Maxbialystock

Fascinating takes on Cora. I think a case can be made that he is being stubborn about Story at SS. On the other hand, I think "fixing" SS is not nearly as important as fixing the hitting and pitching which are both well below average among MLB teams. In that respect Story leads the Sox in rbi's with 17 in 18 freaking games. The Sox have won 7 games and Story had rbi's in 4 of them. He also had 1 rbi in a 3-2 loss @ St Louis and 2 rbi's in an 8-6 loss to Milwaukeee and 1 rbi in 6-5 loss @ Cincy. Story and his lousy .560 OPS is also 3d in total bases. Mayer is confortable at 2b and but not at the plate where his .572 OPS is below last year's .674. Back to the Sox team defense. I think the Abreu, Rafaela, Duran, and Anthony constitute a pretty good outfield. So do Contreras, Durbin, Mayer, and Wong/Narvaez 4/5 of a decent fielding infield.

To me it's this simple. So far--and I agree we're just 18 games into the season--the Sox pitching, hitting, and defense all stink. 25th in team ERA, 22d runs scored, and tied for 4th in most errors.

No doubt I missed the sarcasm. Nevertheless, I contend the Sox bats stink, but not Yoshida's.

Agree. Of course.

Thanks, MVP. Tigers come in with a 6 game win streak. However, all were home wins. On the road so far they are 2-8. Sox are 3-3 at the Fens and 4-8 on the road. Tigers are 10-9 overall and just 1 game back of Central Div leader Twins. Sox are 7-11, last in the AL: East, but only 4 games out of 1st, held by the Rays with their 28th biggest MLB payroll. Speaking of whom, anyone remember the guy JH fired about 3 years ago? Chaim Bloom is now the Cardinals CBO and their payroll is ranked 24th and they are 10-8. But it's way early. Right now the Sox pitching is ranked 25th in ERA, the hitting 22d in runs scored, and the defense tied for 4th in most errors. Thank goodness it's still April. Suarez stunk his first 2 starts but went 6 shutout IP last time out against those very same Cardinals. Trevor Story has an OPS of .560 and leads the Sox in K's with 24. However, he also leads comfortably in rbi's with 17 and has the 3d most total bases,26. Contreras is looking good with an OPS of .936 and a WAR of 1.0, so of course he has bad back and is day to day. c

Agree with Brock that starting Grey has risks. He's 36, 5'10", and definitely hittable. I hardly dare mention this, but so far Grey is 2-0 with an ERA of 2.76 and 16.1 IP. Tonight will be his 4th start--same as Crochet last night. However, after tonight, if Grey's form remains good, he will lead the Sox in innings pitched.

Agree completely on Yoshida. I still don't like him in LF, but do like him at the plate. I don't agree with sitting both Rafaela and Abreu. Let Abreu DH with Anthony in RF, Duran in CF, and Yoshida in LF. Story and Mayer must switch positions. It's not just that Story has lost some range. Mayer's arm is stornger and more reiiable. Bogaerts played SS and Story 2b in his first season with Boston.

You could be right of course. But the report is that the Twins have been killing lefty starters this season and one reason is that they had 8 righty bats in the lineup last night. I do think Crochet's fastball is more hittable than last year. Plus he doesn't have a usable changeup. Agree with "bear watching."

Devers right now has a WAR of -0.5 and is being paid $35M/year. Durbin ain't hitting, but his DWAR is +0.4 and overall WAR -0.1. So I'll take Durbin, thank you.

Cash grab? This year the Sox payroll is ranked 6th and the home attendance 11th. Like everyone else this season, I'm not happy with the hitting, but honestly think it will come around. Before Crochet's crash last night, I would have said the Sox pitching is in good shape.

All good points.

So what? I'm an over-reactor and love being one.

All good comments. Agree Mayer should play SS and Story 2b, also that Anthony will likely "turn the page." Meanwhile, however, it's painful.

Crochet showed a ton of guts last night because he didn't have his best stuff and because the Sox defense was yet again problematilcal. It's possible the cold weather has been an issue even though it affects both teams. The Sox had 3 freaking hits last night, no dingers, and won 3-2. Cora's one mistake was not starting Yoshida. Remember the Mendoza line? Last night Duran, Story, Mayer, Durbin, and Kiner-Falefa were all below it.

You trust Chapman? Last year, definitely. This year a crap shoot.

I don;'t think Story was in the WBC. At 33 he should know how to use ST to prepare. He was unprepared from day one. That double last night was huge, however. Anthony is also a shocker but that could be WBC. Gotta like Contreras and Abreu. Story and Anthony are both in the ignominious top 25 in K's.

