5GoldGlovesOF,75

Too late now. The Sox look for unsigned hurt guys who they can pay to rehab and not play for a year -- or forever if your name is Mondesi.

No. Little League has another month... then there's another month for All-Stars... Hill has said he won't be available until mid-summer -- unless his kid's team gets to Williamsport and goes far; that can take the winners all the way up until school re-starts (the Sox could even be out of it, by then).

Like I said yesterday, we need an entire season of the new pitching strategies to assess how effective it is to the overall fortunes and misfortunes of the team. When Billy Martin managed the A's -- after all their world championship stars were gone because of free agency -- he took over a club that lost 108 and finished dead last in 7th place. The next year Oakland had a winning record, and in two seasons the A's had the best record in baseball. Martin landed on the cover of magazines for his famous style of Billyball... ... but part of that was to force all his starting pitchers to throw complete games, and almost all of them burned out too soon.

He explained part of the problem is that he's so big and strong, that the torque of his swing did the damage. Just wondering how recurrence can be prevented in the future? Swing easier? Bat righty and crack the other side for better balance? Or can comic book surgeons just reinforce his ribcage with Wolverine adamantium alloy?

Saw Portland prospects up close last night in a 9-6 loss at Hartford. My 13-year old parked next to the visitors' dugout before the game and got autographs: Coffey, Anthony, Jordan, Binelas, Teel ("good guy; he went back in and got two balls to give to little kids")... one who refused to stop and sign was Mayer, who wouldn't look at fans. Sea Dogs batted three lefties in a row at the top of the order vs. a southpaw throwing low-90s: Anthony-Mayer-Teel, followed by Jordan and Yorke. Overall observation -- the first four all look like they're trying to homer their way into the majors, with long violent head-pulling hacks that made them look bad at least once in every AB. Blaze Jordan was the offensive star, pulling an HR, then going oppo for a bases-clearing double. Anthony and Teel were able to adjust to offspeed pitches for singles; they also walked twice each. Teel hit a comebacker to the mound and busted it down the line straight through the bag. Mayer was 0-for-5, but almost killed reliever Jaiden Hill with a liner off 98 mph heat that deflected to shortstop. Yorke's swing was more under control, and he added a bouncer up the middle. Team OPS-leader Lugo pulled a single. Phillip Sikes scored twice and threw out a runner at third from right field. If no one on offense looks quite ready yet for the big leagues, it was at least encouraging to see that they were all solid on defense. Not spectacular, but fundamentally sound. Paulino made the plays at second base. Anthony can play centerfield, with good jumps, routes, and power arm. Portland pitching? Not promising on this night.

Except, if you ever do see big betting odds... don't be surprised if the fix is in.

It's still burly, Rooster. (forgotten trivia: Red Sox former actual big league All-Star shortstop Rick Burleson was known as Burly in his early years... at least, on my vintage 1970s Red Sox painter cap bought on ebay for fi dollars)

Can't call them the "Ringer Brothers" just yet...

Well, if he looks at standings, he'll see we're better than the Rays down in Boston South. Tampa - the model team that had to trade a pitcher with ace-like stuff (currently outpitching his $300 million dollar teammate). It does say something that most of the big money free agents starters have been meh, while top winter trade targets like Glasnow, Burnes and Cease are rocking.

Even Campbell, whose stuff looked sharper than them all in ST - although maybe the strain of snapping off those hard sweepers makes him the poster boy of the arms on the IL... and maybe something to watch with others, before we get an entire season-long look of the Breslow and Bailey Circus.

The crapshoot theory in the postseason gets amplified for a team using Kimbrel as closer. It turned to crap for the Phils last year, and everybody's darling Orioles will be rolling the dice this October... As for the vagaries of the next three Red Sox months, if they hang in there, doesn't Breslow have to seek reinforcements -- at least for PR purposes (selling tix through the second half)? If it all goes south by the end of the May, I can envision some wholesale changes by midseason, including early trades of veterans and promotions of a few minor leaguers... but not necessarily top prospects -- like Baltimore rushing Holliday (.033 with 50% K-rate in 32 PA); the O's have so many young studs actually studding right now, that move was just getting greedy. One thing we can all agree on: Brez will not sit on his hands in July and get himself fired, like Bloom did.

Bloom may someday extract his foot from his epiglottis, but that last Winter Weekend is still confounding... When comparing Red Sox' organizational structures and/or strategies during contract extension negotiations with Betts and Devers, Bloom claimed they chose Raffy, because they were ready to surround him with talent (?), and Chaim was "willing to make that bet." He lost -- but all the gambling sites matched his losings with more losers for his next bet.

Giolito was never a member of this season's rotation. My optimistic take when he went down is that it would be an opportunity for younger pitchers to establish themselves as starters. That doesn't mean Giolito can't have a successful comeback and contribute sometime next season. The only guarantee is that the Sox will have paid him $39 million by then to see if he can. Since that backhoe bucket of money is basically spent, what do you think the chances are of Breslow investing more on either the staff or position depth this year -- if, say, the Red Sox hang in there for another two-three months and stay within a few games of a wild card?

