moonslav59

Well, when ERod, Pom and Wright return, we know we'll have Wright, Johnson and Velazquez as starter depth. We feel a tiny bit better about 2 of them after seeing their intital start of the season go well. Yes, there still should be some concern, but with a further spending budget of just about $3-4M, I think DD did the right thing by waiting. He may end up having to find a SP'er this winter, but maybe we'll have a higher need elsewhere, and we'll look back and be glad we didn't spend on a starter.

No. He was recovering from his injury.

Core should be fired for PH'ing Swihart for the red hot HRam in the 8th! Sarcasm alert.

I'm one of JBJs biggest and longest running supporters. I'd love to see him play here for a long time. That being said, I can understand the theory behind trading him, if we needed a SP'er, but we don't. ERod and Pom are due back real soon, and last I checked our SP'er ERA leads MLB. Our infield defense is already sketchy enough. Don't mess up the OF defense and make our pitchers work even harder to get the outs they deserve getting. JD or Nunez with Swihart/Moreland/Holt in reserve does constitute "internal replacement" as jacko said, and by the time Pedey returns, maybe we'll need a SP'er, but for right now, JBJ should stay right where he is: batting 9th and dominating CF on defense. Just my opinion.

That's been my point.... along with HRam not really being all that good vs RHPs and not really deserving being handed the FT job day 1. (I'm glad Cora played him, as his game-winning RBIs have been helpful.) Let him play for a while, but I'd give Moreland some signifiant PAs vs righties at some point.

Well said. Yes, the talk of starter depth was overblown. Surely, Johnson and Velazquez deserved 2-3 starts minimum, before we had to worry about finding someone else, and both Pom and ERod were due back before that happened. I'm glad we still ave the $3-4M to play with this summer. I'm happy with DD's plan. We have a highly competitive team and should have one for 4-5 years (2016-2019 or 2020). You can't really ask for much more than that, except for maybe a better farm to go along with it. I'm thrilled about about our chances this year.

Funny you should mention that! I went to the box office today and bought tickets to 3 of the 4 games here in Houston. (End of May-early June)

Welcome, UK. Looking forward to some lively conversations.

Well, 134 posts on this thread are doing just that!

Excellent post. Last year I mentioned a lack of "fire and desire". It's early yet, but I like what I see. (Of course, even a lackluster 7-1 team would be fun to watch.)

We're 7-1 with 7 guys on the DL. It's hard not to be optimistic. We are also looking at having Devers and Nunez all year- two of our best hitters last year. Returning from the DL players... ERod Pom Pedey Wright Thornburg Maddox Hernandez

Yes, and for who? Moreland? Swihart? I can see when Pedey returns, putting Nunez in LF might make the choice closer, but JBJ should play for at least a month or two more, before deciding something so rash.

I said, I wasn't for benching HRam now. He's hitting pretty well vs RHPs (.804) and with the game-winning RBIs, I'm fine with playing him for a while.

Farrell was an excellent pitching coach. It's too bad we couldn't have kept him there, but you can't blame a guy for wanting to be the manager.

4 HRs! Nice. Hope this is the start of our offense finding its stride.

No. He flied out to LF. Good contact.

I'm just glad JBJ is oh- for on a day when we score 10 runs; otherwise, he'd be bashed for hitting when we don't need it.

Good to see the bats come alive. Bogey showing the power stroke! Boo-yah!

The feeling is mutual.

2018 Team Starting Pitching WAR 1.4 BOS 1.1 NYY 1.0 LAD 1.0 HOU The Sox 1.4 WAR is equal to the 8th and 9th place teams ccombined. ERA 0.86 BOS 1.99 LAD (We are at less than 50% of the secon place team.) ERA- 21 BOS 53 LAD 58 MN 60 HOU 61 NYY WHIP 0.95 BOS 1.06 NYY 1.08 NYM 1.13 AZ& LAD RP'ing T5th in WAR at 0.4 20th in WHIP at 1.30 Offense 19th in WAR at +0.4 21st in OPS at .683 21st in Runs scored at 24 (3rd place is double ours!) Defense 17th in UZR/150 at +0.4 23rd in DRS at -4

When Chris Young was signed, there was no Beni. He was expected to play LF a lot. As it turned out, Holt played more LF than aanyone due in part to an injury to Young. Young was also expected to play vs all LHPs as he had killed lefties for 2-3 years beforehand. He ended up not hitting lefties all that well for us, and he became a bench player with Beni's earlier than expected call-up. Moreland has hit RHPs at a pretty decent clip. Prior to HRam's shoulder injuries, Hanley raked lefties. I really thought the only bright spot of the Moreland signing was that he'd play vs most RHPs and his defense might off set the slight difference between his offense vs RHPs and Hram's. I felt HRam needed to earn his PAs vs RHPs. I get why we started HRam opening day, and he's off to a very nice start, so far, but I still think he needs to keep hitting righties well to actually earn the FT 1Bman job. He's not there yet, IMO, but it sounds like he is to many here (noy necessarily you). If HRam is clearly outhitting Moreland vs RHPs, then he will play and play, but Moreland deserves a chance to show what he can do. I know it will be hard to advocate benching HRam even for a game or two, if he keeps getting game-winning RBIs. I'm not for benching HRam right this second, and he's already sat one game, but I would try to get Moreland into some games vs RHPs, so we can have something significant to compare and choose from at some point down the line.

It seems like we're seeing more and more younger players called up. Devers had been a hit machine everywhere he went. To me, it wasn't just about our horrid offense from the 3B position prior to Devers being called up, it was about our struggling overall offense plus Devers attitude that seemed to show that nothing phases him. He just plain hits! And hits! AND HITS!

It's only 7 games. It's hard to read into anything based on such a tiny sample size.

I'm one of the guys saying we should try to avoid letting HRam vest. I never said the window closes, if he vests, I just said that we have a window to win, and anything that lessens our chances to win during one of those years has to try to be avoided. Not havine Pom or Kimbrel for 2019 might not kill our chances, but it will hurt. I get the argument that not having an assumed hot HRam for a few games this year, because we are benching him might lessen this year's chances, but playoff PAs don't count towards the vest. By resting HRam more, we may actually increase the odds he's healthy in October, when we really need him. Besides, you guys have all benn telling me how great the Moreland signing was, so then let the dude play vs at least half the RH'd starters. That's what we got him for.

I did go back and look. Yess, he had 7 RBI in that 22-10 win over Seattle, but 3 games later he had 3 RBI in a 6-4 win and later he had 2 RBIs in 6-4 game and 3 RBI is a 7-6 win over TOR. He also had RBIs in close losses, 1 RBI in a 7-5 win that put us ahead 4-2. In 2016, he had 6 RBI in a 14-7 win and 2 in an 8-7 win vs TEX. Later, he had 1 RBI in an 6-5 win vs TB. During last year's hot streak at the end of May and early June, he did this... 4RBI in 13-7 win 1 RBI in 2-3 loss 2 RBI in 7-3 win 3RBI in 5-3 win Then, after the team scored 3 runs in 3 games, he had ... 2 RBI in a 6-5 win 2 RBI the next day in a 4-2 loss Ithink we'd all love to see more consistency from JBJ. I'm not defending his slumps, but sometimes a hot player can carry a team through a few games, and wins are wins.