Dirty Water - the tale of the 2023 Boston Red Sox

Despite my best efforts I’m vaguely invested in this team now. It’s the classic band of misfits thing, I think, although unlike the 2010 Giants, they don’t have pitching. Otoh that Giants team would bite 2023 Red Sox’s collective hands off for even one of their hot hitters.

It remains to be seen how their season will actually play out. Have enjoyed the rise and redemption of Jarren Duran, Triston Casas has his own thread, and ofc my absolute secret favourite Kiké! Not even mentioning Masa and his hitting streak (RIP), Bello’s promise, Chris Sale veering between throwing flames and throwing phones…

It’s an incredibly interesting team to watch, not least for the fact that they never seem to give up. Despite all this, I still cannot characterise them as a good team - the starting pitching is too much of a problem. But they are entertaining af!

they really are. the pen is so good it always feels like there's a chance, even when they lose. tough schedule rn tho

while we're throwing around accolades it's been immensely gratifying to see connor wong turning into a real major league catcher. he's a tough nut!

Kenley Jansen has been pretty great closing out games, but honestly Brasier makes me 🫣🫣🫣

Yes, how did I fail to mention him! He’s got a great arm!

Sale was so great against the Phillies, had never seen him pitch live in anything like his vintage form before and he looked incredible for three innings, before the Phillies cracked him in the 4th and he did this Sale vmic:

Chris Sale is not pleased with how the fourth inning went. pic.twitter.com/QbCSjfbwqN

— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) May 6, 2023

casas finally gets a meaningful dinger to provide kenley j with some breathing room. and he absolutely crushed it, a no doubter all the way

lol @ finally

His May is off to a great start. Loved Duran with the base.

Boston Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran reacts with the base after hitting a double during an MLB baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 📸 EPA/Erik S. Lesser#epaimages #sports #mlb #georgia pic.twitter.com/7oHZfWj1MS

— EPA Images (@EPA_Images) May 11, 2023

This post was tailor made for you, Tracer Hand

https://www.overthemonster.com/platform/2023/4/27/23698692/off-day-recommendation-no-red-sox-baseball-moby-dick

So good. This other maura otm! The link above was weird for me but this one works

https://www.overthemonster.com/2023/4/27/23698692/off-day-recommendation-no-red-sox-baseball-moby-dick

Sale 8IP, 3H, 1R, 1BB, 9K

DON’T JINX IT

I feel like it’s okay, that part’s in the books

kenley on the other hand

Second night in a row!

Kiké makes a better throw the game’s still tied, maybe even over

But yeah he has just not had it at all

Triston would have got that

Messy, two blown saves in a row. Cardinals have that murderer’s row in the lineup but even so.

Some credit has to go to Contreras who admitted to deliberately fucking with Jansen by appearing as if 'alert and ready' yet keeping one foot just out of the batter's box until right after Jansen started his motion. I didn't understand it in real time but the pitch clock violations weren't for being late delivering the ball, they were for Jansen 'quick pitching' before Contreras was purportedly ready in the box. I anticipate they will all learn from this and I also anticipate Kiké moving on from short soon please god, but Jansen's dip in velocity is pretty concerning, it was mainly 92-93 after throwing, what, 99mph on the game he broke 400?

Strange the turns a season can take, now it's all about the relievers blowing starting gems.

The other day I read a sub-hed somewhere that said something like "after Jansen and Yoshida's heroics, Boston the clear winner of the winter free agent market" I mean, Jansen's latest two meltdowns aside that's quite a turnaround from the unanimous consensus that Bloom had one of the most disappointing offseasons in recent memory

Yeah I was reading that as well, pure shithousing. Tactically and technically within the rules but not great, it’s a loophole I hadn’t personally seen exploited this season. No doubt every single pitcher will be told to look at their feet as well now.

Really think not putting in Casas to pitch top of the ninth was a mistake, I don’t think that shitty throw ends up like that if he’s on first. I like Turner a lot but he’s not a first baseman at all, let alone your guy you want there in that situation.

Can Story play short when he comes back?

lol, “to pitch”. To play.

