5GoldGlovesOF,75

But don't light a cigar like Henry, or the head might catch on fire!

Is Ward still suspended for throwing a bat at a pitcher who threw a ball at him?

It's absolutely selective. I was talking about Andrew Bailey and all the starting pitchers they selected to trade who became better after they left (though Sale probably didn't work much with him since they were basically passing each other in and out the door). But we all know why Bails didn't lose his job -- Brez hired him... maybe even with the intent someday of promoting him to manager.

Let's get this out of the way right now: (from my pal, Al): "Buster Olney is generally viewed as an institutional reporter who acts as a direct conduit for information from front offices, team executives, and the league office, placing his reporting reputation closer to the owners' or league's side rather than that of the players." ... and today, he tweets the Sox crap offense can be blamed on the new rule restricting base coaches from leaving coach's boxes. These new limits insinuate they couldn't pay quite as close "attention to details" to help batters -- because that's where we knew Boston's latest smear campaign would go.

Brez got mad that Hammy got better than Durbin and blamed the Red Sox coaches? Ok, but why does Bailey get to keep his job, when every pitcher they trade gets better elsewhere: Sale, Priester, Harrison, Pivetta, Elmer. Actually, another test for the pitching system might be how the pitching prospects they traded this winter develop, like Clarke.

Gotta ask why it's suddenly revisited this week. Don't have any doubt there will be more dirt as the summer sludges deeper into the gutter, like 0-2 home runs given up by Weissert.

They kick everyone out the door and make up crap about them on the way out. There's already a story about Cora getting fall-down drunk on team flights back when he was coaching for the frikin Astros. I just don't want to hear it. Get well soon, Red Sox.

I like the optics of Tracy as a younger alternative to manage underclassmen he successfully coached in the minors... ... but after reading all the post-mortem stories smartly published by beat reporters before the front office can do its usual smear campaign on departing employees, it's probably fair to question if Chad will actually be able to act on any changes except those ordered by Brez and Bailey's Flying Circus. And I feel bad for the new coaching staff of old pros like Epperson, because unless they pull off a miracle comeback, it's likely egomaniac Breslow will clean house again after this debacle of a season so he can finally do what he's wanted from the start: fire any voices of reason and replace them with an entire administration of sychophants and yes-men enablers.

Right, imagine stupid posters agreeing with stupid professional baseball writers and stupid professional baseball analysts on stupid MLB channels that have said all winter and all spring that the stupid Red Sox CBO never replaced BOTH middle of the order bats he lost or got rid of in the past year, leaving the stupid offense with a stupid hole smackdab in the heart of the stupid order. Last in Home Runs, but more importantly, last in On Base Percentage, last in Slugging Percentage, last in OPS. Last in the AL East.

Contreras replaced Devers production at the position he refused to play. Breslow never replaced Bregman -- and though some posters are happy not to commit all their billionaire's money -- the Red Sox are still minus an All-Star middle-of-the-order bat and clubhouse leader (why would a last-place doormat with the majors' worst offense need a guy like that...). According to the piece Ken Rosenthal and others just wrote about the power-mad insecure Brez, maybe there was a reason we didn't know about for why there wasn't enough urgency to bring back Bregman: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7239320/2026/04/29/craig-breslow-alex-cora-red-sox-coaches-purge/

Maybe both or maybe the young hitters just regarded his words more because he had actually starred in the big leagues. But we do know he was a veteran voice immediately respected by teammates once he joined. It's hard to say Breslow ever replaced that in the clubhouse. But the dugout silence to Contreras challenging the Brewers one night says a lot.

Right, fans were all yelling "Fire Fatse" because the team can't hit, and now that he's gone, guys like Merloni are saying he was an old school coach -- and the Driveline guys are the ones they kept. Durbin had a decent rookie year for Milwaukee with the second-lowest Slugging% in the line-up. Then he comes to the Red Sox where everyone struggles with the "Hit the ball in the air" mantra. And all we get to see is him pull his head with his new uppercut swing and hit in the .100s. How's that working out, Craig?

No idea. Why are you asking me? Ask them.

A sober way of looking at THIS ROSTER: instead of the Red Sox winning 77 more games, there's a better chance of the Red Sox winning 77 games total this season.

