oldtimer

This was one of these bad news, good news, bad news , good news nights at Fenway. The bad news struck almost immediately with e-Rod seemingly not up to the moment of being in such a big game at Fenway. His location was bad from the outset forcing JF to pull him early. JF clearly wanted to save his better BP pieces for a more likely win scenario so went first with Hembree, who has decent stuff but also issued a walk, couldn't hold a man on so quickly got stole on, cross-up the catcher with a very high fastball and then gave up a run without a hit on a sac fly. Oddly enough, the good news was the second tier relief was unique enough to hold the Yankees off the board the rest of the way, but not without scary moments. The second set of bad news was the lethargy of our dugout and hitters. JF tends to show no emotion (fire) and Tanaka can be tough but big Papi doubled and was stranded, we loaded the bases with one out and the 3 ,4 hitters could manage just a sac fly for a run, Beni doubled to lead off an inning and the top of the order couldn't bring him in, Leon got up with 2 on and took a called 3rd strike on a pitch that clearly got the plate (he has done that before). Otherwise nothing positive with the exception of Bib Papi's home run. Hoped that would energize the team. Then came the good news. After Hill, pinch hitting for JBJ looked bad leading off the ninth, Young hitting for Beni was hit by a Yankee pitcher. They went to their closer and Pedey, bless his heart, came through and the atmosphere changed. Bogaerts didn't get it done, but big Papi got his third hit and an RBI setting it up for Betts. Nothing big there but he kept it going to Hanley, who did the improbable by hitting a homer to win the game. Wow, what a crazy night and with Baltimore losing put the Red Sox back in a good position. Now Buchholz needs to show his experience tonight.

As we start the Yankee series tonight it occurs to me that all the major clubs are in transition year to year. Even if we can end the Yankees thoughts about making the playoffs this year, it is clear that we will be competing with them for FA's and trades going into 2017. The Yankees will be losing Teixeria and possibly Headley with $36,000,000 coming off the payroll and really only have two high cost pitchers on the roster today in Sabathia and Tanaka. I assume they will keep MaCanns to go along with Sanchez. As a minimum they will be going after another SP , RP's a 1st and possibly a 3rd baseman. The point being it will be a very competitive market for us out there for SP and even our FA relief pitchers will be in demand. Best to fill in from within wherever possible.

If the cause of Bett's slump is physical then some kind of rest might help. If it's instead some kind of emotional funk, then rest may also help as just a change of scene or doing things could impact outlook. Another possible way of achieving the same kind of result would be to revise the batting order again. MOve Bett's to 3rd and Ortiz to 4th. Really, Bogaerts, Betts and Ortiz have gone through or are in slumps so it might do them all some good.

It does look like our outfield next year is going to be Bradley, Betts and Benintendi although Beni still has to show he can be solid over a longer period of time. That leaves a very good player in Young in a utility role. Since he has a very good bat, the thought of him sharing the DH with Hanley and or Swihart makes some sense. While Hanley is not the best fielding 1st baseman in the league, he certainly is acceptable so I can see him there when not DH. If the top two assumptions of lineup are true then that only leaves 3rd base and part of the reps at 1st base to cover. Shaw certainly has to be high up in the consideration for either 1st or 3rd. I really wonder whether Moncada will make the transition to ML early in the year, later or not at all next season. He has the athletic ability but has the most to prove. Holt is valuable enough to be kept but it is possible that if we keep Swihart and Rutledge in utility roles, Holt might be gone. I am not at all on board with Sandoval for any role next year.

It was hard to tell from watching live update how well Gausman was pitching. You could tell he was throwing a lot of first pitch strikes and many of those fast balls down in the center area of the plate from the live update box they show. Lots of swing and miss, lots of popups and lots of weak ground balls. Gausman had mid nineties velocity and at the end showed 98 mph getting Bogaerts out and that was after close to 120 pitches. He must either have a deceptive deliver or a lot of life on his pitches to make us look that bad. The first 4 batters got 0 hits while we didn't get a single extra base hit and only one walk. The Sox don't really go in for small ball so they can only string hits together or get extra base hits to score their runs. I guess we have to chalk it up to facing superior pitching, but it sure is hard to lose when your starter pitches very well and your relief is solid.

The Sox have their best hitting lineup in the game but seem unable to hit Gausman. I have been following on live update and know he has good velocity and doesn't walk many (1) and he also appears to be deceptive as there have been so many pop ups, weak ground balls and strike outs. The last batter he faced in the 8th were reaching up to 98,8 MPH on the gun. With 4 singles and 1 walk, the Sox can't even advance players to scoring position. Just once all night. I have to cut away from the game now, but hope they can do something in the 9th, as it would be a shame to lose when your starter puts up a 4 hit 1 run game.

We were having issues at 3rd base and he was the #1 rated rookie so we brought him up. When he was brought up we thought he might be green defensively and might show some immaturity, but we thought he could hit, along with the coaches and other so called rating experts. What has happened is that he has seemed to lack focus and he definitely has not been able to hit major league pitching. The verdict is out on his ability to adapt, but clearly he is not going to help in this pennant race. I sincerely hope that he can adapt to the pitching and make a step forward net season. Even that is in question at this date.

