caulfield12

Bummer should be ahead of Crochet in the pecking order. Burr belongs in the 8th about as much as Evan Marshall.

One of those games not having a professional hitter in Grandal in the lineup hurts. Well, that and our bullpen management. Or lack thereof. At least Moncada and Abreu are coming back to life, because we’re going to need some punch against the Brewers.

Why dud we give Bummer $25 million if not for those situations?

Benetti really wants to play up the Hoosier basketball angle, and he seems quite happy (Colson) to be compared to Corey Seager…even bringing up that their handsome looks have been likened, lol. Also talked about the challenges of playing SS at 6’4” and about putting on weight.

Never thought that inning would lead to just one run. Great job by Keuchel rebounding. Looks like TLR really wants this game, and perhaps for Kopech to go multiple innings for the first time in awhile.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2021&month=0&season1=2021&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2021-01-01&enddate=2021-12-31&sort=22,d Moncada should be in the high teens tmrw in his fWAR rankings for all of MLB, right around Machado. Gallo, fwiw, has really exploded up this list when you consider how cold he started out offensively.

Dangerous to extrapolate from just one month of play. The homers will come, eventually. The defense in CF might be even more important, but you would get completely different players if you separated his brief career into three clearly defined statistical stretches.

Pretty incredible. Something like 3 for his last 51. Ventura started out similarly, but he’s still barely clearing the .100 mark after his recent recall. Not sure what’s the craziest, the M’s being where they are without Paxton, Kelenic and Kyle Lewis, not to mention Trammell, doing much of anything.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/flushing-10-times-what-s-really-behind-trump-s-tirades-n1111691 Our former president spent more time going on rants about water pressure in showers, restrictions on the volume of water per flush of a toilet, difficulties with dishwaters not cleaning well enough (not that he ever did them in his lifetime)…than simply telling Americans to get vaccinated, or that 99.9% of the deaths or intubations for much of this year are coming from the unvaccinated. Just selfishness and lack of empathy. It’s all about that me-first culture. Not caring about how others around us are affected. And it has been a part of the American zeitgeist since at least the 1980’s. But there was still a certain amount of civility and respect for others, including presidents of opposing parties…now it’s just an all out war today, with no quarter given. Greg, do you really think Jesus if he was around today would be an anti-vaxxer?

That said, it's highly unlikely thay they deal CJ Abrams when he's out for the season.

So drop Cease or Keuchel?

Oh right, for some reason I heard Lackey but thought Lester, pretty sure he was with the Angels back then.

Guessing $160-169 million is going to be the range unless they get to the ALCS or World Series. That's still an increase of $30+ million. ALCS $170's, World Series $180's.

But it's a fine line again. That sounds like something they would actually do on Jackass. How far does liability or insurance protection for MTV go in those kinds of situations, for example? How much of the burden is lessened if someone else actually encouraged the act, for example?

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/ben-zobrist-says-wife-coaxed-212647125.html Poor Zobrist...

https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance Passed Washington today, 15,457 per game to 15,418. It won’t happen until next season, but the Sox are posed to dominate the Cubs the next 3-5 years on this front and possibly beyond with many of the Wrigley favorites on the verge of being traded away and Rossy no longer as “cute” with a sub .500 team. 31 home games and 37 road games remaining… Notable series are NY in mid August (incl. Field of Dreams), the Cubs, Boston, LAA (Trout/Ohtani), Cincy (2) Also, 11 consecutive road games from September 18th through the 30th, including five at Cleve.

There’s more context missing. Contreras was THE best pitcher in baseball the last two months of 2005 through the playoffs and into late May, 2006, when he got hurt on the Astroturf in Cincy. Rodon’s arguably at the same level now, but will he maintain it through the last two months and into October? We can compare guys like Freddy Garcia and Garland to Dylan Cease in a vacuum, but simply no way any Sox fan would choose Cease for a playoff start. Now if you talk about adding Kopech into the mix, it gets a lot more interesting. Or if Giolito can keep that 95-96, touching 97 or even an occasional 98 velocity that he had for extended stretches of 2019 and 20.

Guess I deserved that one, lol. TLR is amazing. To add to the karma, Berrios is on my fantasy team. Crazy that it was all the way back to 2008 with Quentin against Lester…walking off an opposing starting pitcher at the end of a home game for the first time.

Are they flying charter into Dubuque or Cedar Rapids? Might need to take Eloy off the plane on a stretcher because those stairs coming off a private jet can be tricky, especially if it’s raining.

Why were the American people so willing to fight back against polio? Mumps, measles, smallpox, rubella, yellow fever? Tuberculosis? Why do high school athletes even need to get physicals? Why follow rules at all, like needing to get a driver’s license, wearing seat belts, NOT driving while drunk or buzzed and adhering to speed limits? Let everyone have a gun that wants one. Heck, might as well let everyone be issued an AR-15 by the American government upon turning 16 or 18 to satisfy those 2nd Amendment strict constructionists. Freedom! To me, not getting vaccinated or even caring about others around you is basically the same as likely having an STD (think AIDS/HIV or herpes), stubbornly refusing to be checked or tested, and simultaneously not informing any of your partners or simply lying about it “because using protection isn’t fun or the same feeling.” How is it not selfishness? It’s a newly protected freedom, apparently…and yet how many times do we hear about lawsuits against celebrities or athletes in these situations? With Covid, it’s very challenging legally to prove who gave it to you, so perhaps that’s at least 50% of the challenge for governments as well as employers.

Not the way this double header has been managed, without ANY sense of urgency. Especially playing against a dead team walking. No consistency from a very talented bullpen. Matt Foster might as well be renamed Dylan Covey. Yet he’s the go to choice in a close game at home with pretty much the entire bullpen fairly well rested? Poor defense and fundamentals. When healthy, we have two full 4x100 sprint teams that could clock pretty much any team in baseball….Engel, Robert, Hamilton and Goodwin, then our backup sprint team of Anderson, Leury, Moncada and Madrigal/Mendick. But our identity isn’t related to manufacturing run or putting pressure on opposing teams like the 2013-17 Royals. We still are lacking in that area…outside of starting pitching and scoring runs without homering at even an average clip. Benetti can give out the FG odds for the playoffs, mention Jimenez/Robert coming back, the four starters that are missing…RS/RA differentials or how we’re STILL just a 1/2 game or 1 from the best record overall in the AL, but this is just a very good team that has been getting great starting pitching, but I’m honestly not really sure how many SoxTalk posters actually could have this team trailing the Indians if not 2-3 games out ahead of them.

We still have the best record in the AL by one-half game on the Red Sox and Astros at the moment…there’s that.

That’s what Leury is supposed to be…or Escobar, if you make that trade. You really think the Sox will part with Garcia? With Robert and Engel and Hamilton back, he doesn’t serve much purpose in the outfield.

Better than 2005? Hmmmm…

Arguably the best hitter in the AL should probably be trusted by his manager in that situation. Moncada wasn’t going to get the job done today.