Nick

I did not get satisfactory answer I think from Bellhorn (who is much smarter than me) about how to evaluate a player that went on to sign a long term contract with the club that they were traded to as a free agent? Did we not get 5 years of Verdugo's service for Betts' one year of service, along with those of Wong and Downs? Had Betts signed with the Yankees after spending one year with the Dodgers, isn't the trade with the Dodgers evaluated on the merits of Betts performance as a Dodger and not Dodgers and the Yankees? Not sure how Betts new twelve year contract factors into the trade when Betts only had one more year with the Sox. Inquiring minds want to know.

I don't think Notin got the Godfather reference....

Wait, wait....was that Godfather II?

Tell me again the circumstances around Betts being traded to Dodgers? Did we low ball him? He was offended by the offer and his mom said "don't take that s*** from them"? I don't remember. It's been two days since I've been on this thread.

I doubt seriously the team will go over the limit. It's stupid to go slightly over it. It kicks in the steep penalty phases into play for 22 and 23. Time to go over it would be in 2022 and go over it by $39M. That's how you play that game. Go big. Other than Chavis, I don't see us willing to give up any top prospects. None.

I value Sox success above anything else.... If we have better 1B option, go for it. I'm hoping Dalbec would take the position and run with it. Arroyo has chance to do just that at second base. It appears Duran will compete for playing time (not today, when he's ready) NOT against Kike, but against Arroyo. Kike will default to playing the loser's position.

We knew this was coming. Per MassLive The Red Sox also plan on using Tanner Houck soon after the break, though his exact role isn’t yet known. Houck could make a spot start or two by the end of July after working his way back from flexor muscle tightness. “He feels good. Everything went well in the last one,” Cora said. “As you guys know, he’s going to be part of this at one point. How soon, we don’t know yet but he’s important for us and he will contribute.”

Very good....you made me laugh...

No draft thread but Why was Mookie traded, exactly lives forever...

Sale has not pitched in game action since Aug. 13, 2019, when he struck out 12 batters in 6 ⅔ innings against the Guardians in Cleveland. Soon after, he was placed on the injured list with elbow inflammation; after trying to come back during spring training in 2020, he suffered a setback and underwent Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020. Basically we wasted 7 months. Had he gotten his surgery sooner, He would have been ready for Spring Training 2021.

Dave Dombrowski 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11,12,13,16,17 and 20 SoxProspects came out of Dave Dombrowski era. His biggest fish was Sale and not having to trade Devers to get Sale. He was hired on 8/18/2015, little too late to do much that season, 78-84. He proceeded to win 3 division titles culminating with World Series victory in 2018. The team finished disappointing 84-78 in 2019. He was fired on 9/9/2019. It was time for him to go but he shouldn't be trashed for what he was asked to do.

See I like that idea...... Suppose we up his pay as incentive not to opt out. At some point, Xander has to ask himself what he wants out of remainder of his playing days? Play shortstop forever just so he can say I was the Sox shortstop? With his new contract, he should only care about championships. He should be willing to move for good of the team. Not saying he was ever selfish. If there's an emerging shortstop in Sox food chain, he would have to consider. 10/5 doesn't require the team get permission to trade positions.

Brayan Bello added to Futures Game Brayan Bello was added to the American League squad, replacing Mariners pitching prospect Emerson Hancock. It has been a huge year for the righty, who has been probably the biggest riser in the entire Red Sox farm system this season. In fact, there’s an argument to be made he is the best healthy pitching prospect right now, or at least in the non-Tanner Houck division. Bello started this season at High-A Greenville, pitching to a 2.27 ERA across six starts and 31 2⁄3 innings, striking out 45 and walking only seven. That dominant performance was good enough to earn the 22-year-old a promotion to Double-A Portland, where he has made four starts, pitching to a 3.45 ERA over 15 2⁄3 innings with 19 strikeouts and seven walks. The righty needs to work on his consistency with his command, but he has a good enough three-pitch mix led by his fastball to be on track for a major-league rotation spot in a couple years. In the meantime, he gets this stage against some of the game’s best young talent. He looks to have the 'it' factor.

