oldtimer

I had my say on the outfield although the same general comments apply. We need team balance, more pop and reasonable OBP. Rafaela has the flexability to play some infield positions so that should be taken into account when considering trades, Our current infield plays include Bregman, Campbell, Casas, Eaton, Gonzalez, Grissom, Hamilton, Lowe, Mayer, Sogard and Story. Our number ! prospect is Franklin Arias who projects as a good defensive shortstop and has surprised with his improved hitting. He might make the jump in 2026. Our infield situation is weak, with only Story a no-brainer. Hit well, good defender although got wild with his throws late but was dependable this season. Bregman's situation remains volatile. He had a great start but appeared to wear down. Good defender, reported good in the clubhouse but is he worth $40 mil? If he gets a better offer we should let him go in my opinion. No matching long terms. Mayer looks to be developing into a valuable ML player whether at 3rd, SS or 2nd. The big question is cann he stay healthy. Casas has the hit tool, assuming he gets back to the promise he showed but ditto with the can he stay healthy? Grissom appears to be gone since he wasn't used this passed year. Romy Gonzalez appears to be capable enough to keep for 2nd base or utility. Hamilton and Eaton didn't add much offense but has some utility due to versatility and speed. Sogard was another player Cora seemed to like, both versatile and a swith hitter but certainly not a power hitter and difference maker. I see our current situation as needing significant overhaul. Especially if Bregman leaves there will be resources to pick up a power hiitter. I would go for Alonzo (or equiv) at 1st base and part ways with the oft hurt Casas. He may have reasonable trade value. Mayer could play 3rd and fill-in at short should Story get injured. We have a big investment in Campbell and he has 2nd base potential and flexability for 1st or outfield. Sogard would be my final active roster guy with Eaton stashed on the 40 man. Somany choices and if Bregman stays a greatly different set of possibilities. I;d love to see a power hitting DH but don't see a way there with Yoshida in place.

The Sox could use better balance in the outfield, more pop and better contact hitter to go along with the strong defensive presence. Our current outfield options include Abreu, Anthony, Duran, Garcia, Rafaela, Refsnyder and Yoshida. In addition, Campbell and Eaton are possibilities. Of those Anthony is a no brainer as he is good defensively, has an excellent OBP and will no doubt develop more long ball power. After him,, I see Abreu as a plus defender with power but who needs to work on his contact rate. Less swinging for the fences. He is a keeper from my perspective. With those two, we need some right handed balance. Rafaela (spitter) is a GG class centerfielder and has great versatility but has serious shortcomings offensively. I don't see offensive improvement and he has a lot of ABs by now, so improvement may elude him. I see him in more of a utility role going forward. Injuries occur and he would be a nice resource to have available. Garcia (Password) is another potentially good defensive outfielder, He has raw power, which could be a source of pop going forward. He is also raw and I was disappointed when he didn't see more development this year. I would like to get him into our lineup in 2026. Duran has speed but is the lesser defender (still acceptable) of our outfielders. He is an extrabase machine but is also streaky. He has trade value and I would see if we could make a positive move there. Refsnyder is nearing the end of his career and I would move him in one way or another. Yoshida is not a defensive asset but is a quality contact hitter who lacks speed and pop, yet we owe him too much to trade hiim without paying much of his salary. Hard to deal with him except as a DH or pinch hitter. I would prefer a DH who has pop. Of the possible backup outfielders on the team, I could see Campbell because of his versatility. He is owed enough that a positive trade may be difficult. Eaton is good enough defensively but not the hitter we need. Our infield needs more work so I would like to populate the 2026 outfield from the players we have on the roster and trade to help us with either infield or pitching help.

We faced a young pitcher with top velocity and good movement. The Yankees will have 5 terriffic starters next season. Meanwhile, we have guys taking home run cuts and finding jusr air. Yoshida showed the way by hitting flares. Story hit decently but Duran, Rafaeloa (the spitter) and even Abreu were clueless. Rafaela couldn't even bunt when asked. I mentioned those three specifically, because they are likely to be on the team next season. We should tthink hard about who we retain and who we trade next season, as established players are unlikely to change greatly. More on that on a link reserved for those thoughts. Good season but with the expected ending.

Bad enough that we don't hit well, but the defense let us down in game 2 and now in game 3 Early didn't get support. We are dealing with a case where the Yankees have more talent. Too tall a hill to climb. Can't blame Cora for this one. Tomorrow we can talk about 2026.

Why not wait until this season is over to start the discussion of moves for next season?

Tonight in game two, thme umpire missed quite a few calls both strikes and misses and ffor both sides. I would argue the misses had an effect on the game. And this ump did a fairly good job.

I noticed a different batting style by the two clubs. The Yankees were aggressively going after the first pitch more often than the Sox. The Sox were taking more, perhaps trying to up Rodon's pitch count, but getting behind Rodon is a bad idea. It was a battle and a tight game thoughout. Duran's error (not called an error),Eaton's base running and Rafaela's inability to bunt all hurt the Sox tonight.

The ABS system is an admission that the technology assisted strike zone is more accurate than the umpires calls and will be used as the authority when a challange is made. I believe going to a full reliance on the automated system now would be the best idea, although MLBB is conservative and has not gone there for 2026.

