S5Dewey

One never knows how much they'd do for their kids until it's time to do something.

Oh yeah. It left me wondering how much input JH has in the daily operation of the paper and whether he knew that the article about Jared was going to be revived. And if not, what JH's reaction was when he learned of it. We'll probably never know, although I looked for the article this morning and couldn't find it.

Yep. Blame that on Scott Boras. He convinced Tek that he could get a lot of money for Tek out there and in the end Tek came almost begging the Sox to take him back.

Please excuse me for taking up your time with this but I've got to bitch to someone.... I have no - or rather, very few - words... The Freakin' Globe has chosen today to reprint a 7 1/2 year-old article to chronicle the crimes of Jared Remy. Yeah, Stay classy, Globe. :mad:

I'd think they have figured out that team friendly contracts or home town discounts do exactly the opposite of what the player wants. They sign contracts like those so they can stay in town and by signing for lower money they actually make themselves more tradeable. They should only sign one of those if it includes a no-trade clause.

Yep. That reminded me that I have a daily lineup paper from ST with his autograph on it. In spite of all the stories Orcillo and O'B shared about his being a curmudgeon he always had a friendly smile and a few words for anyone who approached him. I somehow had the feeling that he'd beat his C again and go on forever. I guess I knew it was just wishful thinking.

It's a sad day for Red Sox fans. Chad Finn just posted on the Globe website that Jerry Remy has passed away. :-( https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/31/sports/jerry-remy-dies/ I'm not surprised... but I'm shocked... if that makes any sense....although it seemed inevitable given what he went through. RIP, Jerry.

My first thought when Bloom was signed was to wonder what this will mean for Devers. Owners tend to sign GM's for a purpose based on their history. The Red Sox signed DD to tweak the team and make a run at a WSC... and it worked. He left the minors barren but as they say, "flags fly forever". Now they've signed Bloom and Bloom didn't make a name for himself by signing expensive players to long term contracts. If history means anything I wouldn't be spending $100+ for a shirt with "DEVERS" on the back of it.

Once in a while you and I agree on something. Hitters deserve to know what's going to be called a strike just as pitchers deserve to know that when a pitch is within the strike zone it's going to be called a strike and it shouldn't be up to the discretion of the umpire. The strike zone is defined in the rules and both the pitcher and the hitter should know that the rule is being enforced. Umpires haven't done themselves any favors by making themselves immune to "incentives for excellence", i.e working playoff games. IMO it's time for them to 1) step up and improve their games, and 2) reward the best umpires with post-season games. If they don't do those things they're risking being replaced by technology - and deservedly so.

You guys are kids! I've got Bell by 9. I was opposed to robo-umps until, like Bell, I saw Diaz in this year's playoffs. That made me think about not only the one AB against JDM but the effect of a bad call anytime in the game. Then I thought about Angel Hernandez and his ongoing incompetence and that sealed the deal for me. Now I'm weakening. I think there's a place and use for the technology, I just don't want umpiring to be consumed by it.

Baseball is based on the assumption that umpires are always going to get it right - but they don't. When an pitcher throws a pitch that is outside the zone and the umpire calls it a strike the pitcher then has a HUGE advantage. He can then throw another (unhittable) pitch outside the strike zone and the hitter then has to decide whether to swing at another (unhittable) pitch in that same place or hope that the umpire will get it right this time. IMO that has a bigger impact on games than isolated calls that the ump got wrong. I've been somewhat ambivalent about robo-umps in the past but the more I see of the game the more I think they're needed, probably not for every pitch but managers should be allowed to 'challenge' a certain number of pitches per game that could be reviewed.

Why does robo-umps have to be an all-or-nothing thing? The technology exists to determine balls and strikes so let MLB (an impartial arbiter) run the robo-ump and give managers a specified number of "challenges" to a call. Yes, it would cause more slight delays but it's not like the out/safe calls where NY has to look at the play from several different angles and sometimes take five minutes to do it. There's ONE angle - the "box" and either it's a ball or a strike - and it can be called in less than a minute. The umpires are usually right in their calls but this would give players/managers recourse on those few calls where an ump has blown it. The ice has been broken on using technology to make calls but we don't have to go overboard and use it all the time just as we don't use NY to settle every putout. Problem solved!

It seems that Cora may be doing exactly that. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/11/sports/thanks-conservative-approach-regular-season-red-sox-pitchers-now-can-throw-more-when-it-counts/

Not my problem!

I couldn't believe they didn't want Hernandez especially after Shaw went to second.

It was a poor choice but it was between one of the hottest hitters in baseball and a good power hitter. If they'd walked Hernandez they at least would have given themselves a chance to get out of the inning with a DP.

Is there a (good) reason why the Rays shouldn't have walked Hernandez in that situation?

We as fans tend to think about how the Sox are going to look next season while Chaim is doing what he's paid to do. He's looking at how the Sox are going to look in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and those two goals aren't always compatible. We criticized DD for going for the WSC and leaving the minors bare. Now we're lauding Chaim for rebuilding the minors while making the team competitive. I look for him to do what he's done in the past, to take a more patient approach and build toward winning the division in 2022 and looking at 2023 (and possibly beyond) to be in the WS, all the while making the minors stronger. That may mean trading some players who are nearing the end of their contracts for younger and cheaper players with promise. I like to think that most of us agree with Bill James when he said that the best way to build a team that will be consistently competitive is by having a core group of solid players and paying FA money to players to fill needs not covered by the group of solid players. (and yes, I'm paraphrasing James, but that was the gist of what he said). That's what I see as Chaim's goal and thus far it seems to be working.

Yes. Alll of this. ^ Good Lord. Some of us come here and bicker about what was the right thing to do in any situations after Cora's moves are successful. It's pretty obvious that Cora made the right choices! - because what he did worked. Duh. Sometimes there's more than one "right choice" and maybe...just maybe... things would have worked out the same had Cora not pulled those pitchers when he did - or maybe they wouldn't have. We don't know. All we know for sure is that what he did worked and that's good enough for me. (And this is coming from a guy who posted that I was concerned that sooner or later Cora would put someone out there who couldn't do the job).

Slash... if you haven't done this already, check your messages. :-(

...and with all the great things those Yankee announcers just said about Stanton, Stanton is playing golf tomorrow.

I don't want to sound like a long-suffering Red Sox fan, but this 3-batter rule can change a game in a hurry if one pitcher struggles. But yes, we're looking at another ESPN RS/Y's 4- hour game.

"Clutch" doesn't exist. He's "only" 6-11 with the bases loaded because he's a great hitter (.290) anyway.

Post of the day, right there!!

I'd feel a lot better about this game if the Sox can score another run... or four.