vegasbob

One title in the 2000's , and not much else ? What other high spending teams in the 2000's did not even get that ? Try the LA Dodgers. Even the Marlins, Royals, Diamondbacks, Phillies and White Sox achieved the one title, but no follow through. 13 different teams won it in the 2000's, even the Yankees twice. Only one team won it 4 times in the last 20 seasons. Time for a new decade

Like a few of our options at first base. Trust me, no fan of Birds nor advocating picking him up. Unless he can pitch the 8th inning.

Jacoby is clearly not on any Red Sox go forward screen , but AC may find that he is very well rested even though he may not be capable of running all the way to first base. The idea of the Yankees swallowing over $21 million for our 26th man does make it intriguing . Could Ells outhit JBJr or Gorky Hernandez . Or JDM in CF and Ellsbury DH'ing, what could go wrong ? Talk about a flame out by a guy who should have been able to make Brett retire 3 years ago.

Probably the best aspect of having Chaim Bloom in charge is getting another team's perspective on both our 40 man roster and the guys playing in our minor league system who are not rostered. With time in place the proximity and personal relationship factor likely leads to a lot of bias in assessing the value of your own assets. " My guys are better because they are mine". Chaim must have a mental if not computer file book on all our guys. That will help.

Fully agree, going back to being cognizant of the Sox and being taken by my father to Fenway since the early 1950's. You don't know frustration and Yankee disdain without that history up through 2003. The 7 game WS losses and the 1 game shootouts were even worse . Just watched something on the RS MLB site showing David Ortiz memorable HR, one each from 2003 through 2016. All I could think about watching the balls fly out was that they won it all 3 time with Ortiz and many others and once after. Get ready for the next one even if it takes a few years to reorganize this team. In the interim be consistently competitive which was probably the biggest complaint in 2018.

In older school baseball world a squealer telling stories out of the clubhouse would be severely ostracized by his peers. Fiers may have thought he was doing a public service announcement to the rest of the league, bu it was probably not news to the rest of his fellow players.

The team tryng to steal the signs better be right or there is a much higher chance of the hitter looking for a breaking ball and get the heater to the face . It may have worked for some, but thinking you heard the garbage can lid banging and hitting a baseball with high confidence are two different things.

To be a great hitter you need quick hands with the bat, which JD may well have. To play first base you need quick hands to handle rocket shots down the line and scoop skipping incoming low throws. My guess is that JD does not have quick fielding hands, only hitting hands. His history in the outfield would seem to indicate a degree of awkwardness, slow feet and not so quick reaction time. Let him be a great DH like Ortiz, while he's here.

I understand Robert Mueller is free to take on new investigative assignments

Just the case of being a sports team's "fan" includes an inherent personal bias affecting clear thinking about their situation. Add to that personal emotions about one player's performance vs another further clouds clear thinking. Hence, the clarity of advanced analytics. If only someone would tell the players to consistently exceed their historical performance level personnel decisions would be much easier.

Agreed that Rendon will be the bellcow for FA position players this post season. If he can score $30MM/yr+ AAV for 7 or 8 years, then Mookie will surely shoot for 10@ $300MM+ . I also think the comment that the Sox will make a fair and realistic offer to him, but will get outbid by is also likely, whether they trade him or not prior to his FA period. It is a real dilemma if it comes down to keeping only one of Martinez or Betts. Mookie does bring a much better all around game (defense/baserunning, potentially comparable hitting) . Not sure why he had such a slow start in 2019 but with his contract year coming up and looking for playoff positioning in 2020, I think you have to keep Mookie at least to trade deadline in July, and shop JDM now who may not be matched as a DH but is easier to replace in the lineup. Of course all the discussion is about JBJr/JDM/MB but the pitching uncertainty is a much bigger problem. While it is interesting to try and juggle a roster to JH's $208 million tax threshhold, I seriously doubt Henry will let it be a mandate that cannot be crossed for the right mix of talent, maybe up to $215MM just to pick a number.

Brett Gardner at any cost and any luxury tax just so he could benched (0 appearnces in a game), then DFA'ed on September 29

Has there been any news out on Sale's condition, the follow up evaluation ? He's got about 90 days to be ready for ST. Calling Dr. Jackson for an update on Chris's survivability.

Now down 3-1 to the Astros , and facing Verlander, our contributor from NY gets a chance to see how his well constructed team fares in a gut check game. The result could be fun to watch, if a Yankee failure concludes their season.

