5GoldGlovesOF,75

you mean... Domb and Bloom. Their favorite theme: "We knew Sale would be good again, one of the these decades!"

Cutter Crawford vs. the World Champs tonight: 15 up, 15 down

Last time Mookie stayed there, he felt a distinct disturbance. "Who are you!" he demanded. A tentative voice whooshed down the hallway. "Eye-mmmm... BlOOOOOOOOOmmmm!" (the Ghost of Bizness Past)

Anthony, who led the Eastern League in Extra Base Hits at age 20, leads off his Triple A debut with a double...

Since he never played in the minors before, could we then classify him as a prospect, and trade him for a reliever somebody cut that somebody else picked up?

Chris Sale wasn't part of the problem; he was the main problem -- which no Red Sox fan who followed the team closely the past half decade can deny... if we're all being honest. Sale never once led the top of the starting rotation through an entire season and earn his ace paycheck during that time. He knows it and admitted it many times. Managers, coaches, teammates, front office assistant vice presidents, and owners knew it, too. And yet, Sale was always being counted on to overcome whatever injury was stifling the plan and make a comeback. Over and over and out. Finally, a new CBO came in and made the reasonable decision that it was time to start fresh -- no fun intended.

"Keller will be as good as any other Keller we could add if he passed through waivers," said Sam. "The Keller awoke before dawn. He put his boots on. He took a face from the ancient gallery and he walked on down the hall," said Jim.

The only firm plan was the still-mystifying -- yet forgotten (but not by me) -- opt out that would've let Giolito leave if he pitched this season in Boston and was good. You think posters are complaining now about how the Sox didn't replace Giolito this year? Imagine the angst next winter if he had a '24 Sale season and led the Sox to the playoffs?

Top 5 RED SOX compared to tonight's top 5 WOO SOX: Anthony CF Meidroth SS Casas 1B Grissom 2B Teel C ... of the two groups, I'd take WOO right now -- except for the clean-up man, of course (because Raffy's our Big Puppy).

Guy's not good enough to pitch for the summer's absolute worst big league pitching staff... but maybe he'll find a scene of changery where another team's rotten system won't have the same infect on him.

Way too healthy for Boston. Hendricks has 162-game career averages of 34 starts and close to 200 innings pitched per year. But to be fair to Father Time, his averages the past half decade once he hit 30 years of age are 20 GS, 115 IP... That would still make him Iron Man McGinnity in Beantown.

The difference is that true morons like me would never even know I'm being insulted. But I'm not shore.

The irony -- or morony for Sox fans -- is that Billionaire John Henry hired guys from both their front offices to run his club... like theirs. Someone seriously needs to tell John -- if you're not broke, don't fix it.

Damn. Clemens, Fred Lynn and Reggie Smith all might finally get their numbers retired... in about 20 years (if they're still around).

I know... Alex Cora -- and no one else -- should be held accountable for not transforming all the flotsam and jetsam the front office keeps giving him, into big league talent (not Breslow and Bailey)!

Here's some from this forum: trade Duran this winter -- at the absolute height of his value -- for a MAJOR LEAGUE STARTING PITCHER. Too many lefties in the batting order? in the outfield? Why not KEEP Abreu and Anthony, because neither go to a press conference to supposedly show contrition for using a poor choice of words by wearing a t-shirt that says f*** 'EM. (that even team Prez Sam Candidly expressed disappointment) What would be a better Red Sox team in 2025: OF of Duran-Rafaela-Abreu... or Anthony-Rafaela-Abreu, with Logan Gilbert or George Kirby on the mound?

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.