oldtimer

The Nibbler

I agree, the starters have been and remain the biggest problem. The BP is not a strength either and perhaps has a partial excus of being overused. Add to that we seem to have a problem scoring with RISP. We do score a lot of runs but they have not been coming when we need them. We started the season with some of us concerned that our offensive production was not good from the catcher position and finally decided to let go of Swihart thinking we could hide poor offensive at catcher since we were so solid up and down the rest of the order. Luckily Vaz has improved a lot and we only have to hide Leon who remains as a weak spot and he is Sales homeboy so plays on those days at a minimum. JBJ was talking up how he had learned a lot last year and gave us hope that his streakiness would be reduced. Instead he had a terrible first couple of months , showed some improvement but is back into a slump again. The hope of having the old Pedroia back went south immediately and we have limped along trying Nunez, some of Holt and finally tried Chavis who had a remarkable start until ML pitching caught up. He at least is showing some life. At first we had Moreland hitting well until injured, Pearce a non-factor all year and now Travis who is a fill in player but not much of an offensive threat. The injury took the starch out of Moreland The point is we were relying on the top of the order for the majority of the production while our bottom 3 or 4 don't scare opposing pitchers. It has to impact ouroffensive production. The best teams have more production up and down the lineup and we should head in that direction in 2020 and beyond. Get rid of the deadwood if at all possible. Clearly the biggest move will still need to involve shoring up both the starters and the pen. It won't be simple to do with massive and unproductive pitching contracts.

There were signs of Sale suffering from a tired arm toward the end of last season and Cora elected to take it easy on he and Price at the start of the season. Saying that, I still expected Sale to be good enough to be a winning if not the dominant pitcher of the past. The money needed to sign a number 1 or 2 starter these days is incredible but it is true for all the top of the line pitchers. It would be terrible for the team if both Price and Sale are on a steep deline at this point in their careers.

It is sad but perhaps the surgery will allow him to live a normal life without pain in his knee. He shouldn't be put through the charade of trying to rehab with a return to the majors expected. We get to pay his contract as more dead money and an additional handicap for the team.

The Sox need to decide on a value for Betts, both in years and $$$. I'm afraid that some GM will wind up offering him more than that and he will accept. The alternatives are overvalue him and overpay and wind up with another bad long term contract or trade him and accept that he won't be back. His current performance doesn't stack up to the $27 mil arb value Moon projects so if that doesn't work out to his advantage it might also give him another reason to leave along with the thought the Sox will be in a rebuilding mode for a period of 1 too 3 years.

That is so correct. We need to reset next year. We also need to find a GM attuned to the rebuild process.

This team has no spark. This will wind up as our 9th loss in the last 10. I thought we were better but you are what your record says you are in the words of the Big Tuna.

Betts seems to be in a minislump again. We need more from him and he is trying hard but can't deliver. What a year this is.

Three ground balls last inning and a lot before that. You would think he is an ace except he has gotten hit hard by others recently.

Cora gave up on this one. Left him until the game is totally out of reach. Another home loss to a weaker team. Ouch.

Hits, walks and baserunners and only one run driven in by Beni. Meanwhile our SP has trouble giving up runs. Bad combination. When they finally admit this season is irredeemable, then they should bring up some hopefuls and see what they can do.

There are those here who say stats don't support that batting order doesn't make much difference, but with Beni 1st and Betts 2nd, the team wasn't getting a lot of base runners early. Was it because of bad starts by these players? Only when Betts batted first, Devers 2nd and Bogaerts third did the lineup start to look impressive. Betts is still having a good but not great year and it has taken Beni a long while to show the talent many of us think he possesses. The question on how batting order is structured may be one that Cora needs to look at in 2020. Load up with your best bats first (we have 6 sollid ones) and don't be shy about getting rid of the dead wood (again, no pun intended). Maybe some of our inability to score with RISP will improve.

He's not the guy I want to see included in our 25 man for 2021 and onward.

The what ifs are fun to talk about, but I am more interested in what we do going forward. I don't blame DD for not making the moves and anticipating our weaknesses. What I do question is whether he is the right GM to lead a team that needs to reset and do some rebuilding. Certainly the Detroit example is not one that gives me any confidence. Some tough choices coming up as your outline did a reasonable job of outlining.

I expect him t stay. His health is a question mark but he should be viable for us at DH for the next couple.

It builds upon my long standing perception of him. Throw him out there again this year. It doesn't matter that much and see if he is viable. Personnaly, I don't think he is.

I went to bed last night wondering the same thing and then realized he was talking about D Hernandez. I certainly agree that he is our besst hope for getting a starter from our prospect list. Just needs to be more consistent with location. If he was with the Astros, he would already be better, they have a knack with their pitchers .

The problem is between the ears. Not good under any pressure this year.

Not impressed wth Johnson. What did he give up last out. 8 hits in 3 inning.

I tend to agree that Barnes needs to be traded. He has been horrible of late and blew some saves early.

Do you really think Betts season will justify and arb raise of 7 million? You cut Holt out presumably because he's tradeable and will be on the decline by 2021. I would replace both Johnson and Velazquez and bring D. Hernandez up and possibly he could be a 5th or 6th starter in 2021. Wright probably should go as well and Barnes and Hembree are hard throwers and may be tradeable but aren't guys I see as helping us going forward. Weber looks like a 25 man roster pitcher. I'm then missing two relief pitchers who need to be picked up unless some of our 40 man can suppy them. I like Chatham over Lin long term for utility, Hernandez at second and Chavis at 1st. I can see the need for Travis for utility 1st and outfield but would give Duran a look to see if he can play at the ML level in 2020. Another CF candidate with great speed might be a help. If he fit, then Dalbec vs Travis might be worth a look.

Nice Workman like job to close this one. Last thing to do is walk a man and give them a chance to tie or go ahead. None of that from Workman. Barnes needs a rest. He just doesn't do well of late.

Barnes up to his tricks. Three run homer. He wants to give this game up.

My view: Like Moon, I’m in favor of resetting the Sox team and payroll in 2020 with an eye on building toward a fully competitive team toward 2021 and beyond. Saying that, I still know we have to field a team in 2020 and we need to make that team as competitive as possible without losing the idea of resetting the payroll. I am for the idea of keeping those who should be able to help us along the path toward competitiveness, yet I know certain contracts are beyond our control and those people maybe with us unless we can trade them or they opt out. My keepers are as follows, all other all trade bait or gone: Starting pitchers: Nathan Eovaldi Darwinzon Hernandez (good arm, young, inexpensive and may develop) David Price (Don’t expect we can trade him) Chris Sale (Probable he will return to useful form) Eduardo Rodriguez Relief Pitchers: (Generally inexpensive) (Would trade for right offer) Matt Barnes Colten Brewer Josh Taylor Marcus Walden Ryan Weber Brandon Workman Catcher: Christian Vazquez Field Players: Raphael Devers Xander Bogaerts Michael Chavis Marco Hernandez Brock Holt (possible trade bait) Outfielders: Andrew Benintendi Mookie Betts (If he can be signed to a contract representative to his true value) Designated Hitter: J.D Martinez (He is locked in unless he opts out. If he does, we can find a decent DH for less money) GM: (replace) David Dombrowski (Don’t think he is suited to lead a team through rebuilding) Look to fill in the holes from the minors, trades and FA pickups

One thing to do is pay him his $32 mil for a couple more years. Too bad they don't sell performance insurance so that if the ERA gets above a certain amount the insurance company would have to take on the contract.