5GoldGlovesOF,75

No one will trade for an expensive slap-hitter who can't play defense, and the Sox won't pay someone else to give him a shot at beating them. Yoshida is in his 30s, so won't grow into more power. He'll just devolve into a bench bat, when contact is needed -- those 4-3s are good with a guy on third and less than two outs. He may be sitting next to Story, whose repaired shoulder may limit his batting skills at the end of his contract; particularly the longball. But at least he'd be that good glove for SS depth we've been missing... all this time we've been trying to replace the injured him.

Said it to Yankee fans this winter even before the trade: "The role is perfect for him; he'll be a big star!" (and they didn't have to decapitate a horse to get him).

All the cranky old egotistical umpires who aren't good enough to actually play big league baseball should keep showing the impartiality explicit in their profession by calling strikes blatantly out of the zone and banging Casas. They'll show that impudent young unproven big mouth. How dare he have the audacity to analyze his craft. They've frisked a lot of young punks. Enjoy your veal, McCluskey.

The Yankees are the greatest team in the history of this year. None of their pitchers will break down the rest of the season, all their over-30 batters will reclaim past glory, no opponents will develop a book on their younger hitters, and Cole will be the first starter ever to overcome a sore arm mid-season and resume throwing 100 mph while taking a regular healthy turn in the rotation through November. And Verdugo will never be late. There is legitimate confidence in New York because the Orioles don't get to play the Red Sox 147 more times.

Tanking won't guarantee a top draft pick, since this year's lottery includes all 18 non-playoff teams. Still: 1. Don't trade any top prospects. You can't get there from here. 2. Trade Jansen, Martin, O'Neill asap -- before they break down. They all have some value now, and will probably yield some return in June deals; waiting until the last minute on the last day in July is too Bloom, and too risky with their ages and histories. 3. If they refuse to use Ceddanne at shortstop, then don't look in the bargain bins for someone the A's cut like Pablo Reyes last summer. Pay for the best glove on the bench of some also-ran. Just buy him -- the investment is too important to the integrity and reputation of the franchise this summer... fans simply won't watch anymore if the defense is an embarrassment; not after last year, and not after this week looking like a rerun. We can say we'll always watch our team, but if there's one thing true baseball lovers -- and that's guys that post about it 365 days a year -- can't tolerate, it's crap D.

Your alignment seems the most palatable, but Breslow has already said he wants Ceddanne in CF -- and hinted that maybe Cora wants him at SS, "going back and forth with Alex on this"... smiling as he said it (we're not laughing, Brez). We'll see if AC wins out over another CBO. The line-up can't continue as is -- not if the org wants to maintain ticket sales and NESN viewing. Even with Story, the Bailey pitching plan of more offspeed stuff looked risky, since good junk induces more weak contact than swings and misses, which means more balls in play for our favorite stone hands and rag arms.

It's the bridge in First Blood -- where the sheriff drove Rambo out of town.

Pee Wee Reese, who Cronin wouldn't let replace him, became famous for befriending Jackie Robinson -- when the majors finally allowed the best players in the world to play in their leagues.

"Oh, Godfather, my line-up's weak -- I don't know what to do... wah-wah" You can mash like a man!

We didn't -- the Red Sox did. Somebody get up to Fenway pronto and roll some of the bodies back over and administer rescue breathing. Let's see if they have a different approach to Detmers tonight. He croaked them, last time out. Encouraged by Abreu last night -- keeping his head on the ball and going with the pitch for the first time this season. Result: 2-for-2, both to the opposite field.

CBOs continue to task Cora with making a glass of free-squeezed orange juice with just the peels. Tension is pulpable. Pulp fiction, I tell ya. If only Jonathan Pulpelbon could save us.

All true. But when unhealthy -- from what we've already seen -- there indeed is a need for a 2nd 8th-inning reliever. Look at it this way: even if you're a lights-out set-up guy ('23 Chris Martin), used to getting them out 1-2-3, but the defense is suddenly so bad that you now have to go 1-2-3-4-5 -- just to finish one inning -- then your workload increases 67%... every outing.

Cora lovers like John, Tom and Sam chose him over Chaim, and approved a roster of stellar minor league back-ups so they could fill out enough uniforms to stage games vs. actual big league teams. But that's just the take from a guy who coached high school for a decade, and some college players who made The Show... but is lately too busy doing 16-ounce curls of potables brewed with hops from the Czech Republic.

