Nick

On a serious note, Whitlock wants to be starter. He is under team control for six years. You'd be a fool to put him in the pen.

If you don't enjoy watching Whitlock pitch, why are you Sox fan? And tomorrow we get to watch Bello. I get the wins and losses but we have some young players worth watching.

And Turner will get a day off tomorrow. Count on it.

Don't worry Cora will take him out after 5. Will say "he did his job".

Yep....he is utility guy.

For pitching experts on the board can you take a starter and pitch him every 5th day say in tandem with Chris Sale as an example? And not vary from it? So Houck prepares to pitch mutiple innings on the day Sale starts? Would that be hard on Houck physically

When Paxton comes back we can use Winck Cutter and Houck as multiple inning guys.

We did something right other than extending Devers. How nice is it to bring in a closer in the 9th to win a ballgame?

Good news is that despite not having had a starter have a "quality" start, Sox are only 2 GB of the last wild card spot, tied with Houston and Seattle. It's got to get better, right? Monday is another must watch TV with Bello getting the start. I also want to see Whitlock's second start.

The Red Sox could go in two different directions when it comes to Crawford. The first option is keeping him in the majors in a role similar to that of Josh Winckowski, who has pitched well in multi-inning stints so far this season. The more likely option is that Crawford is sent back to Triple-A in the coming days to start while the Red Sox bringing up a more traditional reliever to join their bullpen. Doing so would require a 40-man roster spot which the Red Sox could theoretically clear up by placing Kelly on the 60-day injured list if his injury is severe. Possible call-ups from the WooSox bullpen include righties A.J. Politi and Jake Faria and lefties Ryan Sherriff or Oddanier Mosqueda. Now this maybe the media and not the management. This is where I have an issue with Red Sox. It should be all hands on deck. I don't give flying heck about Kutter being stretched in the minor leagues. If he's one of 13 best pitchers, he needs to be up with the big league ball club. Cora and Bloom act as though we have bevy of talent and we can stash away players in AAA when a guy like Kutter at least has had some success in the majors. I'm a Bloom backer but there are things I scratched my head over. PS. I like Dalbec but he's not a shortstop. Are you telling me that Sox can't find a defensive shortstop? Quit f***ing around. Get a damn shortstop.

That's what I'm thinking. Why have them on the team if you're afraid to play them. Ref Man can play defense. I want to see what Tapia can do.

Realistically we are fighting for the last wild card spot so being 5 back of Rays is meaningless to me. The goal is to get into the playoffs and see what we can do in a five or seven game series. I am more upset that Kutter was sent down instead of last guy in the pen. What are we saving him for? We don't have the luxury of not going with our best 13 pitchers this year.

Good outing by Pivetta. Winckowski continue to impress. Whitlock next up. We'll need to score couple of runs for him.

Thanks for the update......MassLive still has no update on his injury. Ugh....

I'm happy that Casas got to play yesterday even though we were facing a lefty. It really doesn't make sense to play Turner over Casas when Turner is struggling himself. Turner is getting on base despite only having 2 RBI's from third spot in the lineup. Move Casas down in the lineup if that's what we have to do. We have to make a commitment to him. He should be #9 on our offensive priority. He seems to play good enough defense. Other 8 position players should be priority over Casas. He's in our long term plan. If NOT, trade him.

Mass Live promised update on Adam Duvall's injury status at 4:19 pm yesterday. Bloom said "we'll have one (update) tomorrow". It's 12:26 pm. How hard is it to update? He was taken to hospital I assume yesterday evening. Apparently it's the same wrist he had surgery on last year. We can't seem to catch a break these days.

Of course I could never take Clay Buckholz (?) Seriously. He was a dead ringer for Fireman Bill in Living Colors.

No matter what happens today, I hope I don't see Kutter as a starter this year.

I apologize but I just don't care for Brazier's stupid facial expression. He always looks bewildered. Same with Matt Barnes. He never looked confident.

They should both be starters in my mind. Cora has stated Paxton will be a starter only. That means there is still a possibility of Pivetta moving to the pen. Houck maybe #7 starter out of this group (when Whitlock, Bello and Paxton return).

Whitlock threw 81 pitches, 56 for strikes. 6 innings of 1 hit ball (HR), 8 K's. We should see him next week vs Tampa. I'll be watching. Must see TV.

My comment was directed more towards my favorite Yankee poster on this board. I just wished he joined in on the discussion other than 1) when the Sox is playing bad or 2) when a Sox player gets hurt. Then he disappears for weeks at a time when the Yankees lose couple of games. His posts are solid for most part. I will reserve judgement on the quality of our starting pitching until the return of Whitlock and Bello. Paxton contribution would be an added bonus. Our top 4 workhorses last year were Pivetta 33GS/179IP, Hill 26GS/124IP, Wacha 23GS/127IP (11-2 w/l) and Eovaldi 20GS, 109 IP. 8 other pitchers started 60 games. Pivetta is back after starting 33 games last year. BUT, BUT there's some talk that he may go to the bullpen. Why in the hell is that? Isn't it logical to assume someone or a group in the Sox organization believe we have 5 BETTER starting pitchers? How does that equate to our starting pitching being WORSE? Now much of what Bloom and Cora believe doesn't bore out. Maybe they're overvaluing this years starting group. But the group of Pivetta, Sale, Kluber, Houck, Bello, Whitlock and Paxton looks to put up better numbers than last year's group. Add improved bullpen and I just don't see how we SUCK. AND, the two who won't start will push out the #7 and #8 ranked relievers in the pen. Let's wait at least until May 1st to wave the white flag.

Are we mathematically eliminated yet ? I heard Kluber pitched well and Sale won a game.

It would be difficult for me to think as a group, Kluber, Sale, Paxton, Pivetta, Whitlock and Bello SUCK.

Anytime you walk 8 batters and hit a guy, they deserved to be booed.