oldtimer

What do you attribute these outstanding numbers to? Just great players? Fenway Park? A great hitting coach? A lineup stacked top to bottom? The grind down approach we use? All of the above? Over .900 OPS is considered outstanding.

Good start for the kid. They brought him up at the right time. Lets get a look at what he can do.

We appear to have the most urgent need with Bull Pen help. Getting an ageing Encarnacion by giving a large long term contract seems to tie us down more financially with possibly only a small incremental gain, which would likely decline with time. By moving Hanley to DH (which is likely) and moving Shaw or Holt to first, we will have a very good lineup next season. Put the money into areas that will give us the most gain for the investment.

Last night on the broadcast, the announcer alluded to the condition of Benintendi as making very good progress. The assumption being that he is not that far from rejoining action. I also expect they will use caution and bring him back into play only when satisfied he is fully ready.

Nice job of compiling prospects for next year. Since left hand relief is in short supply, all the more reason for staying with Ross (a given) and Abad (in need of turning around but has the stuff)

He is young, is talented defensively, can play two positions and has power. Could it be the pitching last night was softer than what we have seen of late? I think Shaw has room for further development and should be seriously considered to stay on the 25 man roster for next season, with 1st base in mind. Maybe he winds up as one of our utility infielders or maybe Holt does. Plenty of time to decide on his status.

Getting back to the lineup discussions, the plan for next season is somewhat fluid, with some young players with things to demonstrate to solidify a position for themselves. Here is my current take. Pedroia (2nd) Benintendi (LF) Bogaerts (SS) Betts (RF) Ramerez (DH) Bradley (CF) Leon © Moncada (3rd) Holt (1st) 4 Reserves Vazquez © Young (Of) Swihart (Of/c) Rutledge(IF) If that feels uncomfortable having 2 outfield subs instead of two infield subs, then take out one of either Swihart or Young. and replace him with one of Shaw, Hernandez or Marrero. Some of the fluidity can will be further confused by potential trades. Swihart has been mentioned and I would suppose Rutledge is also possible although he is a proven major league commodity and played decently before being injured. The other big if is whether DD trades for another big bat for DH. I wouldn't advise an older player on a long term contract for that no matter what the current production shows.

The way the season has gone,especially recently, of our 7 relief pitchers only Kimbrel and Ross have been dependable. Tazawa looks like a pitcher with a tired arm. Hard to understand with a 1 and 2 count he came down the center of the plate with an anemic fastball. You think an experience guy wouldn't have done that. Barnes has been terrible of late. Not much more to say. Abad has the stuff but nibbles at the corners and even seems fearful of being in the strike zone. Buchholz has been at least okay but not particularly dependable. Ziegler has been decent on some days but others were not so good. Of the likely additions this year Kelly at least offers decent potential. I understand they will bring up another lefty but know nothing of him. The BP is our weak spot going forward and into next season as well. I would think keeping Kimbrel and Ross is a given next year and possibly Kelly if he shows marked improvement from earlier this year. With Ziegler a FA and turning 38 should we try to resign him? Uehara is approaching 42 and probably not up to the rigors of another season. Abad has good stuff if he could be brought out of the funk. I question trying to do something with Tazawa, Barnes and Buccholz. Of our need for 7 RP's next year I only count 4 with a strong chance of helping us. Kimrel, Ross, Abad and Kelly. That means DD needs to add a few from internal sources or through trades. Internally we have Smith, Workman and Hembree who may fill some of our void. Lots to think about in the off season.

The system hasn't worked that well in the pitching department.

I see us holding onto Hanley and using him primarily as a DH with a backup 1st baseman's role. In the case of Moncada, I would not assume he will be a starting player next year until we see some evidence at the major league level. I like to see speed in our field players with good hitting up and down the lineup. I think of Holt and Young as two of our utility players with Vazqyez taking the role of our backup catcher. That means we have room for one more utility player. Will it be Swihart, Rutledge or perhaps someone else. My linup for next year is similar to yours: Pedey Xander Betts Hanley, Young, Swihart(DH) JBJ Leon Moncada Benintendi Shaw, Swihart (ist) A problem I see with this lineup though is 4 right handed hitters to start it off, so perhaps moving a lefty ahead of Hanley might give us a move effective lineup. Is JBJ reliable enough? Benintendi doesn't have the power to hit 3rd or 4th and the others are not in the conversation. If Benintendi shows he can hit at a 300 clip may stick him in second and move everyone back one. Plenty of fuel for discussion. I don't want to see them go after Encarnacion.

