oldtimer

I hope he can come back but if he needs TJ surgery, he will be out all of next year as well. Worst case we would be paying him $30 million a year for no value in 2017 and 2108. Add that to the $19mil/ for Sandoval through 2020, $13 mil for Craig in 2018, $10.2 Mil/yr for Castillo for 4 more years and of course the $22.7 Mil/year for 2018 and possibly 2019 for an underachieving Hanley. No wonder JH is given pause to pour a lot of money into the FA market. Our FO made some poor decisions along the way but at least DD has generally made better ones. Price is on DD and most of us didn't like the length of that contract at the time, but that has become the going rate for Ace pitchers. one has to wonder why a guy along in his career should get a long contract though.

Whether Cleveland can maintain their momentum and resign their key pieces is an unknown. They went out this year and added two power hitters to a strong lineup, something that the luxury cap got in the way of for the Sox. Like it or not, they become the new target of excellence to shoot at and our changes should be made with them in mind. Definitely we need a big bat, probably at 1st base. Otherwise, we should be open minded should opportunities arise to improve in areas where the hitting is weak. Nunez, currently at 4.2 million will deserve a healthy raise and it will be a competitive battle to keep him. Reed also would be a good keep ar $7.75 Mil. Moreland will probably not return so we can go for a 1st baseman with a big bat. Young and Davis will probably not be resigned and also Kendrick will not return. The savings on those four will be amount to $19 Mil on avoided cost. Lots of other considerations in the pitching area, with who will be cut loose and who will remain. Question marks for Smith although he looks like a keeper, and Thornburgh who is still in the remains to be seen category. To me it apears that our pitching will remain competitve with the best staffs in 2018 but to really compete at the highest levels we need to consider multiple ways to become a stronger team.

I wonder if there is a statistic which considers our hitting vs the era of the pitcher we face. Complicated to do since we face so many pitchers in the course of a game. Tonight the guy has higher than a 5 rpg era. We should hit him better. You would think up against Kluber we would hit much worse. Baseball is a crazy game and it doesn't work that way so much on a game by game basis, but it should be on an average basis over time. Thats unless Apple Watches come into play.

Thats the question. Does the FO think we improve the team by making the trade? Clearly there is a risk, like with Shaw, what they think will happen not be correct. If we don't think we can improve the team, then don't make the trade..

I think the only sure field players for the Sox in 2018 are: Beni Betts Vaz Devers Pedey Rameriz (wish this wasn't true but who will take him with the $22.7 Mil salary) The only clear FA pickup field player at this point would be Nunez. He was making 4,200,000 but will command a lot more now) The players that might be used in trades would be JBJ, Bogaerts and Leon. JBJ's defense would be hard to replace. So in my view, we might see a need for a 1st baseman, a SS and a backup catcher. Less likely, a need for a CF replacement. We have Lin, Hernandez and Travis as possible utility players in 2018, with Holt, Moreland and Young likely gone from the roster.

Right now Austin Maddox looks like a better bet going into the playoffs. Barnes is not reliable, even with a big lead.

Good pitching can make any team look weak. Our problem is that even the higher ERA average guys have often made us look weak. We have had way too many guys in protracted slumps. If Mookie is really coming out of his that is a nice step forward for us. We still have a lot of guys that need a drink of Red Bull or something. Think of: JBJ Leon Bogey Moreland Hanley Holt Young While some are not regular players and their use can be avoided, others are lineup regulars and hurt us with their ineptitude. Maybe Betts explosion last night will stimulate others going forward.

We can't expect to prevail in any playoff series without him as a main contributor, so it certainly was good news tonight to see him hit well and with power.

I don't think its wise to call players unflattering names. It is however perfectly acceptable to point out deficiencies and Holt for whatever reason is not the player he was in recent years. I agree that he should be low on the list of players entering the game and would advise against including him in the plans for next year. We should be able to do better and I believe we have better options available on the team in Lin and Hernandez for next year, unless the team wants to look further.

Yes and we had Pedey in and also Bogey had a surprising night for him. Hanley not anything. Kimmi has said, and i agree, we go nowhere without our young talent, like Betts and Bogey hitting. She included Hanley, and that would be nice, but we could work around him if the others are productive.

Big day for the Sox and down to 15 for the magic number.

This is a critical period going forward. We need to keep winning as the Yankees seem to be winning a high percentage. Nunez has been our best hitter so his loss will be felt. No Beni tonight either. Lets hope the lineup is so weakened that we can't score a few runs. At least Pedey is in the lineup.

Nunez

The Sox had better take care of business as the Yankees are creeping up on them. No more anemic lineups. If Pedey and Nunez are able, they are needed in the game. They are the two best hitters at this point. Hanley also is needed and he has to produce.

