moonslav59

I wish we'd use him for more than 1 inning. He'd be great for us as a 2-4 inning guy. He could help us bridge to Kimbrel with one swoop.

I'm losing it, slash. I had 2017 up for some reason. Here are the 2018 numbers for HRs: by ABs 1st: 134/3415 (.039) 2nd: 55/1835 (.030) That's 1 more HR about every 110 ABs by PAs 1st: 134/3808 (.035) 2nd: 55/2065 (.027) That's one more HR every 125 PAs. We have been walking more... BBs per PA 1st half 324/3808 (.085) 2nd half: 194/2065 (.094)

Yes, YOU can look at it this way-- any many other ways, too. You will face Oakland first. You are 3-3 vs them. By your reasoning, you have a 50% chance at getting to the next round, where you face a team you are 7-8 against. It won't matter that you are 5-2 vs CLE and HOU, since you probably won't face them, and you can't face both. Our first opponent will be 7-8 vs us or 4-2 vs us, as it looks at this moment. I'm rooting for the A's, so that shows how much I care about a 6 or 15 game sample size.

It's kind of like the BA title, if someone has too few PAs, he can still win, if he'd still be in the lead after going oh for the differential between his PAs and the min number needed.

Better teams have a better chance at winning, but with 10 teams making the playoffs, not team ever has a better than 50% chance of winning it all before the playoffs begin. The regular season doesn't matter in some respects, but it does show us who are the better teams and who have the better chances. of course, teams with worse records can and do win. I like our chances better than the Yanks' chances.

They'd try to extend the window to 2021. They'd keep Kimbrel and try to get a quality set-up man or two. They'd probably be near or over the max penalty line (again).

We'll be going with 4 starters, so maybe our starter turned reliever will make a big difference and bridge us to Kimbrel without needing the 6.95 guys, although Kimbrel is at 7.36. 0.00 Eovaldi in 14 IP 0.00 Thornburg in 1 IP 3.72 Johnson in 9.2 IP 4.50 Poyner in 2 IP.

We are both better than we were last year. In all honesty, do you think the Yanks have a better chance than the Sox in the playoffs?

HRs 1st half: 92 in 3065 ABs (.030) 2nd half: 76 in 2604 ABs (.291) About 1 HR less per 110 ABs. 92/3445 PAs (.0267) 76/2893 PAs (.0263) One less HR every 250 PAs.

And you, yours. Can I ask you how many times you've felt this way about the Sox this year only to have those thoughts reversed over and over again?

We sucked last night. We're still a much better team that the Yanks.

He's gotta keep our players fresh and many had a day off recently, beyond the 2 scheduled days we had in the past week. Playing them all last night doesn't mean squat about what Cora thinks about the meaning level of that game. I'm sure Mookie would not have played had there been a chance of his injury getting worse. It's a difficult balance to get your players as much rest as they need without letting them get rusty.

Cody Allen is having an "off year" and might be signed to less than he's worth, or he might sign a one year deal to try and go for broke the following winter. Here's the list cots has.... Relief Pitchers Cody Allen Brad Brach Zach Britton Carter Capps Santiago Casilla Randall Delgado Jake Diekman Sean Doolittle Jeurys Familia Casey Fien Kelvin Herrera J.P. Howell Daniel Hudson Jared Hughes Jim Johnson Nate Jones * Shawn Kelley Joe Kelly Ryan Madsen Zack McAllister Mark Melancon * Andrew Miller Adam Ottavino David Phelps A.J. Ramos David Robertson Hector Rondon Trevor Rosenthal Robbie Ross Marc Rzepczynski Tanner Scheppers Tony Sipp Joakim Soria Junichi Tazawa Shawn Tolleson Carlos Torres Adam Warren Justin Wilson Blake Wood Travis Wood * Brad Ziegler

It's not BIG. I don't care if every single Yankee claimed it matters. They shoulda felt it "mattered" weeks and months ago. It doesn't, to us, so that's all I care about. I'm actually kind of glad we're going through a rough patch now, so we don't go into the playoffs over confident.

