oldtimer

I don't pretend to know the situation and the coaches and managers do, but the question remains, Would he be an improvement on Pablo?

Did he actually play there in the bottom of the 8th/

That will be a blow to the Yankees as he would have been called up.

Lets not get one of our key pitchers hurt on the base paths or hit with a pitched ball. Last night according to the box score, Vazquez was the substitute at 3rd base. I didn't notice it at the time so am not sure. The hitting was good last night, with loud outs when we couldn't get the key hits we needed. Clearly, an extra quality bat with power at the disposal of JF would make him a better manager.

The report on Pedroia sounds like he will be out of two or three games with the contusion on his ribs. That will mean that Rutledge will play second and Panda third but that leaves no one to substitute in the infield should a player get injured or ejected. I haven't heard of any temporaty call up. Has anyone got further information?

Agreed. Houston was the test that I had been waiting to see. Beating them on the road was a big step, even though their pitching has been weakened due to injury, they still feature a strong hitting game and our pitching and defense was just good enough. But we shouldn't stand on our laurels. We should make an effort to cure our main problems ASAP.

Agreed. This team needs players who can fill in when guys get tired or slightly injured. Right now, we are okay in the outfield and catcher, so the infield where we need help. Rutledge is doing a decent job as a fill in player. Hanley seems to be only a DH. That leaves us with Pablo who can only fill in at 3rd and not well then. The answer seems obvious except for the salary issue. Rutledge can fill in at 2nd, short or 3rd. So we need a fill in player who can play first or 3rd. We have them in the minors. The time to act seems to have come and only the Sox front office hasn't got the message.

With a great night from Bogaerts, who had been taking the collar for several days, and a timely hit from Bradley, we got it done. The pitching was not great, but good enough. Clearly, another good bat would help. Moreland needs a rest at times and Hanley doesn't want to or cant play 1st other than an emergency. The choices we have in the minors are Travis and Devers. Take your pick and bring one up. Send Sandoval packing.

Sometimes just a change in personnel or the way things are being done can restore confidence and get things going. We can't make wholesale changes, but we all know that Pablo isn't contributing and Hanley appears to be injured, so put him on the DL and bring up someone who wants to and can play.

We have not been facing dominant pitching of late based on their eras's but they sure dominate us. That is a bad sign, since we will soon run into top pitching and then what. Something is going on with the team where they just don't seem to have an approach that leads to hits and runs. I agree that there is talent, mainly with 6 players. Somebody has to try something new and shake them out of this malaise that they are in. It wouldn't hurt to bring in or up a couple more hitters. If Hanley is hurt, put him on the 10 day DL. The exeriment with Pablo also looks like a bust. C'mon front office and make a move or two.

The preseason ML baseball player outlook was a follows: Player Outlook The good: Todd Frazier slugged a career-best 40 home runs in his first season with the Chicago White Sox. The bad: His batting average plummeted 30 points to .225. Even with the power surge, he finished with an only slightly-above-average .767 OPS (109 OPS+) and he saw a steep decline in both DRS (6 to -2) and UZR/150 (7.5 to -3.6) in the field. It's fair to assume his days are numbered with the rebuilding White Sox, and even if he isn't traded, he's almost certain to walk in free agency next winter. So far this year his BA have continued to drop and his power looks to be in the 25 HR category max. I would not bring him into the sox

The more reasons to give Devers a try. Maybe he would bring some youth and enthusiasm into the club that desperately needs it.

I have a similar issue being overweight as kind of a big person. I have dropped from 235 to 226 and have more to do. I play softball 3 days a week and can still compete but am in my later 70's now so carrying so much weight means its a double instead of a triple. The key is to remain active and perhaps as important is to have good genes.

Frazier is batting 203 with 11 HR and is not known for his glove. I'd rather call up Devers and take a shot.

Rutledge is a fill in infielder and you need one of those on the team, whereas Sandoval doesn't appear to be able to compete defensively as a 3rd baseman and has been in decline hittng the ball. If it weren't for his very high long term salary, he would have been gone by now. This team seems to be in a malaise and needs a spark to bring them out of it and soon. Is Hanley hurt? If so, should he be placed on the 10 day disabled list and Travis brought up? Is it time to bring up Devers and give up on Sandoval?

Even the most optimistic of Red Sox fans must feel concern about their lack of hitting after 3 games where they have faced pitchers with ERA's of 4.5 or higher and have only managed to score a total of 3 runs. Last night it was 3 hits and 5 base runners for the night with the maximum number of hits of any player was 1. The whole reason we have an entry about Red Sox hitting is the continuing lack of run production and power that this team gets into. One pitcher having a great night against them is understandable but 3 in a row is not, at least to me. The team has many players with BAs over 270 yet they can put up 10 players or more in a row without sniffing a hit. In the words of an old Chinese philosopher, Sum Ting Wong. I don't know what to blame when this kind of thing occurs since it seems to be team wide. Are they just exhausted? Are they not getting good hitting coaching? Is their leadership unable to motivate the team? Betts and Pedroia have been their best recently while Bogaerts and Beni both seem to be slumping again. Is it time to kick ass? I don't have any answers but can see a real problem here.

Any news on Hanley? We need his bat, but only if he is healthy and perform somewhat close to what we saw last year.

Pablo didn't start tonight against a right handed pitcher. That should tell us that he is wearing out his welcome. Maybe it is time to get Devers to AAA and start the process of getting him up to the big club. It appears that might be a better bet than anyone we could get.

Whats with bogey striking out twice in a row tonight with men on base, the last time on 3 pitches?

I agree that Bogaerts, with his high BA and low power and good running ability might help us more hitting 1st or 2nd while Betts might be better 3rd. Pedey is also a good hitter without a lot of power and also needs to stay early in the order. Beni can hit a little later, perhaps 5th is reasonable for him while Moreland is our best cleanup hitter. Hanley hasn't shown much this year and for that reason I would move him to 6th with JBJ 7th. After that we have whoever catches and whoever plays 3rd base. If we do somehow get a better 3rd base prospect (Devers or Trade related), then the lineup can change again.

What is his yearly contract? Nineteen Million? How much is that for each hit?

They ran into a pitcher that they couldn't hit effectively despite having a strong hitting lineup in the game. With Betts, pedey, Bogaerts, Moreland, Beni and JBJ all in a row, we had lots of possibilities but just didn't get it done. Several balls were line drives but didn't fall in. We need to move on from there.

Now we know Thornburg is out for the year so we have to hope that Smith can come back and give us some good innings. I agree, returning from an innjury puts a big "if" in expectations but one can hope.

Not certain why JF chose to go with Hanley last night instead of Moreland, if the intent is to win games. We won but Hanley is not as good as Moreland in the field and is hitting around 240 and taking the collar the majority of days where Moreland is hot. Maybe there is something physically wrong with Mooreland but I didn't hear of it. Would love to see Hanley return to better form and us to resolve our 3b situation since the other guys appear to be back on track offensively.