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While I certainly agree Sox management knows more about every situation than we do, does that mean they’re always right? If so, e we really are not left with much to complain about on this board. Part of me thinks the decision to put Whitlock in the rotation is more guided by finances than many of us would like. Replacement relievers are cheaper than replacement starters

So your criticism of Devers is he isn’t a Hall of Fame caliber player? I don’t think anyone disagrees, including Devers. But it’s not exactly the harshest criticism, either. His D is weak, but I don’t think he will be spending much more of his career at 3b…

+1…

Tampa North would be fine, but it seems more like he wants to be Cincinnati East…

If you’ve already given up, does it matter?

I’m hoping the surprise performance of Criswell pushes Whitlock back into the bullpen…

Dictionary.com is artificial. Just like Q-Anon. (Apolitical dude note: Netflix has a documentary out called “The Anti-Social Network” that tells the story of 4chan.com, up through its evolution to 8chan.com and the creation of Q-Anon. If you’re hating the Sox and need a break, I recommend it as it’s quite good.)

“Artificial” means “man-made”. After all, the root word is “art”. And that’s how you know its me…

MLBTR used to have the occasional story about a player learning about his own trade from their site…

John Wetteland, Rob Dibble, Randy Myers, etc. These guys didn’t call themselves the Brain Dead Heavers because they mixed up their pitches. I can’t remember the rest of the Heavers, but I think there were a few more…

I don’t expect them to do my fitting suggestions. Not sure why that’s so difficult for you to grasp. But that seems to be a theme with you. You also don’t seem to grasp that Cora isn’t playing “the hand he’s dealt.” He’s in on the dealing. Breslow and Cora probably talk a lot more than you realize about this stuff. Cora did it with the Astros and he wasn’t even the manager there. So Dombrowski/Bloom/Breslow are not making any moves Cora doesn’t know about beforehand and probably has input on in many cases. With the money involved, Henry definitely wants everyone on the same page. And Cora has absolutely shown he prefers offensive metrics to defensive ones. Most if not all of the stuff you complain about Bloom for is more Cora than you think. He never had to play Arroyo in right field; Cora chose to because he wanted Arroyo’s bat in the lineup over Bradley. Really, he never had to play Franchy at 1b either. Dalbec was always there. And it’s even possible Cora requested Shaw get DFAd. It’s very doubtful that just got dropped on him. And no way Bloom forced Cora to play Arroyo and Franchy out of position. One thing well known about Cora - massive ego. No way he sticks around for that. Not to mention, if Bloom wanted to run the show, he never had to hire Cora back. Certainly Cora doesn’t always get what he wants, a good example being Carlos Santana. But it’s an extremely safe bet nothing gets dropped in his lap either… And I didn’t say they don’t value defense

You are even dumber than I thought. And I thought I set the bar pretty low…

Skenes final line: 6IP 0ER 0H 1BB 12K

Paul Skenes second MLB start - perfect through 4 innings with 9 strikeouts…

Rising star or not, he’s already been extended. His errors don’t bother me because he’s not going to be the shortstop going forward. And he’s much, much better in CF than at SS…

Some of us value the importance of defense and like to see these Gold Glove outfielders come to Boston. Others think defense is assessed watching highlight films and measured in RBIs and then get pissy because the Sox let Justin Turner go despite there clearly being nowhere for him to play in Boston any more…

Some of us value the importance of defense and like to see these Gold Glove outfielders come to Boston. Others think defense is assessed watching highlight films and measured in RBIs and then get pissy because the Sox let Justin Turner go despite there clearly being nowhere for him to play in Boston any more…

If Grissom continues to flounder, they might return Story to 2b. If Grissom can establish himself, then it gets more complicated. Some think Story to 3b. More likely, him and the bulk of his owed salary gets shipped somewhere else…

This year they’ll role with Rafaela because it clears up the OF logjam. Story won’t not back until next year, where he probably pals SS until he gets hurt and Mayer steps in…

Jansen is walking 14.7% of all the hitters he faces (1 out of every 7). That's not only a career high, but also pretty damn ridiculous and well above the league average of 8.6%. And walking hitters is the absolute worst thing a closer can do, because there is absolutely no defense for that. Really, without the walk, the Rays got to him for a pair of singles and a sac fly. If he made Arozarena hit the ball, chances are the Sox get out of that inning unscathed...

Rafaela has come up with 107 runners on base (most on the team). and has driven 19 of them (plus himself 4 times). So Rafaela has driven in 17.7% of the runners on base. The only player with more PAs, Duran, has come up with 86 runners on base and has driven in 15 of them (plus himself twice). So Duran has driven in 17.4% of the runners on base, Devers has come up with 88 runs on base, and has drive in 10 of them (plus himself 6 times). So Devers has driven in 11% of the runners on base. Those numbers for both Duran and Rafaela are actually probably a but higher than the 16% league average most hitters drive in. But by the same token, Devers' percentage is far too low, although somewhat influenced being pitched around. For some perspective, MLB RBI leader Marcell Ozuna has come up with 123 men on base, and driven in 29 of them (plus himself 12 times). For 23.5% driven in. Devers and especially O'Neill are down on driving in those runners on base, but Rafaela and Duran are actually on the positive side of the league. But even if Devers was driving in 16% of the runners on base, he would still only have 20 RBIs (14 baserunners and himself 6 times). And if he driving them in at the same rate as Ozuna, he would still only have 26 RBIs, a far cry from Ozuna, because, 40 more base runners on. Coming up with so few men on base certainly hurts Devers. Only hitting 6HRs so far does as well, and of course being a slow starter doesn't help. Historically, April is Devers' second worst month, better only than August. However in 2020, his slow start took place in July, and it was probably his slowest start ever (.536 OPS), and that makes me wonder how good his "real July" numbers would be considering he still carries a .981 career OPS that month...

No they really weren’t. Until two years ago, teams played teams in their divisions 18-19 times every year. You don’t think seeing a team that often helped hitters get familiarized with pitchers?

Sale falls into that same category as Eovaldi and a few others like Fried and Buehler: his issues are not at all related to talent...

I noticed last week a big reason Rafaela leads the team in RBIs is he has come up with more runners on base than anyone else. Now the reason for that is he has not been injured this year, as opposed to nearly everyone else. There is no other way the number 9 hitter would be second on any team in PA, and not, you know, ninth...

With Rafaela on board for 8 more years, Duran's reign in CF likely ends after this season, one way or another...