Maxbialystock

Meh. The "abuse" point is especially laughable because those two, Benintendi and Devers, are thrilled to be up in the Bigs and playing every day. A dream come true. No doubt in my mind Beni loves batting 2d because it shows confidence in him even though, just as you say, he is quite young. I don't disagree with moonslav and you that this isn't the ideal situation, but by definition ideal is rare. Meanwhile, I focus on three pretty good things-- 1. The team is winning games--more than any other team in MLB--and playing well against the best teams (NYY, Mariners, Astros). 2. The lineup, woebegone as many on talksox now think, is still 2d or 3d best in MLB and a big improvement over last year. 3. The rotation right now is awfully good. Porcello is the worst of the five, and that's saying a whole lot.

I got my numbers from espn splits for the Sox, but obviously misread or misinterpreted. You usually have better stats, so my 20 PA's is off. But your PA's remaining would be, I think, between 50 and 60, so my point remains. And wow, I did not know you liked the move. Great. But you of course are thinking about 2019, which is fine.

Probably. My favorite example is Nava, who was on 2b when the next guy hit a drive to right center off the wall. Where did Nava end up? 2b of course. He took the obligatory short lead off 2b when he saw where the ball was going and that it might get caught. At the last second, no doubt under some kind of uncontrollable impulse, he decided he must return to the safe island of 2b. As the ball hit the wall, there was Nava sliding--yes, sliding--into 2B. Moreland's gaffe doesn't come within miles of that.

Against lefties, of course. Against righties it would still be Moreland at 1B, JDM at DH, and HanRam riding the pine. To date the Sox have had 145 at bats vs. lefties and 519 vs. righties. Divide that 145 by 9 hitters, and you get 20 at bats for HanRam, assuming he gets the extra at bat every now and then. Now multiply those 20 at bats by, say, 1.5 to account for the rest of this season. That gets us to 30 at bats for which the Sox will pay, what, $15M, or is it less than that now? Isn't that a tad pricey?

True. Thus my choice of "one little factor." Moreland's problem is he is just slow.

Who knew the Hanley Ramirez fan club was so darn big on talksox? I am stunned with all these endorsements for a guy who was earning maybe $2M of that $22M he was being paid this year and, if he vested, again next year. moonslav put it best when he said DD came to that conclusion last winter when he re-signed Moreland and went after JDM. And you can bet he was more than willing to deal HanRam to anyone dumb enough to do so. But he couldn't, so the instructions to Cora were probably: "play him as much as possible so we can solidify our decision or reverse it." Thus, even though the Sox had a decent 1B in Moreland and a very good DH in JDM, HanRam played all but 6 of the 44 games the Sox played before he left. I can't help but think one little factor was that time he was on 1b and I think Moreland hit a double to right center with two men out. HanRam slowed down to watch it, hoping it would go out and he could jog around the bases. Finally, he sped up and was thrown out at home. Very unprofessional. That one thing might have convinced Cora-- this guy ain't a player when it counts, or maybe he thinks he can get away with stuff with a rookie manager in the dugout.

Exactly. I'm not against tweaking, but absolutely do not buy the general gloom and doom of this thread.

True. Good win yesterday, 2-2 series at their park immediately after flying 3000 miles, Baltimore to Seattle, with no travel day. And, yes indeed all four games were winnable because we lost the middle two by 1 run each and had a 6-3 lead in game 2 against the Seattle ace. But the tenor of this game thread is borderline despondent. Why couldn't the Sox hit that guy in game 3 even though, if you watched, he pitched a great game? Indeed, why is the hitting so bad, especially against lefties, and what is DD going to do about it? No comment on the simple fact that our two lefties, Price and ERod, won games 1 and 4 and both had quality starts. Me, I expected 2-2, definitely hoped to win 3 of 4 after game 1, and was OK with the middle game losses precisely because they were winnable. I say that because at least one talksoxer said he saw a big difference in the talent of the two teams--to the advantage of Seattle. I am not saying this lineup can't be tweaked, but for me it's hard not to like this team, especially now that it's mostly healthy again and has what I think is the best or 2d best rotation in MLB. The Astros have more aces, but we have five good ones unless Porcello is about to regress to 2017 form.

Not against a trade, but would remind everyone this is already a pretty good team as defined by winning record, nose to nose series with other contenders, team pitching and hitting stats. Lowrie seems to get a lot of mention. He had a great April, a so-so May, and even worse June so far (OPS .613).

