moonslav59

If we really want to make a significant change to our defense, we have to look at doing more than just one of the following things: 1) Replace Bogey at SS (trade him or move him to 3B or 2B). He's going to opt out after 2022. 2) Replace Vaz at catcher. I know many disagree, but I think we need a change, here. He's a FA after 2022, so take the $7M option and trade him? 3) Consider moving Devers to 1B or even 2B. Half is errors are throwing. His bat is too important to trade away. 4) Keep Kike in CF as much as possible, so that means adding a solid infield utility player to cover for Arroyo at 2B. Hope we do better than Marwin. 5) Improve RF defense. Yes, Renfroe's arm has made up for a lot of his errors, but it's also the non plays in RF that are hurting us. I'm not sure Verdugo is much of an improvement in RF, and losing Renfroe's bat would hurt. If Renfroe in LF and Verdugo in RF was better, I think Cora would have done that. (It's what I thought our OF was going to be, last winter.) I'm not sure we do this. I think we stick with Verdugo in LF (+), Kike in CF (++) and Renfroe in RF (-), but maybe we pick up a whiz defensive 4th OF'er (gasp, trade Duran?) 6) 1B defense has been a major issue, but I think we stick with Dalbec and hope his D continues to improve, there. I do think Devers could be a plus at 1B after just a short learning curve time, but Dalbec at 3B is a big gamble. He won't be our DH. So, is the best option to improve our D to trade Bogey, Vaz and Duran and fill the SS, C and utility IF and OF slots with plus defenders? C ______ 1B Dalbec/Devers 2B Arroyo + ______ 3B Devers? (Dalbec?) ______? SS _______ LF Verdugo CF Kike RF Renfroe + ________

21st in K%. When you face way more batters than any other teams, you'd expect more Ks. It does not mean we have better strike out pitchers. What team has the better K staff? A. 9 K's in 9 innings facing 36 batters B. 10 Ks in 9 innings facing 45 batters

Of course Brasier shares in the blame, but asking a guy like him to get 4 outs in an inning is pushing our luck.

Of course. We walk our fair share. We are 21st in K%. Opps lead the league in BAbip. 8th worst OBP against doesn't help either..

What's so crappy about our D, is the non plays and non error errors outnumber the official errors. YES, that's how bad our D is!

Not now, as in 2021, and Iggy's D is not what it used to be, if you are thinking 2022.

I was explaining why Schwarber seemed like he fit, when we added him. At the time, Dalbec sucked on offense and defense. The thought was, "How much worse can Schwarber be on defense than we've seen at 1B all year and especially in July?" He was clearly an upgrade on offense. Then, on the exact day of the trade deadline, Dalbec morphed into the best hitter in MLB and improved his defense 10 fold. Don't forget, Dalbec was losing us games with his defense before we got Schwarber. As it turned out, had we known Dalbec was going to morph, we'd have seen Schwarber was just duplicated value at DH.

I've always loved watching great D. This hurts my brain.

It's gotta be more demoralizing when you watch an easy groundball that should have been the last out go for an error. You have to regroup and reset your mind. True, our pitchers could be better at picking up their teammates after such errors, but how about vice versa? How about a defense that occasionally picks up a pitcher that is struggling? Never happens!

For those who don't believe in defensive metrics and measuring data, the eye test should be enough, in itself. We might be first in chances, because we've played 1-3 games more than many teams and we are just 21st in K%.

Defense starts at catcher and SS. 3B, 2B and CF matter a lot, but not close to those two. RF is important in Fenway. If we don't do anything to improve a few positions, or at least SS, we'll have to have massive advantages on offense and pitching to overcome s***** D. This isn't just some knee jerk reaction to the last few weeks of horrific defense. It's been known and discussed all year. You can't keep asking pitchers, even good to great ones, to keep getting 4 or 5 outs an inning. We still lead the league in highest BAbip against, but the margin is narrowing. It's not just the obvious errors, either. We make so many non error errors, it's not even funny. We rarely make the exceptional plays I see our opps make against us all-to-often.

The 4th year was an option with a buyout that juices up the first 3 years. I actually, think Bloom will sign Greinke or Verlander. I think the Dodgers go all out for Kershaw, so maybe Scherzer is within reach.

Dalbec, who has been fielding as bad as anyone could, had the nerve to start hitting.

The season is far from over, but the way we keep losing really sucks.

The pattern is unreal. Error- bam-bam Solo HR Solo HR

Another error- another bam-bam.

Iggy plays guitar!

Man! The Jays just keep rolling along! Up 8-0 on the Rays.

Let's hope the line-up comes through, tonight. ERod, too.

You think Scherzer gets more than what I suggested? I think Whitlock will be a starter in 2022, but we will add a SP'er, IMO.

Next, we'll hear we'd be better with JBJ, Kimbrel and Rizzo. Wait... we've been there-done that.

I don't see that, but if you want to give up over us losing 2 of 3 to a couple very good teams, fine. The team has given reason to be skeptical, frustrated and even angry. I'm not saying my hopes haven't been lowered, but I lie our chances at making the playoffs. I'm not a "playoffs are a crapshoot" believer, so I don't expect us to go far, but I like the grit this team has shown, and having Sale. Schwarber and a healthy Houck might cause a surprise.

After what has gone on, so far this season, why does anyone think teams will follow the pattern they've had over the last 2-3 weeks? Time and time again, every team, except the Rays have looked great and then turned on a dime to look awful- and vice versa.

We just need to win a WC slot. We don't need to be WC1. A while ago, the Yanks were the winning team that nobody thought would hit a tough patch. I'm thinking the Jays are due for their rough patch, and these next few games might bring it about. Let's see. We can win 2 out of 3 vs everyone and still pass the Jays. We can lose one series and win the rest and might pass the Jays. Maybe not. I like our schedule vs anyone else, so I'm staying positive,

I'm just not getting the fixation on Beni. It was a marginal trade designed to cut some budget, boost the farm and gamble that Cordero might bust out. As for being a captain going down with the ship- not hardly. I was the first to jump ship in 2019. I gave up very early out of a strong sense that team had no grit or energy. This team has shown moxy. I'm not sure what happens, but I'm not giving up on a team that never gives up. Sure, they have some massive flaws. I've railed against our D as much as anybody and more than almost everyone. We've fought back all year, so I think this team deserves our support to the very end.