dgalehouse

The signings were certainly understandable at the time , especially with all of the good will following the Series . However , we already had Moreland under contract , so Pearce seemed kind of redundant. And Nate had a history of arm problems and inconsistency. Anyway , I really wouldn't complain about the signings except that they evidently precluded doing anything about the bullpen.

Which is the better way to operate ? Sign a quality free agent reliever or two for cash in the off season or wait until you are ten games out and then go shopping for an available arm that will cost you young prospects ? As far as signing Eovaldi and Pearce ; that was largely due to their World Series heroics , not their career records . It was the kind of move that Johnny from Burger King might make if he was G.M. for a day .

Probably most teams have the same thing . Ex players on other teams and doing well .

I say it yet again . Closing ain't easy . Neris blew the save , and Diaz blew it right back .

I would not want to trade Casas for Shane Greene . And that is the problem . You hate to give up what it would take to get a closer type . Actually , I'm not too crazy about Greene anyway .

There are a number of contending teams looking for bullpen help . We are not alone in that regard . There will be competition. Any " rebuilding " team with top tier bullpen help will certainly be looking for good , young players / prospects in return . Throwing in a couple of mediocrities does not really sweeten the pot . No rebuilding team wants or needs these kind of players .

It is interesting how we always put the spotlight on Sox players for either success or failure . As if the other team did not enter into it at all . Examples : You hear : " Great at bat by Bogaerts ." You don't hear : " Herrera sucks ." Or the reverse . You hear : " Barnes sucks ." You don't hear : " Great at bat by Abreu ." It happens all the time . Folks , this is baseball . The opponent is getting paid too. And even teams like the Blue Jays and White Sox have some good players . It's not always about our guys .

Right . The word " fans " is derived from " fanatics." For a reason .

We are halfway through the season . The bullpen has about as many blown saves as they have actual saves . One of the worst , if not the worst , percentage in MLB.This indicates that they are having a lot of trouble holding a late lead and closing out the game . And that is the most important function of a bullpen. There is no getting around that .

That's true . But they are still examples of people over reacting.

Two weeks ago people were saying that Barnes is the only guy in the pen that they trust . Now , it's " anybody but Barnes ." And so it goes .

The thing is , we tend to go overboard on everything. Last year everything fell into place and we won 119 games . So , Cora is " the greatest manager ever . " Now , the team is struggling somewhat , and Cora is a bum . The truth is that he is a pretty good manger who is still learning. Not the greatest and not a bum . Every manager looks better when the players perform well . Every manager looks worse when they don't.

Rosenthal might be worth a shot . What is there to lose ? Bryan " Duke " Ellington won't be walking through that bullpen door .

You can call it a save , hold , blown save , blown hold or whatever you want . But you still need your bullpen to hold on to a late lead and close it out . The starters are not going deep in games very often these days . The bullpen is vital.

I'm not killing Matt Barnes . He probably has the best arm / stuff in the bullpen. The problem is the lack of a real closer . Having a closer would take a lot of heat off the other relievers and help to solidify the bullpen in general .

Yaz , It was strictly sarcasm . Sorry you missed it . I absolutely think the bullpen is a weakness . When you have as many blown saves as you have saves , it means you are having a lot of trouble holding late leads and closing out winnable games . Not a good situation at all . And the Cask 'N Flagon is a must for any Sox fan.

Why ?

Overheard conversation at the Cask N' Flagon bar . Jimmy Spintime : " I can't understand why we are 10 games behind the Yankees . We have basically the same team as last year , except for Kelly and Kimbrel ." Tommy Lykitis : " Well , Kimbrel did have 42 saves last year ." Jimmy Spintime : " Saves are overrated . Why , our bullpen has been our strength this year ." Tommy Lykitis : " Are you serious , Jimmy ? The pen has 16 blown saves . That's about the same number of saves that they have . How the hell is that a strength ? " Jimmy : " Blown saves are meaningless . A bad and misleading stat . " Tommy : " You have got to be kidding me ." Jimmy : " No , I mean it . The pen is fine .The starters have been the problem . Why, if Sale pitched seven scoreless today , we win the game easy ." Tommy : " Jimmy , I think you are losing touch with reality " Jimmy : " No Tommy . Here look. I have a whole page of stats that proves I am right . Check it out ." Tommy: " No thanks . Joe , give me another beer. Skip Jimmy this time . "

Closing ain't easy .

The White Sox are just another crappy team. A sweep is in order .

In 2018 the Sox were the best team in baseball . Nobody with a brain could question that . The parade was wonderful. However , since the parade ended , the Sox front office has mostly been missing in action , while the Yankee's front office has been aggressively looking to improve the team . That is the reason we are presently eight games behind New York . Plain and simple . Common sense . We don't need pages of stats and what ifs to try and explain it away .

It is a sad state of affairs for the American League with so many awful teams . Sadly , the Mariners are one of them .

It's just a move to open a spot on the 40 man roster . Haven't heard any update on Eovaldi in the past few days .

The prodigal son, the problem child returns to save the day .

Late relievers are going to pitch high stress innings . It goes with the territory . There is no getting around the fact that they have 16 saves and 15 blown saves . That is simply terrible .