Nick

Well, we've seen how Whitlock plays at the major league level. His stuff is there. He added slider this year. We have veterans that can't improve. Whitlock is special and I'm driving his bandwagon. Many have the stuff but no command. Some have good command but not enough stuff. Whitlock has both. If Houck, Seabold, Ward and Groome are better than Whitlock, then we got something.

Per MassLive Whitlock has begun to use his slider more recently. He throws a plus-changeup and his sinker has averaged 95.5 mph while his four-seam fastball 95.9 mph, per Baseball Savant. The Red Sox view the Rule 5 Draft pick as a starting pitcher longterm. “From day one in spring training, this young man has done nothing but impress,” Varitek said Sunday. “Keeps getting better. Keeps getting smarter. His game experiences are going to keep going up and that’s going to continue to match his stuff. He’s been able to make on-field adjustments with his breaking ball. He’s just been impressive. He steps up in there, no sweat. ‘Oh, I have to hit? OK. I’ll hit.’ And then the next time he hits, he gets a hit.” Whitlock recorded a single in Boston’s win over the Braves in Atlanta on Tuesday. “It’s just been impressive,” Varitek said. “He does a good job in all aspects; our pace, our tempo, which we’ve pushed since early in spring training. You watch him, that’s first and foremost what he’s doing. And he’s attacking. He’s using all his pitches and he’s continuing to grow. He’s just been extremely impressive and he’s going to keep growing.”

Whitlock's changeup moves in towards right handers and down. It's the movement that avoids contact. He should be stretched out to start at some point. I'm hoping one of young guns take over for Eovaldi in 2023.

He can throw 110 MPH. He still can't miss the bats.

No one has explained to me the difference between batting 1-5 (add Renfroe) and batting 2-6. All of you think it's detrimental to move up everyone by one spot. I would venture to guess it matters MORE who you hit behind remain the same. Are you telling me our 2-5 insist on hitting in that order because they all want to bat in that spot? Verdugo did just fine leading off last year. No matter how small, Verdugo will get at bat more leading off. That's a mathematical certainty. Does anyone really think that Verdugo is such a pussy that he's performance will go down by leading off? Oh my gosh, he can't deal with it? That's not in his DNA from what I've seen from him. Maybe, maybe it'll be one or two game difference. It could be the difference between winning the Divison or being the wildcard team. We don't lead the league in runs scored per game so you can't use that argument any longer. I rather have a big hole in 6-9 than 7-1. We lead the AL in ops in 8th spot in the order so relatively speaking to other teams, we don't have a big hole in the #8 spot.

I did not mention Kike in this post, because he has been bashed pretty harshly, too. While he has been a high usage utility guy his whole career, I think we signed him thinking he'd get over 550 PAs- more or as much as we expected from Dalbec, this year. Moon Much of his bashing is Cora's fault for insisting that he bat leadoff. If he's hitting 7th or 8th, I don't think anyone would talk about him. It's Cora's insistence that Kike, Marwin and Santana bat leadoff puts spotlight on the three. I'm just done talking about it. Why not put a .104 hitter in leadoff spot because he has speed and the line-up really doesn't matter? Dalbec was designated #9 hitter. No expectations.

After a day off on Monday, Sox play 16 straight games. It may not hurt to insert a sixth guy during that stretch. Maybe Houck can be that guy.

Boston Red Sox prospect Brayan Bello’s 10-strikeout performance ‘was eye-opening,’ Alex Cora says http://https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2021/06/boston-red-sox-prospect-brayan-bellos-10-strikeout-performance-was-eye-opening-alex-cora-says.html

Sale nearing live BP Red Sox ace Chris Sale, who is returning from Tommy John surgery, will throw bullpen sessions again Tuesday and Friday. “Then from there, we’ll reassess that,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Most likely he’ll throw two live BPs the week after that.” Cora said Sale likely will throw his first live BP on July 8. Sale most likely will throw his Tuesday bullpen in Portland with the WooSox on the road.

Bazardo throwing again Reliever Eduard Bazardo has begun a throwing program. He played catch Friday. The WooSox placed Bazardo on the 10-day injured list May 24 with a right lat strain. The 25-year-old has pitched 3 scoreless innings for the Red Sox this year. He was one of the top reliever depth options in the minors before the injury.

