oldtimer

Half the lineup doesn't hit well and we put up a lousy starting effort vitually every other game. Add to that the BP will blow every other save opportunity. Death by a thousand cuts is a good description.

I understand Hembree will be back. Don't know if he will be in Toronto tonight though..

Yesw, and against a right hand pitcher. Something is going on, either an injury or the club senses he is getting deeper into a slump.

I know it is a long time ago, but Dick Radatz has a few great years for Boston in the early 60's. He was virtually unhittable until his arm started giving him issues. His signature pitch was a fastball that appeared to rise and move into right handed hitters. Great reliever and then gone although the Sox may have got him back for a year after he became ordinary.

I wonder if the team would perk up when certain players get traded. It's not just poor performance but also the attitude a player has. If he is negative, the attitude can spread to other players. Right now Beni appears to be down due to his difficulties getting hits for instance.

I know your a Yankee fan and it is your year. You also make sense on this. We stood pat this year, even though there were some weak spots. We knew second base was unlikely to be covered, we also knew that our relief pitching was worse this year. Our backup catcher was a poor hitter and our center fielder was erratic. It was difficult to correct this problems without exceeding the second tier of the competitive balance tax, so for whatever reason, we did nothing to correct those issues. So this season we suffered some injuries to valued players (all teams do) and others have been off of last years strong showings. We have also had a few guys step it up. Bottom line is we are playing uninspired ball, with aging starters who in general are not pitching well and not eating innings and our BP has been overused and shows it. We do need to make major moves this year and hope to improve the team enough for the 2020 season. Most of the fans have a good idea of the changes necessary and I hhope DD has the savy the support necessary to make moves to strengthen us for 2020.

I postulated having a plan B available. Hold on to the best assets, and we know who they are. Try to trade the marginal guys. Some may be in contracts and are marginal, but we probably can't trade so we hang onto as baggage. DFA players that just don't help the club at all and can't be traded. Bring up the best prospects and let them show if they are ready. Don't trade away the best low cost prospects. Are we at that point yet? It's looking more and more like it for these reasons. 1. Weak starting pitching 2. Awful relief pitching 3. Too many field players who don't or can't hit consistently 4. The general idea of resting key players so that we seldom put the total best on the field together. (I'm old school, where players weren't as coddled)

So, you would rather have Leon catching? Of course you give up one of our best hitters when you do that. Perhaps Sale is just not performing as well this year.

I'll have to look at Carmago, but it sounds like he is the kind of player we should be looking at. It admittedly results in a hole in the outfield so not a slam dunk.

I had earliier suggested that Eovaldi should have gotten his arm surgery done in the off season but others said I was off base so I went back and read the available material. It appears I was incorrect, as his Dr. Ahmad cleared him in November with an examination and an MRI. No problems at that point. It wasn't until throwing 6 innings against the Yankees that he came away unable to straighten his arm and with pain. At that time, he throught 2 weeks after the surgery he could resume activities and be back in a short time. Its now been 10 weeks, presumably because he also strained an arm muscle. He is throwing again, but his game is the high velocity fastball with movement. You have to wonder whether he can remain sound for long when he returns. I hope so but fireballers often go on the IL.

If you could trade Beni for a youngish quality second baseman, I would do it.

Devers has a long swing. The difference is that he makes solid contact.

I would also move him back to 9th unless and until he regains his form. Is it confidence or something physical issue. We don't know, but he certainly is slumping badly. The kid still has a lot of potential so even though I have no idea what is wrong, I would give him more time to right the problem.

Last night the pen gave up 4 in 3 innings and that is an improvement. The problem is obvious.

It's considered a good inning when when the pen only gives up 1.

Beni on the other hand seems lost at the plate. He needs to watch out of JBJ will pass him in BA. When your a hitter who lacks power, you need to be a guy with a high on base percentage. Beni seems like he isn't seeing the ball well. Lots of strikeouts and foul tips. He is not making solid contact.