I was ready to look for a new manager if the sox failed to make the pllayoffs again this year. Team performance is a reflection on management in general and the team has had a long period of poor performance. Now the team has made the playoffs under adverse circumstances. I like what Brez has done, for the most part. Some of the decisions made by Cora are head scratchers. The loss of so many 1 run games and his favoratism of some weak players are reasons to doubt him. Still, making the playoffs is a game changer for me.

My thought was to look for a new manager if the Sox missed the playoffs. They are in and did it with virtually no thump in the lineup. Most of their offense is coming from unexpected sources. Hang with Cora. The pitching has turned into a strength and if Duran, Bregman and Story can give us some offense, we could surprise the league.

Whats with Story? He seems to be very error prone of late.

Finally. While there a good umpires, there are those who make bad calls which change games. With the technology adjusted calls, the players with good sense of the strike zone will be rewarded.

Yes, we have had a lot of injuries and so have others. I remember the many one run games we lost and how at the time many were pointing out moves we could have made to win some of those. It takes the end of the season to highlight that we are on the knife edge of making the playoffs and those early losses were indeed meaningful. Strange that good hitting from lowe and Yoshida is where the offense comes from.

Cora is confident the Sox will handle the Rays in this series, but I lack confidence in Cora's statements. The Sox need a hard ass who will make the necessary choices about players. The Sox need decisive management who will use our young talented players and get rid of those who can't contribute. You cite Yoshida as an example and most on here agree with you. The disposition of Rafaela and Casas are more difficult questions. We need to bring in a legitimate power bat. We only have one player this year who will eclipse 25 home runs.

They didn't develop Password and he would be a wild card if he could perform. He may have a higher potential, but it be a surprise if he was ready. Campbell has more experience but was a questionable defensive. Cora doesn't have many options, but this is four years of frustration now for the fans. New leadership is called for.

Back from 2 weeks traveling in Canada. I followed the Sox when possible. I still have questions about the Sox management and decision making. Decision making surfaced again in the game where Cora removed Early, but I'm thinking more in terms of long term decisions. Failure to add a big bat when we needed one. Failure to bring Anthony up early and then failure to develop Password who was another potential big bat. The Sox offense looks anemic and could and should have been bolstered. The Sox has suffered numerous injuries but so have other teams. One run losses too often. They may well bite us. If we fail to make the playoff again, i would recommend replacement of Cora.

Going tomorrow for close to 2 weeks to the Canadian Maritimes. I am concerned with Cora's leadership abilities and choices. He favors versatility and ML experience over performance and tends to rest players at key moments. There is no room for anything but a win now approach. I hope I'm wrong but I lack confidence in Cora.

Cora brought Sogard up based on his versatility. That gives us seven infielders with Rafaela potentially our eighth in a pinch. Eaton, Hamilton and Sogard are versatile but all are weak hitters. Cora didn't have a wide range of options. Campbell would be the main option and his performance is questionable. Password had insufficient time to acclimatize to the majors and would be a stretch, although our outfield is more limited now, even with Abreu coming back. He possibly has more thump in his bat but we will have to await 2026 to see him.

We need some thump in the lineup. Too many weak hitters, Too bad Password didn't get more of a look when he was brought up. He has the potential to help but not the experience.

That's how I interpret it. This sucks for the team and the fans.

Pitt just beat the Dodgers and had another big scoring night. We would have had to hit better to win the series. I believe some of the guys were tired and underperformed, Bregman is one example. A little home cooking and rest should right the ship. It of course was worrisome since the wild card race is tight this year. The Mariners lost last night so at least that was a positive development.

Devers awful defense at 3rd continuing season after season lost him the 3rd base job. He had a valuable, if somewhat inconsistent bat, so enter Bregman and move Raffy to DH. It made some sense, even though we were overpaying him to play the position. He thought the Sox as you say, Jacked him around, when they asked him to fill an urgent need. No doubt he became a distraction in the club house. I don't think Raffy was going to earn his money going forward so we were better off removing a $250 million liability and looking elsewhere. Lowe is in at 1st and has been a positive addition. Yoshida at DH is another story, but the options for the Sox are not good.

It wasn't a shock to see us lose to one of the best pitchers in baseball and there were good signs with Tolle and Slaten doing well. It's the end of August, and after a road trip and the daily grind of the dog days. I wouldn't be surprised if some of our players, particularly the older like Bregman and Story are dragging. Bregman for instance is sporting a 182 avg with 4 hits, 2 RBIs and 1 run scored in the last 7 days. There wasn't a lot to work with for Cora last night, with Abreu still out and Lowe on paternity leave and even Password sent down. I didn't like Cora's options for pinch hitting late. Why we had two weak hitting 2nd basemen on the roster for the game eludes me. At any rate, things are soon returning to a norm with assets getting back and opponents pitching being more favorable. I doubt if our regulars will go into prolonged slumps. Things are looking bright.

With 27 games remaining, we now need 15 wins to get to 90 this season. 90 wins would be a very impressive result for this team.

I don't have those examples as my friend just made the statement without backup. It does make some sense, as a player has likely seen a large variety of pitchers, both home and away and has gone through adjustment cycles, as his weaknesses were exposed. Perhaps failing at first can become an impetus to make changes that are positive. Also, being influenced by a new hitting coach or a veteran player can change people. Rules of thumb are not universally true but general in nature. I hope Rafaela makes adjustments from being an okay hitter to a good hitter for the Sox.