Maxbialystock

I honestly don't think the bottom of the lineup is as big a problem as the Orioles pitcher, who has good stuff and is really hitting his spots. Thus no hits by the top 5 in the order and 2 hits by the bottom 4. Plus I don't think any Sox player has hit the ball hard yet.

I didn't think Smith was all that bad. Yes, he loaded the bases, but then he struck out two. The dinger came on a curve low in the zone. As for pitching depth, the Sox started with five pretty good ones--Sale, Price, ERod, Eovaldi, and Porcello--in the rotation, and you can't ask for much more than that. The problem was they weren't ready, not that there was no depth.

I have a simple theory that somewhere between 75% and 90% of a team's defense is embedded in its pitching, exclusive of the quality of the infielders and outfielders. How else explain that 12 or 13 of the 25 man rosters on every MLB team are pitchers and that pitchers routinely command the top salaries in MLB? I would therefore argue that lineup players hitting is on average at least three times as important as their fielding. But I'm more than willing to debate and/or talked out of either notiong.

Well done, moonslav! I count 7 righties tonight against lefty Means, who is 3-3 with an ERA of 2.81 and a mean changeup which he throws 33% of the time. Devers at DH and JBJ are the only two lefty bats. No Beni and no Moreland. First start for Josh Smith. Weather down here (N. Virginia, 35 miles from Camden Yards as the crow flies) is 75 degrees and partly sunny. Ditto tomorrow. Mostly cloudy Wed and possible rain, but likely playable. Orioles so far are 8-11 at home, Sox 9-11 on the road.

Somebody start today's game thread already.

A fair response. But my rejoinder is that I root like crazy for the team as a whole and thus don't mind criticizing the guys who aren't helping. Last year I went after Pomeranz with a vengeance. Ditto Kimbrel after the postseason. So right now I'm a lot less willing to "be patient" with JBJ when I've seen this good team struggle and JBJ being one of the reasons for the struggle. Speaking of which, I agree with everyone that our biggest problem by far has been with the rotation which now seems to be improving. But there again I finger JBJ because the great majority of "good field, no hit" advocates say that JBJ is so good he makes the pitchers better, to which I say, "show me some evidence of that in 2019." Someone else put up the W-L records for the Sox for the past 10 years, and they showed that the Sox had just one season when they finished with a winning record after having a losing record in their first 33 or so games. In other words, I'm saying, "please don't tell me how great JBJ was last year or in 2017 or 2016, because the need is now and urgent." I am certain that JBJ had bad spells last year, but who cared when the Sox got off to that great start and never looked back?

I used to root like crazy for JBJ because he replaced--after a trial run that didn't go well in 2014--Ellsbury and for a lot less money. I remember commenting around 1 August 2015 that I was fine with bringing him back up for another shot because it was still possible he would turn things around. Which he did and with a vengeance that lasted thru all of 2016, easily his best season. My heartburn this year centers around the state of the team, which has struggled, and JBJ, who demonstrably hasn't helped bring the Sox out of their slump--other guys did that. Thus I get a little nasty when the Sox are struggling and all the JBJ fans insist he is still the man and his struggles at bat are temporary. We should be patient. I am also told--relentlessly--that he is still the greatest in CF and frankly I'm not seeing it. Moreover, I have formed serious doubts that his defense really affects game outcomes as often as people claim.

Ahem. All your uses of the verb "should" suggest you think Cora is a dummy for playing Chavis at 2B. Far from it. He is trying to get the best hitters in the lineup, and right now it's really hard to argue with an infield of Devers, Bogaerts, Chavis, and Moreland. I would further argue I think Chavis is already better at 2b than Nunez, who has a bad glove and is terrible on popups or flies to short RF, where Chavis is pretty darn good. Chavis definitely needs work on turning the DP when he makes the throw to 1b. Devers has made a ton of errors, some of them costly, at 3b, but he's still there because of that bat and the hope he will improve his defense.

Meh. Agree Ellsbury's 2011 was a false high which he never came close to repeating, especially the 32 dingers. And no question JBJ is the better centerfielder. Thus it was a smart move by the Sox not to try to keep Ellsbury and to gamble on JBJ in 2014 even though he bombed. The problem is that JBJ is hugely inconsistent at the plate except for that one great season, 2016. In the three seasons since then, his overall WAR's have gone steadily down--5.5 in 2016, 3.0 in 2017, 2.1 in 2018, and -1.3 so far in 2019. My other point is that I think his defense is not nearly as important as his bat. He has had very few remarkable grabs this year and fewer still--perhaps none-- that made a difference in a game. But he has had many opportunities to contribute at the plate. That said, I trust Cora to use JBJ intelligently and realize that with just 12 position players on the roster he probably should use JBJ most of the time.

