5GoldGlovesOF,75

Rafaela is signed longterm to a contract the team can carry. I'm not worried about CF. The point about having Garcia, along with Anthony -- and Campbell if he doesn't smooth out his 2B edges -- is that both Duran and Abreu are expendable, and neither will be part of the outfield on the next true contender... unless they're both traded for pitchers who'll help make Boston better.

SOBing

Anyone watching daily/nightly can see that both Duran and Abreu are overrated defensively -- at least by the stats that non-Sox fans or non-Sox media monitor. Duran improved since he debuted, but it's pretty obvious his hands are still clanky. Abreu has less speed, but a far stronger arm. Right now Breslow should trade whichever player yields the best return for pitching. And nobody should stress that Rafaela is etched in stone as a core starter, either. The Password Garcia is already on the 40-man roster, currently has an .840 OPS in Worcester, is a strong defender in the outfield, and hit more minor league home runs last year than any of The Big Three.

Crochet, Dobbins, and others just lobbing.

They're called baseball players. A guy like Refsnyder, when strangers ask him what he does for a living, probably doesn't answer, "Oh, I platoon and pinch-hit vs. left-handed pitchers."

Crochet, Dobbins, and anyone else lobbing

Most Errors Red Sox Regulars: 5 Duran, Abreu, Bregman, Story, Campbell 4 Brennan Bernardino 3 Rafaela, Narvaez, Hamilton, Toro, Gonzalez ... the outfield isn't usually as pivotal as infielders not turning double plays, but last night's muff by Anthony shows the difference -- when an infielder misses a grounder, the batter reaches base; when an outfielder misses a grounder, runners circle the bases. Boston's starting outfield was maybe slightly overrated early on as the greatest in Sox history... 13 Es in less than half a season by Duran-Rafaela-Abreu doesn't look so good compared to the 2018 season total of 11 for the trio of: Beni 4, JBJ 6, Mookie 1. Or how about this 1977 Red Sox unit (when intact): Yaz 0, Lynn 2, Evans 1... the first two played all year, but Dewey missed about 100 games with injury, and was spelled by primary DH Rice, the erratic Carbo, and Rick Miller, another Gold Glover.

It's Cora's fault! Before the game he told him to field a single on the side instead of get in front of it. AC's just has to be better at preparing the defense to play sound fundamental baseball.

Multiple choice: when he homers, and one of the Roman candles they shoot off hits the manager, who was aiming at Cora? A: Brez, B: Raffy, C: Ron Roenicke, D: Joey (haha)

Yes. Billy would hit him with a sucker punch. But Earl would knock him out with bad breath.

I'm just here to hit. They told me to put away my spikes. Next thing you know, Hammy will pull a groiny, and they'll ask me to pinch run.

I don't really care about fielding percentage, but I really care about defense. My post was in reply to Max, who always tries to separate and stress hitting and pitching over defense. The whole idea is that pitching and defense are directly connected -- they both happen on one side of the ball in an attempt to prevent the offense from scoring. And the correct ruling on that Garcia grounder you described should have been a fielder's choice, not a hit. Semien chose to pursue Meidroth instead of immediately making a throw that would've beaten Garcia to 1B. I realize sometimes it goes the other way, like if a shortstop dives in the hole to make a stop and only has one chance at an out by throwing to 2B or 3B to force a lead runner; if he gets the out, it's a fielder's choice, but if everyone's safe, the batter gets a hit because there was no way he was getting thrown out at 1B.

John Henry doesn't want to lose more baseballs that fly out of Fenway Park.

I think there were Yopherys on my Yes poster. Or was it Tull?

The best sign that Campbell is figuring it out wasn't his home run to the joke porch in Yankee Stadium. It was his last 10-pitch at bat in the Bronx: three sharp oppo fouls, three pulled fouls, and finally a line drive single to right. Campbell kept his hands above the ball on every swing.

I think ESPN should interview a few more hundred Yankee players about Dobbins vocal hate for pinstripes... ... but make sure in every interview they plug in shots from the Judge Cam -- Judge is sitting on the bench, Judge is smiling, Judge is changing his baby's diapers, Judge is walking his dogs, he - he's putting on his batting gloves... Judge is on deck!

Rookie shortstop for the A's, Jacob Wilson, is second in the AL in hits and batting average, and has only struck out 16 times in 268 plate appearances. He's 5th in OPS (between Bregman and Devers). Unless pitchers can write a book on him soon, Wilson seems an early lock for Rookie of the Year -- and another good reason for Boston to stop waiting to bring up Anthony (and not have to worry about paying him what he's worth in the 2030s).

It's true the Red Sox need to start diversifying more. Over 20 years ago, Theo Epstein could see they couldn't possibly win with too many Dominicans -- like Martinez, Ortiz and Ramirez -- so he looked to the Far East and brought in Dave Roberts, who is half Japanese, and Kevin Millar, who was actually going to Japan, but turned his plane around. Then in '07 Theo signed Matsusaka and Okajima, who are both literally Japanese, and the Sox won another ring. Breslow and Bailey were both relievers on Boston's '13 champs, but they had mound time diminished by the presence of Japanese set-up man Tazawa and closer Uehara... so maybe the current braintrust views too much diversity as bittersweet. It's not like the Red Sox have a history of racism tainting their place in the standings. Sure, they were the last MLB team to allow an African American player to wear their red socks, but it only took them 20 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier to finally recruit a multi-cultural roster good enough to win the pennant. That was in 1967, when the front office looked at the roster and saw way too many players with last names ending in vowels -- Yastrzemski, Petrocelli, Conigliaro, Stange, Santiago, Lyle -- and balanced it out by putting as many as six black players on the field in Scott, Foy, Smith, Tartabull, Howard and Wyatt. Those guys took them to Game Seven of the World Series.

They always call that. Meanwhile, when Duran led off the game, on one pitch his bat never moved but he just took a stride and they immediately checked the check. Ya, check your hat at the door.

Torrorro Show!

That HR by the Carnivore is a home run in every Yankee Stadium in the majors!

Mayer and Campbell hit their first home runs in the Bronx this series. Now we just need Anthony to... oh, wait.

Until ESPN announcer says: "A Yankee Stadium home run by Campbell" (you mean like a thousand hit by Judge, Stanton and DJ vs. Boston)

Bad defense directly affects pitching and leads to bad pitching. Bad plays can result in men on base, which forces the moundsman to pitch from the stretch instead of the wind-up, and always extends innings requiring more pitches to retire the side. More mistakes on the field = more pitches per inning = more chances to make mistake pitches... which most big league hitter clobber. Last word on fielding percentage: no error is issued for a fielder who doesn't charge a grounder or doesn't get a good enough jump to outrun a fly ball. No E is charged when a first baseman ranges too far to his right for a chopper and nobody covers the bag in time. And no double play can be assumed after a fielder's choice gets the lead runner at 2B -- so a wild or late return throw to 1B is not an error... that's because often it's caused by an imperfect feed throw to the pivot, who maybe double-clutched or rushed the transfer (or in the olden days was trucked into LF by Hal McRae or Don Baylor). None of those miscues decrease a team's fielding percentage -- but players, managers, coaches, and scouts are very aware of the difference between a sharp, tidy D and a loose, shoddy D. Fans, too...

That made me laugh saridinically (sardines are good for something). So when Gio was a zero, he was worth more than when he actually pitched and had less value than a guy Ramon Vazquez picked up off the street with the team bus when driving Raffy's glove -- which he took by mistake -- back to the team hotel.