Official Boston Red Sox Thread - 2023

[Palatine]

I think everyone had written Jarren off. The rules change helps him. No shift. Bigger bags. His elite speed is a weapon the way the game is being played. I think he's finally not a liability in the OF. His speed should make him a + defender, but he was terrible at reading the ball off the bat. I'd been rooting for him.

Duran made the same mistake Benitendi made. He wanted to become a power hitter. And, to be fair, power hitters make the most money. But his strikeouts went way up and his average way down. He has taken his medicine. Lowered his leg kick and is concentrating on contact. If he can resist the temptation to play long ball, he looks like he will be a very good big league hitter.

 

[Husky25]

Duran made the same mistake Benitendi made. He wanted to become a power hitter. And, to be fair, power hitters make the most money. But his strikeouts went way up and his average way down. He has taken his medicine. Lowered his leg kick and is concentrating on contact. If he can resist the temptation to play long ball, he looks like he will be a very good big league hitter.

Nothing wrong with being a 3+ tool player. Duran doesn't have to hit 40 dingers. Somewhere around 20, with 30+ steals will make him a lot of money. Although Fenway is not the ideal home park for a infield->outfield convert who might project as a sub-par fielder.

 

[CAbyCT]

Doogie, has had him quite a stretch here. Hopefully he keeps up this up, and get anything out of the front end of the rotation.

 

[CAbyCT]

Doogie, has had him quite a stretch here. Hopefully he keeps up this up, and get anything out of the front end of the rotation.

Doogie again !!!!!

 

[HuskyHawk]

Doogie again !!!!!

Cora said he challenged him to become the guy they thought he could become when trading for him. He has the talent, and has been "good" but needed to take that next step.

How good is the AL East? The new schedule is showing what I thought it would show. These teams beat up on each other too much before.

 

[CAbyCT]

New day, different star, happy for Wong to have himself a heck of a game.

 

[HuskyHawk]

New day, different star, happy for Wong to have himself a heck of a game.

He's been quite good. Fantastic defensive catcher too. The Betts trade is looking a little better.

 

[HCCForever]

He's been quite good. Fantastic defensive catcher too. The Betts trade is looking a little better.

I just read that Red Sox catchers (Connor Wong and Reese McGuire) lead the majors in batting average. Nice surprise to me anyway. Of course, you want power from catchers as well.

 

[CAbyCT]

Both have been more successful than I would have imagined before the season started. Hopefully they can figure out a way to get the staff rolling. Offense as a whole has been an A so far, but the pitching has been a C- or worse thus far. The division is beyond ridiculous to contend in this year though.

 

[CAbyCT]

7 in a row !

 

[HCCForever]

7 in a row !

And Sale slinging the fastball again. I thought Chris was done earlier this year.

 

[mauconnfan]

Sox can hit, I’m jealous if these kids continue to hit they play baseball offensively the way it’s supposed to be. The Japanese dude can rake too you guys should be a little excited.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sox can hit, I’m jealous if these kids continue to hit they play baseball offensively the way it’s supposed to be. The Japanese dude can rake too you guys should be a little excited.

I thought they made some decent moves based on the new rules. Speed, contact, lefty batters that hit the ball hard (no shift). Verdugo seems to have finally matched his promise....so far. We've seen this before in spurts.

The big one though is Duran. Been waiting on him for 3 years now, he was supposed to replace Benintendi. He was so bad, Kike had to play CF. Fast, nice swing, couldn't hit consistently and couldn't read the ball of the bat on defense. Worked and worked on those things and it shows. Connor Wong is the other kid who made the leap. We expected Casas would be good, and he hasn't been.

Story will be back, and that will help.

 

[Husky25]

Sox can hit, I’m jealous if these kids continue to hit they play baseball offensively the way it’s supposed to be. The Japanese dude can rake too you guys should be a little excited.

Pitching continues to be heald together by Scotch tape and spit...and Scotch.

The bullpen seems to be coming around, and the Top 2 (Sale & Kluber) seem to be settling down a (a very) little, but their ERA is still in the 6.30 range over 14 starts and 70 innings. I.e. only 5IP/game.

On the other hand, Boston has faced among the toughest schedules so far and offense ebbs and flows. So while it may be enough to get the Sox into a Wild Card over 162 games, pitching carries the day in October.

 

[HCCForever]

Pitching continues to be heald together by Scotch tape and spit...and Scotch.

The bullpen seems to be coming around, and the Top 2 (Sale & Kluber) seem to be settling down a (a very) little, but their ERA is still in the 6.30 range over 14 starts and 70 innings. I.e. only 5IP/game.

On the other hand, Boston has faced among the toughest schedules so far and offense ebbs and flows. So while it may be enough to get the Sox into a Wild Card over 162 games, pitching carries the day in October.

I agree. I would love for the Sox to win a WS every year but that is unrealistic. At a minimum I want to follow a competitive team throughout the entire season. And Paxton should be joining the team by next week as well. Things are not as gloomy as they seemed a month ago.

 

[Husky25]

I agree. I would love for the Sox to win a WS every year but that is unrealistic. At a minimum I want to follow a competitive team throughout the entire season. And Paxton should be joining the team by next week as well. Things are not as gloomy as they seemed a month ago.

In addition to the 8 game win streak, which should please any Sox fan, the pitch clock has made watching baseball more enjoyable.

I'm tempering my expectations with 34 YO Paxton. He's pitched a total of 21.2 innings since 2019 and none in over 2 full calendar years. OTOH, the farm seems to be offering some help.

