5GoldGlovesOF,75

I was even skeptical he'd ever be the same again after the oblique injury from swinging the bat, unless he can somehow change his body and swing. I dunno, now Anthony is going through an oblique injury -- which we all saw on TV really start to disable him after a swing. The only hope is that some guys recover -- somehow -- and are as good as Shea Langeliers...

Brez wouldn't commit to Casas at last week's presser, and because 1B is an obvious position for any team's power outage, we have to expect an upgrade there... or at least a platoon bat. But when you really get down to it, injury-prone ballplayers are a myth; they're just ballplayers. Over-30 guys like Story and Bregman get hurt all the time, but look at all the young guys who missed significant time on the IL: Casas, Abreu, Mayer, Anthony (it should make Rafaela detractors appreciate his durable wiry frame). Bottom line: don't be afraid to spend big again for the best available talent -- so what if Bichette has a bad knee today, if it heals and he's ready to lead the league in hits again next year. The Red Sox window is now -- so fortify the line-up around around your good young pitchers... before they all blow out their elbows.

Of course. My brother-in-law is a brewer, and most brewers have been losing business since the pandemic (the industry is its own worst enemy, saturating taps with a million different IPAs -- which I can't drink because hoppy-hoppy-hoppy makes my old-man esophagus unhoppy, but what do I know? I've been told I'm "not the market" -- just give me some pilsner so I can watch the games and not get too excited). But the best reason to root for both Milwaukee and Seattle is that Milwaukee IS Seattle -- in baseball roots. The Seattle Pilots were an infamous expansion team that beat the Red Sox in my first ever game at Fenway Park in 1969 -- which was their only year in existence; the next season they moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers. Plus, Jim Bouton pitched for the Pilots, the year he kept notes for the greatest baseball book ever written: Ball Four.

I appreciate the idea of upgrading with Marte, but did a double-take at the heart of this order -- because it looks so much worse without Bregman. He really is the key to the offseason. And that's assuming Abreu and Story will each have entire healthy seasons, produce and not regress. I know Hoskins is a favorite Lowe-budget kind of choice for 1B, but acquiring a guy with 12 HRs, 43 RBI and a .748 OPS to bat third won't strike fear in the eyes of opponents... (...but it will in mine, since Rhys' career 25% K-rate will make for even more whiffing, followed by Abreu and Story). Maybe just a few adjustments will help: bat Marte, coming off a .376 OBP year, leadoff, Anthony 2, Bregman 3, and if we can't find a legit 40 homer guy for clean-up, go with a .300 hitter with 25 dingers like Yandy. Then we could get away with Story 5, and a contact man like Yoshida 6. I also still like Ceddanne 9th as a second leadoff with his speed on the bases.

Agreed, and less and less bidding wars. The money is so good, in many cases it's really about where the player wants to live and work now. Except for clients of Boras, who's trying to squeeze every last copper cent from teams -- then it's wait until every GM is totally exhausted... but we're seeing that backfire more and more, as clubs have other needs to fill and can't be setting aside kajillions until Spring Training for one luxury item to add.

I'm rooting for the M's because they went all in at the trade deadline. Even though Seattle already had the MLB home run champ in Cal, plus three others -- Julio, Randy and Jorge -- with more HRs than anyone on the Red Sox, the Mariners still went out and acquired the TWO best power bats on the market: Naylor and Suarez. The Boston Pretenders really needed at least one of those two guys -- and still do (Naylor, and please not SwingandMiss Suarez). Maybe Brez will think the cost will be worth it next July.

Regarding Murakami, I consulted a fellow phantom scribe who wears the number AI on his back, and here's what he informed me (where do AI guys research?): "-48 Defensive Runs Saved at third over the past three seasons... best defensive position is widely considered to be first base or designated hitter" ... did not mention Raffy's name once

I'm not ignoring that as a possibility. We just saw a pitcher with a force-out at first base overthrow home plate instead and end the Phillies season. The big factor that no one seems to realize is that Eaton wasn't sprinting full steam ahead -- like a million baserunners in scoring position are taught to do with two outs on contact. Eaton even had a better head start since it was a full count, and should have been booking the second the pitcher lifted his front foot. As one of the fastest Red Sox runners, Eaton at full stride would've been halfway home before Jazz threw the ball anywhere... as a coach and player myself, I've seen plenty of guys slower than Eaton half-way down the line because they were "scoring on contact" -- sprinting until the inning ended. Hudson held him up, but it may have been because Eaton really wasn't hustling all out. If he was, there's no excuse ever for a coach not to windmill him home, late in a tie game on the road with a chance to eliminate the hosts. Who knows what kind of throw Jazz would've made. He wasn't exactly Greg Maddox throwing 90 feet to first with Yoshida tortoising down the line, let alone another 30 or so feet away from the plate...

That is a lot of work, and makes me want to trade for Sonny Gray even more now. Plus, sign Cease or Suarez (because Dombro "can't keep them all"). Other factors: with elbow ligaments so fragile these days, these days have to be considered more important than last year's or two years ago. Example: Trevor Rogers, as a guy who's arrived... ... also, maybe no stats quite capture the aura of certain stoppers in the postseason -- I'm thinking of Steinbrenner complaining that his front office let the Red Sox get Schilling, who he called "a warrior." For teams that want to go deep in October -- and isn't that the point -- I also have to favor Dave Stewart over Roger Clemens... at least, when they face each other.

Seeing Skubal and Crochet in the postseason really defines the term ace. Without looking at stats, they might both be top five guys in the AL MVP (after Raleigh, Judge and Ramirez). It's hard to imagine any staff where a club has "co-aces" equivalent to Skubal and Crochet -- they'd have to be heavy favorites to go all the way. How's this for the Red Sox definition of a #2: better than Bello? p.s. and not just statistically... he'd have to be someone fans would trust to get a playoff start...

