moonslav59

According to fangraphs WAR, these are our weakest and strongest positions to date (by AL rankings): 1 RF 1 LF 1 DH 3 SP (behind HOU & CLE) 3 RP (behing NYY & HOU) 3 1B 6 SS 8 CF 12 3B 14 2B 15 C (Note" ourOF WAR of 15.0 nearly doubles the 3rd best AL team, LAA, at 7.8.) For all those who think of me as just a stat geek, notice how I am not calling for a trade for a catcher, 2Bman or 3Bman. I'm also a big JBJ supporter, despite the WAR ranking. I want a quality set-up man despite our 3rd place ranking.

I don't see us going large at 2B, unless we find a way to dump Nunez & his salary, which is highly unlikely. We signed Nunez as Pedey insurance. He may be playing hurt or just in a funk, but I think DD will ride this one out. I'm thinking we go for the best set-up man we can get at the most reasonable cost. (Sounds like an over simplification, granted)

Do you now feel like DD has addressed the starter depth issue sufficiently you have shown concern about since last winter?

I think DD traded away too much of the farm and overpaid at times, but overall, I'm very happy with the totality of his moves. I love the team we have now, and while I've been critical of a few of DD's moves (highly critical, at times), I'm glad he's our GM. Replacing JF with Cora took balls. That move, alone cancels out a bad move or two. Plus, he got Chris Freakin' Sale! He may ultimately be judged by how he handles the closing window, especially if we don't win a ring in the next 2 years.

Tough break losing the 5-0 lead and having to start over.

We've had our share of misfortunes, but seem to have less holes to fill. Pedey ERod Wright Pom Vaz Smith

We may go with one less pitcher for the playoffs, since there are more days off and the 5th starter is often used in long relief, if needed- saving the pen further.

To make it to the WS, we'll likely have to play NY & HOU. I'd prefer facing the Yanks with no Severino for the first 2 games and then have to face HOU. I'm not saying it will be easy, but to me, this might be the best we can hope for, except for the Yanks losing the play-in game.

He got shelled July 13th (2.2 IP, 9H, 2BB & 8 ER), but he's done well in his other most recent 4 starts: Recent to oldest IP H BB ER 6.0 6 0 1 7.0 1 0 0 6.0 8 1 2 6.0 1 2 0 That's 19 IP with just 3 ERs (1.42 ERA) and a 1.00 WHIP. Maybe we got this guy just in time for his long-awaited, breakout moment.

Sea Dogs had 7 guys with 2 hits, including Chavis (HR'd , too). Stanki pitched 7 innings with 5 hits and 1 ER, but Weems let up 7 tuns in the last two innings to take the loss. Dalbec went 2 for 4 with his 24th HR. Chatham got 2 hits (.301 now). Netzer went 4 for 5 (.287). Denyl Reyes went to 10-3 by pitching 7 innings while allowing 3 hits, o BBs and 1 ER.

This is what they have written about themselves on their site: http://soxprospects.com/about.htm "SoxProspects.com was launched on September 20, 2003. The site was founded by Mike Andrews, a self-proclaimed baseball analyst and local Bostonian. Mike has been following the Red Sox farm system in depth since 1998. The site has a staff of over 20 volunteers, including writers, editors, content managers, scouts, and moderators. We get between 10 million and of 15 million page views per year. SoxProspects, LLC owns SoxProspects.com and all of its content." Ian Cundall - Director of Scouting Ian joined the scouting department in October 2010. He regularly scouts games at all affiliates. He oversees our scouting reports and authors scouting features based on his first-hand observations and interactions with professional scouts. E-mail: icundall@soxprospects.com Chaz Fiorino - Assistant Director of Scouting Chaz joined the staff in January 2014. He is a graduate of the MLB Scout Development Program. Nick Rabasco - Scout & Staff Writer A former college baseball player, Nick joined the staff in November 2014.

Agreed. It's Nunez & Holt at 2B for the remainder. RP'ing is now DD's focus, although he might be happy moving Pom or Johnson to the pen, especially if Eovoldi does well his first few starts and/or Wright comes back strong.

Remember all the Skankee fans telling us how many holes are team had? Look who is scrambling to fill holes, now! Big holes with big-named players, too.

