moonslav59

They didn't add Johnson to the ML roster this September, so I doubt he'd get the start over Owens, although, I agree. I like Johnson better right now. They could consider Elias, in a pinch.

I could see that happening. Maybe Pablo and Young will platoon at DH. However, if Moncada wins the 3B job, and Shaw is hitting well, it makes sense to move HanRam to DH.

I doubt he takes 4. This is his last chance at the big pay day.

Funny how quickly it goes from "Buch should be our 3rd starter in the playoffs" to "should Owens replace Buch as our 5th starter". This place cracks me up!

Well, Sox management thought highly enough of him to give him a shot at 3B in the middle of a pennant race, so I'm not sure if it could be called "delusional" to consider him in the mix for the 3B job next year, especially when you look at how poorly Shaw has done over the last 2 months. I'm not sure anyone is definitively penciling him in at 3B next year, but between him, Shaw and Pablo, I'd give him the inside edge vs RHPs. (I see chances are high for Shaw playing 1B vs RHPs and HanRam DHing vs RHPs. Young will DH vs LHPs)

...and right after we blow someone out.

We've done very well vs top pitching this year. Here's how the Sox have done this year against the top 34 SP'ers by WAR (2014-2016) I'm using the larger sample size than just this year, because if we killed a pitcher this year, we might have knocked him out of the top 34- like Greinke): W-L ERA/WHIP Kershaw DNP Kluber 1-1 4.28/1.46 Scherzer DNP CSale 1-1 1.29/0.71 J Arrieta DNP Quintana 1-0 4.73/1.35 Lester DNP Bumgarner 0-0 1.50/0.83 J Cueto DNP Keuchel 0-1 12.00/2.17 Greinke 0-1 48.60/6.00 deGrom DNP Strasburg DNP C Archer 0-4 6.65/1.75 CHamels DNP Carrasco 0-0 7.20/1.60 G Cole DNP______ Vs top 17: 8-3 Tanaka 1-0 2.13/0.79 Verlander 2-0 1.50/0.92 Zimmerman DNP JFernandez DNP GGonzalez DNP CMcHugh 0-1 8.10/2.40 J Lackey DNP Wainwright DNP Syndergaard DNP Samardzjia DNP Pineda 0-2 4.50/1.50 Hendricks DNP B Colon DNP T Ross DNP Richards DNP Salazar 0-1 8.31/2.54 S Gray 0-1 17.18/2.73 Our record vs the best 34: 12-5 I doubt any other team has a better W-L record vs these guys this year.

The 25 man roster looks pretty good as you state it, with the possible exception of Moncada, who is doing his best imitation of Ethelred the Unready... We could see Pablo start on the 25 man roster with Moncada at AAA. Or, we could see Hernandez at 3B. Barnes who has a good arm but is often ineffective and Holt who might be trade bait, although he is an effective utility guy, but he has trade value. I'd keep Barnes. He still has upside. The 40 man roster you include Rutledge and Hernandez, either of which could replace Holt on the 25 man roster if Holt gets traded. Sandoval is that albatross that is hung around DD's neck. What to do with him? We may do what we did with Craig and Castillo, but I think we'll wait until ST'ing to decide on Pablo. Marrero could be trade bait although a low value player. He's SS depth kept at AAA. Holaday is only worth keeping as an insurance policy. He's out of options, so it's him or Vaz (or Swi). Brentz is not that talented and outfielder or hitter and could be replaced with better. I'd have cut Brentz already, if our OF depth wasn't so thin. I don't know Romanski He's the AAA catcher with options remaining. Butler is also an option. or Witte. Maybe just a AAAA wonder I would give a long look to Kopech if they can settle his motion down. A thrower like him might fit well into the BP, provided he has the right temperament for the team. I hear he is firey. At 21 next season, he should be old enough to make the jump. Perhaps by mid-season. Maybe he'll get a ST'ing invite. Of the FA's, Ortiz is really retiring, Hill shouldn't be kept, Ziegler is good but he will be 38 and a big multiyear contract wouldn't make sense. Uehara is old and fragile and despite a good showing going out this year, we couldn't expect him to be available for much of the season. He is a no go for me. Tazawa has been good and if we don't wear him out he can be of value. Still good velocity, still a veteran who has good through the wars, and still young enough to warrant a contract, but not for huge bucks. Maybe DD makes an offer but can't land him. I doubt we keep any of our free agents to be. Look to the minors before signing outside players. I think we go after Beltran and 2 solid set-up RP'ers (FA or trade). We may sign a vet 5th starter type as insurance, even if we keep Buch.

