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I’m on a Typo Tear lately. Maybe I should start game threads…

I have the solution for everything. Send Manfred on the space trip with Jeff Bezos. And then leave them both there…

Will Manfred be collaborating with Jeff Bezos on this?

We have to work on it?

The worst

You’re making too big of a deal of a year off in a 30 year old trae and some Nordic spelling variations…

How about 1990?

You’re so young. We traded for a pitcher named Anderson from the Astros in 1991…

The main argument for keeeping him is he won’t get much back in a trade. Blooms turns 23 in August. So he is still young. But in the 5 minor league seasons since he was drafted, he’s thrown a TOTAL of 95 innings, with 55 of them coming in one year. And that was back in 2017. He has pitched so infrequently that no other stats matter. Nothing can be learned from 95 innings spanning 6 years, except that the pitcher is never healthy. He’s more likely to get DFA’d than traded for anything useful…

Seeing someone named Anderson pitching for Houston gives me horrible flashbacks…

I bet the Sox hitters have more need for it as well. The point is the leadoff hitter has the least opportunity to watch the opposing pitcher throw. A lot of hitters might not like that. Kike, apparently, doesn’t care…

Most likely hitter in the lineup to come up with 2 outs and no one on base…

That's the thing about leading off. I think a hitter has to actually want that role. Even my daughter has told me she hates leading off, because she would rather be in the on deck circle to see what the opposing pitching is actually throwing during games. I have to imagine MLB hitters - far more attentive to detail than an 8th grader - also like to have a chance to watch the opposing pitcher against an actual hitter to get timing down, see what the pitches are, etc...

He missed a lot of time in 1994 and 1995 as well. And his carer was cut short by the plantar fasciitis that limited him to pinch hitting roles and that bizarre 2B usage by Tony LaRussa. (LaRussa would put McGwire in the lineup as the leadoff hitter in road games, listed as the 2B, then after the 1st inning and his one PA with the bases empty, remove him and put in light-hitting Fernando Vina to actually play the field and take over the leadoff spot. No idea why LaRussa did not just save McGwire for pinch hitting opportunities with men on base, especially since the Cardinals were/still are in the National League, you know, where pitchers bat.)

The man who will skew the whole thing is the most aptly named player in MLB history - Mickey Klutts. Klutts' claim to fame is that in his 8 year MLB career, he had fewer career at-bats than days on the DL. (True!!!!) He was also a rather boring guy of average size, listed as 5'11 170lbs. And the bulk of that weight might have been casts and other medical devices...

Internal solutions should happen first, since those can be undone if they don't work. But if the Sox want to upgrade the offense at 1B, I still think revisiting moving Devers there should be an option. This team might have their biggest weakness on defense. Many defensive stats support this, as do the Fielding Independent Pitching stats. I was thinking a defensive CF would make sense, but most metrics do actually have Enrique Hernandez as one of the better defensive CF's in MLB. Just leave him there. SS is another issue, but the Sox cannot afford to move Bogaerts, as he apparently has been reluctant to move to 3B, which is a problem. So assuming that still stands (he doesn't return my texts), then moving Devers to 1B and getting a solid defensive 3B might make sense as a deadline acquisition. I'll highlight Kyle Seager as one potential target. as he does fare well on most defensive metrics, and certainly does better than Devers, who does not.. BTV gives Seager a trade value of 0, so if the Sox take his salary (pro-rated $18.5mill this year, $15-20mill team option for 2022), he should be easily available for just about anyone in the Sox minor league system. In this scenario, Devers is fine with changing positions. We've all had this discussion with him. And obviously, pitching....

Betts will undoubtedly fade as he ages. Everyone does. But the Dodgers wanted peak Betts in the lineup while they still had Bellinger, Seager, Muncy, Kershaw, Jansen, etc. to try and get as many titles as possible in the short term. The way their farm is going, they are hoping (and could easily be successful) in getting younger, cheap players to make up the difference between 35yo Betts and 28yo Betts...

As Notin has been saying, it’s the Sox defense more so than the pitching.

Not sure why the bonehead Manfred just refuses to enforce an existing pitch clock rule (5.07©)that would have solved his biggest issue, and instead has just butchered the game beyond recognition. I imagine by season’s end, Manfred’s poor decisions and attempts to fix them will end up with MLB banning balls and bats altogether, and teams will be forced to resort to rock-paper-scissors to conclude the season and postseason…

He doesn’t look like much in the way of trade bait after that. What’s Bloom’s sales pitch supposed to be? “We know he’s not very good when he’s healthy, but at least he gets injured a lot.”

I know Houck and Whitlock are both being groomed to start, but they could also be an extremely effective duo of game-shortening relievers…

Replace Barnes with Houck. I have questions about Houck as a starter, but I have faith he could be a lights out reliever…

Especially since Swihart isn’t even dead yet…

To who? Blue Cross Blue Shield? Groome might be the first player to get injured merely by being traded…

Or we could pretend his MLB service time path is blocked by Martin Perez and Nick Pivetta…