5GoldGlovesOF,75

If we get Ohtani, we'll just be the Angels, with two stars and a non-playoff team. But we might be able to get two top of the rotation starters for the price of one Ohtani. Let teams in NY and California get into a bidding war, while we sneak in and sign Urias to a Sale deal... then we can help out the poor Brewers by taking Yelich off their hands, as long as they throw in Burnes (who we'll also sign longterm)...

That's his greatest hit of the year so far!

How can you say that about the World Series favorites and their line-up of superhero sluggers, featuring #5 batter Willie Calhoun and #6 the mortal Franchy Cordero -- back-to-back career Wins BELOW Replacement players! The biggest difference so far is that Boston has more mediocre redbeards.

He has the hand-eye coordination, strength and balance to become a lefty Miggy when he matures... or if he wants to be. I know some fans don't want Raffy to mess with his swing, which is 90% all or nothing, but imagine how much more productive he could be -- and healthier -- if he reduced swinging from the heels to just 50% of the time. This may be unfair, but considering the situations we've seen Devers batting in so far, the Sox might actually have another win or two already if he just tried to drill a few more opposite-field line drives.

You're Lyon, Steve... ... who I actually passed in the stands in the game that took them to the WS (LCS Gm 7).

5% each -- Old Red and Moon, who channeled displeasures with Sox management at each other (guys, we're on the same team). 10% MVP -- who tried to be fair, when most longshots went foul 10% notin -- always ready to argue, but who knows better 10% Hugh -- for wanting it to work too much before time runs out 10% Bellhorn -- for becoming a realist 50% 5GGs -- for never trusting the CBO who looked fans in the eyes at Winter Weekend and actually said, "Rebuilding for half a decade. That’s not acceptable."

Henry might see last place below the luxury tax as an improvement on '22. And he might tolerate the Red Sox fading into irrelevance compared to other Boston sports teams... as long as tourists still sing Sweet Caroline in Fenway all summer. But Henry can't handle loud, offensive (to him) protests, from fans and media truly offended by his ballclub. By that time the Sox will be perceived as a joke by national media, which will quote or air ridicule from AL rivals that will inevitably lead to a nasty basebrawl on TV. That will be the point of no return. Then he'll clean house.

I never mentioned Devers in my post, but glad to expand. No matter how it's-still-early, the '23 Red Sox have just one above-average player on the diamond. That explains more than anything why they suck. Besides Raffy, not one position player has played an entire major league season at their starting positions. Verdugo is the closest, as mainly the rightfielder for two months of 2020. The offense will improve, because Boston won't keep starting five guys batting below .200. The pitching will improve, because young arms will soon replace dead old arms that are serving up BP. But the real problem that needs to be rectified is the DEFENSE. The Sox will not compete or even be respectable until they fill C-SS-2B-CF with solid, full-time big leaguers who actually play those positions. It may take time to find different players, and it may take different GM/CBO/Manager/Coaches to find them... And don't fall for waiting for the wounded to heal; recruiting injury-prone players is part of the problem. New management will start with targeting and paying for dependable athletes in their primes.

Minny should be ok tonight. It's not October.

Now that games are over so fast, there's gotta be less time to get drunk. But if the new rules include a drink clock, everyone's in trouble.

We need Yoshida to spray line drives gap to gap and not try to pull high flies off the Pesky Pole or into NY's joke porch. He didn't win batting crowns in Japan swinging from the heels... not when he annually draws more walks than whiffs.

Been a diehard for over half a century. The Red Sox always had star players. Fans don't watch because they like the uniforms or the manager or even the ballpark and the singalong played in the 7th-inning stretch. It's because of the talented, mostly-homegrown fan favorites. The big market Red Sox always made sure to keep their best draws through their primes. Before the Bloom Error, the only time they blew it was in the early days of free agency when front office conflicts led to exits by Fisk and Lynn. After that, they were always in the market for big money recruits. Boston never won it all with those star players until '04. But the Sox were almost always good, and at least competitive and interesting. Now they're none of those things.

You really went through all that trouble to list stats to argue that the Rays' two best players aren't Franco and Arozarena? One's the Rays highest-paid franchise guy at age 22, while the other set a postseason HR record as a rookie, stole home vs. Boston in the playoffs, and almost single-handedly won the WBC for Mexico a month ago. That's all the research I need... from my waning memory banks.

Even our forum might score some runs if we batted against the last-place message boards every single game.

Imagine a master modern manager like Cash batting his two best players 3-4 in the order.

"Holy mackerel," says OB. Fish stink.

Red Sox really need to capitalize now on the bad break that beset an opponent (for once).

The Rays are good, but we won't know how good until they play anyone else that is also good. Tampa might set an unbeaten record at the start of the year, but every single team they've played is in dead last place. One might argue the Rays sent all these clubs to their cellars, but opponents in Washington, Oakland and Boston were doormats last year, too. Detroit, their other foe, didn't finish last, but only lost 96...

Before the game, he consulted with Sale on how to grip the special bat-finder pitch.

Numbah THREE batter!

Doogie pulled his head.

Especially if he's raking the garbage.

He improved dramatically... once he left Boston's coaches and developmental staff... and joined Tampa's coaches and developmental staff (20 years ago we'd be talking about trainers).

I've never had anything against Dalbec, but you have to admit that to longtime fans of position player stability, it looks more like management is throwing in the towel with the guys they're shoehorning all around the diamond. In the second week of the season...

I know, managers at every level of baseball for over a century have all been wrong batting their best hitters in the heart of the order. Bloom probably typed a thesis on a website about this, and got hired for all his experience... with a word processor.