Nick

Chavis in July 2-22, 0 walks, 11 K's, OPS .352 Get me Santana..... We need an infielder with Arroyo, Marwin and Santana hurt....

We better replace Richards with Houck......maybe someone will take him off of our hands for PTBNL. He was hit hard all day.

Richards should have pulled after 3 innings....that would have pitching 5 innings in a 9 inning game.

I would pay FULL PRICE just not watch this game become a 9 inning game. That would be cruel.

Richards.....8 hits, 1 walk, 4 ER, 4 innings pitched. That's the pitcher he is.........waste of $10M.....he needs to come out of rotation ASAP

He's getting hit hard. Our starters are getting plenty of rest. Even though it's a double header, this will be Houck's second start. E Rod only went one inning last time out. Time for gut check. Man up time.

Problem with Richards' waste pitch is that it's not near the strike zone.....

Dodgers at $262M and looking to add to payroll. Unreal. (Pujols $24M and Kelly $8.3M comes off the books)

Could have used 2 runs there.....

I predict at least 2 homers for Blue Jays off of Richards.

What the hell has gotten into Kike? He's playing like an All-Star.

"The Guardians of Bases." yeah it's pretty lame...

I'm still intrigued about Syndergaard for 2022. He is a free agent after this year. He made $9.7M this year. Does he have bigger upside than E Rod?

Sox just didn't cheat as good as Astros. They were good at it.

Yet they are only 21-28 vs .500+ teams? Are you saying that they are the best team on paper? What is your criteria? I'm confused.

And we've been without Sale all year. Tanner Houck has been in and out. Brasier has been out all year. What is your point?

Right on.

We like Bloom because he does not get the Sox into multiple year situations with bad contracts. Look no further than Richards contract. If he fails, okay it cost us $10M for one year. No sweat. Getting Scherzer as a two month rental also avoids long term deal for an aging pitcher. So it comes down to how much are we willing to give up for a two months rental? Moon thinks we have no shot at beating Dodgers, Giants and Padres. Why make ANY improvements then? On one hand Moon thinks we'll have some difficult decisions when it comes to coming up with our 40 man roster this winter. He's implying that not all prospects are worthy of protection. That means some of them are tradeable. Why wouldn't you use some of them as trading pieces? Moon is not high on Downs but he thinks we should protect him because of possibility of Xander opting out. But in the past, he's implied shortstop position is easily filled with good defense first types. I think the Sox will re-work his contract. That possibility is as solid as possibility of Xander moving to another team. I refuse to believe that Scherzer, Sale, Eovaldi, E Rod rotation can't compete with the NL West Coast teams. Moving JD to left field will allow Kike to play 1B. I would bet that Arroyo would return by playoffs. That's without acquiring a first baseman in next couple of days. Starting pitching is our weak spot right now within the context of playoff bound teams.

My guess is they will be prudent and take the conservative approach. That said, this team is not the team in April. Emergence of Kike and Renfroe has changed my outlook. In spite of the 1st base woes, it's the quality of our starting pitching that is most troubling to me. It seem we are now going into games thinking we have to score 5+ runs to win. That maybe a too high of hurdle against playoff bound teams.

Should we look at our opportunity in historical context? Winning the world series is uncommon occurrence. Sox have won 4 out of last 20. Our starting pitching even with Sale's impending return seems too soft after Sale and Eovaldi against 9 other playoff bound teams. Do we improve our odds of winning it all by adding a top of the line starting pitcher? Scherzer, Sale, Eovaldi and E Rod sounds pretty good. Our starting pitching in 2022 will have Sale, Eovaldi, Pivetta along with Houck and Whitlock. Losing Perez, Eovaldi and Richards releases $22M or so in payroll. Enough money there to add a starter and a reliever to replace Ottavino. Maybe that starter is E Rod. Our bullpen will have Barnes, Sawamura, Darwinzon, Taylor, Brasier, good base to build the bullpen in 2022. Our offense will return pretty much in tact in 2022 unless JD opts out. It's not as though we're emptying out our farm. Despite lack of production from 1B, we're getting plenty of offense. Don't we owe Devers, Xander, JD, Kike, Verdugo, Renfroe and Vaz a chance at the ring? For me, emergence of Arroyo has solved our problem at 2B. He's under team control for another 3 years. I think we'll sweeten Xander's contract to keep him in Boston. We're not getting rid of Devers. Looks to me like Downs is blocked. Groome is finally pitching again and now has some trade value. He ranks behind other starter possibilities, Mata, Bello, Seabold. Is a rental a good idea when there's no long term contractual obligation attached to it?

Moon, what would you be willing to give up for rental Scherzer? Would we be a sure thing to win the Division with him and return of Sale? I'm willing to part with Downs, Groome, and Chavis and other fringe young players. As I've discussed previously, I'm no longer concerned about going over the first luxury tax threshold. At most it's $8.5M penalty on $230M payroll.

Rays' Wander Franco, #1 prospect in mlb, is supporting .642 OPS after 101 at bats. It's not an easy game.

His slot value is $1,856,000. Sox offered $2.5M. He's asking $3M....

Things that make you go huh? Chicago White Sox are 21-28 vs teams with .500+ record. They have given up league best 383 runs and have the second best run differential of +114. they're 35-17 at home. Are they just beating up on bad teams?