I meant to say re Jansen, he clearly emptied the tank for that 400. He probably desperately wanted to make up for the previous night, and then got tripped up by those calls. His command looked bad but a lot more things had to go wrong for that save to go last night.

I’ve read that Boston want Mondesi at SS and Story at 2B because of concerns they have about Story’s arm but the ideal world rarely appears so who knows

Isn’t Story’s arm supposed to have been fixed by surgery? I guess they’ll find out when he completes rehab.

Brasier finally DFA’d 🙏

Great news to wake up to after seeing that box score. Ugh!

Ugly stuff

Alex Verdugo called and led a team meeting a couple of hours before first pitch tonight, reports @bradfo.

We all saw him set the tone by beating out a grounder to open the bottom of the first. But it seems he set the tone hours before that. pic.twitter.com/lFWOgn86Ow

— Boston Sports Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) May 17, 2023

he's a solid player but for reasons i can't fully explain i don't like that guy

There’s a pretty troubling story about him from his Dodger days.

I remember that. When Kapler was coaching an LA farm team? iirc Verdugo wasn’t accused of anything but the situation was terrible and Kapler should have called the police.

btw how about Pablo Reyes??

<i>A week ago, Reyes was playing for the A’s Triple-A affiliate, unable to find a spot on the worst team in baseball. In need of middle infield help with Christian Arroyo out, the Sox acquired him for cash, and the 29-year-old has gone 8-for-19, including 2-for-5 with a pair of two-run doubles leading to a career-high four RBI Wednesday.<I>

nice pickup but can he handle bbcode

lol i don't know what's happened to me

I remember that. When Kapler was coaching an LA farm team? iirc Verdugo wasn’t accused of anything but the situation was terrible and Kapler should have called the police.

lol i don't know what's happened to me

I don't know whether I'm coming or going!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwSr04oWcAMeZNE?format=jpg&name=large

Alex Cora just now with @GreshFauriaWEEI announced they will be moving Corey Kluber to the Pen in the wake of Houck’s strong last performance

— WEEI Red Sox Network (@SoxBooth) May 24, 2023

He could blow saves

he’s not great first time through the order or any time through the order

He’ll be blowing dust off his cleats.

might simply have been too embarrassed to DFA their opening-day starter after less than two months

Yeah. I think they were probably gentler with him given that Cora was talking about “mechanical adjustments” that needed to be done like three days ago. If an SP is genuinely trying to get better - and Kluber’s a pretty professional seeming guy, so assume this was the case - they probably merit a slightly gentler pushoff. But who knows?

Btw - BELLO. Genuinely a shining ray of light on this team.

It's early but he really seems like he might be pretty special.

Can we discuss this play, Tracer Hand?!

Kutter Crawford. Athlete. 😳 pic.twitter.com/TuUxx3Nnv4

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 28, 2023

it’s worth noting what a good read that was from casas s well to stretch himself into foul territory and give kutter a clean target to throw to

Yeah this is the conversation I was having with you the other day re first base fielding right? Does his handedness impact on that play at all?

idk if anything I think being a rightie actually helps him there? mookieproof to thread

I watched the Bello innings and then the scores of last night’s game. Pretty rough outing for Bello but he only allowed one run, despite the best efforts of that guy who is not a shortstop. His skyhigh pitch count in the first two innings with all the sloppy breaking balls reminded me of a classic bad Zito outing in the 2012 NLDS against the Reds(!). And Joely Rodriguez isn’t Tim Lincecum.

Actually, just looking through his pitching sequences, it looks like Maguire kept calling for his slider, which was a ball 99% of the time? Wtf?

I should really look at it in more detail but yeah, I don’t think Maguire is much of a catcher.

I am here because I do not want to talk about the Mariners. 🫣🫣🫣

The Red Sox are .500 and have a run differential of -3 when President Biden takes a tumble

June 18, 2022
🇻🇮falls over on bike
⚾️ BOS loses to STL 2-11

June 1, 2023
🇻🇮tripped on flat ground
⚾️BOS beats CIN 8-2 pic.twitter.com/QpDhKP5RR3

— Coop (@coop_leon) June 2, 2023

seems like chris sale might be out for awhile, depending on what the MRI says. he'd been on fire of late too, peak level performance.

