vegasbob

Hernandez is nothing but a thrower with no real ability. he has been given multiple opportunites to control/command his pitching and failed each time. he is among the people who normally would be DFA'ed if there was anyone of better skills behind them. Darwinzon will never be a MLB pitcher of any note.

I have contended that Cora has played BP roulette now for a couple weeks and always goes down when 00 comes up after he has covered the other 36 numbers. Hernandez is a loser and always has been. Truly a given away game, but even then, the hitters got 3 runs in, 1 by Plawecki, the other 2 on a single swing by Devers. JDM and Hosmer showed the difficulty of having guys with WT power , instead of 3 manhole wallops. They can still take 3 of 4 vs KC and win the next 50 in a row, in an alternate universe. In the one which we live in, this is a sub .500 team now.

I can see infield defense is a little shaky tonight

Did Swihart have an arm?? What about Montgomery, Sullivan, Lavarnway etc? I don't recall much of their defense.

Plawecki couldn't just strike out , could he? His OPS will be under .500 after this game. In fact it is .499 now. There are a number of guys now on the 26 man roster who will not be here next year, and any/all could be DFA's if their replacement from the minor league system were ready. 6 names for sure

Duran's noodle arm reminds me of the great Ellsbury.

Sometimes I'd like to Fuggedabout Pivettabout. Why is Plawecki catching ? I thought we bought ourselves a shiny new player.?

Well that would be the Bloomin' Onion wouldn't it. Let's just hope that this 2/3rds season, clubhouse mea culpa meeting and Trade Deadline mini-moves mark the lowpoint of the current Sox FO. Better days and rosters must surely be ahead

And if that is true, then Cora can commiserate with Dave Roberts of the Dodgers and Joe Maddon before he got fired . Both of whom made the same complaint.

The great majority of posters here have had extensive personal and/or observational experience of team sports over multiple decades . It both was and should have been evident that the attitude/morale of the Sox '22 team was a mess. You know what you are seeing, TalkSoxers. The veterans were looking at the younger players and seeing a serious deficit of talent that was obvious . The FO did not step up timely either in mid March nor April to address some gaping holes . The run in June was an outlier against primarily marginal teams that faded very quickly when July's AL East opponents arrived, and speculation on the buy/sell trade deadline came alive. Good for Bloom if he stood up in the clubhouse and explained his longer term game plan, to the extent there is one. Let's see how they play for this 4 game series and try to see if it made any difference . Yes, this team can still get hot and jump the Orioles (LMFAO even typing that) , and get a WC slot. Not sure if that would resolve a frustrating season to date or make clear where the Sox may be competing in '23/'24.

Addition by subtraction. A mentor once told me that poor performers will drag you down more by hanging around than if they are just gone . I do not think Vaz was a poor performer and actually helped this team stay at .500 .

The DD in Didi probably disqualifies him from being on the Sox. I would, however, take most anyone over Yolmar Sanchez's bat.

No, the "actual players" were those who broke camp in April, crapped all over themselves, with a few exceptions, in April-May, then made an amazing run in June only to fall back into the wishing well in July, maybe to surface again in August, who knows. Inconsistency from the FO to the field in 2022. You are right--- the needs were well known all winter while waiting on the CBA and they displayed themselves like bright shiny objects through many of those 104 games, half of which were won/half lost. Probably an achievement in itself given the lack of performance in the lower half of the lineup and the amazing list of significant IL time for key guys.

Keep in mind that Hosmer and Pham are just older plug-ins for gaping holes in the lineup, not part of a sustainable competitive team for 2023-2025. These holes were identifiable during the winter '21-'22 but the CBA BS prevented more timely moves. If accurate, Bloom then let his lack of urgency defer any action. He thought Kike could play a season and that Dalbec had turned a corner, and Barnes might get his head straight. Oh and Chris Sale might have actually pitched at some point. Not an apologist for Bloom, but the actual players did about all they could to mess up 2022.

Friedman has the ultimate deep pocket ownership ( Mark Walter/ Todd Boehly of Guggenheim Baseball Management ) and has spent even more than they have in the bank. The Dodger 2022 payroll is over $280 million vs the Sox $206 million, $63 million of which is useless money with respect to winning games in 2022. In fact , a chunk of that money ( D. Price ) subsidizes the Dodgers roster cost.

Because Red Sox management is being talked about as an inclusive, collaborative effort with Chaim as the committee chair , the retention of JDM and Eovaldi, if not others, even for small talents, can be explained . I think what we do not know is the extent of the strings attached to Bloom by Kennedy, Henry, and other influencers who MIGHT have said, keep Julio and Nathan we can't stand the heat from the fans Bloom has now tacitly acknowledged the blunder of the JBJr mistake. Even if you say that JBJr's role was to simply be the 4th OF'er/late inning D, there was no excuse for picking up that contract vs spending the same for another FA. Of course, Bloom did not know that Kike would be a bust both when he played and lead off and since he has spent months on the IL, exposing JBJr in a bad way, and indirectly causing reliance on Cordero as a regular. Sale is a whole other story on the pitching side. To those who think a WC #3 ( a chip and a chair ?) could lead to a post season run like 2021 , I get that the postseason is a crapshoot. But this team, and particularly its IL issues, do not breed confidence in a run to the Series.

This confirms to me that Bloom shopped JBJr pretty hard through Tuesday's deadline but could not get any other team to pay off his salary plus option. So by DFA'ing Jackie now, they will see if there is any salvage value. The money is as good as spent, so a new team can get Jackie for the MLB minimum, maybe the Sox can wheedle out a 20th round draft choice in 2025.

Nice little run but at the end of the day it's a .500 team . The next couple weeks do provide an opportunity to get about 5 over depending on the ability to dominate the Royals and pirates and, oh yeah, beat the Orioles. 11 games against weaker teams and only 5 vs Braves/NYY.

A Bogey bomb

Vaz is slumping badly (0-5 as an Astro). Good move, our new catcher has 2 hits

McGuire needs to work on his launch angle to get it over the fence

McGuire and Pham are the two Red Sox hits so far today (6 innings). Just think where we would be without those moves. Yeah, watching a no-hitter

I think organizations run by committees and consensus remain middle of the road and average performers. Now DD may have been too autocratic but given where he was in his career and self opinion, I can believe he didn't ask the janitor what he thought about a trade.

I said yesterday that it was Vaz as the problem all along. Plawecki's CERA is through the roof now

Is Franchy now pitching for Woosox ??