illinoisredsox

JH is just trying to give him some external motivation. If it works, great, the Sox maybe get a serviceable player out of. If not, it only cost some words.

Here I will disagree. I don't want ANY pitcher, especially one as talented as ERod, going out there with a leg injury. Too many instances of guys trying to do that and ruining their arms because their delivery was altered. A pro athlete has to distinguish between playing hurt and playing injured. The former you have to learn to do, the latter is stupid to do. Would you rather he miss one or 2 starts or would you rather he injure it worse and be gone for the season or worse? It's not a question of toughness.

Unless there is an injury to one of the infielders, he will not be up until September. Hill may not be getting it done offensively, but he is defensively and as such would be valuable the last month. The team is winning right now; I can't see them rocking the boat with only a week to go until roster expansion. Talented as the kid is, he is still very unproven at 3rd base. If he proves himself down the stretch, they'll figure out a way to get him on the postseason roster.

ERod has to be back before that can happen. However, I think Buchholz goes back to the pen since he has been pretty effective there; they certainly could use the help.

It's challengeable, but it doesn't matter; a hit by pitch is a hit by pitch. Makes no difference if it hit the dirt.

Carl Everett agrees with this statement.

Exactly. Archer may well be on his way to a 20 loss season. You have to be a good pitcher to lose 20 in a season; if you aren't, they won't keep sending you out there. If you look at the list of 20 game losers, you see a lot of guys who had pretty good careers. Phil Niekro did it twice, Steve Carlton did it the year after he won 27 for the Phillies. Mickey Lolich. Luis Tiant. Wilbur Wood twice. Way back, Walter Johnson lost 20 twice and and Cy Young 3 times (although it was much more common when guys would start 45 or 50 games a year).

I've described this pen a Forrest Gump's box of chocolates: you never know what you are going to get.

Hadn't thought of that, but yeah, that time off now becomes a major concern. And there's no way he would agree to a rehab assignment, even for 2-3 days.

If I had to pick, I would take my chances with Pap. Papelbon may be a has been at this point, but Kelly is a never was.

You are correct about DL eligibility for postseason, but no matter what or when, they still need to put him on the 40 man to call him up even it's just for a September cup of coffee.

^This. You can't have a guy sit on the bench for 2-3 weeks, never see the plate and the all of a sudden stick him in the line-up and expect him to perform. The NL has an advantage in this regard, as bench players will hit for pitchers 3-4 times (or more) a week. With the DH, it's harder to get back-ups plate appearances in the AL.

Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski the man we call Yaz (We love him) Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski what power he has! Ah, our Boston team is always on the bean, cause we got Yaz We Fenway fans we stop and clap our hands at Yaz's Jazz Those rival pitchers on the mound all shake They dread each windup that they have to make When number eight is at the plate, and then he swings, and wow there it goes again and wow there it goes again, and wow there it goes again A rival batter hits one off the wall And there's Yastrzemski going for the ball They try for two, the runner knows he's through Look at Yaz, wow he threw him out again Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski the man we call Yaz (We love him) Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski, Carl Yastrzemski he's the idol of Boston, Mass On Beacon hill, he gives 'em quite a thrill In Southie too there's lots of 'whooptee-doo' In the North End they call Carl friend, and they hope the season will never end From Wellsey way they come to watch him play And on Cape Cod they take a holiday From all above they come to shout, "You know for Yaz, the hit was out!' The state of Maine is going quite insane And in Vermont it's only Yaz they want From every state, they come to wait To Yastrzemski at home plate Our Boston team, it's always on the bean, cause we got Yaz We Fenway fans we stop and clap our hands at Yaz's jazz Although Yastrzemski is a lengthy name, it fits quite nicely in the Hall of Fame We love him so, in Boston we all know that when he swings, (Yeah!) here we go again!

To repeat what moonslav said, O'Sullivan isn't on the 40 man roster anymore so he isn't eligible to come up (unless they add him back on). Doubtful that happens.

The season still will come down to can they beat Baltimore and Toronto head to head? If they can't they don't deserve to make the postseason.

But as moonslav has pointed out several times, in the minors he did have issues vs. lefties. And that reverse split in 2015 was based on a whopping 85 PAs.

Except he wasn't being benched when he was hot, and certainly not "constantly". He started the first 44 games of the season and played in the first 80. Young pinch hit for him late 4 times in the first 7 games; after that, the next inning he missed was game 45 (the 1st game he didn't start all year). Ortiz missed more time than Shaw did the first month, 2 months and 3 months of the season. The first game he didn't play in at all was July 3 and at that point it could be said he had played his way out of playing every inning.. His average started dropping in late May/early June and has continued to do so fairly steadily since then: after a torrid April when he hit .314, he hit .275 in May, .214 in June, .246 in July and .146 so far in August).

Yeah but that doesn't excuse the bad throw or the fact that Porcello was late getting over there.

Don't want him motivated. You want him in the same frame of mind he's been in all year.

True, but the odds of a Boras client signing a LTC early are not high, and they will go lower as FA gets nearer. Note I did not say the odds were zero. But even you have to admit that a large majority of Boras clients end up in free agency and at that point it's a crapshoot.

That's true. We always remember the Fingers and Gossages and Sutters who were able to do it for years. We forget about the guys who were gone in a blink. Sutter once said one of the classiest things I ever heard when he finally blew his arm out after 15 or so seasons. Everyone was telling him how sorry they were that his career ended that way. Paraphrasing, he said don't feel sorry for me, I had 15 years. Feel sorry for the 19 year old kid in A ball who just blew his arm out.

Unfortunately, that's what it has come to. Everyone has to have a role and you can't deviate from that role. Kimbrel is a perfect example. In actual save situations, he's been really good (high wire act, but he's gotten the job done 90% of the time). In non-save situations (tied game or behind) he's been awful. He's hardly the only one in the majors. And back in the day, Kimbrel would have pitched both the 8th and the 9th. Dojii has it right, though, when it comes to managing these guys, no thanks.

Biggest issue with 2 of the B's is their agent, some guy named Boras. Betts uses somebody else (at least right now)

Plus, per Pete Abraham of the Globe, the first 4 hitters up for Detroit in the 8th were hitting .429 against Ziegler (against Taz they were "only" .378). I can only assume Barnes was unavailable yesterday for some reason. Hembree pitched his way out of these situations earlier this year so I'm not sure he would have been a good choice. Kimbrel for 2?

And most have had multiple disasters.