Nick

Yeah but they owned the umpires in the coliseum.

Not here to bash Bloom but He's not had to sign expensive free agents with the Rays organization. That's not his experience and maybe not in his wheelhouse. He's made good trades to upgrade our team, such as bringing over Pivetta. It remains to be seen what his ceiling will be. He's definite upgrade over what we had in 2020. Picking up Whitlock on Rule 5 on mere thousands was also a great pickup. But lets examine potentially having to pay Richards $10M if his option is not picked up in 2021. That amount would represent the highest payroll on Rays team. I doubt that's a move he'd been allowed to make in the Rays organization. Only saving grace is it was only for a year. As Sox fans we're conditioned to think nothing of pissing away few million here and few million there. But that attitude is exactly what got us to where we are luxury payroll tax wise. Then all the sudden the Boss says NO. I'm not sure how long this 'rebuild' is going to take. As we wait on younger players to develop, our established players are getting older, possibly opting out, or require bigger contracts which will keep the team toeing the luxury tax line. I just don't want to give Bloom a pass for pissing away $10M on a player that maybe DFA'd.

On Thursday, starter Martín Pérez lasted just 1 ⅓ innings before Cora turned to the bullpen and recently acquired relievers Hansel Robles and Austin Davis combined to give up five runs on eight hits. The Sox committed just one error but were sloppy defensively while going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving 11 men on base. Nice pick ups by the way.......

Boston Red Sox blown out by Tigers, 8-1, for 6th loss in 7 games; Martín Pérez lasts just 1 ⅓ innings as ERA rises to 4.77 If Cora is not worried, neither am I. Hey lets waste another 80 pitches from Chris in a meaningless minor league game. What does he accomplish? We don't need a super star Chris Sale. Are we afraid he'll get hurt if we rush him? Is his chance of getting hurt in a major league game greater than his chance of getting hurt in a minor league game? If you limit his pitch count to say 60, what does it hurt? Martin Perez is not setting a high bar here lately. At some point, Cora and Bloom will be a joke and they're getting there.

Can you tell me what positions I'm way off on? I had a talented sophomore one year with tons of potential. But as looked at other players in our competitive area, my player ranked close to the bottom. Now the player turned out to be D1 player eventually but my assumption was correct. We had too much to overcome at an important position manned by a sophomore. Again, tell me where I'm off? You talk about Sale and E Rod. But can't the Yankees make the same argument?

Whatever the sport, I look for team's best lineup and see if the team can match other teams. Right Now (just my perception, mind you) C Vaz.......C- 1B F 2B Kike B SS Xandr A 3B Devers A LF Verdugo C+ CF Duran D (small sample size) RF Renfroe B- DH JD A- We don't even have to discuss starting pitching. This team is not capable of winning the World Series. I'll take any bets.

Duran takes third strike.....runner on third with one out Are they dumb?

Hunter is team controlled for two more years via arbitration.

I can't wait for Schwarber to take over 1B.

Dalbec pinch hits and strikes out....so much for that lefty righty stuff....

Runner on 2nd and 3rd with one out. Renfroe strikes out. We're not very good.

99 pitches....5 innings......he should be done for the evening. I do remember Cora getting on E Rod in 2019 about him not challenging the hitters

Tanner pitched 5, 6 and 6 innings in his 3 starts in 2020. Where in the HELL are you guys coming up with the thought that he's a 4 inning pitcher? Quit being freaking lazy. Why don't you look at some facts?

When did it become ok to hit below .250? Did I sleep through this?

It's always good to hear from you. You're spot on....but on the lighter side, I'm chuckling and thinking..."thank you, Mr. Obvious"...I like having you here on our board....

Everything I was wrong on... 1 Kike and leading off....not a problem. I now get upset when he's not leading off 2 Matt Barnes as closer...I always thought he was a wuss, mentally too soft, walked way too many hitters 3 Richards..I thought he was a bargain at $10M, only question was his health 4 Dalbec..left alone at 1B and batting 9th, he'd be a 'surprise'. Hitting 25 homers and solid at the plate. Only thing I was right on 1. Whitlock, Whitlock, Whitlock..during spring training Cora was very high on him. He just has that mental toughness, especially with men of base.

Sure am glad Marwin's back. 0-3 with 2 k's. He's healthy again.

Posters complain Houck can't be a starter because he struggles second time around Sure, he's the only one with that problem. Do we watch the same game? Date IP H R ER B K HR SP 8/03 4.0 5 3 3 2 5 1 Richards 8/01 4.2 3 3 3 1 6 1 L Pivetta 7/31 5.1 6 6 5 1 6 2 L Eovaldi 7/30 4.0 7 6 6 1 5 3 L Perez 7/29 3.1 7 6 6 4 8 0 L E Rod 7/28 4.0 2 1 1 1 7 0 W Houck 7/28 4.0 8 4 4 1 2 2 L Richards Be my guest, blow up the sample size and see if you come up different outcome. It's been bad since June 1st.

July OPS of .641 for Verdugo.....he's dropped each month.

Cordero is 5-13 with two walks since returning to Sox. All singles.

We need them both. The lineup will be fine with Shwarber plugged into 1B. Sox needs to stay close to the Rays for next couple of weeks.

Luxury Tax I blame player's union. Rate of luxury tax payroll was no near close to the rate of revenue increase. (there was an article) Obviously 2020/2021 was an outlier on revenue side. When Yankees are staying below the cap something is not right. Win win for owners.

Richards at $10M with enforcement of previous rule was an overpaid. I bet analytical people are all busy looking at the spin rate differentials.

I've changed my mind about the luxury tax. I just think it's no big deal to go over the first threshold and get to $230M. Penalties of 20%, 30% and then 42.5% equates to $4M, $6M and $8.5M. Even at 42.5%, $8.5M on $230M payroll to me is insignificant.

As seen by recent slump all around, you need a line-up 1-9 to get through the 162 game schedule. You can't have two or three black holes in the lineup. Everyone here got on my ass about not being dependent on 2-5 guys. Mathematically it's pretty hard to sustain team offense with 4 guys.