S5Dewey

Yep, adding that 2nd WC team greatly lessened the chances of the WC winning the WS. Maybe I'm unrealistically optimistic but I think our top 2 - assuming they pitch well - give the Sox a better shot than any previous WC team in the past 5 years.

10:38 and O'B says "We will have more baseball tonight". Maybe so, but I won't be here to see the end of it!

The reason I think we still have a shot is because the Sox offense and defense are both good enough to get the job done. I'm concerned about the pitching staff, top to bottom, starters and relievers, but IMO if the team can get into the playoffs a team doesn't need 13 pitchers. Three good starters and two good relievers can carry a team. I don't think it's out of the question that three of our top four can put it together over the second half, and I also don't think it's out of the question that two of our BP can too. I'm very confident that IF the Sox can get a WC spot they're going to be the WC team that nobody wants to face in the playoffs. One very big thing in their favor is that as I like to say, "There's no substitute for having been there".

I don't know if that question was posed to everyone, but yes I do. I still think there's enough talent on the team to win but the starting pitching has to come around. I don't think that's out of the question. We've got both Sale and Price and both of them qualify as "Aces" when they're pitching right.

I hated that show. The premise of the entire show was how pussy-whipped Raymond was.

I didn't know that! And I've met you!!! Just one more reason to appreciate our forum's patriarch. :-)

Thanks. I know I keep saying that perception is everything and here's a bit more evidence of it: If someone had told me on November 1 of last year that if the 2019 season ended on July 4 the Sox wouldn't even make the playoffs I'd have told them that they were out of their minds. Now a WC spot is what we're hoping for!

I knew there was something we could completely agree on! BTW, IMO we agree on nearly everything. Nearly. LOL

I said: "...very few things in baseball are "repeatable skills". Throwing a baseball is a repeatable skill. Throwing it accurately isn't. Swinging a bat is a repeatable skill. Hitting a baseball with that bat isn't." I felt like Captain Obvious when I posted it. What are you implying? That throwing a baseball is not a repeatable skill? I've got a 4 year old grandson who can throw a baseball repeatedly. He doesn't always know where the ball is going but he can throw it repeatedly. Or that throwing it accurately is repeatable? If it were repeatable there would never be a throwing error and a pitcher would never put the ball anyplace other than where he wants it. That swinging a bat is not a repeatable skill? That same grandson can swing a bat. He can't hit a barn with it but he can swing it repeatedly. Or that hitting a baseball with that bat isn't? If it were repeatable a batter would never swing and miss at a ball.

Giving my head a good hard shake: IOW, if there are stats to prove that your opinion is incorrect you're going to acknowledge that your opinion is (probably ) wrong and go with the new stats. So at the end of the day it's still all about the stats for you. All you're doing is confirming what I've been saying, that for people who believe in the stats, stats is all there is.

Well, apparently Evoaldi isn't going to be the answer because he's going to the pen, and unless his name is Wright I don't see anyone on our current roster with a good chance of filling that spot. Were I sitting in DD's or JH's chairs and trying to assess the future impassionately I'd be asking how much money I'd be willing to pour into a team that's 11 games back of a very good Yankees team. Here's what I wouldn't do: I wouldn't go out and sign anyone for big money in the hope of overtaking the Y's. It could happen but the odds are significantly against it. I also wouldn't be looking for a position player. IMO our position players are good enough to get the job done as they're doing, and when JDM and Mookie start hitting better the team will once again be an offensive juggernaut. That said, here's what I would do: I'd be beating the bushes for a decent #5 guy who could be had 'on the cheap' much like he picked up Brazier last year. I'm not sure what the definition of a #5 guy is but to me he's got an ERA of between 4 & 5 and a WHIP of ~1.20 - 1.30. That's not great but one doesn't get "great" on the cheap. If you can get six innings out of a guy with an ERA of 4.5 he's only giving up three runs and that's not an insurmountable amount for this team. (See: Ryan Dempster) As far as the top 4 in the rotation goes, we're pretty much stuck with what we've got if we intend to make a run at the WC spot. Giving up one or more of Price, Sale, Porcillo, & Erod would be paramount to waving a white flag. We've got to hope that these guys (plus Wright) can come around and give this team what it needs. A WC spot not only could happen it probably would, but the team still needs the tweak to make it a bit better.

No matter how well a player plays it's always easy to find something that could be better. Right now I'll take our left side of the IF (on both sides of the ball) and be very happy with it.

No kidding. We're now watching Devers turn into one of the better players in MLB... at age 22.

