5GoldGlovesOF,75

There's no one even like the underrated Kevin Youkilis in the organization right now: .861 career OPS in 10 MLB seasons. But realistically, no one is giving up star righty bats. A rebuild needs to target up-and-comers or never-beens (not washed up Jack Clarks). Looking at outfielders on other last-place clubs who may be open to dealing, Lane Thomas, 28, hit 28 HRs in Washington and is arb eligible. Dylan Carlson (switch), 24, was hurt this year, but was once a top prospect. Laureano is still out there, only 28, but maybe regressing. An energy guy and good bench player is Connor Joe, 30, who can also be the back-up RHH 1st baseman. Then there's Mike Trout... age 32... under contract for seven more years... who LA might want to move. Would a change of scenery and the adoration of millions spark his game? He had 2.9 WAR in half a season, which was only better than all Red Sox position players except Raffy (who could be an MVP with Trout batting behind him in the order). You have to admit: a blockbuster for Trout would generate some buzz in any new CBO's first winter -- it would be the opposite of dumping Mookie -- and help justify a cellar-dweller already raising ticket prices.

What a lazy slug; couldn't even spare a few extra seconds to just type ameliorated...

If shorty Yoshida could just hit a few more homers and yell "f*** Ya!" a lot, without a translator, fans would start to accept him more like they did with Pedroia.

Oh, look, the poster acknowledged the entire premise of good lefties using the Great Wall by noting FRED LYNN in his first sentence.

In a TV interview years later about Game 7 in '03, Pedro said he was told his day was done, but Little came up to him after the 7th and asked if he could just get one more out: Nick Johnson, who would lead off the 8th. He did... then Little froze. Of course, this could be yet another case of a Red Sox player misremembering moments of conflict: Clemens in Game 6 in '86, Betts in the offseason after 2019, Sale falling off a stationary bike into a big screen TV...

It's true that great lefty Fenway batters take advantage of the Monster. No one did it better than Boggs, and many said Lynn (himself, included) would be in Cooperstown if he played in Boston his entire career. But the Red Sox aren't winning without top righthanded hitters -- from Manny on '04/'07 to Mookie/JD in '18... Youk in '07, and don't forget Pedroia in '07/'13. Going back a ways, star righty swingers always led flag winners: Tony C/Rico/Boomer; Rice/Fisk; Evans/Burks... even Jody Reed and John Valentin, who each led the AL in doubles. Who is the Sox' top righty hitter going forward? Team K leader Connor Wong, with his .673 OPS? How soon can Nick Yorke can here...

This board has a Yoshida fetish. Moving him out of left field -- the easiest outfield position, at least in 50% of Red Sox games -- won't solve the defensive issues. Besides catcher, the two most important positions on the diamond are shortstop and centerfield. Boston is already improved at short -- as long as Story stays healthy until one of Bloom's 85 prospects actually makes the Show. But a legitimate centerfielder is a must -- and that means no Duran or Duvall in center next year. If Rafaela can hit .250 in MLB, that will have to suffice. Otherwise, welcome Mike Trout. Unfortunately, more action happens at third base and subsequently first base; will the new regime make an earth-shattering change at one of the infield corners? For those of you that blame Alex Cora for the D -- as if he constructed the piss-poor last-place rosters during the Bloom Error -- the one position I will agree with you on is THE MOUND. There is simply no excuse... decade after decade... for the big market Red Sox to allow pitchers to suck at fielding (especially throwing to any base, including fourth base). And you'd think they'd be the BEST gloves in the middle of the diamond, like when they were kids in Little League up through at least High School... Reese: "GET OVER!" Color Man to OB: "(Arm) got a late start there, and didn't beat the runner to the bag..."

I approve of this post. My only difference is that I believe part of changing the culture -- in what has been established by both Bloom and Dombrowski -- is to entirely discount Chris Sale: 1. The Red Sox need reliable starting pitchers who can consistently go six -- innings pitched and months. Obviously, they have to discount Sale for either. 2. In order to move on from hoping/wishing/praying for the walking wounded to give us contributions -- we gotta take cara him/limit his innings/skip a start/rehab assignment/wait til his comes off the IL/IL/IL/eeeyaaaaaaahhhhhh! -- the new GM needs to discount Sale by eating part of his contract and get him gone. This post is nothing personal. It's strictly hobby. It's time for a change of scenery... as in, we've scenery enough of this.

A few other AL rankings... Yoshida among leftfielders: 1st in BA and SLUGGING; 2nd in OPS, H, RBI; 3rd OBP... 5th in HRs, 10th in Ks, 14th in BBs... 8-for-8 in SB attempts... strange days, indeed. Verdugo among rightfielders: 2nd in BA and doubles; 4th in OPS, R; 5th in H... but here's the kicker -- among RFs with at least 500 ABs, dead last in HRs and RBIs. A corner outfielder for a contender has to do better than 13 HRs and 54 RBI.

Right now, the starting rotation has the exact same amount of sure things going into next year as it did last winter: Bello and #5 man Nick Pivetta. Now think about the entire season, and who -- if any other guy -- would be the closest to a fulltimer? Yes, that would be... Cutter Crawford: best WHIP among starters, more Ks than Bello, and tied with Pivetta for best starter ERA. Sign one reliable starter, trade for a young one with potential, and somehow find a respectable righty power bat to protect Devers. Raffy's season, with rankings among AL third basemen: 1st in HR, RBI, Slugging, OPS; 3rd in H, R, 2B, BA; 4th in OBP, tied 4th BB, 5th in Ks... Those stats seem to justify top salary among position players on the team -- either that or fans lack perspective with the realities of current batting struggles throughout the big leagues.

