Maxbialystock

Nice. I think he's a heckuva catcher.

JDM comes thru big time. 3-2 in the 6th.

Looks like the Sox lineup is going to have to get to Ohtani, as hard as that is, because otherwise he is going to go the distance.

Thanks.

Listening to Ray Charles singing It's Crying Time Again. And watching the denouement of Saving Private Ryan when Hanks and his guys mostly get blown away by the Germans.

Andriese.

So much for the pitcher's duel.

This isn't the 1st inning, it's the 10th.

Ohtani ain't afraid to throw strikes.

Game starts with a bang! Hernandez double, grounder to move him to 3d and long fly to score Hernandez.

On the other hand, right now Devers has the highest WAR on the Sox at 3.4, part of which is DWAR of +.4. Bogaerts WAR is 2d highest at 2.7, including a DWAR of -.7. So, if WAR and DWAR have any meaning, you can make a good case Bogie's defense isn't that big a problem.

I said it was insane and unworkable--in your words, unrealistic. However, you have said in the not too distant past that SS (and possibly CF) are so important they can affect the pitching. In the case of SS, it's not just errors, but ground ball singles that could/should have been outs and groundouts that could/should have been GIDP's. I never said "trade the world" for a SS, but have to admit that might be what it takes.

I don't see them moving him either. I'm only saying a great fielding SS would help this team more than another arm, unrealistic as that may be.

2020 was not a season, no matter what the record books say.

Could be a great game tonight. Hernandez CF Verdugo LF JD Martzinez DH Bogey SS Devers 3B Renfroe RF Arroyo 2B Santana 1B Wong C

Sorry about the back. Been there.

Like this whole discussion.

Barking up the wrong tree. I already said it was insane and explained why. And I'm not against getting another reliever, which seems the logical move at this point. But I disagree on giving up the prospect, depending, of course, on which prospect it is. Why am I reluctant to up a good prospect to help this team? The Sox are past the halfway point of this season, so it would seem they are the real deal. Heck, you can make a decent argument that they already have three good starters--Sale, Eovaldi, and Pivetta--for the postseason when the off days make it easier to exploit that strength and to use your best relievers more often than in the regular season--like now when they are playing their 15th game in 15 days. With Arroyo back and Hernandez leading off better than any other Sox this season, the Sox 1 thru 6 look pretty good. Heck, JDM, Bogie, and Devers are 9th, 8th, and 4th in the AL in OPS. And now the bottom three (Arroyo, Vazquez/whoever, and Dalbec/whoever) ain't too shabby. To me the only real weakness on this team is infield defense, and even that has not prevented winning 54 of their first 86 games, 2d best in MLB. I will of course be fine with any move Bloom makes.

I was always in favor of the ownership decision to offer only so much (whether $200M or $220M) because I think no player can be productive enough to justify $30M/year or more. Thus I love to point out that the Nationals ownership decided that Bryce Harper was not worth keeping and off he went to the Phillies. The following season, with Harper, the Phillies won one more game than the year before without him. And the Nationals? Without Harper they won the WS. However, the Phillies attendance also increased that first year, 2019, with Harper. So maybe he was/is worth it. As for Betts, he joins a team that always leads MLB in attendance, just as the Sox tend to fill Fenway (or almost fill it) regardless of the number of high-priced stars they have. Ditto the Yankees and Cubs and Cardinals (yes, the Cardinals, whose city is pretty small).

Also well said. Indeed, that's why even the absolute best teams in MLB--like the 2018 Sox (108 wins = .667 winning percentage)--lose 1/3 of the time. This year the best teams--Sox (.628), Astros (.612), Giants (.631), and Dodgers (.624)--actually win just a tad better than 6 of 10 games. Why is that so? Three reasons: 1) hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely is the most difficult skill in sports; 2) pitching at the MLB level is a close second and also fraught with peril; 3) even well hit balls can be outs and poorly hit balls can get thru. I think this is why moonslav says that the most one sided pitching/hitting matchups can produce surprises.

Undoubtedly.

About going after another reliever. I'm not agin it, but would remind everyone the Sox already have 7 decent to good ones whose WAR's range from +.6 (Workman and Sawamura) to +1.4 (Whitlock and Barnes). In between are Ottavino (+1.0), Taylor (+.8), and Darwinzon Hernandez (+.8). In addition, Sale will soon join the rotation, freeing up a starter for the bullpen who can double as a backup starter. And, while I agree Dalbec/Santana/whoever at 1B ain't pulling his weight hitting-wise, with Arroyo back on the team that leaves only real weak spot. Believe me when I say the Sox badly need a weak spot somewhere because without one talksox will die from lack of oxygen to keep our competitive, whining egos fired up. We need Dalbec, although a combo of Dalbec and Cordero at 1b could maintain that weak spot as easily as Dalbec by himself. On that basis, I am now excited at the prospect of bringing Franchy back. Plus that name!!

You need to keep saying this. I do agree that July is the time to get some help for the stretch run in what has been an amazing season, but not at the cost of good prospects. I am going to repeat my insane idea of moving Bogie to 1b, where he will do no worse defensively than Dalbec and a whole lot better at bat. At the same time the Sox need to acquire an excellent SS with some range, which Bogey lacks, and who does not have to be a good hitter. An OPS of .600 or even .550 will do. I also think 1b (or 3b) is almost certainly in Bogie's future. The problem with that insane idea is doing it in midseason, which will not only make it much harder for Bogie, but could piss him off enough to guarantee he will never re-sign with the Sox.

They also say luck is the residue of hard work, and no one has worked harder than the Sox bullpen during these 11 excellent games with just 1 loss when Cora was forced to use Andriese in the 12th inning of a game the A's would have won in 9 but for those 2 unearned runs. The defense has also been better. In the first 3 games of what so far is 14 games without break, the Sox committed 5 errors in the Trop while losing 2 of 3. But in the 11 excellent games that followed that had just 4 errors in 4 different games, the only costly one being Pivetta's errant pickoff that led to 3 unearned runs in a game the Sox won. Devers has been excellent, and the outfield had a bunch of assists, all of them superb and some of them game-changing, by Renfroe (of course), Hernandez (getting to be of course), Verdugo (5 so far), JDM (3 so far), and even Santana (2 so far). Of note too is that in the 1st inning of ERod's latest start--in which he again showed he is capable of crawling out of the abyss of some earlier starts--Gonzalez at 3b made a crappy throw to 1st, but ERod would not let the A's score. Speaking of which, the starters have all shown toughness and hard work because they were hit by the Commish's "no foreign substances" dictum. And then there's the Sox lucky manager, Cora, whom Napoleon would have wanted as one of his generals. No manager is perfect, but Cora--despite sometimes betting against the Sox and sending his winnings to Puerto Rico --comes close. His biggest fault, resting his best players when everyone on talksox knows that is just stupid, is actually another strength. He did this repeatedly during the latest 11 games, causing a massive uproar on the game threads, and the only loss in those 11 games was when the lineup was Hernandez, Verdugo, JDM, Bogaerts, Devers, Renfroe, Vazquez, Dalbec, and Santana.

Then, as I said, talk away. No disagreement this team has flaws even though: 1) the rotation is definitely looking better; 2) the bullpen has 7 relievers with WAR's ranging from +.6 to +1.3; and 3) the offense is 2d in MLB in runs scored and 3d in OPS. But this is definitely the month to make a move or two, and 1b is as good as any slot to fix.