Maxbialystock

I'm not quite seeing gold glove at 1B. He had two short hops--by Bogaerts and Sandoval-- and couldn't grab either one. The latter cost an unearned run.

Watching on my ipad at the office, but joined the game late. Porcello has looked pretty darn good to me. And that rally was fantastic. Right out of Earl Weaver's book--rely on good pitching and the 3 run dinger.

What a grab and what a tough place to make it! Way to go, JBJ!

My screen says 57 degrees in Fenway. Not bad for April 3.

Nice shot by Sandoval, but also a nice grab.

Sox have 1 hits and have struck out twice?

I don't know about that. I watched him once this spring and noticed he pitches quickly and throws strikes, which means he will never fit in with this pitching staff.

Pomeranz still does not impress. JBJ should bat 9th or 10th if his ST trend persists. Overall, however, hitting looks good again this year. Rotation should be good. Bullpen to me remains a question. Last year the Sox got hot only in September when the bullpen was hot. Last year somebody quoted I think Whitey Herzog who said the difference between a good manager and a bad manager is a great bullpen. Didn't the Cubs and Guardians both have good bullpens?

You're said something like that before. I just don't see 3 catchers on the 25 man roster, and I also don't see Swihart as an outfielder.

Based on what I've seen this spring, I just hope he makes the 25 man roster and completely agree with you that it would make sense to trade Holt.

I've only watched a few spring training games but have been lucky and seen most of the key guys--especially Sandoval. He still looks heavy to me but is clearly lighter. More than that, yesterday (or Saturday) I saw him start a DP from well behind the bag at 3B with a perfect throw to Pedroia. Plus he is hitting and seems reasonably mobile. If he can keep his weight down and keep playing this way, I think he is the answer at 3B.

Excuse me, but didn't Benintendi actually play 34 games in LF last year and wasn't his WAR .7? Is fangraphs predicting he will have trouble with the curve or something? 1.7 seems low.

Interesting.

You know of course that Lou Boudreau created to a shift against Ted Williams, who was very much a pull hitter. He didn't bunt, but did tinker with hitting to LF. I think in the end he pretty much stayed with pulling the ball and relying on line drives finding holes in the defense. I think today's shifts are probably better designed and based on real hitting patterns, so the bunt the possible fix.

Very sensible, but how do the Sox manage three catchers? My memory of last year is that Swihart had the job at the end of spring training and promptly lost it within 30 days of the regular season beginning, largely because the pitchers didn't like him. And that's why, completely out of the blue, they moved him to LF. It looks to me--as superficial as I no doubt am--as though we have one catcher who can hit, and two who can field and call games, but no one who can do both. Am i wrong?

Agree with the naysayers. WBC is a joke.

Anyone who says DH is the issue has got a point because Ortiz is irreplaceable. You can't count H.Ramirez as the replacement because his bat was in the lineup last year. Me, I count Moreland as Ortiz's replacement, clearly a step down. However, I think Benintendi's left bat will mitigate the loss of Ortiz. So I went with the bullpen as the biggest concern. Last year it wasn't much good until September. Our returning closer is somewhat erratic. We lost some others who were pretty good last September/October.

VFW = Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Why no mention of CERA in all these catcher comparisons?

Now it's official. The home team lost 6 of this year's 7 WS games. More to the point, Cleveland swept the Sox in the ALDS for the simple reason they were better.

I seem to recall somewhere on this thread a huge outcry over the absolute importance of home field advantage, that Farrell should have made a better effort to get it against Cleveland, and that not having it is the real reason why we lost 3 straight in the ALDS to the Guardians. So far in the WS, out of 6 games, the home team has won once. If the Cubs win it all tonight, it will be 1 game out of 7 won by the home team. My take on the Sox in the ALDS is that Porcello and Price simply weren't up to the task. They were awful. End of story.

I love it. You are no doubt right.

I think it's worth a thread even though he's only had 1 year. But reportedly he likes to make things happen right away. I give him credit for: not sending Sandoval or Ramirez elsewhere while paying for part of their salaries; getting Price even though Price absolutely did not live up to his rep or salary in 2016; getting Kimbrel even though Kimbrel clearly has control issues (partial blame on the pitching coach); acquiring Ziegler, who proved useful; getting Young as a platoon outfielder who overall worked out well; only getting rid of one prospect, Espinosa, albeit a great pitching prospect; not firing Farrell this year, but also not giving him a long-term contract. What I blame him for: getting Price, who is more price than performance and by a good margin; dumping Espinosa to get a so-so Pomeranz; not going after Miller or chapman when Cash had the fire sale.

How quickly folks forget all the bullpen moves Farrell made in September once he got some decent arms. Then, presto magico, Kimbrel took a dive, actually several dives, and of course Farrell got the blame. Let's not forget too that in game 1 of the ALDS Porcello gave up 5 runs in 2 or 3 innings, then Price in game 2 gave up 6 runs in 2 or 3 innings. Porcello and Price took the Sox bullpen (and the manager) out of the equation. I agree managers can make a difference when they have a really good bullpen as both Francona and Maddon have, but let us not forget the role of the GM's involved. The Yankees Cashman dumped both relievers, Chapman and Miller, the pundits are now raving about. The recipients of this largesse were the Cubs GM Theo and the Guardians GM. They correctly figured out that you can't have too many great arms in the bullpen. Where the two managers have sort of broken precedent is in bringing those great arms into the games relatively early and relatively often. The simple rule now seems to be: once you get a lead, hang onto it for dear life. This mostly applies, however, to the postseason. During the regular season you need those starterers eating innings.

I think it's really hard to count Cleveland out when the Series is at 1-1. I also think the cold weather will be a factor, but have no idea which way that will go. On paper, the Cubbies are clearly better, but you gotta play the games. In 1954 the Guardians had a great pitching staff, solid hitting, and I think set the 154 game AL record for most wins, but they lost 4 straight to the Giants.