moonslav59

With all due respect, your fixation with HRam is unhealthy.

That was one of the sickest losses I've ever seen.

That's one way to lessen the amount of men left on base.

Perfect response.

8 hits 7 walks 6+ innings 1 run

Ugghhhhhh- leeEEEEEEE!

Gotta come through on one of these bases loaded situations...

It kind of begs the question, is it better to pay $30M for Price or $15M for Peavy plus $13M for Dempster?

Had Devers batted in Young's slot, he'd have doubled with the bases loaded! LOL!

...da man!

Or... Buchholz Peavy ($14.5M in 2014) Dice-K (Not meant to be a #5, but...) Smoltz+ Penny ($10.5M combined)

LOL. It was just an estimate that sounded like something tracked.

I've followed the Sox very closely since the early 70's. We've had some slow runners. We've had some dumb runners. We've had bad fielders and dumb fielders. I honestly can say, I have never seen more mental mistakes on the base paths and on defense than this year. I'm not talking about a ground ball going between your legs. I'm talking about throwing to the wrong base, holding onto the ball too long, forgetting how many outs there are, and much more. When I see the manager looking like the absent minded professor, I'm thinking some of that must have rubbed off on his players. I don't think it's a stretch. People can content themselves with the winning record and say that is all that matters, but mark my words, if we lose a playoff series based on a bonehead play, I'm guaranteeing we'll here these words We can't keep "getting away" with mental mistakes and blunders and not have it eventually bite us in the ass.

Maybe 26?

No doubt, he has been "off" for quite a while. As well as the Sox have done, the whole team is batting 46 points lower than the first half (.759 to .713). Listed in order of 1st half PAs (170+) 1st half> 2nd half Betts .841> .652 (-189) Beni .803> .753 (-50) Bogey .806> .617 (-189) Morel .790> .747 (-43) Pedey .779> .807 (+28) HRam .794> .677 (-117) J B Jr. .853> .622 (-231) Vazq .660> .828 (+168) Young .725> .801 (+76) Leon .672> .650 (-22) No doubt, HRam has struggled, but Betts, Bogey & JBJ have declined by more than HRam, and they're on the upside of their careers.

Yes, my point has been he is playing hurt. Perhaps he's pushing himself, so he vests his option. Perhaps he has a better attitude than some give him credit for, and is playing while in pain. He has not started 25 of 129 games. Perhaps not.

...but we have no BLACK HOLES! No FT'er under .715. LOL

Or, Dempster.

If it was the first time, I wouldn't think twice about it. It was not.

There have been many times during this season where the attitude of this board has mostly been very much skeptical about our championship chances. There have also been time, like just 4 days ago, that the board has been mostly optimistic. It never ceases to amaze me how so many posters seem to roller coaster back and forth between pessimism and optimism based on 2-3 game sample sizes. When any team loses, of course, they look awful, lackluster, and several other negative adjectives. When the worst teams in the league win 5 out of 6, they look real good. There's a reason baseball plays 162 games in a season, and it's not just about money. It takes 162 games to separate the good from the bad as well as giving team's time to make adjustments and additions to improve by playoff time. Despite all our injuries, I think we are better now than on opening day and as long as Pedey & JBJ return, we should be fine. I don't see that Astros or Guardians as having better odds than us at making the WS.

He's had shoulder, neck and more recently "oblique" issues that all forced missing games.

This is from June 2017 (long after the announcement about HRam being "only a DH"): HOUSTON — Even with only a few inches separating the muscle groups, Red Sox manager John Farrell said he does not believe Hanley Ramirez’ sore neck is related to his lingering shoulder problems, and he doesn’t believe it’s related to the trapezius injury that sidelined the slugger earlier this season. “This is a separate item,” Farrell said. Note the "lingering shoulder problems" statement.

I meant more about just one team transitioning into that plan. Their minor league system would have to ready their pitchers for the new system. I think it might start with a team using tandem starters for the 5 slot, then move to the 4 slot and so forth. I can see a benefit of using a Chris Sale type every 4 days, instead of 5 but with less innings each start.

There's no way Sox management wanted to play Moreland vs LHPs. When they decided to do that, I feel it was about HRam being injured- not a fear that he might get injured. Maybe saying "safe to say" was not the right choice of words, but I do feel he is playing hurt.

I totally get that argument. I've made it myself often. Certainly Stanton and/or Betts could flop, get injured or give us just 1-3 years of prodution and then be an albatross for 7-8 years, but my point here is that the risk is significantly less for Stanton and Betts. Stanton: $25M a year is less than the $31M Price got. Most of the biggest FA signings were 30-33 year olds. Price was 30-31 for his first season. He'll be 36-37 his last season. Stanton is 27. That's 3 years more in prime than Price, and his final year would be the same age as Price's final year (36). That is a dramatic shift in in-prime percentage of his deal. I know the risk is there for Stanton to decline, and that is a contributing factor in making a final decision, but to me,m the biggest downside of Stanton is not the risk of him falling short of lofty expectations, but the fact that he'd eat up $25M on the budget AND cost us the rest of our already depleted farm. Betts: Comparing a Betts extension to a 30-33 year old FA signing is apples to oranges. A better comp would be to extensions given by Tampa Bay to their young stars + 3 years. Betts is 24. Extending him 10 years would be from ages 25 to 34. To me, age 34 is NOT much post-prime. Sure, the risk of unmet expectations is real, but I've never seen a player like Betts in my life. The kid moved to the OF and became an instant GG defender in CF then RF. He's having a "down year", but he's still right up their in WAR. Kick the tires. Don't go way overboard, but both of these two are very very special players...much more "special" than Price was at the time- someone I said was "about the best FA SP'er to come on the open market in a decade".