oldtimer

Well, we had a chance to win this one but just couldn't get it done. Twice in this series we were in a position to win it, but just couldn't get it done. Another nail in the coffin.

Hard to believe, a walk and an error. This team is playing more poorly than we should expect.

Two hits in 8 full innings and both by Mookie. Hard to exxplain how this team can go into a funk. Matinez, Devers amd Bogaerts to some extent have gone cold in this series. We have held them to 2 runs on 2 hits but 8 walks. Hard to understand what is going on with this team.

He never took his bat off his shoulder leading off the 7th down 1. I don't get the thinking! At least Vaz put the ball in play hard. Beni's attempt was weak.

We walked 8 tonight in 7 innings. Sum Ting Wong Here. Still in the game, but someone other than Mookie has to get a hit.

Lots of pitchers available. Don't leave a guy in who can't throw strikes.

Is something going on with Bradley or is it just a managers decision?

I had the same thought, but people corrected me to say his loose bodies in his elbow happened in Spring Training and then his sustained a further injury during rehap. The guy still can hit 100 mph on the radar gun but his command hasn't been good. I believe we will need to shed payroll going into next season and he may be someone we can trade away, particularly if he has a strong showing during the next few weeks.

With the first tier of the Competitive Balance Tax beginning at $208 Mil this coming year and the benefits eating up somewhere close to $15 Mil of that, if you want to reset how would you apportion the money to be spent. Also knowing that the 25 man team is probably going to have 13 pitching spots and 12 position players. I am talking about a team sitting without the contracts in place that we have but sort of the ideal apportionment. The presumption is you ave $208 -$15 - $10 (mid season flexability)=$183Mil I would assume you need to set aside $12 Mil for the remainder of the 40 man roster, leaving $171 Mil for the 25 man roster. What % do you allocate for pitching which means field players can get the rest? If you think it is 60%, based on the earlier discussion about the cost of ML pitching these days, you have $102.6 Mil with$68.4Mil for the 12 field players. A hypothetical case where you pay your ace 23%, your 2nd starter 17%, your 3rd 14%, 4th 10%, 5th 6%, closer 10% and the remaining 7 pitchers combined 10% combined is not unreasonable but doesn't allow for the kind of salaries the Sox have granted. The field players get to split up $68.4 mil. If you have 3 established stars each getting a solid cut, like 25, 25% and 20% that leaves 30% for the remaining 7 players. Clearly these figures don't work for the Red Sox if they go for the reset, even without the sunken cost of Pedroia. It's a way of thinking like the front office may have to do by first deciding whether to reset and second to decide how to allocate salaries. It also will demonstrate to them where adjustments will need to be made. Remember, there are other competitive teams with less than 1/2 the Competitive Balance Tax first tier in salaries this year.

Ask Tiger fans.

Beware of Greeks bring gifts.

I don't know if this Stat is directly applicable to the worth of a player. Player A could get 10 singles a double and a HR in 20 times at bat and get 4 points towards his worth while player B could get 3 HR in 20 ABs and get 9 points toward his ISO stat worth. I'd prefer player A on my team.

Maybe trade Eovaldi and let JBJ go as a FA, which would give us a little wiggle room. We need a plan B in case our young pitchers are unable to fill the starting pitching shortfalls. We all agree that Porcello will not be back and if our risk is reduced by trading Eovaldi and making $$$ available, we can have a plan B that adds a starter. Both Sale and Price will be back but their effectiveness will remain a major question. The question of whether DD is the right guy during a reset is also on the table. I think we can and should make a change to a young guy with a history of building the farm and making good choices during a turn around.

To stay under 208 MIl with the contracts of Sale, Price and Eovaldi on the pitchers side and Pedroia, Bogie, Betts and JDM on the field player side, there is little wiggle room for the rest. Add JBJ at 10 Mil and we would use up $85 Mil just on the field player side. Something has to give and it shouldn't be the reset.

E-Rod's main issue is his constant nibbling. He loaded the bases and is now in danger of giving away the lead. Comeon and throw strikes.

Like, where was it last night?

Your talking more money than I think he is worth. I was thinking $26 for 8.

I compare who we currently have lined up at positions with these guys for 2020. in the case of 1st base, we have Travis, Chavis and Holt. Dalbec would offer serious power and good fielding. He is a possible compared to those, especially since Chavis may move to 2nd. In the case of Chatham, he is a kid with the ability to play short, second and third. He is a line drive hitter and at 6'4" and weighing in around 188, he has potential to get stronger. He would compete with Marco, Lin and Holt. Duran hasn't been mentioned but he is our 4th ranked minors player. He has the speed to play center field although is still a bit raw. He also doesn't offer much power but may be needed if JBJ goes due to salary reset needs. All three are low cost players on a team that will need to look for them if they reset. DHern has already shown enough to make the team next year in our weakest spot, pitching. The other two, Houck and Mata have the stuff to pitch in the bigs, but will they work out? If one of them can, then it helps our starting pitching situation and may allow us to shed one of our big three, assuming Porcello is already gone next season. It will be hard to make a trade with any but maybe Eovaldi is tradeable and with him would go a sizeable long term contract. I will be interested to see if management (maybe we get a change there as well) has plans to reset and to try and use our best prospects to play on our team. I hope they are not traded away.

I wonder if his value is that high based on this year. No doubt he is a 5 tool player and is very good. On the other hand, he is not a Trout so somehow we have to value him fairly and offer accordingly. If some are willing to pay much more, then that is up to their organization and will hamper them in future.

Another loss attributed to weak starting pitching. The BP did their job and the offense sputtered but still scored 5. Imagine if Betts, Bogie and JDM hit a little. Another nail in the coffin and at a time we might have gained a little ground.

Whatever happens, at least the Sox offense has fought back, even with essentially nothing from Beni, Bogie and JDM. NOt over yet but can give the Twins nothing more.

We have 4 hits in 7 innings but made them count for 4 runs. Making a game of this even though we didn't get a runner in from 3rd. Our relievers have to hold the line at 6.

Tonight what is happening to us is predictable. We are running out a weakened and underperforming pitching staff against a very good hitting Twins team. I expected the Twins to be able to score a fair amount. I did expect our offense to offer some resistance, something that hasn't been happening as yet. Tough to make up 6 runs.

Hard to afford that and reset. I do hope we can resign him but if he tests the FA market, we may not be able to.

Lot of knocking Porcello here. He has a nice two seamer and slider. His problem is location, especially of his 4 seamer. He won't be with us next year but lets hope if we replace him it will be someone as injury free as he has been. The guy has always given us a lot of innings and that has value. When he was at his best, he was very good. By the way, our hitters have forgotten to show up tonight so we look like we would have dropped this one even if we had a stellar pitching performance by Porcello. We didn't, he got rocked and it looks like another nail in our coffin. Bring on some of our younger players.