5GoldGlovesOF,75

My thoughts on the Sox sending down Campbell, while keeping Wong and Hamilton: they really want and need Campbell to be good. And the only way that can happen is if he plays every day somewhere and figures it out. Worcester and its minor league AAA team is pressure free compared to Beantown, where everybody knows your name. Wong and Hamilton are back-ups, and lucky to sit on the bench at Fenway Park. They don't need to play every day to develop... though Hammy with his speed should be required to bunt a thousand practice pitches a day -- so the next time they have to use him with a ghost runner on second, he can actually contribute at the MLB level.

It's that ballerina he dates. I can't think of her name, either.

I'm here! Tried mowing my lawn, but mowed an in-ground wasp nest instead. They got me in the earlobe, and then the mower flooded, so watching the Sox. As for Bassitt's woes, I predict Boston will wait until he undergoes surgery, then sign him to rehab for an entire season, and target the next year after the trade deadline, when Sam Kennedy will tell us he'll be better than any acquisition they can spend resources on. (that line works every time, except every time he says it).

Fair timetable. Just looked at the sked: 15 more games before the Break, mid-July. I'm not even going to list opponents in that span, but let's just say some are as bad as Boston right now, others are better. What record would you say would be good enough to still think 2025's roster is worth upgrading? Put it this way: a W-L of 9-6 only gets you back to .500. For me, if they can go 9-6 or 10-5 before Bregman comes back, then Brez should take the best pitcher he gets offered for Duran. As long as it's not a rental case, that is... if we're actually trading Duran, the return has to help fortify at least next season, as well as this summer. But if the Sox tank and go like 5-10? Back up the U-Haul.

But how can anyone -- inquiring fans, media, the industry -- overlook a front office that self-congratulates itself with so much braintrust it has gray matter leaking out of its windows? No one -- not one guy with advanced analytic degrees -- saw the plan to sign Bregman as something that would probably alienate a sensitive manchild like Raffy? It's hard to believe Boston's front office doesn't consider all possible outcomes before pulling the trigger on certain franchise-altering deals. Or maybe they did... and maybe the entire Bregman signing was geared to both shore up the D and ultimately replace their biggest albatross contract as a result.

The Red Sox should just get a cheap first baseman to get through the rest of the season. There's a back-up on Pittsburgh that probably wouldn't cost too much. He's only 5'9", but sports a fielding percentage of 1.000%, which ties him as the best all-time first sacker in the history of baseball. His name is Enmanuel Valdez.

He couldn't be part of the Fab Four while Teel was the drummer. But The Password hit more home runs than any of them last year. Yes, it was in the minors, but so were all of them -- and he's doing it again this season. From some eyeballs, Garcia is also at least as good an outfielder as Anthony and Campbell. He is already on the 40-man roster, so when the Sox are officially out of it, there's no reason not to give him a cup of coffee (that's what also-rans do when they have good prospects tearing up the final level before The Show).

Bad ideas are a Red Sox tradition this decade. The question is, does Henry just rubber stamp them from CBOs or listen more to incumbent incompetents hanging around the front office since they refused to pay Mookie what he was worth? In the next month, I just hope Henry doesn't allow Breslow to trade any more prospects, as if adding a few big league bandaids and sandbags will make a difference this season. The upcoming draft is more important to Brez. He shouldn't focus on organizational needs; he only needs to find guys who can hit, hit with power, choke up with two strikes to make contact, run the bases intelligently, catch the ball in the field, and make steady accurate throws... ... and avoid drafting anyone who, when asked what they want to be when they grow up, says, "I want to be a major league shortstop" -- or third baseman or DH or any specific position. The simple answer should always be: "I want to be a major leaguer" or "big league ballplayer."

"They’ve replaced people above Cora multiple times;" That right there, 5GGs speculated, says a lot. What is it about Alex Cora that -- if not endears him -- at least sustains him in the eyes of the geniuses that own and/or run the Red Sox? AC is known as a players' manager. He's well-liked among those he manages, and peers in general. If he's not totally comfortable in the spotlight and dealing with the media, he's not condescending and doesn't cover up insecurities or truths he wants to hide with ivy-league logorrhea (a word that literally means mouth runs). A CBO known as a stiff probably can't relate to the players or media as well... and probably didn't even when he was still wearing a baseball uniform. Keeping an affable guy like Cora around always deflects and distracts... and since this skipper was foisted on the new CBO, it can't ever really be the latter's fault when things go south. But if/when Breslow is finally allowed to hire his own hand-picked skipper, and it doesn't work out, there's only one man to blame for ALL the failure. And for all we know, Cora was the biggest non-dollar sign reason Alex Bregman signed with Boston. Will a Cora firing contribute to a Bregman opt-out? Can the Sox afford to lose their best player twice in one year?

But this club desperately needs an authentic 1B, a real 2B and another good starting pitcher. If we're only dipping into the kiddie prospect pool (on the side next to the Olympic size pool), then at least a few deals might get them through the summer... ... just in case, you know, Sandoval, Houck, Slaten, Harrison and Hicks return or are promoted and all are lights out, Bregman heals and cracks 20 homers, the Big Three are We Three Kings instead of Curly, Larry, Moe, and The Password arrives as the instant new Manny.

The deep postseason run he meant was the Berkshire Mountain Marathon in October. Brez is requiring all 75 Assistant VPs to enter the race, only they won't be doing the actual route; they're just going to each jog 26 miles on treadmills -- so they can all endure the fan experience of rooting for a team going nowhere slow.

