oldtimer

Three baserunners today in 8 innings and this team is close to the second tier of the competitive balance tax limit. Beni has not been hitting for some time now and JDM has one good game in 5. This team is missing fire. Looks like a bunch of zombies. Wait until we go against the cream of the American League.

Same dreadful pitching, whats the difference with our hitters tonight? Were they just worn out from playing and making the trip down?

The Sox were humiliated by the last place team. Price was totally off hiis game and the lineup only produced 1 hit out of the top 5 batters. The team looked tired and uninspired. One may lead to the other. It was tough to watch last night. A loss like this could be shrugged off if we were otherwise doing well. but when trying to climb out of a hole, tthe message to John Henry is don't throw good money after bad.

Throwing good money after bad is not sensible. I'd love Stroman but he can't turn this season around for the team.

Who would have guessed it. Being crushed by the lowly Orioles tonight. Time to sell.

The honeymoon for Cora and Dombrowski is over.

Price had a terrible start which will also tire the BP since he only went 4 bad innings. Moon is providing stats about how much better Sale and Price do with Leon behind the plate. Is this an outlier or are those stats just illusory?

The cllock is ticking and the end of July is right around the corner. Its hard to believe this team can get it together enough to be a factor in the American League this year. DD no doubt has plans for each scenario but cutting the expenses by letting go of the soon to be free agents will help with the reset. I am not pushing to see JDM go. He is still a very viable DH, the question I have is whether any DH is worth the money he commands.

Chavis is on the learning curve, much ike Devers was last year. Whether he can learn to hit a high fastball more consistently remains to be seen, but there is hope. I haven't been a fan of trading for a rental FA to be and losing more quality prospects, especially when we are just struggling to make the WC. Abreu would be great to have in a Red Sox unifrom but under the circumstances of resources it seems like it is a pipe dream.

If I went down the list of all field players at each position and selected a team based strictly on WAR, without seeing players names or anything beyond WAR and it was numerically better than any other team competing with it, would that team be a probable winner and go well in the playoffs? I would think other aspects like team chemistry (not measureable) management decision making and other factors come into play and are quite important. WAR is a helpful number in selecting players but can't be the only factor considered.

We are carrying Pedroia in a lost contract and of course Sandoval this year from a different era. Between them we are wasting over 31 million. In a sense, I agree that standing still, even with a WC team really means your going backwards. When you take Kimbrall out of the equation, we are going backwards rather quickly. Turns out resigning Pearce, Nunez , Leon and JBJ hasn't helped out cause and then to have Betts, Beni and JDM to have reduced years. When players have great years, it is likely the next will be good but not great. We were fortunate to have Devers become all world annd both Bogie and Vaz show great improvement. Where would we be withoout them? Then there is the pitching. Long term contracts for older pitchers can work and may still, but there is a high risk associated with those contracts.

While the Red Sox were the last team to integrate I think it is ridiculous to generalize it to racism in New England. I grew up in the 40's and witnessed more racism in the south while New England tended to support the struggle for equal opportunity.

i don't see how you think the Sox look like a better team on paper. Starting pitching is below average, BP is inconsistent and without a closer. Only Devers, Bogie, Vaz and Holt are having good years ans Holt has been there part time. The Sox are not turning this around against the Yankees and Rays. Get ready to sell.

Fat chance of that. JBJ is sliding back into a slump. Hope he doesn't but it sure looks like he is going in the wrong direction aagain.

