oldtimer

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.

Pythagoras is just a construct and doesn't really summarize data, it just condenses two items and seems to work at times. There are probably many more constructs that would work equally well. For those who use stats, I suggest you read "The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom", Stephen M. Stigler (Harvard University Press). It gives a historical perspective and perhaps a better understanding of what gets used so often here.

We faced Happ yesterday and he may be the Blue Jays best. In addition, the Blue Jays wisely saved their better relief pitching instead of using them up in the blow out the day before.

We have lost a lot of games where our pitching was good. We have problems scoring against good pitching, but so do other teams so are we worse on the statistic of losing close low scoring games than other playoff bound teams?

I am trying to remember whose other salaries will be coming off the books next year. Did you take Hill, Holaday and Hanigan off our player list as I doubt they will be there? What about Rutledge? Do you think any of our young high potential pitchers will make the grade next season? It looks to be as Leon and Vazquez will be our catching duo next season. The outfield looks set with Young for Utility, the infield also looks solid with the exception of 1st and 3rd. If you believe Shaw will be at 1st and Moncada will manage to handle 3rd, then you have two utility infielders to include for salaries. Will they be some combination of Holt, Rutledge, Hernandez and Swihart (assume him to be flexible at OF, C and possibly FB)? My view is find 2 RP's that make a difference. Hard to see how the SP can be improved except to add to the depth. I'd hate to see us trade a winner and get a high price, long term contract guy who would be only a marginal improvement.

The meat of our lineup wasn't able to hit today with Bogaerts (now below a 300 BA), Ortiz and Betts all taking the collar. I read also that Moncada made another blunder not running with 2 outs. It sounds like JF has lost trust in him in game situations and that he will stay up but not get used. JF wants him to assimilate what it means to be in a pennant race situation. It's a shame the kid hasn't got his act together as he is known to have a lot of talent. Each kid has to move at their own pace and he doesn't appear ready enough to be inserted at this time. .

That's a nasty comment. Could it be that was actually shown on the live watch screen?

That was the number which showed up on the watch live screden, I didn't make that up.

They are playing better ball than the Orioles and Blue Jays so there is a good chance of that. The Tigers may be the more difficult to surpass. Lots of games to go as yet though and a lot can happen.

What really has been good news for the Sox is that Bogaerts appears to be coming out of his slump and Hanley is getting hot at just the right time. The Sox were a scoring machine tonight.

Well, the Sox blew out the Blue Jays and the Orioles lost so we are in a little better position. The Yankees are leading in theirs. Just up to us to continue to win series, the rest will take care of itself. By the way, Porcello is a 20 game winner. Great to see how well he is doing.

I wonder why JF left Porcello in for 130 pitches. Seems kind of high with an 11 to 2 lead in the 8th.

The Sox have 23 games left and all are against meaningful opponents, and yes, I count the Rays in that context, since they have been playing good ball of late. The way I look at the remaining games is that the Sox need to split or win the remaining games with each opponent. Win 3 of the 6 with the Blue Jays Win 4 of 7 with the Orioles Win 4 of 7 with the Yankees Win 2 of 3 with the Rays That doesn't sound all that daunting a task and would give the Sox 92 wins and virtually assure them of a playoff berth and a possible Pennant. The Blue Jays have a tough west coast road trip in their mix plus the Yankees, Baltimore and the Rays. Not likely to come away from that unscathed Baltimore has to go to play the Tigers and have Arizona in addition to the in division foes The Yankees with the most to do have the Dodgers at home in addition to division foes. Clearly, if Blue Jays, Baltimore and the Yankees play evenly and we hold as postulated above, we are in. The Yankees did beat the Rays last night in a close one.

The current Yankee team has changed dramatically to the one that racked up the bulk of the statistics. I would only look at what they have done since the change.