5GoldGlovesOF,75

Transcript of front office meeting to remove the "interim" tag: JH: "We're prepared to make you a millionaire..." B: "... as long as you do what you're told, and take all the heat from the media and blame from the public when outcomes are less than optimal." C: "Sure. Why not."

It would make me sick to see a rookie manager yank his veteran ace coming off a career year for a shaky newcomer who sucked for an entire month... ... but that's only if I was rooting for a team that could hit, and just saw the score turn into a blow-out too large to overcome. However -- the playoff wild card Red Sox circa 2025-26 cannot hit a lick. Get. Some. Fricking. BATS!

The Cubs paid the most money in MLB history for good management three years ago when they recruited Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell. Since then the Brewers have won the most games in the majors.

I will because I'm hearing or reading a lot today about how the Dodgers and Mookie Betts choked -- instead of how the Brewers just swept Skubal, Yamamoto, Snell and Glasnow. Some Red Sox fans are expressing happiness that Betts lost because they feel like they won by Boston not paying him. To that I go to WAR. Mookie's WAR in LA, 2020-2026: 36.5. Do you know who leads the Red Sox in WAR this decade? Hint: he didn't even play for them this season. It's Devers, with 19 -- almost half of Betts' value. Next is Duran with 13. Then it's Bogaerts at 10.1. That says it all about Boston star power in the 2020s.

I looked your order and thought you can't have one without the other. Then I remembered Houston finished .500, and that was how the West was won.

You're right, the Brewers' smallball and largeball allowed them to dominate. They hit 7 homers in 4 games -- or 1.75 per game, compared to not even 1 per in the regular season: 0.95. So of course the best hitter in the entire NLCS was David Hamilton with a .571 BA, who was his usual speed demon, and cracked a longball off Edwin Diaz for the exclamation mark. And I laughed when notin suggested trading Hammy last winter for Yandy Diaz (who he's only out-hitting in this round by 340 points)...

I can't imagine someone's career WAR could be so low after just making the big leagues. Once first graders learn how to read they should be ready for War and Peace. And after my teenager opens his first can of beans he should be ready to beat Bobby Flay. We taught our puppy how to sit and now we're waiting for him to sit on the tractor and mow the lawn. What's taking so long.

Right, but all things being about equal as far as formulas and evals for "best player available," here's where if I were an owner I'd at least advise the front office to pay special attention to recommendations of scouts in our own region. It's just good business in the entertainment business. But don't draft a guy that you don't have at least a verbal commitment for signing from either a parent or agent.

I played with a few and actually had something in common. I once drank a Gatorade in the same state. All draft picks are rolls of the dice. And that truth right there is why smart orgs with the good sense to acknowledge they're in the entertainment business should pay special attention to highly-rated prospects who have thrived in their regions. Fans don't realize how great Tony Conigliaro was, starting in the majors full-time at age 19, and leading the American League in home runs when he was 20 years old. Those were the days when Mantle and Killebrew slugged. OMG, how could the Sox bring up a kid so young. What a coup for the PR department, when fans could go watch a local boy and spend money for tickets on crappy Red Sox teams in the pre-Impossible Dream years.

Watching all the playoff games, it's impossible not to think that as far as pitching staffs go, starters are less valuable than ever before... in the postseason. During the long regular season, starting pitchers who eat innings and keep your team in the game are as important as ever -- but mostly to save arms in the bullpen from burning out... before they become the key men on the mound in October. The Brewers won the pennant last night using two Red Sox rejects as an opener and a bulk man. But their bullpen is unhittable (4 relievers worked 15 IP with 0.00 ERAs). The whiffing White Sox almost made the ALCS with hitters striking out 20 times a game to support openers almost every night. The Guards' strength is their bullpen, which Boston couldn't touch in the final week. But the Rays aren't done, because Baker and Cam Booser are 0.00 through two rounds. Moral: if Breslow and his analysts are paying attention, spend to improve the offense. Hoard the pitching you've already invested in and develop it.

Joshua Baez, the kid who hit 3 straight home runs in his first MLB game for St. Louis this summer and led the minors in HRs, was the 54th overall pick in the 2021 draft. To me it defies belief that the Red Sox weren't in on this guy. This isn't some Yankee fan from a suburb -- Baez is from Dorchester in Boston and was so good he transferred to a private school in Brookline for his junior and senior years, when he was named Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year. Ok, the '21 draft was where the Sox had their highest pick this century and took Marcelo Mayer #4 overall. It happens. But their #2 with the 40th pick was Jud Fabian, who didn't even sign and went back to college. So not only did the incompetent front office miss the best high school baseball player right in their own front yard (Fenway is next to Brookline Ave), but they wasted the pick on a guy they couldn't even sign.

Jake Bauers struck out 13 times in 26 at bats in the NLCS. But he was the MVP for two at bats: the 12-pitch walk that wore out Yamamoto, and the 11-pitch HR that beat LA. Is he suddenly better right now than ever before? Can anyone really call an entire season when Bauers had the most home runs for the best team in baseball a small sample size? Can anyone in their wildest dreams imagine Duran, Story, Anthony, Rafaela, Abreu and Contreras fouling off two dozens pitches total between them... I'm not saying Breslow should overpay for him this winter, but is it possible Bauers finally figured things out at 30 (did Mickey?)? Maybe he just ate a lot of carrots this week.

It's hard to ignore not spending on fan favorites and proven stars, and instead recruit players who were only really good on previous teams. Typical Red Sox fans don't dissect the budget and luxury taxes -- they just see a homegrown Hall of Famer go win 3 more rings in another city, and their top home run hitter for the past decade get signed, only to get dumped and then resume slugging elsewhere. And in the meantime, the guys who were supposed to be the next big thing in Boston either flop or go on the IL. Over and over, all decade. Most of us here are longtime Sox fans lucky enough to see young position players burst into stardom all the time last century: in the 90s and 80s and 70s, even the 60s. Now it's just our turn to suffer through more misfortune and mismanagement.

This has been my point all season. The Rays top three guys are better than the Sox top three -- not just because of homers, but because they're better hitters period. That right there is a big reason Tampa won the East. The Rays' batters who get the most at bats are good and the Red Sox' guys wish they were. If Roman Anthony is ever fighting for a batting title or crushing 40 HRs like pundits predict(ed), he can bat 3rd to drive in other good hitters -- if they ever get more.

I don't want to hear another announcer say a batter "ambushed" a pitcher. No batter ever hides behind a concealed position. He's standing there in the box with a bat in his hand, and the pitcher is throwing a hardball at him. As a hitter, I'm up there to hit -- not take hittable pitches.