oldtimer

Hate to say it but it was so predictable. E-Rod has great raw talent but something is missing. Could he be so dumb to continually nibble himself into trouble? 4 of the runs were due to his walks. Hembree has been and continues to be unable to get any job done. Good job Cora. If I could see it coming, he could as well. Kind of makes you sick to see the Sox throwing a winnable game away. The Yankees aren't that good.

Looking at the MLBB projections, they have the following: A total of 11 HR's thru the end of the regular season. 2 each for Mookie and JDM 1 each for Bogie, Beni, Kinsler, Pearse, Moreland, Devers amd Bradley It would have been nice for us to exploit the short right field at Yankee stadium, but we have faced tough pitching so far so no dice. The Yankees look more like the NY Giants at the plate. They go from large to huge. Tough for a lefty to pitch to them, especially when trying to hit the outside corner on a righty.

Sometimes our perceptions are different than reality. Clearly the catchers have had a miserable 2nd half. Beni has hit the ball but not with as much authority and Moreland has been slumping. Be good to see the guys heat up at the right time. Be interesting to see what our homer rate has been as a team over the 2nd half versus the first. Seems like it has dropped. Beni for instance is 2 for 16 in the 2nd half and others also have marked differences.

And that's a key point. Paying big bucks on a long term contract basis assumes things will go along in future years as they have in the past. In fact, as players age, there is at least a gradual drop off and with pitchers it can be more pronounced and sudden. We will be losing dead salary next year and also the following year when at least Pablo and Porcello's salarys expire. Of course we will have to replace players at the market rate or develop some younger players to balance the salary structure. I am confident that DD will do a good job of finding suitable players if we can't sign guys who become overpriced.

Kelly again proved to not be able to get people out. All the bad outings rule against guys trying to make the PO roster. Kimbrel will be very hard for us to sign next year. Giving a closer a long term contract at big buck would bite us in the end.

The tone was set with men on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out with Bogaerts up. He has popped the ball up the last two games in critical situations. I have no advice, just an observation. The weakness we have with 3rd base defense is another thing that can and did bite us. Not much we can do about it as both our guys are error prone. Price was not as sharp tonnight, but Yankee stadium is not a place for him to pitch. He lives on the outside corner and all the homeruns he gave up were either outside or to the outside part of the plate and at the top of the zone. None of those were out at Fenway. More of a concern were the walks. If he doesn't walk people, Nunez error was nothing. Another demonstration that Kelly cannot be trusted as a setup man.

Teams like the Yankees have been able to add players like Britton, Happ, McCutchen and Stanton to name a few because they have both the prospects and salary cap space available, while we didn't and don't. DD has done well to add those we did like Kinsler,Eovaldi and Phillips. They had a big advantage this year, yet we are still way ahead of them. We wont draft well, nor will we have much cap space so it has to be our cadre of young players to lead us forward. I believe we will lose Porcello, Kimbrel and Sale by the 2020 season. Pitchers do wear down anyway, but lets hope we are smarter with our contracts in future. No more Pablo, Pedey and Price types going forward.

Workman lost ground because he came into a 1 run game and would not throw strikes. I think he could of but fell in love with his hard sinker, which he couldn't get over. It's a situation you wish you could talk to him and say what your doing will lose the game for us. Smarten up. Brasier gets a pass, although he too put himself into a hitters count and had to come in.

It was on Workman tonight. Giving up 2 walks is not what a reliever needs to do in a 1 run game. Brasier came in a put himself in a tough position by going 3 and 2. When he had to come in the batter had the advantage.

I was most disappointed with Kelly. He started out well and still has maintained his velocity but has lost command far too often for an experienced pitcher. Just because he still has velocity, I wouldn't give up on him totally, but since he is a FA next year he probably will not land with the Sox anyway and he is probably not a PO pitcher. The most we will see is a few appearances before the seasons end.

I didn't realize we get to keep Sale for another year. Thanks for the clarification. Porcello has been such an inning eater for us that he still has a lot of value. One could argue the salary limits us but to get another starter of equivalent value to us would run to big bucks also. You and I apparenttly agree that we can't afford a Kinsler while Pedey is on the roster. You also are thinking of a utility player as backup. It is a high risk position, but one the FO put us into by resigning Pedey to an extended contract. You remain high on Holt as do I and he has come back strongly from the concussion syndrome that bothered him. I believe they will place Devers at third along with Nunez for one more year until Moreland's contract runs out. If that is the case, Moreland could use a right handed backup. It might be Swihart or if in spring training either Chavis, Dalbec or Ockimey show a lot, they have a chance to fill that slot. Swihart, however, gives us flexibility in the outfield and catcher, so his utility and experience might rule in his favor. I believe Kimbrel will get an offer we won't be able to match or want to match. You leave out a little hope for Kimbrel but he would have to grant us a discount. Don't think it will happen, so its out on the market. Finally, I would think this is the year to act on our catching. You put Leon and Vaz up but that leaves us with an extemely weak offensive position. Hard to supplement with pinch hitters for them all of the time. I predict some action in that area for 2019.

