Nick

I coach. I'm blessed with terrific athletes. Their movements are very efficient and effortless. People often correlate that to 'not working hard enough'.

I get excited watching Duran play. Not sure how he will turn out but HE SURE LOOKS LIKE HE BELONGS. I don't see him with his heads down even after striking out. He's got the swag. I also know many of you are down on Rios. But he's a guy Bloom knows well. He has some command issues but who doesn't? From my perspective he's ahead of Workman and Andriese and has tons of upside. Workman as usual, got hammered facing the leadoff hitter in the ninth. Luckily, it was right at someone. Even with 6-1 lead, I was holding my breath.

Are you a doctor?

Duran has better plate discipline than Dalbec and Chavis.

Connor Seabold to start for WooSox tonight.....ramping him up!!!!

A gift from his young wife is what I'm hearing.

It's really too bad that JD can't play 1B. Sign Nelson Cruz as DH.

1 intriguing prospect trade chip for each team per mlb.com Red Sox: Brayan Bello, RHP (No. 18) Bello's preseason ranking on our Red Sox Top 30 belies the fact that he has emerged as the organization's best healthy pitching prospect while logging a 3.00 ERA with a 76/16 K/BB ratio in 54 innings between High-A and Double-A. Signed for just $28,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2017, he has a mid-90s fastball and flashes a plus slider and changeup in the mid-80s. No thanks, we'll keep him.

Rick Porcello needs his own thread....Mediocre or Above Average?

They've been getting rest periodically. I think Cora is very mindful of that. But I just don't get why we have to baby these guys above and beyond their off days. It's one thing if they're hurt but another if they're not.

I understand the luxury of using Houck in multiple scenarios but IF he's clearly an upgrade over Richards and Perez, then he needs to be in the starting rotation. Why in the hell would we trade for another starter when we'll have Houck and Sale available? Get help in the bullpen. Get rid of mop up duty guy in Workman and maybe Rios (I think the Sox likes him).

Tanner Houck was outstanding last night. Not getting much air time on his fine outing, overshadowed by Kike's heroics. I sure do love his attitude. Take the ball and fire! No fear in him nor Whitlock. Stretch them both out for next year. We don't need to pay Richards $10M when we have these kids. Sale, Eovaldi, E Rod (?), Pivetta, Houck and Whitlock. We'll still have Barnes, Sawamura, Darwinzon and Taylor in the pen. Perez can be a spot starter and a long reliever. The pen can reconstructed over the winter. There will some young arms ready for 2022.

Rays have two players making over $5M. Unbelievable. We're worried about sweetening the pot for Xander making $20M and JD making $22M. And extending Devers for $25-$30M. Different lifestyles.

In the ninth, Verdugo and Dalbec laced back-to-back singles off Yankees reliever Chad Green before Kevin Plawecki lined out for the second out of the frame. Hernández then drove a 1-0 fastball into the gap to plate Verdugo from second and pinch-runner Jarren Duran all the way from first. You give a kid all the bats he needs in minors. But when the big club is fighting for pennant, you do everything you can to make the big club better. You start internally. Then you look elsewhere for help.

Thanks...just seemed odd..

Can I assume Whitlock has higher WAR than Barnes because he hasn't had as many 'bad' games as Barnes?

MLB War Leaders 21. 3.3 Rafael Devers 22. 3.1 Xander Bogaerts 23. 3.0 Jose Ramirez 24. 3.0 Kiké Hernandez 25. 3.0 JD Martinez So I was the idiot that said we overpaid for Kike......sure glad we have him for another year. See how easy it is to admit defeat and jump on the bandwagon? Santana still sucks!

MASH Update Aaron Judge was one of a handful of players placed on the COVID list last weekend, and it doesn’t seem like he’ll be able to come back for this series. Luke Voit is dealing with a bone bruise on his knee that put him on the IL when the COVID issues were arising as well. Voit’s timeline to return is not clear. Luis Severino underwent Tommy John surgery around the same time as Chris Sale, but he had a setback in his rehab so his timeline could be pushed back a bit more. Corey Kluber went down with a significant shoulder injury in May, and while originally he was expected to be out until September, and August return could now be in the cards. Gio Urshela was another one of the players to hit the COVID IL. Clint Frazier left a game with dizziness back at the end of June, and while he’s doing some workout stuff again it’s still not entirely clear what the problem is. Aaron Hicks underwent surgery on his wrist that will likely keep him out all season. Jonathan Loaisiga was another player put on the COVID list, with his absence starting at the end of the first half. Darren O’Day never really got to get going this season and underwent season-ending surgery on his hamstring. Kyle Higashioka was yet another player affected by the COVID outbreak. Miguel Andújar went down with a wrist injury earlier this month, and while he’s still not back there was optimism that it wasn’t anything too serious. Trey Amburgey came up after the COVID outbreak, but quickly tweaked a hamstring that landed him on the injured list. Tim Locastro was recently acquired in a trade, but then tore his ACL last weekend against the Red Sox and will miss the rest of the season. Clarke Schmidt has been out all season dealing with arm issues, but he’s working his way back soon and could be a swingman option for the Yankees down the stretch. Nestor Cortes was also part of the COVID outbreak, though it seems like he could potentially be back sooner than the others. Michael King hurt his finger lifting weights, and it’s not clear when he’ll get back on the mound. Wandy Peralta was the final member of the COVID outbreak How do we lose to these guys except maybe on Friday when Cole starts?

Franchy Cordero could return to Boston Red Sox on Thursday as Danny Santana (left groin) likely will be placed on IL Why not?

I vote for Cordero.

shucks, Santana hurt again...what a horrible route to the ball...

Santana is 0-4.......I have hard time rooting for him....575 OPS... does Cora know it's killing me to see him in the lineup?

Per Fangraph Player Age Level Pos ETA FV 1 Jeter Downs 22.5 AA 2B 2022 50 2 Triston Casas 21.0 A+ 1B 2023 50 3 Bryan Mata 21.7 AA MIRP 2021 45+ 4 Gilberto Jimenez 20.5 A- CF 2023 45+ 5 Noah Song 23.7 A- SP 2023 45 6 Tanner Houck 24.6 MLB MIRP 2021 45 7 Jarren Duran 24.4 AA CF 2022 45 8 Connor Seabold 25.0 AA SP 2021 45 9 Bobby Dalbec 25.6 MLB 3B 2021 45 Then there's this....

How much talent would we need to give up for Max Scherzer? Not endorsing the trade. Just curious.

You are correct. For purpose of luxury tax calculation, $1.5M is initially added to 2021 tax payroll because presumption is not picking up the club option. Once the Sox pick up the club option, our luxury tax cost for Richards drops to $8.5M for 2021. Luxury tax is paid on tax payroll as of 12/31/21. Club options has to be exercized pretty early, definitely before 12/31/21.