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8th inning curse strikes again even after 2 outs and no one on. Where's Jobu when you need him ?

I'd love to see Yoan keep that Slugging % above .400. That's very low and not asking for much.

You did the Tool spelling.

Lots of Valium.

And many said that in the thread but that's a little more haphazard. If you shut him down you can plan the rotation for his absence which is why it was always the most viable option. It also is probably better for his arm than pitching here and there. We can only guess how they plan to use him for the rest of the regular season.

I 'm hoping that with 15 games left. He starts playing the every day guys a lot more. He can rest them as much as he wants now to a point. But they do have to start playing together and especially winning together. Once Grandal is back I want to see at least a 5 game winning streak and put this division away even though we know somewhere deep insidethe division is won. There's always the bit of doubt I'd like to see wiped out. I know this team can have fun but do they have a Jordanesque killer instinct ?

Under .500 starting at the 1st time they went 21 over .500 which was maybe a month or so ago ? They can't crack that barrier.

Did you say that in the poll response ? So the Sox ,who should know what's best for Rodon and frankly any idiot knowing his innings pitched totals the last couple of years and this year could've seen the Sox shutting him down but the smarter people here don't necessarily agree with it ? You just keep digging yourself and the other 77.6 % a bigger hole. Is something the matter with you ? The only ones who saw this coming are the 22.4 % who voted for him being shut down for a while because that's what you would do if you knew all his IP totals. And they have been clearly posted many many times.

We have a winner !

There are issues , it's just hard to pinpoint them because of our ignorance and the ignorance of anyone carrying water for them now also. Lots of things going on the last year or 2 in the minors. Lost a whole year, lost teams, lost whole leagues. We have no idea if guys were left to fend for themselves in the Covid year or if there was a plan for them to keep busy. Some organizations did a much better job than others in that regard. Then the Sox probably found out in late 2019 that Vizquel was a moron or worse. Best you can say is it didn't completely crater once Vaughn and Crochet were promoted but Vaughn and Crochet basically also had no time in the minors so we really didn't get to fawn over their development either. It took Vera half a season to get permission to start his career with the Sox. Some of the Int'l. guys are finally starting to perk up like Cespedes and Yolbert Sanchez. Give it another year to catch up.

Also great to see Burger hit his 1st HR since being back. Adolfo's numbers @ Charlotte more than respectable after his mini run against Norfolk. Burger, Sheets, Romy, Mercedes, Adolfo and old man Mahtook a formidable 5some.

Are you covering your ass here ? 1.I agree with Montgomery above Burger. 2. Colson has the higher ceiling, but his floor is much, much lower...I've got Jake above him. Maybe you meant to say you disagree with Montgomery above Burger ?

This is exactly right. Sure he isn't closing and that's what he does. But the Sox have a closer and even though Hendriks on multiple occasions has stated he will do anything as long as he gets to pitch and would seem the more likely of the 2 to pitch setup, taking Hendriks out of closing would be like taking Tim out of lead off. As the newcomer to the team Kimbrel takes whats available and that's the very very important role of 8th inning guy, setup guy, which has been a sore spot for the Sox all season and Kimbrel hasn't been a great help in the role the Sox wanted him. I didn't actually expect LaRussa to pull him there since he had seemed to settle down but when you have Bummer ,it wasn't a bad call. The problem is Bummer got his usual self induced gunshot wound with his inability to throw strikes , and limited contact to a series of toppers that somehow find a way to cause damage. It would be nice to know how Kimbrel really feels on his role. Does he think he should be closer ? It's one thing to say all the right things to the media , your team mates and manager but does he feel entitled to close and perhaps thinking about his chances to make the Hall of Fame more than he's thinking about winning ? An 8th inning guy who could actually not blow up was the most important spot to fix on the team as far as winning games goes. It was a bigger weakness than any position player. You can't consistently win big games blowing late leads.

I disagree with your disagreement. Let him prove he belongs at the top before you move him there. A top six of Tim, Yas, Vaughn, Eloy, Abreu, Robert has no room for Moncada's struggles with K's and his power stroke. He hasn't been a good hitter since pre Covid.

Sox are missing the .390 OBP of Grandal and the .350 OBP of Madrigal and Hernandez has been slumping for 2 weeks. Madrigal also had a higher OPS and OPS+ than Yoan has now . K's in scoring opportunities has hurt recently . Bat to ball skills do help. However we're seeing many guys given time off. Leury and Engel on the IL. Collins and Goodwin in the lineup against a lefty. These things do need to be done occasionally since you never know when a few extra AB's against the same handed thrower might help in a crucial situation when the bench might be short late in an extra inning game when you don't start with a runner on 2nd base in the playoffs. Anderson, Robert ,Abreu , Jimenez, Vaughn are all hitting well. They probably should be grouped together more often and let the bottom of the lineup fend for themselves. Moncada and Hernandez need to be moved down and Robert up. Add Grandal to the top 5 and the top 6 in the lineup should be golden.

Depends on how quickly he losses what little speed he has of his youth. There's still really not much defensive data on him. Fangraphs has him mostly in the negative area for his arm and overall OF defense and OAA has him a -2 which isn't too bad considering there are a lot of guys playing the OF who are worse. Basically OAA has him 0 for 14 on plays that he had a 0-50% chance of making the catch and 8 of 10 on balls he had a 51-75% chance of catching. 23 of 26 on balls he had 76-95% chance of catching.

After seeing the replay a few times watching the game I was thinking he might have a broken jaw but didn't really want to speculate . It did look like he got hit on the side of his face as he just turned his head quick enough .

Lamb is the cleanest shaven 30 yr. old I've ever seen. I can't even see stubble on his cheeks. He must use some really good shaving products . I'd like to know his secret .

This Lopez is fascinating. Wonder if he's out there for the 6th with the big lead. No need to get too far ahead of ourselves but what if he can sustain this ? It opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

Some of his techniques are not that good and also he is catching newer guys to him guys with a ton of movement .

It will also be nice if the A's don't score 10.

Leury is on the IL.

He just pitched yesterday. 5 man rotation, 4 games with Oakland, 4 other starters. Simple.

The one in the first inning, we really didn't see a definitive "safe" replay until a bit later. The 1st few replays something was always blocked from view, couldn't see the foot of the runner at the same time as getting a good look at the ball entering the glove or whatever. Now if that's the case also in the replay room for the Sox the 1st few replays from different angles were not definitive. I will admit I am a know nothing fan so there's no way I can say what the guy watching the replays saw or how long it took to see the definitive one. It could be a problem with the setup not the person. It's an important role and it just can't be given to anyone. There should be some kind of test for it. Show replays job candidates different camera angles on certain plays you know what the outcome after the people in NY reviewed it. Keep the examples as recent as necessary since the replay people in NY have gotten better at making the right calls over the years and give them a certain amount of time to make a decision on safe or out or nothing definitive. Do it a couple times with 20 different instances. Keep interviewing guys until you find someone with the right amount of observation and quick action skills who got like 19 out of 20 right. Don't hire a person who only gets 15 right if he is the top guy out of 5 candidates. The person hired needs to have keen observational and baseball knowledge skills . If the replay people in NY have any guidelines on how to find the best people follow their lead.

WTF ?? Maybe (not really) you can excuse the non challenge in the 1st but not here !