Nick

Better yet, move him to the pen.

Do you think it was good for Yankee fans earlier in the year when they struggled? Of course not. Good start got the Sox fans excited. There's still close to 30 games to be played. Maybe I should ask you the question. If the Yankees lose in a one game playoff, would it have been better if you guys did nothing at all at trade deadline? How do the Yankees approach 2022 after losing in the playoffs, again?

I'm only suggesting trading Xander because it appears he wants to opt out. I'm okay with rebuild phase. I just don't want bunch of washed up players from other organizations. Let's be little more patient with guys in Sox organization. I would keep Dalbec as a back up to both Casas and Devers, especially if the latter enters FA market in couple of years. Looks like last year's #1 pick, Yorke, is a keeper. Is our future infield Casas, Yorke, Mayer and Devers? Do not, I repeat, do not trade Duran as some here have suggested for a middle of the road reliever. He's a freakin top 25 prospect in the majors. Quit trading away our younger chips.

This is why you can't fall in love with every single Sox player. Always look at the trade value and see if you can improve the team. Losing Betts to Dodgers did not make me a Dodgers fan. I rarely think about him. He's not US. He's THEM. See how that works? We can't afford to give raise to Xander and sign Devers to a mega deal. I would trade Xander this winter and focus on extending Devers. He's not even 25 yet. He will always hit. We are losing JD, I hope he opts out. Our bullpen is in shambles. Art of winning big requires bringing group of players to come together as a unit, at the same time. Had Chris Sale been healthy all year then maybe we could have ponied up a bit more at trading deadline and gone for the gold. We're now in a position having to draw an inside straight. Possible, but not likely (I'm talking about winning the world series, because that's all it matters, ask a Yankee fan). Our defense is horrible. Improvement must start at shortstop. We're fortunate to have found a decent defensive outfield group when JD/Schwarber is not in the outfield. Pedey's dead money ($13.75M), Richards ($10M), Ottavino ($7.15M), Beni ($2.8M), Marwin ($3M), E Rod ($8.3M), Perez ($5M) adds up to little over $50M. Trading Xander will give us another $20M. We'll lose Price's money ($16M), Eovaldi ($17M) and JD's ($22M) after 2022, totaling $55M. That's total of $125M. Enough money to acquire an ace and rebuild the bullpen. Our #9 ranked farm system should provide the parent club with some younger talent, Casas at 1B as an example. Do not trade young guys, Dalbec comes to mind. He's cheap. We don't know what he's capable of. We don't need multiple 'super' talent. Rays do it with not one single player making over $10M. Keep churning players. Get some pitching help more than anything else. Out hitting the other team is not baseball and it's not working. The goal is not to collect high ops guys. The goal is to win.

“Right now, as I told the coaches, this is not the time to quit,” Cora said. “This is not the time to feel sorry about us. We’ve got to keep pushing these guys to be great like we’ve done the whole season. Is it a challenge? Of course it’s a challenge. It’s not easy. A lot of teams have gone through (it). It’s just kind of like the timing of it, right? It’s a little bit tougher. But we’ll be OK. We’ll show up tomorrow. I’ve always said, ‘When? Where? And we’ll be there.’ And we’ll play with energy and try to win a ballgame.” Mr. Cora, believe me, you get no sympathy from me. We deal with this every day in high school.

Is Renfroe ever coming back?

Hell no. We don't have quality pitching evaluators.

What is about Rays jersey so magical when it comes to pitching? Boston lost 6-1 here to the Rays on Monday as the offense went silent against rookie starter Luis Patiño. The 21-year-old from Colombia allowed only one run, five hits and one walk while striking out five. The Red Sox recorded just six hits (five singles) and had just two at-bats with runners in scoring position (0-for-2). They left six men on base.

It's good that Bloom is building for future...not realizing we're wasting another good year from Devers as an example. It's been a long day for me. We're down 3-1. If we get swept by the Rays, I'll probably quit watching. I have no confidence for next year. Who cares if we jump out to the lead? We've shown that we can blow it and management will sit on their collective asses. Later boys.

I can pretty much spew darkness on that site.....

If I was building a team from scratch, I load up on 1. starting pitching 2. bullpen 3. cheap, defensive position players Not the other way around......

If we go all out to sign Schwarber this winter, then we'll have to live with his defense or lack of until JD is gone after 2022. I'm just not sure if JD will opt out. You are correct about Dalbec. We can't give up on him. Getting a reliever for him in a trade is giving up too much. I still think he has an upside. Again, he comes very cheap for at least two more years. I would do nothing with Xander situation. If he opts out, then he opts out. He may need to move to 3B at some point, especially if we lose Devers for whatever reason in two years. (remember Betts) We're just very short handed right now with Renfroe gone, Kike gone and Arroyo gone. C Vaz/BackUp 1B Schwarber/Dalbec 2B Arroyo/Kike SS Xander 3B Devers/Dalbec LF Verdugo/Schwarber/JD CF Kike/Duran RF Renfroe DH JD/Schwarber #10=backup catcher #11=Dalbec #12=Duran #13=utility infielder It is what it is.....we can never become stellar defensive team with this group

It's hard to get mad about today's game. It was comical. Pray for rain and 7 inning games because we can't stop the other teams in last two innings. I'm glad to have Bloom but he missed on relievers. And all of us were so worried about locking up Barnes. He never fails to disappoint me.

We need major rain outs so we get multiple double headers, you know 7 inning games.

I like that!

All kidding aside, we get Rays tomorrow. I feel a sweep coming.

I guess what Cora really meant when he said he's not concerned about the starting pitching was that he was more concerned with his bullpen. That absolutely makes sense now.

Is Darwinzon on vacation?

When is Brasier coming back? He's rehab is matching that of Santana. I bet he get activated tomorrow. Another torrid slumper.

Let's give Xander a new contract so we can watch his mediocre defense for five more years.

We'll still get the second wildcard spot. Look at the bright side. We took two out of three.

Barnes is still a major wuss afterall.

We can't worry about defense. We're built to our score the opponent.

Xander with 5 years and $100M that everyone here told me we would get major trade pieces for....

Our new goal is to have the best farm system.