Fan_since_Boggs

In crucial game 3 against the Rays (a two game swing one way or the other), Cordero and Gonzalez went a combined 0 for 6 with 5 strikeouts. If you add Duran to the mix, the 3 players combined for an 0 for 10 with 8 strikeouts. We are now 1-2 weeks removed from the trade deadline and the Red Sox still have automatic outs in their lineup with Cordero, Dalbec, and Gonzalez. To make matters worse, Duran is getting off to a slow start in his major league career. When you put it all together, the Red Sox have some black holes in their lineup night after night. Might as well let the pitcher hit. The Red Sox traded for Robles and yet couldn't add more depth to their position players? The Red Sox totally misjudged this team and now it is too late to do anything about it. Brilliant.

I'm not at all surprised about LaRussa. He is a HOF manager who had a knack for winning throughout his career -- 3 World Series titles. He is an older manager, obviously, but 76 is not too old. Many people remain alert, smart, and aware in their 70s without cognitive decline.

This season had been going so well. The Red Sox were in first place with the best record, they drafted future HOF SS M.Mayer, the Red Sox had numerous exciting come-from-behind wins, and then the trade deadline happened and every competitor got better but not the Red Sox, and then the Red Sox imploded.

There is only one solution and his name is BUCK SHOWALTER! Bye, bye Cora.

The Mets should hire Theo Epstein -- they need someone like that to turn around the franchise and excite an unhappy fan base. S.Cohen has the money to entice Theo but does Theo even want to be a GM again? Something tells me he is grooming himself to be the future Commissioner of MLB. Still, if I'm S.Cohen, and have money to burn, I'm calling Theo in the offseason and seeing if he will sign on. The Mets are in a tough situation. They probably need a complete rebuild, but it is hard to do that when they have a pitcher like Degrom and just signed dipshit Lindor to that huge contract. It would be interesting to see what Theo would do with the Mets--would he tear them down or not?

Neither article referenced him, but if C.Seabold has another excellent start in AAA, I would promote him and use him to piggyback off of Houck. Kind of like Houck goes 4, and then Seabold pitches the next 4. They can easily make room for Seabold: demote Davis or Rios, release Robles, or put Sawamura on the DL. I guess there is a possibility that Richards could be deactivated (rather than sent to the bullpen).

Yahoo Sports is covering this too: https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-rumors-red-sox-discussing-190039239.html Good point:

Oh my god, the Red Sox are considering making some roster changes. I'm in a state of shock--did you ever think we would see the day? Bloom and Cora have mismanaged this team. The Red Sox have finally concluded that they need to make changes (hallelujah and congratulations!), but the trade deadline came and went, the train has left the station, and so the Red Sox are limited in what they can do.

Being impulsive is dangerous but being too patient can be irrational too, and the issue with Cora (and/or the Red Sox front office) this season concerns the latter more than the former. Dalbec, & Gonzalez & Cordero = 703 PA and counting. I suppose a similar argument could be made about Perez and Richards, but I’m trying to figure out who would have replaced them in the rotation. What would have happpened if, say, Richards got hurt 1-2 months ago?

That is funny. Mike Andrews = the last of the big spenders. It is also funny (and disingenuous) when soxprospects does its donation drive and claims they will turn soxprospects into a paid site if they don't receive enough funds. Yeah, OK, make it a paid site and I'm sure there are millions and millions of people just waiting to pay for information on Red Sox prospects that they can get elsewhere on the Internet (for the most part). LOL BTW, if people are interested, Over the Monster was looking for writers. Unlike soxprospects, I believe Over the Monster does pay its writers. Here is the link: https://www.overthemonster.com/2021/7/26/22594326/boston-red-sox-writer-position-application-over-the-monster-staff

True, but for an aging player it becomes a little more problematic: a big April and then the rest of the season spent in the low 800 OPS range. That's not ideal and might have some predictive value going forward. But we don't know what the rest of the season will bring. If JD has a big Sept., I think he will look much more appealing to teams in free agency and has a better chance to land that multi-year contract. For the Red Sox, I think the best scenario would be: JD declining the option and becoming a free agent, save 20 mil, move Schwarber to DH (after extending him) and then find a starting 1b for one season.