I think it was bold sarcasm for a 6th post. All the doom & gloomers saying we "are not a playoff team" after a poor stretch here and there.

Both teams used 8 RP'ers! That's one thing that sucks about expanded roster. All the pitching changes adds an hour to the game.

My guess is they send Moncada to winter ball to improve at 3B and with fundamentals. By the end of spring training, we should know if he needs time at AAA. How Shaw and Pablo are looking/playing might force our hand.

How many years would you give EE?

Me too, but it's nice to know what our cushion is. If we make the playoffs, rank the teams you'd like to face first. Here's mine: 1) NYY 2) DET 3) BAL 4) TOR 5) CLE 6) TEX We're 4 games behind Texas, so unless we catch them, it looks like we would face CLE, if we win the division.

How about the AL East? Teams with a winning percent over .535: 4 AL East 2 AL Central 2 NL West 1 AL West 1 NL East 1 NL Central Teams with a winning percent over .549: 3 AL East 1 Everyone else While 4 teams have a better winning percent than the Sox, none of them play in the AL East.

Before today's game, there were 124 AL players with 300+ PAs. Here's how our players rank in key categories: BA 2) Pedey .328 8) Ortiz .316 9) Betts .315 19) Bogey .298 32) Ramirez .285 52) Bradley .272 HR 14) Ortiz 31 15) Betts 30 30) JBJ 23 35) Ram 22 51) Bogey 18 60) Shaw 16 RBI 3) Ortiz 107 4) Betts 101 7) Ramirez 93 27) Bogey 81 28) JBJ 80 40) Shaw 70 46) Pedey 65 OPS 1) Ortiz 1.022 11) Betts .903 17) Pedey .850 19) JBJ .849 23) Ram .841 45) Bogey .800 170 players with 180+ PAs 1) Ortiz 1.022 4) Leon .958 12) Betts .903 17) Young .864 20) Pedey .850 22) J B J .849. 26) Ramirez .841 53) Bogey .800 75) TShaw .770 _____________ .748 AL OPS____ 107) Holt .719

I'm not complaining about HanRam. I'm tickled pink he's doing so well. He's not great on defense, but he's good enough to not be an issue. I was talking next year, in terms of him being moved to DH vs RHPs. It's not a demotion. It's just one adjustment to help minimize the loss of Papi.

20 games to go... BOS +2 over TOR/BAL WC TOR - BAL - DET -2 NYY -2 So, we're up 4 for the last playoff slot.

I'd love to add him to our roster, but he's going to want mega bucks and mega years. Some GM will offer him 5-6 years at $25+M. I don't think we should. My guess is we make a play for Beltran for 2 years. (note: I wouldn't.)

