oldtimer

Yes, and tonight we will see Nunez return. He may well be rusty, but it is good to see him back in the lineup.

I don't think Stanton is a good fit for us either, even though he is a special player. Personally, I can't see giving any player a long contract with mega bucks involved. Talking about signing just a designated hitter under those circumstances makes less sense to me. Better to sign a very good power hitter who can also play in the field for a shorter and more reasonable contract. Sale and Kimbrel have turned out to be very smart pickups while Price, no so much at this juncture. While DD has thinned out our minors, most of his acquisitions have made sense. I trust him to make the best moves for the organization.

Foxx wrapped up his baseball career in 1945. I was a boy but too young to be concerned about him at that point. He's got to be into his 80's. I guess he gets a break for that.

Very amusing post

Would the Yankees take the contract? Can you imagine Judge and Stanton in the lineup together, not to mention their other power hitters.

You are putting up a false premise. We can increase our offensive production without a 10 year contract. I would doubt if any sane Baseball general manager will be offering very long term contracts in future. They just don't tend to work out.

We are winning despite many guys not doing the job. You can be sarcastic about it all you want, but it can easily catch up with us. We have Devers, Betts and Vaz as our primary hitters with a hope that Nunez can come back tomorrow. We are in the playoffs so now we have to figure a way to win against the really good teams.

Magic number for the pennant is now 3 with 7 games left.

Double the excitement as the Patriots won on a heart stopper from Brady. Big day for New England. Looks like the Yankees will go down.

Really no hitting from our top 5 and JBJ. 3 walks is all they have mustered so far. Got to do better. Maybe Nunez will help. Hanley pinch hitting struck out as well. Pretty anemic stuff.

Fister started to implode. Gave up a hit to the pitcher on a two strike count and then another hit on a 2 strike count. Hope Farrell replaces him now, while we are still in the game.

True, and so far no one has bitten on the Stanton waiver.

Moreland has been swinging at balls at the letters and above and was 0 for 19 going into that AB. He also was hitting mainly to left when he did contact the ball. Getting a ball to hit and getting the bat on it was rare for him and a big help for us. Putting Young in the lineup means we had a guy in who hasn't got a hit in a dogs age. The choice was him or Davis. Neither are hitting. Holt is also nothing special. I know we had Lin and Marrero sitting while Holt played. We had no really good options. It depends on who we intend to go forward into the playoffs with. I would play those utility guys first.

I don't necessarily blame the hitting coach, but it is the easiest place to fix so I would go after that first.

Yes, it is unlikely that Pedroia and Hanley will be better in 2018 then this year. That's why having solid backup at 2nd is important to give Dustin some rest. Hanley is so often injured or sore that he too will need backup and/or a platoon player. Nunez could solve a lot of that need or if need be, we pick up someone else that can fill both roles effectiively. Otherwise, the team is still in prime age or below.

Since this string is about hitting, I will talk about how we have hitters getting into protracted slumps after hitting well for a while. It happens to most players on most teams. Maybe because I watch this team so closely, I think it happens more often with our guys. Today, Moreland finally hit a ball for a HR and it gave us the breathing room to feel comfortable. That was his first hit in 19 AB's. He had been swinging at many balls thrown at or above his letters. The opposing pitchers had his number and he wasn't finding his way out. when he did make contact, he was hitting mostly to left or popping up. I think Beni recently went through an 0 for 19 as well. Perhaps the point here is that the players are not getting the help they need from the hitting coach. When there are glaring issues, one would think the hitting coaches would be aggressively trying to communicate those. We have had JBJ, Betts, Bogaerts, Hanley all go into these protracted slumps and have difficulty getting out. I read this as time for a new hitting coach.

Look, if by wrapped up you mean the pennant, I don't think it is a sure thing. One more game against the Reds. If we win that and set the magic number to 4, we will have 7 tough games to go, all at home. The Jays aren't that bad and Houston is very good. Winning 4 of those seven will be a tough chore. We have to hope the Yankees don't sweep their remaining games. I am all for playing all out every game until we close them out. Today we survived because of excellent pitching. JF had Young and Holt in the game and we were lucky to get the runs we did.

I would put Devers in that class and equal to or better to Hanley.

Ohtani is thought of as a superstar in Japan. I would love to get him. He wants to pitch and also play in the field and get real PAs. My guess is that he would help the club. Cobb is a really good pitcher and would also help the club. We still need a power hitting 1st baseman in lieu of Moreland. Getting Nunez back is a priority. Our utility players can come from several that are there now as we cut ties with Young and Davis and possibly Holt. We have a very nice pitching staff. Porcello had an off year but still can eat innings and shouldn't be dismissed so easily. Right now he is probably worn down. Fister showed promise but might not be in the plans going forward. Wright is still out there as well. With Sale, Pomeranz, E-Rod and Price we are the envy of the league. Also very solid in the BP.

So when will Nunez be back? We could use him tomorrow as we need to keep winning.

The lack of home run power is definitely a big part of our lack of run production. I agree with Moon though when he points out how many of our regulars have had worse to much worse batting numbers when compared to last year. If you discount Beni and Devers as rookies, and applaud Vaz for a much better season than expected, the remainder of our hitters haven't been as good as a year ago. Nunez came into the team late and he has really bolstered the team before getting injured, but he wasn't on last years team. There has been talk about how this happened. The loss of power in part stems from the loss of Papi and a lack of funds to get a power hitter from the FA market. The lack of hitting has been attributed to poor coaching and/or our guys just had a great yeaar last year and that was an outlier. Our hitters talents are really reflected by this years performance. Whatever the reason for our reduced power and hitting this year, we are what we are going into the playoffs and will get some help when Nunez returns. Next year, DD and the coaches and managers need to have a heart to heart and decide what to do to improve things, assuming there will be some additional money available. Trades, acquisitions and minor league possibilities all need to be looked at and it might be necessary to make some unpalatable moves to get better overall.

Really only Vaz and Devers are much threat with Bogey and Beni at least making contact. Moreland, Holt, Young and JBJ are all looking bad. JF isn't giving us much chance to score runs. I will imagine that Hanley will pinch hit when we change pitchers. Also we are sitting on Travis who is a better hitter then who we have on the field. We need a win here. If Betts is hurt and needs a rest, fine. What is Nunez status?

Notice how Moreland is swinging at balls letter height or higher. He has been doing that a lot and of course that is what the pitchers give him. Anyone know why Betts isn't in the lineup?

And why is Young in the game? He has been in a terrible slump. We want to win this game. Just wasted a double by Devers.

My Christmas wish llist to Santa includes 3 things: 1. A copy of a contract signed by Nunez and the Sox for 2018 through 2020. 2. A copy of Chili Davis's walking papers 3. A contract with one power hitting 1st baseman. Note that other peoples wish list will probably include others but these are my top three.