been in decades and Gray already has 12 qualiity starts. You can never have too much pitching, especially when it's far and away your strong suit. Contreras is our best hitter with an OPS of .921, 20 dingers, and 61 rbi's. We will get nothing for Duran. Until Anthony returns--hopefully before next season--Duran is useful. Two different managers have seen fit to play him every day despite his abysmal .601 OPS. He has 5 assists and no errors. He is 4th on the tgeam in total bases, 2d in dingers, 2d in rbi's, 3d in runs scored, and 1st in SB's. I agree these Sox are unlikely to get to 90 wins, which is the usual standard for a good season, but I don't care. I like what Breslow has done so far, including replacing Cora, of whom I am a big fan. I blame the weak hitting on the lousy contracts for Story and Yoshida, neither of whom has earned his pay at the plate. Yes, he le the Cubs outbid him for 5 guaranteed years of Bregman, but right now that looks pretty smart because I like Durbin plus Contreras is outhitting Bregman.

Agree on both. Rafalea is blind and a smart trade might be good, but I think Breslow prefers the offseason.

Looked awful at the plate today.

All good points.

Agree he should not have led off. 5th or 6th in the order seems about right. Completely disagree with #4. First of all, there ain't no "we" in this. We have no say in what gets done. Secondly, there is no way the head shed should have expected "top 3-4 offensive weapon" when the outfield was supposed to be Anthony, Rafaela, and Abreu. As for "killing us" in the one slot, it's the manager's job to slot players advantageously.

You're never mean. Yes, I'm serious Is Duran anywhere near the guy, Anthony, he's replacing? Heck, no. But he sure as heck is healthier than Anthony--ditto Story, Casas, Sogard, Kiner-Falefa, and Mayer. Given the weak hitting this season, I don't think Cora or Chad Tracy has shown any reluctance to substitute like crazy to get the best bats in the lineup. Abreu has played in 90 games, Contreras 88, Rafaela 88, Duran 85, and Durbin 85. Anthony, the guy whom Duran is replacing, has played in 30 games, several of them as DH. The next most games by an outfielder is Eaton with 13. Yoshida has been healthy all season and has played in 59 games, most of them as DH. So two different managers have seen fit to keep Duran in the outfield (LF, mostly). As I keep saying, despite his faults, especially his OPS of .617, he has fielded ably with 5 assists, 0 errors, and some very good grabs. He has the 2d most dingers on the team after Contreras, and also the 2d most rbi's. He also has 21 more K's than anyone else--111 vs Contreras' 90. 111 puts him in the top ten of MLB. The other 9 all have better OPS's: .934, .787, .902, .963. 759, . 863. .734, .779, and .786. So obviously Duran stays in the Sox lineup because of his fielding and because the Sox are struggling at the plate. last season after 92 games the Sox were 47-45 vs the current Sox at 44-48. Despite the Sox wretched hitting, they are 3 games behind the 2025 Sox. How is that possible? I think the defense has made a difference this year. Last season's Sox gave up 80 unearned runs in 162 games. This year's has 26 in 92 games, which projects to 47 unearned runs in 162 games. In other words, this year's Sox have almost made up for their horrible hitting by having great pitching and better defense than last season. Sox ERA this year so far is 3.65. Last season it was 3.70.

Are you serious????!!!!! Anthony is our best player. Yes, I ridicule the little finger, but have no doubt that it is real and debilitating enough to keep him from hitting. He was absolutely stunning last July and August and there can be no doubt the Sox missed him in September and the wild card series. A healthy Anthony would have been huge this season. About Duran and Breslow. I never thought a downturn was inevitable. But, if everyone was as prescient as you, then Breslow probably wasn't going to get much for Duran after that great 2024 season. Other teams, just like you, would expect a huge downturn after 2024 and not offered much in return. Meanwhile, he has been useful last year and this year. Keeping him was not as calamitous as you say. He is earning his pay ($7.7M) better than Yoshida or Story. Heck, better than Crochet or Anthony or Riner-Falefa.