A few of the latest polls: MLB.com Power Rankings: Yankees #2, O's #3, Jays #12, Red Sox #14... USA Today: O's #2, Yankees #3, Jays #9, Red Sox #12. We all know how great the Yanks are, because they're from New York. But let's look at the reasons why they're so much better than Boston... so far. It can't be pitching, where the Sox lead the majors in ERA, Strikeouts and FIP. Must be the offense and defense... Runs scored per game: NY 4.55, Bos 4.48 -- a whooping crane 7/100th of a run difference; OPS: NY .706, Bos .702 -- 4/1,000th better. LOB: NY 158, Bos 155 -- uhh. Runs scored: Bos 103, NY 100 (whoops)... HRs: Bos 29, NY 22... Boston batters do lead MLB in Ks -- but NY leads in Grounded Into Double Plays with 24; Bos has 11. If comparisons with bats were indecisive, the voters must expect Aaron Judge, 32, to be the one to bust out, and not Rafael Devers, 27, who has more extra base hits than anyone since 2019. But let's be honest -- the Yankees are better than the Red Sox because of defense. Boston has the most errors, with the worst fielding percentage in the bigs. Such disparities on D between the archrivals... E's: Bos 21, NY 19... Fielding %: Bos .975, NY .977... Defensive Efficiency: NY .700, Bos .698. With such stark differences, along with Boone in the dugout over Cora, face it, Sox fans -- doomnation.

Kutter Crawford leads the American League in WAR... not just AL pitchers -- but all players. He is second in baseball to Mookie Betts. Overall, of the Red Sox' top 12 WAR players, eight are pitchers. Rule V acquisition Justin Slaten is third on the club in WAR, behind Crawford and Jarren Duran. The only other position players in the Sox' top 12 are O'Neill, Abreu and McGuire. Duran leads the league in stolen bases. O'Neill still leads in Slugging and OPS. Someone said posters here think Boston's success is lucky. When eight of your best players are pitchers, that's not luck -- but good pitching does makes good luck. The only bad luck is the number of injuries already to so many significant players. Maybe the most lucky break the Sox had this winter is when Andrew Bailey agreed to join them. Alex Cora has also been a huge factor keeping the vibe positive throughout adversity -- just like he did leading the '21 club to the ALCS when the roster was decimated by Covid.

In the 2020 postseason the Dodgers had to win the most playoffs games in history -- 13 out of 18 -- to capture the flag. Even if two summer months were just for seeding, can't say LA didn't earn it in the fall.

Opinion noted. Mine is that as a baseball fan -- even if the Sox are dreadful, I have less dread watching them in person or on TV if they feature a sure Hall of Famer playing at the top of his game. A star's talents are never wasted on fans if he entertains. Going forward with all the current injuries, if Breslow doesn't add quality replacements from outside the org -- and there is absolutely no indication he will -- then the Sox will have to start promoting position players from within. Triple A Worcester might not have the star potential comparable to Double A Portland, but bringing in infield gloves like Meidroth, Alvarez or Sogard could help. I'm not worried about their bats, because Boston's infielders can't hit much, either... If Casas is lost for a spell, then Kavadas or Hickey need to come up and offer some thump to the roster.

Tom Werner, you told us your own front office said the Red Sox would have 10 more wins with just a "normal" defense... So, fans want to know why didn't you go full throttle on spending to acquire some normal MLB defenders? Theo Epstein -- your new partner -- is famous for GMing a legendary team of hitters and pitchers. But he's also the curse-breaking architect responsible for what are still the most underrated moves of his career: adding the best available gloves in baseball in '04 at shortstop, first base and utility infield in Orlando Cabrera, Doug Mientkiewicz and Pokey Reese. Why not advise the CBO to consult the master?

If I rooted for LA, I'd say you can't have it both ways on 2020 -- when Mookie led the majors with 3.6 WAR in 55 games. Granted, it was approximately one-third of a 162-game season -- but if you assume Betts sustained such excellence over a full year (as he has virtually his entire career)... then 3.6 X 3 approaches his career-high MVP season in Boston in 2018. If you look at where he has finished in MVP voting, Mookie already has three top-5s in the NL: two 2nds and a 5th. In Boston, he won one and finished 2nd (also 6th and 8th). Through almost the first month of 2024, Betts has again been the top player in his league, and probably all of baseball; he leads MLB in Offensive WAR and is third in Defensive WAR... while playing a new and vital position... for a first-place team.

That would be Mick, Rocky Balboa's hot cornerman.

No Tony Armas. No senior, no junior, no mas.

80s? Boston hasn't seen the 80s since Sixteen Candles and Eddie and the Cruisers...

Not even DD can win them all, but a lot of fans forget that when the pitching broke down in '19, he decisively traded two low prospects for the best starting pitcher on the market in mid-July, two weeks before the deadline. The guy was 9-3 with a 3.83 ERA and 2.5 WAR at the time, for a club that would lose over 100 games... then he joined Boston and was a total disaster: 2-5, 6.20, -0.3 -- and never pitched again. His name was Andrew Cashner.

You start calling my opinion wrong, then write a post basically agreeing with my take. I was wrong when I wrote "If they didn't get their money's worth, they deserve to be disappointed." What I meant to say is "they deserve to feel disappointed." But your reply notes subsequent accountability, which doesn't really pertain to my point about, "No one ever mocks movie viewers or music fans for complaining about a bad film or offkey concert by artists who were once great." The whole idea that a few fans mock the rest of us for complaining about a currently bad sports product -- because we should be happy since they were once really good, even recently -- is unique in entertainment. When famous lead singers die or quit, their bands rarely sell music or do concerts, until/if they can find suitable quality replacements. But nobody calls their fans entitled while they just listen to the vintage stuff, and wait until it's good again to open their wallets.

Bloom and Breslow had the never-been-in-charge-before-so-will-do-whatever-they're-told green flags. This question persists: how can all the longtime Asst. VPs in the front office through all these sustained f***-ups not having the owners seeing red?