oldtimer

Two top class hitting teams against a picther who gives up the long ball and an inexperienced pitcher. Maybe we will have to score a lot to win. Its on TV so should be fun to watch if we are competitive.

Maybe Rivera is a year away.

That is very similar to my list. I don't think Hembree is more than marginal and though he throws hard he is inconsistent. I am not enamored with Barnes either although he is more of a keeper than Hembree. I don't know Reyes so no comment on him. I do like Holt as a glue guy and despite his age I would try and resign him. The fact that 50% of our 40 man roster are marginal or less than marginal speaks to the status of our team and the need for improvement, either through some of our minor league resources. I include Chatham, Dalbec, Houck and Mata as probables while Duran is a possible if we need outfield replenishment and Ockimey as also a possible. Resigning Mookie is a priority provided a contract can be worked out that reflects his true value. I think JBJ will probably have to be sacrificed to get a true reset. While he is a good player, he probably can be replaced more inexpensively without much impact on tthe team's play. What comes out of this is we are in the most need of pitching. With 3 veteran highly paid pitchers, possibly all on the decline, and a thin BP, the need is there and the resources to improve are slim. Thats why getting one or more starters from DHern, Houck and Mata is the best hope. We need to be active on improving the BP in the offfseason. It appears the new form for teams is carrying 12 position players and 13 pitchers, which having reasonable substitute pitching on the 40 man. Trading away one of our high paid starters would be difficult but would open up some resources to go after a better option. I see Eovaldi as the most likely to be of interest to others, but even as the most likely it is probably still a 1 in 5 shot.

One of the guys that I don't know that much about is Reyes. I hope he has some lasting value to the team but haven't seen him in action.

I suggest that fans take a look at our current 40 man roster and see how many are real keepers going forward, how many are borderline and how many shouldn't be here next season, especially if we do a reset. Perhpas I am harsh, but I see at least 12 current pitchers who should really be gone and 3 who are borderline. I did not include guys who we have on contracts that we can't unload. In the case of field players I see at least 6 who shouldn't be here next season and 4 more who will need to fight for a position. That means 19 total players who are either contractually hard to move, stalwarts or marginal players. We should be in a better position.I won't bother to identify the players as each fan can decide that one for themselves.

The next 7 games we face the Yankees and the Twins with our depleted pitching staff. If we lose 4 or more of those games, which is likely, our status will be clearler to those fans who think we still have a good chance. I was hoping to get a look at minor league players who might help the team next season. Houck, and Mata are two of those. I would also like to see more of Chatham, Dalbec and Duran. I don't understand the thinking of management as they seem to be more interested in bringing guys up who won't be with the team in 2020. Maybe Centeno will I suppose as Sandy may be gone next season, but some of the choices have the odor of Owings.

I would be all for getting a reset in 2020. I am hoping that DHern and Houck can allleviate some of the starting pitching woes in 2020. Perhaps someone would be interested in Eovaldi's contract. If so, it might be in our interest to trade him. I'm assuming JDM stays for the 2020 season. I would not stay with Johnson orVelazquez. I don't think either Hembree, Wright or Barnes should be kept as they are inconsistent or injured. I don't see Holt on your list and he has performed well and can fill multiple positions and is a fairly low cost keeper. I would cut ties with Leon and make a decision on Keepers between, Chavis, Travis, MHern, Dalbec, Chatham, Lin in view of having Holt. We don't need them all. As far as relief pitchers, we wure have a bunch of poor performers. Its a major need to find replacements and to let go of poor performer. The Betts situation is clouding up the reset picture. I hope we can resign him to a fair contract. If not, they as hard as it would be, we need tt trade him for 2020 and possibly get hiim back as a free agent.

