oldtimer

Back to Bradley. Cora now is saying Bradley had fundamental flaws in his plate approach and swing mechanics and has given him time off to try to work on correcting them. Many of us have been pointing this out, last year and this but it has taken Cora a while to react. He admits being a rookie manager he has to feel his way for the best way to handle a slumping player. Having Moreland in last night would have been a better approach than leaving Bradley in with his pathetic efforts at the plate. Can Cora get through to Bradley? Haven't they been trying to do this all along? It should have been no revelation that JBJ needs help, but one would think he has been getting it without results. JBJ is a special case in that he is elite defensively and has shown periods of brilliant hitting. If he could regain some of the mojo then fine, otherwise JBJ has to be kept out of the lineup.

You're being too logical. What should happen and what has happened are two different things. JBJ has obviously not learned after what must have been many sessions with the coaches. Since JBJ appears to be athletic, one has to believe his mind is where the problem is. Sorry for him but the time to produce was at the beginning of the season and he has not and has appeared to be overmatched and pathetic.

He is the backup second baseman, 3rd and short. When Pedey comes back, now about 2 weeks away, who do we send down or trade?

Price now is diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I haven't as yet heard if he will need surgery to correct the problem. If he does, we will be without one of our hoped for starters again this year. The Price contract is looking pretty awful at this point in time. Bill

Maybe that proves the others are overpaid. Depends on the way one looks at it.

Holt is back and Lin down for lack of hitting. Hope Holt can produce.

Good game last night with both starting pitchers holding solid offenses down to a couple of runs. In the Sox case, they made some solid defensive plays and many of the better hitters chipped in well considering the pitching they faced. The saame old warts also appeared for the Sox. 1. Devers made a throwing error for his 9th of the season to lead the majors in that category. 2. JBJ's hitting was pathetic while Moreland rode the bench. 3. Hembree had a bad outing. Seems to be a bit of a head case. The Sox BP is strong in some areas but Hembree is not one of those. Barnes is better but also subject to having problems. Cora managed well with the possible exception of leaving Moreland on the bench in favor of JBJ. In a tight game like that, a single extra base hit can make a big difrference. On to the next game

Cora went with Bradley all the way while Moreland sat in a one run game and up against rightly pitching in a very tight game. Bradley struck out 3 time in a pathetic manner and got hit by a pitch. He is a nice guy but I at least thought we had a better option with Moreland and the outfield switcheroo. Cora is sticking with Bradley, but for how long and at what cost?

I hate the contract but Hanley's performance has been good on both sides of the ball. What kind of club would we have if we didn't allow him to vest when he is playing well. We need to make our best effort to win the WS this year and worry about 2019 after the season is over.

Kellt, Beni and Vaz all did good to get out of that with one run. Hembree should be considered for replacement.

This guy is aq head case.Makes a very tough case for Kelly.l

There getting a new one with a dome. I don't know if it is retractable.

Not certain what point your trying to make with these statistics. Clearly we have to keep one of our better defensive catchers in the game and hope they can contribute to the hitting once in a while. Pedey is only a short while away. Will he hit well? Anyone's guess, but based on his history, one would think so. Nunez hasn't seemed to be fully healed and may need more time, perhaps on the DL. JBJ has been the big disappointment, sinking even further offensively. I say disappointment, but in reality he is doing what he has been doing for years. He hasn't been a consistently good contact hitter. I don't see JDM as a horrible fielder. Perhaps more range limited, but okay. Beni can move to center and Betts is the best there is in right. Beni is still making solid contact and should come along. My view is that with Mitch Moreland hitting we can put a lineup out there with only one weak hitter and we can live with that. What could cause us problems is injuries. One key player down and we are weaker. Nunez will contribute if his knee is back to where it was prior to the injury. He can make up to some degree for the one injury. Two key players down and we are in trouble. We still have Holt as a backup plan. Swihart may be traded if we aren't going to use him. The problem being it leaves us without a clear backup choice if either Vazquez or Leon get injured.

Hard to draw conclusions about that since our lineup varies so much from day to day.

Yes, your right and his contract will be prohibitive for the Sox. Lets hope our front office does a smarter job of giving out new contracts in future.

