oldtimer

Cora says it is his mechanics and not a sore shoulder. They will work to get him back to where he was. They still have some time to do that and we will need him to be solid.

That is the tenth GS this year which may be a record for the Sox.

Where I am we got 20 mph winds and 3 to 4 inches of rain over 2 days. No real problem but the coastal areas were a catastrophe.

Cora has now indicated that barring injury he has his PO team roster set. There are two still to be selected and both are pitchers. This is what he indicated. The following pitchers are all but set: Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello, Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, Craig Kimbrel, Steven Wright, Ryan Brasier and Matt Barnes. That leaves two spots open for a pool that includes Joe Kelly, Heath Hembree, Brandon Workman, Bobby Poyner and Brian Johnson.

Mookie and Beni set the table. !st and 3rd with no one out. Out three, four and five hitters popped out, struck out and hit a weak grounder into a force play. Not ding a lot to impress. One hit so far.

I spend 6 mounths in the North Carolina mountains. Temps are reasonable in the summer with pretty regular rain and some nice communities. I spend winters in my place in Florida but actually NC is not that bad in the wintere. Snow comes but rearely stays for more than a few days.

No. Cuevas had the opportunity to build on his good performance against the Guardians and was shelled tonight by the Yankees. He was unlucky but he was also hit very hard. One more possibility bites the dust in the BP. Al the more reasons for Bares to get it back together.

I am concerned with starting pitching next year and that concern may be heighened if Sale and Price don't look good in the PO's. Lets face it, a lot of innings for all of the top three at this point in their careers. Our starters would be: Sale Price Porcello E-Rod Wright (spot starts) Johnson/Velazquez (spot starts) I would prefer getting another right hand starter such as Eovaldi, but as a free agent and with this years performance, he won't be cheap. Maybe $10 mil.

I don't see Pedey and his $15 mil on your list. His contract is one of my concerns.

A lot will be determined based on the available budget, assuming we want to stay under the luxury tax limit. Our younger core players of Betts, Bogaerts, JBJ, Beni and Devers will come in between $30-$33 Mil Our older players of JDM, Pedey, Moreland, Nunez, Holt, Vaz and Leon will add roughly $59 mil Our starters of Price, Porcello, Sale, E-Rod and Wright plus possibly Eovaldi woule add close to $76 mil Add $2 mil for young players like Swihart, Lin, Chavis and Dalbec And add another $10 mil minimum for RPs Account for a Panda overhang of $19 mil It adds up to $200 mil without accounting for benefits. Not a lot of money to sign an expensive closer, even if we extend beyond the luxury tax limit again. Not so easy a course ahead in 2019. I didn't include Pom, Kinsler, Pearce in the list and don't expect we can sign Kimbrel. Pedey's contract for a limited number of games stands out. Moreland might be replaced to save money. Lots to talk about and 2020 becomes more difficult.

When we look at 2019, we have to look at our costs and to see how we can fit players into a reasonable budget. I expect our core players (young and prime) will be Betts, Bogaerts, Beni, JBJ and Devers and three of those are in arb years. In addition, we have older pro players who probably will be back. Those are JDM, Moreland, Pedroia, Holt, Leon and Valazquez. Maybe we move a catcher or Moreland, but right now those are our likely players. Then we have some lower cost younger field players as possible. Swihart, Lin and possible Chavis and Dalbec coming up. Probably Travis will be gone and Hernandez, recovering from shouler surgery is unlikely to make the team. Starting pitching looks like Price, Porcello, Sale, E-Rod, Wright and possibly Eovaldi. FAs likely to be gone are Kinsler, Pearce, Kimbrel (too expensive to bring back), Pomeranz. Both Kellly and Eovaldi might be kept if we can reach reasonable contracts. He is looking like a 3rd or 4th starter, so won't come cheaply. Kelly still has velocity and might be worth $4 mil per year. For RP's we might have Brazier, Barnes, Smith, Workman, Cuevas, Velazquez and Johnson. Don't see Thornburg, Hembree or Scott Be interesting to work on this and see where it might lead. I have all the contract figures but haven't attempted to add up the damage. We still have Pablo's contract overhanging for 1 more year so that will limit us going forward. Adding in $20 mil per year for Kimbrel might just break the bank.

That is true. Nunez does have a very good bat and was hot before having to sit. We could play him at second, but would give up defense and then where would Holt and Swihart play. No doubt that Devers is swinging a good bat right now and having left hand power in the lineup lengthens our lineup. Good problem to have.

Cora has managed to get our pitching staff a lot of rest, so in my mind he has done what has been necessary to bring the staff into the PO's in their best form. Sadly, the performance of 4 of our key guys yesterday was worse than sub par. There is time for them to recover and for us to compete, we need them. Any wanting to give pitchers long term contracts should be reminded of their frailty by what we see in games like these. Some guys continue to pitch well and have long careers, like Lester, who we unwisely let walk, but by and large pitchers are fragile.

What in the world happened to our pitching today and night? Price wasn't himself, or at least who he was in the second half. Sales velocity and command was subpar. Barnes had velocity but poor command. Kimbrel was wild. It seems like something crazy must have happened with the pitching staff. Hope it doesn't carry over into the PO's. We'll get another look against the Yankees.

First Sale doesn't look himself and now Barnes doesn't have command. Not a good night for Sox pitching going into the PO.

He is a core guy on this team. We need to keep him.

Too hard headed. The lawyers want malleable.

Sale doesn't show the velocity or command that made him dominant. More work to do before the PO. Only 9 days or so before that. I hope the program will bring him along to close to his capability.

Since this is the bullpen thread I mention that Thornburg is now shutdown by Cora. He wasn't making the post season anyway, but he also will not be used in the last few games either.

One-o-seven and counting. Today the Sox just killed the weak Baltimore pitching. Only concern is that Price was lost for part of his outing. No one could really explain why he seemed so lost.

Poor Baltimore. They have so far to go to be meaningful, but didn't they just beat the Yankees twice?

Felt sorry for JBJ who didn't get to join the party. Was he sick or just being saved for the second game?

A problem with using the Pythagorean apprach is that it assumes the team has been relatively static in its personnel while earning their record. Certainly the Yankees and Cleveland have made significant changes that may well improve their teams in the PO. We won't be playing the teams that compiled these records. We too have made changes during the year, but I don't think they are as significant.

They seemed to play their A team against us, other than the starters.

I agree right down the line. I think they go with 11 pitchers.