For me, it depends how batters are making their outs, because a guy who strikes out 25% or more of his ABs has no chance of even making contact to move a baserunner a quarter of the time -- an affliction at epidemic levels for Boston in 2025. A walk isn't as good as a hit, because it can only move a baserunner one base at a time. It does up the pitch count, however...

Max, I know Devers is dead to most Sox fans right now, but I remember watching him spray ropes all over the field in 2019 when he was 22 and thinking he could be the best hitter in the league. That was the year Raffy had 90 extra-base hits, with career highs in batting average, slugging and OPS... and a career-low K-rate. But ever since, Devers tried to pull every pitch to New Hampshire and became more all-or-nothing like most modern sluggers. Not sure if it was ego, money ("home run hitters drive Cadillacs") or requests by the org -- but I hope none of those factors taint Roman Anthony's path to stardom. Anthony looks like he has the potential to command the strike zone and consistently use the Green Monster to win batting crowns, like other Red Sox lefty swingers named Lynn and Boggs. We also know Fenway doesn't favor lefty pull hitters, especially since the sky boxes installed behind home plate in 1988 blocked the wind currents that surely helped Yaz and Ted aim for the red seat before then... (or the protein shakes that helped Papi).

Jazz nor any other infielder at any other level from Little League, American Legion, High School, College, or Slow-pitch Kegball was throwing from centerfield for a tag play at home plate when there was a force-out at first base that would've ended the inning... ... unless it was Banana Ball. Then Jazz would be dancing the ball over to first.

Any respectable GM willing to deal a solid MLB starting pitcher will expect at least one good pitching prospect in return. To get a guy like Ryan or even Lopez in a winter trade, the Sox won't have to part with four of their top 20 comparable to what it took to land Crochet -- but it's still going to be painful. BTV is only a guide, and the Twins already turned down a package that possibly included Garcia, Arias and Tolle last summer -- according to Brez, who didn't name names, but implied all minor leaguers were available. Then one beat reporter (Pete Abe?) said recently someone wanted Early, but was turned down. Duran and Abreu are quality trade chips, but neither pitches, so if the Sox do land a #2, expect either Tolle or Early to be gone.

Jazz had measurably longer strides than Eaton. Jazz scored from first base on contact with two outs for the winning run. Eaton stopped at third despite running on a 3-2 pitch with two outs and the batter hitting one up the middle that an infielder dove to knock down, before bouncing a throw past the first baseman. But enough of these two flawed teams that were closer in talent than most fans and pundits realize. Boston could've swept, but New York could've swept, too. The Yankees choked in Game One, when they didn't score with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the 9th.

Story seemed to wobble just a little less than the other two full-time regulars -- Duran and Rafaela. Ultimately, there were really no landlubbers on the overrated offense.

I'm on your side. I think it's better for this team full of all-or-nothing swingers to acquire more .300 hitters with 20-home run power like Bichette and Yandy Diaz, rather than 40 HR guys like Suarez who also K 200 times. The last thing this batting order needs is another big whiffer.

ARod 22 year regular season: .295, .380/.550/.930 Jeter 20 year regular season: .310, .377/.440/.817 ARod 12 years in post season: .259, .365/.457/.822 Jeter 16 years in post season: .308, 374/.465/.838 There. I gave Jeter the credit he deserves for repeating his consistency when it mattered most.

ARod was also the more famous baserunner: -- most playoff games slapping a ball out of the pitcher's glove, -- most times yelling at opposing infielders to drop pop-ups.

Greenwell, along with Clemens, played on four AL East champions in Boston: '86, 88, 90, 95. Red Sox could use a few more Mike Greenwells in the batting order... 162-game averages for a 12-year career: 17 HR, 93 RBI, .303 BA, .368/.463/.831, and a 7% K-rate. ... I always liked Mike because he always hustled. It was a pre-Manny, pre-Raffy time when all players ran out comebackers to the mound, and sprinted to back up fellow outfielders.

One big bat? That line-up in the Bronx needed a whole chimney of bats flying out of it at dusk.

Key starters on IL for playoff teams -- Philly: Wheeler, Chicago: Horton, Mil: Woodruff, NY: Cole, Boston: Giolito, Houck ('24 All-Star), Seattle: Woo, Toronto: Bassitt-Berrios-Frances? The Dodgers sign so many star pitchers, they always have someone hurt or coming back from time off. Now they've identified who they want to start -- Ohtani, Snell and Yamamoto -- and who they want as relievers -- Glasnow, Sheehan and Sasaki (the latter trio must be nice to have in bullpen games).

Rooting hard against Detroit -- 25 games over .500 on August 23 -- who for some mysterious reason on the last day of the season couldn't hit a career minor leaguer mysteriously called up to start, after an 0-9, 7 ERA at Worcester... (... except Javy Baez, who crushed a hanger because that's the only way he swings at every pitch).

Suarez, Polanco, Torres -- or Geno-Jorge-Gleyyyyybar -- starring in "The Three Stunads go to Negative dWAR"

Realistically, the Sox need all three of Bregman, Alonso and Schwarber, if they want to stack up against the elite batting orders of true contenders. They're not going to the playoffs because of their gloves, like the NL's top four teams in defensive efficiency did: Cubs, Padres, Red, Brewers. The other two NL favorites, LA and Philly, are so loaded they can compensate for other weaknesses. When one stud has a bad game or slumps, there are always other stars due up who can change the game with one swing. Having a deep line-up with several longball threats is vital in the postseason, so foes can't always pitch around danger. Boston lost Anthony, but the Blue Jays also played without their best hitter in Bichette -- and still blasted 9 home runs in 4 games vs. NY.