Maxbialystock

I didn't see Pom throw any pitches, but notices Duffy has three decent pitches: slide, changeup, and fast ball. And he used the all in the first inning and only needed 11.

Absolutely go with this one.

On the bats? The Sox scored 6, which is slightly better than their average runs per game this year, which is the 2d best in MLB. The game was on the bullpen.

Just because I enjoy a good discussion, allow me to point out that so far Kimbrel has 5 saves in 1 run games and 1 loss and 1 blown save. I'd call that 5-2, and the team is 21-8. He has an ERA of 1.42, which is excellent, but it's for 12 innings. Velazquez has pitched 22 innings with a 2.05 ERA, Sale 42 innings with a 2.14, Porcello 40.1 with a 2.23 ERA, etc. Those numbers tell me Kimbrel is the guy for the 9th, but the team needs a whole lot of help in the other 8 innings, to say nothing of the guys driving in and scoring the runs. The starting pitchers, I hasten to add, normally go thru a lineup at least twice and usually three or four times, but not Kimbrel. On the other hand, he must be ready for that one inning and can't afford to have it be a bad one. In the end, I probably go by WAR, as clumsy as that is. Right now Kimbrel's is .9, Velazquez 1.0, Sale 1.9, Porcello 2.0, and Price .8. Key lineup player WAR's are: Betts 1.7, Martinez 1.2, Bogie .8 (less than half the games). The only salary bargain among the above is Velazquez. Sale, Porcello, and Price are all pricey, and so is Martinez. Betts and Bogie will be.

I'm not so sure the team needs "to improve significantly in other areas." If you mean the bullpen, perhaps. But right now the Sox rank #2 in MLB in runs scored and 6th in ERA and 2d in quality starts. Defense is a little shaky, but adequate. Bullpen hurt last night and clearly needs Kelly back.

Last night Yankees starter Montgomery went 1 inning, after which their bullpen went 8 and held Houston scoreless. Verlander was brilliant for the Astros, going 8 and giving up 0 runs with 14 K's. But the Astros bullpen--Giles- gave up 4 to the Yankees in the 9th including a 3 run dinger by Sanchez. Our lineup is doing OK. So is our rotation except for Pom, who could still come around. But our bullpen and possibly our defense ain't helping much.

Sale went 7 innings last night and gave up 1 earned run. The bullpen went 6 innings and have up 5 earned runs and absolutely killed us. I wonder if using Leon more would help. Regardless, Johnson has to go I think.

True.

Let me go on to say I endorse moonslav's perspective that a big payout to Kimbrel jeopardizes keeping other players.

I agree with everyone who says Kimbrel is pretty darn good, but also think it's possible to overpay for a good thing, a reliable closer. The Sox won the WS in 2004, 2007, and 2013 with three different closers: Foulke, Papelbon, and Uehara. We had Kimbrel in 2016 and 2017 and couldn't get out of the ALDS with him. Absolutely not his fault, of course, but tells me that a great closer isn't the key guy.

I don't like Nunez at all, but he hit the game-tying dinger in the 12th and was in the game for his bat.

Terrific throw by JD, but of course that doesn't count because he's a terrible leftfielder.

That is way, way over the top. But I happen to agree.

Fantastic if the hammie is OK.

But Nunez made all those wins possible with his glove and bat. Who needs Pedroia?

Sox have the best record in MLB despite going 4-5 in the last 9 games. 2d best hitting (runs scored) in MLB and 5th best ERA. Rotation now tied for 2d in quality starts with 19 (out of 28): Porcello 5 of 6, Sale 4 of 6, ERod 3 of 5, Price 2 of 6, Pomeranz 0 of 2. Velazquez terrific over 22 innings, 7 games, ERA 2.02. Sox are tied for fewest errors, 8, in MLB. Oh, and Bogaerts has played just 12 of 28 games, Mookie 24 of 28. Moonslav says the Sox are one of four very tough AL teams, and I agree. Two--us and the Yankees--are in the same division of course. Nunez has been fantastic with the glove so far, plus pretty darn good with the bat, but has earned a rest for tonight. With Sale on the mound, the Sox have a shot with this lineup: Beni, HanRam, JD, Moreland, Bogie, Devers, JBJ, Vazquez, and Lin vs. righty Junis. Oh, best April ever for the Sox.

Absolutely.

I would have been disappointed, but not heart broken. We've seen fly balls misjudged out there before. My goodness, we've already learned to live with the errors by Devers because we like his bat. As for JBJ, who knows? He was the heir apparent in 2014 with Ellsbury gone and promptly demonstrated that you can actually be so bad at the plate it doesn't matter how good you are in CF. Since 2016, his OPS has dropped steadily.

Last guy I want is Castillo. I'm just saying JD is OK in LF now and then. He wasn't all that bad in RF about a week ago when he made a good grab in deep right center.

Time to alert the media. The 2018 Sox have completely thrown caution to the winds and allowed a very solid hitter but not so good outfielder to play left field. Wasn't it Jimmy Piersall who once said he should get twice the salary because he had to cover LF as well as CF? Yesterday's lineup worked because Betts was out and Cora wanted Moreland as the fill-in bat. You wanted Swihart in LF? Devers plays 3b for the same reason JD goes to LF now and then--optimizing the offense while taking a risk on defense.

Are you seriously unaware that his OPS as a left fielder is .377 higher than his OPS as a DH? And in this particular case Betts was out, so Beni went to CF and JBJ to RF. Are you also unaware that Devers has 5 errors compared to the entire rest of the team which as 3?

Amazing, difficult win. Porcello is the ace on this squad, which I never thought I'd say. Devers left 7 on today and Moreland 4. JD had 4 of our 7 hits, scored 1 of our runs and batted in 2 others, so I frankly didn't give a s*** if he misjudged (waited too long to go back) a shot to LF. It's possible Leon is a better defensive catcher than Vazquez.

OK, Porcello is the man so far this season and that is beyond question. Better than Sale and better than Price. I'm pretty sure I said early in the season there was no way, no how he could be effective this year. The 2 run dinger today was off a decent changeup that was low in the zone, but not low enough. The rbi single was off a great pitch, outside and low vs. a lefty bat.

Yup. He left 6 guys on so far.

Porcello is know as a sinker ball pitcher, but that only works if you go low in the zone, which today he seems to have a problem doing.