oldtimer

The Pablo/Hanley signings were not smart moves and saddled the team with terrible contracts. At least Hanley is trying to earn his money. The Price signing may indeed be worse, with a huge long term contract and a guy who may either be washed up or one not wanting to be here at a minimum. Am I missing where you credited Castillo and Craig?

It may come down to who we can keep of the young talented players we have. We have to deal with JBJ, Betts and Bogey and we may have to choose if the contracts get too ridiculous. Replacing JBJ's contribution would not be easy and Beni is not the defensive player that JBJ is. Betts is a lock so if there is a choice it may come down to Bogey vs JBJ.

Lots of players have a tendency to wag their bat or some other move but need to be set when the pitch is delivered. I think Beni has a nice approach and does get setl whereas Bogey was not totally set and that may have led to a hitch in his swing. He has shown a good ability to hit most years beforre the all star break and certainly can again by making adjustments. Maybe there are signs of that hasppening which would be excellent for the Sox. Just a note. The Cardinals starting pitcher was good last night. He had good velocity and his fastball appeared to sink, giving us a long of ground balls and swinging strikes. He also had good location, painting the outside corner to Beni, Moreland and Betts. When he made a mistake coming into Betts on one pitch, Betts got him for a single. Some times you have to tip your hit to a good pitching performance. I expected the third time around the order to improve, but our heroics came mainly in the ninth. Good win and confidence booster.

We have Smith and Thornburg available for next year. Maybe one will make it back and if we are lucky both. That alone would cause a reset of our BP going forward. I would expect a reset with one of Abad or Scott being a man out.

We lost Wright through a base running substitution by JF. One move that has had long term repurcussions for the team. Haven't seen Velasquez or Owens show that they can handle a SP role. Groome is still a year away and Price (a good name) may never come back. We need to look for a SP as Fister isn't a guy we can trust.

Credit our brain trust with holding Devers back and watching the fiasco at 3rd base playout. Clearly we gave games away while the FO sat and watched.

I liked Hernandez a lot too but he has been injured and would have to make a comeback, also he has never shown a lot of power. On the other hand, Lin seems to have a good plate approach, is fast and flexible in the infield and would be a fill-in tomorrow. I hope he comes up in Sept and gets a chance. Holt is experienced but not the player we need going forward.

Watching the pitchig to Beni tonight and same with Moreland. Beni had two strikes and probably had to swing at balls close on the outside part of the plate. Both resulted in balls to the third baseman, one for a double play and one for a forceout. Moreland hit a little grounder to third as well again on an outside pitch. The pitcher is cagey but they may get to him on the third time around. Adjust and conquer.

The long term situation with Price is now looking worse, if that is possible. What if he is unable to return and provide any value for the big dollars he is owed? We may need another starter.

They want to sell the Marlins and get rid of the big money liabilities. It would make sense they would want young talented players with years of control and generally low salaries. We don't have many of those unless you want to trade Devers and Beni and maybe Groome. I wouldn't do it although Stanton would be a coup he is too expensive for us.

Is it lack or coaching or hard of listening. We can't know, but it seems that corrections are not being made.

Ryon Healy of the A's might help at 1st. Young guy with power and around a 260 hitter. He shold be good for 30+ homers at Fenway. A trade for him is conceivable.

I assume we stand pat with the basic outfield of Beni, JBJ and Betts with Pedey, Bogaerts and Devers in the infield. Catching has worked out better than I expected with Vaz and Leon. Hanley will be here next year. That leaves us with a need for a 1st baseman, 2 backup infielders and a backup outfielder. With Pedey and Hanley likely to need more rest than the other younger players Nunez fits well into this scheme and we woulld like to have his bat in the lineup all the time. That is a management issue to choose who sits to keep him in. I certainly hope we can resign him. I like Lin as our second backup infielder. He is flexible, can play short, second and third. I like his plate approach and speed. If Moreland, Holt and Young all go then we really need to go out into the market and find another 1st baseman with a good glove and who hits with power. Maybe Hanley will still be able to fill in at that position once in a while. Will Brentz or Chavis be able to take the backup outfield position? There is a question about keeping all the younger players with Bogey's frustratingly long slump being a reason to consider a change. I personally hope he pulls out of it and makes that question moot. JF appears to be enamored of Holt. If JF is back then Holt may be. Maybe we ought to replace the hitting coach as well, following a season where so many BA's have gone in the wrong direction.

