Lip Man 1

You never EVER have to much pitching.

I just saw something tonight that if true, now has me concerned about the kid, especially the way he started the minor league season. Supposedly tonight in 3+ innings he walked eight, hit two batters and threw FIVE wild pitches. WTF? That can't be right. That's Nuke LaLoosh there,not one of the top prospects in the game.

No big loss.

Should anybody be surprised he's back on the DL? Guy can't stay healthy, period for whatever reason or reasons. Can't and shouldn't count on him moving forward in the next few years. Minaya...sigh.

Always nice to see them play better. Fundamentally sound tonight including the bunt that brought home a run.

Caul: I'd be curious, don't know if this is possible, to know how many of Boras clients signed extensions before they were to hit the free agent market. I'm assuming that didn't happen often. My premise is that regardless of what Rodoin does in the next few years it will be Boras' intention to have him hit the market and not sign any extensions. If he is doing well and hits the market as I speculated he'll be out of the Sox price range (unless new ownership is in place). He may be willing to sign an extension if he isn't doing so well but again, why would the Sox want to sign him if he's not producing? I'm guessing it would take an unusual set of circumstances to have Boras agree to an extension with the Sox especially for a highly drafted pitcher but we'll see. Maybe if the team has turned it around in two years and is winning, Rodon may want to stay

I'm not critical of it in the least. The bottom line though is that unless current ownership isn't no longer running the franchise when Rodon becomes a free agent the Sox have very little chance of retaining his services ESPECIALLY if he has pitched well the few years before that. They simply have not to this point, EVER given out those type of deals. Maybe that changes in the near future, we'll see. If so they have a shot to bring in some of the top talent that will be available this off season. Again we'll have to wait and see.

Historically the Sox haven't had a lot of Boras clients. His relationship with the Sox hasn't been the best. For years he and Williams weren't even on speaking terms after the Alex Rodriguez situation. JR also had a very strong "dislike" towards him for many years as well. It's a simple fact, this is the way Boras operates. I'm not criticizing him for it, his job is to get his client the most money. That means when they have a chance to hit the open market, they go, period. Looking at it from the Sox standpoint Greg they don't really have much choice. Rodon is going to hit the free agent market at some point. If he's pitching well, he'll be priced way out of the Sox market (unless of course new ownership is in place, which could be a possibility) if he isn't pitching well or continues to be injured why would the Sox want him given the possible strength of their young pitchers anyway? What makes the most sense in my opinion given those factual circumstances, is that the Sox hope he pitches well and stays healthy the next year or year and a half, then they deal him for a very good package since he'll still have a year and a half or two years to go before Boras takes him to the free agent market. If you wait to long with him you run the risk of not getting a lot back if he only has a year or a half season to go before becoming a free agent. That's the reality of things Greg given the agent, his documented history and the history of the Sox as a franchise that as of this writing,has never given out a nine figure deal to a player...and believe me, if Rodon pitches very well the next few years, that's exactly what Boras is going to be asking for. The only thing that could change that situation is new ownership in which case all bets are off, a new owner may not even blink twice at authorizing a 100 million dollar deal. As Walter Cronkite used to say, "and that's the way it is." Not the ideal situation but one that is the most probable in my opinion.

Two reasons: 1. Because of his agent. He's hitting the open market eventually and will not be giving the Sox a "discount" especially if he is pitching well. You trade him when he still has a few years on his contract to help maximize the return. 2. Because if the bulk of the young talent from a starting standpoint can actually pitch (Kopech, Hansen, Dunning, Lopez, Gialito, Crease off the top of my head) Rodon while valuable if the Sox keep him, won't be a team breaker if they trade him. Starting pitching could be a strength.

Nice series save for the errors.

Don't think anybody will want Avi.

Another hamstring situation for the Sox. They've had a bunch this year.

Baseball sometimes is a funny game when Covey is better than Sale and Thompson drives in the game winner. ?

Agreed. he allowed a lot of inherited runners to score.

Lopez and Gio looked good, shame that Jones coughed it up for Lopez in the first game.

Some good points and that's the dilemma for a lot of Sox fans, they understand that the folks who drove the franchise into a ditch are the ones being asked to tow it out and get it going again. From spending money, to drafting, to signing free agents, its all a big question mark with this front office. All you can do is hope for the best I guess.

I may be wrong but I heard and read that Jose' isn't on-board with becoming a full time DH which obviously is an issue if the Sox were trying to force it on him.

I continue to think that this off season the Sox won't be a player for any of the "Superstars" that are going to be available. Too many things working against them. Hope I'm wrong, it would be a tremendous get...but I don't think its going to happen. So what the Sox CAN do, and should do in my opinion is concentrate on improving the pitching staff specifically the bullpen. Next year they need to show some progress on the field in the won / loss category. Getting some guys who can actually hold leads is the easiest way to do that. They simply can't bring back the same cast of guys next year in the bullpen...they just can't do that.

I think you are probably right in your guess but we'll see. JR has surprised folks before (Albert Belle) so you can never say with 100% certainty about what may happen. I've said before that I don't expect the Sox to land any of the "Superstar", "Game Changers" this off season. I also would be surprised if they offered any of them far and away the most money, but again we'll see, they could surprise everyone. I think they'll be attractive to guys to help upgrade the bullpen and the depth making them better in 2019...at least I sure hope so.

I can't believe I'm writing this but Covey looks like a decent major league pitcher now. If they can get anything out of him moving forward, God bless them. We'll see if it lasts.

Then the fascinating question will be who if any will take it. Time will tell.

"Frankly I don't really care about the rebuild right now. I care about winning. They keep talking about rebuild and I'm trying to win ballgames right now, period. I don't like losing. We are losing ballgames right now." - James Shields. I didn't see this posted but it brings up one of the main questions moving forward into the immediate future ,starting this off season for the organization / front office. Can they convince free agents, especially the good ones, to come to the Sox assuming the money offer is about the same among teams vying for their services? We'll find out soon enough since not all of the prospects are going to make it. The law of averages just about guarantees that and there will be holes the Sox are going to have to fill from the outside. It will be a test of the front office's ability to sell the rebuild and that progress will be coming soon.

None that I know of although I'm not sure of the connection with my comment. The Cubs have been fortunate to have ownership for the most part with excellent resources and money (P.K. Wrigley / Tribune Company), granted they didn't spend it wisely (especially the Tribune Company for many years) but they did make an effort to do so. And publicity-wise, the Tribune Company both owning the Cubs as well as major media companies in Chicago was as good as it gets.

In fairness they drew poorly because the only good teams they had in the time period from 1968-1980 was in 1972 and 1977. Plus both John Allyn and Bill Veeck did not have the money to really run the franchise properly. In Allyn's case it was because his outside business interests went south and he was almost bankrupt. One common thread among the Sox franchise is that regarding ownership they either had money and resources and didn't want to spend it or spent it modestly or they basically didn't have the money to begin with and were just scraping by.

Some truth in your statement... collusion headed in part by JR (at least according to Fay Vincent in his book) and the threat to move to Florida certainly didn't help things.