5GoldGlovesOF,75

2004, not '24 -- I know it's a typo, but Curt hasn't aged well. He's kinda become Boston's Pete Rose...

Behind the Beckett-Lowell trade, I'd take Varitek-Lowe. The catcher is always impactful on a champion, while DLowe not only won all three '04 clinchers, but started Game Seven in Yankee Stadium on two days rest and: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 RUN. Schilling and Pedro were neck-and-neck behind Lowe, but I'd probably rate the Nomar trade ahead of both because of shortstop Orlando Cabrera -- who played every inning of every game in the postseason at the most important non-battery position on the field (0 errors)... and only Ortiz had more RBIs. Dave Roberts (who never played in the World Series) provided one of the most memorable moments in '04 -- but I've always maintained it wasn't even the biggest feat of that inning. That came off the clutch bat of Bill Mueller. Some will argue that Roberts' stolen base was so special because everyone watching in the ballpark and on TV knew he was going... but we also all knew Mueller was trying to get a hit and Rivera was trying to get him out. What would most big leaguers say was harder to accomplish: stealing a base off Mariano Rivera or getting a hit off him with the season on the line?

I'm coming around to your insistence on trading a top prospect (I just can't wrap my head around trading Roman Anthony, who looks like he could be a lefty Tony Conigliaro). Here's a question sure to provoke some passionate replies: which Red Sox trade was THE most impactful helping the club win a World Series this century? Without giving it too much thought, doesn't it have to be Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell for Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez? Beckett, the best pitcher in the world in October 2007, was ALCS MVP. Lowell, who finished fifth in AL Most Valuable Player voting in '07, was the World Series MVP that year.

Even the ones they use to hold their gloves! Hey, that's what happens to guys who do constant arm windmills trying to catch or ward off incessant head-seeking missiles flying moundward from home plate...

I just have teeth to grind. Bloom's biggest blunder was not trading Paxton when he was AL Pitcher of the Month and about to break down with another injury for the stretch drive. Imagine when he was even a year older, that a team would then decide that Paxton would be their answer at the deadline. (and this isn't second-guessing, because just last week I used the word "inevitable" to describe his next injury...)

Better pack plenty of rope cord; there may be several Aunt Edna corpses to tie to the roof.

Watching the Astros completely destroy the Red Sox this weekend should give Boston fans hope... ... for success in future seasons, that is -- which maybe just got closer as the Sox promoted talented core position players to Triple A. Ownership continues to refuse to let the front office invest in quality big league starting pitching, but part of that is a refusal to trade the likes of Mayer, Teel and Anthony. There's a reason Houston is in the ALCS every year, and it has nothing to do with devious algorithms developed by the analytics department or Dusty Baker smoking a joint with Jimi Hendrix. It's all about STAR POWER. Was anyone surprised when Altuve, Bregman and Alvarez demolished Boston pitching... while Romy Gonzalez -- who tried his hardest -- just couldn't come through in the big spots for the Sox?

A negative for a nugatory -- who's the CBO: Ralph Nadir? Day after day, alone on a hill...

Last winter there were so many choices -- and the Red Sox chose... not to choose.

I know, I can't believe Cora keeps using pitchers that throw home run balls, and features a middle of the batting order with platoon guy Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez -- who got cut by the worst team in history. INSTEAD, WHY WON'T HE USE ALL THE STAR PITCHERS AND PLAYERS THAT THE FRONT OFFICE SUPPLIED HIM WITH? All the Astros have is Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yordann Alvarez... keeping a seat warm for injured WAR leader Kyle Tucker. And right now Houston is only missing about six legitimate big league starting pitchers on the IL. So they can only pitch a rookie with a bad record and ERA -- who struck out 13 Red Sox "hitters" in 7 innings.

We can also easily hear Sam spewing the same old, that they already made moves anticipating next year's holes: Giolito replaces Pivetta, Hendriks replaces Jansen, Slaten and/or Fulmer replace Martin... ... it's easy -- all you need is love, love; love is all you need.

How many realistic forum members and lurkers suspect the front office will just fill in your blanks by merely moving up the names already on these lists?

"Lately" is the keyword for the rest of the season. Season stats on pitchers are worthless after the deadline -- guys are either trending or toasting. Anyone watching the Sox since the All-Star Break knows which way the rotation is headed. And it's not like there's any help on the way... If Cora has to go with Openers again, we may see comebacks of Breslow and Bailey on the mound.

The more I think about it -- and Breslow's goal of restocking/restructuring the entire system -- the more I lean toward many Priesters joining the seminary. The Red Sox are determined not to part with any top prospects, but lower level guys just may be the capital they'll use to trade as they stockpile arms with potential for Bailey and his generals to mold. New motto: Out of Quantity Can Come Quality!

