Maxbialystock

The lousy, stinking, no good Boston Red Sox are 5 games behind the Jays, who have the most wins, 64, in MLB while playing in the toughest Division (as do the Sox). And the Sox have played the tougher schedule. We are definitely contenders with no compelling needs although good arms, starters or relievers, will always help. The problem is that the owners of those good arms expect a king's ransom in return. Thus did the Padres expect Duran for Cease.

They absolutely are. They are tied with the Tigers and the Brewers with most wins, 64, but their run differential is just +23. Plus the AL East Division remains the toughest of the six. And the Sox are just 5 games back of the Jays despite playing a tougher schedule. I think this is the best Sox team in years. The offense is ranked 4th in runs scored and 5th in team OPS. The pitching is ranked 10th in team ERA and 4th in quality starts. And I'm saying now that the dipsticks focused on total errors have failed to see that the Sox defense is actually pretty good, especially at catcher, CF, RF, LF, 3b, SS, and even 2b. The talksox fixation on total errors is foolish. Even the baserunning is pretty decent. Another starter would be great, but they are mighty expensive--like the Padres expecting Duran for Cease. What a joke. Same goes for good bullpen arms--go after them but don't give away the farm. I see no compelling need for a first baseman or, for that matter, a catcher.

Interesting. That's been done by many clubs in the past.

Good grief. Then I apologize. You guys were/are good choices as mods.

That's been topic 1 for at least a month, and the reasoning was that the Sox have too many outfielders--kind of like the Austrian Emperor telling Mozart his opera had too many notes. When the Sox refused to exchange Duran for Cease, Breslow was criticized right here on talksox. Mr Golito's latest article claims Cease is better than Bello, which would make him a fair exchange for Duran (despite the facetious "lock Duran up" claim). Cease's WAR, 0.5, is 12th best among Padres pitchers. I would be dishonest if I didn't admit I too was ready to dump Duran, but I said so because I thought the Sox would get good value in return. However, right now, today, we're being told yet again how great Cease is. Duran's WAR, +3.0, is 3d best among lineup players on the Sox.

Of course it was luck. It's important never to say anything good about him.

Heck, last time I looked he led MLB in IP. So of course I'm for it.

Bello 7 IP, 1 ER. I think he's been pretty good, but I also think the defense behind him has been excellent. So a shout out to moonslav who has always argued that a good defense can make a real difference. My retort has been that I'd rather have good hitting. Well, just maybe these 2025 Sox have both.

Hopefully, the Sox can dump Duran. I hear the Padres are offering their 12th best pitcher for him. Let's snap that up.

The mods are right. We need to dump Duran ASAP.

Slick double play.

Wong's OPS last year was .758 in 126 games. In fact I think he played 1b a couple of times because of his bat. Reportedly, his framing has improved this year.

Yoshida comes thru big time. Clean single for 2 rbi's.

Horrible at bat by Abreu. Let's two hittable strikes go by and K's on a pitch well outside the zone.

Against a righty starter, the Sox righty bats have 5 of the Sox 8 hits. The Yoshida experiment can't go on much longer.

Way to go Duran !!!!

Time for Duran to stop screwing around.

Is Mayer unreal or is he unreal?

Wong 2 for 2 today. An artist with the bat. I think it's that charcoal under his eyes that gives him the edge.

Rafaela has hit the ball hard in 2 at bats.

He looks OK to me.

Rafaela has made two terrific plays at 2b today, Both of them prevented runs.

He's one of the most intelligent hitters on the team. That fly was perfectly placed. He doesn't see those pitches well. JDM had the exact same problem.

The pitch was well outside the strike zone.

Well, I sure hope so. The Sox need to unload that worthless Duran and pick up the 12th best pitcher on the Padres staff. Or maybe the Sox should desist in this Cease talk.