S5Dewey

I agree that Anderson, Ockimey and Lakins might now be hot topics for us at the moment but it does demonstrate that we have players in the minors who are 3-4 years away to fill spots starting in the early 2100's. I'm not the least bit concerned that we don't have ML-ready players in Pawtucket at this moment because... where would we play them?? This team is essentially set for the next 2-3 years, after which there may be another crop of minor leaguers knocking down the door. No, they may not be Benintendi or Bogarts but it's not outside the realm of possibility that we w'll be able to extend some of our youth. I'm willing to enjoy this ride now and not worry about who's going to be able to fill spots in 2021 and beyond until at least 2019. Some prospects have a way of coming around. Others have a way of falling by the wayside. Let's see what our minor league system looks like in two years before we either start our happy dance or looking like Eeyore. Things are seldom as bad as you fear nor as good as you hope they'll be.

A GM has to know what he's getting when he signs Buch - a "feast or famine" pitcher. A guy with great stuff when he's healthy but he's only healthy about half of the year. GM's have always been hoping that he'd remain healthy for an entire year but since he has to be healthy during the first part of the year in order to be healthy for the entire year.... things aren't looking too good for the Phil's at the moment. :-( I was torn about trading him. I'll admit, I wanted to keep him of only for the insurance of knowing that we had a pitcher with that kind of stuff for $13M. OTOH, I also wanted to get rid of him because of the LT implications and the uncertainty of when his career would be over. My biggest gripe about the trade is that we didn't get enough for him. We traded away a guy with TOR stuff for a Low-A 2nd baseman when our minors are neck-deep in second-basemen.

Winning has made us greedy. I remember times pre-2004 when people were saying they'd give their left nut or their first-born child (God, I loved that commercial! LOL) for just ONE World Series Championship. Now we want to not only win now, we also want to be guaranteed a playoff spot every year into the future. I agree.... I'd like that too. I'm just not sure this belongs in the "Realistic" thread.

How do you lose 8-1 and blame it on the infield being fast? That's a joke. And now Showalter is blaming it on the flu and making some backhanded half-assed comment about HIS team not broadcasting their flu issues to the world. *******.

Nice post. There's no reason to think that the Red Sox are going to fall off a cliff and be the doormat of the ALE in 2022. They'll be fine. Maybe not favored to win the AL every year, but fine.

He seems to have gotten the message that he's got to hit better if he wants that #1 catching job.

This is the result of giving the Sox two (or maybe even three) 'extra' outs this inning. It's not always the error that kills you, it's what happens AFTER the error by extending the inning. That's why defense is SO important!

I can see no reason to send Pom out there again..... unless JF has no faith in his bullpen. Which, BTW, is entirely justified.

That's a fairly realistic assessment of 2021 based on what we know now but that's four seasons away and a lot can happen in four years in baseball. Yes, it will be harder to get quality draft picks in the mid to late 20's but that's a price I'm willing to pay if this team lives up to expectations for the next four years. Expecting a team to remain competitive year after year in spite of getting low draft picks may be a bit unrealistic but isn't that the way the draft system is supposed to work?

Gary F. Thorne is just one more reason to hate the O's. He comes from my home state.. locally even... and I've heard his schtick ever since I can remember, it seems. The thing he does best is name-dropping. If you listen to him you'd think he's ******* buddies with every player in every sport. The douchiest of douches. Oh.. and he used to write a column for the local newspaper too, before he got so self-important that he didn't have time to do it any more. But his not writing any more was a blessing for us so I'm not complaining.

Ugh. In the words of Emily Littella (or was it Roseanne Rosannadanna?) "If it's not something it's something else". Ugh

It's all good. I was just pointing out that sometimes people actually agree here!!

I think of it this way. Control is being able to throw a strike. If a player doesn't have control he's in BIG trouble. Command is being able to throw the ball where the pitcher wants it, whether it's a strike or not.

I pin these losses on two things: 1) They're playing in a freakin' airport! How many balls have the Sox hit that would have been out of or off the wall in most parks? 2) We've had at least two - and usually more - of our regular starters who are vital cogs in our offense out of every game. Let's not start the hand-wringing. This team is going to be ok. Better than ok, actually.

...which is what Notin said back on Page 2.

Is David Ortiz also the best hitter in Red Sox history?

That might be why you're a math teacher and not teaching Language Arts.

I think most of us would prefer to build from the farm up and not pay the ridiculous contracts. In fact, many years ago Bill James said that the way to use free agency is to fill spots that aren't filled from within and that trying to build an all-star team through free agents won't work. Even the Yankees dynasty (and i do hate to use that word in reference to the Y's) was built around their "Core four". However, the Sox have a history of not being able to recognize/develop starting pitchers but a solid history of bringing along position players. IMO prospects are good for two things - to develop and bring to the majors or to use as trading chips - in the position the Sox are in, probably for pitchers. Therefore what we're doing is trying to recognize and keep our best position players and trade the rest for pitching. Even Moncada, as much as I hated to see him go, was expendable because 1) we didn't have a need for him with all of our OF positions filed, and 2) because he's still a prospect. Given the failure rate of prospects I'll trade a blue-chip prospect for a proven top-flight pitcher every time. It's easy to say in hindsight that we would have tried to work out a package for Sale or Quintana, but at the time the Sox made the Kimbrel trade the Pale Sox had a solid pitching staff and we had no reason to think they'd part with Quintana or Sale. In fact, IMO, if Sale hadn't made himself personna non grata in Chicago he'd still be there with Quintana. So we did what the FO felt they had to do. (Had it been up to me I'd have tried to milk at least one more year out of Koji, but that's another story). My biggest gripe about what happened in this offseason is that we didn't pursue Ziegler harder. I know there was chatter that he was going back West...but we all know how that worked out. Ugh.

Kimbrel had more walks than hits in 2016. That's a control problem. Kelly gave up more hits than walks. That's a command problem.

We've gotta get people healthy and back is all. It's tough to win with players rotating their way through the flu. They even had to call in the second string for Dave O'Brien today!!

No freakin' kidding!! :-( These relievers have a great defense - especially in the OF - behind them and they're pitching like they have to strike everyone out. There's a lot to be said for pitching to contact.

What happened to O'Brien all of a sudden? Does he have the flu too??

^^THIS^^ may be the understatement of the day!

If that's the only one he's got that he can depend on he's in big trouble.

I used to say that I want my closer to be able throw 100 mph. Now I've amended that. I now want a pitcher who can throw STRIKES at 100 mph. That's Koji not withstanding. I still don't understand how Koji does what he does but I'm glad he does it!! Or at least I was glad.