Yup, I had a line about the next import, but deleted it. They're probably looking at Yamamoto on the IL his first year and are glad they only blew a 10th of that on Gioelbow.

You talked to Sam? Dr. Reattache and the Breslow and Bailey Circus guarantee that Giolito will be better than any ace we can possibly sign for what he'll earn for the full length of his contract: $58 million dollars!

The best time to invest in longterm starting pitching is always now -- and since Boston's farm system doesn't look to graduate any arms for the big league rotation soon, many upgrades and depth additions are needed asap to supplement the impending ascendancy of our positional core. Without trading the future for guys at the top of this list, who are the best candidates to pursue this winter? I'll take one from each of the next three options... 1. If the best ability is availability, signing Burnes would be priority #1. Gausman, having a down year, may also be had from the rebuilding Jays, if the Sox will absorb the last two years of his contract (and isn't it time they start doing big market things like that again?). 2. Fragile younger guys seemingly poised to break out that might be worth prospect capital in a trade include Miami's Garrett and Luzardo. Which one would Bailey prefer? Both? Neither? 3. Also, two free agents sure to generate interest are Max Fried and Walker Buehler. Both recently returned from major IL time. Fried looks better so far. Can Breslow convince Henry to outbid the Braves, Dodgers and usual suspects for either?

But Ceddanne somehow puts the barrel to more pitches all over the zone; I don't know if there's a stat for fouls, but he definitely makes more weak two-strike contact than Bobby D. by lunging to stay alive -- sometimes he keeps it fair and beats it out, others times he gets another pitch and does damage. Before anyone finds a metric to prove me wrong, maybe ROY voting will be more subjective this year. Who has made more of an impact on the team's success: a pretty solid rightfielder or a guy who stabilized the club by playing the two most important non-battery positions on the field?

Good catch by MVP; I forgot Ellsbury won the starting CF job by the end of the postseason. But no one should forget the Rookie of the Year at second base.

The '07 champs had rookies Pedroia at 2B and Lester starting (and winning) the final game of the World Series. Technically, Dice K and Okajima were also rookies that year... but that's three pitchers. It was also Youk's second full season. The '88 Morgan Magic men had rookie Jody Reed at SS, with Greenwell, Burks and Benzinger in their second full years. They lost four straight in the LCS to Oakland. So were the latter guys too young or just completely outclassed by the mighty A's? In '90, the battle-tested Benzinger swept Oakland out a ring with the Reds. Maybe we should bring up the Big Three next year, and dust off the mantle for another facsimile trophy in '26 (but only after signing or trading for a few aces).

Dennis Eckersly was a 22-year-old All-Star starting pitcher when the Sox stole him from Cleveland in 1978. Various internal conflicts fueled the deal (fans found out much later why Eck and Boston veteran starter Rick Wise "had to go"), but maybe the trade doesn't happen if Boston didn't agree to include Ted Cox, a first-round prospect who batted .362 with an .893 OPS in 13 big league games the previous September, after a Triple A season of .334/.926. Sox fans in the Seventies thrilled to Hall of Famers and league leaders up and down the batting order, but were almost killed by a pitching staff that always fell short. Cox was expendable... A decade later, Eck transformed into the first automatic closer, but in '78 he won 20 games and had a 7.3 WAR. Wise led the majors with 19 losses. Ted Cox lasted parts of five seasons and had a career BA of .245. He was out of baseball at age 26.

Imagine if Red Sox pitchers were hired to throw Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game. If the job was soley to serve BP down the middle, doesn't it seem like they could easily mess that up? Someone would miss the zone entirely, another would drill a batter in the foot, and a third would slump off the mound holding his shoulder until a trainer could help him off the field, through the dugout, and directly into the MRI machine. All Crawford has to do is try to throw home run balls -- then his pitches will break just enough off the plate for big swingers to hit one-stitch easy grounders and pop-ups.

Gil Hodges won a pennant and World Series using four regulars; he platooned eight position players through the rest of the line-up. It was 55 years ago, but Hodges wasn't the first manager in history to platoon. Three of the everyday guys were his best gloves -- at catcher, shortstop and centerfield; the other was his best hitter... ... that may be the reason they were known as the Miracle Mets. Either that, or the true miracle was having a mound core of Koosman, 26, Seaver, 24, Ryan, 22 and Gentry, 22.

They get to play the White Sox more than clubs in other divisions do... ... though the Pale Holes are 2-2 vs. the Blushing Stirrups -- with three more at Fenway in September (let's hope those games still mean something by then)!

... and as a staff, the Red Sox are exactly league-average in yielding HRs... for the season.