The clock is ticking. Maybe he can come back after the road trip.

Abad has a good fastball and a very good curve but for some reason he seemed to want to nibble or worse yet not throw a strike. I believe he can so why didn't he. JF had a desperate position and wound up having to put Tazawa in. With the count 1 and 2 he chose to groove his average fastball and gave up the lead again. Why would an experienced pitcher do that? Fortunately we regained the lead and Kimbrel was there to get the save. We need to get Kelly and Hembree up to give JF more options. It's almost like Tazawa can't get the job done anymore. Maybe he just has a tired arm.

We have had the worst production from the 3rd base position in the American League. Surely that alone is a good reason to try a young player with star potential. We as a team were awesome when we were getting production up and down the lineup. Today we got some of that back as Hanley and JBJ added their bats in a big way. Having a threat at 3rd would make our lineup that much more of a threat.

With JF's coments just a day ago it looked iffy. Maybe the poor showing last night changed his mind.

Today, three solid hits against three different pitchers and ones who had been striking him out the night before. Was it the day game or have the hitting coaches got Jackie back to a more level swing? Whatever it was, keep on doing it.

Sean McAdam's take on the roster call ups are as follows: Ryan Hannigan Joe Kelly Bryce Brentz 2nd wave after a short while Heath Henbree Deven Marrero Noe Rameriz Sound like only bull pen help to me and that being Kelly and Henbree Begs the question of why bring up Marrero when you won't use Hernandez? NO mention of Moncada or Vazquez.

Ah, metaphor time. and the baseball season is a marathon. Do we have too many middle distance runners? But have no fear, the cream will rise to the top. What does that say about the rest? Old Yogi imparted the wisdom, "It ain't over til it's over". Cmon guys, stay the course.

Of course they are working with him, but for some reason it hasn't been making a dent in his problem. He is a great defensive player with speed. We need him in the lineup but we also need his bat to come to life. It is strange how our left hand batters have gone silent recently with Shaw, JBJ and Leon when batting left have all been involved in a bad stretch.

I wonder who we are going to play at 3rd base that is going to look all that good. Is anyone suggesting Hill? Shaw's performance last night is a reminder that his hitting is far from polished. JF seems very reluctant to play Hernandez. Holt could do it but he is either a starter or depth in the outfield. We shouldn't be comparing Moncada against some ideal 3rd baseman but against the alternatives we can field. This is still a pennant race (just barely) so action is needed to right the ship.

Those of us who remember Tom Yawkey have to rate John Henry very highly.

Many of DD's acquisitions have been pretty good moves. Ziegler , Kimbrel and Abad in the bullpen and Pomeranz and Price as starting pitching have done well, but all have required adjustment periods. Young was a good move. Not sure if he had anything to do with Leon but if so, that has been a plus overall. Hill and Holaday have missed the boat. All of DD's moves so far have cost us one very good pitching prospect and a boat load of money for Price. All-in all a pretty good scorecard for DD.

Another tough loss tonight. Their pitching was a little better than ours and only Hanley had his hitting shoes on tonight. Shaw and Bradley weren't able to contact the ball and the final out with Sandy Leon taking three strikes with men on first and second makes you wonder why he didn't swing. JF managed the game and made sensible moves but to no avail as the players just didn't get the job done. The various ways the team finds to lose winnable games does not bode well for making the playoffs.

This may be beating a dead horse as I offered this point of view twice before, but JBJ appears to be using an uppercut swing of late. That means he has to be nearly perfect on a fast ball since his bat is looping with respect to the plane of the fastball coming in. Ted Williams book covered that point of view in detail. JBJ has a lot of power when he does connect, the problem is his contact rate. Yes, there are other things that can cause the low contact rate, but I would look to the simplest reason first.

Change of subject. I was reading that JF is unsure about bringing Moncada up with the Sept callups. He is not sure how he would be used on the team is how the newspaper writer characterized it, thinking on him as a possible pinch runner. I would remind him that Hill has been really poor at the plate and that we are unlikely to use him to any effect or keep him next year. Lets just replace Hill with Moncada on the roster and cut Hill loose.

Last night we got some hitting from Shaw and he has hit some balls hard of late but without results. Holt hits well when he is healthy and somewhat rested and he produced last night and Hanley, who has been hot and cold all year seems to be in a hotter streak. Young may be feeling better with a few games under his belt. Good for the Sox if they can get contributions up and down the lineup.