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Sure. But first give me a list of major league starting players ready to step in?

Eh. One year. We’ve also seen him give a Cy Young caliber performance, but that’s not who he is either. We have a good idea who Rick Porcello is by now...

Gorkys put a curse on my goldfish!

And Greg Bird, too, right?

Well the problem is that they have to be better than the bottom of the 25 man roster, which really isn’t likely. Unless Bloom uses the Rule 5 draft as a precursor to making a trade or two..,

Are you talking about Mookie Betts here? It gets confusing because the Buckner groundball was hit by Mookie Wilson...

In his entire time with the Rays, Bloom selected one player in the Rule 5 draft. I’m more interested in him making deals for the players other teams want to protect but can’t. Like how Dombrowski did last year for Colten Brewer...

A more sensible use of Andujar would be the centerpiece of a trade for Jon Gray...

But I’m hurt you didn’t use WAFL...

But they added him to the 40 man roster after A ball. You said you didn’t understand why they added. I suspect that 9.38 K/BB ratio played a big part...

That can be accomplished with a better grade of bench player than Gorkys Hernandez...

Sure he was. In those days, the Sox rotation was really called “Clemens and Hurst and expect the worst.”

A 9.38 K/BB ratio, I suspect...

Come out and play!!

With 9 hours until the deadline, only Atlanta has added any names to the 40 man roster...

I’d protect Ockimey over Weber...

What was wrong with Bruce Hurst in 1986? He was a passed ball and a groundball away from being World Series MVP...

There is no reason to bring Gorkys Hernandez back. None whatsoever

Why is Weber still here?

I remember when the BABIP-fueled Ciriaco was the Shortstop Of The Future. Turns out in this case, the future meant "the next 6 days."...

If the Sox protect 6 players, they cannot make a selection. They might leave spot open if there is a player Bloom likes. No one wanted Ockimey last year. He did improve a bit this year by taking a lot more walks and showed more power (aided by the Manfred Missile), but I am not so sure how many team want him on the MLB roster all season. Although they could select him and work something out...

So 8am Tokyo time?

I think the biggest factor will be who else is in the lineup. As of now, the team is incomplete. When the Sox had Ortiz and AGon, they had to get creative to get both bats in the lineup in NL road games. But this team right now has no such problem. The internal candidates at 1b are Chavis and maybe Dalbec, and benching either for 9 games doesn't look like a big issue. In the outfield, Bradley is reportedly gone, so there is a huge question mark in CF. If Betts is also gone, that doubles the questions. The Sox don't have much in the way of internal solutions - Durran, Wilson and maybe (but probably not) Castillo. And the only external name mentioned so far (Jake Marisnick) doesn't represent a massive change in this status. If any of them were benched to put JD in the outfield for 9 games, I don't see that being a major issue. Even a worst case outfield of Martinez-Benintedi-Betts might have defensive issues, but that hardly guarantees losses every time they send them out there. If JD plays the field in NL road games, where he plays is likely to be determined by whoever fills out the outfield and who winds up holding down 1b...

The big issue with his early years was a lack of anyone behind him. From 1998 thru 2001, the only starting pitchers besides Pedro to throw over 140 IP were Mark Portugal and Pat Rapp, both in 1998. Yay! Such quality arms. Remember the days of "Portugal and Rapp make the rotation crap." It wan't until 2002, when the Sox converted Lowe, added Burkett, and stopped moving Wakefield around that they had a true starting rotation capable of not only pitching well but also eating a lot of innings...

Actually in those days, a players service clock did not start if he was called up in September. Now, a September call-up does get service time...