moonslav59

Why was it his to start with?

Devers forevers!

With that HR, Booby D is now over .700 (.719). Let's hope this is just the beginning of something special.

The steroid injection must be kicking in.

Yes, and I've even given some. Having 15 pitchers is better than 14. Again, I'm not bashing Cora or Bloom, but I still think my opinion has merit. With so many of our hitters doing so poorly, and some of them having massive L-R splits, having an extra bench guy would allow for more flexibility with late inning PH'ing and maybe even defensive upgrades. I'm pretty sure Cora has decided not to PH for Cordero, Renfroe and maybe even Kike, Marwin or Arroyo, because he was afraid of emptying his bench too much and not being able to handle an injury or other need that might arise. It's a trade off, and I'm not criticizing Bloom or Cora. I just think 13 pitchers would have been fine, and with 2 days off in 8 days, would still be fine, now. I'm not trying to make a big deal about this, especially since I'm not trying to say Cora is making a mistake.

Still, not many moves made in April. Like I said.

I did not mean it that way. I meant that we have never come close to having to use a pitcher on short rest due to not having anyone else with a fresh arm. Had we had a game where we needed 6-7 pitchers, we could have simply called someone up that night- for the next day's game. (We also added a 15th pitcher on our two dblheader days, and those games were only 7 innings each, thereby lessening the strain more than a normal season by the "old rules." Extra inning games are shorter, too. Okay: 24 days since day one. Matt Barnes, who struggles in back-to-back games has only pitched B2B twice (once was when we played a 3 games in 2 days.) He pitched way more than that in previous years, including some stretches where he went B2B 3-4 games in a row. We've played 23 games in 25 days. Appearances/ IP Pitcher 11/12.0 Barnes 10/8.1 Ottavino 9/10.0 Sawamura 9/ 8.1 Taylor 8/11.2 Andriese 8/10.1 Valdez 8/ 7.0 DHern 7/ 6.2 Brice 5/11.1 Whitlock 1/1.0 Bazardo (dblhdr game) All but 2 guys average pitching every 3 days or more- some are more than 1 inning guys, so that is normal. Barnes + Ottavino have pitched 21 games in 25 days. I won't argue they could have pitched more but neither are close to having to pitch every other day on average. I won't argue Sawamura, Andriese, Valdez or Whitlock should have been given more appearances or IP, bur someone might, especially with Andriese and Whitlock. That leaves DHern, Taylor and Brice who have pitched 24 times and 22 innings. I don't think anyone of those three would be considered overused had we split those 24 outings in 25 days in two, instead of 3. They'd average pitching every other day at slightly less than 1 IP per appearance. (BTW, they all have not pitched all that well, so it's hard to imagine getting worse from D Hern & Brice over DHern, Brice & Taylor.) I realize it's April, and you don't want to push people too hard, especially on cold days, but none of these guys are close to being over-taxed. Andriese averaged 2 IP/gm,last year with LA and has even spot started a few times in the last 3+ years. Valdez pitched 30.1 IP,last season, in 24 games, so he's about on the same pace. Whitlock was the great unknown. Had he sucked his first outing, he may have been parked on the end of the bullpen bench and only pitch mop-up duty. I can understand thinking of not counting on him to eat meaningful innings, at the start of the season, but now, we are "stretching him out" to the point where he may piggy back with a starter and allow us to not need any RP'ers but him every 5th day or so. (Maybe.) My point has always been that if we ever got in a pinch, like having to use 4-6 RP'ers 2 nights in a row, we could simply call up Houck or Bazardo. Presto: problem solved.

Bandwagon jumper! He mentions the bottom of the order becoming and issue. Well, with the whole league hitting so poorly, how much worse are our bottom 3 slots? 2021 OPS Slot MLB BOS 7. .664 .552 8. .610 .639 9. .541 (.583 AL) .519 While our 7-9 numbers look bad, they are not all that awful when compared to all of MLB. Hell, here's the rest: 1. .761 .748 2. .755 .905 3. .774 1.158 4. .736 1.026 5. .721 .860 6. .685 .632

Sometimes, we do better against the best starters and get shut down by unknowns.