It makes sense to take your weakest defensive player, as long as he can hit, and make him the DH once Papi retires. That would be HanRam. I get the argument that not all players are cut out to be DH's. It's hard to keep focused, and focus is something HanRam seems to struggle with. However, there are other reasons to move HanRam to DH vs RHPs only with Young DH'ing vs lefties.. 1) Moncada is likely to win the 3B job at some point next year, if not on day one. 2) Pablo may surprise us all and win the 3B or 1B job next year. As fat as he is, he's probably still a better fielding 1Bman than HanRam. 3) T Shaw has the best UZR/150 at 1B from 2015-2016, He could play 1B vs RHPs. (Maybe he plays 3B vs LHPs, if he ever learns how to hit them.) So, we could have this at not extra financial cost: ....vs RHPs...vs LHPs DH: Ramirez Young 1B: T, Shaw Ramirez 3B: Moncada Shaw/Moncada Wild Card: Pablo

To me, it's not about the 16-20 record in one-run games, it's more about our recent trend (last 10 games) of losing low-scoring one run games immediately after a blow out win. It kills me!

This would be a fantastic time to buy low on Zimmermann who has gotten rather unlucky this year. Better him than Buchholz. What, like trade Buch and Devers for Zimm?

(2014-2016) Here's how the Sox have done this year against the top 34 SP'ers by WAR (2014-2016) I'm using the larger sample size than just this year, because if we killed a pitcher this year, we might have knocked him out of the top 34- like Greinke): W-L ERA/WHIP Kershaw DNP Kluber 1-1 4.28/1.46 Scherzer DNP CSale 1-1 1.29/0.71 J Arrieta DNP Quintana 1-0 4.73/1.35 Lester DNP Bumgarner 0-0 1.50/0.83 J Cueto DNP Keuchel 0-1 12.00/2.17 Greinke 0-1 48.60/6.00 deGrom DNP Strasburg DNP C Archer 0-4 6.65/1.75 CHamels DNP Carrasco 0-0 7.20/1.60 G Cole DNP______ Vs top 17: 8-3 Tanaka 1-0 2.13/0.79 Verlander 2-0 1.50/0.92 Zimmerman DNP JFernandez DNP GGonzalez DNP CMcHugh 0-1 8.10/2.40 J Lackey DNP Wainwright DNP Syndergaard DNP Samardzjia DNP Pineda 0-2 4.50/1.50 Hendricks DNP B Colon DNP T Ross DNP Richards DNP Salazar 0-1 8.31/2.54 S Gray 0-1 17.18/2.73 Our record vs the best 34: 12-5 I doubt any other team has a better W-L record vs these guys this year.

I'm not going to take the time to study how other top contending teams do against the very best pitchers in MLB, but here are the best pitchers in MLB by WAR from 2014 to 2016 (I'm using a larger sample size than this year, because if we killed a pitcher this year, we might have knocked him out of the top 30- like Greinke): W-L ERA/WHIP Kershaw DNP Kluber 1-1 4.28/1.46 Scherzer DNP CSale 1-1 1.29/0.71 J Arrieta DNP Quintana 1-0 4.73/1.35 Lester DNP Bumgarner 0-0 1.50/0.83 J Cueto DNP Keuchel 0-1 12.00/2.17 Greinke 0-1 48.60/6.00 deGrom DNP Strasburg DNP C Archer 0-4 6.65/1.75 CHamels DNP Carrasco 0-0 7.20/1.60 G Cole DNP______ Vs top 17: 8-3 Tanaka 1-0 2.13/0.79 Verlander 2-0 1.50/0.92 Zimmerman DNP JFernandez DNP GGonzalez DNP CMcHugh 0-1 8.10/2.40 J Lackey DNP Wainwright DNP Syndergaard DNP Samardzjia DNP Pineda 0-2 4.50/1.50 Hendricks DNP B Colon DNP T Ross DNP Richards DNP Salazar 0-1 8.31/2.54 S Gray 0-1 17.18/2.73 Our record vs the best 34: 12-5 I doubt any other team has a better W-L record vs these guys this year.

true, it's a 1.02 to 1.03 correlation. Not much to consider a big deal.

BOS +1.0 on TOR TOR +1.0 (1st WC) BAL 0.0 (2nd WC) DET -1.0 NYY -1.0 - won 7 in a row HOU -2.5 SEA -3.5 KCR -4.0