Is there actual news? I’ve been enjoying watching him all season, love this slender psycho

Shoulder soreness which I guess could maybe just be soreness, I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but cora didn't seem optimistic.

Possible IL stint for Chris Sale, Cora said. He’s still sore and at least been ruled out for his next start. Doctors are reviewing MRI and Cora said the Red Sox will know more later on.
If placed on IL, Kluber (paternity list) will take his spot and Sherriff will stay

— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) June 2, 2023

one last rodeo for the klubinator

Alex Cora just confirmed on @NESN that Chris Sale will go to the IL. Said he hopes he didn’t hurt the shoulder any more by ramping it up on the couple of fastballs he threw to the final batter.

— Tom Caron (blue checkmark redacted) (@TomCaron) June 2, 2023

This quite frankly sucks!

Dermody is a hateful dipshit, but there are a lot of hateful dipshits. Chaim Bloom's quotes in this piece, however, are enraging. https://t.co/iVPk0ufzKh

— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) June 8, 2023

Scrolling though his tweeter, the homophobia is one of many, many things wrong with this dude.

Hopefully he gets booed so loudly it gets in his peabrain and then he gets promptly shelled back to whatever minor/international league he came from.

(sorry Sox fans)

I personally hope he gets lit up and then DFAed

uhhhm so was the tweet a "mistake" or a "statement of his beliefs" that the red sox should respect????? fucking hell

It’s so bad

Going through the likes tab of tonight’s starter for the Red Sox! Very normal behavior on display here! pic.twitter.com/HKdAVdyRZF

— Fitzy Mo Peña (@FitzyMoPena) June 8, 2023

what a f’n loser

I personally hope he gets lit up and then DFAed

:D

Will they do the same with Kluber though

if devers got caught with something like this, i could at least understand why the sox/bloom would go to great lengths to excuse it. but this guy is the absolute definition of replacement player! why wouldn’t you just get another quad-a guy (being generous) who *isn’t* an obvious bigot?

Right?????

https://t.co/Mr85r1oyVM pic.twitter.com/0V9uEGyEAa

— sam (@redsoxsam_) June 9, 2023

Chris Sale on the 60 day IL 😩

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyNNRx2XwAEtT10?format=jpg&name=large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxG9zmhWYAA2JVa?format=jpg&name=medium

The “flex” on base celebration is pretty cute, but it’s even better when they cut to the dugout and show all the guys there doing it back.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy12GKSWAAAfmVQ?format=jpg&name=large

INCREDIBLE

Alex Verdugo’s dad is having a FANTASTIC Father’s Day lmao pic.twitter.com/54kOgd8zmg

— Arcand (@ChristianArcand) June 18, 2023

"thank you for the edibles"

His brother had to post a photo of it lol

“The edibles” 😂😂 @espn pic.twitter.com/ID064zIAvJ

— Chris Verdugo (@sirdugo520) June 18, 2023

Oh yeah let me not ignore this catch by Duran! 😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

WHAT A PLAY BY JARREN DURAN! 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/gU3kTu0pZb

— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 18, 2023

Btw my searingly hot take is that the City connect uniforms are the most photogenic of them all!

https://i.postimg.cc/G2zvM1SZ/IMG-3670.jpg

Nice piece about Yoshida in The Athletic today.

Isolated by language, culture and unfamiliarity, Yoshida remains a unique presence inside the Red Sox clubhouse, but he’s made unmistakable connections with his teammates and coaches. Translator Keiichiro Wakabayashi is ever-present to facilitate conversations, and Yoshida has learned enough English to engage his American teammates in basic discussions, especially when baseball terminology will suffice. Yoshida often laughs in the locker room and around the batting cage, and the other players like him.

Cora said he tried earlier this year to guess which team was the runner-up in the Yoshida sweepstakes, but Yoshida again surprised him by saying at one point that he thought he was going to end up with the Blue Jays. Yoshida’s left-handed bat would have been a nice fit in that Toronto lineup, and it wouldn’t have made things any easier in the American League East.

“I’m glad that it was us,” Cora said.