If we face the Yanks after the WC play-in game, they will likely have used Severino to win that game. Bring 'em on! Besides, the Astros will probably be just as hard to beat (round 1 or round 2). I ain't ascared of nobody!

57 IP is not really enough to judge anyone, but these numbers are encouraging: 0.982 WHIP 8.4 K/9 1.3 BB/9 Too bad, he's only a rental.

Yes, and this has nothing to do with aggressiveness.

You conveniently omit the fact that our middle pen has been carried by Barnes, Hembree and Velazquez/Workman.Poyener/Brasier. RP'er innings only IP/ERA 43/ 2.30 Barnes 41/3.73 Hembree 40/2.45 Velazquez 19/2.89 Workman 14/3.68 Walden 11/1.69 Poyner 7.0/0.00 Brasier Maybe you are underselling this group. Some of these guys have been doing well for 2+ years, but because their not named Betances. Robertson and whatever, I guess they suck. Yes, we expected to get 2 reliable set-up men out of Kelly, Smith & Thornburg, but I'm pretty sure DD is going to plug that hole soon, even though there still is a chance Kelly regains form or Thornburg gets stronger.

Me too. Yes, there was no glossing over that play.

It will be his first game back after being out for a while, so one bad game against a bad hitting team may not be all that telling.

I'm just hoping he does well enough to give us confidence that he can start again in 5 days. We need him to take ERod's place and allow our other starters to not get over-taxed, not to mention our pen.

I totally agree, and I have to think Sale is happy with the way he is being handled. He's on a tremendously great streak.

JBJ has 80 Ks in 332 PAs (291 ABs). JBJ has 2 Ks in his last 15 PAs and 13 ABs. He has 5 Ks in his last 38 PAs and 34 ABs. He did K 6 times in his previous 21 PAs/17 ABs, but even if you add them to the more recent sample sizes, he's actually improved on his K rate, of late.

With just 60 games to go, I think it's a good time to revisit the L-R split concerns I expressed before the season began, namely Beni, Moreland and maybe Devers vs LHPs. Here are the OPS splits: vs RHPs 1.059 Betts 1.059 JD .969 Beni .910 Bogey .885 Moreland .762 Pearce (with Sox) .756 Devers .708 Holt .684 JBJ .666 Nunez .644 Leon .606 Lin .558 Swihart .508 Vaz vs LHPs 1.647 Pearce (with Sox) 1.221 Betts .884 JD .862 Holt (Ccontinuing his career reverse splits) .783 Bogey .740 Moreland (Doing okay here.) ,728 Beni .662 Vaz .601 Leon .576 Devers .549 Nunez (Continuing his career reverse splits) .537 JBJ .462 Swihart .167 Lin Platooning Nunez at 3B makes no sense, since he has reverse splits this year and over his career. Holt should probably play 2B vs LHPs and Nunez vs RHPs. Moreland is locked into FT 1B for two reasons: He is doing okay vs LHPs and we have nobody better. Beni's .728 OPS vs LHPs is much better than it was earlier this year and last year. I don't see an argument for platooning him. I might see maybe moving some of these guys around the line up due to their splits, but it looks like Cora was right to not start the year off with any platoons.

Well said. I usually hate getting 5th starters, unless injuries force your hand. I'd wait to the deadline to see what are needs are, since we should know more about Pom, Wright and ERod by then. We could also do a waiver deal later, if things go south. I'm also hopeful that Nunez will come back to life, or Holt has built up the stamina needed to remain strong through the second half. I feel our best way to improve the team for the season AND the playoffs is to get the best set up guy on the market at a reasonable price. I think Britton will be too costly, but if we can find a deal like the Herrera one, I'd go for it. Wait out the 5th starter. Wait out the 2B duo. I do not see 3B as a weakness. It could be improved on, but with Devers having immense upside and being so young, I don't see us making a move there.

I'd have pulled him an inning early as well. I'm not sure about a 6 man rotation, though it might help Price as well. We shouldn't need it in August with all those days off. Scheduled days off: 8/1 8/6 8/13 8/16 8/27 9/6 9/10 9/17 9/27 (nice to have right before 3 game series with Yanks to end the season.) That's 9 days off in the last 2 months! (9 out of 58 days before the last 3 game series.) That's a day off every 6.5 days. That's almost like a 6 man rotation.