Nick

Give me a freakin' break. You probably thought New England would be under water by 2020. It works both ways buddy. I'll put up my science against yours any day.

Eduardo Rodriguez, former Boston Red Sox starter, leaves Tigers for ‘personal reasons;’ future status now in question I'm glad we didn't sign him. BUT I HOPE HE'S OKAY. HE WAS THE ONLY THING THAT MADE ME WATCH THE SOX AFTER HE CAME OVER FROM THE ORIOLES. That year was brutal.

All good stuff Moon. Robles has been responsible for at least two losses that came last at bat, two out situations. He had two strikes on the guy and he bloops a single. But then, he did not shut it down. That's on HIM. He seems hittable now. Same with Brasier. I have no use for Sawamura and Barnes. Can't we just cut them so I don't have to look at them? Dieckman can't freaking throw strikes. He loves the 3-2 pitch count. He's walked almost a batter per inning. God I wished he didn't have a two year deal. Go ahead and trot out some of minor league arms. The thing with bullpen is knowing sooner rather than later who is struggling.

In old days starters went 7, 8, 9 innings. I'm not trying to argue with you. I'm wondering from a knowledgeable source what exactly does a starter do between starts? Apparently no one here knows anything about pitching. It's amazing how many high school pitchers are more active than these pros....

Kutter held Seattle to one hit despite walking 4 batters. I think he has good stuff. I do enjoy watching some of the minor league pitchers get an opportunity to start for the Sox. Especially when the team is winning with them. Kutter, Winckowski, Seabold, Bello and Matta awaits.

I'm searching for an answer to "how taxing is it for a starter to pitch one inning between starts?"

Verdugo has not 'stepped up' to another level as some of us hoped for......he's a good trade candidate. Recycling him with Duran gets my vote. I love seeing Duran's speed on the field. He just needs to make contact and stay away from fly balls.

Couple of thoughts... It's disturbing that Cora and the staff decided Houck can't go back to back games? He has to build up to it? How in the hell do you build up to it? Why didn't they ask Houck? He's not a pussy like others. During the telecast, while talking about scheduled off days for starting positional players, announcers mentioned AC coaches regular season differently than the playoffs. It was one of qualities that made AC a great coach. Question for knowledgeable pitching fans here. How much does it hurt for someone like Pivetta to come out and get the last out or pitch the ninth inning? I wouldn't think he'd miss his 'turn' entirely. Would pushing back his start by a day restore his arm? .. I'm serious about this. Don't the starters pitch between starts? How many pitches would they normally throw? How many days of actual throwing between starts? I just don't understand why a starter can't come in and pitch one inning two or three days before his next start.

Pivoting a bit. If Xander extension doesn't work out, how about going for Cubs' Contreras during off season? Is he too good of offensive catcher to pass on? Here's our chance to grab one. We need several of our young guns to latch onto starting rotation so that we can spend money elsewhere. Budget, budget, budget..... I'm dreaming....... JD resigns for $18M, saving $4M that will be used to pay Whitlock's new contract. Xander signs for $200M/6 years, average annual pay of $33.333M (should make him happy). His increase is covered by Wacha/Hill contracts. (2 starters need to be replaced) Sign Contreras for $20M, $9M coming from our current catchers and other $11M from expiration of Price's $16M dead contract. ($5M left over). Dever's year three arbitration raise, I'm guess $12M raise to be covered by Eovaldi's $17M. ($5M left over). Use $10M left over to cover other arbitration raises. Position Players C. Contreras 1B Dalbec 2B Story 3B Devers SS Xander LF Verdugo CF Kike/Duran RF JBJ/Cordero DH JD Starting Pitching 1 Eovaldi 2 Pivetta 3 Whitlock 4 Paxton 5. Winckowski/Seabold/Matta/Bello/ We just need additional $10M-$12M to sign Devers to a long term deal to take effect for 2024 season. I'm dreaming.......

Houck has changed complexion of Boston 'pen Good read, in part After tinkering with Tanner Houck's role multiple times (starter, piggyback reliever) this season, manager Alex Cora has come to the following conclusion: Houck will pitch in the late innings when the game is hanging in the balance. I think many people on this board asked for the move......

Rob Refsnyder to join Boston Red Sox; outfielder is on his way to Anaheim, per sources I love this type of move.....let's see what these guys got. Always looking for diamond in the rough. Duran is not getting the call up because Sox will be facing 3 lefty starters in next 4 games. Cora is always thinking.

Rob Refsnyder to join Boston Red Sox; outfielder is on his way to Anaheim, per sources I love this type of move.....let's see what these guys got. Always looking for diamond in the rough. Duran is not coming because Sox will be facing 3 lefty starters in next 4 games. Cora is always thinking.