I agree that we are very strong in the area of positional players, with no change needed in either the outfield or catcher. We are excellent at both second and short so the three lineup positions we need to consider are 3rd, 1st and DH. There is no revelation in that and we have Hanley for either 1st or DH or some combination of those two. Shaw is still young and is likely to make at least a modest improvement so he is another 3rd or 1st guy. Moncada may well need extra time in the minors, so I wouldn't expect him to be on the roster early in the season. I am skeptical of Panda making the grade. Swihart is flexible, but he might best learn 1st base as the outfield will be tough to crack. Devers is sitting in the minors with some possibility of advancement. Holt certainly is a strong utility player with great flexibility. I do admit that the addition of a masher at DH would be icing on the cake but hate to offer a large multiyear contract to get that kind of talent. We could stand pat and be excellent. The pitching staff is another story and should be covered separately.

Last night JF gave Tazawa a chance to get some in game pitching. He did get the side out but I had to wonder with a 10 run lead, why he walked the guy in front of the best Oriole hitter. Was he trying to nibble? Didn't make sense and he walked him with a fast ball so he wasn't trying to try his other out pitches.

A year away from playing. Recovering from surgery and also in decline prior to all of his issues with weight. I don't expect him to recover to the point he could help us and if his salary wasn't the gorilla in the room, he would have been gone by now. His status is a problem for DD and his signing didn't turn out positively at all.

Thats a good problem to have. A young talent coming up but no place to play. I also think it is hard to see Young coming out when he is so hot. That leaves Beni as a utility outfielder (perhaps a sub to rest players) and/or a pinch hitter.

With a win against the Orioles and what looks like a Yankee loss and a Blue Jay win we move a little closer to the playoffs. One game at a time of course. Boston Blue Jays -2 Orioles -3 Yankees -? Go Sox

Other than having to pay his very large salary, what reason would we have for bringing him back. His fielding is not as good as others we could play at 3rd or first and his bat hasn't shown much so DH seems like a long shot.

When it gets around to the fifth starter, do we use him again? Who else could start in that position?

Young is a quality outfielder and his bat is hot now. I suppose he will platoon with Benintendi at left field as soon as Beni gets back. One more positive in a lineup that is a terror right now.

Another opportunity with no contact made. It must be painful for the kid.

Very well put. We have the elements of a very good team for years to come. There is little reason to weaken it with a risky move for a slightly better SP and we should be able to get RP help without giving up the keys to the bank. Unlikely anyone will trade a #1 starting pitcher to us for anything short of a key part of the team and the prospect list. Lets hope in the next few years we get over the Craig, Panda and Castillo moves and some of our developmental players like Moncada and Devers realize their potential with the Sox.

Would Henry Owens be a better bet than Buchholz the next time around?

We have a troll

No one is advocating trading him, but we are in a serious pennant race and he has struck out 9 times in a row and made bad running plays. Best to keep him as an observer and let him develop his game in winter ball.

Word is that he will hit off of one of our callups and possibly be available to play by Wednesday. Surprised Young didn't get a look at all today.

There's always going to be a question abut losing Wright and having to use Buchholz, but if you get past that, JF used all his bull pen and although there were some shaky moment, our good hitting and decent BP performance after Hembree rewarded us. We live for another day with Baltimore winning and the Yankees finally stumbling, we now have a 2 game lead on the Blue Jays, a 3 game lead on the Orioles and a 4 game lead on the Yankees. We are back to our better SP. The Yankees play the Dodgers at home, not an easy task. The Blue Jays play the Rays at home (pretty good Rays pitching) and we get Baltimore at home. We need to win 2 of 3 from Baltimore to move our cause forward. JF and the coaching staff are well aware of the importance of each game so here's hoping.

Clay certainly didn't offer a lot of reasons to pick him up for another year with the showing today at Toronto. Guys are allowed some leeway, but Clay has had more opportunities than most and must be on a shorter leash than some of our younger guys.

I agree fully. Maybe our base coaches need to speak Spanish , like dos fuera. Moncada is no esta listo at this time. I think he will make the grade but I also think he is by no means assured of starting at 3rd in April of next year.

The 25 man roster looks pretty good as you state it, with the possible exception of Moncada, who is doing his best imitation of Ethelred the Unready, Barnes who has a good arm but is often ineffective and Holt who might be trade bait, although he is an effective utility guy, but he has trade value. The 40 man roster you include Rutledge and Hernandez, either of which could replace Holt on the 25 man roster if Holt gets traded. Sandoval is that albatross that is hung around DD's neck. What to do with him? Marrero could be trade bait although a low value player. Holaday is only worth keeping as an insurance policy. Brentz is not that talented and outfielder or hitter and could be replaced with better. I don't know Romanski or Witte. I would give a long look to Kopech if they can settle his motion down. A thrower like him might fit well into the BP, provided he has the right temperament for the team. I hear he is firey. At 21 next season, he should be old enough to make the jump. Of the FA's, Ortiz is really retiring, Hill shouldn't be kept, Ziegler is good but he will be 38 and a big multiyear contract wouldn't make sense. Uehara is old and fragile and despite a good showing going out this year, we couldn't expect him to be available for much of the season. He is a no go for me. Tazawa has been good and if we don't wear him out he can be of value. Still good velocity, still a veteran who has good through the wars, and still young enough to warrant a contract, but not for huge bucks. Maybe DD makes an offer but can't land him. Look to the minors before signing outside players.