I can think of about 5 guys I'd like to replace on defense late in games, but I'm not sure we have anyone much better. Marwin has looked great at SS, but we aren't benching Bogey late in games. (If we had Chavis, Arauz or Duran on the bench, maybe we'd feel better about using Marwin late in games or PH'ing Cordero or Renfroe for the other. Chavis is no wonder on D. Arauz, Munoz, Duran, Ockimey and Puello aren't known for D either, and some aren't even on the 40. I can remember a few times, I wished we had Chavis to PH or enough flex to PH someone else. I can't remember a time we needed even 13 pitchers, let alone 14. Can you?

Not many moves are made in April.

Now, the pitching: (In order of most IP) IP Pitcher ERA/WHIP 29 Eovaldi 3.77/1.151- He has finally started to give a season we all hoped he could give after signing for $17M x 4. It's only 1/7th of the way over, so there are still questions, but Eovaldi is doing very well- likely a career best. (So far, the second Sox player I've talked about having a "career year."- JD) 23 ERod 3.52/0.870- no surprise here, except for maybe the low WHIP. The COVID affects question was a big one, and he could still show some effects as the year goes on, but he's right on the level he left off. 21 Pivetta 3.48/1.355- Maybe a big surprise, but I liked this addition from day 1. He did have a better WHIP in 2018. I can't believe we got Seabold with him, too. 17 Perez 5.71/1.673- I expect he can and should do better. 17 Richards 6.48/ 1.860- Still hard to project. He hasn't had a meaningful season since 2015. One should expect it will take time to find a groove, but how long can his leash be? 12 Barnes 3.00/0.667- One pitch away from being nearly perfect, this year, but he's been solid for us for many years. Yes, He is on pace for a career year, but it should not be all that shocking. 12 Andriese 1.54/1.200- a great addition by Bloom. Maybe on his way to a career year. 11 Whitlock 0.00/0.529- What can I say? The kid is buttah! 10 Houck 4.35/1.452- On an innings restricted plan and doing about as well as expected. Could do better. 10 Valdez 3.48/0.774- Continues to surprise. A great get by bloom. 10 Sawamura 1.80/1.100- So far, so good. Thanks, Bloom. 8.1 Ottavino 4.32/2.143- coming around to expectations. 8.1 Taylor 9.72/2.640- may not be around long. 7.0 DHern 5.14/2.143- still walking the world. 6.2 Brice 4.05/1.500- may not stick around all year Note: These are some small sample sizes, and the numbers can flip on a dime. By and large, this is not really like 2013. Yes, we have several players headed towards "career years," but several more are having their worst years or are under career or recent numbers.

Yess, and it's hard to judge, sometimes, because one team might be on a very restricted budget, so getting someone like Beeks at a fraction of the cost of Eovaldi and with many years of cheap team control in a big win, for them, but maybe wouldn't be for a team like the Sox.

I do think we might add pieces, but I doubt we go over the tax line, and other teams will add players, too.

Well said, and I do think Bloom put together a "bridge team" he thought might win or at least be exciting to watch.

Plus, just because we don't state the other team won, too, doesn't mean it's not so, or that we disagree with that perspective.

While I agree, not many of Blooms winter additions have had an immediate positive affect on the team, other than Arroyo and Whitlock, he had so many holes to fill and so little money, I didn't expect All stars created from journeymen. The biggest gains are yet to be realized, IMO. They are on the farm or have not yet shown what they can do. Also, most of the holes on the team from 2020 were on the pitching staff, so I have not yet shown that area. The biggest holes we had for everyday positions were 2B, CF, 1B, LF and utility. 2B: Arroyo was not acquired this past winter, but he is a Bloom guy and doing very well. He also acquired Downs, Arauz, Munoz to go with Kike & Marwin. CF/LF: from Beni/JBJ to Kike, Renfroe/Cordero/Marwin- not great, but the guys he replaced have not done well, either. 1B: He did not add anyone, but instead put a lot of faith (and pressure) on Dalbec (Chavis/Marwin- Cassas/Ockimey?) Utility: Kike, Marwin, Munoz, Santana and others. These guys were gotten to bridge to 2022, and not to do great things, but I can see how these guys listed above can be viewed, combined, as not being a plus. I'll do the pitching, soon.

