oldtimer

We have a good defensive and offensive team with only a few field positions that need additional shoring up. Left field and outfield depth in general are two of these and perhaps the third base/first base combo. Help is on the way for the outfield with Swihart and Young returning and Benintendi in the minors. We have help for the infield as well with Holt for utility and Moncada if he can become a solid defensive infielder. Shaw is good at first or third but needs to hit lefties better. That may come as he is still young to the majors. Hanley is a question mark in my mind. He has a terrific couple of days and then he goes dormant offensively. I guess the point is that with Kimbrel coming back and our 5 starters fairly solid, I would be very careful about unloading our prospects, especially for someone like Sale who might be a bit of a head case. I would be very selective and I think DD will be. The other consideration is Farrell. He has some pitching problems to deal with but I don't see him making the right choices. Each game we give away puts us further in the hole and we have had 2 last place finishes in a row so DD should think hard about our managerial direction going forward.

Yes, but when one like Robbie Ross gives up a single and two straight walks to load the bases late in a tie game, what are the chances he walks in a run. He did and Kelly was finally brought in, but too late to avoid giving the lead back. The manager does impact the game by the decisions he makes and doesn't make. Twice tonight I questioned his moves. We need to win now and that is hard to do when giving up leads when you have a better option.

Pretty clear Wright was not right tonight. Farrell stayed with him despite the obvious lack of effectiveness and put a good effort by the Red Sox offense to regain the lead back into a 3 run deficit. The Red Sox are in a struggle to stay in the race with Baltimore and Toronto so they need Farrell to be proactive and give the Sox the best chance to win.

Hard to know what Beni would have done. Brentz struck out and Holt took a third strike and Betts got a bad call on a 2 and 0 so swung at a marginal pitch for an out. No evidence that Beni would have helped in that situation but it does point out that Fararell believed his best right handed pinch hit possibility was Brentz and that Holt was better against a lefty than Hill. Another game where we had decent starting pitching but couldn't get it done. Better luck tomorrow.

I look at the situation a little differently, in that we currently have 5 people capable of playing outfield on the team (Betts, Bradley, Holt, Matinez and Brentz). We are in a stretch of games that are very demanding and have Betts with a cranky knee. Neither Young or Swihart are likely to be back until mid August so in the interim we will need to rely on Brentz a journeyman and two utility players to fill the left field position and act as subs should we need to rest a starter. We can't afford to play with a weakened team with both Baltimore and Toronto playing good ball. Benintendi is a center fielder with good speed who could sub in at all three outfield positions. He likely has an adequate bat to develop into a starter next year. Would picking up a temporary left fielder now be as smart a move as just bringing Beni up? The other consideration is that DD is no doubt discussing trade deals with other teams at this point and in particular looking for additional pitching. Who will he trade to gain that pitching. Is Swihart on the block? Is Holt? Is Beni? I hope not, but if some of these guys get traded then the argument about Beni can either be heightened or moot.

Despite Buchholz's bad results the other night, he had fastball velocity better than Price. He also mixed in curve, cutters and sliders and threw them for strikes. Somehow they hit him as they have a lot this year. He hasn't been effective but on the other hand, Hembree looked like he needs to find himself again. Maybe he just is tired from the bullpen workload. Time in the minors is not the worst thing.

The latest meltdown in the bull pen was Matt Barnes. Two singles and a walk in which he appeared to try to overthrow. Tazawa came in and did a good job of getting out of it with only two runs and Ziegler saved it. He looked like the best investment we have made. At least we escaped with a win this time. I doubt if the Twins hitting has come along as far as it has looked against Red Sox Pitching, so we need to get it back together in a hurry.

Don't ignore that we have another outfielder with a sore knee that may act up. Having Benentendi up at this point makes some sense as insurance. Martinez didn't do the job last night and Holt had a problem. Neither are natural outfielders. Holt is a great utility player and is an asset on the roster. Young and Swihart are still on the DL and probably won't be available to join the team until healed and going through a couple of games in AAA. We need help now.

Agreed. The bullpen got Tazawa back and with Kelly coming we may not see the horror story of last night repeated. Kimbrel is not that far away either.

Maybe someone will give us a good trade for him? LOL

I was watching it on the computer play by play and didn't see the terrible fielding going on or the bad luck. All the computer told me was Buch gave up a single, triple and a double and was replaced. Layne gave up walks and a single with a run scored. Maybe the emphasis should also go back to the outfield as well. Martinez and Holt both had their troubles, although the wind was strong. Pretty disheartening to the guys on the field more than the fans that watch.

Farrell might be questioned tonight for his use of the bullpen. After Price put up another weak showing for an ace, Buchholz was brought in and was ineffective, followed by Layne who was also ineffective and gave up the run to tie things up. Must be disheartening to the club to see a lead evaporate like that.

Right now Betts has a sore knee and is facing a 40 game stretch in 44 days. They say he is day-to-day. As others have noted, if Betts is okay to play then no problem, but if he needs a significant rest period then we are left with Martinez as a replacement. He did well defensively last night so may work out. We have JBJ who seems healthy and then we are playing Holt who is definitely a major league player but behind them are Brentz and Martinez. Benentendi could play right field at Fenway with his speed and center field capability. He could also possibly develop into a lead off hitting candidate with his good speed and hitting style for next season allowing Betts to move back in the order after Ortiz leaves.

