35thstreetswarm

WON'T GET THAT HERE! Seriously, I think he's absolutely in his own head. His issues so far don't strike me as being related to adjustment to MLB talent level: you don't just forget how to field or run the bases. He's pressing and I think he'll be ok. The biggest worry is that his mental makeup won't allow him to get through this, but that also seems doubtful given all his success at other levels.

This reminds me of all the "well *obviously* Vaughn will start 2021 in Birmingham" discussions of several months ago. We'll see what happens. I have a sneaking suspicion that if Crochet is dominant going into the playoffs (and we make the playoffs) he'll figure more prominently in our playoff pitching plans than a standard middle reliever. There's also no way there's a 60-inning limit.

I'm not so sure--perhaps it depends on how you define "starting rotation." He was basically used as something akin to an opener in last year's playoffs. I certainly don't think he'll be on the Strasburg shelf; if he's dominating I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a starting or near-starting role assuming they limit his innings all season.

Having lived in Boston the Boston Marathon/Patriots' Day thing is a lot bigger than most realize, so I'm not surprised at the tie-in. But man oh man -- those are horrible. They're so plain. I'm surprised as I think Nike has generally done a nice job with alternate uniforms (City Edition, Color Rush, Oregon, etc.)

3. He is a great big fat person

Boy, I hope this team lives up to potential because September holds the promise of some pretty dramatic pre-playoff storylines, with the return of Eloy and injection of Kopech/Crochet into the starting rotation mix...

I actually think we may need a third thread: “stop freaking out about the freaking out” or some such. Kidding of course, but the idea that we shouldn’t draw broad conclusions based upon a four-game sample (where we could easily have gone 3-1 despite the same problems) is so obvious it should be left unsaid. People are spending too much time in game threads and/or taking them too seriously.

I’m out of town on vacation — I take it tonight’s “opening night” game is not on natl tv?

Haven’t been this juiced for opening day in 15 years. Congrats, fellow Sox fans, and welcome to the good times, whether you know they’re here or not.

Wrapping up a fantastic Spring for Cease. Very encouraged.

It’s weird that you are so eager to both reduce the number of posters on this site and bet against things that would be positive for the Sox. Just saying.

No, they would have been bad like all our other players. And what does it matter anyway? We’re all gonna die. Awwwww geez. ?

The Sox did stockpile talent. That talent has now graduated to the majors and makes up the core of a team that has the baseball world buzzing. And, incidentally has allowed us to take slot one talent (Vaughn) into LF while moving another talent (Collins) to DH, possibly without even reaching outside the organization. Sorry 100% of our prospects didn't pan out (which would mark the first time in history)...they never promised you a rose garden. Just a good team.

They would have made the playoffs under normal rules, as has been covered here ad nauseam.

True, but I've seen worse. It's not like we lost the franchise's best-ever player for the season and replaced him with Carl Everett at DH or anything.

Oh lord. Can we steer this back to baseball please?

To be fair, the question is: "who is that?"

Really, though, playing LF is not generally considered that dangerous a pursuit for athletes--just Eloy

F it. Yes, it's crazy but desperate times call for desperate measures. Put Collins in at DH and let's roll. I want no part of the corpse of Cespedes or any other Encarnacion-like retreads.

But my Vaughn ROY bet just got a boost...

That's one way to do it. "Nice health you've got there, would be a shame if something happened to it. Oh, have you met my friend Eloy? Here's a picture of him in his hospital bed. Now about that extension..."

So maybe Collins gets his shot after all!

Eloy's September return will be legendary.

Honestly at this point anything that allows him to come back this season will be a pleasant surprise. I've allowed my mind to go to dark places.