5GoldGlovesOF,75

I don't know if Suarez fits in with the current Red Sox' offense, since his strikeout rate has dipped below 30%, after leading the league in Ks three times in the past five years.

And this is why the Red Sox have no excuse about missing the Tame Card. If only they were good enough to sweep the worst team in history -- with three less losses they'd be knocking on the door of the postseason.

Nor can this possibility be ignored: The Sox got 0 IP from Giolito and (because of that) almost made the postseason. But I agree with you that pitchers already acquired will be billed as a big part of the new staff. And I predict they'll sign a few more rehabbing reclamation projects who won't be quite ready to break camp next March, but who expect to return by the summer when they "will be better than anyone we can trade for at the deadline."

I already posted about the Moncada and Hanley Ramirez trades for Sale and Beckett. When the Red Sox parted with those top prospects, they already had Big League rosters loaded with star talent on World Series contenders. That's not even close to the case this winter. Instead, they could choose to pay for free agent pitching, and spend all that money they've saved recently to get below the luxury tax... or they could trade surplus players for young arms that won't command Top 10 returns. How about a guy like Miami lefty Ryan Weathers, 24, who made 14 starts this year and had a 1.181 WHIP?

Ex-players-turned-announcers recently stressed the importance of multiple stars carrying clubs to the postseason. Most of the playoff teams are loaded with position player talent, and the few that aren't have top pitching staffs, like Milwaukee and Cleveland. The Red Sox had one star player all season, and it wasn't Rafael Devers. All-Star MVP Jarren Duran needs more quality company around him in the batting order and on the field -- not less. Trading a guy like Roman Anthony who may be an All-Star for the next decade isn't worth it for pitching, not when modern arms are all just an elbow tendon away from years of ineffectiveness. Star power is just as big a need in Boston as starting pitching. A young core of position players that grows into contenders together is also vital in building and sustaining a young core of fans who can identify with their cause.

I know you were, just josh winking you. So... would you rather they sign Soto for $60 million per year, and trade Duran and Anthony for real pitchers... or keep the homegrowns and spread that same $60 mil budget to ink three legitimate MLB arms?

Werner just said he meant Full THROATLE -- to explain how the Sox choked again... with an epiglottis clogged by a big apple from the Garden of EVEN. "If the season ended today," spewed Tom, "You couldn't say the 78-78 Red Sox are losers!"

If he sucks, we can give him an opt in... but if he's good, there'll be a Dodgers-Yankees clause where he can leave and sign for current market prices. The Red Sox menu has a lot of King Crab Legs.

Are Urquidy me? He's perfect for the Red Sox: damaged goods -- maybe even damaged bads -- but probably eager to ink a pillow contract to get paid while he rehabs, with a target date return at the end of next summer... when "he'll be better than anything on the trade market; and we don't have to deal prospects for him!" There has to be a whole conference table of Asst. VPs in Boston who've already conspired to offer him a lowball, scrapheaping helping of salad bar greens, and are now plotting how not to leave cyber footprints as evidence for tampering (counting, of course, on the MLB to look the other way at any possible transgressions toward the Astros... forever).

Sam Kennedy will be the only one to admit it, if the Red Sox can be totally dishonest with you, But I'm not going to be truthful with you: when people in power lie all the time, the Nation has zero expectations to believe anything at all... that way, there's no need to worry about worrying.

I'm sure I'm not the only fan this year who agonized dozens of times -- maybe hundreds or thousands in my rueful recall -- when there was a baserunner on third... or even a ghost on second... and all I begged the hitter to do with his bat was, "TOUCH THE BALL!"

A few more stats for the Crawdad: no MLB pitcher has lost more games this season... but neither has anyone started more games. His WHIP is just out of the Top 10 BEST, while his ERA+ is better than the big league average. Even as gopher ball king, Cutter Crawford is a viable member of a five-man starting rotation.

Bob Gibson would also give us that right-handed power bat we're missing! More World Series home runs than Willie Mays! More career HRs than Trevor Story has for Boston! But all this is mere hyperbole -- after Sunday -- when the Red Sox won the most games and scored the most runs in the history of yesterday!

Everyone who thinks Abreu is such a solid all-around rookie and Rafaela is a hopeless hacker realizes that Wilyer's K-rate is 29.0% and Ceddanne's is 26.6%? The only regular with a worse K-rate than Abreu is O'Neill, at 33.6%. That is, unless you count Casas, whose 34.1% K-rate includes 40% looking (O'Neill's 25.2% looking, Abreu's is 13.8%, Rafaela's is 11.6%).