Gave himself up in Game Three of the LCS, to rest the rest for the Greatest Comeback in Baseball History, then won Game Five in extra innings -- when nobody could hit him... or catch him. Tito appropriately gave him the Game One start in the World Series; none of the five Sox pitchers were on that day, but the bats pulled it out. Wake was at his best (and worst) in the '03 LCS, with two good starts and Ws, and a loss -- only because he was supposed to be Scott Williamson an inning earlier.

No, I heard him say on radio. But that doesn't mean his source was right.

The baserunning rule changes have certainly helped. I'd say: but you still can't steal first -- though we know that hasn't been the issue with the Red Sox vaunted O, tied for second in AL hits. It's moving the pieces around the gameboard... they're either really unlucky or really sucky.

But not enough gentlemen drove anyone home. The new GM has to break down and pay for Uber batters.

How bad is modern hitting? The year 1968 was the worst batting season in modern history. It's forever remembered as The Year of the Pitcher, when ace starters were MVPs in both leagues. It was so bad that MLB made major changes to the strike zone and mound to try to generate more offense. Yaz won the AL batting crown with an all-time low of .301. Danny Cater, a singles hitting first baseman, was second at .290 (a few years later, the Smart Sox acquired Danny in a coup for a lefty reliever called Sparky). Tied for 9th in the AL Top 10 in '68 were Frank Howard and Rick Monday with BAs of .274. Tied for 9th in the AL Top 10 in 2023 are Justin Turner and Adley Rutschman with BAs of .277. Btw, I'm not on board with acquiring Matt Chapman. He has 165 strikeouts -- 33 more than Boston K-king Connor Wong. I hate watching dozens of strikeouts more than a few errors per game. For perspective, 165 Ks would've been second in the AL in '68 (Reggie Jackson led with 171). Chappy is tied for 10th this season; that's how bad modern hitting is...

Splints, that's Bloom Era talk. The steward of suckitude is gone. Look forward... unless Henry and Co. stay internal and promote -- then, there's really no hope for change. Don't worry, though; Sam will still tell us it will be Craptacular!

Ha, just be prepared for some smartass to post: "Ya -- Devers can't get any worse!" Btw, I like our young outfielders starting or at least platooning next year. That doesn't include Duran, who is 27, in his prime, and may not improve anymore on D... but who I love turning singles into doubles, which may appeal to other MLB clubs and yield decent trade returns.

There's only one intrigue left: can the Sox lose their last two, while hoping for a Detroit-Cleveland split, thus giving the hapless trio identical 77 win records? It could make the diff between getting the 12th overall draft pick and... breaking into the TOP 10, Bahbee!

Maybe the Sox are mum because they someday envision bringing Mookie back -- in a trade they know will have to include Bauer and Urias -- for a millionth-round draft pick.

This is a good best-case, but you have to admit it can also be another "if everything goes right" scenario of too familiar long odds. In other words, when Rice was asked the other night what is the Sox' biggest need to improve for next year, he said, "Ballplayers." Also, even if the Sox are destined to suck again, the front office absolutely has to add new right-handed power hitters... at least to entertain fans. Because even if Story rebounds with a career year and bombs 44 homers, that only replaces Turner's and Duvall's missing HRs -- which were good enough to land us in last place this season.

He's not that tall; more like a scapewoodchuck (though still cute and fuzzy). If Masa was as athletic as Franchy, he'd be a scapecheetah (except when the latter played first, and was a scapecactus). ... now those have to be at least 7s on the notin scale But seriously, is leftfield defense the real culprit in killing the Red Sox D? Or does it just bother people too much that the guy wears his pants so high...

Cora played for Francona, and Tito was always known as a players' manager, a guy who took care of his men (even when fullgrown boys like Manny earned whatever static he deserved from the media, opponents, even teammates). So maybe AC learned a bit about managing just from observing. Scheduled days off aren't a bad thing -- unless you're a fan who saved up and can only afford to attend one game, and your favorites aren't in the line-up. I know some posters don't like this, but is it really just coincidence that the Red Sox have had losing records every single August of the Bloom Era... after what many fans, media, and especially players felt were insufficient reinforcements at the trade deadline.

We can hear it now... Mr. Burns croning: "I'm the Number One fan of the man from Tennessee..."

In '22, Wacha and Hill were ok, but neither top-of-the-rotation when they were signed by Bloom, or by their next clubs, for that matter. We knew that winter they wouldn't be enough, because they were prone to injury -- just like many others Bloom was counting on: Sale, Eovaldi, and the rumor of Paxton. But let's agree that no matter what Bloom's budget -- though he spent big on good hit/bad glove or good glove/bad bat position players -- he never signed the Sox most important need: a top free agent starting pitcher.

I give notin a 5 on the 5Gs scale... as long as Fenway doesn't turn keep transitioning into Pottersville. But I'm bereft of savagery today. It's a melancholy Saturday, raining for the fourth straight month here, with the Red Sox season about to end. All I have is a mellow tune for Cora to sing to free agents this winter, when he's opening up brief cases of cash Henry gave him for the '24 roster: "Please come to Boston for the Springtime I'm stayin' here with some friends, and they've got lots of room"