moonslav59

Better said than I.

That's the general opinion, and I don't disagree with those facts, but neither precludes a second offer by the Sox. The Sox chose to go silent after their initial offers.

I don't disagree. To me, this is the choice: A. Betts at a huge contract vs B. The money from not paying Betts + Verdugo + Downs + Wong It's easy to see why B is a good choice. Personally, I wanted Betts here.

I agree, but throwing accuracy may be "physical." Again, I am not for moving him mid season and may not be for moving him this off season, either, if he turns things around on defense.

I want the most competitive team starting in 2022 but more importantly 2023 and beyond. I love having JD on the team, but if we are out of it at the deadline, and he's doing well, he's worth way more to a competing team than to us. That's the bottom line and usually a good reason to explore a trade. I'd like to see how much the team pays of his contract and what we might get back in return before I agree or disagree with the deal, but overall, yes, almost like Price, I think his contract is bloated. I think we have a shot at winning, this year, if we stay healthy and nearly everything goes right, so I'm not for trading him at this instant.

At the deadline, maybe. Depends where we are. If he keeps hitting like this, we'll be in the race or his trade value will be higher.

I'm hoping some other hitters start to warm up, like Vaz and Devers are. Some interesting aspects of this start are emerging (some of these are ideas I stole from other posters): 1. Vaz should DH when needing a rest from catching, and since DH'ing is not really a total rest, maybe he gets a couple more days off from catching over the year. 2. Marwin can play many positions, which is great, but he doesn't seem like he's a plus at any of them, but he seems to be starting to hit better. Obviously, Cora likes him from their Astros days together, but the situation needs to be watched. 3. Dalbec looks like a fine fielder at 1B. His bat needs to warm-up. 4. EHern has gotten off to a rough start- both on D and O. I expect he'll do well over the full season, though. 5. Cordero looks good. Stay healthy! 6. Verdugo seems to be heating up. 7. JD was and still is "the man." 8. If Richards does well, his next start, we'll have a happy problem of 6 capable SP'ers all doing well- with Sale coming back at some point, this summer. 9. The pen has been superb. I'm expecting a return to norm, but that "norm" may not be as bad as many thought it would be, including me. 10. The long guys we have- Whitlock & Andriese could be huge for this team and take the heat off the short guys.

Moreland and Porcello are still not bad, but we don't need either one. My statement wasn't hating on any ex-Sox players. My point was we needed to move on from every player that is gone, except Betts, and with that contract, his loss has to be seen in the light of how his contract would have prevented us having other significant players on the roster for the next 10 years. (I still wish we had him, but there are pluses about not having him.) The purge was needed, and a rebuild was obvious and necessary. Last year was a tank year. This is a bridge year with some promise. It's also a year we need to get some answers on a few players- like Houck, Dalbec, Chavis, Cordero, Arroyo, Valdez and maybe Downs and/or Casas and others, plus what position is Devers best suited for. The real rebuild, IMO, will be this winter, and I think we can become legitimate and serious contenders by 2022 or 2023.

I like the idea of Vaz at DH, when he needs rest from catching, but JD should not play the OF, unless we are playing at an NL park. I do NOT want to switch Devers mid season and still have faith he can become a plus defender at 3B.- given time. I am also very near certain he can become a plus-plus defensive 1Bman given a short period of time to learn the footwork and new angles. This whole talk began with me presenting a scenario whereby Devers is just totally sucking on defense at 3B- to an unacceptable level, and what options we might have, if that happened.

I was just razzing 700 for clinging to the one thing he's got right in this tiny sample size of a portion of the 2021 season. (I don't want Kimbrel.... or Kelly, of Porcello, or Moreland, or Beni, or JBJ (at that price), or Nunez or Price or ...)

Agreed, but our bats should do better than they have in the first 7 games (.698 OPS before today's game.)

If only we had Kimbrel.

I know how you feel. He did lead the 2020 Sox in relief IP with 30.1. His 3.36 ERA looked good, but the 1.615 WHIP was very worrisome. I'm not sure can count on continued greatness from him, but maybe he's turned a corner.

I've said over and over, I'm not for doing this, but since you ask which OF'er sits: EHern plays 2B FT and Renfroe/Cordero platoon.

Voldez is Valdez, and he was with us all last year. (He did okay.)

We are going to have some tough stretches here and there, at some point later this year, but it sure is fun during stretches like this, isn't it? Our starters have been near phenomenal. Only one bad start in our first 7 games, and maybe Richards can turn that around. IP H ER BB K 5.1 4 1 1 4 Eovaldi 5.0 6 2 1 8 Houck 2.0 7 6 2 2 Richards 5.0 2 0 4 4 Pivetta 5.0 5 3 2 6 Perez 7.0 3 1 3 7 Eovaldi 5.0 4 3 0 7 ERod Nice way to start the season! Some pen totals, so far: 5.1 3 0 0 8 Whitlock 4.0 0 0 1 9 Barnes 4.0 0 0 0 1 Valdez 3.0 1 0 3 3 Sawamura 2.2 2 0 0 0 Brice 5.0 7 2 2 5 Andriese (3.60) 2.1 2 1 4 4 D Hern (3.86)

Don't forget Barnes.

It would be great to see him do well for us. It doesn't seem so far fetched.

You were pumping up your depth before you added Bruce and Odor. Why add these clowns, if your depth was so good, or at least why was Bruce the first guys you went with? If the Sox added a guy with a .731 OPS and a minus dWAR since 2018, and we were saying he's great depth, you'd be laughing at us.

Barnes K'd all 3 in the ninth. He had a 14.4 K/9 rate from 2018-2021, before this game. Maybe he can be that closer we've needed. (The 5 BB/9 and 1.0 HR/9 are a bit concerning over the same time frame.) FIP 3.22

About the best we could expect from ERod. Pen looked solid. 4 hitters with 2+ hits and Marwin on base 3 times. Gotta like the trend, here.

Insanity on MLB's part.

Gotta win this one.

Was that just a nice play by a Sox infielder? (Pinch me!)

Finding the groove.