oldtimer

Agreed. Just too many really bad calls. It has to be impacting the game.

Is that why they let him go?

Let's try to sign Iglesias who is an unrestricted FA. He is 30 and may pull down $12 per for 3 years. Getting rid of Perez and Richards would cover it.

I'm an old guy now but my dad was born in the 19th century and told stories of seeing the Braves play when he was a kid. He referred to it as being part of a knothole gang so I presume it was at the Old South Park where they played before moving to what is now Nickerson Field at BU. Dad went to fight in the 1st WW and returned to work for a Boston Newspaper and became an avid Red Sox fan. I was old enough to go to a Braves game then but we went to see the Sox instead.

One area where the Sox could improve is team speed and with it perhaps team defense with it. Going back to 1 DH does some of that by definition. Improving at 2nd base could involve a speedier player. Is Siemien that guy? He would be costly and in demand, but what a hitter.

The only significant difference between the American and National leagues is the use of the DH. That should mean teams more run scoring in the American league and greater valuing of each run in the National. It appears both the Braves and Dodgers have superior pitching staffs when compared to the Astros and Sox. In addition, both teams have more speed than the Sox and steal given any opportunity. If we get that far, then be prepared for their base running. We are a relatively slow team that needs to string together hits or crush the ball. One difference between the teams in park configuration. Fenway is the weirdest of the 4 and is the only one likely to see colder weather during the series.

My feeling is that we currently have a competitive team and our prospect list has increased to middle of the pack. Any improvement we make should make us even more competitive, so it isn't critical to try to become a juggernaut in a one year jump. Setting priorities makes sense based on our willingness to spend money. Getting a #2 quality starter is my top priority. Replacement BP help is priority number 2 although some of that may come from our prospect list. Defining a FT second baseman is my first non-pitching priority Settling the JDM/Schwaber situation is my second. Both are good, but I prefer Schwaber based on age, flexibility to fill in at LF or 1st but primarily as a DH. Helps to keep important hitters off the IL. This regular season was a tough one for our utility players. Let's start 2022 with a higher quality backup option. Possibly that could come from existing players on our 40 man roster at low cost. I see the only major cost of making these moves coming from the acquisition of a #2 starter and possibly a FT 2nd baseman with other costs balanced by removal of existing player contracts

Even if we give E-Rod a QO, some team is likely to offer him a 3 year deal and be willing to sacrifice a draft pick to us based on my understanding. While E-Rod is still a potential winning pitcher, I wouldG be against offering him a long term deal. Like you, I would prefer to be open minded about picking up a quality starter, but not an ace.

Every organization has strengths and weaknesses. The Sox are no different and the hope is the current management recognizes the weakness and will make smart moves that represent real improvements going forward. We are blessed with an ownership who have been willing to spend to make improvements and I expect they would do the same in the future, although one hopes no as foolishly as some of the moves of the past. We are over Pedey and will be past Price after next year. The other big risk is the Sale extension. Will he return to the Ace quality or will we take another major hit through the end of 2024? So Bloom has done an excellent job to date of strengthening our prospect list and building a competitive team while staying below the CBT. is 1. I expect Bloom to continue to strengthen our prospect list while trading away assets not expected to make the Sox club. 2. Starting pitching is expensive yet we have only Eovaldi, Sale? and Pivetta who are clear starters in 2022. E-Rod may be gone and one of Houck, Whitlock or Seabold is expected to make a 4th. So a starting pitcher is an expensive addition but is needed for the club to improve. 3. I don't expect Davis, Ottavino or Richards to return. Same with Perez in long relief. Bloom needs to bolster the pen from within if possible or by trade or FA if necessary. 4. 2nd base is still an open question. Arroyo is good but we also need our utility players to be good so he could have a place even if we trade for a FT 2nd baseman. 5. We currently have two DH players for one spot. JDM and Schwaber are both good but we don't need two. bloom needs to decide how to move forward. 6. At catcher we have Vaz and better quality replacements would be in demand and expensive. Possibly keep him and look to the prospect Hernandez as backup? 7. FB is still a question mark. Is Dalbeck the guy or does Casas come to bolster or replace him? I think Shaw goes after this year. 8. One would hope our utility players can be more competitive next year. Could we go with Duran, Arroyo and Casas? Could be worse.

The Sox spread their offense more and build up a solid lead for Nate. We didn't do much later in the game against the better arms but we got a split at their park which is a good start. Back to Fenway where fan support will be tremendous. Make no mistake, the Astros lineup is tough and capable of exploiting any weak pitching performances. We will need to get contributions up and down the lineup to take this series. it's probably Pivetta coming up for game 3.

Sale was a train wreck again. His command was more the issue for him and going 2 2/3 was less than we needed. Our relief was so so with guys leaving pitches over the middle of the plate. I was surprised that Swamamura was so wild and nervous.The guy is 33 years old and experienced but seemed overcome to be in the game. Kike had a very great game. The rest of the team, not so much. We need a more aggressive, you can't beat me approach. If Kike can do it, can't they at least do a little more? Oh, and pinch hitting a lefty against a righty makes sense only if the guy can hit.

If he had no chance, why not just call him out and end the game early? Flores is a big league hitter and by all rights has a chance, however slim, of getting a hit. Bad calls like the one that ended the game leave the impression that the umpire is incompetent if not something worse.

We may need to do that with our own Devers. As far as pitches are concerned, they are known to be fragile. Signing one to a long term high value contract is risky. How many long term contracts have worked out? I am for signing a couple of good but not (considered)great pitchers. That way, we get good results with less risk for a shorter period.