Stats always gets the best screenshots

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzMEipnWYAAzMyZ?format=png&name=small

I’m so impressed with Bello. He developed a cutter and is already using it! Also, watching his game last night back, he’s looking so much more assured with men on base, they leave him to get out of trouble and so far he’s been able to do it. Perhaps most importantly, he wasn’t even at his best and still ground out the win.

he’s turning into a certified stud, incredible stuff

Devers said in his postgame he sees Bello as a little brother and tries to help him all he can. Regardless of where this team goes, watching Bello come on in leaps and bounds is really incredible stuff.

I can’t believe he literally developed and has been using a new pitch in the week!

how tf are these pitches all clustered so tightly, this is insane

Bello threw a new pitch tonight, a cutter. pic.twitter.com/RCCfNzGz11

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) June 24, 2023

Yeah I was shocked by that stats graph too cos his command didn’t look that great but I was wrong. He’s also throwing to his non-personal catcher!

The bats are asleep, the rotation picks up a new injury every week, and they’re one game above .500, but the vibes are undefeated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUYcXyXVwbI

Some style choices were made here
https://i.postimg.cc/YSYhZWYr/IMG-4342.jpg

The Jarren Duran game! 5 for 5! 4 were doubles!

I cannot TELL you how much I love this kid.

Brayan Bello, Dirty 85mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/KL1gWDcf4j

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 6, 2023

I think you can argue he's been better than Eury Perez. Twice as many innings, 2.8 WAR already. Gave up more than 2 runs only once since May 10 (he gave up 3 against Tampa Bay on June 5)

Too soon to say on that count or Perez’s - the latter got absolutely lit up in one of his most recent starts. He’s just incredible to watch and he’s tough - he wants to go seven, he wants to pitch out of jams and go after the best hitters aggressively.

tough to sit triston even against a RHP. is duvall really that important? is yoshida really that bad in LF? too many DHs i guess..

Cora was asked about it yesterday & he said Triston was odd man out because they wanted to start Duran which means that if they want to play Duvall (which they did) means that Yoshida has to DH. And they want to keep Turner in too and he historically has great numbers against Gray, so I get it but I didn’t like it.

However, Cora also said they are going to start playing Turner at 2B more, for maximising his time in the lineup going forward. The two unsaid are that they are trying to get Duvall going again so they can trade him (that outfield is crowded with Duran, Kiké, Refsnyder, Verdugo and Duvall), so they have to try and get him ABs. The other is that Yu Chang and Pablo Reyes are both coming back, and this plus the Turner at 2B thing is probably bad news for either Kiké or Arroyo (think they will trade the latter if they can). But yeah, Triston had such a good June I’m hoping he hasn’t been cooled off. Having said that, there were some great signs for his hitting which definitely helped secure his position. Stats actually pointed out he had 96 PAs in June which was up there.

Piece about roster crunch here.

Oh and also idk if you watched the Toronto games but Yoshida was struck hard with a line drive in the shin so it wouldn’t surprise me if they put him at DH on and off a little more often so he doesn’t have to run or jump while he recovers. Think he has a bone bruise?

Yoshida got hit in the leg with a 101.8 mph four-seam fastball from Nate Pearson during the seventh inning. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI single.

Jarren 🥹

I could say more but Connor Wong being put in for the top of the ninth and immediately throwing out the best player on the A’s is why he’s him

Connor Wong immediately erases Rooker pic.twitter.com/pAJAxMSgwL

— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthewCFB) July 9, 2023

That was so bad-ass

Watched Bello’s innings - got into difficulty a few times but got out of it again. They really want to push him through these difficult innings and force him to work it out and if he can do it to a team like the Rangers he can do it to anyone.

Nice to see some power from the lineup. It’ll also be nice to see the most handsome man in baseball meet Dansby Swanson on Sunday.

lol excellent

The other thing is that Cora doesn’t really have a choice. Boston literally has three starters. They’re all going 6 if they haven’t thrown 100 pitches yet and the game’s close

Bello’s last 13 starts:

5.0, 1 ER
5.0, 2 ER
6.0, 2 ER
5.0, 1 ER
7.0, 2 ER
4.0, 1 ER
6.0, 3 ER
7.0, 2 ER
7.0, 1 ER
6.2, 1 ER
7.0, 1 ER
7.0, 2 ER
6.0, 3 ER

I mean… there an answer to this that I’m too lazy to look up, but has anyone been better?