Connor Seabold KANSAS CITY — Red Sox prospect Connor Seabold threw a 25-pitch bullpen session Friday. The righty, who was shut down with right elbow inflammation and minor soreness in early May, began a throwing program in late May. The 25-year-old is one of Boston’s top depth starters despite having not yet made his major league debut. Boston acquired Seabold with righty Nick Pivetta from the Phillies for Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree last August.

I would love to see him get to 3 innings.....it's BS to claim they're monitoring the 'usage' when he's thrown more innings than any other reliever......

Good Day for me as a fan Sox win, back to 15 games above .500. Dalbec with 3 hits, opposite field home run. Whitlock pitches 2 scoreless innings. I like watching him pitch than anyone else.

Dodgers CBT History 2021: $262,111,667 payroll on day 1..... 2020: The Dodgers' CBT payroll of $204,653,651 did not exceed the $208M threshold for MLB's competitive balance tax. 2019: The Dodgers' CBT payroll of $204,918,530 did not exceed the $206M threshold for MLB's competitive balance tax. 2018: The Dodgers' CBT payroll of $195,039,730 did not exceed the $197M threshold for MLB's competitive balance tax. 2017: $36,209,572 tax on payroll of $253,633,893 with $195M threshold and 50 percent rate as a fifth-time payor. 2016: $31,775,817 tax on payroll of $252,551,634 with $189M threshold and 50 percent rate as a fourth-time payor. 2015: $43,567,472 tax on payroll of $297,918,681 with a $189M threshold and a 40% tax as a third-time payor. 2014: $26,621,124 tax on payroll of $277,737,082 with a $189M threshold and a 30% rate as a second-time payor. 2013: $11,415,958 tax on payroll of $243,234,050 with a $178M threshold and a 17.5% rate as a first-time payor. Interesting that they stayed under the cap in 2020 to win the World Series. Dodgers added two big contracts in 2021, Betts and Bauer. Luxury tax doesn't seem to bother the owners.

I rather have G Cole than Betts this year.

I'm in your camp on that issue.....I really trust Bloom to get the job done for us....

It's basically supported by fans of other teams.

Jackie Bradley Jr. The 31-year-old Bradley is in the midst of his worst offensive season. He is batting .152 with a .231 on-base percentage, .268 slugging percentage, .498 OPS, five homers, four doubles, two triples, 16 RBIs and 18 runs in 61 games for the Brewers. Baseball-Reference has him at -0.3 in WAR. He signed a two-year, $24-million contract with Milwaukee in early March. Some wanted him to sign with the Sox. We dodged a bullet.

Sox has used only one other starting pitcher, Houck twice, outside their 5 starters this year. White Sox is next with 4 games started by pitchers outside of their top 5. 5 other teams including Yankees, Cubs and the Orioles have 7 games started by pitchers outside their top 5. We've been healthy other than E Rod skipping a turn at beginning of the year. (We used 16 starters in 60 game, 2020 season)

So the Pesky Rays Since May 1st, Rays had lost back to back games only 3 times before last night, losing for third straight time. Their longest losing streak this year is 4 which came in early April. They had a 11 game winning streak imbedded during their 16-1 run to take over AL East. But they're now only 1/2 game ahead of Sox. It's fun times.

As well as Rays have played, we're now only half game back. It'll be interesting to watch our starters pitch going into the All Star break. Is this a trend or bump on the road?

That was in jest. Please don't take me seriously. I'm here to entertain myself.

It's hard to believe hardly anyone COMPLETES seven innings.

Schedule Day off today 3 @ Kansas City Day off 3 @ Rays 3 vs Yanks 4 vs Kansas City 3 @ A's 3 @ Angels Day Off 3 vs Phillies 3 Days Off for All Star Game We'll have another 16 game stretch without any day off before the All Star break. We have 22 games to All Star break. We'll need an extra starter during that 16 game stretch. Kansas City is 1-9 the last 10 games. We need to pound them while they're down. We play them 7 times.

As Cora said, we just went through a tough stretch playing 17 games in 17 days going 10-7. We're at season best 15 games above .500 as we head to Kansas City. Rays maybe reeling a bit with the loss of their ace. They finally lost a series against the White Sox. Despite our pitching woes, we have a shot to get to 17 games above .500 when we come home to face the Yankees. But if we don't hit, we're toast.