5GoldGlovesOF,75

Not only will the blasts find some gaps, but the liners off pitchers' legs will bounce into no-man's land, and one-stitch bleeders will stay fair, and clutch pop-ups will fall in... ... the key to a turnaround may be how many of these benefit Red Sox hitters, instead of opponents.

So for an entire day on a thread about Trevor Story, one poster focused on the offense of Jackie Bradley, who my eyes tell me has been great as usual at his speciality: defense. Meanwhile, Story has been shaky transitioning to the position the Sox supposedly signed him to play for the next six years, and has the highest K-rate among regulars (along with Dalbec).

... or contract, as hitters constantly adjust to the pitchers' "book" that circulates around the league quickly. The worrisome part of Story's slow start is that he isn't just swinging and missing at one pitch in one spot -- like JD and his kryptonite low-and-away slider. Story is whiffing on virtually every breaking pitch: outside, inside, down in the zone. I don't have data, but it seems like a weakness in every game. It's interesting to compare other star hitters that left Colorado recently. Arenado batted .293 with an .890 OPS in 8 years as a Rockie, and is .268, .841 as a Cardinal. DJ LeMahieu hit .299, .760 in 7 years for the Rox, then improved in 4 years in NY: .308, .833, and hit more homers (to the short porch in Yankee Stadium). Going further back, Matt Holliday hit .319, .936 in 6 seasons for Colorado, but was still good after: .287, .859 in 8 more years. Larry Walker was a star in Montreal, but a Hall of Famer in Coors with ridiculous numbers. Story averaged .271, .857 in 6 years as a Rockie. The difference Red Sox fans need to be aware of is that DJ, Holliday and Walker were all batting champions in Colorado. Story was an NL strikeout champion, and has averaged 188 Ks per 162 games in his career... Other Red Sox career Ks per 162: Verdugo 92, Kike 105, Vaz 108, Bogey 127, Devers 149, JBJ 154, JD 163, Dalbec 200.

Matt Strahm is ok, and already a fan favorite in our house, because he's a baseball card guy, with his own youtube where he opens up valuable packs of rare autographed treasures!

I wasn't fair on Franchy before. I'm all for giving him a third chance in Boston. But I'd really hope his D has improved, because fielding is the minimum a bench-warmer should be able to do at the top level.

Agreed, but we've watched long enough to know that if starters falter, the bullpen will wear down without enough able bodies out there. Hopefully, by then the hitters will be back, and we can fret about bench players blowing games playing out of position. And if a regular needs a rest, Bloom better have a glove-first substitute like Yolmer Sanchez on the roster. What's the worst thing that can happen by carrying a guy like that: he'll hit below .200 -- like half our current club? Folks can gripe about losing Bogie's bat yesterday, but the only run of the game scored because his replacement made an error trying to backhand a grounder he should've got in front of...

Because nobody will want to trade for our bench-warmers?

I predicted today would be the day they'd drop Abbott... but not for Costello.

I'm sticking up for Moon, because both May and June are "before winter." But take it from me, April suuuuuuuuuuxxxx in New England right now.

To me, he looked like a guy who finally harnessed his potential, entering his prime (like every Oriole pitcher that leaves Baltimore, except Cashner). I also wanted the Red Sox to sign him to keep another ace away from Houston's rotation. Ironically, for how much some folks thought he was overpaid at $17 AAV, we can all agree that won't even sniff market value next winter.

How about Ceddanne Rafaela? Can he be the sparkplug the big league team sorely needs off the nugatory bench?

You misspelled summer solstice...

Eovaldi was the most valuable pitcher of that entire postseason. His stats for his playoff innings in '18 show he was the best since Johnson and Schilling in '01. However, Nate's overall contributions were immediately overlooked when Dombrowski signed him to a four-year contract that complainers viewed as a reward because he took one for the team in that extra-inning marathon in LA. Then he got injured in '19. In retrospect, Eovaldi is now underrated in how important he was on that all-time team.

The Sox have potentially five rotation spots open next year. There is not one sure starter guaranteed -- because of health, contract or performance -- to take a regular turn in the 2023 rotation. The only guarantee is that one of them will be paid $30 million either way.

Fans of any age deserve to be grumpy when their team disappoints them. And forums are made for griping (there are very few posts anywhere lauding heroes and not pointing fingers) -- it's a form of therapy -- but it can be constructive when accompanied by suggestions for improvements. Where it gets really grumpy is when posters automatically dismiss others' opinions, or dive into stats to dispute opinions.

Whitlock is too valuable as a multi-inning weapon to be classified as a traditional Eck-Pap-Kimbrel closer, only used with a lead in the 9th. He's a throwback to all those relievers who threw 100+ innings in the 70s, entering a game in key spots, whenever -- in the 6th, 7th, 8th -- shutting the door to preserve leads or keep games close, and staying in to a hopefully glorified ending.

Someone must have already said this: but if they're honestly only going to let Whitlock pitch three or four innings because they're still babying their new longterm investment, then let him do it at the end of games, when we can lock down a couple wins a week -- instead of starting and leaving one game per week he has no control of for the last five or six frames. Unless, of course, they're slowly stretching him out to become a "quality" starter -- for a full time job in the rotation next year -- while our deficient bullpen quickly plummets us towards the basement this year. Just don't admit that's the plan.

Cora knows exactly what he is doing with today's line-up; he's playing his "key" bench guys to show Bloom how bad it is so there'll be roster changes before it's too late. There is no excuse for Arroyo to wait back on a grounder and try to backhand it, when he could've just moved one more step and fielded it in front of his body (basic fundamentals, at any level). And this may be Shaw's last game. It should surprise no one if he doesn't accompany the club to Baltimore.

Do people really think the Sox can get a decent deadline prospect for an expensive broken-down DH who should never play the field again? Well... the Twins traded Nelson Cruz last year, and all they really got from Tampa was Joe Ryan, who leads the majors in WHIP.

Who can disagree with your chart? Most who regularly refute are data-driven dissenters. So the Sox win 60% of Quality, but only 25% of Faulty. It all flows from the starters; is it mere coincidence that relievers preserve more Ws when they have time to complete their early seed-spitting contests in the bullpen?

And he dove right into the beer cooler on TV. It was his personal choice.

I'm just following Tomase's orders and trying to fix things for Bloom.

Or a plane ticket to Colorado... BTV accepted this: Houck to the Rockies for starting pitchers Gomber and Senzatela, relievers Lawrence and Kinley, outfielder/first baseman Connor Joe, and catching prospect Drew Romo. Anyone who can pitch at Mile High is worth giving a look, and Joe can hit, but the gem is the future hotshot backstop. Now why wouldn't the Rox do this? ps. of course it's a ridiculous proposal, but don't think for a second that Bloom doesn't know Houck's trade value in returns, as well as current and future effects on team unity (at least on screen).

A concern for some of us who care about fan favorites isn't that Story was signed "at the expense of," but instead of...

I was surprised he signed Story but never said it was chump change. Instead, I consistently said I'd rather Bloom use that approximate AAV to sign a legitimate starting pitcher like Rodon, Thor or even longer term guys like Stroman, Ray or Gausman. Some have started hot, some cold, but the Sox need starters, because that's where it all begins. The only arms I didn't want were vets with a lot of mileage.