oldtimer

Buchholz instead of an injured Wright. Hope we don't pay for the base running snafu today. Also, we will have a very tired team out there. MLB got this one wrong.

With Benintendi, we had a problem in left field caused by injuries. Beni or picking up someone from outside was the answer. Management went to Beni and I think that was a logical move.

Beni is a rookie with good bat control but he is trying to adapt to major league pitching. Hang in there with him. Shaw and Bogaerts are also in slumps but they can come out at any time. Good hitting is contagious.

I have been wondering if the psychology of making a lineup change as much or more than the actual change is what has lead to a re-emergence of the Sox offense. Maybe it is just poor pitching, who knows? My thought is the act of doing something to improve things changes the viewpoints of the players and relieves the boredom.

Here is what Wikpedia says about that: "On September 1, the Major League team's roster expands from the 25-man active roster to the entire 40-man roster. At this point, any player on the expanded roster on August 31 may play for the Major League team. September call-ups are players from the minors who are playing in September to get Major League experience and, especially for teams in contention, to provide reinforcements down the stretch."

A well balanced and thoughtful argument. I agree with trading a potentially star pitcher for one that is competent now, especially since we are definitely a contender this year and likely into the near future. You do have to give something up to get something useful and DD made a considered opinion. Espinoza wouldn't have helped up this year and probably not next either.

Question: To be called up in September, don't the players need to be on the 40 man roster by August 31st, midnight? If so, Moncada needs to be added to the 40 man roster in the next 2 weeks or not be included. That may also apply to some on the DL if they are on the 60 day list.

With Rameriz out for bereavement and Brentz back down we have temporarily added Hernandez and Marrero. Hernandez is a good defensive infielder capable at least at SS and 2nd base. Next year it may come down to keeping two of the three utility infielders that are currently on the roster. Hill, Hernandez and Holt(listed as an outfielder but flexible). I hope they stick with Hernandez going forward this season after Hanley gets back. Hernandez is over 10 years younger than Hill and appears to have an upside as a hitter. Getting reps at the major league level should give management a chance to assess next years decision. For the short term that would leave us with 5 right hand bats in Bogaerts, Betts, Pedroia, Rameriz, Hill and Leon who switches. Pretty good balance as we have Ortiz, Bradley, Shaw, Benintendi and Hernandez from the left side. This is not to dis Marrero, but I haven't seen the kind of performance from him that would make me think he can make the team next year.

With Hanley on Bereavement leave and Brentz sent down the Sox have called Hernandez and Marreno. When Hanley returns, I hope they keep Hernandez up. He adds defensive prowess and could give Bogaerts a rest.

I know I am from an earlier generation, but do we have to descend into such crudely put posts?

What happened to him tonight? I see he was only in for 4 innings. Did he get injured? He gave up no runs.

When I suggested Mookie be moved to the cleanup role for next season, most on the site either wanted to keep him as leadoff based on his speed and OBP. Several also thought as you do that he is better suited for batting third as he would have a better chance to drive in runs. JF made the move to cleanup earlier then I had suggested and to date, Mookie is looking great in that slot with more RBIs and HR's coming in bunches. I like him there and JF has located 3 really good hitters in front of him. Ortiz gets so much respect they walk him a lot upping his OBP and giving Mookie a lot of opportunities. The Sox are doing well now and have a chance to tighten this race provided the travel schedule doesn't get the best of them.

We are on the same page on Hanley. Trade if it makes economic sense, but don't pick up another aging star for a long term contract. I think you are correct in assuming Encarnacion will want at least 5 years at high dollars. Let some other team make that mistake. Koji is probably all through and Ziegler has a unique style and can still get people out. If he would take a 2 year deal, I would support that. Try to envision the bullpen next year. Tazawa is aging but should still have a spot, Kimbrel is erratic but we have no better closer. Will Smith come back from TJ? Abad has good stuff if he settles in. Ross has done well for us. Barnes has the arm but needs to conquer his wildness. Is Buccholz gone or do we keep him as a long reliever? We also have Kelly with great velocity and a lot of movement. Will he learn to pitch well enough to stay with the team? Then there is Workman who might fit. If we resign what we have and develop a couple of 40 man roster people we might be okay. I am not against picking up an even better RP asset if we can get him at a fair price.

