moonslav59

That must be his worst slump, ever. I think I heard 0-26.

A lot depends on the other team thinking they can "fix" Barnes. BTV accepted: Barnes, Crawford & Ward for Myers Suarez

I think the timing is right, and I leave these choices to management, as it's hard for any of us to know when "ready" is ready. That being said, I'd like to see... German and Seabold get a look in the bigs. (Casas when he's healthy, assuming Dalbec and/or Cordero go into a funk) I think Bello is a September call-up or 2024. I'd like to see Koss and Granberg go to AAA, soon... maybe Murphy and Groome before too long. Jimenez can take Granberg's slot in AA. Lugo can take Koss's splot. Maybe Binelas to AA before too long. We might want to see if Northcut can hit well at the next level, too.

Apparently, he's also a plus defender at 2B.

I'd adjust as such... 1b: Casas/Dalbec 2b: Arroyo/Downs/Fitzy SS: Stroy 3b: Devers C: FA/Trade Catcher -Wong (I'm a believer as a back-up) LF: Duran/Verduo CF: JBJ/Verdugo RF: Judge DH: Dalbec/Cordero Trade: Barnes Say goodbye to: Eavoldi, JD Martinez, Bogaerts, Vazquez, Plawecki, Wacha, Hill, Strahm Starting staff: FA/Trade Sale Whitlock Paxton Pivetta (6th starter: Winckowski, Seabold or Bello) Closer: FA/trade Houck Taylor Scheiber German Davis Diekman Davis/Danish/Valdez/Sawamura (Converted SP from AAA)

Even if we didn't have Story to take over SS, next year, I'd have Judge ahead of Bogey on the must try to sign first list. We need to upgrade the OF, and with Kike going to free agency, and JBJ & Verdugo largely still question marks, Judge should be the #1 priority. I do find it hard to imagine us not signing Betts, then going LNL on Judge.

Be careful what you wish for. If we can pick up a RH'd Schwarber and solid RP'er, we may just beat your asses, again. Your point is well taken, though. The longer term outlook of the Sox would be improved, if we were sellers, instead of buyers.

Trade Barnes for a RH'd OF'er, who could also be Wil Myers, if he wasn't hurt. Keep Dalbec and Cordero playing 1B, and use Cordero in the OF vs some RH'd pitchers.

Agreed.

Because Dalbec is being platooned and plays the short side of the platoon, I don't think people have realized he has been doing well. .885 in last 25 PAs and .852 in last 30 PAs. (.726 last 59 PAs isn't bad either.) This is NOT the time to send him down. It might be the time to play him more often, and Cordero more often in the OF.

I agree on Verdugo and Duran's best positions both being LF, and it makes me wonder if both are back, next year. I can't see either being the FT or near FT DH.

Rafaela promoted to Portland.

Are we relevant, now?

Why not Rick Burleson?

I don't think Bloom had an adequate budget to fill every hole to the level of high competitiveness. In hindsight, it's easy to say we could have shifted some of the resources used from here to there, but it might have just created a new hole somewhere else. Bloom also chose not to use prospects as a resource to trade and improve some slots. He actually made trades that increased our prospects.

The back end of the pen has been horrible. I agree, and we don't know if it can be fixed with Houck or Schreiber/Strahm or someone else stepping up or into the role. From what I'm hearing, it sounded like we have lost 7-10 games we were leading in the 9th, and it's only 3. I get the fact that we are also 1-6 in extras, and that is on the pen, too, but usually not the closer, and often not even the top set-up guy, so I'm not sure the blame is being placed on the right part of the pen- not that it should matter, anyway. Our pen has been a significant factor in too many losses. There is no doubt about that. Maybe we can have some hope Houck can fill the role. Maybe we can have some hope that when Sale and or Paxton return, someone else can fill a hole or two in the pen, and stop the dumpster fires from happening so often. When you look at the game by game results of the pen, there are many times they went long innings helping us win or keeping us in the game until the end- sometimes to just watch one guy ruin the rest of the pen's work, late in the game or in extra innings. The whole ghost runner thing also clouds the picture, to me. I think everyone shares in the frustration and pain. It's obvious team management felt they had enough horses to carry us, at least to the deadline. The Sale injury messed things up, but plans should always be made to account for one starter to be out. Bloom & Co. had a similar looking pen, last winter, and it did well enough to get us close to a WS, Maybe they pushed their luck. Maybe they felt signing Wacha and Hill were more important than a top RP'er. Maybe they saw something in Diekman, I never saw. We also lost Taylor, who has been one of our best pen arms the last 1-2 years. They did okay with Strahm and claiming Schreiber off waivers. It just hasn't been enough. Too many failed, all at the same time. While greatness was not expected from many in this pen, this much failing was a bit unexpected, IMO. I'm glad we signed Wacha, Hill and Strahm. The Diekman signing looks bad, right now, and the jury is still out on Story. IMO, there were only so many dollars to spend, and it looks like we had 1-2 too many holes to fill, or we spent too much on Story and JBJ to allow us to fill those other holes adequately. Maybe Story will more than make up for the pen shortcomings over the rest of the season. Maybe Diekman, or Barnes, or someone steps it up. Maybe a deadline trades fixes the problem, just in time. There's still a lot of season to go.

How is 26-3 all that bad?

The pop out by Yaz. Bucky f***ing Dent. The grounder to Buckner. Aaron freakin' Boone.

What is our record when tied or leading by 1 or 2 going into the 9th?

OK. You asked ab out being ahead, and that's when traditional closers are used- usually when the game is close. I don't think 23-4 and 26-3 is all that bad. It's not great, either, but it's not bad. We do suck when we're tied. 3-4 in 8th, 0-5 in 9th, 1-6 in 10th, 0-1 in 11th. Here is a look at other current playoff track teams Ahead in 8th: 30-0 NYY 27-0 HOU 26-1 TOR 24-2 TBR 27-3 MIN 23-4 BOS Ahead in 9th 31-0 NYY 31-0 HOU 28-1 TOR 27-1 MIN 24-2 TBR 26-3 BOS Tied in 8th 7-3 NYY 5-3 HOU 4-3 TBR 3-4 BOS 3-6 TOR 2-3 MIN Tied in 9th 4-2 NYY 4-3 TBR 2-2 HOU 2-2 MIN 2-4 TOR 0-5 BOS Tied in 10th 2-1 NYY 1-1 HOU 1-2 TOR 1-2 MIN 1-6 BOS Nobody is doubting we have had serious issues in the 8th, 9th and 10th, but I'm not sure it's as bad as you make it out to be. 26-3 with the lead in the 9th is pretty close to everyone else. It's just 1, 2 or 3 more losses than others and just 3 from perfection.

That wasn't what the debate was about. It was about the contract being a "discount" and later about whether he was a deadwood contract when DD took over control. Of course, the injury made the contract an overall bust. I don't think anyone is saying it was not.

Well, we are 26-5 when leading going into the 9th. We are 23-4 when leading into the 8th. A team can never be leading going into the 10th. (We are 1-6 in the 10th, but you rarely use your traditional closer when tied.)

After so many seasons of intense heartache, it was so fitting to win that way.

We should have a chance to see how Houck does as a closer, before Sale comes back.

He hasn't even cracked soxprospects.com's top 13, but I think that will change their next adjustment. He's a plus defender and is only 21, so I think he's going to make some lists.