Maxbialystock

WEEI says the game starts at 8:05. They talked at length that the Yankees lead MLB in "non-rain rain delays."

Well, as a minority of one, let me say I don't want no stinkin' rover era. Yes, I want to see Duran, but I expected Hernandez to go to 1B to replace Dalbec and Bogey to be the SS.

And Yankee fans need to be afraid, very afraid. Me, I'm looking forward to a good game against ancient rivals in a good looking ballpark which, however, does not have enough roof to keep the rain off.

Well, see, when you mention a trade or other acquisition, I'm at a loss because I don't know enough. Thus my preference for staying with the guys I know.

Agree command is a big factor, which I think is helped by going with just 2 pitches.

Good point.

I absolutely thought that trade made sense and Betts was unaffordable for the Sox. Getting some usable players/prospects was a bonus, paid for by the reality of continuing to pay half of Price's salary.

Love it. Duran for Bogaerts. Cole will be shaking in his shoes. Or maybe it's Dalbec for Bogaerts, which also makes sense.

I'm not seeing that. No way do I not see Sale as returning to form this year. He and Eovaldi should be very tough, especially backed up by Pivetta and I think ERod. Plus backing them up are Perez and Richards and Houck, plus a very good bullpen. You mention 2013, which was when the Sox picked up Peavy--blehhh. He pitched 12.2 innings in the postseason with an ERA of 7.11. Bottom line: I think Sale and Houck are enough to shore up the pitching and banish Richards from doing much more damage. And I'm hoping Duran will be the additional bat.

"Recency effect" has done more to Perez than Pivetta. Pivetta has sometimes looked like an ace, but not Perez. Thus Pivetta has 6 quality starts and Perez 3. Perez has had one good month, May: 5 starts, ERA 2.60, 2 quality starts, 27.2 innings pitched.

An idle, no doubt useless thought. Right now I am way more enthusiastic about bringing up Houck than bringing up Duran. Last night impressed me even though the Yankees lineup is its weakest in years, maybe decades. If Houck can keep this up--he does seem to have a good array of pitches--I can see all kinds of uses for him. Duran, however, has yet to demonstrate he is MLB caliber or even that he is needed. Despite Verdugo's downturn, he is still likely better than Duran and certainly so in the field where Duran has speed, but no arm and no judgment on where balls are going. I do like Duran's lefty bat, which the Sox have in short supply, but need to see him actually hit MLB pitching even though I am also aware that both he and opposing pitchers will make adjustments over time and much depends on how well he adjusts to all that nasty stuff that will be thrown at him. It is precisely because of my concerns that I now think this is the time to bring him up and, more importantly, to play him as much as possible. He is about the same age as Ellsbury--and 1" taller and 30 lbs heavier--when he was brought up in 2007 and became an instant success.

Barnes's career ERA is 3.93, but this year it's 2.61. I tend to throw out 2020 as an anomaly, a nonseason that had to be counted as a real season. In the three prior seasons (2017-2019), his ERA's were 3.88, 3.65, and 3.78, which is a pretty tight shot group. This year is clearly different, not at all like those three good seasons setting up for the closer. And I think two things changed for Barnes to get 2.61 this year. First and foremost, he changed his repertoire to a very good knuckle curve, a good fastball, and nothing else. In prior seasons he threw other pitches which weren't as good. The other change was becoming the closer, which meant he usually knew when he would be called upon--usually with a clean inning. A possible third thing is that none of his set up guys (Ottavino, Whitlock, Sawamura, et al) throw his particular mix of pitches.

His OPS's by month: April .863, May .755, June .718, July .659.

I honestly don't recall much bashing, but rather an earnest debate. I like our current outfield of Verdugo, Hernandez, and Renfroe, all of whom are better fielders than Duran and all of whom have shown they can hit MLB pitching (even though Verdugo is backsliding lately), which Duran has yet to do. Like others, I also fall back on agreeing with whatever Bloom/Cora decide. As soon as they decided to bring him up, I was completely on board. As others have seen better than I, there are a lot of angles to any moves made.

Well, almost. In terms of team ERA, the Sox do have the 4th best staff in the AL East. It's all in how you look at it. Indeed, on last night's game thread, you posted a Sox stats laydown that indicated a 4 man postseason rotation that looks pretty good assuming Sale is still Sale, Eovaldi keeps up the good work, the resurgent ERod doesn't backslide, and Pivetta/Houck/Perez can do OK. Plus what now looks like a very good bullpen--Barnes, Ottavino, Whitlock, Sawamura, Taylor, Hernandez, and of course Houck.

Not quite. In the immortal words of Miracle Max, a devout Yankees fan, they would be only be "mostly dead." Still to soon to take the change out of their pockets.

They prefer headlines that scream. That said, they are in a bind right now, and jacksonianmarch agrees with the NY Post.

As always, a terrific laydown. See above for my thoughts on the rotation. Agree on the bullpen of course. As for the hitting, that is vintage moonslav, who rarely can be accused of pessimism. But you have the OPS's to back up your upbeat look.

Granted, the Yankees have a weak lineup right now, as they have in fact had for the entire season despite buying some high-priced bats in the recent past. Nevertheless, I was impressed with what Houck showed last night. He got 9 outs on 49 pitches (65% strikes), but only gave up the 1 single and 1 BB. And, while he certainly used his fastball, he did have a pretty good mix of pitches. This was the first time I've watched him throw and I now see why many think he will be starter, very possibly this year. Come mid-August or earlier, I think the rotation could well be Sale, Evoldi, Pivetta, E.Rodriguez, and Houck with Richards especially and maybe Perez in other roles or on other teams. The problem with shifting those last two is they are paid $8.5M and $4.5M.

Funny thing about that. While the NBA does recruit a lot of players from Europe, American universities export a ton of college players every year who play all over the world. They all have agents, of course, which means that they rarely stay in one place for more than 1, 2, or 3 seasons. And my guess is that, when they play in Greece one year, China the next, and then in Israel, they probably don't learn the language. It is probably still true today that English is the most common 2d language in the world, so a huge number of youngsters around the world are encouraged to learn it.

Nice win. Expected, but still very nice.

Definitely. I vote for a knuckle curve splitter with extra stuff on it.

Talk about a rush to judgment. We'll know a lot more by 2022.

Hang in there--this too shall pass.

The 1918 flu was on a par with COVID, especially because there was no treatment or vaccination.