WHITLOCK (WEII) It would have been a somewhat unconventional selection considering the rookie's role. He has pitched in the seventh inning more than any other frame (16 times), while appearing in a relatively modest 24 games. But what Whitlock has done in some subtle and other not-so-subtle spots the season has been eye-opening. Seventeen of his appearances have included getting more than just three outs, with the righty posting an 0.51 ERA in such situations. Also, in games Whitlock has pitched more than an inning the Red Sox are 14-3. That says a lot.

The WooSox withstood a late rally to win for the second straight day. The usual suspects led the offense, with Franchy Cordero going 3 for 4 with a double and a stolen base and Jarren Duran going 2 for 4 with a triple. Yairo Muñoz also had three hits, including a double, while Jeter Downs went 0 for 4. Tanner Houck was sharp again as he continues to build back up from his injury, allowing one run on two hits over four innings. In 14 2/3 innings since coming off the injured list, he has an ERA of 3.07 with 19 strikeouts and three walks. Daniel Gossett allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, though it could have been worse as he walked seven. Kaleb Ort got the final two outs, walking two and striking out two. Not sure what more Coredo has to do. He's hitting .385 with ops of 1.120. Kike can play 2B vs right handers and move Verdugo to center. I doubt he's ready to play 1B at major league level (pipe dream for 2021?).

As always thanks for your thoughtful response. And I agree with everything you said. Cora will never, ever, throw a player under the bus. He's a player's manager. That said, I'm sure there's much discussion about few of the players on our 26 man roster. How to make the team better is 24/7/365 conversation for Bloom and baseball people. Best thing about 2021 Red Sox is that they can get better internally, ie have not reached their ceiling as a team, despite having more wins than anyone else. That's pretty comforting thought.

You're telling me nothing I don't know. We're having a great season. We have top people in Bloom and Cora. I was the first poster to argue that Whitlock was special. That he was being underutilized. Check it. He now pitches in high leverage situations. You're smart guy, you think everything is great? Do you think our pitching right now is good enough to beat the Astros? How about Blue Jays? Our pitching may get by offensively impotent A's but I'm not sure it'll hold against top hitting ball clubs. If you paid any attention, Workman was getting hammered last night and he was very lucky to get through his two innings. My guess is Bloom is waiting for both Houck and Brasier at some point to get healthy enough to be called up. But to pretend we have kick ass team because of our record is not comforting. I've said often, I'm just asking for little tweak at the lower level of our 26 man roster.

Santana has been shaky the last couple of games. He almost ran over JD on a fly ball hit to JD. I haven't seen anything here about his dumb steal attempt last night. Today he made a throw to third on a single that allowed the hitter to advance to second base. His throw wasn't even close. It's one thing to be in a horrible slump. It's another to make mental mistakes.

I think we just need little tweaking. Part of it has been the health of our players. Arroyo should be back and solidify the infield. Brasier getting struck in the head has really hurt us. Houck is just getting back.

I think it's okay talk about how to improve the team. If the answer is Bloom and Cora have forgotten more about baseball than you will ever know then there's not much point in being here. Not long ago it was said that our pen was rested and now we're little worn out. There's probably only two solutions to the problem. Stay with starters little longer. In that case Cora should have left E Rod for another inning the other day. Or rotate out lesser BP arms with pitchers on 40 man roster. The team can't complain and do nothing about it. It was good to see Whitlock pitch the 8th inning. More reliable arms in later innings the better.

Gerrit Cole, Aroldis Chapman make All-Star Game after brutal Yankees loss Gotta love New York papers....

You can make that 5-9, 1-17 10 K's........hey but we're ok, don't fix it if not broken, don't break up the team chemistry....

Romo's third straight appearance......I guess our guys get tired and can't go three straight...

I don't like this defense...no confidence in Santana Not much has been talked about, last night Santana almost ran over JD in left field, he makes another unforced error by trying to steal 3rd. He's eventually going to cost us a game.

I'm sure A Chapman's had good year....he really got blown up last two games though....