I have been of the opinion for some time that the Sox would stuggle to make the WC game while several other contenders for those slots have been playing better. It has resulted from a weak starting pitching rotation, an inconsistent BP and in many cases, a lack of timely hitting. I do believe by the end of July, we will see the need and undertake to made several trades to lower our payroll and to get resources that may help us in 2020 and 2021. Most of the MLBB teams have front offices that havee talented baseball people, so any trade would likelyhave to be beneficial to both teams.Not so easy to pull off. I advocated a plan B be pursued in which we hold on to key assets going forward. They include Devers, Bogie and Vaz, E-Rod and Price. Beyond those, there are other players I would be reluctant to trade away as they could be important elements in 2020 and beyond. Those include Beni, Chavis, Barnes, Marco, Workman, Holt and Taylor. Betts is a special case. He is a very good player but has not performed like a great one. We should offer a good contract for him considering his real performance. If he rejects that and thinks someone will pay him significantly more, then we should actively trade him. The Same is true with JDM, he is a very good player and I would like to keep him for the duration of our contract, yet if he decides to opt out then we should get something in return. I also think that JBJ will cost more than he is worth and should be traded. Moreland, Travis, Nunez, Pedroia, Pearce, and leon should be gone and replaced. As far as the BP is involved, I would continue to watch those not mentioned to see if we have keepers there. Eovaldi is a special case who may be a starter next season or may turn into an acceptable closer I would also bring up some of our more promising Minor league players and see who among them really may have a future with the club in the next couple of years. My concept of executing plan B is to look for continuous improvement. Those we trade should allow us to improve both our starting pitching and relief pitching. Those holes we create in our team like CF, Backup Catcher, DH if JDM opts out and RF if Betts contract demands exceed how we see his worth., should be filled with better than what we lose (except in the case of Betts and JDM that might not be possible and we might have to obtain quality prospects or pitchers for them). My idea is to trim payroll, get rid of the oft injured or deadwood on the team, be decisive with our stars, look for improvement in our weak areas. In my opinion, we can field at least a competitive team in 2020 and perhaps get back on the road to being a top AL team in 2021.

Weak starting pitching, lack of depth in the BP, inconsistent hitting with RISP of late. Thes make for a team going no where. Even Cora's moves are questionable. Travis for Holt with a runner in scoring position and us in great need of a run. Taking out a hot hitter (336 and pinch hitting with a 194 hitter, just because of the lefty/righty idea?

Reminds me of the last game against the Dodgers. We create a lot of opportunities but no one can come up with the key hit. We are close to losing this one. Just one more chance to perform.

Two innings in a row with runners in scoring position and less than two outs and nothing to show for it. Can't come away from these opportunities with nothing.

Would you switch a 336 hitter with a 196 hitter just based on left/right pitcher/hitter. Hope it works.

Generally you are on the same wavelength that I have been on for some time. I would add that the time to make a decision on the direction for 2020 and beyond is the end of July. We will play both the Yankees and the Rays by then, The trading deadline will have passed and we will know if we have a realistic chance of making the POs and of any hope of making some noise after a WC game. If after Aug 1st we decide we have to sell, I would bring some of our best prospects up to get a sustained look at them for either a low cost alternative next season or for trade bait. My absolute keepers are Bogie, Devers and Vaz. My probable keepers are Beni, Holt, JDM if he doesn't opt out, Betts if he is willing to accept his true value in a contract, Marco, and Chavis. I listen to offers on any of those and particularly the ones making serious money. To me JBJ should be trade bait as he is likely to command serious money and his worth is questionable. Moreland is gone based on his inability to stay healthy, Pearce has nothing left, Nunez is gone as is Leon if we can get a replacement that can hit at all. The pitching side is pretty open with more to be seen. We have Price and e-Rod havig good years, Sale under contract, Porcello is probably not worth what we would have to pay. Eovaldi is under contract and worth a look through the end of the season. Cashner is a FA but again we can look at him through the remainder of the season and offer him if he looks like a 4th or 5th starter. The BP need shoring up. We have some decent arms (not heads) in the pen like Barnes, Workman and Hembree. Do we keep Eovladi there or does he return to starting with time to prepare for the new season? I would look for several BP arms, including a closer. My idea is to bring the team salary below the 1st level of the competitive balance tax by making strategic trades and trying to get some good young players who can come on in 2021.

I agree. He is probably worn down and a period down may help him get ready to help in August.

The Yankees and Rays are in a pitchers duel in the 7th. Two to one. Would that we had pitching capable of holding strong offensive clubs down like that.

4 runs and counting in 3 innings. That would amount to an ERA of 12 against the Jays. Ugh

We are at a point in the season where something has to be done to get this club to play better ball. Last night there was a lot of good effort by many players yet we came up short. So perhaps the message had to be sent that if you don't perform, you may be gone. Nunez and Velazquez certainly fit that category and with Moreland coming up soon, room had to be made. Velazqez was one of the weakest links in the BP, so we need to try a different path.

I don't see any way that we can make this team a WS contender with anyone we can logically get through trades this year. After we get through the month of July, we should be in a position to say whether we can reasonably get into the PO picture or we go to plan B, with major changes to the team for 2020.