2nd Half OPS 1.022 JDM .894 Betts .887 Pearce (w Sox) .842 Bogey .818 JBJ .739 Nunez .714 Holt .693 Beni .684 Devers .669 Swihart .643 Kinsler (w Sox) .562 Moreland .550 Vaz .345 Leon

Yes, but I'm not talking about signing 5 guys at $3M each. I'm talking about 3 guys at $6-10M each or 4 guys at $5-7M each. Those shouldn't be bums. I'm not advocating a closer by committee.

I'm glad you're "peaking" now. Your peak will be a valley in 2-3 weeks.

It's not BIG, except maybe for some fans.

They have had two months to do it and haven't done it yet. This stuff ain't rocket science. We're 28-15 since August first. The sky is falling!!! (We're 34-19 the last 2 months.)

If you have not done it by post season don't expect to do it then. It happens all the time, and that's why many call the playoffs a "crap shoot." One could have easily argued your point in 2004 after game 3 of the series with the Yanks. It can be done. It often is. This team has, on numerous occasions, had incredible hot streaks and incredible great pitching stretches. They've done this more than any other team in MLB, perhaps in years and years. It doesn't seem logical to me to think some team who has shown less ability to turn it on and be great should be expected to be "on" for the playoffs more than we should expect the Sox to be. Yes, our pen has looked crappy for a long while. Yes, our bats have gone cold, and our power declined, of late. We had other down times this year, and I heard the same "sky is falling" mantras several times, and then there were crickets again and again, as sure enough, we went on a tear again. Can I guarantee we will go on a tear starting October 5th or 7th? Of course not, but looking at our team, I like our chances of being the best team, when it counts, more than anyone else. Honestly, that's how I feel. You don't win 103 by September 20th by luck.

I do believe in some sort of "rhythm" as being influencial, but I also realize that can turn on a dime. It's happened too often to think it matters a lot. The first game of the playoffs, for us, is October 5th. What we are doing right now matters very little to me. If we lose 7 of 8 to end the season, it will make me feel a little uneasy, but I'll still like our chances pretty much the same on October 5th as I did on August 5th, September 5th and September 20th. Honestly, these losses don't bother me at all- not even a tiny bit.

We're lulling these guys into a false sense of security. We're pretending we can't hit certain pitches in hopes they throw the same way in the playoffs, when we will pounce and destroy everyone! Seriously though, there's absolutely no need to panic or worry. We're in the playoffs. We have home field. Sale is back. It's all good. Relax and get over the false idea that all teams continue to play exactly like they did in their last game, their last week or their last month or two. We have a more than solid team, and we're more than capable of catching fire like we have numerous times this year. Save it for October, guys...SAVE IT!

We're doomed! Our hitters have zero chance at adjusting to the adjustment the league made. We suck! It's over!

We can win without Kimbrel by using the $18-20M he'd cost plus some more to sign 3-4 decent RP'ers. We have a solid core and are losing a lot of dead salary- HRam, Pom & Kelly. We should have enough to sign a decent closer and a couple solid set-up men. We'll be fine next year, with or without Kimbrel. Do I want a lock down closer? Of course. It's not that simple though, and there's no guarantee Kimbrel will remain "lock down."

I think they go big either way, and since they have a full roster, I think they spend large on just a few of the best free agents (maybe 2). They may also make some 2 or 3 for 1 trades to clear roster space for rule 5 players. 1. OF Jake Cave 2. OF Billy McKinney 3. SP Daniel Camarena 4. SP/RP Stephen Tarpley 5. SP Brady Lail 6. 1B Mike Ford 7. OF Rashad Crawford 8. SP Austin DeCarr 9. SP Domingo Acevedo 10. OF Mark Payton 11. SS Abiatal Avelino 12. OF Devyn Bolasky 13. INF Thairo Estrada 14. RP J.P. Feyereisen 15. SP/RP Nestor Cortes 16. SP Albert Abreu 17. RP Cale Coshow 18. 2B Gosuke Katoh