dannycater

Don't get on enough, still mourning the B's.

I predict a low scoring game--Sox 14, Yanks 8.

On JBJR, Foy, that's to make up for his .100 zero production annual 1/4th season start of the season slump.

Chavis Regal all for naught.

Batting Practice came early and often.

As crazy as it sounds had the Sox not re-signed Moreland, they could very well be out of the Wild Card chase even now. He must have hit about 6 game-winning, game-changing home runs or doubles during this blah first half of the 2019 season. Moreland = Clutch, injuries and all. Pearce just happened to have the all-time great WS and owned hitting v. the Yankees. I'll take Moreland overall, a great defensive 1b.

Keuchel I would have loved to add to staff. Oh well.

The fear factor comes into play on Eavoldi more so than Pearce (knee-jerk signing). The fear that he will be a beast for another team and that the Sox couldn't afford to lose a guy who was multi-faceted and could be a reliever-SP-closer, whatever all in one. Break glass in case of emergency. Pearce just won the MVP. It's a perfect storm of feel good. It's hard when you have a team that was so loaded and the pieces of the puzzle to win it all were the guys who were either gonna be Orlando Cabrera or something better.

From a Bill James article on the '03 plan On opening day of the 2003 season, the Red Sox in Tampa Bay, the Red Sox went into the bottom of the 9th with a 4-1 lead. Alan Embree gave up a single, a homer, and a single. Chad Fox got two outs but then gave up a walk and another homer. We lost, 6-4. In the second game of the season we were up 8-6 going into the bottom of the eighth. Bobby Howry gave up a single and a homer, and the game went into extra innings, although the Red Sox eventually won it. In the fifth game of the season, playing Baltimore, we went into the bottom of the 9th with an 8-3 lead. Ramiro Mendoza gave up six hits and four runs, and the Red Sox escaped with a one-run victory. In the sixth game, Pedro Martinez pitched eight sterling innings, and the game was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. Chad Fox walked in the losing run with one out. In the eighth game, although the bullpen was never presented with a lead, they gave up three more runs in two and two-thirds innings, denying the offense a fair chance to come back and win the game. In the tenth game of the season the Red Sox led 8-4 going into the bottom of the ninth. Mike Timlin gave up three runs, and the Red Sox escaped with another one-run victory. The Red Sox haven’t even gotten to Fenway Park yet, and the bullpen has had SIX meltdowns. In Game 13, finally back in Fenway, the Red Sox led 5-1 through seven innings. Ramiro Mendoza gave up four runs without getting an out. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fox might have been the "intended" closer, but the team's entire pen fell apart early. With that said, the relief staff went on to win 30 games (most in MLB) and the irony was that Grady still had in his mind what if the pen collapses right now thought when he left in Pedro. Even though Tim-Bree was a beast v. Yankees during that series. And Cora said '19 wasn't anywhere like '03 because of the way today's relievers are all hard throwers with cutters and sharp breaking balls, etc. ********, I call out the ********, still have to have a designated guy to get saves. One role, and it has to be a guy who can handle the pressure.

Also, the 2003 plan was almost exactly the same mind thought as 2019. And the fact was that the Sox did have guys who were pretty good setup guys in closing situations--Timlin in particular..and Embree. And the relievers as a staff got the team one game away from a WS appearance.

notin, incorrect. The 2003 season started with the idea that it was a Closer by Committee, it was the plan. It was scrapped after a month of blown saves by different guys. Ironically Fox won a WS title the same year with Marlins.

Don't forget this is the manager who benched a guy a game after he hit for the cycle in a playoff game, got away with a shaky Kintzler blowing a final out, and got the same Kintzler a start with 2 big hits to beat Yankees. It's like everything Cora did last year turned to gold, and a lot of his "watch this I'm gonna shock the world" moments this year going the opposite direction. He's a good manager, but I do think he overthinks sometimes and other times his excuses for sitting a guy--the St. Louis Blues young lefty stud out with and I quote "heavy legs" is pretty head-shaking. Nunez has had some big clutch hits this year but in a million years he should never ever be a DH or be the option at DH.

I pine for the days of Slocumb and Urbina.

In Bad News Barnes defense, long at bat v. Abreu

Lmao, Illinois

We could get Russell Martin, apparently he can throw a scoreless inning late in a game.

Yankees #0

Bad News Barnes, Part Deaux. We had Marvin (Celtics), now it's Matt.

Well, as long-time Sox fans may not realize we had the famous "Bullpen By Committee" to start 2003 that imploded so fast that the Sox were going all closer find mode less than a month into the year. Urbina had 40 saves the year before and they said, nope we can get by just fine. Now the 2003 team ended with Tim-Bree and it was pretty darn good in the postseason too, but the moral of the story is 16 years ago the Sox tried this with terrible blown-saves galore results. You have to learn from your mistakes. The Sox and analytics still can't mask the need for a true closer. You do still need a guy reliable in the 9th. I just think that Kimbrel was not in a position of bargaining after s***ing the bed in the '18 postseason. Had he really performed and did his job and saved some of us minor heart issues, then the Sox could have used Pearce money, etc to re-sign him longer. But he didn't, and I don't really care about his Full-Pak routine. Cubs can enjoy it, let me know when it's postseason and he walks 3 in a row.

On another note not the Pen, Also the St. Louis Blues fan had "heavy legs." The excuses now being made for young guys missing games is laughable. Yaz played with broken ribs, Evans with vertigo and concussions, Hobson with an arm kept together by super glue, Lynn rammed into a steel wall and still stayed in game 6, 75. Enough of the pampering Benintendi, the team needs its best players in the lineup, not Nunez at DH. Pathetic.

big guy with shaggy hair...just kidding. Although he may turn into one some day soon.

That is a valid statement and I think it's because the Sox ran out of money with Xander/Eavoldi.

The love affair on Kimbrel is great, except he had an opportunity to re-sign at 17.25 mil for 2019? He wanted his pay-day. Tell me in a million years where a guy who imploded in the postseason when everyone else was pulling their weight for a WS title suddenly can be in a positioning of bargaining power? He didn't want to be a Red Sox. It's okay, so now he's a Cub after missing a lot of time of no baseball. That's on MLB too, but bottom line he could have been the closer if he really was a "team player." Instead he was in double-down I'm a free agent mode. f*** that, f*** him. f*** everyone who still in love with him. He is as much responsible for not being the Sox closer this year as anyone.

As someone who frequents this site once in a Blue Moon Odom, I agree. Everyone calm down and eat some fruit. (extra credit for the movie).

Ken give them up, full-pack Giles. Uh no.