Nick

But she makes the point 2-5 should be batting 1--4. No one can convince me giving Santana first crack to hit for 5th time is ok under any scenario.

Kimmi please e-mail Cora on optimal lineup.

Question is how quickly can he get it 'right' on the fly during the pennant race. Coaches are asking him to change the mix of his pitches. He's working on changeup and the coaches want him to throw two-seamer more often. I like the guy but he is really deflated about the situation he's in. I'll be first to jump back on his bandwagon if he comes out of this. Yes, we're still in first place despite all of my bitching here lately. Sorry.

Moon would tell you that because we are $5.5M under the cap, we can afford to acquire someone with a tax payroll of $15M on July 31st (pro-rated for 1/3 of the season). Question is how many prospects are we willing to give up and how good are they? I would prefer the team exhaust all in house options before looking elsewhere. Let's hope they don't wait until we're 5 games down to make these moves.

Chance of him completely losing is just as good. He was struggling with his command prior to the MLB crackdown. I don't know how he will get out of this mess. It was telling that he was most vocal about the enforcement of the rule.

It's great that Santana, Verdugo and JD got to bat 5 times. Let's give our .454 OPS guy the first chance at batting 5 times in a game. There are many smarter people than me on this board but you will never convince me that it's okay to bat Santana first. Never.

We have an opening for leadoff batter. Santana is 0-4 with 3 K's. Why would we want him getting 5 at bats sooner than other 8 guys? That absolutely makes no sense. The guy's OPS is .461.....I mean, come on man. What the hell? Remember the scene in Moneyball when manager refuses NOT to play a guy? GM finally trades manager's guy so the manager has to play the guy GM wants. Bloom just needs to cut Santana so Cora won't be tempted to play him and bat him first.

Definitely not for $10M club option. Money can be spent elsewhere. This is when you consider piecing together $10M plus Ottavino's $8M and Pedey's $13M and get a top of the line pitcher or we can keep gambling on mediocre pitchers. Rays are paying $2.5M for Rich Hill.

Obviously Richards can no longer be counted on......I'm looking for bright side. In addition to Pedey's $13.75M going away, Richard's $10M will go away. Probably Ottavino's $8M will also go away. How about an opener with Whitlock?

Look at the bright side....we'll have $10M more for next year.

We paid $14M for this guy?

Exactly.... He's defeated....He's a toast...

I would agree on Santana's versatility if not for having Marwin on our roster. Arroyo can play both short and second base, Kike second and centfield, Marwin pretty much every position. I'm a Sox fan and I want all to do well. My only point being that we exhaust internal possibilities before looking outside the organization. I don't think we've done that yet. Bringing up Duran as an example maybe a desperate move but it won't cost us anything. We've already dealt with less than stellar performances from the likes of Cordero, Santana, Marwin and Dalbec. Maybe, just maybe they're wrong on Duran. Bloom is smart enough to know he's not perfect.

I am all for Ottavino type deal. But we'll need to keep the money below $10M. (prorated, less than $5M).

The Red Sox bullpen picture is coming into focus It’ll never be beyond improvement, but the foundation is solid. https://www.overthemonster.com/2021/6/23/22546918/boston-red-sox-bullpen-barnes-ottavino-whitlock-taylor-hernandez-sawamura "They have a group of five arms they are willing to throw out in late and close situations, all of whom continue to come through at a strong rate. Matt Barnes has been playing the role of the relief ace, and doing it just about as well as any pitcher in baseball. Adam Ottavino has recovered from a rough start to settle in nicely as the primary setup option, shutting teams down in the eighth inning. Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez are executing as a dynamic duo from the left side, with Taylor in particular dominating right now. And Hirokazu Sawamura is using his mid-90s splitter to give batters a look they aren’t seeing from anybody else. Of his (Whitlock) 20 appearances this season, half of them have seen him go at least two innings, with another four on top of that being between one and two frames. The Red Sox should absolutely target some sort of relief help at the trade deadline, and they should continue to keep an open mind about their own in-house options like Eduard Bazardo (whenever he’s healthy again) and Kaleb Ort, among others in Worcester."

I come back to this post.....I don't see us advancing in 'playoff's' with current starting rotation. We need Sale, Whitlock and/or Houck inserted. Red Sox ERA--WHIP 3.90-1.27 Eovaldi 4.32-1.40 Perez 4.36-1.35 Pivetta 4.36-1.61 Richards 6.07-1.46 E Rod All with 14 starts other than Eovaldi, 15 starts. White Sox (possible 1st round opponent) ERA--WHIP 3.98-1.34 Keuchel 3.99-1.30 Cease 3.86-1.10 Giolito 2.14-1.00 Lynn 1.83-0.84 Rodon

I love Bloom's approach. I don't want to see any Sox prospect traded for a 'rental'. None, not Chavis, not Matta, no one, period. We should look at every prospect in the organization to make current team better. What exactly is the downside to replacing Santana? That someone else will pick him up and then he goes on a tear? Do you see that happening? We can be patient with Dalbec, but not Santana. He's a veteran. He was hired gun to hit for us. I've watched almost his every at bat. I don't see anything resembling what everyone else sees. Doing everything also means to stretch out Whitlock. Again, no one here has told me it can't be done. Our starters often fail in first couple of innings. Why not go with an opener? Bloom has had success with it. Why not exhaust every f***ing possibility within the organization before emptying out the farm to acquire a rental?

I'm going to be positive today. Great thing about striking out is that there's no chance of hitting into double play. Sometimes I wish for a strike out when say Vaz comes to bat.

We're 18-8 vs AL East. We win the division if we keep that up. Sox now 15 games above .500 for third time this year. Let's get to 16. Rays 2 games behind in the loss column. Life is good. Even Santana got a hit today.

And the Yankees lose to pesky Royals.

Never mind...Darwinzon it is....

I've waited over 3 hours to watch my main man, Whitlock......

Kike looks much more comfortable at the plate not leading off.....lol

Was it Choi that played the fat guy falling down rounding first on a homer in Moneyball?

All good points. I was taking a shot at the Sox.