CentralChamps21

Their pitching is struggling. Maybe they should have held on to Shields.

Sox hold an 11 game lead over Cleveland, 12.5 over Detroit, with a magic number of 33. Tampa has a 5 game lead over New York and Boston. Houston with a 2.5 game lead over Oakland. New York/Boston/Oakland in a 3-way wildcard tie, with Toronto 4 back. Tampa is 2.5 ahead of Houston and 3 ahead of the Sox for the #1 seed (which may not be a desirable position given the Yankees surge). In the NL, Milwaukee has an 8.5 game lead over Cincinnati, San Francisco by 4 over LA, and the Mets now in 3rd, 2 games behind Philly and 4.5 behind Atlanta. Dodgers are securely in the #1 Wild Card position, but Cincinnati is only 1.5 behind San Diego.

I would 100% bat Moncada 2nd. Wasn't he batting 2nd most of 2019 when he put up those huge numbers? I'd bat Hernandez 5th vs RHP to put a lefty bat behind Eloy until Grandal is back, then I'd put Grandal 5th and move Hernandez down. I'd bat Vaughn 5th vs LHP.

The Louisville one (forget the guy's name) is the one I'm thinking of. Not old enough to remember most of those getting mentioned.

Right, but in your strongest categories you should be picking the higher dollar values first. Even in your weakest categories, it's still to your advantage to find the Daily Double, as you losing $100 is better than one of your opponents doubling up. Daily Doubles are most common in the 4th row, followed closely by the bottom row.

If this is his usual zone yes but if he's just trying to get this blowout over quickly I'm not going to complain.

Umpire also eager to get the game over with.

I much prefer giving the stars days off one at a time rather than all at once.

With an 8 run lead you have to at least let him start the 6th.

Red Sox are choking too so Yankees were probably good anyway. Lynn's CY odds probably got a bit better though.

Reynaldo just saw his counterpart get blasted in the head so he needs to make sure he's right emotionally and mentally before he goes back out there.

I don't know how I could handle that.

Looks really bad but he's conscious so that's at least one good thing.

All the pitches right down the middle he's missed and he hits that one?

If he doesn't know where it's going, then neither will the hitters.

If you blinked, you missed the first inning.

If you could guarantee Zavala puts up a 109 OPS+ for the next 5 years, of course you should unload Grandal's contract, but I think we all know that's incredibly unlikely. Also consider that this lineup is already righty heavy and you'd be unloading what has been the best lefty bat this season. Best case scenario is that Zavala plays well enough the rest of this year that the Sox don't feel the need to find a backup catcher in free agency.

Shoving a whole bunch of different small sample sizes into one post doesn't make it a larger sample size.

10-56 since June 1. Collins is 9-58 since July 1.

Yes, but I was pointing out that it doesn't really matter if it vests since the option is such a good value anyway.

Other than serious injury, there's no chance the Sox don't pick up the option. If the Sox budget doesn't allow for keeping both closers, someone will trade for him.

Anybody heard any updates on Jason? There's been no mention on the broadcasts as to when he might be back and he hasn't tweeted since right after Thursday's game. I'm getting worried about him.

Just looked him up and he's thrown 30 more innings than Lynn. Wonder how he'll hold up in September-October.

Salary floor can't work unless there is sharing of local TV revenue (which there 100% should be). You can't force teams to spend money they don't have. No reverse draft order, but I could see a lottery where the bottom half of non-playoff teams draw for draft spots 1-10 and the other half draw for spots 11-20. Also, now that there's only one trade deadline, move it back to August 15 to be closer to the end of the season and then the sellers have less time to tank. Agreed about service time starting when a player signs, but there needs to be an adjustment factor for younger players. If every player reaches free agency 7 years after being signed, that's a huge disincentive to draft HS players that may need longer to develop. Maybe a formula that somehow combines age and years since signing.