oldtimer

Forever the optimist.

No doubt the Sox would like for Schwaber to fill in the need at 1st this year and perhaps transition to DH/LF when and if Casas gets promoted. Many fans don't feel confident about his ability to handle first nor about his ability to avoid injuries while playing a position that requires stretching out to receive throws.

Despite what Cora says, I think Casas is brought up for a cameo role in Sept and then invited to ST in 2022. If he does well, he may be on the Sox in a meaningful role after the AS break in 2022 at the earliest

The other reason is they are bad.

Our All Star hitters haven't been able to put it together since the AS game. Bogie has a lingering wrist issue and all three look tired out there. Kike was out for one game there and Verdugo has been up and down during this spell. No amount of pitching would win games in which we can't plate at least a few runs. I don't see an early solution to the problems as any help from Schwaber and Arroyo are about at least a week away and we will be facing our main and improved competitors during this period. It's sad to watch our big lead be blown in a couple of weeks. We did know we needed help immediately with starting pitching and at first base but apparently felt the constraints made it impossible to fill those. Now we are living with the consequences. Let's hope the plan Bloom has embarked on will put us in a competitive position in 2022 as it looks like 2021 is fading fast.

I hope they are gone in 2022

It's not in the threads but inferred in what the pundits have been printing recently. They seem to advocate sending him down after 53 AB's and only 9 hits. He has played sporadically and during the last two games he has provided his share of the offense while some all star players are struggling. As moon often says, small sample sizes are often misleading.

Send Perez down and promote Seabold. Send Richard down or our and bring up Sale. Bring back Houck.

they have looked consistently bad. At least we can't blame Duran for what is happening today.

Right now he is just a rally killer. Bring up Munoz.

We are far into the 162 game season with players first going through Spring training. Many in baseball talk about it as a grind and well they should. Players are human after all and the physiological and psychological effects of the long term season gets to them The physical aspects of having trained hard, eaten appropriately and avoided dissolution put these players in good stead to face the season. Over the long term, with all the travel and physical exertion, it must be hard for them to remain strict and dedicated. One thinks of great players like Ruth and Mantle who were anything but strict and perhaps shortened their careers or lessened their performance. Whatever, all of the games stress joints, ligaments, muscles and bones. Older players have had accumulated injuries to deal with and players in tough positions like catching get beat up and tired. Pitchers are also more subject to wear and tear. Cora’s approach is to try to rest players and to send them to the IL to recover from nagging injuries. That is not easy to do with the very thin bench that we have now in August. I also wonder if there is behind the scenes pressure to rid guys of some bad habit like drinking to excess or putting on extra pounds. I notice Rafi appears to chew tobacco, which release toxins and may affect him long terms and should be encouraged to stop. The psychological effects are hard to pin down but I notice a number of Olympic athletes speak of their struggles with the pressure associated with expectations placed on them. It can’t be that different for ball players who are subjected to the pressure year-round. Players get bad press when they don’t perform and it must be hard to sluff off. Perhaps the best bulwark for them is being part of a team and the support that provides. The team includes the players, coaches, manager and owners, so when it doesn’t appear they have a common goal, that message might have a negative impact on an individual’s mindset. I am thinking of the trade deadline as an example. Fans who focus on stats need to remember the game is played by humans and like us they have frailties. That is not to excuse long term poor performance, but to understand injuries and mental anguish may be involved in any short term issues.

1st base continues to look bad with Cordero and Dalbec. Schwaber not expected back until the 15th (or later). We will just have to muddle through with who we have.

What a difference Kike makes in the lineup. Might have won the first game had he been available.

When you look at our year to date, offense from our first base position stands out as some of the worse in the ML. We stuck with Dalbec for much of the season but have also used Gonzalez, Cordero, Santana, Chavis and of course Arroyo in a futile attempt to improve. Using Arroyo wound up costing us his availability. Did I miss anyone we tried? At the trade deadline we did nothing to help ourselves at 1st for the immediate future and took a flyer on Schwaber being able to handle that position when he is healthy enough to be used.. My guess is they will use Schwaber to rest players n LF and DH so the 1st base experiment will be less than FT. If people talk about Casas, it is only because of the futility experienced with the existing approach. Rookies go through learning curves so it is only through rose colored glasses one could see him as a major contributor this season. I expect he will be brought up when the roster can expand in Sept. He won't return from Japan until the 8th or 9th of August.

The Sox aren't hitting. For all the complaints about Duran, he went 2 for 5. Devers was 0 for 5 behind him. The Sox need some of their hitters back. Missing Kike was big tonight as we played Duran, Cordero and Gonzalez and pinch hit Dalbec. Would like to know when Arroyo gets back and Schwaber is probably out until the 10th at least.

I expect him to get a cameo with the ml team in Sept. unless the team is still in the pennant race.

The word was that they will meet tomorrow to determine how to handle Schwaber's rehab assignment. Sounds like the earliest we could see him is August 10th. i would first use him to rest JDM unless there is a significant improvement in Martinez play in the interim.

Maybe we go for a FA first baseman, although that might block Casas. Dalbec is questionable in my mind for 2022.

He hit another HR today against Japan in a 7 to 6 losing effort. Japan featured pitchers like Tanaka so it was no cake walk. Don't know if the US will get into the medal round.

For whatever reason, the Sox did not improve the first base position and did not upgrade he starting pitching. Those are facts and the results have already begun to show up, as other teams did make improvements. Bloom is suggesting he did not wish to derail the long term objective of making the club consistently competitive. To do that he needed to maintain or imp-prove the strength in the minors and be mindful of the CBT. In effect we were willing to to sacrifice some marginal gain this season for some perceived improvement in future seasons. Some are critical of that approach as one never knows when we will be at the top of the division again. Others aren't critical and are of a mind the Sox didn't really have a strong chance of winning the WS this year anyway.

No, but he had talked to other teams that evaluated him before the trade and they may have known something.

Dalbec was pathetic tonight so Cora brought in a rookie who had not faced live pitching for days. The hope was he would walk or get a hit and get his speed on the bases. Can't fault the call. We had a chance, but 0-16 with runners in scoring position and 0- 5 from JDM didn't help the cause. Cora has so few strings to pull right now.

Had thee leadoff man on first and couldn't advance him one base. What do you recommend in the 9th? Plaweki, Dalbec or someone else?

That injury has taken a good bat out of our lineup. No word on his return yet.