oldtimer

Amen to that.

When the player is a former star and making $13 mil/yr it further complicates things. Pedey deserves the benefit of the doubt but realistically can't be expected to play much more than 1/2 the season if he does recover enough to make a positive contribution while he is healthy. I am not against startig him and backing him up with a super utility player like a Nunez.

Maybe. Houston as a team is more aggressive. Take Altuve out of the discussion and they still tend to swing at the first pitch they like, not all the time, but more often than the Sox. Dusty Baker complained that his guys had been taking too many good pitches and putting themselves in holes. When you take two good pitches as a hitter, you are at a big disadvantage. I think we will have a new manager and probably a new hitting coach and they may well move in a different direction, especially since the leading managerial candidate is Cora of Houston.

Houston is a very good hitting team and tends to be aggressive at the plate. Altuve certainly will swing at the first itch if it is to his liking. Why not? A strategy of taking two for the gibber, to supposedly wear the starting pitcher down really just puts the hitter at a huge disadvantage. I generally agree, hitters should not become predictable as that also puts them at a disadvantage.

The talk about Chavis is that he is more likely to wind up at 2nd base than 3rd with his frame. 5'10" 210#s. If he does well in Arizona, maybe he can be looked at as a replacement with power.

A cleanup hitter or just about any hitter is struggling against Playoff pitching. One might help get us to the PO's but not help us advance. We almost certainly should keep Hanley in the DH role next season which means moving Devers (if that works) and finding a credible 3rd baseman for at least one year. Not so easy but I like the chances. Moving Bogey for one year and signing Cozart might work. Lot of moves though so it might not work. We do need to focus on 2nd as well since few believe Pedey can hold that job down for more than about 1/2 the season.

Wow! I disagree with you in regards to JBJ. I think he would be best to trade now. I also love Pedey, but recognize he is on the downslide due to his injuries and the wear and tear of all those great years. I would prefer that we could find a top notch 2nd baseman and see it as a second priority behind finding a top not 1st/3rd baseman, depending on where we go with Devers. The problem is that Pedey is on the roster with a $13 mil salary for next year and on.

Last night's game between the Astros and Yankees featured two excellent starting pitchers not just throwers. The Yankee lineup is full of power hitters while the Astros have hitters who can also hit for power. The Yankees have the advantage in BP. Defense in a game like that is critical and the Astros make some good plays despite the error by Altuve. The entire infields for both clubs is solid defensively yet the Astros were able to manufacture a couple of runs with speed and just singles hitting. The point of relating my views of the game is that Moon had mentioned our own infield in 2018 as potentially being Devers and 3rd, bogey at SS, Pedroia/Nunez at 2nd and Hanley at 1st. I doubt if that infield would have made the plays that the Astros made last night and is something to really consider. Bogey doesn't have the greatest range, but he is probably the best of ours at this point. The discussion of moving Devers to 1st, finding a good 3rd base prospect that can hit and possibly thinking more about 2nd with a non-Nunez good fielder/hitter might be the best approach. Whatever we do, we need to work hard on getting on younger players to be more disciplined yet aggressive hitters and that involved new thinking by our coaches and manager. We have good speed on the team so we can manufacture runs if we can get on base.

The new manager will want to choose his hitting coach. I too would avoid Pedroia for the reasons you infer. Youk is also not the best choice. Being a good hitter is not the only qualification for being the hitting coach. Our younger players have talent, but all could use the assistance of a quality hitting coach.

Scouting report has Chavis with potential for 2nd base, perhaps more than 3rd.

I think the question is more about who will be backing up Pedey on the Sox in 2018. Unless he has a lot of trouble recovering from the leg injury, I assume he will play about 90 games. Who will the backup be for the remaining games. Nunez is most likely but has a bad leg as well and may also wind up being an expensive signing. We have Marerro, Holt, Lin and Hernandez who should be looked at as potential utility backups. There is also a possibility of Chavis being our 2nd baseman of the future so he might make the grade in 2018 and he could backup 3rd as well. Chavis is 5'10" and 210# is has some pop.

So who are on the list of replacements for Farrell? Ron Gardenhire a very experienced and successful 60 year old. DiMarlo Hale from the jays. A 56 year old who knows the players but doesn't soound like a mover or a shaker. Alomar jr. an inexperienced candidate but that doesn't mean bad Brad Asmus good baseball man with the Padres now but results were no so great. He is around 45 Jason Varitek would be inexperienced and on the younger side Doug Martinez of the Cubs. Alex Cora out of the Houston organization. Inexperienced but exposed to a forward thinking organization might bring some of that with him Others?

I can't see Ortiz wanting to travel with the team and commit for all those months of grind. Maybe he would be good at it, but I can't imagine he would be inclined to commit to the season.

