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A line drive double in the boxscore by Leury !

I just stated what is odd. 4 steals in the minors. You would guess there would be medical advice against that when he also has to run the bases and play CF. You would think attempting 4 steals is just a strenuous as playing a day game after a night game . I would defy any medical staff to explain the difference. I'm perfectly fine with not playing a day game after a night game but it's easy to explain why it's odd given the 4 steals in the rehab assignment.

BAM !

There's the pop from Pop !

Ok but if he isn't 100% why do you allow him to steal 4 bases in the minors in the rehab assignment ? Where was the medical guidance there ?

I understand the precaution but he had a rehab assignment where he was tested pretty well. I mean why steal 4 bases on a rehab assignment if you aren't 100 % along with running to 1st and running around in the OF.

It's very odd the TLR would choose 2 LH OF's to play against a LHP rather than Engel when you have to add Collins , another LHH because he's Gio's personal catcher.

In a vacuum your argument makes sense. RD is also a result of good pitching not just hitting. RD will shrink if the pitching doesn't perform as well in the second half and there's just no way it can continue as well. More HR's will help offset that . The best record in baseball or 2nd best and the RD has been against poor competition. The Sox are under.500 against teams with better than .500 records. They are 17-3 vs LHP . All this is where the offense and pitching staff is fattening up. Telling me how good they are or have been against crap teams will not help the Sox in the playoffs.

We shall see. You know already I don't think Crochet gets close to 100 IP.

So whats your point ? I wouldn't imagine its a big difference . Unless you can show me something that supports your hypothesis it's useless. The fact remain the more games you hit HR's the better chance you have to win. The 2nd worse team in the AL in hitting HR's is likely to be the 2nd worst team record in the AL when they don't hit a HR .So yea hitting more HR's will help just like it always has after the dead ball era. Even more so now that team no longer play small ball or hit for high averages and with a good starting pitching staff . Hitting more HR's would probably help a team like the Sox even more than most teams given that starting pitching.

That's a definitive yes. Doesn't hurt to sit him longer than necessary to limit IP and make sure he is 100% healthy. As long as the Sox keep a stranglehold on winning the division keeping all pitchers healthy is a priority.

We've already played a bunch of games against bad teams. But I agree Vaughn and Mercedes should be afforded an opportunity against bad teams to face MLB teams. I know many people here hate the Sunday lineup but every day is a Sunday lineup when you have 3 regulars out . Like Steve Stone said it is counterintuitive to what most think about winning and losing. When you are hot or facing bad teams it's probably the time to rest key players and give slumping players some starts.

I think there is a point playing him against LHP and some RHP that the Sox might feel he matches up well against. He hits LHP as of now for 1.000 OPS which is the best on the team so whenever you can get that type of production he should be used especially asa starter and the top pinch hitter against LHP.

For the future I agree but as for the present your faith in Vaughn is misguided. There are too few left handed pitchers to face to play him very often.

Not that dumb .It's just obvious in today's baseball environment when small ball can no longer win games. It implies that the best HR hitting teams are the likeliest to win and the Sox are the 2nd most likely team not to hit a HR in the AL. Just as teams with a bad giveaway/takeaway ratio in football are likely to be bad teams. The Sox have won because of pitching but acquiring more power will help in the next 60 games should the pitching drop off . A outstanding QB can help a good team rise above the turnovers just like a team with good pitching can overcome a lack of power. 60 games is over 1/3 of the season which is a lot of games to keep expecting the pitching to carry us.

Look I understand that you have no use for Mercedes but still having confidence in Vaughn makes no sense given your arguments against Mercedes. Have you checked Vaughn's stats against RHP lately ? They are Billy Hamilton bad against RHP and Hamilton provides value on the base paths and in the OF that Vaughn does not . As of now Vaughn is a huge liability against RHP just as Mercedes is.

Sure but 2 months is about 60 games. The Sox have played 67 so far with a huge contribution from Mercedes in the 1st month and expected contribution from Vaughn below expectations against RHP. You might also factor in that Eloy and Robert may not contribute to the level of performance if they had played the whole season uninjured. Also there's likely no way that the Sox starting pitching continues to be this healthy or this good There are weaknesses to be addressed . No one is freaking out, simply discussing those weaknesses. The stupid HR stat is just another tool used in that discussion along with other stats that show our weaknesses.

Bmags it isn't a rumor it's a desire.

This was your quote discussing it with Lillian " I understand wanting a left handed hitter like "most of the people in the sport". I am simply not obsessed with it. Teams win without it. The Sox were winning with a very right handed Madrigal, and it was fine, and it wasn't imperative to add one . I pointed out that despite what you said you weren't addressing the team weaknesses or the cause of the winning record: Weaknesses: Power, LH power and record against RHP against poor competition . Reason for winning record : starting pitching and beating up on LHP. Fun discussion .

Thome was 35 and the Phillies gave the Sox $22M and the Sox gave up Rowand and Gio Gonzales . Plus it happened in November not the trade deadline. Trae Turner is 27 in the prime of his career. Freddy Garcia I can agree was a big middle of the season trade.

So you were arguing with me just to say you don't care if the guy is RH or LH or a Switch hitter . Great ,then feel free to find me an equal or better option who, given our ownership, at 2nd base who has power and helps improve the Sox record against RHP . According to what SS2K5 posted the record against RHP is 25-21 and against teams over .500 regardless of the handedness of pitchers is 13-15 thus further illustrating my points. I said 25-25 but I was trying to remember what another poster said it was . 25-21 isn't impressive considering the competition . More power from any player will do but considering that more RHP both starters and relievers on playoff caliber teams are infinitely better pitchers than those teams we have played so far should tell anyone that a LH or SH player is preferable.

I saw it the other day in a post. It was right around .500 and that's against a lot of poor teams. It was something like 25-25. But it's probably easy to find out their record against LH starting pitchers so just go backwards against that.

ANd my point is a little more specific than that. The team is weak against RHP , they are also weak at power hitting and specifically LHPower. They have a very strong record when hitting a HR . They have a very poor record when they don't hit a HR. They have a very mediocre record against RHP. 75% of pitchers are RH. They have very little LHP They have hole at 2nd base where the player is out for the year. They also have Eloy and Robert coming back this year and a plethora of substitute OF's Let me add a few more. In all likelihood they have an owner who will look for the cheapest option to fill those weaknesses. If one rental who is inexpensive can help with all of those problems that's who the Sox will target. So in all likelihood given everything above it seems likely to be a LH 2nd baseman who hits with power who is a rental without a high salary who won't cost the Sox too much in prospect capital. If you have any other suggestions for who can fill this need better than Escobar feel free to impress me.

You are very consistent in your "go big" philosophy but unfortunately it never applies to the team you root for.

Respectfully disagree. I'd love Trae Turner but realistically the chances of acquiring him are very small . Plus I never said the pitching would fail I said it could drop off due to a few guys but if you also add a couple or even 1 very good BP arm that can be offset. It's really not in your best interest to argue such extremes like "pitching fails" or "let's not act like they are going to jump to the top of power numbers" and "pitching wins in the playoff not offense" because once again those were not my points. A good combination of pitching and hitting always wins more than just pitching. The point is becoming incrementally better to offset current weaknesses or overcome future weaknesses.