oldtimer

Beni got in as a pinch hitter for one at bat in the ninth. He put up a good at bat against a guy with good heat and battled him until finally putting a ball in play down in the corner which was unfortunately caught. Still impressed with this kid at the plate.

Playoff baseball fast approaching. Top notch starting pitching will be run out and the best relievers to keep the games close. October weather can be on the nippy side so we can't have our closer doing his best impression of Rick Ankiel. What to do? We already are in jeopardy of losing home field advantage to Cleveland. We need Kimbrel to step up or we need and alternative.

I agree that we could use a third baseman free agent and Turner is a reasonable FA to go after to bridge the gap until we can develop a rookie. Will that be Moncada or Devers? I don't have an answer there as both could use more development. The answer to which rookie would impact who we could trade to get pitching.The other question is what to do with Sandoval and could he bridge the gap. I am not a big Sandoval supporter here, but his salary means he has to be considered. At 32 now Turner probably has a couple of good years left in him but would have to make the switch to the American league I like the idea of trading for Quintana if we can do so without stripping the team of too many of the solid prospects. I know it will take a lot to get him and he will be sought after by many teams with offers of their own. Giving up 3 of our 4 top pitching prospects is a lot, even if we get Robertson as well. I would rather trade one or two of our ML pitchers, say Barnes and Abad, and one pitching prospect. Also, I would find it difficult to let go of a 5 tool prospect without trying harder to develop him. Basabe has a high potential as well if he can fill out a little. Swihart I would reluctantly let go of and possibly Devers. I have trust in DD as a leader who will

True, but on the other hand managers often bring in relievers based on matchups, lefty on lefty and so on. When the lineup has with many of righties or lefties in a row, it makes it easier for the manager to match up. The Blue Jays are constructed that way. The Guardians have a lot of switch hitters and are not so easy. Of course you need quality hitters not just matchups. I believe every team sets their lineups up with table setter types followed by power hitters to try and produce the maximum runs. They also want to get their best hitters up the most often possible in a game so they bat them early in a game to maximize their AB's. There are time tested strategies that do work.

We are getting very close to the announcement of the initial series playoff roster. As it stands today, I expect the roster to look close to my list below. Most picks are obvious but a few will take some head scratching: Pitchers: Porcello, Price, Rodriguez, Buchholz, Kimbrel, Uehara, Ross, Ziegler, Kelly, Tazawa, Scott If they take 12 (between Pomeranz and Barnes) Catchers: Leon, (between Holaday, Vazquez) Infielders: Bogaerts, Pedroia, Rameriz, Hernandez, ( between Shaw, Hill) Outfielders: Benintendi, Betts, Bradley, Young, Holt (infield/outfield utility) DH: Ortiz If 11 pitchers they could pick from the two remaining on list for the 14th field player. NO great choice there as none are hitting that well.

You certainly are willing to give up a lot. Hope DD is not so generous.

I'll bet that JF and his coaches are doing just the kind of tradeoff thinking that I rambled through and more.

When you look at the current alternatives (Shaw, Hill, Holt, Hernandez, Marerro and Moncada) none look attractive as the starting 3rd baseman at the beginning of the year. Holt could hold that down but then is lost as a utility player adding flexibility to the team. Moncada is not ready as yet. Sandoval at least has some chance but has to go a long way to prove he belongs again. His salary is of course a motivator.

Ortiz comes through again to make a further case for his consideration. As a DH, he lacks the contribution on the field but his clubhouse presence is also valuable. It is a great team that can have 2 players under real consideration for MVP. I side with those who believe it should be Mookie due to his contributions at the plate, running, fielding and with his arm. Pedey is a great and valuable player, but a cut below his two team mates in consideration for MVP.

Kimbrel closed again tonight with a 2 run lead. He seems to have difficulty throwing strikes consistently, getting ahead and then throwing a strike when he needs to. I had speculated that maybe the mound at Yankee stadium through him off but tonights against the Blue Jays he walked 2 to put the going ahead run at the plate, so I guess is that we either win or lose with Kimbrel and his inconsistencies. To be fair to him, the umpire did not five him a strike nor actually Uehara a strike for the same location, which the K gun indicated was a strike. That said, a pitcher shouldn't put himself in a position to need a call like that, because he has nibbled to put the count at 3 and 2.

Maybe this is the best place for discussion of the lineup going into the post season based on the game against the Blue Jays tonight. JF went with Holt in the two spot replacing Bogaerts. In addition, he moved Betts to 3rd in the order and pushed Ortiz to 4th. This has the impact of having righty/lefty through to Hanley. Bogaerts moved on behind Hanley. On the surface this looks interesting as Shaw has moved out of the starting lineup. In addition, Mookie has seemed to lose power over the last period so putting him up ahead of Ortiz as still a great hitter but more of a speedy on base guy seems smart. One problem though is Holt may not be optimum at 3rd in that me didn't make a couple of fielding plays perhaps a Shaw would have made. It's just a case of trying to optimize results and Holt is the better hitter. Clearly Benintendi has been a great addition to the lineup, starting the damage in the 4 run inning tonight with a nice double and then getting on again with an infield hit based on his good speed. He may also offer an option for top of the order instead of Holt. At this point though we have Hanley cooling off from his great production of only a week or so ago and JBJ dangerous but not producing regularly. I think Bogaerts is starting to hit again although he is still getting fooled too often. Great win for the Sox and congratulations to Ortiz for coming through in the clutch yet again. He hit the ball well tonight with 2 hits, 3 RBI and another liner that was caught on an excellent play.Pedroia also looked very good tonight.

Trying to understand why JF makes certain moves, like giving away last night's game through putting a weakened lineup in, or who he chooses for the playoff roster is usually left up to our imagination. I have likened him to the Buddha in his impassive ways. We can learn some things from what he says but also there is information to be gleaned from cases where the expected doesn't occur. (Moncada doesn't run, Velazquez doesn't get in the game, etc.). An example of that thinking comes from the story of Silver Blaze and the watchdog and Sherlock Holmes. I believe Sherlock explains to the inspector "The curious incident of the dog in the night time", to which the Scotland Yard inspector replies, "The dog did nothing in the night time" and Sherlock goes on "That was the curious incident".

I believe it was quite cool and heavily misting the night he was wild. I also noticed Robbie Ross and the Scott kid were wild and that also i not usual. Could it be the mound at Yankee Stadium had something to do with the wildness? Even Price the night before had trouble locating his pitches but that looked more like what he had encountered before so I don't really tie that into the poor performance by Kimbrel.

Jesus, what did he weigh before? 270?

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.