Our infield starting player defense was generally mediocre to bad, with 1st base being the strongest of the lot. I agree with your assessment of Pedey. He was great, but time and injuries have left him a part time player and he skills are diminishing. Bogey is a serviceable SS but not a great defender. I have hopes that a different hitting coach will work closely with him too rework his swing and plate approach. He is 6'1" and 210 #s. He should have more power but needs to make changes to realize his offensive potential. i am hoping that will happen, but only if Bogey would commit to make changes. Devers was a major defensive liability. Your concept of having play winter ball at 3rd base is one way to see if he can make the improvement needed. His hitting is already fine. A secoond approach would be to assume he will mature into a heftier player and move him to 1st and have him learn the position over the winter. So we need a Nunez type player as a minimum and a 1st/3rd base power hitter. Beyond that we need to be open to alternatives. So basically in the infield we need help at 2nd, 1st as Moreland probably won't return and Hanley is not a full time 1st baseman. SS is questionable and probably isn't a priority and 3rd may need some help depending on how Devers is handled. i agree that the catching position is solid with Vaz. Leon is a good backup but might be replaced if the opportunity arises. I agree that the pitching is okay and we have the pieces to go forward. Whether Price's elbow stands up to the rigors of a full season will remain an open question. The outfield is another question mark in my mind. We have a very athletic group there now. Beni showed his youth in a lot of defensive throws that weren't so good, but otherwise we were very good defensively. JBJ is a very erratic hitter though and we wound up with him hitting 9th for a reason. He will turn 28 at the beginning of the 2018 season and has had the experience to define who he is as a hitter. I don't see him improving and would consider a trade if we could find a better player. Mookie could shift to center if needed and we could either add a CF or a RF. If we would spend the money, there would be some interesting candidates for the outfield. Utility positions need a complete reset as do some of the coaches. Whoever the new manager is will determine who he wants for coaches.

With the Yankees humbling the Guardians tonight we can see at least 3 teams ahead of us in the talent pool. We do need to make moves so anyone thinking we add one bat and stand pat in all other areas is just a wishful thinker. Where we have shown weakness we need to upgrade and do so in such a way that we don't give away the store for 2019, 2020.

Like you I was ambivalent. I look at it as not really a firing, but instead and unwillingness to renew a manager with his strengths and faults. This move should allow the new manager to come in and select some new coaches, which I think is needed. In addition, he may make a difference with the attitude of some of our players. Perhaps a more positive outlook. On the other hand things could get worse. Whats done is done and now I hope they carry it off as quicklly as possible.

Why do you say that. His time with Minnesota was very good.

Excellent post MVP covering the Pedroia situation. As a long term Sox fan, I love what Pedroia has done for the club and meant to the club but there comes a time when the skills diminish due to injuries, age and wear and tear. Few want to criticize a vet like Pedroia but it is evident that he will need medical help that might require a long recovery and like in horse racing, the older they are, the recovery always falls short of previous best performances. So we need contingent plans for 2nd base for 2018. Some suggest a super utility player like Nunez is an answer to play 75 games a year or more at 2nd but Nunez may have his own long term recovery. I think we have to look at a quality alternative to both Pedroia and Nunez going forward. I don't wish Pedroia any bad karma, but recognize his days of being a productive every day player may be coming to an end.

I mentioned in another string that Gardenhire is the guy who is favored as a replacement. Whoever it is, the sooner the better. They will have to do due diligence and interview a diverse group to satisfy current policy sensitivities, so that will take a month.

Their talking up Gardenhire as a possible replacement. Whoever comes in needs to look carefully at coaching staff changes as well. Best to get the new guy on board quickly so that he can be a part of the decision making going forward for next season.

I would start over with our utility players. Young, Holt and Davis can move along and we can replace them with as good from our existing team and minor leagues. Hernandez, Swihart, Lin and Marrero are a few. All are relatively low cost. Possibly and older player with good hitting skills for a one year contract might help as a pinch hitter and infrequent field player.

I think the move of Devers would open up the possibility of a permanent 3rd baseman. Machado would fit although there will be a lot of competition. Meanwhile we could temporize with a good infielder to take short or third for a season and perhaps move to 2nd after that. I am not convinced that Nunez will be able to come back from his injury, so we should look at alternatives as well. I also think JBJ could be replaced. Bryce Harper will be expensive and is rumored to be heading to the Yankees. I could see him as our right fielder with Betts in center. Talk about spending money, these are break the bank expensive.

Nunez may not be the only infielder we could get to fill the super utility role. I would consider the injury and look over the alternatives before jumping to the Nunez conclusion.

JF did an okay job with the Sox but with his contract up for renewal, DD had to decide if continuing him was what he thought was best. A new manager may be better or worse, but a new manager will have the opportunity to rethink his coaching staff. I would hope some changes are in order there as well. Hitting malaise and base running issues come to mind. We will see if things will get better. No guarantees.

Varitek is another name who hasn't managed. Someone at least to keep on the list.