My loook ahead for 2019 does lose a number of our current players. Just can't keep everyone. We may get some pressure from the minors but not much. I see Pearce, Pomeranz and Eovaldi going. We are unlikely to hold onto Kimbrel for a reasonable contract so it may be to the FA market for a replacement. I hope we can keep Sale for a reasonable contract but if not, we will need a quality starter as a replacement. My view of the spring likely to start the 2019 season include a haziness at Catcher and with numerous possibilities in deep relief. Here it is and is just an adjustment to the 2018 roster, which means it is pretty strong. Boston Red Sox 2019 Possible Roster? Position players: 1. 1st Base: Moreland (Righties) 2. 1st Base; Swihart (Lefties) 3. 2nd Base; Pedey (with Utility backups) 4. SS; Bogaerts 5. 3rd Base; Devers (Righties) 6. 3rd Base; Nunez; Lefties) plus utility for 2nd 7. LF; Beni 8. CF; JBJ 9. RF; Betts 10. DH; JDM 11/12. C; Leon, Vaz or 11/12. C; Vaz, FA or 11/12. C: Leon, FA 13. Utility; Holt Pitchers: Starters: 15. Sale or FA (Can we resign him reasonably) 16. Price 17. Porcello 18. E-Rod 19. Wright Other Relievers: 20. Closer; FA or Kjmbrel (Can we resign him reasonably?) 21. 8th Bridge; Brasier 22. 7th Bridge; Barnes 23. Left Specialist; Poyner 24. Other Relief; Workman 25 Other Relief; Hembree or 25. Other Reliever; Smith or 25. Other Reliever; Maddox or 25. Other Reliever; Thornburg Think relief pitching will be determined during spring training.

Who else other than Kimbrel on the Sox would beat him out? Barnes maybe?

My view of where we are with the PO Roster. I see it as subject to change due to injury or due to last minute performance considerations. Boston Red Sox 2018 PO Roster? Position players: 1. 1st Base: Moreland (Righties) 2. 1st Base; Pearce (Lefties) 3. 2nd Base; Kinsler 4. SS; Bogaerts 5. 3rd Base; Devers (Righties) 6. 3rd Base; Nunez; Lefties) 7. LF; Beni 8. CF; JBJ 9. RF; Betts 10. DH; JDM 11/12. C ; Leon, Swihart or 11/12. C; Leon, Vaz or 11/12. C; Vaz, Swihart 13. Utility; Holt 14. Utility; Swihart or 14. Utility; Lin Pitchers: Starters: 15. Sale 16. Price 17. Porcello Long Relief: 18. E-Rod 19. Wright 20. Eovaldi Other Relievers: 21. Closer; Kimbrel 22. 8th Bridge; Brasier 23. 7th Bridge; Barnes 24. Left Specialist; Poyner 25. Other Relief; Workman or 25. Other Relief; Kelly or 25 Other Relief; Hembree Those marked in red are areas with vaiances possible. I would take Workman at 25, but either of the other two could beat him out. In the case of catcher, if either Vaz or Leon are paired with Swihart, then Lin might well be chosen for a utility role. If not, the utility role will probably go to Swihart.

If you believe Pedey can't recover enough to give us at least half the games then 2nd is a problem with utility guys our current answer. I'm willing to see what Pedey can do as Kinsler is an $11 million answer we can't afford what with arb costs and pitching to locate. Spending heavily on a young 2nd baseman and eating Pedey's contract is an alternate but can we afford to spend there? At catcher, if you believe 0 for 30 stretches at bat are acceptable then Leon is your guy. I am looking for a reaasonably priced alternative. Third base will be Devers again. Hope his fielding and hitting improve and back him up with Nunez. They could go righty, lefty and it wouldn't be optimum but Devers may start to bloom.

For next year, both are well thought of but not can't miss prospects. Chavis to the Arizona league, a plus move and Dalbec our offensive and defensive player of the year. We have a couple of others but one needs seasoning and the other has power but has not reached ML status as yet. I do hope one of the guys makes it next season since we need some lower cost players to balance our roster.

Of course many would want Wilson Ramos and he would be great, but very expensive and probably beyond what we could pay. A more realistic choice would be Jonathan Lucroy, who plays for Oakland now. He has a lifetime CERA of 3.62, which I believe is equivalent to Leon.s. He is a .240 hitter and his current salary is $6.5 mil. He is 32 and caught in 118 games so is hardy. Continuing with our current catchers means we get reasonable defense but poor defense. I am for looking for shoring that area up for next year.

He has value as a utiliity player, not because he is a great defender at one position but because he is versatile and can play many. If he was a plus defender in one infield position, he might well have held that position as a everyday player.

And he appears to have returned to health.

What about picking up a quality FA who can catch and hit better than either Leon or Vaz? That certainly should be an option.

No, I thought Devers would be a lock and Nunez the utility. Either way, I think both make it.

With as many pitches as we have on the roster now, why even put Pom in. He has nothing at all. He shows the fastball, but never on the plate and then he mainly throws a knuckle curve which he can't command. Enough already. Someone like Mookie will get hurt trying to make a play on one of his hard hit balls against. I am officially on Holts wagon. If you say there are 8 field player locks and one of the two catchers, then say Nunez and Holt are on. Pearce appears to be a good bet and who then is the second catcher. If its Swihart then Lin has a chance for his running. If we take both Leon and Vaz, then I think Swihart makes it over Lin.

Wright and a 1 run lead in the 9th doesn't sound w right to me. I just tuned back in to get another case of heartburn?

Now we see why Hembree may not make the Post Season team. Walking the leadoff batter with a one run lead? Nothing good can happen from it. Pom was awful and now Hembree putting a man on gratuitously. These guys are being paid to play? I can't watch and will come back in an hour.

With all the pitchers on the roster, there are better options. Just realize that he can't get it done and don't put him in the game. Getting Betts injured is a side effect of keeping Pom in.