moonslav59

I never remembered you as a tiny sample size sort of poster. What has changed?

You can play them by resting Masas at DH and giving Turner or Casas the day off. I would not rest our hottest hitter when we have tomorrow off. Wait until we face a tough lefty.

I can see having a rough idea about needing to rest player A in the next week or two and looking ahead to the right game and likely pitcher match up, but it seems like too often, the day off comes vs the wrong-handed pitcher and or when a player has been extremely hot over the previous week or two. Also, we have Monday off, and I don't get the need for 2 days off in a row, especially when Masa had a day off a week ago and DH'd in 3 of the last 7 days. Sorry, I just can't go along with this one, but watch his replacement go 4 for 5, today and shut me up (for a few seconds.)

Recent 2 Week ERAs (listed in order of most IP) 4.67 Sale 3 GS 3.86 Kluber 3 GS 3.68 Bello 3GS 5.73 Pivetta 2 GS (5.40 last 3 GS) 7.36 Houck 2 GS (6.00 last 3 GS) 1.08 Bernardino 1.35 Winckowski 2.70 Schreiber 2.84 Bleier 1.69 Crawford (IL) 8.31 Bra-Man 2.45 Jansen 33.75 Ort

Some astounding recent 2 weeks numbers... OPS 1.351 Yoshida (Give the hottest player a day off!) 1.245 Wong (Mookie who?) 1.145 Arroyo (Kike who?) 1.098 Duran (Butterfly who?) .942 Dugo (Double Mookie who?) .860 Valdez (Vazoo? .801 Ref (Fluke-a-dee who?) .791 Tapia (love this guy's grit) .770 Devers (what a bum!) .697 McGuire (about where our 2023 catcher OPS was.) .696 Turner (closing in on the second half) .624 Casas (an actual improvement) .569 Kike (down and up and down- notice more downs?) Last 28 days 1.061 Duran 1.012 Yoshida .930 Wong .905 Verdugo .875 Valdez .792 McGuire Over the last 7 days, we have 6 batters over 1.000 and 7 over .978. We have 9 over .800! 1.471 Wong 1.420 Dugo 1.353 Masa 1.295 Arroyo 1.046 McGuire (both catchers over 1.000!!!) 1.012 Duran .979 Valdez .887 Devers .801 Ref (The rest are under .650. Nobody between .646 and .800.)

Agreed. I do recall people saying, last year, that all the rest given to our best players would help them in August and September. I do recall everyone loving all the rest Cora gave our rotation in ST'ing 2019. To be fair, there are likely more examples of players doing well, late in the season, but it's certainly a topic for debate.

It's one area of a few that I strongly disagree with Cora on, but I still really love Cora as our manager. I also don't pretend to know more than him and strongly consider I could be wrong on this and my other differing opinions. On Yoshida: 1. The whole team had a day off a week ago. 2. He has been DH'd in 3 of the 7 straight days he's played. 3. He has a .937 OPS in those 7 games. (1-4, yesterday does not beg for a day off.) I'm fine resting players 3-5 games over the season. I'd prefer 2-3, if you can DH a player a few games here and there. I do not think DH'ing is very tiring, at all. In fact, I don't think baseball is tiring all that much, except for pitchers and catchers and maybe busy SSs. It's just my opinion. I'd still rest players, but I do not think I am mischaracterizing Cora's penchant for resting guys that are hot over their last 4-7 games. Some seem to just be pulling out of a slump, and boom- day off. IMO, players find strides and ride them out. Most players have stat lines that are greatly improved by just a few hot streaks. Don't mess with them. I still love Cora.

Maybe... 1. Henry learned from the grief over the over 30 Rule. 2. It's an unwritten rule. 3. It's not set at $10M, but it's just worked out that way, but the general rule is don't spend big on an ace, until we are ready to pounce. I'm hoping the answer is #3, and that day is soon.

I think this might be one thing this whole board agrees on: nobody gets "excited" by a Kluber start. If he can just be serviceable and keep us in the game, we may only need he and Pivetta to be durable and decent #4/5s.

Depends on the rotation. Unlike the last few years, Bloom actually signed more players to 2 or more year deals than one and dones. If we trade for an ace at the deadline, the window could be 2023. If he's under team control for more than 2 months, maybe the window can be longer. I'm not saying we are an ace away from being the faves, but I do think an ace puts us squarely in the top 5. Is there a Castillo type pitcher out there we can trade for and extend at a reasonable price? Are we prepared to trade Mayer? Does Casas still have the high trade value of last year? Would we have to include Rafaela or Drohan/Bello? If we trade Mayer, we may have a middle IF hole for many years to come. Not sure what the right thing to do is, but to me, it's all about building from the top of the rotation. The window is only open a crack until then.

