Maxbialystock

Any bets on whether Pom gets out of the 2d?

It was the same as the other pitches to Stanton and was what was called for. That wasn't on Pom.

Sure looked as though the Sox book on Stanton is that he can't hit high fastballs. Might want to turn the page on that one.

Who is that masked man doubling to RF on a 99 mph?

That slider by Severino is devastating.

Terrific 1st by Pom. A whole lot of fastballs, but they worked.

JD looked pretty foolish up there. Severino does have good stuff, but still.

Hanley slowed down and was almost out. What a putz.

NYY will have 7 righty bats in their lineup tonight. Pomeranz actually does throw a changeup, but my guess is we won't see much of it. The good news is that Pom did go 6 innings his last time out, but it was against KC who rank 27th in runs scored. He has also pitched decently at Yankee Stadium, ERA 3.12. A700hitter has a good thought: jump on Severino early.

Meh. I think Cora should attend the pregame meeting with the umpire holding a white flag or other peace offering. There is no way, no how Pom can outpitch Severino. He's pitching only because John Henry is paying him $10M this year. I wanted Cora to use the off day to move up the next pitcher, but unfortunately it's David Price. Their combined WAR so far this year is +.1.

The Sox have bad bats in the bottom third of the order: 2b/C/CF. The top six in the order, on the other hand, are the best top six collectively in MLB. That includes HanRam. He is not the problem. I am fine with playing Moreland at 1B now and then, but I would then move Hanley to DH, JD to LF, Beni to CF, and JBJ to the bench.

He is 4th on the team in runs and rbi's and and total bases.

No. It means I don't think he is the lost cause you and others think he is. soxprospects, fyi, agrees with me and see him becoming an above average third baseman. He's 21, for crying out loud.

His DWAR right now is .2.

I didn't see it as a lapse. Close play on a perfect throw right to the bag without a bounce.

I hope so too.

Interesting. Thanks.

He went 7 last time out and gave up 1 earned run. As I remember it, that was the Sox four error game: 2 by Vazquez, 1 each by Devers and Bogie. Hard for me to find fault with Sale.

Does Cora stay with the hot bat today or give JBJ another shot? My guess is the latter.

True. I tend to underwrite most baserunning "mistakes" that are not blatant obtuseness like last year when JBJ couldn't remember how many outs there were.

Moreland stinks! DFA him! There, I did it for you.

Or so you hope. I'm worried about the Sox rotation right now, but do not consider them a lost cause by any means. Price, I agree, is a huge question mark right now, but I think the speed of his fast ball is less important than his ability to use other pitchers. I don't like Pom, but he does in fact have a changeup as well as the curve and over-used fast ball, and he has been effective, especially last year. ERod right now looks pretty good to me despite those gopher balls last night. Backing them up is a pretty darn good long reliever, Velazquez. And backing them up is a bullpen that is starting to jell, to say nothing of a lineup that is way better than last year's. Three games upcoming at Yankee Stadium: Pom/Price/Porcello vs. Severino/Tanaka/Sabathia. Right now I do give the Yankees the edge on starting pitching. However, tomorrow is an off day for us, so Cora could skip Pom and have ERod pitch the third game. He also has Velazquez for long relief, but he can only use him once.

Finally, a sensible approach. I do understand that trades are a key aspect of MLB, but it bugs me to see a 75 page thread whose title is about trading JBJ. To me the key question about any player is whether to play him and, relatedly, at what position and where in the batting order. It may be early in the season, but the Sox are off to a great start and neck and neck with the Yankees, so it's kind of silly to worry about when and whether to trade JBJ. Of course, this is a discussion board, which means almost any Sox related topic is grist for the mill. Right now the Sox are paying him $6M, which is a strong argument for playing him in CF, where he is very good defensively. This is why he has played in 31 games to date, 2d only to Devers with 32 games. However, the Sox currently have an abysmal bottom third of the batting order with Nunez not hitting, JBJ worse, and Vazquez/Leon worser. This explain why JBJ was a defensive replacement late in three of the 31 games he played in--as was the case last night. I also like the argument that JBJ could get his swing back. The hitting coach claims he is close. Meanwhile, however, I do like Cora occasionally benching him to help the hitting.

Pretty neat observation.

Sox currently have 7 bullpen arms, of which the worst is clearly Johnson, who is also the only lefty. This is unusual for a major league team, but might be explained by having 4 lefty starters.