At the current rate of Hanleys PA's he will hit 562 and vest. Unless he has injury time off he is going to be back. The choices of losing a couple of lower performing players is only going to free up a small amount. We have to go for it this year and maybe suck it up next year and do the best we can within the limits of a realistic budget. It won't be until 2020 that we could free up the Pable and Hanley salaries. Bad decisions made on player contracts have left us in the situation that is not readily solvable. I think we monitor the performance of JBJ and other players and decide who we can lose and who we get to keep at the end of the season.

Mookie is a great talent and has an excellent temperment so is a must have player. I agree the Sox need to keep him. The problem the Sox have is they have inked some really ill thought out contracts that will hang over the team and make it difficult to sign our good young players while staying under the luxury tax limit. In order of the problems the FO has created are: Price over $30 mil a year through 2022. Incredibly bad signing, even if he had been an ace for a couple of years, which he hasn't Sandoval $18 Mil through 2019 with a $5 Mil kicker in 2020 Hanley $22.7 Mil through 2019 if he continues to be played daily (as he has) At least he is producing something for the money. Pedroia $12 Mil through 2021 Castillo $11.7 Mil through 2020 even if it doesn't coulnt toward the luxury tax We need to sign Mookie ad Bogaerts and take care of our pitchers. I hope we keep Kimbrel but maybe we won't be able to afford him.

You would think a team like Baltimore, who has zero chance this year, would be looking to trade assets and get the best payback. Machado is their best and he is young and will want a huge contract. Frankly, while he would be a great asset for the Sox, it is hard to see us letting go of either Devers or Bogaerts. Someone else will probably go after him while we sit that one out.

His velocity is down a little and he has to become more of a pitcher. His command must be better to do that. We have a huge investment in him so lets hope that isn't another case of sunken cost for us. As long as his arm is sound there is a chance he can be a productive pitcher for us and we certainly need him to go with Porcello and Sale.

Holt will be back before Pedey and if he continues hitting at all like he was before the hamstring, he is a better all around answer at second than Nunez or Lin right now. I do think Nunez is a professional player and hitter and will improve as the season moves on if last season is any indication. To be the most competitive team we can be we need Moreland, Holt inserted and Bradley on the bench. Not much to do about catcher.

Last night E-Rod got hit but the BP came through in a big way. Great for them, although Kelly and Kimbrel have been the strength of the pen. Our lineup did it again with always some of our main guys coming through.

I am hoping E-Rod stops nibbling as much so that he doesn't wind up being close to 100 pitches in the 5th inning. He has talent but seems to lack confidence. Surely the pitching coach is telling him something similar. He can be a very good 4th starter for us. While Price hasn't been good at all, I believe if he could establish better command he would be a decent starter.

I would prefer a solid defender in CF who also could hit. I can dream. Say what you will, JBJ is gone after this year if his hitting miseries continue. Hard for a guy with the time and experience he has to suddenly become a hitter. He had his moments, if he could only remember what he did in his hot steaks.

Would like to see Moreland tonight as Hanley isn't as hot right now. I think he could use a rest.

Some of the discussion was about what we might have done prior to obtaining Moreland. Now that we have him, it is difficult to see us moving Devers off of 3rd this year. We probably jst have to live with the errors and hope for some improvement with experience. I agree with the concept of using Martinez in left field. He is a professional hitter and has done better in the outfield than I expected. Beni is a quallity hitter and will likely bring his numbers up this year. He isn't as gifted defensively as Bradley but can do a decent job there. I would suggest resting Bradley and that indeed might result in him becoming more of a reserve outfielder. His trade value doesn't look that good right now. My view of Hanley is that he is in his mid 30's now, is a big muscular guy and probably needs more rest days than he has been getting. I have noticed for some time now he is not doing well with fast balls and he is getting a lot of those. Reducing his plate appearances sounds like a good idea, whether it be DH or 1st so he can stay fresh and produce better when he is in the game. We have a hot Moreland who is a good 1st baseman so that is no problem and we hope to allow Swihart to get more appearances along the way so some DH reps can come from him.