That guy might have been a great defensive replacement that got few PAs, or he might have been that flex guy that allowed the manager to PH or sub someone else, late in a game, knowing he had the flex guy on the bench- just in case. That 25th and now 26th man can have a lot of value, even if they don't get to bat often.

To me Cora is still the best manager we've ever had. Better than Tito, yes, but I'm not arguing that one again. That doesn't mean I don't have differing opinions, and I don't see voicing my differing opinions as saying Cora sucks or is even wrong on this issue. There are advantages to having 14 pitchers. He has a wider choice on who to bring in for various situations. That's something hard to measure. I trust he knows what he's doing, and I think Bloom & Cora are just what this team needed after 2019. If I were the manager, I'd be doing somethings differently. That doesn't mean it would work or that I'm better than Cora or Bloom. I know I'm not. Not even close. I've been wrong so many times, I lost count. I might flout my opinions like wanting Marisnick, but I know that overall, I'm not match for these two pros. I think I know what Cora's reasoning is, and they have merit. That's why I don't view my criticism as bashing or trying to downplay how good Cora (or Bloom) is. Looking at the amount of holes this team had after 2019 and 2020, and the limited winter spending budget handed to Bloom, it's amazing how quickly our 40 man roster depth was improved, how are farm went from 29th or 30th to maybe 19th or 20th, and we have a winning and exciting ball club on the field, right now. A huge credit needs to go out to Bloom and Cora. That does not mean every move they made or make is perfect. Even they would admit mistakes have and will be made, but these two are held in the highest esteem by this poster, right here.

The other thing about looking at trades like the Kimbrel one, years later is the fact that it might not really be about comparing how the players did after a trade, but the fact that we might very well likely had traded Margot, Guerra, Asuaje and Allen for someone else or for 2 other guys. It's not that Kimbrel did poorly for us, but at the time of the trade, he was making near FA money. That's the part that rubbed me the wrong way. Why not just sign a closer? (Now, the closer pay went up sharply, immediately after the trade, so that part was not as bad as it first looked.) Margot took a long time to develop into a well-rounded player, but he'd be starting on this team, right now.

Well said, and that HR or bust mentality is prevalent in MLB, today- on all teams, to some extent. I do think these trends can turn on a dime. The Yanks can win 9 straight at any given moment, and we have yet to see how the Sox might react after losing 8 or 10 games, at some point. Our team still has some glaring weaknesses that were exposed in that first series against the O's. Those weaknesses will lose us games, again. The team just has to try and limit those times, and it really helps having a couple stoppers like ERod and Eovaldi, this year. Pivetta has held his own, but we really need 1-2 guys out of Richards, Pivetta, Perez and Houck (maybe Whitlock, at some point) to hold the fort down, until Sale returns.

Under the radar in the sense that nobody expected them to lead us to a ring. They were just expected to be role players that maybe helped us fill some holes and get us over the top. Neither had eye-popping numbers coming to Boston, but boy, they put some up, once here.

I can see carrying 14 pitchers, if the plan was to never use Whitlock, except maybe a few innings here and there in blow-outs, but once we found out that ain't happening, the need for 14 vanished.

That is a good point, but the thing is, they haven't done that. Most of our best RP'ers have gone about 10-11 innings and we are 1/7th through the season translates to 70+ IP- not the usual 60-65 IP. We've had a few days off and now have 2 in 8 days and 3 in something like 18 days. I could see if our starters were lasting 2-3 innings, then I'd call up the 14th guy quickly, but we've haven't come close to needing 14. To me, we have had several times where a PH'er or defensive replacement would have been very helpful.

You used to add Valdez to that list. With so many April days off, the 27th man rule for DHRs, and the ability to call a pitcher up in a matter of hours, made the 14th pitcher unneccesary.