I'm smiling.

Whoa, Nellie. Cora managed easily the best team in Sox history when they won 108 games in in 2018 and then went 11-3 in the postseason. The next season, 2019, the Sox pitching collapsed (ERA ranked 19th in MLB)000 Sale and Price with ERA's if 4,40 and 4.28. That season they had the highest payroll in MLB, so JH fired Dombrowski, and brought in Chaim Bloom from the Rays system which I think JH wanted to emulate to some degree. Skip covid 2020 and go to 2021 in which the Sox still had enough hitting to rank 5th in runs scored although their team ERA was ranked 15th. Thanks in part to Cora's managing, the Sox won 92 games and then made it to the ALCS despite not having a closer. In 2022 the Sox team ERA was ranked 25th, a disaster, and their run diff -52. In 2023 the team ERA was 19th and the run diff -5. Goodbye Chaim Bloom, hello Craig Breslow, also a Yalie but with 10 years MLB pitcvhing experience. 2024 the Sox finished 81-81; Last year, 2025, JH loosened the purse strings enough to allow Breslow to sign ace Crochet, AS thirdbaseman Bregman, and closer Chapman. However, Breslow went out of his way to dump Devers and his .900 OPS. About the same time Bregman went on the IL and was never the same for the rest of the season. Anthony was brought up and by July Devers wasn't missed much even though it was the pitching that made the biggest difference last year. Their team ERA was 9th best MLB and they made the postseason with 89 wins and then losing 2/3 game to the Yankees in the playoff. Their best hitter, Anthony, was injued Sep 3 and was out for the season. Dombrowski built that 2018 juggernaut in part because JH underwrote the biggest payroll in MLB. It was also the biggest in 2019 when the Sox didn't make the postseason. Thus, exit DD, enter Chaim Bloom with definite restrictions on what he could do/spend. Right now the Sox stink because their pitching and hitting stink--despite the Sox having the 6th largest payroll in MLB.

ESPN team stats say the Sox have 2d most errors, 11, the 25th best ERA, 4.84, and the 23d most runs scored, 36. Bregman, FWIW, currently has a WAR of -0.2. Devers WAR is -0.3. By comparison horrible, terrible Durbin's WAR is -0.1 and Anthony's is +0.3. So, yes, we needed bats, but the heart of the issue is the pitching because that is Breslow's presumed strong suit and where he spent the most money.

Been thinking the same thing. Story is inexcusably lousy in the field and at bat.

Not that it means much, but I took a peak at this year's Sox payroll. The 1st, 2d, 4th, 8th, and 9th highest salaries belong to pitchers Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Chapman and Bello and total $98 M.. The two highest paid "hitters" are Story and Yoshida, total $41M. Next are Contreras at $17M, Anthony (!!!!) at $16M, and Duran at @ $8M. Obviously, Breslow prefers to invest in pitchers because his top two hitters contracts were by his predecessor. Indeed, the only new bats Breslow can claim are Contreras and Durbin. And this season the Sox have the 6th highest payroll. Oh, and let's not forget that last year Breslow started the season with Devers and Bregman. Devers left in June because of a disagreement over playing 1b and Bregman had a subpar season because of the injury. Consequently, Breslow was reluctant to guarantee $35M/year for 5 years to 32 year old Bregman. Those two were each paid $35M last season and still are this season. On the other hand I think it is fair to say that last season the Sox pitching got them into the postseason, especially after their best hitter Anthony went on the IL on Sep 3. Right now Boston is ranked 22d in team ERA and 28th in runs scored.

Two very differenet pitchers. Barnes had that great curve to go with a 95 mph fast ball. Then the umps started checking for foreign substances, and the great curve was less great. Whitlock has a starter's repertoire.

As everyone knows, I always defend Cora, but I have to say right now that's the easiest thing in the world when-- The Sox are -13 after 5 games, "Superstar" Anthony has 4 hits and 11 freaking K's with an OPS of .482, The team OPS is .630, The team ERA is 4.78, And they have 4 errors in 5 games. I do recognize that ultimately the only guy you can fire is the manager--and managers are hired to be fired. On the other hand, I thought Cora was brilliant last year after losing Devers and Bregman going on the IL after which he wasn't the same hitter. And don't forget a red hot Anthony going on the IL on Sep 3.

Sox are now -7. But the Jays, 3-1, are -4. Cleveland, 3-2, is -7. Miami is 3-1 at -2. Rockies are 1-3 and +6. Early season anomalies.

i'm unhappy too, but firing Cora fixes nothing.