hogan873

What else could Getz have said? JR is the one who made this hire, saying someone who wouldn't need an extended period of time to learn the system was the way to go...because this wasn't a rebuild...and the team could be competitive this year. Getz has done a decent job with the constraints he has. But until he's allowed to spend and actually sign some impact players, he and all of us know the team won't be competitive any time soon.

My thought on watching the sweeper and the fact that he was almost always on the outer part of the plate or outside was if he missed his spot and the pitch swept onto the middle of the plate, it could be hit pretty hard. But, his location was great last night. A very good outing.

I'm glad I turned on the game last night. Cannon is fun to watch pitch. Nothing is straight, every pitch moves. His sweeper was especially good and had the Astros off balance all night. The big difference I noticed between him and Thorpe was the success with off-speed stuff. Cannon has a better fastball, so when he does use it he can still get hitters to miss or make weak contact. Thorpe had to rely too much on a very pedestrian fastball because his off-speed stuff was missing. And the hitters just teed off on it. Thorpe should be okay; his first start was much better. But Cannon just looked like a seasoned pitcher out there last night.

Man. Last year was a bad year for him, but he fell off a cliff this year. Hate to see this.

Yeah, this isn't like Lopez and Sosa competing for playing time. This is one of the best hitters on the team (and one of the better defensive catchers in the league) being sat for literally the worst player in baseball. Lee should be catching 5 out of 7 games and batting somewhere in the middle of the lineup.

Kopech is a freaking headcase. He has tons of talent and when on, he's lights out. The problem is, the smallest hiccup causes him to lose focus and throw bad pitches. There may a team out there that offers something of interest for him at the deadline, but I don't know if the guy will ever figure it out, regardless of what team he's playing for.

If (hopefully when) Grifol is shitcanned this season, my guess is they'd promote Montoyo for the remainder of the season. Which would be fine, I guess. Regardless of how much of this season is Grifol's fault, a change needs to be made.

This would be the funniest thing in this terrible baseball year. And maybe getting Maldonado to the game would force MLB to change the way all stars are selected.

Just this 12 game losing streak should be enough to jettison Grifol to the moon, or at least the street. He's doing a horrendous job with a bad team. There has to be someone who can do a good job with a bad team and scrape together a few wins. Hell, I'm willing to bet there are plenty of us on this board who could do a better job.

That's my point. Getz apparently wants Maldonado on the team...or at least doesn't care if he's on the team getting 50%+ of the playing time.

On paper this team is bad, but they're not this bad. That, to me, says a lot about the leadership, or lack thereof. We've seen Grifol make bad decision after bad decision, and he has probably the worst bullpen management in the game. As far as Maldonado, there's no way he should be part of any MLB team. His defense isn't even good enough to justify a .180 BA, let alone a .080 BA. Let that sink in - the Sox are keeping a guy on the roster (and playing him regularly) that EVERY OTHER TEAM would have DFA'd a long time ago. If Getz were an even half-decent GM, he'd take Grifol's toy away and bring up Robinson or Perez or Hackenberg. Lee should be catching 5 out of 7 games. One of those guys would be a better option than Maldonado. It's fucking embarrassing.

Joe West was almost comical. He was the definition of the ump show and seemed to love the fact that he was despised. Hernandez was just a brutally bad umpire that seemed clueless that he was actually bad.

My son and I are going to the Sox/Brewers game on Saturday. I'll wear my Sox stuff and generally root for them, but I won't be necessarily upset if (when) they lose. However, I did see that Crochet will be pitching, so maybe they'll have a chance. On a side note, we have front row seats along the left field line, so I think some heckling of Benintendi will be in order.

That's like saying Grifol is an average MLB manager.

Don't let Eloy anywhere near him.

Hopefully right onto DFA avenue.

Hey, TLR tried. He said not to run hard. Maybe he was on to something with these guys made of glass.

Who had DeJong being one of the better hitters on their bingo card?

And DeJong is one of the better hitters on this team...and leads the team in HRs. ?

If he thought last year was bad, he'd be beyond miserable this year.

Burger is a nice guy and a cool story after battling injuries. His performance in Miami after the trade may end up being an outlier, as he's hitting like he did with the Sox while getting more playing time. Time will tell with Eder, but as others have pointed out, one of the most likely scenarios is neither guy turns out to be much of a player. Sure, his power numbers would look decent on the Sox right now, but his BA would fit right in with the schlub parade that gets rolled out daily. There are a few folks on Twitter that are absolutely obsessed with Burger (and TA) and wax ad nauseum about them and how much they want them back. Neither guy would add much value to the Sox right now.

But the knock-off brands. Dr. Thunder, Mountain Mist, Sprint Lemon, Fantuz Orange...

So, are thinking Pham slapped Benintendi across his smug face and told him to get his s%*# together?

Chuck Norris can actually pitch with his foot...while making a stiff bourbon cocktail with his hands.

I don't know if it's the Tommy Pham effect or what, but this team looks completely different. I know that winning will do that, but the attitude seems to have swung 180 degrees. Benintendi alone is a new guy. I obviously don't expect this team to sweep series after series, but starting to win up to 50% of their games going forward seems possible. I've thought for a while that this team is not as bad as they've played. On paper they are a bad team but not a historically bad team. I have literally watched no more than an inning or two of just some of the games up until this weekend. I had been watching Saturday's game a bit and turned it back on just in time to see the walk-off. I watched the entire game yesterday, and that is the first game this season I watched all the way through. These guys pulled me back in...for now.