oldtimer

Devers is 22 and has an upside, probably at 1st base in 2020. Bradley is approaching 30 and has shown geat defense but inconsistent and often very poor offense now for many years. Things won't change for the better with him and the money we will pay him should be applied to a better overall player. 2020 is a good target to make the change.

The word is that he will start today, presumably at 2nd base. He is 216 pounds and looks strong so doesn't need PEDs to hit the ball hard.

Maybe because he is hitting .133 with more than 12 % of the season gone by. It is a pattern with this guy and perhaps we should look to do better. Could it be more stupid to support a chronic undedrperformer until he and a few others sink the chances of a team with the highest payroll in baseball?

Our furnace failed yesterday and it won't get fixed until the parts come in, maybe Wednesday. Lat night got to 37 so I went to bed early, with the Sox ahead 5 to 4 after the Sox squandering a chance in the 8th for more runs. I saw the lineup of Bradley, Lin and Leon for the 9th and assumed we mght blow it. Nice to see Bradley actually got a hit and Chavis was used and came through. The Sox should find a way to strengthen the bottom of the order and why not give him a chance?

1st and 2nd and nobody out and nothing from it. We have Bradley, Lin and Leon up in the 9th. We needed runs in the 8th.

So two months out of the rotation and possibly time to reestablish his mound presence. Big hit but this kind of thing happens. I presume these loose bodies (bone chips) were there earlier but we waited until now to try to deal with them. Why?

I think it's time to consider cutting ties with JBJ. Not now but certainly to look for an improvement for next season. If he still is doing poorly in July, I would consider replacing him this year.

Then there is JBJ with over 12 % of the season gone he is hitting 138 with a 315 OPS. Would it be a panic to look for a replacement for him?

We should look for a replacement for Leon for next season. Lets see where the team is after this bad start. We may be looking at rebuillding to some extent and a solid replacement catcher could be part of that.

Maybe we should try Chavis at 3rd. Devers needs a little goading.

Two sinkers up in the zone and down the middle. The Sox didn't miss.

The records go way back when there were more errors. Couldn't find the record I was looking for but last year he had 24 errors (to lead the majors) and he did it in 116 game appearances. At his current rate he would get very close to 35 errors this year in the 116 games and I would expect him in 140 to 145 games this year in the regular season. If he keeps going at this rate he could have the incredible total of 42 errors. Moon suggest he might be on first base next season and there is a lot of sense in that thought.

6 errors and we are still in April. I will have to look up the worst ever. My guess is he is at a rate that will surpass it and become the new record holder.

Who hasn't?

Now Nunez is back on the IL, this time with a back strain. We need some healthy players!

I see now what you were saying. I misread your comment.

Now Nunez is on the IL and Chavez is coming up. Turns out with Pedroia, Holt and Nunez hurting the Sox were out of options. Don't know how Chavez will be used as Lin will no doubt play second. I expect Beni to be back tonight.

I thought Bogaerts was hitting better so looked him up. The number for OPS today is .871 whereas you show .583. Sum Ting Wong as the old Chinese philosopher said.

I thought Sale showed improvement with his velocity way up from the earlier starts. Building on that could bring him around soon. I think the hitting is a serious problem as well. Moreland, Bogaerts, JDM, and Beni when he can play, are okay but the rest need to get it going. No Pedroia now, at least for a while and we chose to put in our weakest hitting catcher. This team needs a lift and soon.

He is on the 10 day injured list and Walden has been called up but they do need a 2nd baseman. I don't think it will be Chavis.

We just had a grear year and also found ourselves up against the 2nd tier of the competitive balance spending limit. Other teams have and had more leeway We did sign Eovaldi and Sale and got Bogie for the long term. It was probably questionable to have taken on Pedroia's contract but players like Kelly and Kimbrel were financially off limits. So what do you think we could have done better to optimize the team given the circumstances. The starters are only now coming closer to form but need run and defensive support. The suggestion is that ST was not adequate to get them off to a good start. Our hitting has some holes. Mookie is having a tough start as is JBJ. About the only thing we might have done is trade JBJ in the off season as an optimization move. The fact that these guys are struggling is more about readiness and focus. Maybe JBJ just has these periods where he loses his ability to hit. We didn't make the hard decisions at 2nd base and had given Dustin a long term contract. That has come back to bite us and was somewhat predictable. A question to consider, based on what has happened is set in stone, its what can be done going forward? My thoughts include: 1. Shore up 2nd base immediately 2. Reconsider our BP and bring up at least one youngster and let go of our poorest performer. 3. Move Mookie down in the lineup as a way of getting him started I don't see much more we can do now, although I would reconsider trading JBJ at the halfway point if he is still stuck in a subpar hitting performance.

This year he talked about how hard he had worked with the coaches to change his swing, particularly the angle of approach to the ball. Then, he has started off in a pathetic fashion, but he has a lot of company. We have Mookie also drastically underperforming as well. We expect Mookie to snap out of it while no one is quite sure if or when JBJ will.

Dustin was a special player for the Sox and sentimentality prevailed when they offered him a long term contract, which some have said was a discounted bargain for the Sox. The reality is the contract was high risk in that few if any players have returned to form after undergoing that injury and repair surgery, especially when 35 years old. it does look like Dustin may be permanently lost to the team and if so that is too bad for the team and for him. The bottom line is we will no doubt have to carry his salary as dead money against the luxury tax ceiling. We do need to make a move to bring in a younger and at least average level player to fill in the void. Maybe Chavis could do that or we look for another Kinsler. Nunez and Holt are already covering too many positions.

Dustin Pedroia has been a special player for the Sox and has worked very hard and endured much to make back to be a contributor. A lot of us have been skeptical that a 35 year old can be out a full year and make it back, especially with the type of injury and repair that hasn't got a lot of history of success. Tonight, Pedroia went out early in the game with discomfort in the surgically repaired knee. Not a good sign. Cross your fingers on this one.

Sale was throwing harder tonight but his location was an issue but he also got no run support. This team has struggled against fair pitching and tonight faced more top notched stuff. More is wrong than just the pitching. Like Betts not running at the crack of the bat. Thats a lack of focus. The team is having difficullty hitting and the error problem still exists. This is the same team that won 108 games last year so I have to believe they will play better than 500 ball going forward, but the hole is getting deeper and the turnaround needs to happen soon. Putting a poor hitter into the lineup isn't going to help run production. Lets hope he can contribute something on defense, but it didn't show tonight.