Maxbialystock

Bregman, Mayer, and Story already have plus DWAR's of, in order, +0.7, +0.3, and +0.9. As far as I'm concerned the upgrade of the infield is already here, or haven't you noticed that Devers didn't play a single inning at 3b this year? Toro's DWAR stinks, but his OPS is .801. Narvaez has the best catcher DWAR in MLB. I see no need or room for Garcia or Sogord or Hamilton when Bregman returns. I'm fine with whatever Cora decides, but my bias is to play Mayer at SS and Story at 2b, where his DWAR was +1.0 in 2022.

The best Sox teams have always put hitting above fielding. Most teams do because ain't nothing harder than hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely. Thus Devers at 3b for 8 straight seasons. Thus Bogey at SS. To me what's happened is that the acquisition of Bregman has coincided with the already good defense of Rafaela in CF and Abreu in RF, and and the arrival of Narvaez at catcher. Plus I like Story at SS (or 2b), whose DWAR is currently +0.9. As I have been saying forever, the team fielding percentage, 98%, is just below the best in MLB, 99%. You have to look at DWAR's or whatever to see where the weak and strong spots are. When Bregman returns the infield will be solid if not gold glovers--except for 1b, where the primary skill should be good hitting. The outfield will have Rafaela, Abreu, and for my money Anthony, who lacks Duran's speed but already has a +0.3 DWAR to Duran's -0.1. Plus Narvaez/Wong catching, both with plus DWAR's. At the same time--and this is important--there won't be many weak bats, I mean that's why Anthony and Mayer were brought up--for their freaking bats. The defense is extra. Rafaela's OPS is now at .730 and rising. Story's is now .675 and also rising. Bregman's OPS is over .900. Toro's .801, Abreu's .828. Narvaez's .799. It's almost as though Devers' bat will not be missed. Heck, right now the lineup seems to be hitting better and they lack both Bregman and Devers.

Always good to begin with a whopper, "Let's be fair." You seem to have two absurd obsessions, one that Cora is biased and and/or an idiot, the other that Campbell is a defensive gem incorrectly used. I think we all like Campbell's potential and hope he will make it back to Boston. But when Bregman returns there won't be a handy spot for Kristian in the outfield or infield.

A silly "analysis" filled with bias. To me it was an absolutely normal in-betweener that could have resulted in a collision but didn't--credit to both rookies. There was absolutely nothing "dumb" about that play. I think both are above average fielders and very likely above average hitters. The Sox decision to bring them both up this season makes all kinds of sense.

I know nothing about coaching. I coached kids basketball and was lousy at it. I do think managers know one heckuva lot more than we do about pitching decisions. We, of course, have the benefit of hindsight, but not necessarily the insight to use it correctly. A bunch of important and knowledgeable people think Cora is a pretty good manager. That's why DD fired Farrell after back to back AL East Division titles and hired Cora (who had never managed). It's why JH hired him back after being banned from MLB for the 2020 season. To me the 2021 season was confirmation that Cora was a better manager than Farrell. Thus was he also extended despite the struggles of 2022-2025 and the clamor on talksox to dump him. As for yesterday's game, I do think you used hindsight to castigate Cora about the 2d game, and chose not to use it to appreciate what Cora did in the first game.

True. Thanks to talksox we all get to opine, agree, and disagree.

Oh, very well said! I do remember the comments on that other Boston Globe website. Every loss, every error, every failure to hit, and every failure to get someone out was his fault alone.

You could be right about JH. He certainly headed in a new direction after the 2019 season and firing DD. Breslow, like CB, is a first time CBO, so it's possible JH is waiting and watching. The big bucks for Crochet, Bregman, and Chapman imply that he is willing to spend more. This is made easier by all those low rent guys who are looking pretty good: Rafaela, Abreu, Mayer, Anthony, Narvaez, Duran, Toro/Gonzalez, Bello, et al. You need those guys so you can afford to go after more pitching.

I believe emphatically that Devers should have stayed as the DH this season because it was working. At the same time I understand why Breslow didn't want that: Raffy's $30M plus Yoshida's $18.6M were far too much for the DH slot. So I'm ready to put Devers behind us and consider Cora's options with him gone, Bregman returning, Story and especially Rafaela hitting better, Narvaez solid at C, Abreu in RF, Toro/Gonzalez at 1b, and what I see as the hitting potential of Mayer and Anthony. I like that lineup at bat and in the field. They are also a bargain for the Sox, which means they Sox should extend Bregman. You or someone else opined that JH can't fire Breslow because he can't get another CBO. So be it. Breslow has made mistakes, but I think he is on the right track. The real culprit, if he is one, is JH who is no longer willing to underwrite the biggest payroll in MLB. I therefore expect Breslow to make one or more trades on or before July 31 and that he will seek to improve the bullpen and/or rotation.