We are 6 games behind in the loss column to 2 teams. We finish the road trip today and then go 7 games against two division leaders. We have a depleted starting pitching corp and an overused BP. It's virtually the same picture we had in mid August. Believers believe but realists state the obvious. We won it all last year and depleted our farm to strengthen that team. We also spent the most in baseball to the extent it put us in the competitive balance tax squeeze. Contracts that we signed with Sale, Price, Eovaldi and Pedroia will hang over this team for a while and it looks like none of those will return equal value in performance. Probably best to go for a reset in 2020. Also it still looks like DD does not have the right style to rebuild this team as he has a history of spending big and using up farm resources. Whoever comes has a strong offensive team but clearly has to rid the team of deadwood and then look to what is required to return the team to competitiveness. Any new management will be faced with difficult decisions and will probably realize it might take several years to be competitive at the highest level, given the state of the Astros and Yankees. Moon has suggested that we cut ties with those who wouldn't be a help to us in 2021 and later. It makes some sense although I would like us to keep enough pieces to keep the team at least competitive enough to keep people in the seats. Clearly we have a big problem with contracts that will have over us through 2021 and later. It seems doubtful that we can trade away those contracts so we just have to let them play out. So it looks like the game plan we will need to follow is adding some lower cost younger players to partially offset the large underperforming contracts that are on the books. I have advocated getting a look at several of our best prospects with a hope a couple will pan out enough to play next year. They are Chatham, Dalbec, Duran, Houck and Mata. DHern we already expect to move forward next season. Replacement of Porcello, Moreland, Pearce and Leon can save us some $$ provided we find low cost alternatives. We can't control the JDM situation. If he stays for the current $ then he fills the DH role. If he opts out and we fill the DH position with a lower cost option, maybe we can find a quality starting pitcher. I wouldn't trade E-Rod as he fills a great need for the Sox. Mookie is perhaps the most difficult decision. Do we try hard ($$ contract) to keep him or do we trade one of our best young players and hope to resign him later. I want to keep him provided he will take a contract for 8 years at his true value which I believe is well under $30 mil per year. JH is willing to spend but no fool. He can no doubt see where DD has taken him. Hope he is a man of action.

I feel sorry for the Sox pitching staff, down on starters and having to go 15 last night. I know, they caused some of their own problems, but they need Price back tomorrow, and he needs to pitch at least 7 innings. Hope he can do that.

It's also a testimony to how low opinions of Johnson and Cashner have fallen. If Chacin is a solid possibility it is probably more to do with next year.

Maybe interested in saving his job.

For those who bemoan the fact that the Sox won't spend still more money to make the playoffs, I looked at the Oakland Competitive Balance Tax Payroll. It comes to just over $85 mil. They seem to be getting more bang for the buck and I didn't bother to do the same for the Rays, but no doubt they are miles below our spending.

We go into the meat grinder after the Angels.

Maybe they could lower the ticket prices, and concession costs. It's hard for a family to afford going to just one game these days. Maybe they will wind up killing the sport just as horse racing is struggling now.

My older brother is in Venice and awaiting the storm. I also have a Villa there but spend my summers in the mountains of NC. Hoping that the east coast is not facing catastrophic conditions, but it doesn't look good.

Hard for me to feel sorry for a guy making $1 ml per start.

It's difficult in MLB to guess at performance a full year ahead. I would defer definitive statements until he actually has another great year. Injuries, ageing and the like are part of the game

I do feel the reset will occur in 2020. The Sox will need to offset our bloated budget that will still likely result from having underperformers on salary, with low cost younger players, I would think Mata, Houck, Duran and Chatham are possible replacement players, where we may need them the most (CF, SP and IF). Not all these guys will make the grade next year, but giving them a chance to gain experience and help us starting with Spring Training makes a lot of sense. We do have Travis, Chavis, Lin, MHern and Holt who will compete with some of them, but other than DHern we have no other young SP talent and we need to replace Porcello and one would have to be very optimistic to think all three of Price, Sale and Eovaldi would be contributors going forward.

Yes, but DD got us out f the fring pan but right back into the fire. Pedey, Eovaldi, Sale, Price. We have to cross our fingers that a couple of our starters will come back and at least be viable 2nd or 3rd starters if no longer ace material. I don't see trade possibilities for any of the above. Even with us eating part of the contracts it is unlikely.

It looks good for a win tonight but then the Angels will be competitive and then Minnesota and the Yankees will be a stuggle with Price just returning and Eovaldi not back to par. The offense is decent but hard to overcome the lack of pitching when trying to make up 7 in the loss column.

He has been fortunate to get great run support this year. Others on the staff haven't been that lucky.

John Henry did go all in this year and the payroll is approaching the 3rd tier of the competitive balance tax. I for one think he did the right thing by keeping DD from spending still more this year. Resetting next year looks like the right thing to do as does finding a new GM and President of baseball operations. We need a new business plan and someone with the right talent to pull it off. It may hurt for a year or two but it is necessary to become fully competitive again. I give zero blame to the Henry ownership

It smells of Dog Doo all over it.

I think they keep Chavis, at least until Spring training of 2020. His known deficiency is hitting the high fastball. It is possible he can learn to hit that better since he is inexperienced enough so there is room to grow. He has a big and long swing and may need to modify it some. If they determine he still can't hit it then, they can try the trade route. Imagine the criticism if the kid works out and hits 35 HRs and has an OPS of 900 for another club. Dalbec is also worth a hard look as is Chatham, who could handle SS should Bogie sustain an injury during the season. With Travis, Marco and Lin we know what we have. Still think Ockimey is a lesser version of Dalbec and not ready for the big time.

Do we still owe Sandoval a $5 mil buyout next year. If so, does it count against our salary cap?