SCCWS

One reason is Chris Sale was traded as part of the rebuild. As long as you can develop positional players you can trade for pitchers. Boston has the best record in baseball and they didn't draft any of their starting pitchers.

Another possibility was the start against Boston. Obviously he was geared up for that start due to the trade and actually hit Betts to start the game. I remember Steve Lyons doing the color say he was overthrowing in that first inning. In hindsight, maybe that game w the lousy weather had sometning to do with it.

No, the rain delay did not affect him. Part of his orientation to the bigs, Kopech may have to learn how to handle waiting through a rain delay.

But not for Zimmermann

Actually the Red Sox ( maybe it is Dombrowski ) does not do this. Obviosuly they brought up Beninteni and Moncada right from AA. They then traded Moncada and brought up Devers at 20. I saw an article a few weeks ago where Dombrowski said he was against holding a player back for service time. He said the best coaches are in the majors and you can slow down progression leaving a kid in AAA. Now the other side of that is Boston has money and they are pretty confident they can keep their young players. But obviossly the Theo regime did not think this way. I wonder if Dombrowwski did the same thing in Detroit? Avi didn't spend much time in AAA

The Sox have done very well despite the loss of Abreu. In hindsight, if he had any value at the deadline( not sure he did) it would have been a good move to let him go. Davidson has found a home for a while.

I do not think this will have much impact on a future contract. By 2025, I think this issue will be a distant memory. His agent will eventually steer him to the team that makes the most sense for the big payday ( for them as well). Now if Eloy suffers a major injury at Charlotte next April, the shit will hit the fan.

Burr is cold. They are whacking him

Moncada getting good rips and Narvaez getting no rips. Is there a full moon??

If you are looking for a positive, Moncada did not strike out either AB.

Just off DL, I would think Erod will only go 5.

The only thing with set-up relievers is so many are very inconsistent. It seems like the top pure closers are pretty reliable year in and year out. But a lot of the set-up guys have roller coaster years and careers. I think Nate Jones when healthy has been one guy who has been pretty consistent as a set up but the Sox have had a lot of guys the last 10-15 years who come and go. Some of it is also the position. They have aweakness which prevents them from being the closer.

Good there are no incentives in MLB..............................

Maybe his agent is doing this so he goes north w the team next year instead of back to AAA

Giolito was outstanding against a very good lineup last night. He is a little wild but still limited walks. Had their hitters off-balance all night. Kid deserved a win but that is minor in the big picture.

Good news is no Sale or Price. Yoan must be jumping for joy. Bad news is next year's draft pick may suffer.

I think this surge gets him another year to manage the team. He probably isn't the guy for 2020 but my gut says he now will be back in 19.

What a streak they are on. Moncada, Anderson and Rodon led the way with good efforts. Engel continues to improve w the bat and is now the CF . Renteria has earned another year if he wants it.

Heard a beat writer say the other day that "a player isn't a prospect until he has succeded at AA. Every team has a bunch of players who put up great numbers in A leagues."

You would hope so but this year he has more than doubled his plate appearances over last year and he has dropped from 32% to 34%. It seems to me that he has reduced his SO rate when they have got him out of the leadoff spot recently.

With the expected announcement next week that pitching coach Don Cooper will retire, sources say James Sheilds has emerged as the top candidate to replace him.

Or not batting leadoff........................

Red Sox are already juggling guys in and out of lineup and 10 day DL to rest players.

I think Kopech 6'3-205 has a much better body than Sale 6'6-180. I hope Kopech's build translates into more durability. Both have showed poor judgement in the past but both have seemed to settle down the last few years.

I agree but maybe I am missing something. If they left him in Charlotte till the end of August and then called him up in September he would still get the same amount of innings. Actually he would probably get more innings by staying in Charlotte since he is overpowering in AAA so he most likely won't get knocked out early from a game. In Chicago he may get a Gialto/Lopez 2-3 inning start and get pulled. I think he was ready and the Sox want him to pitch against better competition and maybe they even feel some extra time w Coop. Hope he dazzles Boston at the end of the month.