Does an .800 OPS get Martinez a 3 year 45 mil dollar contract? Take away his April, and Martinez has been an .800 OPS guy this year. Sure, better than garbage like Dalbec, but worth 45 mil? I have to admit, I suck at figuring out player contract values, but I wouldn't want to pay an 800 OPS guy 45 million to do nothing but hit, especially an aging player like Martinez who has demonstrated the worst strikezone judgment of his career.

Schwarber is an ideal fit for DH in 2022, but the more that JD slumps, the greater likelihood he returns for one more year so he can collect 20 million. I think the odds of JD returning are a little better than 50-50, meaning that Scharber will probably need to play 1b in 2022 (while JD plays out the last year of his contract) and then Schwarber switches to DH in 2023 (with Casas taking over 1b).

I was against Cron but I would take Cron over doing nothing except trading for Schwarber (on the position player front). The Red Sox added two lousy relievers at the deadline, two players that weren't needed, and yet Bloom couldn't find another position player? I think Bloom pulled a groin muscle in his brain, maybe Cora did too.

I wouldn't worry about Barnes. The Red Sox traded for Hansel Robles and he can always take over the closer role. Also, it is great how Bloom fleeced Brian Cashman in the Ottavino deal. Not only are the Red Sox paying Ottavino 8 mil this year, a relief pitcher who has a post-All Star break ERA of 8.59, but the Red Sox also acquired top pitching prospect Frank German in the deal. Incredible work by Bloom!

Another year, and another Mets collapse? The Phillies are now in first place. Our old friend Dave Dombrowski made a deal at the deadline to strengthen the Phillies and it is working out so far (he gave up a quality prospect, though). The Mets acquired J.Baez who is now hurt? to make matters worse, Baez is a rental and the Mets traded away Crow-Armstrong to acquire him. Crow-Armstrong is a former first round pick, an excellent defensive CF, and a really good prospect. The Lindor contract was stupid too. If Lindor went on the free agent market, I can't envision someone offering him 340 million. He has been a 2 WAR player this year and has a 94 OPS+. What a train wreck of an organization. The Mets are unlikable with Lindor. Since he is being paid a fortune, he acts like he is joe-leader of the Mets, taking on that captain D.Jeter role. But Lindor has never won a championship and he isn't hitting.

This would be interesting to know. Let's hope we learn more about how this happened. If the Red Sox obfuscate on this matter, we can safely assume he did indeed injure himself practicing at 1b.

Kutter Crawford continues to look like a guy who will get serious consideration for the 40 man roster: 5 IP, 2 ER, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts. He continues his trend of excellent ratios--he doesn't walk many batters. I wonder how he profiles as a reliever? I was thinking this morning about how much soxprospects.com site kind of sucks. No updates on K.Crawford and his future as a reliever or starter and nothing on Downs -- what is he doing wrong? How are the Red Sox trying to fix him? Actually, soxprospects has a lot of useful information but they don't have some of that inside information that I would like to know about....alas. Bello continues to be interesting, very interesting: 5.1 IP with 11 strikeouts! He clearly has dominant stuff but he is still learning how to pitch. He continues to demonstrate an impressive ceiling, probably the best starting pitcher prospect in the Red Sox system.