I like the lineup with Betts, Devers, Bogey and JDM. Beni just isn't getting much done and Devers is a freak hitter. Better get all the runs we can as we know how diffiicult it is to hold a lead.

So why was Shawaryn broughht up if he was not thought of as one of the better prospects. His big problem nas been with location. He may still have value. Look at Tarpley of the Yankees. He was bombed by the Sox, et he will probably be pitching in the majors and be successful. These young guys need time and the real opportnity to show what

This is a team that is largely unchanged from the 2018 with the exception of Kimbrel and Kelly and the Operation on Eovaldi. Same manager and coaches. perhaps a few more injuries but no more than other teams, including the Yankees. It is also a team that spends the most of anyone in baseball to the extent that they are up against the second tier of the competitive balance tax. Why aren't they more competitive? Care to make any guesses? 1. Some of the better teams took action to improve while we stood pat. 2. Cora's plan to prepare the team to play appears to have fallen short. a. The starters weren't ready b. The BP got overworked c. Poor decision to let Eovaldi's operation to be delayed until April. d. Lack of any action to bolster the pitching staff after the loss of Kelly and Kimbrel 3. Some players have shown significant imrpovement (Bogey, Devers, Vazquez) while others have shown significant backsliding (Betts, Beni, JBJ for a long while). 4. The Pedroia issue was not addressed until Chavis was brought up 5. Cora's policy of resting players meant that we seldom put our A team on the field together. Despite all the rest we still produced a long IL. 6. Weak execution with RISP, Base Running, Fielding. Were some reading their newspaper clippings? 7. For a long while, the bottom hitters in the lineup just didn't contribute. Whose fault was it that we structured a team with that kind of problem? I can understand players getting discouraged after so many hard losses. Is there any spirit and enthusiasm left in this group? Did winning the WS foster an attitude of arrogance in the players. Cora is taking today to brainstorm with his coaches. Why has it taken this long to admit that there are big problems?

I don't like the idea of trading away our better young talent when it is unlikely to lead to post season success. We need to be taking a hard look at out outfield for 2020 and Duran may be one that will come along. I doubt that any team would want to take Pearce and Nunez. Cora still is saying the team can win the world series. He is fanticizing.

The premise of JH opening his wallet for still more players seems to me like throwing good money after bad. I doubt if any move we can make at this point will give us a chance to really compete for the WS. Fix what we have and try to rid ourselves of players that are not helping. At my company, you were either an A a B or a C employee. C employees were regularly turned over. Time to do that with some of ours while trying some youth who may blossom like Chavis has. He is not great but given a year of development he appears to be as valuable as Pearce and Moreland.

There is no rush to decide on Betts, unless someone is calling to trade him this season. I prefer to wait and see if he can regain the form that made him an MVP last year. He is a gifted, 5 star player that has lost something this year but may well find the problem and make us believe. Is he worth a big long term cont5ract going forward. That is another question. Right now he is playing like an average ML player so that kind of contract seems more appropriate.

A player needs to consistently be one of the top players in the league to justify such a big long term contract. Mookie hasn't been nearly the player he was last year. He has time to show what he can do this season but he needs to be one of our most important players and so far he has not been that.

Almost any manager can say we can win the RS, we just have to play better. Face it, the Sox are what their record shows they are. A decent club with some nice talent, but glaring deficiencies with pitching and to some extent defense. They are not in a position to get the pieces they need to turn this season around. If they can get a WC from here it will be positive development.

Realistically, we are toast. The BP only has a couple of guys who can hold their own. Part of it is over use and part is in their heads. Our starters have also weakened and unlike you, I wouldn't say that E-Rod had an excellent start. He was gifted with a 4 run lead and immediately went on his nibbling drill. He gave up 2 that he shouldn't have. He has good stuff but he cant seem to get beyond the idea of going 3 and 2 on each batter. He was helped by Nunez defense nor was the BP helped by Chavis defense.