 

[mauconnfan]

I agree. I would love for the Sox to win a WS every year but that is unrealistic. At a minimum I want to follow a competitive team throughout the entire season. And Paxton should be joining the team by next week as well. Things are not as gloomy as they seemed a month ago.

The Yanks despite not having as many WS of late as the Sox have been more consistently "competitive" as you say basically every season. But the reality is if you watch and know baseball you know going into the playoffs your team is not designed for a run to win, but were designed just to get there. You guys don't have the goods for a WS run it's simple with the pitching staff unless a trade or a couple guys become Superman. But you are building in the right direction while Cashman is doing the same ol things with the same OLD guys who are now actually getting worst both at the plate and with injuries. Again, much better outlook for you guys I'm afraid.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Yanks despite not having as many WS of late as the Sox have been more consistently "competitive" as you say basically every season. But the reality is if you watch and know baseball you know going into the playoffs your team is not designed for a run to win, but were designed just to get there. You guys don't have the goods for a WS run it's simple with the pitching staff unless a trade or a couple guys become Superman. But you are building in the right direction while Cashman is doing the same ol things with the same OLD guys who are now actually getting worst both at the plate and with injuries. Again, much better outlook for you guys I'm afraid.

Completely agree with this assessment. The vision of hiring Bloom was always "Tampa with the ability to keep/sign some expensive players". So Mookie goes (as is the Tampa model). Bogaerts walks (huge mistake, Tampa would have traded him the year before) and Devers resigns. It won't be fully functional until the old big contracts like Sale are gone.

I have long believed that the MLB contract structure (unlike the NFL) means that there are ton of guys on rosters who are not as good as guys in the minors. The best teams seem to have a blend of young cheap talent, a few high priced stars, and good role players.

Teams carrying huge star contracts long after guys stop living up to them creates a vicious cycle. Yankees are always going to be good, because you can't run out a team with that many stars and that payroll and not be good.

 

[mauconnfan]

Completely agree with this assessment. The vision of hiring Bloom was always "Tampa with the ability to keep/sign some expensive players". So Mookie goes (as is the Tampa model). Bogaerts walks (huge mistake, Tampa would have traded him the year before) and Devers resigns. It won't be fully functional until the old big contracts like Sale are gone.

I have long believed that the MLB contract structure (unlike the NFL) means that there are ton of guys on rosters who are not as good as guys in the minors. The best teams seem to have a blend of young cheap talent, a few high priced stars, and good role players.

Teams carrying huge star contracts long after guys stop living up to them creates a vicious cycle. Yankees are always going to be good, because you can't run out a team with that many stars and that payroll and not be good.

The problem with this is number 1, you can run out a team and not be good. They are proof of that as we speak. And number 2 is their payroll has lessened in respect to the economy over the past few years and the money they spend is on crappy players. They don't spend enough smart money any more and have missed on the likes of Olsen at first base because of these reasons. Instead they spend on a good guy, decent player in Rizzo but not in the prime of his career at all. Olsen would be an absolute stud if they had made the right move there, he would kill it at The Stadium. They didn't get a SS when they could have, hopefully Volpe is the guy but I think its way too early he shouldn't even be up yet. The signing of Hicks was one of the many bad moves Cash has made and Donaldson is right there with that one. Blow up time, management and team. Trade some of those so-called studs people want and get someth9ing back of impact. He's a dreadful GM, and the owner if fine with that because he's not his dad!~

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sox suddenly struggling. Blowing saves. Not scoring. It’s a long season.

 

[The Viking]

Jansen struggling Friday and Saturday turned what should have been another good series into a disaster.
Paxton and Sale were both outstanding.

 

[CAbyCT]

I was front few rows at that game. It was awful seeing that ending on Saturday. All of the free balls with Jansen starting his motion before batter was in the box was wild. Definitely a new thing to witness. Great to take my dad to the game though, with great seats on a beautiful day.

 

[Waquoit]

Completely agree with this assessment. The vision of hiring Bloom was always "Tampa with the ability to keep/sign some expensive players". So Mookie goes (as is the Tampa model). Bogaerts walks (huge mistake, Tampa would have traded him the year before) and Devers resigns. It won't be fully functional until the old big contracts like Sale are gone.

Lucky guy that gets 7 years and multiple last place finishes to implement his "vision". And as a reminder, Tampa has yet to win anything. Pretty much the entire 80's and 90's the Sox did what Tampa is doing now. Consistant winning years, several playoff appearances with one losing WS appeareance. That entire time the Sox were considered losers.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Lucky guy that gets 7 years and multiple last place finishes to implement his "vision". And as a reminder, Tampa has yet to win anything. Pretty much the entire 80's and 90's the Sox did what Tampa is doing now. Consistant winning years, several playoff appearances with one losing WS appeareance. That entire time the Sox were considered losers.

I wouldn't consider them losers then. I'm not sure Chaim is the guy, but this is about the first year I'd say we are playing with his team.

There's no one way to do this. Big payroll teams win it all occasionally. But mostly it's the upper 1/3 or so that do. Even the Royals in 2015 were 12th. I wasn't suggesting being Tampa. Boston will always have a top 10 payroll. But if you are smarter about trading stars for prospects, you can improve the talent and avoid some dead weight contracts. If you look at the end of the list you see the change, top payroll teams used to win consistently.

World Series Champion Opening Day Payroll Ranks In The Wild Card Era — College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America

Spending money doesn't guarantee a World Series ring, but 24 of the last 25 champions all crossed one particular payroll threshold.

www.baseballamerica.com

 

[Waquoit]

I don't want Job 1 to be avoiding dead weight contracts, I want Job 1 to be winning. The Sox could use a decent starter right about now. Like that guy on Texas.