Mookie Betts left tonight's game with a sore knee. No details on how sore it is, but his absence would be a blow to the Sox and points out the fact that the outfield is a little thin and can't stand the loss of a key player. All the more reason to consider bringing up Benentendi soon, especially if Mookie is hurting going into a stretch of 40 games in 44 days.

Hold the presses. Pomeranz imploded while Farrell fumed, or is that Nero fiddled while Rome burned. No idea what happened in the 4th, but someone needs to figure it out soon. Our starting rotation got a lot iffier, if that is a word.

Yes, a trade is highly unlikely due to his large contract. With Encarnacion, where would he fit in the Red Sox lineup? I can't see him staying at first base without more offensive production. Mark him down as another of Cherrington's major mistakes. Does he have 2 years left after this season at $22 million a year? Ouch.

I find it interesting that you fail to mention Hanley going forward, although his contract is both big and extends into the year ahead. To my way of thinking, he is not showing himself to be more than a journeyman hitter, a decent first baseman and a rather worse than average base runner. His contract seems to make him a lock to play this year and perhaps next, but with him batting behind Ortiz this year, he is less than helpful to the team. Yes, Encarnacion at Fenway would be a better choice than Hanley, but what to do with him?

They can get a look at the pitcher the first time up but then they should be ready for a grooved fast ball the second time up. Hitters have to adapt their approach to circumstances. They do that all the time to be successful. To take a rigid position of not swinging at the first pitch is handicapping the at bat. They can get away with it against some pitchers, but Tanaka had a nasty splitter and a slider last night and held them in check. The bull pen is very difficult to hit and the main chance was agaist Tanaka.

Last night brought up a question about how the Red Sox approach to hitting works when facing a team with a very strong bull pen but weaker starting pitchers. The Red Sox often take the first pitch even if it is grooved down the middle. That seemed to be the case last night again. The approach is good at accumulating a lot of pitches(work) for the starter, but with the Yankees the bullpen is very strong. Also Tanaka was good when he got ahead of batters, mixing splitters and getting low strikes. Maybe Betts and Shaw in particular would have been better served to swing at the first pitch at least once in a while to avoid getting into a pitchers count. Another not is that Hanley looks kind of pathetic at the bat and needs to get back on track soon or the offense will take a significant hit. A middle of the lineup guy has to do more that wave at pitches outside of the strike zone.

They took Hill out of the game after a very short period today. Looks like he got traded, but to which team?

There are a lot of ifs here. It would be great to acquire Encarnacion if it can be done without a long term contract at big bucks. I doubt Pablo will ever make it back or get into playing shape. The Sox should just eat the contract and move on without him. Shaw may well improve as he is still fairly new to the majors. He can play first or third for us. Hanley is not my idea of a positive asset long term although we owe him lots of money. He is doing fine at first base, but he looked pathetic at the plate today. He is also poor on the base path. I know he has shown improvement before the all star break but then today he was back to looking bad. Sam Travis may come back strongly from his injury or he could just be considered trade material. Brentz looked lost at the plate today also. We could use help now in the outfield with Benentendi being the closest fit for that position and may prove to be a major asset going into next season. Moncada could possibly play 3rd, he has the tools. We don't really need that now, so a September call up makes sense. Give him reps there now to prepare him. We also have Swihart and Young available for the late season. Next year if looks like we will have a very talented team with the loss of Ortiz being the main downer. We will have a lot of trade material also including catching talent as well. Stay young and talented. Don't set up like the Yankees with a lot of older players who are on large long term contracts and have gone way beyond their prime.

DD has made meaningful trades in the last week which 1) shore up the starting pitching with Pomeranz, 2)gave us a bridge for the return of Kimbrel with Ziegler, 3)gave us a utility infielder in Hill, when we needed depth and also added to our depth with Martinez. Our meaningful losses were really Anderson Espinoza who could ultimately turn into a top starting notch starting pitcher. We have Kelly as a possible bullpen arm and Benentendi, Moncada, Swihart, Young and Holt to provide depth, especially in the outfield. We also have 3 catchers and 4 if you include Swihart. It looks like we are in a good position going forward into the 2nd half and have trading chips if we need to go further.

With all the injuries we sustained during the first half, it is likely that we will see additional ones, even to key players, over the second half. So will other teams competing with us. So we need to look to quality depth for our field players and add quality arms in the starting rotation and in the bullpen. Benentendi, ERod and Kelly all make some sense now. Young will be back in late August and Holt is probably coming along earlier. It's a bit of a pipe dream, but perhaps DD can find us a starting pitcher without giving up the total farm.

Wasn't Bogaerts 21 when called up? A host of good players were called up at 21 or younger. The bigger question is where would Moncada fit? For that reason I would hold him off until September when the roster limits are eased. I would howwever, bring up Benentendi now, since there is a need.

I would advocate bringing Benentendi up right after the all-star break and Moncada in September. If Benentendi does as well as he projects then DD has to look at our fill-in outfielders as trade material. Also one of our catchers and probably some of our not so great young pitchers. I like your 2017 lineup concept except I think Hanley will wind up at designated hitter and Shaw at FB. Hill would be a utility player in my view.