ChiSox59

Kopech to bullpen folks looking pretty silly right about now.

If Joe Kelly keeps pitching like he has, he’s going to bring a very nice return if Sox are sellers. I think Sox would need to be >7 GB in late July for this FO to sell. Not saying I agree with that, but don’t see them admitting failure and cutting bait unless they have no other option.

6.5 games back of Twins

The most innings he has thrown in a season since presumably high school is 65. He's never thrown anything close to a major league SP workload. He hasn't pitching competitively in almost 2 years. To expect him to suddenly throw 90 innings coming off TJS, and then more next season, without blowing out his arm again is insane. He's a reliever, and frankly, always has been.

His chances of being a SP are already long gone.

I am thinking Jimmy for 2, Scholtens for 4 is the plan for night.

Yawn

Hey, at least the Twins are terrible too. Down 4 rip to the lowly Nats and about to lose their 6th out of 7.

They fought today. Down 4-0 in the first to a 16-3 team and fight back. It was encouraging. Awful 9th. Sorry that offends you.

Man oh man is that crippling. Once Diaz got the hit I knew it was over. Sox battled today; felt like a legitimate turning point at times. Hurts

He’s deep in one right now. It’s been Roberts career to this point. 125 wRC+ while looking like he has no idea how to hit major league pitching 75% of that time. That’s what makes him so ta tantalizing

Let’s win this fucking game

Aaron throwing strikes is a beautiful thing!

He was a kid. Men fill out. He’s far from chubby.

Jimmy Nails

Wow, love that name. That definitely raises them into my top 5 minor league team names along with the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Rocket City Trash Pandas, Montgomery Biscuits, and Lansing Lugnuts.

I didn't really say that. I just presented the facts. But no, I don't think the Rays are going to continue their 137 win pace once their schedule gets harder. They probably don't even win 100 games, tbh. So if that makes them "overrated", sure. The Sox wouldn't sweep the Sugarland Skeeters playing like they're playing since TA went down. They need to be much better to win any series against a major league team. I certainly don't expect the Sox to sweep the Rays. But winning the series isn't beyond the realm of possibility if they play good baseball.

Its also worth noting that the Rays have had a very, very, very soft schedule to date. v. Tigers (3), @ Nats (3), vs. A's (3), v. Red Sox (4), @Jays (3), @ Reds (3) The only series versus a good team they went 1-2. Now, the Sox basically fit right into with those bad teams at this point, but the only two clubs you can really say are better than the Sox are the Jay and Red Sox, and Red Sox are very, very meh.

Today is a big day. Bullpen day for the Rays. Getting deep into it would be great. Tomorrow has two Cy frontrunners going, so probably won't get too deep into their pen tomorrow. The Rays are so interesting. You look at their roster, and even their stats to date, and outside of Wander and to a lesser extent Arozarena, their lineup is so.....ordinary. The Lowes have both been good, but we're talking about guys like Yandy DIaz, Manny Margot, and Issac Paredes playing huge roles on the club. Obviously its an amazingly coached organization, but this isn't some 110+ win squad. Even their pitching outside of McClannahan doesn't pop off the page. They're definitely a very well run organization. Its impressive how much production they get from their roster.

People were saying that this offseason as well. Not going to lie, I've never looked at Moncada and thought "he looks chubby".

Kopech vs. Faucher. 540CT first pitch. Let's win a series.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The same people that wanted Eloy and AV out of the OF immediately are suddenly big Burger at 3B stans. Sox need to play good defense to win baseball games. Burger, while he's raking right now, isn't an MLB caliber 3B. And his hitting also is not sustainable. Certainly ride him while he's hot and Moncada is hurt, but 3B is Yoan's once he's back - I have no doubt about that.

Sure. But the Sox are not a good team with Jake Burger playing 3B. He's really bad at it. Its fine I guess in short spurts as an injury fill-in when he's hitting like he is right now, but he effectively cost the Sox a game there the other day, and was absolutely brutal there in a decent-sized 40 game sample in 2022. Burger has been playing 3B his whole life. Its not a new position for him. He's just not that athletic or mobile; he's not going to vastly improve. Expecting him to play there routinely isn't really a long term option.

I agree there are a lot of troubling signs. Sox have looked nothing short of awful. I watch a lot of Twins baseball though, and I'd be pretty surprised if that team plays 5 games over .500 in their next 35. Their offense is bad and their pitching has grossly overachieved so far, and they're still just 11-8 after today.

It remains worth noting, that despite how tremendously awful the Sox have been, they'll head to Tampa just 4 games back. A 4 game deficit is frankly not that much - especially in April - and the Twins and Guardians are not good. That shouldn't make you feel any better about just how awful the Sox have been in this 19 game sample, buttttttt the Sox are far from dead in this division.