moonslav59

His approach was not all that bad in April, but he certainly tweaked it just right in May. The kid is just barely over 250 career PAs and has a .724 OPS. He's going to get a very long leash and will have some times of struggles along the way. I like what I've seen, but he is no guarantee- just yet.

Glass half empty and glass half full meets glass filled to the middle.

I've always felt like a team should just take the best player and not think about positions, and most of the best everyday players play SS. I hope, when it is their pick they have a pitcher as the best available. I hope even more, they get it right.

Neither are known for their glove. As much as Ref has been viewed as a platoon only player, and I think rightfully so up to now, he started 41 games vs RHPs (.771 in those games was not bad) and only 16 v LHPs (1.084!), last year. The team faced 36 LH's SP'ers last year and Ref started in less than half of those. This year, we have faced 18 and Ref has started all 18.

Whitlock returns! RHP Davies goes for AZ, One game at a time!

What player has the second best OPS on the Sox from 2022-2023 (250+ PAs? 1. Devers .860 (17th in MLB) 2. Refsnyder .853 (21st) (39th in MLB w BOS & SDP: Bogey at .813) (41st in MLB w BOS & LAD: JD at .811) (81st: Turner .780 w LAD & BOS) (99th: Duvall .767 w ATL & BOS) Only PAs w Sox: .860 Devers .853 Refsnyder .833 Bogaerts .790 JD .759 Vaz .752 Dugo .737 Story .720 Arroyo .716 Duran .697 Dalbec .634 Kike .578 JBJ

Good observation on Sale. It's very encouraging to see Sale be "off" and still keep the game in control. Great to see the bats waking up. Let's hope it rubs off and continues onward. Lot's of hard outs, too.

Devers was sick. It does seem odd to give Duran a day off vs a righty, but Cora did start 3 lefties in the OF, so not all that weird. 2 days off might be what Duran needed.

In the long run, you are probably right. Wink has be "da man!"

Dalbec homered in Woo's loss, tonight. Murphy did not pitch very well. POR won 4-3 w Guerrero getting the win in 2 no hit IP of relief. Rafaela 2-5 w HR and 2B Yorke 2-4 w BB Rosier 2-4 Chang 0-3 in rehab GRE got a rare low run win (2-1.) Dobbins 7 IP 4H, 0ER, 0BB, 10K 2-5 Ferguson 1-4 Bonaci w 2B and BB SAL lost 8-5 2-2 Liendo w 2BB 2-4 Coffey 1-3 Anthony w 2B & 2 BBs

Yup. Managers know more details than we do.

Man, if we could get the second half of 2021 Kike back, this year, it would be quite a boost! (Big "IF," I know....) June 27 to end of 2022 .271 14 40 (at 162 gsm: .271 31 89) .374 OBP & .502 SLG .876 OPS (Then, the mammoth postseason.) He had a 50 game stretch of .979 within that run. The guy can get hot and stay hot for a pretty long period.

With younger players, it is often about adjusting and then adjusting to the new adjustments pitchers have tried on you, but sometime a bad stretch can just be a slump- not related to any lack of adjustment to what pitchers are doing differently, but rather just falling out of your groove or losing your "mojo." Just my take.

BTV says Mayer but I agree.

I think we will kick the tires on any body better than our 5 starter, which is just about anybody being shopped

Lol Fat fingers

I'm really not sure Arroyo or Chang will outplay what we've gotten from Valdez & Reyes, but Chang's defense at SS will be a plus.[ I think the lefty, Valdez stays on the 26 for a while.

Coffey has fanned 22 and walked zero in his last 2 starts combined (12 IP). (24 Ks and 0 BB in last 13 IP!) On the season, he has 61 Ks and 7 BBs with just 1 HR allowed 56 IP.

We could have 7 lefties in the line-up, 8 if McGuire would catch Sale and Turner with a day off. C McGuire 1B Casas 3B Valdez SS Kike ® 3B Devers LF Tapia CF Duran RF Dugo DH Yoshida

His .210 BAbip might indicate just plain ole bad luck, and as a rookie, he's not getting many close balls & strike calls, so maybe there is some major room for improvement. We could use it real soon, like starting tonight!

I have just about no hope he improves or finds a niche as a RP'er. He does have one instance in his history of righting the ship to a significant degree. He was decent from the trade in 2020 until those 3 bad starts to start July 2022 and then meh until the start of 2023, when he imploded and regressed back to where he was before the trade or worse.

Dalbec did flameout, but he was only a top 2-3 prospect for about a day. Dalbec raised expectations quickly after his 23 game stint in 2020 and a late hot streak in 2020, then he "flamed" badly. His numbers per 650 PAs: 2020-2021 .244 40 120 (.819 OPS) 2022-2023 .213 21 85 (.647 OPS) If someone said a player's first 900 PASs in MLB would produce this, you might not think he was all that bad... .232 45 133 (.751) per 650 .232 32 90 We know better. I doubt he gets another look with the Sox, unless someone (Turner/Casas) gets hurt or Casas flames out.

The thrill of who wins the short end platoon role with EValdez does not excite you? LOL.

True. It is just barely 1/3 of a season, but the results seem to be in on Kluber, already. Nate's big if was mostly about going 28+ starts. That remains to be seen. Eflin looks like a steal- perhaps one of the best per dollar, this past winter. It's a tiny bit heartening to know Bloom wanted him, just it is, to me anyway, that his take on Martin Perez seemed more like a timing miss than a talent miss. Call kit bad luck or whatever, but we agree: this is totally on Bloom. A big percent of his other moves look good at the 1/3 mark, but pitching should have been the focus- and not just the pen. Bloom rolled the dice on hopes we could find 5 keepers from Sale, Kluber & Paxton Whitlock, Houck & Bello Wink, Crawford and maybe one from Mata, Walter and Murphy It's taken a third of a season to begin to feel okay with Sale, Bello, Houck and Paxton, but the long experiments with Kluber & Pivetta have knocked us into a hole we may not recover from, even if we find our 5th starter, soon (Whitlock?) We still have 110+ games to go, and I fully believe Bloom's legacy and maybe his job are on the line.

Agreed, but he wasn't all that bad from 7/1/22 to the end of the season. It was way more about being god-awful for those 3 starts. He wasn't a bad 5th starter for 2021 and 2023. One would expect 3 bad starts in a row from your #5, for the vast majority of any teams' #5. That was really the simple point I was making, and somehow it took on a life and form of its own.