Because Schwarber might not make it at first base or may be so counterproductive defensively at 1b that it offsets some of his offensive production. If the Red Sox acquired someone with a track record of playing 1b, they could still find playing time for Schwarber especially with the possibility that Duran will need time in 2022 to figure out ML pitching. Also, if there are two months left in the season, why spend one-fourth (or more) of that period without adequate reinforcements waiting for the injured players to return? It is clear now that the Red Sox have decided to take that risk. We will see how it works out. So far, not so good, but the Red Sox could still win the division. If that happens, Bloom will look a lot smarter than he does now. And how quickly is Schwarber going to return? Some say in a week or two but some have said longer. In the best scenario, the Red Sox play one-fourth of the final two months without him, but one-fourth is a large chunk of baseball games in a two month window (as Red Sox fans are learning the hard way). If he is out longer, the Red Sox are screwed even more.

The urgency would be mitigated if all healthy, but the Red Sox are not all healthy and there are only two months of the season left. But the other assumption is that Schwarber, if or once healthy, can play 1b. Problem is, if he can't play 1b, the Red Sox will continue constructing lineups like a NL team with the pitcher batting. While the Rays, Blue Jays, and Yankees improved at the deadline, the Red Sox did not immediately improve. They brought in two worthless relievers and an injured player who might solve a major weakness whenever he gets healthy. That wasn't good enough--the results speak for themselves. The Red Sox needed an SP upgrade as priority number 1, but a S.Pearce type of upgrade would have helped a slumping offense. The word that comes to mind is, "reinforcements." It is hard to obtain SP upgrades, and so I can look the other way on that one, but obtaining a S.Pearce type shouldn't be too expensive or beyond the capacity of the general manager.

Bloom failed the organization by doing dumb things like trading for two bullpen arms that aren't much better than a few guys at AAA. But more importantly, while the Schwarber trade was excellent, he needed to upgrade the position player depth so that marginal players could be jettisoned, such as Dalbec, Cordero, and Gonzalez, and replaced by useful depth players who can occasionally contribute. I do think that S.Pearce, putting aside his W.S. MVP and looking at him as a regular season player, is a pretty good prototype of the kind of player the Red Sox should have targeted and acquired at the deadline. A player like Pearce wouldn't cost the Red Sox a top prospect. By strengthening the bench and jettisoning useless garbage like Gonzalez, Dalbec, and Cordero, maybe the Red Sox win the first game of the Blue Jays double-hitter, maybe they score a few extra runs with fewer automatic outs in the lineup. The Red Sox lineup is similar to a national league lineup with the pitcher hitting--there are too many easy outs, too many players with fringe hitting skills. The fact that the Red Sox are still giving a ton of at bats to Gonzalez, Dalbec, and Cordero, in a season in which the Red Sox had already given them too many at bats, speaks to Bloom's failure at the deadline and perhaps Cora's failure as manager of the Red Sox. Maybe Cora should have asked the front office for better players, someone needed to do something, that much is clear. What's wrong with the idea of improving your position player depth? It seems like a good idea to me especially if your present position player depth is totally inadequate and that is obviously the case with the Red Sox: Dalbec 73 OPS+, Cordero 44 OPS+, Gonzalez 56 OPS+.

J.Downs was 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts! His batting average is down to .188. Brutal.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Red Sox have a club option on Perez for 2022. Can anyone confirm that this is true? I thought that Perez had a player option for 2022, but I guess not? If true, this is great news. The Red Sox will obviously decline Perez's option, one less lousy player on the 40 man roster.

He had pretty good AAA numbers against lefties, though. I see him as a platoon bat, fourth OF. He isn't anything special, though, I understand that, but the other guys suck too: Dalbec, Potts, Cordero and Gonzalez. This season is collapsing fast. Pretty soon I'll be rooting for the Rays to win games hoping the Yankees don't win the division. Amazing how quickly things can change.

Perez demoted to the bullpen. Duran out with Covid-19. The Red Sox promoted Arauz to take Duran's spot. This is where M.Wilson would have been useful. I'm not sure why Wilson got the axe over Potts. In fact, I would keep Wilson over Cordero and Dalbec as well. Now that Duran is out, does this mean that Cora can't resist playing the piece of s*** Gonzalez and his 56 OPS+?