Nick

We're big market club and budget should be near the tax line.... HOWEVER, we've done very poorly lately with significant amount of the money sitting on the sidelines or having maybe too many non productive contracts. How to fix it? THAT, is above my pay grade. Sale, Story and Giolito.....not to mention what is beginning to look really bad for the Yoshida contract. Hopefully Breslow can turn this around.

Kike trade was right out of the movie Moneyball. Cora kept playing him. GM finally traded him so Cora wouldn't be tempted to play Kike at short. Well that's my story.

I don't see what the staff sees in Joely.....okay so he was injured last year. What's the excuse this year? Bernardino got screwed.

I agree. It's time to give someone else a chance. This is good time to do it. Maybe even bringing up a third base man and experiment Devers at 1B. I have a feeling Casa will be out for extended period. His injury hinders his swing. He won't return for couple of months I predict.

Abreu has raised his OPS to very respectable .830. Cora was right. He needed more at bats and unfortunately it came via Story being out for the season. We can thank Houston for exchanging a rental in the form of Vazquez, who incidentally did not start for them. It was more of a depth addition for Houston. The Twins gave Vaz a 3-year $30M contract. Vaz had .598 OPS last year in 102 games and he's now hitting .380 OPS. We dodged the bullet. Hopefully we'll make a decisive move on trade deadline this year. I don't see us going anywhere. We'll have some tradeable pieces.

I think we have individual coice to decide everythat happened in 2020. For me 60 games didn't do it. If one thinks 2020 was mire legit than 2023 then maybe we should cut back on number of regular season games.

This year was all about discovery. To see who belongs in majors. Maybe the jury is still out on Whitlock but we at least have 3 young guns going forward in Bello Kutter and Houck. Position wise it appears Duran Abreu and Rafaela are keepers. For a time being we will have to carry Rafaela offensively. So Wong Casas Rafaela Devers Duran and Abreu should play unless someone else better shows up. I look forward to adding Grissom to the 'keepers' category. We need more depth, quality depth that is.

Another no run 6 IP by a starter. Nice!

Our starting pitching has been really good. Their 7-3 record is only topped by Royals' 8-3. The group has pitched 104 innings, 4th highest in the AL. The starters lead the AL in ERA at 1.82, even accounting for unearned runs, they've only given up 27 runs, 1st in AL. Their .99 WHIP and .203 BA against also tops the AL for starters. Pretty incredible really.

Sox have done horrible job valuing talent. It's more that we have allocated $180M to wrong players than not spending. Had we spent wisely, we'd have more money available for top talent such as Betts.

It's 4/19 and we're looking under every rock to fill out the roster....I guess it's better than doing nothing. My head is spinning......

Moving Rafaela to short along with Devers and Grissom taking the field off the 'injured' status should stabilize our infield. We have too many moving parts right now with Devers/Dalbec/Reyes (3B/SS/2B)/Hamilton/Valdez (2B/SS).....unreal.

We have too many 'if's' in the infield. Physical mistakes on top of mental lapses have killed us.

We are 10-10. This is a .500 team at best.

Maybe Hohn Henry does not have issues spending money. But like most wealthy people he doesn't like to waste money. More and more $23M and $17M for Story and Yoshida seems an overpay Throw in Guolito deal that bow guarantees $38M for at best one year peeformance doesn't bolster confidence. $10M for Kluber and ither blown money can anyone blame him?

This board pretty much have no credibility. So many wanted Houck in the pen. Starting pitching is highly sought after commodity. You give guys like Houck, Kutter and even Whitlock long leash to see if they can start.

I don't think we need jerk around Grissom in the infield. He should play 2B and get used to playing 2B. Play as many position players at positions they are destined to play. Rafaela has to play short because no one else is a permanent fixture at SS at this point. Trevor is hurt and Mayer is in AA.

Well said..... Assuming Roman Anthony is ahead of Mayer, then why not let Rafaela play some shortstop? Our team won't be 'set' until the three amigos arrive in Fenway.

0-4 vs >.500 teams. All of you will have your heart broken if you're looking for playoff spot. They took a step in the right direction today by moving Rafaela to shortstop. My guess is he can return to centerfield without much work. He's the best option at shortstop right now. This will allow Abreu to get bats in right field. I wait for the arrival of Grissom.

You are on target Old Red. If you can't provide Rafaela with major league experience this year on a bad team, then when? You f***ing bite the bullet and let him bat ninth and play him. He's the Dave Conception of the Reds in the 70's. Unfortunately the rest of the team is not as good as the Big Red Machine but so what? You play him. Be mindful that we are 0-3 vs AL East. Unless we go .500 vs them, we're not ready to compete for the playoffs. PERIOD. This is the year to find out who are the keepers and who are the pretenders.

Only way Abreu gets more at bat would be to move Rafaela to short or bench our $18M bat. Cora promises to play Abreu more.

Tough to compete with Reyes, Hamilton and Dalbec in the infield. One at a time maybe but not all 3 at once. Ugh.

A REALISTIC VIEW OF 2024 SEASON:PART II We're not making the playoffs. So what do we want to accomplish this year? Goal I Identify the starting pitchers in this organization. Bello was the only sure thing. I think Kutter was more likely than not starter, #4 or #5 in my mind. Big question mark was Houck and Whitlock. I'm sure many here still claim they are better suited for the pen. Let's find out. Management want them to be starters. Period. They will both get a long leash. Goal II Identify young positional players. $50M and 8 years for a guy with less than 50 at bats in the majors says a lot about what the club thinks of Rafaela. Pencil him in CF for next 8 years plus one. Duran appears to have settled in offensively. I still want to see him do it for the entire season. His defense is 'exciting'. Never know what you're going to get. Abreu is highly regarded. It will be interesting to see how he does. Devers and Casas are locks. Catching will be adequate for two years assuming no one gets traded. Waiting for Teel. More and more Yoshida signing appears to be an overpay. A defensive liability, no power maybe other than at home games. $18M for singles hitting DH. Definitely not the answer as a DH. Waiting for Grissom to arrive. Hopefully two of the three of future stars arrive in August/September. Meanwhile, I'm content watching our starters. Sure hope no one gets hurt.

Reese McGuire is only 29 with arbitration year 3 in 2025. If we're out of it, would you trade him? Are we ready for Teel by July? We're either all in or not in Teel, Anthony and Mayer. We gave Rafaela an 8 year deal despite his inexperience. (I was all for it). I would love to see all three a Fenway in September (if not sooner).

I may go with Yorke at 2B instead of Reyes.