Of course you're right! Can you imagine the outrage if Hembree had come in and given up a HR? "WTF was Cora doing??? Hembree hadn't pitched in a month and Cora brings him into one of the highest leverage situations???!!! What a dumb thing to do!!" Nothing makes a manager look better than having his players succeed but Cora's now at a point where even when he succeeds he's second-guessed. Ugh.

That may be an excellent point, one I hadn't thought of. A few days ago I speculated that MLB may have gone to the NCAA ball with "tighter" (read: flatter) threads and within a day or so Manfred confirmed that the 2019 baseball has the same characteristics as the NCAA ball. I say I hadn't thought of it because my post said that the flatter seams would reduce wind resistance making the ball go farther but another thing it does it making it harder for the pitcher to grip. I'd like to hear what pitchers have to say about this.

Equally unbelievable, he was also the SS on the WSC team. And he doesn't get consideration???

FWIW, During a few innings at Ft. M. the Sox had Bobby Dalbec (6'4", 225) @ 3B and Jeremy Rivera (5'9", 150) @ SS. Standing side by side they looked like Mutt & Jeff.

Especially when there's a cheap-shot dirty player coming at him to break up the DP.

I'm not making stuff up. While what I said may not be verbatim quotes it accurately reflects what's being said here. As I said above, some folks say, "I believe in the statistics BUT..." so I'd have to ask at what point do those who "believe in the statistics BUT..." believe a player's emotions begin to control his performance? Because their saying "BUT" means they believe it does at some point. Where is that point and what does it control?

Ya think? I can see some team being willing to sign him in the off season and giving him a big big (big as in "$25M+ for 10 years) extension. He may look at Pedey's situation and realize that injuries happen but contracts are forever.

At last someone with a clear memory of what actually happened. Kimbrel had gotten to the point where he couldn't be trusted to win an important game. There's a reason several starters became "closers" in the WS while The Great Craig Kimbrel sat on the bench and watched.

Here's an upside to trading Mookie to a team that will give him a $30M/year extension. If Mookie is allowed to go to FA he can sign anyplace whereas in a trade the Sox can say where he's going. That can keep him away from the MFY. I believe the Y's would be all-in on Mookie because he's better any any position player the Yankees have now. But I'm sure Jax hasn't even thought of that.

This team just strikes me as having a general malaise about it that I'm not comfortable with and since I don't believe that good players just simply stop playing well (Alan Craig being the exception) I have to look for reasons. The thing I've learned about the folks posting here (myself included) is that when one reads between the lines on the issue of stats vs. mental state they can immediately discern the poster's leaning. Some of us say, "I believe in the mental side of the game BUT....", while others say, "I believe in stats BUT...", and their true opinion is immediately after the "BUT". That's fine, but at the same time it diminishes the points made by the opposing viewpoint. I don't expect anyone to abandon their beliefs just as I'm not going to abandon mine, but that is the way it is. And BTW, very few things in baseball are "repeatable skills". Throwing a baseball is a repeatable skill. Throwing it accurately isn't. Swinging a bat is a repeatable skill. Hitting a baseball with that bat isn't. It's the nature of the game and why I don't buy into the "not a repeatable skill" argument.

Wins and happiness are interrelated. I want to say that wins bring happiness and happiness brings wins but I can only offer anecdotal evidence and observation. Of course since happiness is immeasurable anything that indicates happiness has any bearing on wins is only anecdotal evidence and may not be true. It can easily dismissed by those who choose to do so (trying not to use the words 'stat geeks' here) by saying that there are no statistics to back that up. IMHO using logic to try to explain emotions is... illogical.

The situation with the 2019 Red Sox is somewhere between sad and unbelievable. This team that won 108 games last year has become a .500 team with no major changes. I have been taught/conditioned by the stat geeks to believe that a player's emotional state has no bearing on their performance. In short, they're human 'robots' who go onto the field every day and play to their abilities. That's why there's no such thing as 'clutch' or 'choke' - their emotional state doesn't enter into the game. It's all about their physical skills. That's what's so frustrating about the 2019 Red Sox..that they've lost the skills to play baseball at a MLB winning pace. I could offer anecdotal evidence about happier players winning more games but it would only be dismissed as anecdotal evidence which is trumped by statistics. Stats rule. With that in mind we may as well sit back and accept this team as it is because no trade, no shake-up is going to make these player/robots play better than they currently are. They're doing all they can do. We're not going to be able to trade Beni for a player/players/robot who will make enough of a change in LF to turn this team into a contender again, the same with Mookie or anyone else on this team. We have a bunch of player/robots who aren't producing and no GM is going to offer any better players for them. Me? I think there's something going on in that clubhouse that we don't know about but the only thing I can offer to support that is 40 years of playing and coaching experience. In short, anecdotal evidence which is essentially worthless. Stats rule!