S5Dewey

I like the idea of Sale but I ain't touchin' that 3-B Outfield. IMO JBJ is worth more wins over the run of a season than the difference between Sale and whomever else we could pick up and still keep JBJ. There's a reason every GM says "Bradley" first when trade talks start. Be strong, Dave. And yes, I'm conceding LF to Benintendi for next year even before ST starts.

But this is all based in hindsight. I'm fairly certain that had Schowalter known what was going to happen he would have done things differently. It was obvious that being the visiting team he was waiting until the O's got the lead to use Britton to seal the win. IMO it was a testament to the respect he has for the Jay's offense. It was a crap shoot either way. Do you burn up your closer early in extra innings and then have nothing left if you don't score while he's in there? Or do you hold him off until you get the lead and then use him, risking a walk-off in the bottom of an inning? Disclosure... were I been in Schowalter's shoes I would have used Britton earlier, probably in the 9th & as far into the 10th as he could go, but it most likely wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game.

There's something to be said for this. I still believe that the left side of the infield would have been better in 2016 were it Iggy & Bogaerts rather than a revolving door & Bogaerts, and there would have been more money to spend on pitching. I also still believe that the contribution Jake Peavy made wasn't enough to tip the scales in favor of the Sox in 2013. But what's done is done and we have to go forward with what we've got. As for Kimbrel, I wasn't opposed to the trade at the time. I was kinda 'meh' about it. We got someone who was ostensibly the best closer in baseball signed to a multi-year contract in exchange for a top-flight prospect. It just didn't work out. Sometimes I feel like I've made a lifetime of saying, "Well, it seemed like a hell of an idea... at the time! :(" Again, what's done is done and we have to move forward with what we've got.

I'm going to go back to Tito here for a couple of points: Tito understands the psychology of pitchers. First, Tito usually would pull a pitcher before REAL trouble gets rolling. He'll pull a guy who's struggling regardless of the number of pitches thrown. During his tenure in Boston it was obvious to me that his goal was to protect his starters, to make them feel they'd been successful when they come off the mound because Tito knows that if you feel like you're successful you'll have a better chance of actually being successful in your next outing. Tito also learned at the Bill James school of Relievers. James has always said that the time to use your best pitcher may not be in the 9th inning. It's when you can bring him in to avoid a big inning. That's what Tito's been doing with Miller. Use your best pitcher to keep you from getting behind. Pretty simple stuff. And in a related thought.....I've often wondered about the wisdom of saving your best reliever for the 9th inning. Doesn't that imply that the batters coming up in the 9th 'turn it up a notch', and that they'll hit better in the 9th than any other time in the game? If you've got a shut-down guy don't save him for the 9th, use him to shut down regardless of the inning. As Ralph Houk said, "Don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. It may rain tomorrow." Don't save a pitcher for the 9th. You may not need him for the 9th, especially if you've let your team get behind earlier in the game.

I'm not in favor of giving up on Kimbrel - for next season - but we're now in a 'one and done' situation. I believe that a player's most recent performances is an indication of what his next performance will be and this is no time to find out if Kimbrel's wildness problems have been solved. Koji, OTOH, has been relatively solid in his recent outings so he'd be my closer. I've been saying that I'm not sure Kimbrel has any idea where the ball is going when he lets go of it. In thinking about it I now believe I've been too generous. I'm confident that he doesn't know where it's going. If he did the ball wouldn't be going where it is. (Is that too logical for some people?) And we're not talking about missing his spots by inches here, it's sometimes feet! It's time to make a change. Koji4Kloser

Thank you. That makes it worthwhile. Glad to be of help!

At last, a voice of reason. I thought the Sox would win maybe 90 games, and I'd be happy if they got a WC spot. Instead they again "went from worst to first" with 93 wins. When I see all the youth on this team I see them as a work in progress. If I think the season ends badly if the Sox don't win the WS it's only a reflection of how I upped my expectations late in the year. Win or lose, it's been a great ride, and a Hell of a lot more entertaining than 2014 & 2015.

Here's what concerns me. He'd walked 4 people in one inning and when Farrell went out to get the ball Kimbrel didn't want to give it to him.

Well, who would you recommend who's more consistent? Our two pitchers who are supposed to be consistent just got the snot kicked out of them. IMO there are only two possibilities left, Clay and ERod, and under the circumstances I'll go with the one who 1) had better all around stuff, and 2) has playoff experience.

