5GoldGlovesOF,75

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?

We all want to cheer for the Red Sox -- that's why we boo when we can't. Most talksox posts are wishing and hoping and discussing ways Boston can be better, from the top down. Everyone has an opinion, but no one ever tries to plan ways for the Sox to get worse. Posts should be up and down -- and dumb jokes come with the territory for fanatics who spend time every day dealing with their addiction by typing to anonymouses they'll never meet ; if this was all just "Yeah, us! Gimme five!" the forum would be boring and cease to exist.

Fans are entitled, and not just Red Sox fans. All sports fans who devote their time following, watching, rooting -- and especially, paying money -- for and on their favorite team should be able to expect or at least anticipate experiencing a quality product of entertainment. No one ever mocks movie viewers or music fans for complaining about a bad film or offkey concert by artists who were once great. If they didn't get their money's worth, they deserve to be disappointed.

Those that watched the end of last night's game saw a sign that just might be the turning point on the defense. SHORTSTOP Ceddanne Rafaela fielded a ground ball on the run and deftly -- and athletically -- whipped a strike across his body to nail the runner at first base. It was the kind of play fans are accustomed seeing from big league shortstops... even once in Boston, from Story to Nomar. If little Rafy stays at short, and O'Neill rebounds from his concussion (where expediency is never guaranteed) -- and the likes of Abreu, Duran and now Refsnyder continue to contribute in the OF, the D should be vastly improved.

.500 is a good SLUGGING -- like careers of Fenway Rice .502 and Coors Story .502. I like your other stat better, but it's a counting number: Totality Total Bases (on H + BB.. but not HBP or Catcher Int).

Ceggonne!

Your Red Sox Number Three batter Rob Refsnyder bats with a runner on base and goes deep in PuGaaH!

Beat the PGH Pirates. Big PGH on chest and cap -- three letters, all part of the same word? Or do are they pronounced PuGaaH? Or are they initials for something else? Pit Gold Hats... Pit Glad Hands... Pit Gear Heads... Pit Ground Hogs

When they decided not to pay Mookie, I predicted they'd soon blow the same money on a lesser mug -- but it didn't take a Nostril Dumbass like me to make such a claim. Look at Sox history: Matt Young, Matt Clement, Matt Barnes -- is it any wonder they're habitual doormats?

Optimistic post of the day. Another: MLB just can't and won't stop messing with the damn baseballs, so it's very likely they'll juice them up again like 2019 before Raffy's prime is up, and maybe by then the Sox line-up with surround him with other stars like Betts, Bogaerts and Martinez -- so he doesn't have to put himself on the IL every other month trying to hit 5-run homers... ... and we'll get to see that Devers again who uses the whole field to bat .300 with 90 extra-base hits.

I know you didn't mean Mookie is also overpaid, because he leads baseball in WAR yet again -- already with 2 bWAR, more than half the Sox players earned all last season. But I'm glad I looked it up, because Crawford leads all pitchers with 1.5 bWAR... What I think you meant, Max, is that most free agents are paid for past accomplishments -- especially those past their primes (cough, Giolito, yak). They're all paid for their potential to repeat past success, but obviously some are better bets than others: Silver Slugger/Gold Glover/speedy runner superstar athlete 300-game bowler who wears a hoodie to feed the homeless incognito... vs. Silver Slugger/kinda thick in the middle grounder-jogger who leads MLB in errors at his position every season.

This is a great post. Thanks for breaking it down. An actual playing payroll of $74M explains a lot.

Disposal -- you just coined the theme of the season. Remember 2024, Year of the Disposal? When everything Red Sox went into the garbage disposal: gloves, bats, bases, bullpen gates, great starts by the rotation, TV remotes, season tickets, yellow jerseys, and a roster full of interchangeable bodies. Feel free to add to the list... just don't touch that Neil Diamond 45-rpm hit single from 1969!

The Red Sox front office Assistant VPs walk the beaches like a search party, looking for valuable sea shells (they had to sell the metal detector they once used when digging up loose change). But if they find any interesting stones, they are instructed to collect and send directly to Andrew Bailey for further polishing.