S5Dewey

Why is Abad even still on this team?

Does that make any sense? "We have to play him because of what we gave up to get him"?

Mr. Kimbrel is very fortunate I'm not sitting in John Farrells's seat. If I were I'd be seriously considering Koji as the closer now. Regardless of the outcome, I'm sick of Kimbrel's tightrope acts, especially when Koji is getting it done without the drama.

Now I don't know what to hope for. If the Sox put up double figures tonight does it mean they lose a one-run game tomorrow?

Meh. Worth a try when you have a three run lead. The Y's put up 2 and the Sox respond with 2. I'm good with that. Of course I'd have been better with more than two.

Now THERE'S a break!!

Holy crap. Show me where it says this Holder guy gets the bases loaded and then starts finding every edge of the strike zone.

Hanley likes to find the biggest part of the park hit it out in.

And even if he wasn't fooled he'd be completely within his rights to say, "Oh no! I tried that once before and it didn't work out all that well! "

I hadn't thought in terms of using EE money to sign Bogaerts, Betts, or Bradley, but it makes good sense. Go with what we've got and (try to) sign the youth.

So you'd rather have EE @ $23M for the next 5-6 years (~$126M) than Hanley at $22M for the next 3 years ($66M)? In spite of the fact that EE will be 3 years older than Haley will be when their contracts expire? Wow. Are you expecting EE to be Papi reincarnated during the last couple of years of the contract?

That was exactly my thought at the time. That he may have been able to go to 3rd on that play, but I don't blame him for not trying.

So true, Dojii. The Stat Geeks want to quantify everything but there are some things that can't be quantified. When the Stat Geeks see things like this they simply ignore them or say that since they can't be quantified they can't be true. There's more to baseball than numbers.

This has to be a nail in the coffin - a devastating loss - for the Yankees and a great win for the Sox. The Y's came in knowing that they had to have at least 3 of the 4 games. They need to be gaining ground. Now in order to do that they need to win all three remaining games. Not impossible, but improbable. Had the game ended after 8 innings the Sox would have a one game lead over the O's and Toronto and the Yankees would be surging. Now we're comfortable again @ 2 knowing that even in the worst case scenario the Sox will be in first place come Saturday morning. Another win tonight = another nail in the coffin and every nail in the Yankee's coffin is a very good thing.

Well, to a point. Wins isn't the be-all, end-all but I'll take a pitcher with 20 wins over another pitcher with 10 wins and take my chances.

What does Mookie's .222 and the team's being 9-6 over that same span have to do with one another? Yeah, it can be said that the team can win in spite of his .222, but five of those losses have been by one run. Are you trying to make the case that Mookie being the old Mookie couldn't have made a difference in at least one of those five games?

Yes. And the world needs more droits.

Honestly, me neither. And I'm prepared to call ******** on any poster - or maybe even anyone in the FO - who says he thought Porcillo would win 20+ in 2016.

I just want to know what happened to all of those people who were complaining about the extension he got "before he even throws a pitch in a Red Sox uniform".

On the one hand we have the camera going to Mookie Betts talking with the coaches frequently in the dugout and OB commenting on how Mookie tries to learn as much as he can about the game. On the other hand we have Moncada in the clubhouse on Snapchat. Doesn't that pretty much cover it?

Farrell should. Will someone please take these f***ing cell phones away from these players while the games are going on??!!!!

Ockimey kinda went into the dumpster during the last month of the season. Too man 0-fers and too many K's. I haven't given up on him but I'm not as high on him as I was in May and June. I'm hoping he can straighten his swing out and start making contact again but at this point he's got to prove it again.

Yes. Especially for a player with Papi's accomplishments and potential legacy, it's better to get out a year too early than a year too late.

I look for a lot of behind the scenes negotiation going on in the off season. I expect the Sox will try to extend one or more of XBo, Betts, and JBJ prior to arbitration - things we probably won't even hear about. I would also expect them to try to extend them until ~ age 30. Regardless of what happens in that effort the Sox will come out of those attempts with a better idea of what their financial obligations are going to be going forward. After that I would expect them to make decisions as to who's tradeable and who isn't. That's why IMO the success of this team this season is so important. If these players can come out of this season with a good feeling about the team and the guys they're playing with they're more liable to tell Bora$$ to take a hike when he ( starts talking about holding out until free agency. They may very well see a good payday now and an even better one at 30 years old. Edit: This is also why they shouldn't even consider trading Pedey - not that I think they will, but there are some who favor the idea. Pedey signed a team-friendly contract and the FO should demonstrate to these "kids" that signing with the Sox means that they'll be staying with the Sox.

I don't disagree, but at the same time while you and I have moved on from Sandoval, JH is still writing him a check every month so JH may not have moved on. He's got a lot of money tied up in that fat body and my guess is that he's going to try to recoup some of it either by playing him or by trade. DFA'ing him is probably the last resort.