oldtimer

Dalbec was the star last night. Schwaber showed good plate discipline as he shakes off some rust.

The bottom of the order has driven in 5 of the 7 runs. It's nice to see for a change.

Six runs feels good. Pivetta goes how many? 6 or 7? Who relieves, Richards?

Facing AAA pitching helps, but the meat of the order doesn't think so.

Desperate times require desperate measures. Notice he is DHing. They probably do not want to risk a recurrence of the leg injury by stretching at 1st.

You are right. Add in the name. Marwin was DFA'd this time but it could have been Franchy or Robles or Andriese or Santana. I doubt they DFA Dalbec, instead they might send him back to AAA to try to straighten out his plate approach. Still no Munoz. I am wondering if it about the CBT. He certainly has hit well enough and is flexible enough to be on this team for a try. But he isn't currently on the 40 man which might be his curse.

It would be reasonable to talk about plans and suggestions for 2022 under a separate string where those comments could be collected together while 2021 comments made under this string.

Maybe Bloom should look at our recent results. They represent thee real world.

Brasier is unlikely to return until early Sept.

But why didn't he at least go partway?

You are talking about next year, probably because we haven't just stumbled but are in a free fall this season. We are there because we have had little movement by management to try and correct issues that were obvious with this team. Maybe it did make sense to stay below the CBT this year and there has been a salary drag with Price, Pedey and a little of Beni's dead money and a big slice of Sale's contract going into 6 weeks remaining of limited use. But you can also see that we have gone far too long with Gonzalez, Cordero, Dalbec and Santana. We have also found bad replacement pitching to fill a lack of depth with Robles and Austin. Cora speaks of shaking things up but nothing much happens. Perez and Richards have been worse than expected and Vaz isn't hitting. So, we are in a position of trying to compete for a wild card spot this year and are bring Verdugo and Schwaber in soon and Arroyo when he finally heals. Sale will finally make a start this weekend. Surely Munoz should have been brought up earlier and still should be. Even so, we at best are struggling for a wild card spot. Maybe you are right to start to talk about 2022, but unless Bloom and Cora get their acts together, what makes you think we can make a splash then?

Cora was faced with an issue with Houck, who has trouble going more than 2 times through the lineup at this point in his career. He didn't make a pitching move early enough because he had little to go to. On the other hand, there are now and have been complete dead spots in the lineup. Losing Arroyo by trying to solve our 1st base issue and losing Verdugo for paternity leave left little room to spark the offense. Munoz remains in Worcester as perhaps the only other contact hitter they might turn to. For some reason, despite talking roster shakeup, Cora and Bloom have not attempted to fight for these games against the Rays. We were fortunate to get one when the Rays pitching was horrible. The Rays and perhaps the Yankees and Jays are just better than us now. We will get Schwaber and Verdugo back soon. Arroyo may be back in a week. apparently Munoz will not be brought up or he would have been by now. Maybe we can compete with those players. I have my doubts. Bloom's trade deadline performance was poor and Cora has seemed indecisive. Don't know the underlying reasons for what has happened but clearly our big lead has evaporated in 2 weeks and that is a fact.

Munoz has been a hitting machine in Worcester. Why not try him, at least he puts the bat on the ball. It's like the Sox are indecisive here.

Maybe speaking Spanish is worth points.

Another trip to the dead zone in the lineup and two strikeouts. I don't understand why Munoz hasn't replaced one of these guys. It's like trying to win with one hand roped behind your back. I don't know why Cora sticks with these guys.

We could use him today.

Where is Verdugo? I thought he would be back today. Shame to see Marwin in there instead of Verdugo.

So did I and I think that made a lot of sense. The Sox knew who they didn't plan to keep. I would guess those players were not of interest to other GM''s but who knows?

It's good to stress the Rays pitching staff while our BP may get some much needed rest.

They didn't bring up Munoz again today, preferring to go with Gonzalez and Dalbec. Good luck with that. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the height of idiocy.

The roster shakeup talked about has yet to see a player really activated to the active list. Why are they waiting? When these critical games play out we may then do something constructive.

One would have to assume that the plan includes spending over the CBT which will give us some flexibility in the FA market. After the experience with Bloom at the trade deadline I find him hard to read as his words and actions don't align. to me having developed quality talent in the minors, it makes sense to add them to the team as a low cost floor and to bring in FA's to fill key positions of weakness. Why would we bring in an injured Schwaber, who was not a good fit for our 2021 year if we didn't plan to make a strong effort to resign him? What does that say about JDM going forward? I don't share your implied criticism of Duran. When playing outfield he has done the job defensively and he is still only around 70 ML AB's. In the last 4 games where he was in the starting lineup he has had 2 hits 3 times and 1 hit the other. That compares favorably with any other hitter in the lineup over that period. He is figuring things out as he goes and should be in the lineup against right handers. His strikeout rate is coming down recently. Give the kid a break.

So, where is the roster shakeup that Cora mentioned? To me, shakeup means sending someone (or two down or DFA) and bringing up some reserves, both field players and pitchers. Question for tonight, will Verdugo be back? Another question. will Munoz join the team? He did have 3 hits last night at Worcester.

A lot had to go right for the Sox to build up a lead in the AL East. The Yankees played poorly, The Jays pitching was weak while our pitching and offense did well. JDM rebounded from a bad 2020, Rafie was a monster, Bogie was playing at a high level. Renfroe played himself into an every day guy. Kike started slow but really heated up. Verdugo and Arroyo but contributed well. Our pitching moves to get Swamamura, Pivetta and Whitlock were strokes of genius. Ottavino was a good acquisition. One weak spot showed itself at 1st base and catching was below league average. Bloom and Cora had tried to catch lightning in a bottle with Gonzalez, Santana and Cordero but they have played like other people's cast offs. Chavis didn't improve while Dalbec was figured out by league pitching staffs. The use of grip enhancers was adopted and suddenly Richards became a subpar starter while Perez looked worse than even his 5th starter ranking. Clearly there was a need to reinforce the team if it was to continue to lead the league. That brought us up to the AS break and the trade deadline. We were fortunate not to suffer a lot of injuries during the first half and we seemed reluctant to try to improve through our minor league prospects. Houck and Duran were held back although it looked like they might help. For whatever reason, whether the CBT or concern that the price in prospects to reinforce the team through trades seem to pervade Sox management thinking. Bloom said he intended being active in the trade market, but the results were to pick up one solid player with an injury which may keep him out for at least a month. He also was not a good fit for our clear need at first base. Cora had already tried a desperation move with Arroyo at first which lost a solid contributor to the team for maybe 6 weeks. Bloom did pick up two relief pitchers who haven't shown much value. Meanwhile all of our competitors made substantial improvements. That led to Cora saying they were planning on some shakeups to the team. None were seen last night as we had a bench of Gonzalez, Dalbec and Arauz. Arroyo is still a couple of weeks away, Schwaber at least a week and Verdugo still on paternity leave. Our big hitters have cooled off and our weak spots remain. Our closer seems to have lost confidence. It is time for a shakeup. Can it be worse than what we are seeing? Munoz, Sale, Houck and Seabold might help us and should be up ASAP. Instead, management has been indecisive and ineffective while the season is going down in flames. are they waiting for us to completely go out of contention?

The team was in it with 2 outs in the 9th. An error by Renfroe cost us although Barnes was also greatly at fault. Any chance of winning left when the 3 runs came in. It has to take the wind out of the team to see us lose games like these. Our bench tonight was Dalbec, Arauz and Gonzalez. what happened to the shakeup Cora was talking about? It's too late to shake things up when you totally collapse for two weeks.