All managers make mistakes which result in lost games. Unless a manager causes internal problems which show up as poor discipline and bad moral, he should be judged based on a full season's work and also based on the quality if players he has to work with. The season's results are numeric but discipline, and quality of players have to be judged subjectively. In Farrell's case, he presided over a meltdown and then was sick for another. The quality of the team has been good this year but with difficulties that DD has tried to resolve in the pitching staff. How well will the team need to place to allow JF to keep his job going forward? I don't know but would think making the playoffs will keep him safe.

I agree. JBJ has now gone deep twice and perhaps just having a day off helped him. Hard to know as these guys have to be also superhuman to play every day, to travel and play in different Parks, and to face the emotions of losing games they had won. I am all for getting the slumping players a rest day as often as we can.

The way you describe the situation, it is a catch 22. Either we play him or we eat his contract against the salary cap. Ugh!. Still, if we want to win, we will be better off with good young players and just part company with him. The days of laying out huge long term contracts have resulted in generally poor results, not only for the Sox but for other teams as well. Porcello seems to be the exception and worth the money being paid, but he was a younger pitcher with good years ahead.

Are you saying Hanley is good enough to play first base or designated hitter for the Sox, but not good enough to trade, even if we eat half his salary?

I think you are losing your short term memory.

Mookie at cleanup is not that bad a move. He is the hottest hitter and also is hitting with power so why is 4th out of the question? The bat we miss the most in todays lineup might just be Leon.

Our 25 man roster has 13 field players and 12 pitchers. If Moncada makes the grade at 3rd and Benintendi sticks in left, then we have a choice at 1st of Shaw or Hanley. Assuming it will be Shaw (no given), then our lineup includes the following players CF JBJ RF Betts LF Benintendi 1B Shaw 2b Pedey SS Bogaerts 3B Moncada C Leon DH Rameriz (Not my favorite) That's 9 of our 13 field players We have to have a 2nd catcher Is it Vazquez? We need a utility infielder or two Are they Holt and Hernandez or Holt and Hill We need a 4th outfielder Is it Young Since Holt can span both the outfield and infield positions, he is a more valuable Utility player. Hernandez can substitute at three infield positions and can handle SS if necessary, but needs to prove he can hit. We will also have Swihart to decide on. Will he be available in May or June? If so he gives us another left hand bat, which we may well need. With a strong hitting lineup top to bottom, we may be able to afford having players capable of playing field positions share the designated hitter role. No one is talking about Devers as yet and he may have to be traded along with other resources to strengthen our pitching. Watching Greinke get clobbered today should be another reminder that finding ace starting pitchers is a crap shoot.

I play senior softball being over 75 years old. We played a 3 game tournament the other day in the heat and I can tell you it drains you. I know the younger guys recover faster and are in better shape, but for those of us hackers still out there trying, we can appreciate how difficult playing every day can be let alone the travel involved. Those fond of dissipation (Billy Martin, Mickey Mantle types) also have that to overcome. The players aren't going to say they are too tired to play on a given day, it's up to the manager to recognize when the situation arises and to try to substitute to optimize team performance.

Be glad that we didn't go after him.

I would consider replacing Hanley for next season if we can get out of his contract somewhat cheaply. I warrant, that he has done a decent to good job defensively at first base, but having a middle of the lineup power hitter that is inconsistent at bat and who is ageing, is not what will make the club a pennant contender. I note that the Yankees have been getting rid of their older non-productive players and even trading some of their pitching assets to get solid young players. All of a sudden they are winning and may surprise a lot of people and catch the Red Sox in the standings. You noted some of our young assets who may compete for the 3 positions where we need a boost. If we can fill two of those from within, we can possibly find a DH from within. Thinking Young and Swihart. I agree that our pitching needs the most work.

Onlu lasted a little over 4 innings tonight and giving up 3 earned runs in those innings. He has looked good in relief but his start highlighted Buchholz problems.

Tonight's lineup featured Pedey leading off with Bogaerts and Betts following. As good as they are, it was the bottom of the lineup that did the most damage with Leon, Holt in LF and Benintendi giving Bradley a rest in CF. The more Leon plays the more confident I am that we are not seeing a flash in the pan, but instead a solid offensive force. Good news that Holt contributed and Benintendi also hit well.Having Benintendi does give us three interchangeable outfielders and any of them can play all three positions. Good insurance going forward.