This list makes too much sense for a perennial last place team. Do we really want to risk rushing these young professional athletes?!? Bring actual good prospects up from the minor leagues to replace actual bad minor leaguers posing as big leaguers? When I was in Baltimore in 2018, I spoke to two sisters -- longtime O's fans -- and they were enthusiastic about the recent promotion of Cedric Mullins (they felt that was the way to grow). Was he ready? In parts of three seasons, Mullins batted .225 with a .632 OPS... then suddenly he turned 26 and was a 30-30 player. The O's lost 115 games in '18, then 108 the next year, and 110 in '21, just three years ago. Fans didn't pack the ballpark, but they went to watch the future and have hope. Would it be any better instead if they just signed a bunch of rehabbing retreads trying to make comebacks in their 30s, and only lost 90 games a year?

It's probably not for this excerpt from SABR's Mark Amour bio: "During Cronin’s 11-year tenure running the franchise (as general manager, president, and eventually treasurer), the team evolved from a contender to a middle-of-the-road club. The biggest problem, though by no means the only one, was the club’s failure to field any black players. The Red Sox famously had first crack at Jackie Robinson in 1945, and at Willie Mays in 1949. By 1958, Cronin’s last season as general manager, more than 100 blacks (either African-Americans or dark-skinned Latins) had played in the majors, 11 of whom went on to the Hall of Fame. None of the 100 played for the Red Sox."

Maybe with a ghost on second, Cora fears Jansen's wildness -- wilderness? -- wilditity? He throws at least three balls to every batter, and if he happens to walk the bases loaded, we can't risk losing the game on an ump's bad borderline call (we saw one again, last night). It's not that they're afraid of Jansen getting ripped -- in five games so far, he has a no-hitter.

It is baffling how they took so many pitches to record five outs an inning, and how much work they had to do, relieving all those established work horse starters that Breslow's 32 Assistant VPs scouted, recruited and signed in the offseason to lead and supply legitimate depth to the big league pitching staff.

I'm sure most posters agree with you, and are certain that a new manager will instantly transform Pablo Reyes, David Hamilton, Enmanuel Valdez and Connor Wong into Major League infielders.

Ya, right -- it must be the manager, and have nothing to do with giving opposing teams five outs an inning. And those aren't even official errors, like when the Sox can't even turn simple double plays in two late innings in a row -- when Hamilton misses the bag, and Wong (the one position player on the bench, forced to play second base) bobbles a routine grounder... Brez told us any changes would be infernal.

Maybe Duran didn't have the nimble footwork or lateral athleticism it takes to make second base throws on the pivot... for the 6-4-3 or 5-4-3 or sometimes tough 4-6-3 DPs. Even his speed -- he doesn't fly around bases like he's returning a punt, but stampedes through bags more like a scary linebacker in pursuit.

Scheduled night off. From swinging from the heels at high and inside.

Cora says it's not the clock, but that pitchers don't rest their arms after the season any more. He says they all need a month or two to heal, but most guys dive right back into workouts, trying to get a jump on the offseason. Athletic overkill exists -- they're not crammin for examinin

Jarren Duran is a guy to root for. I made a lot of fun of him when he made himself unavailable in Toronto back when Canada had its vaccine requirements. But it was mostly because he was a crummy outfielder. He also whiffed a lot, like most big leaguers. But he changed. The fact he's admitted having mental issues (like most of us), means he's getting a grip. Going to the opposite field to become a .300 hitter makes him a standard for teammates to follow. I also think it's cool he changed his hair color after going 4-for-4 -- I like a guy who steps on the foul lines once in awhile. Here's the real reason you should cheer him to succeed: no more ********. When reporters asked about his game-changing error the other night, he could've used the excuse that lefty batter liners to left field curl towards the line, and it takes all-out sprinting and focus to catch them (just like when righty batters slice liners to right). Instead, he said this: "I f***ing suck, man. It's my f***ing fault, dude. If I make that play, we get out of the inning, and none of those other f***ing things happen. I just f***ing suck, honestly." Duran's alright. And anyone who scores from first base on a pop-up that falls in, like he did last night, is a role model for athletes at any age. Everyone, hustle!

Good post. Back in the astroturf Seventies and Eighties, NL teams (with a majority of turf parks) and the Royals (closest thing to an NL team) recruited fast outfielders and quick infielders to stop or chase down speedy bouncers -- and nobody cared if those guys hit with power, because their wheels also generated plenty of extra bases if they hit gappers or choppers. Forget launch angle; in those days it was crunch angle.

Missing a guy who doesn't miss as many pitches as most... This Red Sox offense strikes out 10 times a game and is a threat to break the all-time whiff record set by last year's Twins: 1,654. That team also scored 778 runs.