Nick

We have $82M in dead money including Yoshida.....unfreaking believable. Spend wisely, we did not. Good thing 5 relievers plus a starter are minimum wage guys along with Wong, Casas, Grissom, Rafaela, Duran and Abreu.

It helps that most of the guys are coming into their prime years, Houck, Kutter, Whitlock and Criswell. Then we have the 'kid' plus a young veteran in Pivetta. Sprinkle them with the magic of Bailey and Breslow and you got something special. Casas injury is devastating to the offense. O'Neil will surely come down and there's no way Wong can keep up his current pace.

Sox went 2-11 vs Rays in 3023. We have 7 games coming up.

I always penalize a team for losing the series 0-3. So I take away one series win and add to series lost total. Same is true if we win 3-0, but go the other way.

That's five players with at least 5 years of team control. Nice

“The message is go down there and work,” Cora said. “That’s the bottomline. Like I said, we’re much (more) talented than last year. And there’s going to be tough decisions. And there’s more tough decisions coming up. Over the five years (as manager), the message is a lot easier now. Kind of like, for us to be good, we have to be better in certain aspects. I know the numbers are the numbers from last year. But there’s a few things this year that he’s been off. He knows it. Obviously disappointed that he’s going to the minors but we’ve all been through that. So just go down there and work. If he wants to come back here, then do the things that you have to do and the things you can control and he’ll be back.” Cora talking about Winckowski. Not being flippant but Moon, Cora doesn't give damn about the stats you provided. I like his bluntness......And I agree with his assessment. We're easily swayed to think he's one of our better pitchers but he's been getting a pass this year. He's been hit hard and his control is not always there. That is my eye test and I have nothing to back it up. No matter what any of us think, the management thinks we're a better team. Damn the wins and losses.... To me the management is going in the way of more analytics to determine who plays, where and when.

Criswell with another decent outing. 9K and only 2 walks in 5 innings. He's a keeper.

Wink sent down to AAA. In a way I like this move. Brez doing what's best for the team or what he thinks is the best. No one is safe. Definitely not Cora's decision. Which maybe a good thing.

When was the last time we had this many young starting position players? Rookies Abreu, Rafaela, Grissom 1 year Wong, Duran, Casas Ever?

I have read that the Sox had scouted Yoshida for some time. Was he going to be that much better than say Duval and O'Neil's of the world who cost much less?

Yes the Sox waste tons of $$$$$.

Request for Moon... How about a thread on pitching? I think it deserves one.....

Interesting that there's not more conversation about our rookie right fielder Abreu. Maybe with exception of power tool, he's right up there with Casas or close to it seems. And he plays much better defense and runs well. Casas had April 2023 OPS of .585. Abreu has righted the slight slump at the beginning and now owns an OPS of .839. I think he's going to be special. He looks like your blue collar Red Sox.

I'm impressed with Grissom's size and his bat to ball skills. It's interesting to hear Cora still speaking highly of Valez's offensive skill set. Cora was right on about Abreu. He seem to want Valez to be a super utility guy.

Duran is just fine in CF. He's improved. He at least has make up speed to correct his initial reaction. Not perfect but he's our centerfielder until we find a shortstop.

Whitlock was extended as a starter, not as a reliever. Management will give Whitlock every opportunity to become a starter until the wheels come off. When there's shortage of starters, why would you not give him that opportunity?

Grissom is known for bat to ball skill......no strike outs in 7 at bat.

On the optimist scale I am probably right there with Moon. Oh i can be that grouchy old man and be cynical. It's possible that couple of our starters will come out of this season as a legit above average mlb starters. Why not? They are all around 27 and approaching prime years. I see that in Kutter and Houck. Maybe Old Red is right. We haven't gone up against enough good teams. But my eye test thinks both are legit starters. Bello is that young guy with perhaps our best hope for an ace. He's in different place than others. Couple of years behind and is on 'track' to 1-3. Whitlock is still a mystery. I'm not sure what to do with Pivetta what with his pending free agency. You can never have enough pitcing, eapecially starting pitching. It's a never ending task. At least Beslow seem to understand that.

cc Wong 5 1b Casas 5 2b Grissom 6 ss Rafaela 8 3b Devers 10 Lf Duran 5 Cf Rafaela 8 Rf Abreu 6 Yeah I have Rafaela twice....no DH I can see Story and Yoshida being moved to make way for our young stids... I am elated with the direction of Sox under Btrslow.

Other than injuries it was good April. Abreu is a keeper. Good plate discipline will sustain his offensive output. Duran is playing better defense. He will never be Rafaela in center but his athleticism will carry him. I think he is able to figure things out offensively. He won't stay down gor long stretches. Wong has established himself as a legit major league catcher. Rafaela has ways to go offensively but once he figures out strike zone he'll be fine. I look forward to Grissom playing in May. Will he join this young positional players of the future?

Very good.

I realize Bernardino had AAA option but I didn't see how HIS production warranted his demotion, especially in comparison to Rodriquez. Someone was in Joely's corner.

OPS by positions in AL 1st Catcher 1st Left Field 2nd Right Field 4th 1B 8th DH 9th SS 13th 2B 14th 3B 14th CF

Mr. Rodriguez saga Signed for $1.5M in 2023 with club option for $4.25M in 2024. The Sox DECLINED the option, paying him $500K in the process. Then the Sox signs him for $2M to pitch in 2024. In both 2023 and 2024, he appeared in 11 games, pitching 11 innings both year and giving up 8 earned runs both year. ERA of identical 6.55. Who in the hell thought it was a good idea to pick him up when you had Bernardino? Again, we sure piss away money. Bottom line? I think it works out to about $200K per inning?

Run differential is another meaningless stat. Its skewed by our most recent win. It should be capped at +/- 9.