You haven't suffered enough, that's for sure. JH as owner has produced a Sox golden era with 4 WS wins, etc. I was a Sox fan from 1949 to 2003, 55 years, when they won none. You belong to the "what have you done lately for me" crowd. I like this Sox team. I like the good defense at CF, RF, 3b, SS, and catcher. I like that they seem to be hitting again despite the absence of Bregman and Devers and playing--wait for it--4 freaking rookies this season. All 4 of them have shown potential. I like the offseason acquisitions of Bregman, Crochet, Chapman, and Narvaez. I'm beginning to see 3 decent starters in Crochet, Bello, and Giolito. I like Chapman, of course, but am terrified of the bullpen. I think Cora is perfect for this fascinating combination of players and the fact that the Sox Active Payroll, $112M, is 17th in MLB. I don't disagree that making the postseason looks daunting, primarily because of the bullpen, but still think it's possible. The Dodgers have a worse pitching staff than the Sox and they have the best W-L record in MLB because of their #1 offense. When Bregman returns, our offense will be better, possibly better than when we had Bregman and Devers in the lineup. If Mayer and Anthony do what we think they can do, this could be one heckuva lineup that also plays good defense. Heck, Story and especially Rafaela had terrific Junes at the plate.

You need to get together with the "why oh why is Cora always playing Hamilton" crowd. They literally hate defense and want bats, bats, bats in the lineup. Hamilton has played in 53 games because his DWAR is +1.0. Only Rafaela, +1.6, and Narvaez, +1.3, have higher DWAR's I don't think Cora goes strictly lefty-righty in his lineups. Some righty bats--Rafaela, Narvaez, Story, and Bregman when he returns--start against righties. Also, Cora has some pretty good lefty bats in Abreu, Mayer, Anthony, and even Duran. And the Sox have faced righty pitchers in 2174 at bats vs. lefty pitchers in 856 at bats.

20-20 hindsight. Plus, let's face it, the Sox bullpen this season has been notoriously unreliable. And of course you have never, ever said, "you know, I thought Cora handled the pitchers just right in that game." I know that's true because in fact he was brilliant in the first game yesterday by using his 2d best starter to pitch the 4th-8th innings. Plus, guess what? He left Bello in after he gave up 2 runs in the 4th. You wouldn't know good managing if it bit you in the ankle. Did I forget to mention that last night the Sox bullpen gave up just 4 ER's in 9 IP? Weissert and Hicks gave up all 8 Cincy runs and 4 of them were unearned. I'm sure your response to that is that those errors were on Cora for not playing the right guys or not teaching them defense or whatever.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. As it turned out, the pitcher (Hicks) who replaced Weissert was just as just as bad. Between them they gave up all 8 Sox runs, 4 of which were unearned thanks to errors by Toro and Story. I thought the Sox had no chance in this game because it was all on the bullpen, which has been unreliable. Amazingly, Bernardino, Alcaia, and Murphy went 5.2 IP while giving up 0 runs. Was there a compliment for Cora for how that worked? Of course not. Everything the players do that's good is because they did it. And everything they do poorly is on Cora because he used the wrong player, failed to teach a player how to defend, hit, run the bases, whatever.

Just horsehockey. You can't "throw away" a game you had little or no chance of winning when you had to use your lousy bullpen for all 9 innings. Cora made the right choice to use Bello in the first game, which worked. But then he had to count on his bullpen for game 2. As it was, they only gave up 4 ER's. The other 4 came from errors by Toro and Story. Story has actually been pretty reliable for the past 2 months. As for Toro, he plays 3b because Bregman's on the IL and Devers is with the Giants. So of course he's going to try to get the best bats he can against a righty starter. Toro's OPS against righties is .837. Too bad you didn't notice that the Sox actually made a couple of very good defensive plays for outs.

Looks like Cora used Bello in game 1 to nail down a win, and it worked.

Agree on the changeup. Where the heck is it? Not sure intellect is all that important for a pitcher.

Good point about Abreu and Story. The Sox have a deeper lineup than they are given credit for.

We all are now and then, and it's great when we are wrong in underestimating a player. I would have started Bello tonight, but I'm guessing Cora brought in Bello because he wanted to nail down a win now. Day off tomorrow for the bullpen to rest.

He stunk his first at bat vs lefty Sam Moll. But I agree he and Anthony both look like the real deal. If they are this season, Devers will be a distant figure in the rear view mirror. Already the Sox have 1 too many outfielders, and I'm not including Ref. Pitching overall was excellent for the Sox.

5 IP, 2 ER. Maybe you spoke too soon.

Same answer to the question, "who's giving the Giants a big boost in 14 games so far?" Giants are 4-10 with Raffy and the Sox are 4-10 without Raffy and without Bregman. With Abreu back, Anthony's DH'ing more. His June OPS is .667 with 6 rbi's. Raffy's OPS with the Giants is .677 with 5 rbi's.

Toro's OPS vs righties is .837 and Gonzalez's is 1.074 against lefties. Assuming that Mayer and Anthony continue to adapt to MLB pitching, Bregman returns and stays healthy, etc, I honestly don't see a compelling need for any position players. The pitching, however, could use some help.

Every MLB team with any sense relies on prospects to keep their payroll reasonable and to balance the huge salaries they might pay to their best players. The Sox paid Mookie a total of $33M for 7 seasons and an accumulated WAR of 42.4. But they have also acquired plenty of players who started with big salaries. Thanks to Anthony, Mayer, Narvaez, possibly Campbell, possibly Casas, Rafaela, Abreu, and Bello, the Sox can afford a bunch of higher priced guys. The trick is to sign the right ones.

Interesting. I was hoping Fitts could come back for 2-3 innings. Even if Bello does the whole 6 innings today, that leaves a big gap for tonight. Neither team has a game scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday.

Game suspended. 2-1 Sox, top of the 4th.