My b rother and his wife rode the storm out by sleeping in the hallway while the windows rattled in the 100+ mph wind but came through it all with only minor property damage. Thanks for the kind words.

My input leaned more toward 2nd half issues which seem to impact Bogey. Whatever is going on, injuries, mental issues, lack of effective coaching, he seems to lapse after4 the as break.

There is a discussion going on of who we should make the 11 playoff pitchers should we make it in. Most are obvious, with the question marks being Price (in my opinion he won't be ready) and Barnes. We have Smith and Maddocks with a chance. Barnes has looked awful at times. So we have 4 starters and our 5th starter probably with be added as long relief. We have Kimbel, Kelly, Reed, and Workman. So with 2 more slots available, would you take a lefty in Scott, or Smith or Maddocks and would you take Barnes or Price? I think we can wait to make that decision to see who remains impressive.

I can't remember what part of the season that Bogey was moved to third. In retrospect, his performance in the second half of most seasons has fallen off. Could it be the move to 3rd coincided with the 2nd half doldrums he seems to wind up in each year?

It was up to me, I load up the batting order with our best in a row and hope to score the runs there. I believe the player hitting third should be a good contact hitter and one capable of driving the ball. Some statisticians believe otherwise, I think they are totally wrong.

If you tried to find a correlation factor using Crystal ball, I think it would be a futile exercise. I would look for other reasons.

Xander the Enigma Xander is listed at 6'1" 210# and is a young but experienced player just turning 25 Oct 1st. He is athletic and has good speed. He is not a flashy fielder but okay at short. He will always be mid pack or below in that regard. To me though he is an enigma at the plate. Looking at a few statistics, including this incomplete year and not putting in his very limited year of 2013, will give one an idea of inconsistency, not explained by injury or pitchers finding the holy grail against him, but a series of ups and downs. Note that I have put a (1) after the year to designate pre-all star break figures and a (2) for post all star break BA RBI OPS HR 2014 (1) 235 22 658 6 2014(2) 248 24 661 6 2015 (1) 304 43 750 3 2015 (2) 337 38 803 4 2016 (1) 329 56 863 10 2016 (2) 253 33 729 11 2017 (1) 303 41 806 6 2017 (2) 200 12 573 2 In both 2016 and 2017 he has shown a steep drop off in his hitting and in this year precipitous. Hard to figure since one would expect a player gaining his experience would actually be able to avoid late season slumps. Also a person of his size would provide more power. He certainly hasn't earned a big raise going forward and it is hard to know what to do with a soon to be 25 year old who is otherwise a good yooung man who may still have some upside. As a minimum, I would say he should get a new hitting coach and go over the fundamentals of his plate mechanics going forward, and work on those things this off season. If he can't find a way out of these funks he gets into then I suggest that is time to trade him and look for someone who can be more productive. I wouldn't do that until the trade deadline next year and see if he can improve himself and realize the gifts that he seems to have.

If you went up and down the Sox lineup to identify our best hitters to the so so ones and then those who are hardly ML level, how would you score them. Not by batting average or OPS, but what you can see they are capable of with some consistency in the second half. To me it is as follow: 1. Nunez 2. Pedey Significant drop off 3. Beni 4. Devers Small drop off 5.Betts 6. Vaz 7. Moreland Another small drop off 8 Rameriz 9 Bradley 10 Travis 11. Lin 12. Bogaerts Still lower 13. Leon 14. Marrero 15. Holt 16. Young Of these, the ones with redeeming defensive qualities include Bradley, Travis (rookie), Lin (rookie), Bogaerts (possibly could be able to make adjustments, but needs an overhaul at the plate), Leon (always can use a good defensive catcher) I would keep outright or in some cases attempt to trade for better.

Watching the game play out last night with our depleted lineup, I still remained worried about an older brother (80's) who made the decision to stay in Venice, Fla rather than go into traffic with little gas or lodging available. I wanted him to drive up to North Carolina to stay with us but age gets in the way. I heard from him around 9:00 pm with hurricane force winds battering the house and water from rain rising near to the house (not storm surge). Trying to contact them but there is no power there. He and his wife are both big Sox fans.

There is a fine line between being aggressive and being stupid. Many of the contributors here agree with that and are okay with aggressiveness. There have also been many plays where our runners were out by many steps after unwisely trying to get the extra base, or were out when they didn't remember how many outs we had or were out on what appeared to be botched hit and run situations. Those are the ones that we all wish they would avoid going forward.

And today it appeared that Nunez, Haley and Pedey were not available. Some for a rest but Nunez is a little bit of an unknown given his gimpy leg the other night. It didn't give Farrell much to work with today and Cobb is a really good pitcher. What we did have looked anemic. We can use the day off that we have. Maybe our regulars will be available.