No love from me, but definitely praise for his amazing pitching, season to date. That thing is working and he also has the occasional fast ball and even that huge curve. Plus let's not forget Vazquez who is doing a splendid job catching him--a job that Varitek absolutely could not do.

Clearly we disagree on what constitutes misuse. I'm honest when I say I generally support every move Cora makes, but in this case I also think Kimbrel gets paid an awful lot of money to do less and less. I also think the Cora is experimenting a little, trying to see what each of his guys are capable of--and not.

We disagree on a lot, but I emphatically agree with you on 1-0 games which to me are very exciting. Last night their infield defense definitely helped hold that small lead. Devers error cost Wright nothing other than a few extra pitches, and he also made some good plays. Their defense cost them in game 2, but they won it anyway when our bullpen folded. Our defense definitely helped get the game 1 win.

Sometimes game threads after losses just astound me, and this is certainly one of them. Going into this series I thought most talksoxers would be happy with a split. That's still possible. But not on this thread. Tonight's game apparently confirmed that nobody on this team can hit or will ever hit again. No siree, we now have the worst lineup ever, one that suddenly needs an infusion of fresh blood or, better still, the return of the great Hanley Ramirez because he is better than Swihart, which to me is completely nonsensical. This catastrophic season--or so it seems on this thread--is because of Swihart who barely plays? The Sox currently still have the second best offense in MLB, but on this thread it is described as second worst. And last night, which is apparently erased from our racial memory, that putrid offense scored 6 runs (5 earned) off of a very good pitcher.

You said something like that on last night's game thread, and I sadly agree. Last night was a terrible loss--as you have said--because Bogie's 3 run dinger was off their putative ace and gave us a 6-3 lead.

Wow. Is that true? Lefties with good changeups are effective? Stunning. Have you perhaps noticed that the Sox have three lefties who use the changeup and are pretty effective? Or that one of the reasons why Pomeranz has been awful this year is that he doesn't have a changeup? I would go so far as to say that no lefty MLB starter can survive without a changeup and that most righties need one too. I agree this year the Sox struggle against lefty pitchers. I would argue, however, that the problem against Leblanc tonight was that he had a great mix of pitches and exquisite control.

Really? Sox lost 2 of 3 one-run games on Seattle's home field 3 time zones west of here. If the bullpen hadn't screwed up in game 2 the Sox would have won 2 of 3. In that second game the Sox scored 5 earned runs of what was supposed to be Seattle's ace.

Kimbrel has now not pitched in two straight games, Fri and Sat, and he didn't pitch Wed. So the burden is on the naysayers to demonstrate just how using Kimbrel on Mon and Tues--both games the Sox won as well as the next two games--hurt the bullpen or prevented Kimbrel pitching when a save was available.

I don’t see it. You’re the one hypothesizing because the Sox swept Baltimore, kimbrel rested Wed, closed Thursday and didn’t pitch Friday because the Seattle didn’t need to bat in the 9th. Exactly when did Kimbrel not pitch when he was needed but was tired?

Cora is clueless all right. Last night's lineup didn't do much either. He needs some advice from the talksox experts.

Plus there's the little matter of Pedroia coming back after missing two months or so and playing, what 2 games?

If Cora listens to moonslav and drops Moreland to 5th, we got four good ones in Betts, Beni, JDM, and Bogie. Sooner or later Devers will see the light or at least the dadgum ball. Right now Mookie, Beni, and Bogie have to be the best young threesome on one team in MLB right now. DD's job is to figure out how to keep them. And Devers. And a rotation.

I'm emphatically a no. He did in fact spike Pedey in the knee last year and he hasn't recovered. He is way too expensive. I like our current 3B and SS, including their shortcomings.

Injured, really? I see him stealing bases and think that ain't possible. I think hitting is vital for any player, but in Nunez's case agree his fielding hurts. He seems to have four special gifts in the field: GIDP prevention; fielding a grounder without getting an out; not much range; turning catching pop ups into an adventure for. He is in most respects the polar opposite of Pedey in the field.

No news of Pedey is not good news. If he were making progress, we would know about it. Others want DD to get another 2b, but I'm fine with Nunez and Holt, imperfect as they are. Unless a really good one becomes available cheap, of course.

I am no being facetious--this time--when I say I have no problem with those thoughts. I am fine with "weird." Last year I didn't like Holt, this year I see a better fielder and hitter than Nunez, especially at 2B. And I'm even guessing Holt gets the night tonight over Nunez because--wait for it--he's better hitting lefties than Nunez.