oldtimer

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.

Hanley's hitting has been an enigma. As you say, he goes off here and there but in between looks weak and turns into a rally killer. What is the difference when he hit? Is it a weak opponent pitcher? Is it that he gets angry or focused? His body of work hasn't been very good for a first baseman and is likely to get worse as he ages. When you pay a guy $22 million a year, you should expect a very effective hitter and decent field player. We have gotten better play at first then his experiment in the outfield but his hitting remains in question.

And Kimbrel the night before that. Really difficult to understand.

Our offensive juggernaut has morphed into a naut while our relief pitching is anything but. Who is to blame? The players? The general attitude in the locker room? I find some of these failings hard to put on JF's shoulders, but at seasons end, he will be a target. The manager is easier to change than the players. Maybe someone else could do better is the idea. It appears we will slide out of the playoffs soon and if that happens, young players should be brought up to replace the older and under performing guys. Be good to get a decent look at those we think of as having a future in September.

I agree that Hanley is as you put killing us as he hasn't been hitting much at all. I am not sure why you say Ortiz is killing us and maybe I misinterpret your words here. Ortiz has been hitting the ball hard and in bad luck. Last night he walked 3 times and gave the likes of Hanley opportunities to do something. Nothing happened there. Hill and Shaw platooning against lefties/righties seems to make sense except Hill hasn't been hitting of late and Shaw does have more pop when he makes contact. We do have some good hitters in the lineup, with Betts, Pedey, Ortiz, JBJ, Bogaerts (needs to make adjustments), Leon and Benintendi. To me, Hanley is the black hole and rally killer. None of our lineup will matter unless we get better pitching.

I wouldn't say he sucks. He only gave up 1 run while in although he did through a lot of pitches. I think both Price and Pomeranz suffer from not having a put away pitch so wind up in long battles getting guys out.

Last night's Yankee game turned into a disaster for the relief pitching. Giving up a 5 run 7th inning with a succession of pitchers unable to get outs. That's after Kimbrel couldn't find the plate the night before. Can't blame JF for any of that. The outlook can't be considered positive with a breakdown in a key area as we witnessed last night. Funny thing is Abad had good stuff but would use part of the at bat, it only to give up fat pitches instead of staying with his best. The lineup looked interesting with Betts batting third and most of the guys looking good with the exception of Hanley and the 3rd base combo. Hanley is 0 for 9 against the Yankees after coming back from a poor road trip. Shaw was suspect against lefties but Hill was no better so that move didn't work. With so many base runners last night,one hit from that duo would have produced runs. Maybe some move could be made to stop the rally killing there. With Ortiz getting a contusion on his shin, Bogaerts getting plunked on the elbow with a fast ball and Betts having a sore calf muscle the woes continued. Hard game to watch! No championship quality ball.

The latest news about the pitching staff sounds bad for the club. Wright was scratched from his start Thursday night as he is suffering from a sore shoulder.

The management made the decision on Beni and it appears that it was justified although it is too early. I didn't have to look hard to find one reference to thinking playing Holt instead of Benintendi would be fine. See DOJJI on 8/6, which reads: "Since returning from his concussion Holt has a slash line of .284/.354/.446/.800 -- perfectly adequate. I'm not in a hurry to play Benintendi at the expense of Holt right now, the chance that he'll improve on a .800 OPS line at this stage in his career is substantially less than the chance of Holt continuing to play adequately." We need to remember how the discussion went on the Benintendi call up when the next in line comes up. To me DD is doing the job quite well.

I know your not a big fan of Hanley (neither am I) and would trade him if we could find any reasonable deal. I too see Holt as possible trade bait with Hernandez waiting in the wings but I would keep Hill as a utility infielder. Swihart will undergo ankle surgery so his recovery may take some time next season. I would err on the side of caution with Encarnacion. Long term contracts for high $$$ rarely work out for guys late in their careers. I would not bat Moncada as a designated hitter. The kid has enormous potential and needs to find a home in the field. If it be at 3rd, so much the better. One scenario is to generate a DH from utility field players existing within our team framework. The concept of moving Pedey down in the lineup somewhat is a good one. He still is a productive hitting and field player but his bat may be better placed around the 6th spot.

I don't think we all saw it coming with this kid. Many on the sight wanted to wait for him getting 100 ab's in AAA and were fine letting the team play Holt and Brentz in left field until Beni was READY. I am pleased that DD, the managers and coaches were smart enough to bring him up. Even earlier would have suited me since we definitely needed help in the outfield.

The Orioles and Blue Jays both lost yesterday so we move a game closer. There is hope in Mudville.