Does Dalbec have a role to play against lefties who throw breaking balls?

The status of pitching usage in the ML seems to have evolved over the years and more recently. A good start is now 5 or 6 innings with the BP doing 4 innings nightly. Add to that the case where the opener is used for once through the lineup max. Seems to me the BP is getting more stressed these days. There is also a tendency to bring high leverage BP resources into games earlier, should a critical situation develop. Still, it seems desirable to have 5 defined starters and backup available in the minors to come in when the inevitable injuries and sicknesses occur. In the BP, you still want a mix of righties and lefties, although the pitch to three batter rule seems to require decent effectiveness against each. With 8 or 9 in the BP and the need to throw at least 4 innings most nights it seems to be a best practice to use the real firemen in competitive games. How many of the 8 or 9 fit into that category? Probably 4 so they need to be used judiciously. Are 70 innings a year reasonable? If we can win 100 games in a year, one would assume we were competitive in 120. Four innings a night means 480 innings, not counting extra inning. So if we get 280 innings out of our best, there are 200 innings of competitive innings to be covered by our remaining BP. One would hope that there would be a significant contribution from our prospects being cycled through. Just a mind game but I would bet similar thinking would be applied by our coaches and front office.

I haven't seen an official roster for the Sox ALCS as yet and assume it has not been released. My interest is in the BP and whether the Sox will make any changes from the ALDS. Clearly I don't have specifics about the health and current feel the coaching staff has regarding the players I'll mention. My comments are based on my observations only. 1. Barnes vs Swamamura. Matt had a poor second half and his only useage in the ALDS was when we had an 8 run lead, which indicates a lack of trust. When he came in he had command problems and struggled to get through an inning. Swamamura has equal velocity with movement and has an effective splitter. He is an experienced pitcher and in my view would be able to give the team an effective inning here and there. I would choose him over Barnes and reevaluate for the WS, should we make it that far. 2. Perez and/or Davis vs D-Hern Here I think that Perez is on the roster to pitch in games where we have a low probability of winning. Hard to say how many runs behind and in what inning that decision would be made. The use would be to save our high leverage relievers from over use and exposure. I think he is kept on for that reason as his effectiveness is questionable. Davis is a guy who is there to be inserted to get lefties out. he is fairly effective in that role but struggles against righties. He has more experience than D-Hern but probably less whiff capability. D-Hern is a harder thrower and has a lot of movement on his pitches. His command and experience in a big role might be called into question. I think it is too close to call between Davis and D-Hern so I would be satisfied with either. Don't know of any other BP changes being considered.

Robles throws hard and has movement which makes him viable, provided he can deal with his command issues.

I expect our starters will include Eovaldi, Sale and Pivetta plus one of Houck (who will be working to add a new pitch) and Seabold available in case of injury. That leaves room for a #2 starter unless we decide to bid for E-Rod at full market value including length of contract. I expect our relievers will include Whitlock, Taylor, Swamamura, Barnes, D-Hern, Brasier and possibly Robles. We have alternatives in the minors and someone or two may allow for flexibility without going heavily into the FA market. I think Ottavino, Perez, Richards and probably Valdez are gone.

Usually matchups are more important then seasons record when it comes to success in the post season. The Astros have a solid offensive club that may give us more problems than the Rays did and we were closely matched with the Rays.

I wonder if they reconsider any players for the ALCS. The two I would wonder about are Swamamura and D-Hern vs perhaps a Barnes,, who seems pretty far off his game.

I agree that the smart move is to treat JDM and Schwaber as an either one or the other for DH. Playing both is a defensive liability. So either JDM opts out, is traded and we try hard to sign Schwaber or we live with JDM for another year and let Schwaber walk. Both are quality offensive players but Schwaber is younger so I prefer him. There are a lot of guys who won't be back. The big question is whether we are willing to compete for E-Rod in the FA market and the corollary, do we make a QO to him? We will be rid of Pedey's contract and quite a few smaller contracts but will not doubt see arb increases. As you point out the following year Bloom will need to make decisions on a number of key players with large contracts. Part of our success will require promoting some of our low cost prospects year to year. Bloom has done a lot to make that possible but he had to start from a depleted minor lead system. (Duran, Casas, Yorke, Mayer, Bello, Seabold, others.)

I hope the White Sox win today and take it to a 5 game series. That will give the Red Sox a much needed break to recover from an arduous series against the Ray. Give JDM a further chance to rehab his ankle and Devers a chance to recover from a sore forearm. Probably others with lingering aches and pains as well. Our entire pitching staff could use a few days to reset. Does anyone know if there can be/will be any changes for the ALCS?

Both staffs were tired going into last night. E-Rod gave us a big lift with 5 solid innings, where we got to them for 5. Cora made the best pitching moves available, with Houck, Taylor, Brasier and finally Whitlock. Give the Rays hitters credit for battling back against some tired pitchers who they had just recently seen. Thank Boom for Whitlock. the 9th was a great demonstration of small ball. The Rays were down to a good but not great reliever. Vaz led off with a single and Cora got a well executed but from Arroyo, moving Vaz into scoring position. Then Cora pinch hit Shaw for Dalbec assuming Shaw was a lower strike out risk. Shaw put the ball in play and we got a break when the throw to first took a tough hop. Men at 1st and third one out. Cora subbed Santana in to put speed and third and Shaw took second on defensive indifference. Now Cash was faced with pitching to Kike or putting him on and facing Devers. The rest went our way.

And you of course are the epitome of knowledge regarding the Sox.

Everything done by the Sox was wise beyond belief. Anyone who expresses doubt must be a crackpot.