5GoldGlovesOF,75

Distract/disrupt/deny/project/research -- allatonce!

You just cracked Bloom's Da Grinchy Code! Now we know why he's been recruiting and stockpiling all those speed demons down on the farm. Your new strategy in effect eliminates the modern conversion of big load corner infielders into second baseman stationed in short right field for half of every game. Shaw and Moustakas may never turn one again. MLB has a Need for Speed. Trevor Story might be the AL MVP next year. Runner-up could be Jarren Duran, not for stealing first, but for creating a new metric: blurring the concentration of batters' eyes by flashing back and forth behind pitchers' release points. Imagine Duran and Franchy, criss-crossing and doing calisthenics on the grass behind the keystone sack every pitch...

Pessimist. First the simple math: the Sox may be five games below .500, but play six more teams. It's at least possible Boston can win one each against those six remaining opponents. But they're big leaguers learning to play big leaguers learning to play big league baseball. So any club can win on any given day that ends in a why. If the Sox win all of them, they'll finish with 85 Ws... but we have to be realistic. Since this is a year they always seem to fall short, they'll most likely drop a few.

Red Sox are stashing fast guys like Duran and Franchy in Woo right now, in anticipation of this industry adjustment. Wait... when they shift in the outfield, do they just get in the way, or do they have to stop the ball, too?

Nobody shot down my positive stat, so I'll keep celebrating: With McGuire's home run vs NY, the Red Sox now have even more pitchers with four-baggers than Ohtani's Angels! 2022 Boston pitchers with HRs: McGuire, Plawecki, Bradley, 1 each. 2022 Angels pitchers with HRs: Jack Mayfield 1, Ohtani 34.

Im sure plenty of Yankee fans were laughing. I know a few Red Sox fans who were disgusted, though you wouldn't know it on a forum called talksox, because the members who are pissed are either done with the hangers wearing this laundry, watching football, or know better than to vent anything perceived as negative, lest Sam Kennedy's interns pounce on every single word or phrase in defense of a last-place organization. Many Sox fans do know Brock Holt made the AL All-Star team as a utility man, Ben Cherington was replaced by Dave Dombrowski in charge, Xander Bogaerts was promoted at age 20 because his offense was good enough to finish second to Big Papi in '13 postseason OPS, and that Adrian Gonzalez was acquired to be the longterm, middle-order Gold Glove first baseman. But what's really cool about the '22 Sox is that they had four different position players so versatile they were able to pitch -- Yolmer, JBJ, Plawecki and McGuire -- which ties a team record this century... with last year's squad (Arauz, Arroyo, Marwin, Pla). Hey, there's still almost three weeks left to set a new mark!

And there's a good chance Bello will adjust to their adjustments. Rich Hill taught him his curveball two days ago...

I haven't forgotten, though I don't remember anyone ever saying he was still learning to play baseball, once he made the majors. And I know you get my point. What I mostly remember is when the pre-Bloom John Henry Red Sox sought to fill positions in need, they went out and signed or traded for established players: this third baseman is our new third baseman, this rightfielder is our new rightfielder -- not: this guy wears lots of gloves, and we're going to see if one can fit on his foot, and maybe he can wear another for a hat. The only other GM who tried to contrive was Cherington, the year he signed Hanley to be a leftfielder. And he basically got canned for that offseason.

I'm personally locked in a time warp, when big league teams carried one or two utility men who could actually play, like a Brock Holt, who could hit for the cycle in a playoff game, or a Rick Miller, who was as good or better an outfielder as any of the regulars. I really don't need Kike AND Marwin, just because they both play everywhere, or Franchy, who can't play anywhere, or Arroyo, who can hit righthanded, so let's make him a rightfielder and a first baseman, where he can give up more runs than he drives in.

No stats or data here, just quotes. Whenever someone makes another Little League error for the Red Sox, Cora defends the guy -- Franchy, Duran, Arroyo, etc. -- as "still learning"... at the big league level. To some fans, depending on how much time and money they have invested in spectating, such a statement could be chilling, outrageous and unacceptable (and rightly so). Cora's go-to comment could also show his patience as a manager, while at the same time indicting his general manager for acquiring/promoting not-ready-for-primetime players. But after last night's game, Cora said: “We are where we are because we’re short in certain areas." That's not implicit; that's just blatant. How else to explain continually putting people in the best positions to fail? Unless it's all part of a conspiracy of tanking...

I'd be happy if Bloom just signs the Tampa coach -- or analytic -- who in two years converted Jeffrey Springs from a Red Sox pitcher with a 7.08 ERA to a full-time Rays' starter with a 2.41.

