oldtimer

Hernandez pinch ran last night which may shed a little light on what JF is thinking. I believe Moncada will not make the playoff roster since he has no role beyond pinch runner.

With the assistance of steroids.

Pomeranz is nursing some soreness in his arm and may be shutdown instead of taking a relief role.

Yes, he has the look of a hitter who can make contact and put the ball in play with a low strikeout rate and good speed to get on base. We will have to watch him grow a bit but it appears he will have a positive impact on the Sox lineup. I would certainly consider him for a place near the top of the order next year if he can continue to hit for a good average. Next year with Ortiz gone people like Pedey, Bogey and Betts may find different hitting slots. I think Betts will wind up hitting third as his best slot next year. A lot will depend on what we do about 1st, 3rd and DH.

Moncada is unlikely to be ready by April. JF will not even use him as a pinch runner now so he has no use on the playoff roster. He needs further development. Third base will be open and with Hanley some combination or 1st and DH there is room for another player. We should move at least 1 third baseman by next year. To me Hill is gone but even Shaw is iffy despite being able to contribute at either 1st or 3rd. DD won't sit on this one.

We have a reason for being happy in that we clinched the division and we have reasons for concern in that we had pitching problems with key players in two Yankee games in a row. It has been kind of the good, the bad and the ugly during the last two games. The good can be looked at as Mookie making a great outfield play and also doubling in runs for what looked like money in the bank last night. The bad was Price's inability to locate his fastball anywhere but belt high down the middle in his game and the ugly being Kimbrel's total disintegration last night. I give a pass to Kelly although throwing a fastball down the middle with one strike on any Yankee was not a good idea. Can Price and Kimbrel recover their confidence and pitch well? I certainly hope so for without them we will be dead meat.

Back to Buchholz. He had a very good outing tonight only giving up 1 hit. Got to give him credit for his recent performances.

Well, JF made all the right moves tonight but Kimbrel let the Sox down with total wildness and Kelly almost got us out of it but his 98 mph fastball got too much of the plate and was hit over the fence for a Grand Salami. We had a great chance to win the game and gain ground on other teams for home field advantage, but the it came down to Kimbrel being awful out there. Goodbye win so it won't feel much like a celebration with the Orioles winning.

Consideration will be for next season. Word is he has lost 30 pounds, so at least it shows he is trying to come back. He has a long way to go to convince the organization he can have a positive impact on the team, but he big salary means he will at least get a look. Meanwhile, we have problems with all our 3rd base prospects and need to decide how to handle 1st and DH as well so that gives him additional opportunity.

I totally agree but the Sox are not as yet hitting. Only one hit well into the game. Buchholz is doing his job so we need the lineup to produce.

Perhaps you were more like JF in not feeling that sense or urgency to put the AL East away. In my view we came in with one of our better starting pitchers, a fresh BP and a day off. The Yankees came in with maybe their 3rd or 4th starter, a depleted BP and having arrived in NY at 3 am following a tough series. It looked good on paper to clinch but of course in MLB on any given night, any team can win. So Price came in throwing 92 MPH fastballs belt high and the Yankees were hitting him hard. On a projected basis, he would have given up 9 earned runs in a full 9 inning game with probably 4 HRs. Not good for him or us, as he needs to find the corners and get lower or higher in the strike zone to be effective. So JF had to recognize the situation, as it was pretty obvious. JF though reverted to his reluctance to make a move until after putting the Sox in a tough hole. He had been very good at making early moves during the winning streak but he waited. The result was he wound up using his BP, but after the game was in the Yankee favor. The table setters hit and Beni and others hit but the heart of the order took the collar. When the 3, 4 and 5 hitters are stymied it gets tough to win. It was the way they looked at the plate that was discouraging. They were swinging at balls well out of the strike zone. Another day tomorrow and these guys are too great to have that happen to them again, at least I hope so. Urgency is what is needed here. Clinch, take the pressure off and then try to win home field advantage. That will be tough facing the Blue Jays who are hot now. At least clinch now.

The Sox could have clinched tonight but Price was getting hit hard and was left in too darn long. Also Ortiz, Betts and Hanley couldn't get a hit and had ample opportunities to drive players in. The time to clinch was tonight but we frittered away the many opportunities to do so. We used up some of our bullpen as well when the horse already left the barn. Pedey, Bogaerts and Beni certainly hitting well. Hope we get more aggressive and go for the win hard tomorrow.

Hill helped himself with the homer tonight. He may make the roster.

Price wasn't solid tonight leaving many balls in the zone and the Yankees were hitting him. I expected JF to go the bullpen in the 6th after one of many first up hits. Farrel didn't look like he was managing to win and left him in one batter too long. Price can pitch but is having trouble leaving fastballs belt high in the middle of the plate. Major league hitters can hit those hard and did tonight.

Another very good night for him with a single, double, run scored and a ball hit to the center field wall (a long distance in Yankee Stadium) and a strikeout. The strikeout was on a tough curve by Tommy Layne.

