oldtimer

Weber had nice movement on his FB and he located it well. Maybe he deserves a longer look than Hembree.

It's hard to know with aging pitchers. John Lester was a keeper we let slip away. He is 35 now but still has an ERA under 4. Yes, its in the National League where they face one less solid hitter, but still he is viable. Price seems to be slipping but his velocity is still okay (not great), Sale shows flashes of greatness,

Kimmi You are taking the optimistic view, but nothing points in the direction of the rotation improving in performance going forward. I hope Sale can at least come part way back to his dominance of the past. I don't see Cashner, Porcello or Price doing the job for us going forwad. Price will be with us in 2020.

Its not just Price that has been awful during this stretch. Porcello, Sale, Johnson, Cashner all have been very hittable and E-Rod is forever the nibbler. Good stuff but he gets himself into trouble. With a rotation of very experienced and noted pitchers how do we suddenly completely implode? Are people stealing our signs? Is the wear and tear of so many seasons catching up with the staff all at once? Whatever is going on, we really have no flexability. No farm arms that would help and other than Porcello and Cashner, no ability to replace pitching staff after this season. The team is tired and no doubt are feeling almost helpless. It has to impact the field players as well. It is good that JH didn't spend money and take us over the 2nd tier of the competitive balance tax. It would have just been wasted due to our starting rotation and we would have paid in draft positions. DD's approach has been to deplete the farm system, take the payroll to the absolute limit, take on very expensive, long term contracts for noted starters. We got three good finishes from it including a WS. Now we pay the piper.

Betts 2 for 15 for the series. Is he worth $30mil? Of course, if he had hit against our starters he probably would have gone 6 for 15 with 3 homers.

Fitting that JBJ would strike out (for the 3rd time) to end the game and the series.

Our starters, other than e-rod can't go 5.

Price was even worse tonight going on 2 2/3 and throwing the game away (no punn intended).

Neither Velazquez or Johnson are starter quality.

True, but using the pen hard when our starter often don't go 5 innings and need 4 relievers nightly puts a heck of a wear factor on our best and is probably not sustainable over the long season. Having starters who often can go 7 innings can help the BP demonstrate sustained good performance.

Hypothetical question: Would you rather have the best player in baseball (Mike Trout) contracted for 6 years at $35.54 Mil per year and a scrub player at another position or two very good field players at $17 mil a year with 5 year contracts? No doubt Trout is great and plays good defense, hits 300 and will come in this year with 45 to 50 HRs and 120 rbi. The two hypothetical players should be very good at that money, would hit probably 285 and come in with 25 HRs each. Clearly the risk is lower with two good players and you have a longer capable lineup. They might well match the performance of Trout and a scrub. We might well be facing a similar issue with Betts if he looks for over $30 mil. Our lineup at times got weak at the bottom of the order. Which is best?

Good post but a couple of questions. By Hernandez do you mean both the 2nd naseman and the relief pitcher? Trading one off of your trade 1 list looks tough. Who would take Pedroia? Doesn't JDM have limitations in his contract and who would pay $$ for a DH? Eovaldi maybe, but again $$ coming off a low value year. Can't see either Price or Sale drawing a lot of interest with their contracts. If tthe idea is to shed money, I find it hard to believe we could rid ourselves of any of those contracts. Do you have a list with projected salaries for next year with arbitration?

In that realistic view for 2020, it might be sensible to indicate what we have to do to structure the team to be competitive with the best. By that I mean the Astros and Yankees and perhaps also recognize the improvement of the Rays and even Cleveland. What have they done that we haven't matched, and what we would have to do to be competitve given our current contractual situations and weak farm system. Some questions that need to be asked: 1. The Astros appear to be strong up and down their lineup despite the fact they still have stars to pay. We appear to be weak in the lower part of our order with Chavis, JBJ, Leon, Travis there. Can we afford to strengthen the bottom and still pay our stars? I assume we have no star in the making for field player or catcher who can be better at least in 2020. Should we bring up potential players and see what they can do/ 2. The Astros have a very strong starting pitcher lineup. Our starters certainly haven't been nearly as good from April on and are probably on the decline, yet drawing high salaries. Porcello is replaceable. Price is probably not given his contract. Sale may find himself but is still unlikely to regain his ace level performance. So it looks like we have to build upon the starters of E-Rod and possibly Eovaldi. Will Sale regain some form and will Price wind up as a $32 mil 4th or 5th starter. Big problems here and no solution that is obvious. Is there also a management/coaching aspect to the negative direction of our starter performance? 3. Our BP is weak with Workman, Hernandez, Taylor being our more reliable arms (Hernandez is iffy if he can't throw strikes), where do we go? Hembree and Barnes has shown flashes but both can blow leads with wildness and perhaps an inability to handle pressure. DD's efforts to enhance the BP failed due to bad luck or bad vetting. Perhaps the coaching coupled with poor starter performances can be pointed at. 4. What are the scenarios, no matter how drastic, will be required to head us on the right path to making this team competitive again? Moon is the most acquainted with how the contractual situation will play out for the next few years and that will govern how much we can do. I assume we will want to reset below the first tier of the competitive balance tax in 2020. 5. Do the current leaders have the strengths needed to address the significant changes which are needed to compete with the best teams?

Benintendi's recent performance has been outstanding and he has lifted his overall performance to the equivalent of whatt he did on average last year. I expect his numbers for the year will be superior to those of last year.

I get that. The thing is when doing the comparison, there should be some band within which it is so close that it is about the same. Also, he used bad even when better, provided the number was on the low side. I agree with that part.

All depends on his willingness to make a deal that is equivalent to his worth. Maybe he gets traded at the 2020 deadline if we are not in it then.

Why do you pur Beni in the bad column when his OPS is essentially the same and he is playing well now?

Really, 2019 is no longer viable. Just a requiem.

Nothing sane JH could have done would have made a difference. If DD and Cora were unable to make the POs with the highest payroll and handpicked coaching staff, then adding another high priced player wouldn't have meant a lot. Time to move on.

I think a lot are still trying hard. To name a few, Bogaerts, Beni, Devers, and others.

Pretty soon, it would be wise to shut Sale down for a 10 day IL stint and let some AAA pitcher fill the spot. We aren't going anyway and Chris might get better with some time off.

Yes, but DD set up the long term contracts with Sale and Price. That led us to a WS last year, but I thought your approach to long term contracts is similar to mine. In the case of pitchers with a lot of mileage, the smart money is given in shorter contracts so that the club doesn't suffer for years when the pitchers start to decline.

I wouldn't blame anyone, but I would recognize that this team isn't getting it done and plan on making adjustments for next season. Part of the adjustments would entail getting rid of the weak spots in the lineup, particularly if they are getting paid well. Ditto with the pitchers, get rid of the weak spots, especially if they get paid well. It will not be possible with some pitchers who were given long term contracts. That said, I would really consider if the front office has a history of rebuilding teams after a downturn is experienced. Personally, I dont think DD is that kind of a GM. Thats no blaming him, just a recognition of his strengths and weaknesses. Its hard to make a judgment about the manager and coaches, but certainly the team has played below expectations for them for a good part of the year.

Good creative thought. Bradley will have to go primarily due to his salary.

Our offense is probably in remission. Kiss this game goodbye.