How would the '25 Sox fare if they added the equivalent of these '18 mid-season acquisitions: 1B Steve Pearce, World Series MVP 2B Ian Kinsler, Gold Glove P Nathan Eovaldi, best postseason pitcher Here's who Boston traded away in those deals: Santiago Espinal, still active, All-Star second baseman '22, 4.1 career WAR Ty Buttrey, pitcher, out of baseball in three years, 1.3 career WAR Williams Jerez, pitcher, out of baseball in two years, -0.4 WAR Jalen Beeks, pitcher, still active but in seven years has 1.8 WAR

This is a prediction, since we're on the verge of doldrum's just another word for nothing left to lose. (maybe it should be on the Realistic 2026 thread...) Under heavy advice by Theo Epstein, John Henry will make an offer to Tampa to buy out Kevin Cash's contract so he can sign the richest contract ever rewarded to a big league manager. Remember, Theo set the precedent a decade ago when he stole Joe Maddon from the Rays to manage his curse-busting Cubs. Don't worry, Cora fans -- AC will be at the presser smiling, after getting bumped up into the front office.

In the handful of Spring Training games Mayer played second base, he was by far better than any human Boston has put out there since. If Bregman returns completely healed (like no one over 30 ever does from any injury), then the Red Sox should have their best infield of the season... as long as they settle on an average actual 1B who knows when not to go for grounders to his right, and which direction to hold his glove when handling throws above and below the belt... (that would be down and up -- something the Sox should be used to by now)

Never said they weren't. I'm all for bringing them up and getting them experience now, while it doesn't matter. But since you're in one of your stats-citing moods to refute posts, McLain posted 3.6 WAR in '23 at age 23 and finished 5th in ROY voting -- all in basically half a season (89 games, .290 BA, .864 OPS). He missed all of last year from shoulder surgery.

You forgot the guys at the very bottom: the organizational analysts who built this system-wide swing-and-miss juggernaut -- when they weren't shushing Hall of Famers from trying to answer a current hitter's question.

I'm not saying the Big Three won't be All-Star caliber big leaguers someday, but there is something to be said regarding the patience needed for most prospects drafted out of high school like Mayer and Anthony, or one year of college like Campbell. Players who spend four seasons at D1 schools almost always began pro careers more polished with more high level experience than prep players. A good example of this is Reds shortstop Matt McLain, the 5th shortstop chosen in the 2021 draft, after high schoolers Mayer, Jordan Lawler, Brady House and Kahlil Watson. McLain gained four years experience at UCLA and is already a solid major leaguer. The others are still learning. Before Fred Lynn won AL MVP as a rookie in 1975, Red Sox fans barely heard of him -- except for a potent cup of coffee the previous September. All the hype (minus modern multi-media oversaturation, obviously) was on Jim Rice, the longball legend who never lifted a weight. But Lynn spent four years in a great baseball program at USC, while Rice was drafted out of high school. Rice made the Hall of Fame for his bat, but Lynn was always a better all-around ballplayer.

Look deeply at the roster and the line-up since 2021 before you start throwing around the word "talent." No one can say for sure, but Cora may have achieved .500 teams with .300 collections of replacement players.

Chase 0.9 WAR has 55 hits in the majors. KC -0.9 WAR has 51. Maybe Brez offered Campbell for Crochet, but the White Sox insisted on Meidroth...

Not really Trivial: What did Luis Arraez, Marcus Semien, Nick Kurtz, Ronny Mauricio, Ian Happ, Otto Lopez, Mike Tauchman, Lenyn Sosa, and Kyle TEEL have in common yesterday? A: Each had as many hits -- 3 -- as the Boston Red Sox did. (note: two Yankees -- Grisham and Dominguez -- had 4 hits each).

Maybe the real reason clubs are preaching hit the ball in the air is that Manfred sent out secret memos to all teams telling them the balls are juiced again. Somehow, Boston also didn't its shipment of juiced bats, because Red Sox pop-ups are staying in the ballpark all year. And shame on the coaching staff for not properly preparing the defense to catch pop-ups. How could Cora allow Duran to skip so many pop-up practices?

But every MLB season, two guys get trophies for AL and NL Rookie of the Year. Two others get recognized by some publications as Rookie Pitchers of the Year. The Sporting News and Baseball Digest used to name entire nines in each league to their All Rookie Team of the Year... every year!

I'm not even considering it because I'm sure ownership isn't. If anything, Breslow is their hero right now for shedding Raffy's contract.

I'm ready for The Password. Why not? If you believe in the Big Three, remember Garcia led all Red Sox minor leaguers in home runs last year. And he's doing it again this season. He's currently tied with Anthony, who hit 11 in 212 at bats for Worcester. Garcia has 8 so far in WOO, but in only 110 ABs. Roman had a .914 OPS in 2025 Triple A; Garcia has a .993 OPS so far. The Password swings righty and is a good outfielder. Maybe he'll come up and catch MLB whiff disease, like a lot of new guys. As we've seen this year, not every rookie immediately catches fire. But as history shows, not all promoted prospects are all wet, either. This is the Year of the Red Sox Rookies. No reason to stop now. As soon as Breslow trades an outfielder -- which better happen in the next month -- let's see what Joe Stinson can do. Put it this way: on a team going nowhere, it's better than trading any promising young pitching for some old, half-washed power bat, just to get through another half season of mediocrity.

One guy beat Boston by hitting two home runs. The Red Sox don't have a home run hitter anymore. And don't cite the Giants that won three titles without power -- few clubs ever have starting rotations with Bumgarner, Lincecum, Cain and Zito. Apparently, Boston's coaches can't do this, but will someone here please tell Hamilton that on a sacrifice bunt, you square early, and stop the pitch -- you don't poke at it and run, like trying to beat it out for a hit. If you can't put one down, at least strike out instead of hitting into a double play...