moonslav59

For argument's sake, let's say we DFA or trade Beier and Brasier and demote Bernardino, we have an interesting mix of SP'ers, a ton of "long men" and a few set-up guys. (Note: some longmen could do fine in shorter roles or a mix.) Staring 5: Sale, Bello, Paxton, Houck and Kluber Long Men: Whitlock, Winckowski, Crawford and Pivetta Short Men: Jansen, Martin, Schreiber, Joely That's a nice looking long man group, and if Joely shines and jansen finds his groove, again, a pretty nice group of short men, too. As always, the rotation is the biggest question mark.

I think they already chose Kluber, but certainly Pivetta can win back the 5 slot (assuming Whitlock goes to the pen.) Maybe both Kluber and Pivetta end up in the pen. Maybe one gets traded. As bad as our staff has been, I think the healthy top 13 look decent enough, but I'm projecting some pitchers to regress back to their norms.

It must be nice to have a pretty long stretch of good pitching and a ring that you feel you helped a team win. That is more than most baseball players can say. I wish him luck, going forward, but yes, his time was up- IMO, long ago.

Well, as of now, we don't have 5 solid SP'ers with recent 2023 success. Sale, Bello and Paxton have earned a next start. Houck should continue. Whitlock's situation and possible use from the pen, makes his slot iffy. I think we can run Kluber out there a few more times, or until someone else shows they belong. After 2-3 more slots, I might be joining some who seemingly want him gone, now. Maybe Kluber can give us something from the pen.

Let's not forget Brasier's moments of glory: Brasier posted a 1.60 ERA over 33 2/3 regular-season innings in 2018 and then a 1.04 ERA in 8 1/3 postseason innings to help the Sox win the title.

They may wait to see how lefty Joely does.

Will this be the 13 man staff at some point in May? Sale, Bello, Paxton, Houck, Whitlock, Kluber, Pivetta Jansen, Martin, Schreiber, Winckowski, Crawford, Joely No: Brasier (DFA.trade), Bleier (DFA/trade)and Bernardino (AAA)

I agree with you on this. I'm just saying I understand the other view and do think some individual pitchers might do better in the 9th vs tougher hitters than the 7th vs weaker ones. Maybe very few.

Looks like the lefty RP'er, Joely Rodriguez, will get the call. That may mean bleier's days are numbered.

There is a way to keep Kluber on the 26 while allowing all these kids to pitch on the big club, and one step was taken, today: Brasier was DFA's. Bernardino can be optioned to AAA. Next is Bleier.

FINALLY! I think this is worthy of its own thread. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/05/red-sox-designate-ryan-brasier-for-assignment.html

Acceptable or not, the 5 years are up, or just about up, if you skip over 2020 and start with 2019. It was never a full blown rebuild, either, as we did not sell in 2019 or 2021, and did not "sell enough" in 2022.

Then trade for a younger pitcher and lock them up for 6-7 years and get 4-6 years of effectiveness. When you load your farm with everyday players and can't fill the rotation from within, this is an option- an option we have done very well with since the pedro trade.

No, I meant he might have looked at like Jansen was a better match-up than Martin or the mysteriously missing Schreiber.

I agree, but I can also understand how some players are creatures of habit and new situations might distract them. I also believe there is something "added" about getting the last out or last 3 outs vs 3 outs in the 7th. I can understand why some believe that added pressure can affect some pitchers and batters more than others.

He was doing fine in May, until this most recent 0-14 three game stretch. He was 8 for 27 (.296) before the last 3 games in May.

Well said. One can understand analytics and statistics and the human element. It doesn't have to be so black and white.

During the budget crunch phase of Bloom's time here, I can understand signing placeholders or bridge-type guys at $5-10M/1 year, but he was handed a decent wallet size, last winter and chose to spend less than 15% on the rotation. There is no longer "an excuse" for neglecting an area that has been a sore spot since 2020. We can figure he felt maybe one guy from Mata, Walter and Murphy could help by midseason- that looks wrong. We can figure he hoped 2 out of 3 from the old fogies (Kluber, Sale & Paxton) could be plusses- maybe Paxton and Sale work out. We can figure he hoped he might only need one from Houck and Whitlock to be in the rotation and he'd shine- wrong and wrong. We can figure he felt Pivetta could fill the 5 slot as well or better than most team's 5th starter- so far... wrong. We can figure he felt maybe one from Bello or Crawinck might fill a rotation slot as a plus- he might get this one right. Too many ifs, ands and buts. When you look at the Yoshida, Duvall and Turner signings in a bubble, they all look like good ideas, and it was hard to expect Duran would come through, but focusing so much on hitting and not the rotation and defense looks to be a major blunder. I've still not given up on the rotation settling into a good 5, but it's taking too long, and too much trial and error leading to more errors than not is going to put us in too deep a hole. I'm encouraged by Sale, Bello and Paxton, as well as the return of Crawford and hopefully an improved Whitlock, but Bloom missed the boat. He can't blame the budget on this one.

Indeed. Fine to disagree, but certainly Cora had merit. Now, on Brasier...

I think Kluber can pitch well enough to be a plus, but he has not, so far. He has pitched okay the last 2 years: 4.17 ERA and 3.66 FIP in 47 starts. BTW, Nate was 4.15 after the extension (2019-2022) He was 3.80, the last 2 years. Kluber is never going to regain what he once had. That being said, if it's between him and Bello, I'd keep Bello. We could probably pay half his salary and trade him. Crawford and Wink have done well, this year, but it's not an easy choice with them vs Kluber, to me. My guess is someone goes on the IL, or phantom IL when the last guys is called up.

It looks like ERod got over his severe issues.

...they treat posters the same. Stat geeks have never played the game (or sucked, if they did.) Stat geeks can't possibly enjoy the game like non stat geeks. Stat geeks all believe there is no human element in the game, or it is so minimal, it is not worth discussing. When stat geeks provide evidence to back up their opinion, they come across as know-it-alls and and their statement is the be-all-end-all point of discussion. We are all robots, clones or posting under multiple names, because our views are so outlandish, only one person could possibly hold that view.

MLB.com's updated Top 100 Prospect List: 5. Mayer 78. Bleis 87. Rafaela (down 12 slots)

Woo was one hit in a 1-0 loss. The run was charged to Ort. Alfaro got the only hit, and Hamilton and Abreu both walked twice. Por won 3-1. Van Belle went 6.2 w 1 ER. Rafaela, Binelas and Rosier all had 2 hits Gre lost 9-2. Ferguson homers and was 2-3 with a BB and 2 SB Sal won 9-8 by scoring 1 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th. 3-4 Anthony 2-5 Castro w HR 1-3 Mejicano w 2 BB and HR

He's trying to reinvent himself right before our eyes. Rolling the dice.