Remember the old "No signing any SP'er over 30 Rule" that got broken, later on? Now, it seems we have a new rule: "No signing any SP'er to over $10M," and we're talking 1-2 years max. You usually get what you pay for, and until we start directing more resources, either in dollars or by trading valuable prospects, I'm not expecting great things from our rotation. The Royals proved, long ago, that you can win it all without even a decent rotation, but those rings come few and far between.

Sox ERAs and Age 34+ 0.93 Jansen 1.80 Martin 5.52 Bleier 6.29 Kluber 6.37 Sale 8.04 Brasier 30-33 1.08 Bernardino 4.99 Pivetta 7.30 Ort 27-29 2.16 Schreiber 3.51 Crawford 3.68 Kelly 5.34 Houck 6.19 Whitlock 23-25 1.57 Winck 5.71 Bello Sox pitchers with 3 or more years of team control (counting 2023) Whitlock Houck Bello Drohan Mata Walter Perales, Wikelman, E R-C, Guerrero Winckowski Crawford Schreiber Joely Bernardino Kelly Mills Fernandez, Murphy, Ortt, Garza

Kluber's ERA actually dropped after this game. Here are the top IP leaders on the Sox and their current ERAs: 35.1 Sale 6.37 34.1 Kluber 6.29 32.0 Houck 5.34 30.2 Pivetta 4.99 25.2 Craw 3.51 23.0 Wink 1.57 17.0 Bello 5.71 16.2 Schreb 2.16 16.0 Whitl 6.19 15.2 Brasier 5.52 12.1 Ort 7.30 10.2 Jansen 0.84 10.0 Martin 1.80 8.1 Bernard 1.08 7.1 Kelly 3.68 K/BB 8.00 Craw 6.00 Bern 5.33 Jansen 4.09 Sale 3.67 Whit 3.60 Wink 3.33 Bleier 3.17 Bello 2.83 Pivetta

Amazing, huh? We are 2.5 games from the 2nd best record. Only 6.5 from the Rays.

Woo won the 2nd game 12-1 and are now 17-15. Abreu staying hot with 3-4 and a 2B Alfaro 3-4 w HR and 5 rbi Bobby Dee 2-4 w HR and 2B Fitzy with a bomb. Hamilton 1-3 w BB POR moved up to 19-7 with a 10-7 win. 3-3 Kavadas w HR and 3 BBs 3-6 Yorke 3-5 Sikes w 2B 2-3 Lugo w 3B 1-4 Rosier w BB GRE won big Gambrel 6IP, 7H, 0ER, 0BB, 8K 3-6 Mayer w HR & 2B and 5 rbi 3-4 Hickey w HR 1-2 Ferguson w 3 BB & 3 SB (15th) 2-5 Meidroth w 2B Salem lost 0-4 Bleis (1 rbi) 2-5 Ravelo

8 games out of 162 is such a small percent, but it just goes to show you how things can change on a dime. Never give up! (This from the guy who gave up early in 2022.)

If we had picked a stretch in the schedule where we might be most likely to win 8 in a row, nobody would have picked these 8 games.

At the risk of pissing off Mr. Sunshine, the Sox would be in first place in 4 divisions with their .600 mark. We finally gained a game on TBR and BAL. I'm not sure that has happened all year. The Mighty AL East Standings -- TBR -4.5 BAL -6.5 BOS -7.0 TOR -9.0 NYY WC Race (All ALE East teams) +2.5 BAL +0.5 BOS +0.0 TOR -0.5 LAA -2.0 HOU -2.0 NYY (These last two teams may be the teams to beat.)

Pinch me!

It's more than just this series. (He's .176 on the season.) I'm happy with Turner and his contract.

The poster who wanted him the most always disses "last year."

Some still wish we signed Schwarber, right?

Interesting how TOR won 6 of 7 before being swept by the Sox, and they just won the first 2 vs a hot PIT team. The Yanks beat TBR and BAL is losing by one to ATL, late.

Haven't heard much lamenting for DD, recently. I wonder why.

He's pretty close to what our DH gave us, last year. I hope he continues his second half tradition.