S5Dewey

When it comes to team payroll all fiscal restraints are self-inflicted. As you proved, the Rangers have the money to spend but they don't begin to want to spend like the Sox do. The Rangers can shed $30M in one fell swoop which, given where they are, could sound very attractive to them, either in terms of what the owners can pocket or in terms of what they can do with $30M in acquiring players. ...And if you're right that Even Devers might not be enough to lure Beltre to the Sox then Beltre should be buying a house in Texas because no team in their right mind is going to pay more than that for him - or even that much.

Naw. You're just a kid!

I don't like this entire situation of big salaries and bigger owner's profits, but OTOH the only way to change that is for the fans to stay away, and that's not going to happen.

IMO some of our shortcomings are overstated because of isolated situations. Take the team's alleged poor fielding, for example. The team has made 31 errors this year, but 13 of them have been at 3B. If remove those 13 and then allow a couple of errors for normal play the number of team errors becomes 20, which puts the Sox in the top 1/3. So the problem isn't overall team fielding. It's just that our 3B adventures have skewed things. And BTW, what's up with charging Mookie with an error last night on a ball that would have been a highlight reel catch had he made it? What ever happened to "normal effort" being the criteria? Ya, there have been some baserunning gaffes but the two biggest ones weren't the fault of the players as much as they were either a) the players being caught in no-man's land on weird plays or the Sox being the recipient of the umpires failing to make the right call - twice. But Pedey needs to realize that he's not 23 any more and everyone needs to RUN EVERY BALL OUT. Even the hitting isn't significantly worse than last year but not having Hanley there for the past few games has shown that we do need another big bat in the middle of the order. Either that or stop hitting into so friggin' many DP's! UGH

I look at that differently. I see the Sox as a team that's willing to spend big in an effort to win big. That's what got them up against the LT limit. OTOH, the Rangers are a team with different financial restraints and, well, $30M (spead over two years) is still $30M and that's may be more than they want to spend for a player on a team that's not going to win whether it's with him or without him. A classic salary dump. The downside to this as I see it isn't this year - it's the $18M in 2018. IMO it's becoming more obvious all the time that the Sox only have two roads to follow to improve at 3B. Either spend some resources (money or trade) to acquire a 3B or take a chance on bringing up Devers, because what's "working" now isn't working. I don't even have a strong preference as to which road to follow, but if they're going to try to sign someone else they should be inquiring about the best who may be available. Either that will work out or it won't but at least the FO will know.

They way the FO misled Arroyo pissed me off as much as anything they've done, but at the same time it was what they now call a "learning experience". Arroyo signed a "team friendly" contract because he wanted to stay in Boston, and they immediately used that contract to make him more tradeable. I found that to be, to use a current word, deplorable. The thing to be learned from for players is to NEVER sign a team friendly contract. Take every penny you can get and laugh all the way to the bank.

I hear Detroit has one of those.

..and the king laughed, not because he wanted to but because he had two.

Beltre is making $18M this year. Since we're ~1/3 of the way through the season we could get him for ~$12M which, if I remember Moon's salary total correctly, would put us around the LT limit. Most of us seem to believe that DD has kept some money in reserve to pick up a player at the deadline if necessary and while we're not at the deadline NOW might be the right time. Think of it in terms of bringing in Kimbrel to pitch in the 8th when there are runners on base and big hitters coming up. A committed team does what it has to do at the time to win. Picking up Beltre fills the defensive spot which we desperately need - and also gives us some power in the middle of the lineup - which we also need. Waiting for Devers is putting too much faith in an unproven rookie to save us. I'd go with the sure(er) thing. DD sure as Hell should be kicking the tires on Beltre, if only to see what the Rangers would take.

I dunno.. I don't think we want our players running on what appears to be a caught line drive. The replay clearly showed that the ball was dropped on purpose to set up the force play. Again, the umpires blew the call. Unfortunately that play isn't reviewable. (Who makes these stupid rules regarding what is and isn't reviewable, anyway? Why isn't everything except balls and strikes reviewable if there's reasonable doubt?) I had trouble believing that Pedey hadn't gone to third on the passed ball too. I don't know if Jerry was covering for Pedey by saying that the pitcher may have been in his line of vision but I watched for it on the replay and it's plausable. However, trying to stretch that single into a double late in the game is unforgivable. What was he thinking???

20 pitches today in a 5-out win. Kimbrel may be able to come back tomorrow if needed.

That's appropriate. Machado is the face of the Baltimore Thugs.

If this lead holds up the best move all day may be Farrell's decision to bring in Kimbrel in the 8th. Now, does he hit in the top of the 9th?

and Vaz can jog home!

Lookee this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess... but... still...

Why isn't d'arnaud running for Vaz now? He runs like a catcher!

Yep. Maybe Farrell is figuring out that sometimes the best way to use the "closer" isn't by waiting until the 9th.

Really? Runner on 3rd and nobody out and we couldn't get one stinkin' run across? Ugh

The way he's been going I'll settle for his not hitting into a DP

I've always been a JBJ fan but he's not the guy I want up right now in this situation

True enough. Bogey is a good hitter anyway so he cannot also be clutch.

Yep. Now I suppose the outcry will start again about the Sox and bad baserunning. :-(

Was that not reviewable?? The more I see it the more it looks to me like he dropped that ball intentionally.

What a great swing, too.