Look at Ray Ray Run

Dylan Cease shouldn't even make the playoff roster because he can't perform against good offenses.

Their weakest position this year is RF.

I would rather have Kris Bryant and Codi Heuer than Craig Kimbrel.. and it would have cost less. That would have been better for the teams chances to win a World Series this year than the current plan. I literally say that Kimbrel is better than Heuer in that post, so while you continue to ignore the things I say and distort them I'll continue to express the frustrations I had with the way the team allocated resources at the deadline. Kimbrel wasn't dominant in Boston in 2018. He was bad in 2019 and 2020. And he was great for 30 innings in 2021. People who keep comparing him to the period of time when he was the best reliever in baseball is like someone bringing up Griffey's Seattle numbers when the Sox acquired him; although I'm obviously exaggerating slightly here as Kimbrel was much better this year than Griffey was the year we acquired him.

Codi Heuer outperformed Craig Kimbrel last year and has outperformed him since the trade. Is he better? No. Can he better over the sample the Sox acquired Kimbrel for, 100%. As per your bolded part, one set of innings was guaranteed to occur when the Sox made the trade, the other set of innings was not guaranteed. The Sox didn't trade for Kimbrel so he could struggle in the regular season and not help their chances in obtaining home field throughout. They acquired him to bolster the bullpen the day they got him, not 2 months later. As for your bolded/italicized part, there's nothing more exhausting than hearing about the White Sox having "one of the best bullpens in the game." No one who actually watches the games would argue this. The White Sox strike out a ton of guys; they're 14th in baseball in ERA, 10th in FIP, and 4th worst in blown saves/games. At some point, the praise for a unit who has not gotten the job done just becomes tiring to read about. And ALL of that is despite having the second fewest innings pitched in baseball because their starters have been so damn good; so they aren't even overworked. They're just overrated and they remain as being the weak point of the entire roster despite them investing more money than any team in baseball on that unit.

I just want this on record, as Tony claimed this last night. So if the Sox get bounced in the first round of the playoffs and Kimbrel pitches one inning, the trade was a loss no matter what? If the Sox win the World Series but Kimbrel has like a 4.5-5 postseason ERA, the trade was a win? Neither of those make any sense, but that appears to be the argument. That the Sox gave up 10 years of team control for, possibly, 2 innings of baseball. Kimbrel doesn't control whether the Sox win or lose in October, he merely is a piece of the contribution. Small samples were always going to dictate the viability of the trade, so chalking up his failures to small sample noise is exactly why the trade was a shit one to begin with, no? You now want the small sample of 9 innings to be considered meaningless, while the small sample of the playoffs is meaningful. You just can't have it both ways.

That's like 33-35% of the innings you can expect him to throw the ROS since the acquisition. That's kind of important. I don't disagree that Seby is bad back there, but the wild pitches - for example last night - weren't going to be caught by anyone. You acting like 9 innings are meaningless when the Sox acquired a reliever with the intent of him being dominant for the end of season push is hilarious. Why do people feel the need to make excuses for Kimbrel? If you have to search for excuses as to why someone isn't doing their job, it's better just to accept they're not doing their job. We didn't trade for Kimbrel for his expected performance, we traded for his actual performance. "Wind blown" home runs and all. They all count the same.

He has a 4.24 FIP, 1.29 WHIP, 5.79 ERA and has given up 2 homers in 9 innings. He also has 4 Wild pitches in those 9 innings. He's also got the 3rd highest contract on the team. Again, the excuses for Kimbrel are laughable. He needs to be dominant, not just another guy.

Been struggling at work lately; making a lot of mistakes costing the bosses a lot of money and time. Walked into my bosses office today and told him it was his fault; he needed to put me on more expensive projects with more risk and a higher reward. Guy high fived me and said you're absolutely right, we're going to demote Tom who has been better than me over the past three years total because 5 years ago I was at the top of the totem pole. Really looking forward to my promotion driven by my failures. Wish me luck!

I think the primary point being made here, which I agree with, is that this strategy is the same one the Sox have been deploying for years which led to miserable additions mid-season and even early season. Those players fell flat and the season spiraled. While the strategy worked this time because for once those players performed beyond expectations, it's simply not a process that should be applauded as over the duration of a large sample it has been a failure. I tend to agree with this; I was critical of the depth in the off-season, and while much of my criticism was on the pitching front (where they've been incredibly lucky health wise), there were still some concerns on position player depth given the injury history of their core. Eloy and Robert weren't exactly a beacon of good health, Moncada had his nagging injuries and Tim has been known to miss some time. That doesn't even account for Madrigal who is gone. The Sox didn't plan well for this, BUT it worked out. The process can be poor and the results good, those two things are not dependent on each other. The Sox were playing Nick Williams in April and they needed, as you noted, to move Vaughn to a position he's never played in his life just to cover their ass. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, but in the long run you'd rather be good than lucky.

