moonslav59

You have to think of who the bench is more likely to replace. Moreland-Pearce: platoon at 1B, check. Maybe Nunez-Devers platoon at 3B. From a "positional standpoint" when and where will Holt or Phillips ever play? We certainly don't need both. Is the need to PH for Kinsler or Nunez or Devers higher than for Vaz or Leon? Our biggest positional weaknesses are: 1) catcher offense 2) 3B defense We can't do much for 3B defense, since all our 3Bmen are sub par on defense. We can PH for our catcher- maybe even twice in one game.

ERod is starting not Eovaldi. I'm not even sure Eovaldi makes the 25 man roster. He should, but he's near the bubble. Pom's performance yesterday might have totally knocked him out of contention.

We've had 3 catchers all year, except for the time Vaz was on the DL. Swihart can and does play other positions, so it is not technically just a 3rd catcher.

6-0 A's now after 3.

You should have traded Torres for Swihart, Hembree and Nunez. (Just kidding.)

Postseason Eligibility Definition Per Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement, players must meet certain criteria in order to be eligible for postseason play. Players must be on the 40-man roster, the 60-day disabled list or the bereavement/family medical emergency list as of midnight ET on Aug. 31 to be eligible for their respective clubs' postseason rosters. Consequently, players that are acquired via September trades or signed as free agents in September are ineligible for postseason play. Clubs can petition the Commissioner's Office to add any player that was not on the 40-man roster as of Aug. 31 -- provided the player was in the organization on Aug. 31 and is replacing a player who has spent at least 60 days on the 60-day disabled list. The Royals were able to use this tactic to add Brandon Finnegan to their roster during the 2014 postseason, despite the fact that Finnegan was not on the 40-man roster as of Aug. 31. Additionally, all players who have served part of a suspension for performance-enhancing drugs in a given season are ineligible for postseason play that year. Does this mean Phillips could be added because of Pedroia?

Phillips was not on the 40 man roster by September 1st. He cannot be eligible for the playoffs. Makes you wonder why they didn't add him a few days earlier. It's not like Renda has a long future with the Sox.

BTW, we used 15 positional players today.

We are talking playoffs not regular season. We have 5 days off, play 2, have another day off, play 2, have another day off, play 1 and have another day off. That does not happen in the regular season. 11 pitchers has happened in the playoffs several times in the last decade for precisely the schedule shown above. For God's sake, the Sox went with 11 last year vs Houston. Not 2 decades ago. Last year! Not only did we go with 14 positional players, we left Chris Young off the roster! Guess what? We weren't the only team to go with 11 in last year's playoffs: the Cubs did, too. I think the Mets went with 11 in 2015. I'm sure there were more. The playoffs are different. There is no 5th starter needed and more days off than at any time during a regular season stretch. It's a 12 man staff without your 5th starter available.

Too bad no chance at playoff roster.

I'd like to see 11 pitchers, but we have only 2 positions where we might need defensive replacements, and both positions have no defensive depth. Nunez or Holt for Kinsler? Nope. Nunez or Holt for Devers? Meh...maybe. (Devers for Nunez? Nope.) The only bench we need is the Moreland-Pearce platoon at 1B, some depth at 2B/3B and a PH'er for our catcher(s).

If we carry 2 or 3 long men, we'd probably be alright in extra innings. (2 or 3 from Wright, Eovaldi, Pom, Johnson, Velazquez). When everyone was healthy, we carried 3 catcher. We also carried 12-13 pitchers. To me, this is the most important decision. I'm okay with 12 pitchers, but I want Leon to catch Sale and Porcello and Vaz to catch Price & ERod. Swihart has not caught one inning with any of those 4 guys all year.

I'm all for Wright, if he shows life this September. Bringing in Wright after Sale would be tantalizing.

Swihart or Lin might be our best bench runners next to Wright, of course.

Sandy "blows" on offense, but he's our starting catcher game one with Sale. Vaz probably catches Price in game 2, although Leon did very well with Price in limited action this year. Vaz has been ERod's caddy-pretty much, but he did great with Leon in limited time this year. Leon is the only guy who has caught Porcello this year. If Cora was going to play Swihart at catcher in the playoffs, wouldn't he have at least 1 inning with our top 4 starters this year under his belt, especially when you figure Vaz was out for weeks and weeks? Zero innings caught by Swihart with all 4 of our top starters. It's obvious he ain't starting a playoff game.

Good points, but I'm expecting our strong starting pitching to go deeper than 5 2/3 innings, and even if they don't, I think just about every pen arm could pitch in all 5 games without experiencing fatigue, unless one game goes 16 innings. I doubt Poyner makes the roster. He was held down in AAA while many of our current RP'ers were struggling. If we go with 12 pitchers, I'm guessing it's a long man like Wright, Pom, Johnson of Velazquez, so we can handle a 16 inning game or a couple games where the starter exits early. If we're using 10 pitchers in back-to-back games, chances are it doesn't matter who our 25th man is.

I'm for all 3. I am having my doubts about Vaz's defense as well, but I think he handles the pitchers better than Swihart.

1) Swihart can do more than catch. 2) Not using 3 catchers is not a good guide to evaluating the value of having 3 catchers. managers often do not PH for their catcher out of fear that the back-up might get hurt during the game. Having 3 catchers makes the first PH opportunity much more palatable for a manager. 3) Our catcher OPS is .554. It is pretty significant PH'ing someone like Moreland (.813) vs a RHP or Pearce (1.285) vs a LHP, even if it just for 1 AB.

Other debates... 12 man staff vs 11 man staff 2 catchers vs 3 catchers How many long RP'ers should we carry? (Wright, Pom, Eovaldi, Johnson, Velazquez) Last short guy (or one more long man) Thornburg, Workman or Poyner?

You mean, fiddee?

You JINXED THEM!

AL Team WAR Leaders Everyday Players 25.9 BOS 25.4 NYY 25.1 OAK 22.6 CLE 22.3 HOU 20.3 LAA 18.0 TBR AL Rank by Position: 1st RF 8.5 1st DH 6.2 2nd LF 4.4 5th SS 3.8 6th 1B 1.8 7th CF 2.4 13th 3B 0.4 14th 2B 0.2 15th C (-1.5) Pitching 26.6 HOU (SP: 19.5) 22.0 NYY (SP: 13.6) 19.4 BOS (SP: 14.5) 18.8 CLE (SP: 19.5) 14.8 TBR (SP: 9.7) Defense by UZR/150 8.2 BOS 6.7 CLE 4.3 KCR 3.9 LAA 3.8 NYY 14.6 SEA 12.1 OAK

Sox OPS Update: 1.053 Betts 1.048 JDM .953 Pearce (w/Sox) .864 Bogey .855 Beni .781 Moreland .757 Kinsler (w/Sox) .721 Devers .710 Holt .709 JBJ .667 Nunez .576 Swihart .553 Leon .545 Vaz

The Rays would be 1/2 game behind the division leader, the Rockies in the NL West. They'd be 1 behind the Braves and 3 behind the Guardians.

Soxprospects.com has this for next year's rosters: http://soxprospects.com/2019.htm Dalbec, Houck, D Hernandez & Feltman starting with Portland Lakins as the AAA closer. Mata in Salem. Not many surprises that I see.