oldtimer

Fister walked 2, one a 111 hitter on 4 pitches. He doesn't seem to have enough control and has put us behind by 4 which is the runs we average in a game. Fister must have some problem with nerves as he always seems to run into early trouble before settling down in later innings. Tough start for him tonight.

Take Fister out now.

I agree, the problem is finding a FA that would fit the needs of the team and still have a contract requirement we could swallow.

I like that JF has Vazquez as DH tonight. He really can't trust Young to do much and his other option, Travis can be saved for use later in the game. Swihart as backup to Leon makes the move possible. Betts is in the lineup so it appears while his thumb is sore, he is fit enough to play and swing the bat. Clearly JF knows how important this and all games going forward will be and wants to give the team the best chance of winning.

Well, the field players we could lose through Free Agency are Young, Davis, Moreland and Nunez. i think Young and Davis are gone. Moreland is a decent player both in the field and with the bat, but we are looking for an impact player at that position, so he is probably not coming back. Word is out that we will probably try to retain Nunez, but we don't have full time position for him to fill so he probably will go where that is possible. Too bad, since Pedey is likely a 90 game a year guy going forward and he could probably get some time at SS and DH, so he would have a lot of opportunity and he is getting older so might be best when used with some down time available. So it does look like we will go in the 1st base direction. How we accomplish that remains to be seen. I don't see anyone waiting in the wings in the minors who is ready to provide what we need so it is a FA, a move of a player and a trade or FA to fill whatever position becomes open or we try to work a trade, but what we have to offer other than one of our young regular players would probably not interest a club. Moon hasn't identified any first base prospects that stand out. I don't think bringing in just a DH for next year makes sense based on Hanley's contract and limitations and a switch to going after a 3rd baseman probably should await the battle for Machado. The other aspect of this is whether we can get some of our young players we want long term to agree to extension contracts. Clearly Betts is one of those. Possibly JBJ and/or Bogaerts also fit that. The others are so young that no action at this point is realistic or required. Depending on how much money we want to commit in that direction and to enhance the pitching staff, there will be some outside number we will want to pay for a big bat. Otherwise, this whole situation is complicated and it is in DD's lap to come up with some sort of compromise solution.

They weren't saying his shoulder was the problem, it was the left bicep although nothing showed up in the MRI. Maybe they should do an EEG.

I wouldn't sign another guy just to be a DH. Whoever we get with a big bat also needs to be a regular field player. Hanley will still be around to mainly DH when he is playing.

Looking at our best player Betts getting $9.36 K when Hanley gets $22.7 mil, I would expect arb raises to be substantial for many. As far as Devers winding up at 1st base, it is not all that far fetched. His error total at 3rd is high and although he will undoutedly get better, they say he is expected to mature into a heavier even stronger player, so 1st might be a best spot. Either way, we definitely need a middle of the order guy and Hanley doesn't seem to fill that bill going forward despite his big salary.

Perhaps there is a school of thought that having a few of these people around would allow completing a trade for a much needed power bat or two going forward The cupboard is kind of bare and our needs will be real. I hope we can sign some of our excellent young players to long term contracts to cover three years out, but we will still need others.

I just get concerned that the injury bug has bitten us at a tough time, taking too many of our right handed bats out of the lineup. We need to keep winning and I would prefer to face Houston to Cleveland, but neither is a walk in the park.

Tough to see Betts out of the game with a contusion. Hope that doesn't mean he will be out for an extended period as it is reported as day to day. With Pedey gimpy, Hanley out for an unknown time (not hitting anyway), Young just not a reliable option and Nunez's return still an unknown, we are short on quality right handed bats in the lineup. JF will have his hands full coming up with a threatening lineup.

I saw a mention in Omnisport by line Alec Brzezinski dated Sept 12th The Red Sox will likely have to hold off their competition in the American League East without infielder Eduardo Nunez. Manager John Farrell said Tuesday, via ESPN.com, that Nunez, who is dealing with a knee sprain and bruise, will be out for at least a week, and possibly the remainder of the regular season. Nunez has been on a mission since joining the Red Sox from San Francisco earlier this summer. He has hit .319 with eight home runs, 27 RBIs and 22 runs scored in 37 games with the Red Sox. Boston currently holds a slender three-game lead over the streaky Yankees, but they do have some room over the Twins and Angels for the first wild-card spot should New York rally

We still are in this game. That would be taking a big risk.

Big trouble for e-rod. Walk issue to load the bases with Longoria up.

So far, not a single hit. There have been a few hard hit balls, so there is always hope. Odorizzi has only 72 pitches and could go 7 or more innings. We just can't allow more runs or at least keep it close.

At the start of today we had 96 errors. Cleveland has 69 and the Yankees and Houston 91. We are not horrible but middle of the road.

The word on Nunez now is that he may not get back during the regular season. That would be a real shame as I agree, we need his bat and aggressiveness.

The Yankees only have 3 away games left on the schedule of the 14 remaining. Talk about a favorable schedule.

We hit just enough to win after getting a strong pitching performance from Porcello. I know guys were tired and we did play some guys we normally don't. Young for instance, who is very cold at the plate these day. Hope we can keep Vaz in as he is hot right now. If not catcher, then DH him. Looking forward to Nunez's return although no word or actual date so far on that front. Would love to see guys try to pull the ball with pitches down the middle. Betts did once, but Moreland, Beni and JBJ all hit the ball to center or go the other way. Center against the Rays is usually an out. We lose what power we have by not pulling balls inside or down the middle. Good game for us as we are in the must win category on the road to save our bid for the pennant. The Yankees look like they won't more than 4 or 5 going down the stretch so we need to win the majority of ours. The magic number is 12 I believe and 8 for the WC. Much rather have the pennant.

It seems some of the spending that we did saddled us with Sandoval, Price, Hanley, Craig, Castillo. That spending may have occured before or during his tenure, but it certainly has limited some of the options the club has had. To be fair to JF, I don't know how much say he had in bringing these guys in or the length of their contracts. Still, he is the manager and as such is accountable for the level of performance of the club. I haven't been a fan of his after the swoon at the end of last season and the underperformance of our hitters this year. Lets see where he takes us this year, but I am not against any move which is likely to improve the team.

We will face another tough one tonight, with having to face Cobb (their best) with Porcello (our worst starter). They swing for the fences and Porcello is prone to give up HRs. We both used a lot of BP last night so the guys on both sides will be tired, including the fiield players. We are now suffering with Nunez out, Hanley hurting and in an awful slump (is he even usable?) and Pedey on one good leg. Our right hand hitting is compromised. Good to see Bogaerts and Betts help the cause as we really need them. Time to roll out Travis and Vaz, although Cobb is really tough on Righties (and Lefties). I admit to losing heart and sacking out last ight after 10 innings. I also played a 3 1/2 hour game in the heat yesterday and these old bone cry out for sleep. I thought we were a 50/50 proposition when I hit the hay and was pleasantly surprised that we had won the bet. Maybe the Rays just ran out of relief pitching. Our guys, especially Beni, Bradley and Moreland need to pull the ball more often to keep the ball away from the Rays center fielder. That kid can play.

That's 7 relief pitchers we have faced and the latest kid can get it up there at 99 mph. Tough on the hitters.

Pedroia strikes out and Beni grounds out. Tough ending to a comeback inning. Now it will be a cat fight.

This time of year, managers have parge BP's and they tend to use them. In tonight's game, there have been a troop of relief pitchers against the Sox and we are having trouble figuring any of them out. We do miss Nunez.

Wait til next year