Boston leads in one stat befitting a cellar dweller: 10 extra-inning losses, most in the league. Every other AL East team has a winning record in extras. Of course, in the ghost-runner era, many factors contribute to the ineptitude, including Red Sox poltergeists swinging spectral bats that pass right through pitched baseballs... like apparitions walking through the greenish monsters of our nightmares.

For those who watched til the end last night, be honest: who were you thinking you'd rather see on the mound in the 10th? At the time, I was hoping for Connor Wong. Verdugo may have been too amped.

Nor should it. Next year, it better get better. Bullpen acquisitions have almost always been low-budget, bargain-basement abject failures in the Bloom Era. Besides exceptions like Strahm and Schreiber -- and not counting Whitlock, who was obviously signed longterm to be a starter -- a few weeks of success doesn't cancel out months of suckitude for the Robles of the world.

Lamo, why all the vitriol for the Sox brainthrust? Where would we be without sly relief pick-ups Whitlock, Schreiber and Strahm? 7th place? 8th? The difference between the clubs in last night's game and the entire second half is that NY's one true star repeatedly came through more times than the Sox' three All-Stars combined. It's probably good for fans that Boston chose to pitch to a guy trying to break a league record, but anyone who doesn't pitch around him in the postseason should be fired...

The worser team lost.

The greatest team in the history of this season's first half went from winning three out of every four games to below .500 in the second half. Since June 14, three months ago, the Yankees have gone 40-40... only 3 1/2 games better than the miserable Red Sox. New York soared early when every pitcher looked headed for a career year before inevitable injuries, regression, and one dumb trade got in the way. A main reason for the improvement is the Yanks upgraded defense at the two most important positions -- catcher and shortstop -- and finally stopped pretending they could contend with lead hands there instead. They're still an all-or-nothing offense, and are trying to become the first AL club since '05 to win a World Series with team hit totals below the league average. Red Sox fans can at least hope that the Twins don't make the playoffs, so NY won't have any automatic postseason wins. The only guarantee is that the next time Boston has a great start, I'll never waste my time joining a Yankees forum just to taunt regular posters who love baseball so much they watch, talk about and type about their favorite team all year, good or bad.

I'm the opposite; I'd rather spend the money on pitching and not trade prospects who may be a year or two away. This isn't 2013, with a core of veteran champions already in place. There may be too many potential holes to fill, and to hope all new additions can make contributions to another worst-to-first. Buy some starters and relievers, add a bat, and a glove if X leaves. Begin the true rebuild by accumulating reliable pitching, and let the core regulars develop.

The Save is just a label, though some officials and agents (and even advertisers) cling to it to make it sound important. To me, it's almost as useless as using ERA to compare relievers. Pitching a 1-2-3 9th certainly helps win games, but how about the reliever who enters a game with two runners aboard, gives up a couple hits that knock them both home, then strands his own runners? His ERA is 0.00 -- what a relief ace! Preventing -- or allowing -- inherited baserunners to score is more relevant for guys coming out of the bullpen. Just ask Brayan Bello... is there a stat somewhere for earned runs he gave up when he was actually on the diamond? If so, please point me to the team stats that show how inept Boston's calvary has been in this category, and how "shutdown" true contenders' relief crews have been.

I'm sure Bloom's department employees are on it, but maybe looking for less-celebrated -- and thus less-expensive -- arms with potential. This would be where having the best developmental people would then be key; maybe that's why some of the offseason shopping should be spent on coaches in organizations like Tampa, Houston, Atlanta and LA...

Theo did acknowledge lately that he and his ilk were partly to blame for the majors' major issues. I'm still glad he has a say in how to fix things now.

In the decade of the 1960s, Killebrew's .267 batting average was in the AL TOP TEN. Ok, Harm was 10th in BA, but look at some other categories... From 1960 to 1969: Killebrew was 1st in home runs, RBIs, runs scored, bases on balls, slugging and total bases. He was 2nd in OBP and OPS to Mickey Mantle. Killebrew's most expensive rookie card maxed out at around $1,700 on eBay this month. That's at least $12 1/2 million dollars less than Mantle's. Maybe Harm is underrated.

...mora? Or lessa?

A real first baseman.

Jeisson Rosario with a game-winning homer -- oops, he now bats clean-up for the Yankees' AA team that is 32 games over .500. On a more relevant note (from an eye-witness): NY's AA closer, Carson Coleman, threw in the high-90s and was absolutely lights out. Does New York have any other Ottavino contracts Bloom can take back, if they throw in Coleman?