Alright fella's, logging off until the next time Kimbrel blows a game and gives up a run. See you tomorrow night!

It wasn't a bad outing or two; Kimbrel was walking a tight rope nearly every single game he came in. He was bad. Not sure why this is being debated now; weird stuff. Has nothing to do with this year and what he could do this year; maybe this year if things go well and the Sox are in the playoffs deep he dominates. I'm just disputing the story that Kimbrel wasn't bad and didn't shit the bed. he did.

Yes, between 2010-2017, Craig Kimbrel was the best reliever that has ever put on a uniform. I don't think many would refute that. I was merely pointing out that year that Colome's hat said he wasn't bad he was actually, in fact, really bad.

I honestly can't tell if you're trolling or not. He had an ERA of 6 and a WHIP of 1.6. He got saves because his team was up by so much. This article talks about how exciting Kimbrel found a way to make playoff games that were practically over before he came in lol. https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2018/10/22/18007620/craig-kimbrel-boston-red-sox-los-angeles-dodgers-closer-blown-saves Kimbrel was awful in the 2018 playoffs.

Yeah, but command was always the concern with Craig as he's gotten older. His stuff is too good for him to get crushed repeatedly. I don't think many will argue that. He gives away runs though because his command has no consistency.

Lol what in the world? He gave up 7 runs in 10.2 innings (walked 8 guys!), and had an ERA of : 11.57 4.5 4.15 in the three playoff rounds. What is with the weird Kimbrel excuse makers on this forum?

Kimbrel's numbers in medium/low leverage situations in his career are better than they are in high leverage (dominant in all).

Lol wtf are you using? Holy cow. Runs given up is all that matters at this point. His expected numbers dont improve the teams results. I'm a projection guy as much as the next guy but projections don't win games or reverse whats happened. Were evaluating his results since that's what we traded for. Not his expected results.

Uh, hes given up 6 run in 9.1 innings. Even if he throws 9 scoreless in a row his era is far from dominant for a reliever. Tepera will very likely finish the year with better numbers as a sox than kimbrel.. This is down the stretch pal. They're an average road team and elite home team. Getting home field doesn't mean everything but it matters. Kimbrel has already blown more games than a replacement reliever likely would ROS.

Yes, if kimbrel was dominant down the stretch and in the playoffs the trade makes plenty of sense for an all in team.

So the Sox traded 5 years of madrigal and 5 years of heuer for games that aren't even close to guaranteed to be played? This is quite the take. Kimbrel was traded for to only perform in 5-8 games that may never happen. lol

I've called Kimbrel the best reliever I've ever seen in my life on this forum. I've also said he's not that guy anymore and that the two years prior to this one shouldn't be ignored because his command has been wavering for 5 years (not just the last two) and he's no longer that guy anymore. I said he can be dominant in stretches (as he's been for some of this year) but he's volatile like any other good reliever. With us he's been trash so I've called him such. Not sure what else to tell you.

yet, I bring up how wrong I was on Cesar whenever I get a chance lol; in this thread tonight as one example. Weird how that works. Keep selectively quoting and ignoring reality.

If you think the Sox traded 10 years of control of two decent pieces in hopes of Kimbrel ONLY being good in playoff games that might not happen then I don't know what to tell you. He had to help them get home field and etc in the regular season in addition to post season. Just as Chapman and his 3.5 ERA in the playoffs didn't win the Cubs the World Series, Kimbrel (a reliever) isn't going to be the primary reason this team wins a world series if they do. Your argument basically means if the Sox get knocked out in the first round that the Kimbrel trade was horrible no matter way, since he didn't even get to pitch well in the games you were counting on him for.

Pal, I would rather be WRONG about the trade than right. Just like I admitted and now defend Cesar Hernandez when he receives some hate. If I feel I'm wrong I'm not only happy to admit it, but excited about it because I like the Sox to be good. Weird how that works. You must miss all my pro-Cesar posts despite me being critical of the trade. Selective reading on your part. Have a nice night, champ.

You just said I came in the thread pounding my chest about being right because I posted that this guy fuckings sucks. You're a better story teller than Doctor Suess.