Thank you. In my defense, I actually thought I was doing people a favor. I'd been wondering what the status of the game was and here was one of the places I'd checked. When I learned of the postponement my thought was that possibly others were doing the same thing, so I'd let them know. I did not expect there to be a lengthy discussion about anything related to it. I saw it more as a "Public Service Announcement" and fully expected the thread to be taken down by now. Lesson learned. I'll let it fall under the heading of "No good deed goes unpunished." I'll continue to post, and I'll be sure to not start threads. Everyone is happy.

Well, this is the second thread I've started in the months since I came over from BDC. I'm totally intimidated from doing it to the point where I NEVER do. However, IMO this was significant enough to all Red Sox fans that I believed that it warranted not necessarily a discussion of its own but a notice of what was happening. I'll just leave starting of threads to you "real" TalkSox'ers from now on.

Sunday's game has been postponed. Now scheduled for Monday, 6:08 pm. http://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2016/10/09/red-sox-Guardians-game-3-postponed

Ok, we don't have Pedro and Schilling, but we have two guys with pretty darn good records this year to put up against the Indian's starters. I'm telling ya, winning this thing is not out of the question!

If what you say is true that may be the biggest difference between Kimbrel and Koji. Koji took the setup role for the good of the team. I can live without someone whose ego is so big that he says, "I'll tell you where and when I'm going to play, and if you don't like it I'll pick up my toys and go home!" IMO the only loss the team would suffer if he demanded a trade would be monetary because nobody else is going to pay him $13M. Hence we'd have to eat a part of his salary. To me that's better than watching him go out there and throw 3-4 balls to nearly every batter and be ineffective.

Very few things are as contagious as hitting and this team has shown the ability to string a lot of hits together over several days. That three run jack - by anyone - could be just what the Dr. ordered. We can be as critical of Price as we want over what happened on Friday but he's not the only culprit. For whatever reason, the Sox didn't score and one of the great truths in baseball or just about any sport is that if you don't score you won't win. Period. End of story.

The more I think about it there's a lot to be said for that. Buch on Sunday, followed by ERod on Monday at home. I like ERod at home because regardless of what the past statistics show about HFA I'd want ERods first playoff game to be at home in front of the home crowd. I believe there's something to be said for crowd support and adrenaline. Then Porcillo for Game 5 in Cleveland. Frankly, I don't have a lot of faith in Erod or Price so given the fact that I see them as a toss-up I'd put ERod out there for Game 4 and "save" Price for Game 1 of a seven game series. At least if Price botches that one the team has more time to make up for the loss. And if he becomes the David Price we thought we were getting we're up 1-0 over (probably) Toronto.

I'll say again what Kevin Millar said in '04, "Don't let us win this game...". 'If we win this game we've got a guy who may win the CY award pitching at home and then we've got our ace, and after that... anything can happen. Don't let us win this game.' This ain't over.

"Don't let us win this game..."

Rumor has it that during the season the price for the Sox was JBJ +++, and DD said no thanks. What it would take without JBJ included is anyone's guess.

It looks like the Price I was afraid we were going to get. He can get you into the playoffs but not out the other door.

What ever happened to common decency?

Can we work out a trade? Porcillo for Governor LePage? If it were up to me I'd trade LePage for a yellow dog, and then have the dog exiled to Viet Nam. Have you been watching Samantha Bee again?

As it turned out, no. But had the Sox been able to push across that run in the 8th, it very likely would have more than made up for his lack of offense. That's the funny thing about any sport. Defense is important - you just don't know when it's going to be important.

Sometimes outstanding plays get swallowed up by a loss. JBJ made a great play in CF late in the game last night against the wall and nobody is talking about it!

It's nice to know that I'm not alone in thinking all of this. Beckett developed an entitlement mentality and unfortunately was seen by the pitching staff as their leader so Lackey and Lester followed in lockstep. That same arrogant attitude was what we loved about him when he too the mound, "If you're going to beat us you have to go through ME!", but it was that same attitude that dragged the team down when he turned on us. In an effort to "straighten out the clubhouse' they then hired Bobby V, when all they had to do in the first place was get rid of Beckett. Then in a CYA move the FO impugned Tito's credibility by dragging his personal life into the arena to try to justify replacing him. As MBP said, SHAME, SHAME, SHAME. The darkest moment in this ownership's history.