moonslav59

30 games left and 5.5 out of a WC slot. Talk about backs up against the wall! Do we have one more push left in us? Maybe even one more "tease?" We've been this down, before, a few times and then flipped the script. It almost certainly has to start by taking the next 2 from HOU and sweep the Jays. I guess going 4-1 in those 5 games might work, if we mop up on the rest of our schedule, but hopes are dwindling for the last of us who have not given up, yet.

Well, I know there is at least one person who did not feel like you said we all felt, so maybe don't say "everyone."

We basically had 11-12 #3-5 slot pitchers. We did not need 2 more #5's, we needed a real ace or two solid #2 types, and by #2, I don't mean Cah-cah, which I know you were thinking.

Exactly. So what, if Sale, Whitlock and Houck were due back "soon." Two of them are better from the pen, anyway, and we saw last night how much we could have used a long man or two. We had tax line space. We had some prospects bottle-necked on the farm. There is no excuse.

I'm all for this idea. Maybe Robertson. (I like Guerrero but wonder why they have not promoted him to AAA.)

I think he might have reached 8th or 9th on SPs, but I never considered him a "top prospect." I was convinced Ben was going to pull the trigger on a big prospect deal or two, before he was replaced by DD, and I think Bloom will, at some point. The question is, when not if, to me. IMO, we just went through a 5 year rebuild, without anyone in management saying it. All the telltale signs are there. No top prospects dealt. Almost every deal that brought us a vet had a prospect attached to it. No long term deals for almost 3 years (until Story in March '22,) and that goes back to the spring 2019 extensions to Sale, Bogey and Nate. A ton of one year deals. It wasn't a full blown teardown rebuild, of course, but it seems obvious, to me, the number one priority has been to build up the farm. That begs the question, "For what?" I honestly think the plan has been to wait to splurge and go for it all, again, until they think the farm is set up where we already have some young players who recently graduated and also a pretty well set up expected pipeline of incoming prospects. Are we there yet? I do think we have the graduated core in place: Casas, Duran, Bello, Crawford, Houck, Winckowski & Whitlock, (Urias & Devers are younger than Whitlock), and to me, we have a pretty nicely set up stream of projected prospects being called up: Now to 2024: Rafaela, Abreu, Bernardino, Kelly, Murphy, Walter, EValdeez, DHam and maybe Mayer, Wikelman, Yorke, Mata, Drohan or Guerrero. We also have a very nice looking set of prospects due to join the club between 2025 and 2026 and another set is 2026 or beyond. I'd say, we have arrived, but I'm not sure JH, Bloom & Co. agree. I'd like to see us pull of one major prospect trade for a solid SP'er who is 27 or younger and has 3+ years of control. Then, sign Urias or YY from Japan. Add some OF and MI depth and we can be a solid contender in 2024.,

We went into the season with 8 starters- 9 if you thought Winckowski could start, as many did in March. Sale Paxton Kluber Whitlock Bello Pivetta Houck Crawford We thought maybe Mata might be ready to step up and had Walter and Murphy as long shot farm depth. Nobody is saying this was great depth, but I counted 11-12 possibles back in spring. If ever there is evidence to prove this old saying correct, it is the 2023 Red Sox: You can never have enough pitching! Funny how my big rotation criticism was that we chose quantity over quality. How wrong can one be? Last year, we felt we'd have had a better chance with a strong pen, so what do we do? We choose to play Whack-A-Mole!

Bloom’s decision to add only one starting pitcher to the roster in the offseason, 37-year-old Corey Kluber, has proven disastrous. Amazing, how not a single one of us saw this coming!

Don't encourage him. Call up 5 pitchers? We don't have 5 with options, and some that do are named Crawford and Wink, so what? DFA Paxton and____?

I think Aldo Ramirez was the top prospect he has traded in almost 4 years. (Schwarber)

Speaking for one and all, again.

Long time between this rat sighting.

So, who was defending Cora after we all saw Kike could not field SS? I'm still missing your point. Name one poster. If your point was after we all saw it, I'm still not seeing anyone who supported the idea. In fact, we all hated it, although we may have disagreed on who should be blamed the most.

Yup, 8 is not enough

There are as many people who defended the Kike idea at SS on opening day as how many said they were against it before opening day. Let's have names.

Those HBPs were our retaliation.

Maybe he knows Dusty Baker will retire, and he's got a spot lined up.

Sale is not Chris Freakin' Sale, anymore. Having to go with pitchers like Bearclaw tells the season story. We are now hanging by the thin tread.

MLB OPS Leaders 430+ PAs (updated 1 minute ago.) 1.075 Ohtani 1.018 Betts .998 Freeman .976 Olsen .975 Acuna .910 Y Diaz .891 Tucker .884 Carroll .884 Soto .868 Walker .860 Devers .859 Turner .857 Ozuna .846 Alonso .846 Casas 3 in the top 15. (JD M does not qualify.)

Lots of loud outs on both sides.

A few better placed line drives, and we are up bigtime.

Love Casas' approach.

I remember reading we drafted him, because his "twitch muscles" were off the charts spectacular. He is certainly gifted in many other ways, too. If he could pitch like the Babe, he'd be number one on the all time Sox player that got away list.

A slow heads up runner scores.

Where did I say offense or Casas's hit isn't important. Are you saying we would not be ahead with just normal D?