Beni came alive around the same time and has had a major impact as well. I attribted it mainly to his going back to pulling the ball which resulted in more power. It has been the Beni, Nunez and Devers show for a while and it is now time for others to come through. Mazybe last night was an indication of that with Bogaerts finally having a multi-hit night. No mention was made of Beni's injury after being hit by a pitch. He was taken out of the game but maybe it was just precautionary.

While he would look great in a Sox uniform, there is virtually no chance we go for him. Too expensive in cost and what we would have to give in talent. Two years from now, with Hanley gone, we might think about it but he will go to someone else this year.

While it had no impact on the game tonight, I had to wonder why robbie Scott came in and threw 3 balls to a hitter with a six run lead. He then threw 4 over the plate, some were fouled before losing the hitter. Then he had to pitch to another batter and he went 2 and 0 on him. i would think he could get the ball over if he wanted to and wound up throwing 20 pitches where he might have thrown 10. Doesn't seem smart to nibble with a 6 run lead.

Incredible display of Sox hitting with 13 plate aqppearances in one inning and 8 runs. No HRs either. Greaqt basis for a win tonight.

I should have asked if the ship has sailed on Castillo as a replacement for Young. He has more time in the US and may be useable as a 4th outfielder. His minor league numbers don't look that bad. Would adding his salary prelude his use on the roster?

We have Hanley with us through 2018 and possibly 2019 if he reaches 1050 PA in 2017/2018. He currently has 368 this year. No one else will pay the $22,750,000 we are paying so he is here and will be used. Encarnacion would have added another $20 million player who is aging and is limited to 1st or DH. He is a good power hitter but because of Hanley he wasn't a good fit.

It seems to start with his plate approach. He continues to wag his bat until the pitch is delivered. One more hitch in the swing is one too many. He doesn't seem capable of getting out of the slump and the coaching he is getting isn't helping. I don't mind the lack of home runs, but would like to see a more consistent hard contact.

I think we should replace Moreland, Young, Holt and possibly Bogaerts. Will Bogey be worth what he will be asking? We need to resign Nunez if possible and with Pedey possibly having ongoing injury issues a backup for him would be great. Dozier would be a great possibility if we can get him. The idea of spliting time at 2nd base and DH is also a good one. The question is whether Hanley can hold together as a 1st baseman for a whole season, given his shoulder issues. Paying a part timer $22 Million is a little hard to swallow. Lin could fill our utility infielder role but who do you suggest to replace Young? Bogey would be hard to replace.

To me, it is important to look at the results and to make decisions dispassionately about who plays, where they play and where they bat in the order. If a guy is hitting the ball hard but being unlucky with balls hit in play, you can give him a bye. If a guy is striking out a lot and hitting weak ground balls a lot, then action is needed to find an alternative. Betts is not the hitter he was earlier or last year. He is having a lot of trouble with balls down and away, but there is still a hope for more from him. JBJ does hit quite a few balls hard, but his movement to the 9th hole is a statement in itself. The results for Bogey are worse and making excuses for him because of an earlier injury don't cut it in the long term. He was a good hitter early in the season, but that has almost totally disappeared. If you had a .500 hitter for the first half and a .000 hitter for the second half, would that be a reason to continue to play him in the second half? I hope we can agree that it wouldn't be. Kind of the extreme to make the point on Bogey. Moreland showed signs of coming out of the slump but maybe he is slipping back again. Holt isn't going to help and Young only rarely does. So bye and large we are reliant on Nunez, Devers and Beni to carry the team and they too will have their downs. Beni finally started to pull more balls and his whole value and power improved but the opposition will be looking for any weakness. I hope Pedey gets back to health as he is our one pro who really can help. He has been out since about the time of the Price fiasco and that is too long. This team needs a lot of changes next year, in coaching, and players. Fortunately for us the pitchig has held up.

Replacing Holt with Lin gains 200 points in OPS and you get a very capable fielder as well. Both hit from the left side so that is nothing against Lin. lin is also a possible replacement for Bogey while he rests. The power differential is not noticeable between these two.

I prefer Lin to Holt. John won't go that way perhaps until the sept callup.

Two dingers from Devers tonight and one from Beni. Hard not to get a warm feeling when these kids are putting on a great show. The problem is that it has been a lot of them and Nunez and not so much of the others. We need Pedey back for Holt and Betts and Bogaerts have to contribute more. They should be able to but aren't. Betts is having problems with pitches low and away while Bogey just has too much motion of his bat prior to swinging, in my opinion. Getting Pedey back and Betts and Bogaerts putting up some numbers makes this team very hard to beat, when anyone other than Fister pitches.