People like Kevin Millar are very useful in energizing the people around them to lighten up and get hard work done, whether sports or everyday life. He was and still is a treat to listen to on his show. I don't know if the 2019 Red Sox had such a personality to wake them up . Probably Brock Holt would seem to be the closest. I suspect there was some friction between various players. The 3 OF'ers who danced their way through 108++ wins in 2018 did not seem like such good buddies in 2019. Ever see JBJr smile ?

Pablo F'ing Sandoval. Carl F'ing Crawford among others.

Freidman has some free time now, well once he fires Roberts and trades Joe Kelly. May as well get the whole band back together with Freidman, Roberts, Maddon (3B coach,lol) and Jim Hickey. TB North in the confines of Fenway Park.

That was an epic failure of judgement, especially after the leadoff walk and then a hit. Intentional walk to set up the DP, but wait it turned into a Grannie. Way to go Joe, you go Dave Roberts fired.

It is no longer Fire WTF Cora, it's his long lost cousin Dave Roberts who inexplicably let Smokin Joe Kelly give up the bomb that sunk LA. Dave will remain a Red Sox favorite for starting the ultimate comeback rally, but relying on Joe Kelly after a leadoff walk in the 10th, followed by a hit is too much to overlook. Fire Dave Robert, Mr. Friedman

We talk about a lot of dead money deals , but who would have thought that the 8 year contract with dirt dog Laser Show would result in effectively 4 years ('18/'19/'20/'21) of $55 million in dead money. Thank you, Mr. Padre Machado.

Jack, the GM position is still open. You have aced the interview with your 2 threads.

Moon, the elephant in the room that goes beyond any coaching changes or rebuild by trades or sudden development by one of the higher Sox MiLB players or extension of Betts is what can Sale/Price/Eovaldi do next year, and can Erod maintain his 2019 success. Without those 3 earning their punishing contracts, the position players output won't matter any more than it did this year. The real problem is that the Red Sox won't know what those 3 can do at the earliest mid-February and more likely Memorial Day 2020, when it will be too late to make much of a difference. Additionally, a #5/6 starter needs to be acquired who can outpitch the Johnson/Velazquez/Weber bunch. Porcello despite all the moaning and groaning filled a big slug of innings and won at about the same pace as the team did. The starting pitching was considered the strength in Spring 2019 and faltered badly despite Erod's emergence. Shuffling Beni, JBJr,Betts, JDM, etc is not going to answer the question of the starters contribution. A good year by each of them will turn the Sox into competitors again. Poor results and it will be over by end of May. An incoming GM, or internal promotion will be seriously challenged because they have the contracts to pay out, but do they have 1, 2, or 3 capable starters for the next few years ? Recency tells us do not count on Sale or Price and Eovaldi is iffy too for a full season.. Not good odds.

There was no need to extend Sale when DD did so. He may have been played, the doctors who may have examined him looked at him from a current condition status, not in terms of his radical motion. His problem in 2019 was different than the shoulder was in 2018, but in 2020 it may be the wrist. Whatever his condition and abilities over the next few years, the one between his ears may be the real ????. Can he learn to pitch without relying on power? Does his stuff translate to a true pitcher changing speeds, elevation, in/out, etc.? In other words, can Chris Freakin Sale get by without Sandy Leon ?

I'm not seeing nor looking for the Boston news outlets, but is there any name (as in "Someone in Charge") being attributed to these pre-NewGM moves? It looks more like a house cleaning chore to clear some space for a new GM coming in. Unless Cora announced it as his decision to revamp his coaches, then he should wonder how long his leash is. My only question on AC is how much of the full season fish flopping around represented a group attitude by this overall team that was tolerated by Alex. Clearly he could not change the momentum by himself. The effective absence of Sale, Price, Eovaldi , especially in the second half precluded any serious run by this team, no matter who was managing. Absent those guys, a one game WC chance would have been about as bad as finishing third was. To me the real question for anyone coming in or remaining is how will they deal with an ineffective Sale/Price/EO next Spring and into April, if that becomes evident. Prior to ST, they will all be poster biys for Men's Health magazine, but it may not be a true assessment.

Everyone likes to forget that it was Nicky Punto who solidified the Dodger trade. Nicky rode the same plane as the other 3 westbound throw-ins