My assumption is that JF will experiment with the roster in subtle ways. He wants to win the AL East of course and even to get home field advantage, but the lineups he uses during the next 6 games should hint at who will make the playoff roster. Most players are settled already of course, but it is the fringe players who will be chosen late who we are looking at. As said earlier in this thread, it is a choice from the three catchers, Hill, Hernandez, and Moncada for field players. In the pitching area it may be a choice between Scott and Abad and Kelly is probably in so Barnes may not make it and Hembree had a good night recently but he or Tazawa may not make it. With 11 pitchers it is pretty restrictive. Price, Porcello, Pomeranz, Buchholz, Kimbrell, Uehara, Ross and Ziegler look like locks so there is room for. Kelly, (Scott, Abad, Henbree, Barnes, Tazawa). Maybe JF will go with 12 pitchers to ease the choice a little.

I think Bogey will get it together. He can handle the inside pitch and perhaps is just worn down and he has to adjust to some new approach they are using on him. Beni will have to be very good to surpass Bogey.

The real issue is that the Sox don't have much hitting depth after the lineup and Young/Holt. With both Shaw and Leon in deep slumps, we have to settle between Holaday, Hernandez, Hill and Vaz. Of those I would take Hernandez and Holaday although neither are boppers. At least they make contact.

Shaw has to show some modicum of hitting or why have him in the lineup. Yesterday it was 3 strikeouts in 4 trips. Pretty terrible for a guy to go as many days without not only hitting but barely making contact.

Did anyone else notice the really nasty piece in the NY Daily News throwing cold water on honoring David Ortiz at Yankee Stadium. Essentially it said Jeter and Rivera were worthy of being honored but Ortiz was not. Pointing out his bat flips and slow home run trots and claiming he is an admitted steroid user. Apparently forgetting there was some substance in some medication he took but he was not a steroid user like their A-Rod. All these tested years he has continued to produce numbers and he has been one of the most tested guys in the league. Very ungracious of the NY Daily News and their sports writer. I suppose it is typical of Yankee fans but I hope not.

Beni worked three walks and flied out to right field. Hanley, Shaw and Young did nothing at bat facing the same pitching. This kid appears to be the real thing out there.

In a different thread, I was considered the options for who starts at 3rd in the playoffs. I can't see Shaw, Hill, Moncada or Sandoval. None of these guys is as legitimate as Holt. One question I asked is why not try Hernandez there? If JF has any thought of that he should audition Hernandez is some of the remaining games. I would add Hernandez to the list of potential 3rd basemen for next season, along with Devers.

The most difficult decision for JF going into the playoffs is what to do about 3rd base. As I see it, you have choices that can be summed up as follows: 1. Use a guy who hasn't got a hit in virtually a fortnight because he is a decent defender and can be used at 1st base. 2. Use a guy who went 0-21 recently and seldom gets a hit but is also a decent defender 3. Use a key utility guy who can hit at a major league level and has recently shown that ability. 4. Use a rookie who appeared to be absolutely unready in his short time of play. 5. Use a guy who hasn't been used much but may fit the bill and looks like a composed hitter at the plate. Not much experience there. If it was me I would probably go with option 3 (Holt). If not him, I would be interested enough in option 5 to play him during the last 6 games and see what he can do. (Hernandez). Option 1 (Shaw), hasn't been hitting at all. Option 2 (Hill0 also doesn't hit well at all. Option 4 (Moncada) appears out of the question. I didn't even include an option 6 for a player with no PT this year coming back from injury and out of shape (Panda). What I don't understand is why Hernandez hasn't got a look.

Back to the title subject is who will be on the playoff roster. Today's game seemed to be one more audition for the playoffs with JF getting looks at a slightly different lineup, while resting other players. Bradley and Leon got the rest today while Shaw was back in with Young and Benintendi in the outfield and Vaz behind the plate. If I was on the fence about who would be on my playoff roster, Shaw went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts (not so good). Young took the collar as well, while Beni walked 3 times and flew out to right in 4 AB's. Vaz got a double. I don't doubt that Beni and Young are on the playoff team, and Shaw continues his poor hitting but will no doubt make it since there is so little competition for the job. Vaz is the one most in question. I guessing it is Leon and Holaday but easily could be wrong there. It will be interesting to see how JF structures his team lineups for the next 6 games. I wonder how many he has up in the air. Abad was not solid today so perhaps Scott will be the lefty we got with behind Ross. Kelly did the job and may have solidified a spot on the playoff roster.

GM's tends to copy what works in the successful teams. That means the Sox approach will be looked at and copied where possible. But what really is special about the Sox, and can they recognize what has gotten them to this stage of success in the strong East? We have a strong cadre of talented outfielders and young players who are excellent both defensively and at the plate. The lesson there is don't trade away your good young prospects and players to land questionable experienced guys. We resisted the tendency to go for big names and kept our young talent. Takeaway? Don't trade Swihart, Devers or Moncada. They may be next years Betts, Bradley, Bogaerts. I don't think the Sox are that different than other teams in trying to retain a cadre of quality veteran players to solidify the young talent into a cohesive team. I guess one difference is we were fortunate to have Ortiz who has been a one of a kind talent, even at 40 years old. In the pitching arena, I think that having a GM that is willing to act and to get value in any trade is the Red Sox forte. The acquisition of Kimbrel, Pomeranz, Price, Ziegler and Abad were good moves. Pomeranz is likely to be a more dependable starter and get more innings next year as he will come in fresh. Abad has the stuff but to date hasn't shown his potential. The book is out on him.