5GoldGlovesOF,75

The only names on this list that may be good bets in Boston are Devers and Casas. I know others will still be under contract, but may be moved by then if somebody new is running things. Mayer seems like a favorite for Fenway right now, but two factors may be put his status in doubt: 1. a possible major blockbuster trade by a new regime totally overhauling this franchise; 2. the surplus and development of "60" shortstop prospects drafted or signed in the Bloom Era, making anyone expendable...

Neil Diamond.

For Boston, this game just got Grave,man. JT has seen fire and rain...

Astros just bunted in a man from second. Base. The next time the Red Sox do that will be never.

Gold Glove Awards have been presented for 65 years, so maybe some of the managers and coaches who voted in the beginning are retired by now. For the past decade, Gold Glove candidates have either qualified or were nominated to ballots in part by a sabermetric Defensive Index developed by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Benintendi has played leftfield in the majors for eight years.

Devers' issues right now at third may have extended above and beyond his glove and arm... and neck.

I agree, and posted as much last week. Turner adjusts depending on the count, and it would be great if he could adjust his teammates' approach accordingly.

No, but being voted the best leftfielder in the league one year, and a finalist in another, means he's pretty good -- at least compared to his peers.

Boggs looked pretty good at third as a Red Sox his last few years. I also had younger eyes back then.

Raffy is Raffy -- he's in his prime and though he has improved since he was 20, he's still wildly inconsistent -- compared to all other third baseman in the majors. Since he came to the bigs in 2017, Devers is dead last in Fangraphs' Defensive Runs Saved. Arenado and Chapman are tied for first, with 91 DRS... Raffy is -50... negative Five-Oh in Defensive Runs SLEIGHED. But it's not like guys playing their first full season in the MLB like Casas or Yoshida can't improve on D. Remember, when Boggs came up, he was also known as good-hit, no-field -- but he worked hard in practice, and became a Gold Glover. Rice wasn't too hot a leftfielder, either, at first, but he finally mastered the Monster after a million Pesky fungoes a day.

For percentage of population, you're probably right -- for a lot of reasons. As far as the "baseball gaffes" spectators have been suffering through lately, chalk it up to less player instincts or muscle memory -- whatever you want to call it, kids just aren't growing up getting the diamond reps they once did, playing their own versions of playground or cul-de-sac baseball all summer long. But posters should also remember that those MLB clubs from 40-50 years ago were just as diversified as nowadays. The Reds, A's and O's of the 70s were mixtures of good to great blacks, whites and Latinos. In Boston, the last MLB city to integrate, the Impossible Dream team is fondly famous for starting Red Sox Nation as we know it. But they couldn't have won without multi-cultural contributions. Who can name the six different blacks or Latinos that started World Series games for the '67 Sox?

On the solution of Devers moving to first base... some guys make a smooth transition -- Youkilis won a Gold Glove, and Boggs played over half his rookie season there (when Boston already had a .300-hitting third baseman in Carney Lansford). Then there's Miggy Cabrera, a negative dWAR in every season of his 21-year career. Same with Vlad Jr., in five years so far. Remember back when posters wanted to move JD Martinez to first base? He just turned 36 and still has never played one single inning there in 13 big league seasons. From Moneyball: Billy Beane to Hatteberg, "It's not that hard, Scott. Tell him, Wash..." Ron Washington, "It's incredibly hard."

Boiling it down to basics presented here recently: the '23 Sox offense is pretty good, albeit frustrating at times. In any season, we'd all take our chances with a line-up with six guys with an OPS of .800 or better: Devers, Turner, Casas, Duran, Yoshida... and Pablo (.816 in 45 games!). Since we can't live in the future, here's some contrast -- the '04 champs (pre-deadline) had an entire starting nine over .800 -- Manny, David, Trot, Tek, Nomah, Millar, Damon, Bellhorn, Mueller. They also had a five-man rotation that each threw between 178 and 226 innings (Bello leads '23 with 119 IP). It was a different time, the steroid era. But back in the nicotine era, the '75 and '67 Red Sox each lost the World Series in seven games while missing a Hall of Famer in Jim Rice, or another 22-year old slugger on a Cooperstown tract in Tony Conigliaro. Each hero missed the entire Series with injury, as Boston barely lost to the best NL team of each decade... Bloom said it's time to bet on Devers, and surround him with talent. Some of it just may be coming from the farm. Soon. Do you believe in magic? Yesssssss.

At this point, I'd settle for multiple outings. This is my way of finally praising Llovera, who looked good for a couple of innings vs. the Skanks. Of course, it easier to pitch with a big lead. At least it should be...

... but not the Rocky statue.

Nothing needed to know besides: 1. plays a kid's game; 2. gets free uniforms and equipment; 3. team covers transportation, meals, massages 4. club owners bribe him to play forever with 331 million-dollar bills

Someone might challenge you on "large sample." Does the first negate the second? Dinosaurs (reptilian division, not old posters) haven't been around for 65 million years, after purportedly roaming the planet for at least twice that long. But one morning, as an incoming asteroid sped toward them, one told the other, "It's still early." It was right around the All-Star break...

Tyler forgot to add: threw out 9 baserunners in 10 games

While many will agree these upcoming seven games with Houston could make or break the season, maybe it's true for more than what should be a tough stretch against the defending world champs... ... maybe it's because the stagnant Astros are now only three games in the loss column ahead of the Red Sox -- so catching Houston for a wild card may actually be more feasible than worrying about surging Seattle or even-steven Toronto. The Sox would have to win 5 of 7 to tie the Stros... hey, it could happen. In the four games in Texas, probable pitchers are named Javier, Verlander, Urquidy and France.

It's a valid point, and I remember hoping at the time it was just his way of not tipping his hand, a calculated business decision to hedge against having to face a hometown discount (Mookie was here when Lester got burned for revealing he'd make such concessions... come to think of it, Bogie did, too, as far as having to uproot his career).

The thing is -- and I expect some local reporter to address this when the Dodgers come to Boston this week -- that Mookie himself has said more than once this year that he never wanted to leave Boston and wanted (or expected) to play his whole career there. One time -- correct me if I'm wrong -- it wasn't even an interview reply, but just him being candid on a blog. It's like Betts won't let it heal... and we're the open wounded.

Who here wasn't exhausted watching JD flail away at low and outside two-strike sliders. He's obviously enjoying a change-of-scenery, and it can't be because the NL West doesn't have access to the same book on him that we futile fans do...

Glad they didn't drill JT after that Devers' rocket. But I do hope that some Red Sox reliever today remembers Abreu from last night...

Just because you can't let it go, here is my original post on this that you actually put in your first Reply With Quote: "From the time he joined the club in late July 2018 through last season, Eovaldi led the Red Sox in all innings pitched -- regular and postseason combined." And since you think the term workhorse is a joke to describe the leader in innings pitched, here is the Oxford non-animal definition: "a person or machine that dependably performs hard work over a long period of time." Now I will defer to your subjective opinion of what constitutes "dependably" and "hard work" and "a long period of time." But let's not move the foul poles onto a putting green next to a pond stocked with goldfish which are really carp that are actually the traditional Christmas meal in the Czech Republic.

Cora wasn't the one who chose JT over JD. Bloom and Kennedy thought it made sense to let Martinez leave... Chaim adeptly adapted to rule changes, and knew the bigger bases created a risky obstacle course for JD jogging to the outfield. Sam, ever PR-conscious, just thought it would be a bad look for a player to stomp around with pepperoni in his spikes from tripping over pizza boxes.