Moon, any thoughts on Whitlock moving back to the pen when Sale returns or do you think Hill will be the first candidate to move out of rotation?

I'd consider getting healthy Sale back as a major pickup. Who knows, Paxton and Taylor also. Pitching wins in big games.

Of course major leaguers are better athletes than 99% of the posters here. By that standard, yes Pedey was great athlete. Dustin was very good baseball player. But the bottom line is we paid him $28.5M per year for 4 seasons (2 of which he did not play a full season). And of course we can't predict the future. But the lookback from Henry's perspective is that he'll be cautious about giving out 8 year deals, even to a position player. He did not make contributions in 2018 when we won the world series. All your buddies can stick together, Notin, Bellhorne, Old Red and Moon, but the contract was a bust.

Say what you want, this is why you don't give out 8 year deals. You're pretty level headed guy. Apparently you didn't like my use of the words, "f***ing ********". Same goes for extending both Sale and Barnes when YOU DIDN'T have to extend them when Sox did. Is it any wonder that Henry has not allowed Bloom to approach Eovaldi with contract extension? And he's pitching well. My guess is Henry rather pay little more to make sure Eovaldi is healthy when the extension offer is made. ie after he becomes FA. You don't give out non athletic guy that stands 5'6" tall an 8 year deal.

Let's see how Hill does today. Unless he turns it around, he maybe the candidate to be replaced by Chris Sale. I anxiously wait on Paxton news.

I call f***ing Bull s*** to everyone of you that keep claiming Dustin gave us a team discount. He played 3 games in 2018, 6 games in 2019, 0 games in 2020 and 20121 Red Sox essentially paid him $110M for 4 healthy seasons, average of $28.5M per year. (obviously less if you discount the shortened 2020 season) He also ONLY played 93 games in 2015, 105 games in 2017. What a f***ing discount. Don't f***ing sugar coat it. It ended up being a BAD CONTRACT. Tell me how in the hell you're going to defend that to Henry? Same thing may ended up being applied to Chris Sale.

Jesus, all of you are really getting technical about each post. I guess words do matter. BTW, I consider Sawamura to be a journeyman because of his experience in Japan. Maybe that's wrong on my part. I'd consider every starter on Worcester roster to come pitch in the pen for us based on ineffectiveness of Sox pen. Yeah, I didn't make that clear with Winckowski. SHOOT ME. Not perfect like many of you here. Let's gang up on Nick day. I had no idea Darwinzon was struggling in the minors. My bad for opening my big mouth without little research. But if my life depended it on it, I may pick Darwinzon over couple of bullpen guys in extra inning. That's just me. I see Cordero as 'sexy' ballplayer. I see Arroyo as blue collar, lunch bucket type. Each to his own. I like players with high ceiling, especially when they are young. If you think Arroyo has higher ceiling than Cordero than we have nothing to talk about. I maybe wrong but that's just me.

I'm happy with our starters. I was thinking about the pen. Anymore you need guys with 'good stuff', especially in 10th inning. My feeling is that Brasier, Sawamura, et al has no chance to hold the score to zero. That's why I even brought up Darwinzon. Hell he may walk two batter but he can also strike out three. Kimbrel to some extent suffered from wildness the last year he was with the Sox. But he usually came in with no base runners.

When he was traded, didn't we have Beni/Betts/JBJ trio playing well?

Larry, you make a great point. I much rather see guys like Winckowski given a chance as opposed to bunch of journeymen players. I was surprised to see Darwinzon get sent down. If he comes in clean inning, I have more faith in him than half the guys in the pen.

Pedey, in his first 144 at bats, hit around .190 with OPS of .560 or so. (2006 and April of 2007). Not at all comparing Cordero to Pedey but Cordero in 2021 hit .189/.497 in 127 AB. It takes some for time to get going. He's athletic, physical, can play multiple positions (1B, LF, RF). Spare me how bad he is at 1B. 99% of us had Devers playing 1B AFTER 4 seasons or so at 3B. There's no more talk of switching positions for Devers. We all know Casas is coming at some point. I'm rooting for both Dalbec and Cordero. My eyes tell me they have higher ceiling than say Arroyo. Just my opinion. I also think Winckowski will return at some point. He's got good stuff. Let's hope it was just the 'ball' issue.

Give guys in the farm chance to pitch. Bringing back retreads such as Brasier does no good. Has he really gotten any better? I'm anxious to watch to J Winchowski pitch. I like your idea #2. Do something different. Keep doing the same thing won't cure what ills the Sox pen. Each day, I'm getting tired of Dieckman. All talk, no command.

Whitlock throws enough strikes that someone will make contact. Hopefully it's with no base runner(s).