Those numbers show that even if the Red Sox win more than they lose the rest of the season, they may only finish .500. To get back to last year's record, they need to go 77-55 -- which is unthinkable with the league's weakest offense; last in homers, last in slugging. Even in the unlikely event that all the bats ON THE ROSTER improve and guys near career years, they'd still need an additional Kristian Franklin phenom to arrive and go off. So the question at this point should be revised... but probably not: Do you think Boston can win 22 more games than they lose in the next five months?

Opinion noted, but actual Red Sox big leaguers raved about the impact on their hitting by the sudden presence of JD Martinez, Kyle Schwarber, and Alex Bregman in the line-ups, at the cages, and scanning iPads. That trio arrived in 2018, 2021 and 2025, respectively. Those were the only years Boston made the playoffs since.

I feel the same about both. I'm also glad the Sox called Chad Tracy as interim. He's now the youngest manager in the AL and already experienced guiding most of the young guns when Worcester was their last stop before The Show. That's the type of guy I want working with rookies and sophomores trying to ward off the Jinx. Cora was a people person, but with the rep of being better at handling veteran players. So Tracy could be a breath of fresh air... and definitely a better choice than some old curmudgeon who can't work a cellphone trying to whip the boys back into shape.

Some posters love to cite stats to show how ex-Red Sox or almost-Red Sox or coveted-by Red Sox are doing elsewhere. I'm the voice of reason and treason: not all of those numbers would necessarily transfer verbatim if the same player was batting in the Red Sox line-up at mostly Fenway Park and facing more AL East foes, and also in their ballparks. And not getting to hit against Bello. It's also worth considering other factors, like is it harder or easier to hit the longball in other ballparks? Ex: New York's old Polo Grounds where fences were 483 feet to CF and 258 down the line in RF. If you were a righty pull hitter there, it was only 279 feet to LF... but then once your Giants moved to San Francisco's Candlestick Park, the wind was always blowing in from left.

Game was tied at the time. Chisholm rushed a crappy throw to first, which is 90 feet away (give or take a corner of the pizza box) from second, and you think he'd make a better one to home plate, which is 127 feet 3 3/8 inches from the center of the second base bag... and he's Jazz.

Point worth discussing since Cora was his biggest proponent and in three months they let both go. Maybe that's more a statement that Brez and Co. are all in on the Driveline guys -- who they retained and assigned more important titles (at least, to the new Assistant Hitting Coach). But the young players also gave Bregman credit for helping them last year, and is it only coincidence that nearly all of them started off this season struggling?

Like: watch out, you might score the run that wins the World Series! Not: don't keep running with a full count and two outs on Yoshida's grounder up the middle that the second baseman just dove to stop and then bounced a throw past the first baseman, so you can score the go-ahead run and we can eliminate the Yankees at home!

Didn't you hear Obrien the suck-up announcer say last night it wasn't his fault! It was the Toronto philosophy to take short leads so runners won't get doubled up on all those line drives the Jays rip every game right at infielders. So sick of their BS.

Thank you. The problem with the '26 Red Sox -- and it's not going to change -- is that Breslow chose not to supply the roster with enough established bats. When you have enough, hot starters carry slow starters until later, when they change places. There's plenty of evidence in baseball history that ballplayers are in their primes in their 20s and aren't as good in their 30s, but most younger guys have the quick-twitch tools without the veteran experience. That's where Bregman really helped out last year. Bregman's not the hitter he once was, but still knows how to slow down the game in key spots. And Boston still has that huge hole in the middle of the batting order. Contreras is a dangerous hitter, but a big hacker. Surrounding him with more deliberate batters that use the whole field would give the offense more balance. Anthony is in a funk, and a sucker for curveballs in the dirt right now -- and the league knows it. That's why I wanted him batting 5th or lower until he adjusts -- you could see he was on Cease's fastball last night. At least flip him with Abreu, who's been more consistent since the WBC.

It doesn't help me because I don't care about stats in April. Elite ballplayers don't suddenly forget how to hit, and most established stars find success from continually adjusting. Nagging injuries are the only things that slow them down, unless they have failing vision or substance issues (though I may have more of the latter because my vision is still good enough to keep watching the Red Sox).

I wanted Cease and Suarez and Gray -- really just two out of three. Check. and I wanted Bregman and Bichette and Contreras -- at least two out of three. UNCHECKED. (I actually wanted Bregman or Bichette, and preferred Yandy Diaz over Contreras because I thought that trade would cost less to complete. But apparently, Tampa wasn't interested in dealing him... and now he's third in the AL in OBP). But Breslow believes in the roster... that he didn't complete.