The Red Sox' problem is that they don't have any surplus of star ballplayers. The MLB roster of position players is loaded with guys who can do one or two things really well at the top level, but added all up, they're not good enough. Teams that lose more than they win are not good. The Red Sox are not a good baseball team. None of us were shocked when Boston traded top prospects Hanley Ramirez or Yoan Moncada. Maybe it's because the org had question marks about each or maybe it was because the parent clubs had solid cores, with more near-ready talent in the pipeline. Not this year; if Brezlow swaps a top 4 prospect, we all better believe that guy was identified as not being part of the future core -- for whatever the reason/s.

No, just refuse to trade a future star and potential MVP. They're way too rare, and more valuable playing everyday than an ace starting pitcher. The Red Sox have only one this season on their entire MLB roster. And I'm not talking about a guy who doesn't even play in the field but can carry a team all year just as a DH -- because Ohtani is unique. But so is Paul Skenes, and the Pirates are coming in last place again.

This is a great point, Maddie, and one I was wary of with a new CBO and pitching coach (both former relievers who thrived throwing breaking balls); the new emphasis on a staff spinning sweepers always looked risky backed by the worst infield in baseball. I actually expected Brez to go hard after big arms that throw hard... because blowing it by guys -- pitching to no contact -- is definitely one way to shore up that D. But after agonizing over the '24 Red Sox batters' nightly whiff fest, imagine them having to face the dirt cheap, scrapheap, knee-deep in sweep Boston pitching...

C'mon, Larry -- way more than four pitchers have kept our favorite flailures from making the postseason. I count 19 swings and misses at pitches not even in the strike zone. Some of them were so low that batters had to dig underground to hack at...

Are you sure? We are the Sultans of Swing... AND MISS!!!

I'd take Merrill and Tatis in a heartbeat in Boston, where they'd both have better K-rates - 17.5% and 21.8% - than the Whiff Sox' top SEVEN home run hitters.

The straw man don't hit the longball, but the straw man don't strike out.

When Merloni said, "Worst offense in baseball," I didn't take it as complaining... just an ex-big leaguer and current professional analyst stating a harsh fact. Posters can dig into plenty of statistics to argue Boston is middle-of-the-pack, but Sox fans still watching only need to cite one: 20 -- as in strikeouts last night, in another nail hammered into the coffin door. Here are a few stats from bb-ref... Red Sox' September: 173 Ks/548 ABs = 32%. Contrast with the club with the fewest whiffs, San Diego: 103Ks/576 ABs = 20% The Padres were a game below .500 when they acquired contact king Luis Arraez... and now they're going to the playoffs. Red Sox have to stop relying on sluggers who swing so hard they injure themselves into ineffectiveness: Devers, Casas, O'Neill. No more muscular athletes! Recruit more hand-eye guys, ping-pong champs and pool sharks...

The Sox should just pick a game this week and each at bat make Rafaela go up to the plate barehanded... but just for the first two pitches each time. Because no Red Sox maybe in my fading brain's history has been 0-and-2 in so many ABs the last two months. It always seems like whenever a guy is slumping, he's always in an 0-and-2 hole (but usually not from swinging at every single ball out of the zone). The first batter I recall noticing this was Carl Crawford in 2011. Since then, there have been plenty of Bradleys, Dalbecs, Durans, Abreus, Storys, Devers, and Casases to go around. But imagine the pressure no bat would put on the pitcher! If Ceddanne can just coax one ball in two pitches, he'll be back in business. Check out his 2024 batting averages -- 0-2 (96 PA): .146; 1-1 (50 PA): .367; 2-0 (SIX PA -- no, really): .200... 1-for-5 with a sac fly; smallest sample size in MLB. Then again, in 1-and-0 counts (26 PA) Rafaela is batting .417 with a 1.275 OPS!!! Here's an idea, Cora -- GIVE HIM A FREAKING TAKE SIGN!!!!

True, but when Minnesota's bus pulled into Fenway, the passengers had to cover their mouths with hankies... ... like in the recovery scene of a disaster movie. Buckle up, fans of whiff: Sox batters have struck out 241 more times than the Twins, whose pitchers lead the league in K per 9 IP... W-L July-August-September: Twins 33-36, Red Faces 32-37.

Simple way to do this and not decrease ticket sales: attach new elevated seats to the tops of all the poles already obstructing fans. Construction needn't be elaborate -- they could just use as many as three pre-fab treestands like outdoor stores sell to deer hunters. Ladder rungs on the poles would also have to be installed, but a selling point could be sobriety requirements. This can even generate more jobs, as Fenway can hire special ushers to monitor each pole and give regular breathalyzer tests during games.