It's about freaking time! During the current winning streak the Sox OPS is a very good .807, but the ERA is an insane 1.67. All on the road of course. Wong caught 4 of the 7 games--in which the other teams scored a total of 5 runs. If you go by total bases per player, you find a large group--8 players ( Abreu, Rafaela, Contreras, Seighler, Duran, Gonzalez, Yohshida, and Durbin)--who had from 12 to 8 total bases. Contreras had a terrific 8 rbi's in 4 games, yet the Sox won the other 3 when he had zero hits, runs, etc. The Sox were 10-17 under Cora (of whom I am a big fan) and are 34-31 with Chad Tracy. Both managers have had abysmal hitting and good pitching and decent defense. I'm pretty sure Chad Tracy has had more players on the IL than Alex Cora.

I completely disagree because I'm confident that no one wanted to give up much for Duran and this year he has in fact come in handy with Anthony humbled by his little finger (go figure). Duran has done well in LF with 5 assists, no errors, and some nifty catches. His OPS stinks, but he is 4th on the team in total bases, 3d in rbi's, 3d in runs scored, 2d in dingers, and first in SB's. Also 4th in games played on a team which has not hesitated to play almost anyone.

He can't move them without paying most of what's in the two contracts. You and I disagree on the meaning of the word competent. For example, I think a CBO who refuses to pay a king's ransom to keep Bregman is competent, especially when his replacement is as good and a whole lost less expensive, is competent. I was against letting Devers go, but I'm not so sure that wasn't a smart move. Are you saying bringing in Contreras bat wasn't a competent move? How about keeping Duran, which just about everyone agrees was sheer lunacy? Right now his OPS is low, but he is contributing--and needed because Anthony has a weak pinky finger.

This is getting old, very old. Are you unaware that so far Durbin has been better than Bregman this season? Better hitting and better fielding. Right now I'd have to say that letting Devers go and not re-signing Bregman for 5 x $35M were both good moves. Do I need to remind you that Breslow is stuck with two high-priced but lousy hitters thru next season thanks to Chaim Bloom and JH? Also Breslow did sign a good hitter by the name of Contreras, who has also been pretty handy at 1b. Duran is not having a good season, which underscores why Breslow couldn't get another team to take him. That said, Duran is handy in LF despite his lousy OPS, because Anthony has the worst finger in the history of MLB. If you will recall, Anthony was huge last year in July and August. After he was injured on 3 Sep, the Sox struggled to score runs. Duran so far has the 4th most total bases on the Sox, the 2d most rbi's, the 2d most dingers, the most SB's, and 5 assists with 0 errors. Don't get me wrong because I completely agree good bats are important, especially when the Fens is your home park. My point is that I don't think Brewlow is the bad guy in all this. Chaim Bloom signed Yoshida and Story, who together have stunk this season and in earlier seasons although Story was good last season. Meanwhile, right now watching the Sox play defense and back up excellent pitching is kind of fun to watch. What makes that even more fun is that right now the Sox are 2.5 games out of the Wild Card. The Amnerican League has entered the Twilight Zone with lots of weird stuff happening. Consider the following. In the AL the hands down best team are the Rays whose payroll is ranked 24th (high for them). Lowest payroll is Cleveland's $80M, and they are 48-46. 28th White Sox are 47--45. 4th highest payroll, the Jays, are 44-49. 7th highest Astros are 46-49. 10th highest Detroit, 43-50. However, the prize winner is the NL's Mets, who are 40-54 with the highest payroll in MLB.

Agree.

I think all the '26 offense naysayers were just waiting for me to weigh in. This could be the Sox worst offense in half a century--who knows? And the Sox have always, always relied on their hitting more than their pitching because Fenway favors hitting. Neat point on Contreras who has been a great addition--better than Devers or Bregman.

To what end? They are 4 games out of the wild card with 72 games to go. Their strong suit is starting pitching, which they have relied heavily on. Those same arms are the ones other teams covet. I would not mind trading one good arm for one good bat.

From a Williams fan since 1949--I doubt Contreras was being neglected.

Meh. The challenges are a boon to MLB--good for us, good for the players, and a prod to the umpires. I don't care if the Sox "waste" a challenge because for the last 150 years or so they had none.