Agree he’s a necessary starter, especially when Cora continues to use just 12 position players to ensure bullpen depth. I have no disagreement with his career hitting stats, but any mention of those should be informed by current circumstances, specifically that Sox are below .500 and so is JBJ’s OPS.

JBJ in, Mookie out, no doubt a rest day. 5 lefty bats too.

Let me try that one. In the past 10 years, only one Sox team, 2011, had a losing record after 33 games and finished with a winning record. And, as it turns out, the 2011 team missed the playoffs, finishing 3d in the AL East behind the Yankees and, wait for it, the Rays. I like you am encouraged by recent games, but the Sox did in fact dig themselves into a hole.

I've been thinking the same thing. The recent trend, especially the pitching, has been pretty good, plus the hitting, plus winning some games--and now a stomp them into the ground and leave no prisoners win. Two specifics: the rotation (4, anyway) righting itself; Chavis bring-up and spectacular hitting so far. And here's an admittedly cheap shot. Chavis has played in 14 games, JBJ in 28, but Chavis has 37 total bases to JBJ's 17, 13 rbi's to JBJ's 5, and 12 runs scored to JBJ's 6. It's numbers like these that make me wonder why JBJ is considered to be invaluable because of his defense, which frankly I have not seen make much of a difference. And, in case anyone is wondering, Mookie and Beni both have more total bases, rbi's, and runs than Chavis. I'm not against great defense, but I wonder sometimes whether it can't be over-valued.

Looks as though JBJ is getting some much needed rest.

Not sure which is more amazing, the score or the paucity of comments.

You heard it from Earl Weaver.

Chris freakin' Sale, huh? The guy is a disaster so far this year. On the other hand, I think he is the most professional pitcher I've seen on the Sox in a long time because he takes his job seriously and stays focused. He fields his position well and never forgets to cover 1b on a grounder to the right side. He doesn't shake off pitches because he wants to stay focused on execution, not on analyzing the batter or the catcher's signals or whatever.

I agree the error was a big deal, but absolutely do not agree it's time to replace Brasier. He has thrown 210 pitches or so, and made that one big mistake. Devers has had 103 total chances and has 9 errors. Besides, Cora has already used Brasier in non-save situations, and Barnes has 2 saves. So the point about who is the closer is moot. FWIW, I like Brasier a whole lot more than the guy we had last year. I think he had a beard, and he did his level best to sabotage the Sox in the postseason, but now wants to be paid a king's ransom.

Game ran too late, so I went to bed with the Sox up 4-3. But I saw the replays of the error and the dinger that killed us. The error was huge although I agree with Jung's thoughts on Devers. Brasier to me is still a better closer than Kimbrel. Better stuff, better control, better attitude about being used early, etc. Kimbrel is a prima donna, which is why no one else has signed him.

Time, finally, to win 4 in a row. I take nothing for granted, but also like the way the pitching and hitting are trending. Who woulda thunk that wiping out our three secondbasemen would help the hitting--signficantly? Or that Vazquez would be hitting before JBJ? As I recall, both hired coaches to work on their swings in the offseason. Last time out Price was effective with basically a slider and a fast ball, but threw very few changeups.

Stunning. Only you can do a laydown like that. Those guys in Moneyball got nothing on you. I don't think Beni has the arm for RF,which is why Cora puts JDM there--despite the risks. Better still--find another outfielder.

But let's not forget that I also think his defense hasn't done much good so far. I can name two specific examples of not so great plays and a third one, an error. But no one has come forward with examples of great catches he has made this season.

Another very nice win. Well done, Station 13. Sox temporarily--pending the Yankees game and the Rays 2d game today--4 back of the Rays and 2 back of the Yankees. On to Chicago!

We all know you are kidding, but still--one would be hard-pressed right now to argue that switching Leon in for Swihart has made things worse. Also, I trust Cora's judgment, and last year he absolutely refused to start Swihart at catcher until one of the two regulars went on the DL. We know he's the best athlete of the three, and we think he is probably the best hitter. But those doubts about his catching, handling of pitchers, etc just linger on.

Actually, I have already said I am fine with whatever Cora decides to do, and right now, with the dearth of outfielders, keeping JBJ in CF is a no-brainer. So I completely agree with Notin's point--JBJ is one of the 9 best Cora can field right now. Yes, I did defend Farrell--a lot--but did so on general principles because there were also times when I was on the Fire Him Now bandwagon. I frankly don't think managers make that much difference even though I was stunned by how effective Cora was last year. He may be young, but he sure seems to know what he is doing--the ST notwithstanding. But you are dead on target that I like to argue points, not all the time, but some of the time. In the case of JBJ, everyone seems to ignore my point that so far this season JBJ is not that much a plus factor in center field. So I hereby invite one and all to cite particularly great catches which also affected game outcomes this year. I have mentioned a couple which I think he botched.