5GoldGlovesOF,75

If only they can sustain success so the Sox sustain contention to sustain fan interest and remove the stain of Henry's disdain.

I can't seriously miss something I never had. The Red Sox never had Story's Silver Slugger bat from Colorado or Giolito's Cy Young (votes worthy) arm from Chicago. Price and Lackey were never All-Stars, nor received Cy votes while in Boston, either. Martinez, Porcello and Sale were, and did. I can say I miss the extended opportunities to see if Story's bat and Giolito's arm could reclaim past glories from before they were Red Sox. Grissom is entirely different, as he's never been a big league regular or star -- yet. However, until/if he is, he'll always be unproven. He may not be Dalbec, but both guys starred at the same level in the same season, just last year... below the majors.

What if a contender offers a prospect hitting around .330 in Triple A? ... and that guy turns out to be another Vaughn Grissom, who hit exactly .330 in 465 AAA Plate Appearances just last year! Maybe this is why Bloom was so inactive -- nobody offered him actual big league talent in exchange for actual big league talent.

... moving to the top of that list -- for me, anyway -- is Kenley calling the dugout from the bullpen Saturday night and telling Cora to give him the ball.

I never blasted the Renfroe trade, because the guy was overrated on D, and I just assumed taking back Bradley's contract was the price we had to pay to get two decent prospects. And I did give Bloom credit for getting ahead of the impending new rules regarding pick-offs and pizza boxes for bases -- since Hamilton's speed was the biggest asset in the entire deal. It's cool that it's beginning to pay off.

And they didn't even come in ballgames! Eck, Oil Can and the Remdog hijacked a sporting goods truck on Comm Ave. and swiped a dozen bags... but they donated a few to an American Legion team, so only got credit for 10 SBs.

"Should the Yankees be concerned?" For giving up 9 stolen bases in one game -- the most in the entire existence of the Boston Red Sox, American League club for over 120 years? Answer: they have Judge! Aaron Judge! When's he up again? When will he take off his cap in the dugout, and hold his helmet? Look, he almost smiled!

Juan Soto is the second-greatest ballplayer in the history of the entire first two-and-a-half months of this season.

When's Judge get to bat again? Sox pitching staff needs more Ks. Can the ESpecially Pro Newyork Network at least show him in the dugout during the entire last inning?

Judge is on deck! Judge is on deck!

I don't get it: every other second they show Judge -- LIKE HIS NOODLE ARM WAVING DURAN TO 3RD -- but where is the ESPN RAFFY CAM? (oops, Dugie screws up Wong's hit into a triple!)

Looking more at the Bogey comp... Xander Minor League stats: 379 G, .297/.373/.493... .866 Grissom Minor League stats: 338 G, .320/.408/.475... .883 If Griz didn't have some pop, we'd have heard more comparisons to an Arraez-type guy on the way up. (something may be holding him back, besides big league sweepers)

Maybe I haven't seen enough of him, but there's something awkward about Grissom. His swing, his throwing motion -- both look almost too deliberate or methodical... ... like he's trying new techniques relayed to him through upstairs analysis... or maybe he's just physically compensating for some undisclosed nagging injury. Either way, Griz doesn't let it fly -- if he was still a draft prospect, scouts may call him too stiff. Bogaerts, whose body type has been compared with Grissom, looked smooth in comparison when starting out.

Who's a better company man than a new hire who implements a scheme devised by the analytics department exploiting the cutting edge fringes of an industry, and then takes the fall as a scapegoat for the entire organization? What big business owner wouldn't want to employ a stand-up guy who served his time and kept his mouth shut.

It gives me agita when I hear national media speculating that AC will get the next Craig Counsell contract... ... not just because I think Cora is the second-best Red Sox manager in my lifetime, but because we all know Boston ownership can afford to keep him -- and we suspect John Henry would prefer instead someone at entry-level salary to man an under-manned roster. We fans and our high suspectations...

FREE run! First team to 50 wins!

The greatest player on the greatest team in the history of this year just missed the cutoff... and now the fastest foe is in scoring position with no outs.

On that play at the plate, Fox announcers were the only ones in the park who saw space under Masa's shoe from a secret underground spy cam. How disappointing that challenge umps in New York couldn't see the footage in time to overrule the call.

When I was young in the 1970s, the Red Sox often generated loads of excitement with good to great early records, only to crash at the end. The trend got so bad that Yankee fans grew to count on it. This week I was at an establishment in NY where someone noticed my Sox cap and said they're hanging in there, even with all the injuries. I noted that Arizona made the World Series last year with 84 wins, so who knows. An old guy in a Yankees cap behind me laughed and mocked, "Ya, keep dreaming." I replied, "Ya, and the Yankees are always good the first two months of the year." He shut right up.

Red Sox so far are spoiling the Yankee Show on Fox tonight. But they'll still show viewers thousands of more graphics that illustrate just how great NY is again through the first two and a half months of another baseball season this decade.

Yes -- this forum has become a place where good people are just sick of rooting for bad teams. The Red Sox aren't terrible, but the front office has been terrible assembling complete teams the past half decade -- especially when we all know they have the resources to overcome terrible holes on the roster: one year it's the bullpen, the next it's the rotation, then it's the defense (which can make even the most casual fan stop watching)... ... but ultimately, it's been an offense that strikes out way too much up and down an unbalanced batting order to ever mount any kind of consistent winning streak that can boost a mediocre club into contention. I could care less if Bloom or Breslow deal veterans on expiring contracts in July for more farm depth. The Sox really need a blockbuster trade -- a deal for a foundational star position player or pitcher who can help turn the organization around, even spearhead a rebuild, and generate tepid interest into excitement again. Stop waiting for a future that may never materialize to make appreciable changes.

This is easy to explain, even for John Henry: The Yankees are the most profitable team in baseball, so they can afford all the great players. The Red Sox are only third-most profitable, behind NY and LA... ... so Boston is only richer than 27 other clubs -- and even worse, only has a 1 in 30 chance to ever recruit and sign actual good ballplayers who aren't rehabbing, injury-prone or doomed by a higher power to career-risking malfunctions while performing athletic exercises like throwing or diving for a ball, swinging a bat, riding stationary bikes or walking down dugout steps.

I'll always root for the players, because succeeding at baseball is so freaking hard. But considering this roster and how far away it has been -- and feels -- from actually contending these past few years... ... put it this way, if I agree with Yankee fans that the Red Sox SUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK, it's not those in uniform -- especially the manager and coaches who don't even play anymore... ... it's always the Boston front office.

No one believes a word you just typed because you posted it on an anonymous forum on the internet. But if you posted a phone video of a UFO, they'd give you your own TV show.

The reason MLB took away the fan vote is because the freaking Reds fans stuffed the ballot boxes in '57 and every player from Cincinnati made the starting line-up (except maybe Stan the Man). I think the commissioner inserted Aaron and Mays into the batting order to make the NL look respectable. The Reds stars didn't even win the pennant. Milwaukee went all the way.