Maxbialystock

I apologize for my pontificating above. moonslav and TylerD came much closer to what makes talksox so much fun.

April 19 was the Battle of Lexington and the shot heard round the world--all done by the Massachusetts Militia (founded in 1636) who couldn't wait for the 2d Continental Congress to do something. Nor for a Declaration of Independence. Other Americans were so astounded by what the Massachusetts Militia did, they did things like name their Kentucky camping grounds Lexington (now the 2d largest city in Kentucky) within weeks of April 19, 1775. That said, I would hesitate to connect that amazing history to anything going on at the Trop tonight. I was born at Fort Banks (now gone, but close to Boston) and both my parents grew up in Massachusetts--one in Agawam and the other in West Newton--but neither they nor I nor my 5 siblings went back to MA except for one year, 1953-54 when the old man was overseas. So I can't really call myself a New Englander, but as an American am both proud of and astounded by what our forebearers achieved. About 8 years later GW resigned his commission and returned to Mount Vernon, and 4 years after that presided over the 1787 Constitutional Convention which quickly wrote our defining document. 23 of the 40 signers had served in the Continental Army. Unfortunately, they failed to live up to the Declaration of Independence ("we hold these truth to be self-evident that all men are created equal") and to banish slavery, but it was still one of the great documents in history.

You're right of course, but we have talked about sillier things. The fundamental problem is the rotation and there is not a whole lot Cora could or can do about that. Sale ain't Sale. Porcello is his worst version. ERod continues to be his worst version. And Price and Eovaldi seem to be coming around.

I don't remember bailing--who could anyone?--but do remember saying the Yankees looked like an oncoming freight train.

It's fixed and says April 19. So drive on. You're actually off to a good start naming the Rays starter. You got him right.

Not my favorite wagon to be on, so am considering bailing in maybe June. Last year about this time we were 15-2 vs our current 6-13 and we will play the Rays in 6 of our next 9 or 10 games (the others vs. the Tigers).

OPS's at or near the top of the order-- Bogie .996 JDM 1.143 Mookie .762 Beni .915 Moreland 1.071 Sure looks to me as though Mookie is the odd man out. Worse is Devers at .705, but he left the top part of the order after maybe 3 games there. But, honestly, I give Mookie a pass right now because he's just one bat out of 9. Our rotation is what is killing us and now maybe the bullpen. Team ERA of 6.01 is 29th in MLB.

Good points. Nunez has the worst WAR on the team, -.6. But right behind him are JBJ at -.4, Pearce at -.4, and Pedey at -.4.

Too true. As Prospero and later Sam Spade both said, "the stuff that dreams are made of."

You're right I guess. But, honestly, I think 2015 was the year that poisoned the well for management's perception of Swihart's catching ability. Fair or unfair, the Sox have generally avoided having him catch MLB games in the now 4 succeeding seasons. Last year was a complete stunner: they kept him on the active roster, but didn't let him catch a game until Leon or Vazquez went on the DL. In defense of your position, I will add that this year Swihart caught the entirety of one of the Sox few wins--a shutout by the bullpen.

He who challenges moonslav on numbers will be rebutted. In this case, you're only saying there is a smidgen of hope, which I can accept.

JBJ's OPS's-- 2014 .531 (this was the year he replaced Ellsbury and ended up in Pawtucket) 2015 .832 (the year the light turned on in August and he hit like a champ) 2016 .835 (still up and down, but mostly up--his overall WAR was 4.3, highest of his career) 2017 .726 (regression to the mean, as moonslav would say) 2018 .717 (the mean stays mean) 2019 .375 (too early to be meaningful, but worrisome)

Back to the lineup. While I think one lineup can work better than another on a given night, I also think there is a lot of hocus-pocus that defies analytics. I would bat Vazquez 14th if I could, but last night he hit that 2 run dinger in a game where Mookie was hitless and the Sox were 0 for 3 with RISP. Bottom line: I love to comment on lineups, but find it hard to criticize whatever Cora decides upon. Also, I remember last year's unending, dismal dirge about the bottom (7, 8, and 9) of the batting order and what a disaster it was. Sometimes it was, but the Sox still scored in the most runs, 876, in MLB. And basically all of those guys are back.

Yup. But he also has a pretty good human touch.

True about message boards, but I think talksox works exceptionally well. It allows us all to go off on tangents, but also clarify something we meant seriously--all pretty much without moderators having to jump in.

I stand corrected. Almost all of us on talksox agree ST was not productive.

Meh. Gotta go with notin. I'm mad about spring training, but I'm not sure how you can introduce intensity and tenacity into ST games. I think those two come into play much later in this monster of a 162 game season. What we have seen is that the pitchers, especially the starters, didn't have good command (or even good velocity--Sale) when the season started and got hit hard and walked guys. This apparently was a risk Cora and DD were prepared to incur in order to compensate for the rigors of the 2018 postseason. I will grant you this word--focus. Not the same as intensity and tenacity, but in the same family. Focus as I understand it is how JDM became such a good hitter, and all hitters need it all the time. Same goes for all pitchers. Fair enough?

Are you saying Ellsbury isn't getting paid despite that 7 year, $140M+ contract?

You forgot Pomeranz. Losing him was a net plus, maybe a big net plus. Kelly right now is carrying a pitching WAR of -.6 and an ERA of 10.8, so I'm not sure he was such a big loss. As for Kimbrel, yes, a loss, but probably inevitable because he wants a lot of money, more than he is worth. Also, I doubt Kimbrel could have helped us so far. We've had 5 save opportunities and blown 1--last night in the 7th inning, an inning in which Kimbrel has never, ever pitched.

Really? I just checked the AL catcher DWAR's for 2015. Leon's was .7, Hanigan's .3, and Swihart's -.4. He caught in 83 games and started 78 as catcher.

And team ERA-- Sox at 6.01, ranked 29th in the MLB and just a tad better than the Orioles' 6.05. A race to the bottom.

And some lineup WAR's (offense and defense combined) to date-- Bogey .8 JDM .6 Mookie .4 Devers .3 Beni .3 Moreland .2 Vazquez .2 Nunez -.6 JBJ -.4 Pearce -.4 Pedy -.4 Holt -.1 Leon -.1

Some pitching WAR's to date-- Price .5 Brasier .4 Barnes .3 Velazquez .2 Workman .1 Porcello -.8 Sale -.4 ERod -.4 Eovaldi -.1 Thornburg -.1

Too true, especially about JBJ.

I honestly could care less about "fixing" 2B. The Sox won 108 last year basically with good field, no hit Kinsler--and sometimes Holt and sometimes Nunez. 2B to me is borderline irrelevant to our current struggles--except that Pedey still gets paid whether or not he can play. I do regret my harsh remarks about Mookie even though he has said basically the same thing about himself. i think I picked on him because the commentators going into this season kept talking about his potential for a "big" contract and how $20M for this year would be chicken feed. My expectation, however, is that he will recover and again be a key member of the lineup.