oldtimer

I used the word in relation to the use of the string word "Rising". He certaining isn't rising now and he isn't treading water so what is he doing/

I don't think that is the correct way to think about it. a better way might be what does he take away compared to the average defensive CF we might have. Certainly he doesn't make plays the average wuldn't make several times a game. He is exceptional so I would expect an advantage over an average guy but it is easy get carried away with the hype.

Maybe he read the thread

He is in a small slump. He just needs to adjust to what they are doing. He has a good eye and a sweet swing. I had hoped he would adjust while at Yankee stadium and take advantage of the short right field. Tough pitcher today so they all may have problems.

Beni is continuing a slow decline. Maybe having trouble with the high fastball. More strikeouts then normal.

Pitching and defense. Good for them

Do you think we got an Ace in Price? In my view, he is a #3 starter at best and didn't really help us much until recently.

I am not a fan of long term contracts for players 30 and over and that is especially true for starting pitchers, who tend to be fragile. The going market rate for quality starters is very high and so are their contract expectations. We have tended to be a good performing team, at least the last couple of years and find it hard to draft quality pitching prospects and have been unlucky with Groome along the way. We have had to trade for the starters and to some extent our relievers as well. I have really disliked certain contracts, not necessarily because the guy involved is/was low quality, but because the guy involved isn't likely to produce enough to warrant his contract over the length of it. Price is the poster boy for insane contracts. Seven years at over $30 million a year. We could have done much better with the resources. Dustin Pedroia's contract is also hard to understand. Giving an older and injured player a longer term contract was driven by emotion, not by expectations of production. The contracts for Rameriz, Craig, Sandoval and Castillo have also been limiting to the team and show ineptness in the front office. They are continuing to hurt us and will until they all clear. We have developed some very good field players and need to keep that core moving forward if that is possible. We have to be judicious giving large long term contracts, but in Mookie's case, the market will determine what we have to pay or lose him. We have essentially gutted our minor leagues trading for assets that have put us in a win now situation. There have been some injuries to relievers coming in and that is either bad medical staff homework or just plain bad luck. Looking at what both the Yankees and Astro's have, it appears they have the advantage on us now and no doubt will use their assets to get even stronger this year, while we will be forced to tread water or trade a high paid asset to clear some cap room. We have to hope our starters will continue to do a decent job, while field players like Devers and JBJ give us an improved second half. The message should be loud and clear. Don't repeat the mistakes of the past by bringing in aging players on long term contracts. Don't let emotion get in the way of letting reasonable contracts. Accept what we can do with our limitations. Those will be with us for a few more years, but for heaven sake, don't repeat them.

Best to use Haley here and let the Yankees pad their stats. Save our higher quality guys for a winnable game. The concern is that our lineup didn't produce tonight.

Kind of a silly proposal. Giving away high quality and young field players for a pitcher, no matter how qualified is a road to oblivion. Starting pitchers play once in 5 days and can be fragile. Don't get me wrong, I would love DeGrom but we don't have what I would take to get him without giving up our future.

We are competing with the Yankees and Astros to be sure. Up and down their lineup they have very good hitting talent and their pitching is also good. No doubt they will try to improve. In the Yankees case they have quite a bit to trade for a starter and I am not sure what the Astros need, probably relief pitching. Meanwhile we still have question marks in our lineup, particularly at 2nd base and Pedroia's return is questionable. He may not return at all or if he does he may be a shadow of himself. Our relief pitching also could use a boost. We all know the issues. Not much trade bait and no real luxury tax limit flexibility. It is what it is and DD has tried to react as well as he can with Phillips and Pearse. Quality older players who might help us for the 2nd half of the season and not the following year. Let us hope we can do enough pretty much with who we have now to advance in the playoff.

He got through the middle of the order pretty well. I expect him to go into the 6th and then see if he can get through it. He is a young 5th starter who figures to improve.

Lot of generalizations there. Yes, he did miss on a few of his pitches, but not everyone as you seem to indicate. My problem with him is that when he gets ahead 0 and 2 he seems to try to get the hitter to swing at balls off the plate. Then its 3 and 2 and he has to come in or walk the batter. Bad idea. He has good velocity and a cutter that is pretty good. He does need to learn to pitch. Something CC seems to have done even though now his stuff is marginal.

We need to include the entire team in this discussion and in that we have Beni, Bogaerts, Devers, Martinez and other starting pitchers, including Price and his large contract. Those and the other relief pitchers and utility players. With a team full of long term top heavy contracts it means a lot of guys will have to be on the cheap.

The bottom of the order is getting it done. Holt, Vaz, JBJ in a big way. Good to see.

Enough to tie the game with a HR. The fastball he swung at was top of the zone and he missed it. Move on and maybe we get to them next inning.

Going to be difficult to do with us in a cat fight with the Yankees probaably through Sept. It's very important to avoid the wild card game, so there will be an enducement to keep on with our best. Now if we fall too far back to make that a possibility then resting him in September would make sense.

We still have Marco Hernandez as another 2nd base possibility. He had left shoulder surgery last year and then had followup surgery to remove some hardware this past February. Then he went on the 60 day disable list which would have put him back sometime in April but there has been nothing said about him. I would have expected him to resume baseball activities at some minor league level but have heard nothing. Shoulder surgery is very tough to come back from so I'm wondering what is happening.

He has slacked off a bit recently and it still hitting the ball but more to center and less to right.

Beni has gotten away from pulling. Center field fly balls are tough to get out of the park. Beni's hitting the ball, just playable right now.

I had that feeling he was going to give it up.

Kind of a Sox FO insurance for 2nd base. Looks like the focus may go to relief pitching or a back up outfielder

Porcello near the end of the line tonight. One careless pitch now and it is close.

We took the risk of signing him to a long term for someone his age and with potential health issues. Pedroia has tried hard to get back and done his part but he and we may be snake bitten this year and possibly onward. That has put us in a position where we either fill the position or take the risk of going with Holt and Nunez as everyday players, who also need to back up short and third. We might have an option of trading for a rental that can reduce our risk. I'm thinking perhaps we could get Astrubal Cabrera from the Mets as an acceptable infielder with a decent bat. I still believe we need one reliever and a second baseman before the deadline. I have seen articles this morning that now indicate the DD is thinking of starting pitching, having gone down Wright and Pomeranz. That further complicates the issue as our financial resources are slim and our cupboard in the minors is bare.

As far as Pedroia is concerned, the news hasn't been positive and there are two risks. 1. He won't be able to make it back into the lineup at all this year 2. He'll make it back but won't regain anywhere near his offensive performance numbers. Counting on Holt and Nunez, who also are identified subs for at least 3rd and SS makes us thin and less formidable. We have signed Dustin on into the future but maybe this will become another of our sunken cost issues. Hope not for the team and for Dustin who has been one of our best players for many years.