I drew a lazy comparison to T*m L*ncecum’s 2008 (his age 24 year!)

This week:
https://i.postimg.cc/FsQKc3gn/IMG-5418.jpg

In “What a cunt” news, this loser (Jeff Frye) a former Red Sox having a pop at Manny’s son for being a kid dancing when hitting a walk off homer

Thanks @MLB for encouraging kids to act foolishly on a baseball field. I’m sure this young man has a bright future but I played against his dad who was a great hitter and I never saw him do this. #shegone #letthekidsplay @@MLBPAA @MLBNetwork @WillClark22 @TheRealJHair pic.twitter.com/4YKutJGFKO

— Fryedaddy (@shegone03) July 24, 2023

I’m sorry, I love this fucking team. I cannot believe that they beat the Braves twice. Just watching it back now and:

- not Bello’s greatest outing but he held a potent lineup scoreless for 5 innings and that was enough (way better than giving up six to the fucking A’s). It looks like they got him on the fastball when he finally threw one low to get on before murdering a sinker. Seriously this Barves lineup is scary. Every single guy in the lineup is a difficult out and can go yard.

- CONNOR WONG THROWING OUT A GUY IN A BIG MOMENT I LOVE YOU CONNOR

CONNOR WONG SAID NOT TODAY. pic.twitter.com/cVeJWzrt4c

— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 27, 2023

Justin Turner has been incredible this year and Strider can't watch pic.twitter.com/tQZ3WxhoQ3

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) July 27, 2023

I knew they were hot but what the fuck are these numbers

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F2EcjxOXQAAZkUQ?format=jpg&name=large

They’re so special
https://i.postimg.cc/Xq2kFxhX/IMG-6457.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/gjcKn1gf/IMG-6490.jpg

so far Urías has walked, singled and at 2B started a double play, not bad

Brutal loss tonight. Down 5-3 heading to the ninth they put runners on the corners. With one out, Urías laces a single to plate a run. Now it's 5-4, runners on first and second. Wong launches a shot towards the Monster which looks promising but is caught right on the track. Reese McGuire (for it is he) takes off on contact and just... keeps going around 3rd?! Gets doubled off by about 80 feet, game over.

Lot of second guessing to go around here. In the top of the 9th, with the score still 4-3, who does Cora bring in to pitch to a string of righties? Leftie "depth" Joe Jacques, who gives up a walk, a single and eventually a run. Why?

The WEEI guys were wondering why Verdugo was a scratch from the game, with no reason given. These are possibly the most important games of the year. He can't PH for McGuire? Pinch run?

If they'd won their last two games they'd be tied for the last WC spot. As it stands they're 4 back of the Jays.

Looking at the play again, Febles (Boston’s 3B coach) is quite clearly signaling “home run” to both McGuire and Urías there, just unconscionable stuff

Oh man you missed the whole Verdugo beef

"I think today we took a step back as a team... As the manager, I got to take charge of this"

Alex Cora on their loss against Toronto today | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/HJxTzu2IOI

— NESN (@NESN) August 5, 2023

Urias is a real nice player, though.

Cora was not happy after the game.

Asked about Verdugo, he reiterated several times that he made a decision not to play him. It is not health-related.

He also said “this is probably one of my worst days here in this organization.”

— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) August 5, 2023

completely bizarre

Unreal how bad this team is rn lmaooooo

I mean tbh the pen is burnt out but still. They need the injured back yesterday and it’s still today.

It definitely feels over now. Very weird season. Swept by Pirates and Rockies. Owned the Blue Jays til it mattered. Extreme swings of hot and cold are normal but even so. Dugie and Casas were either on fire or couldn't buy a hit. Devers hasn't really looked like himself, swinging for the fences all the time, average way down. Duran is simply not a CF. Lot of parts that don't quite fit. You'd like to play Duvall in CF but then whither Duran & Refsnyder? You'd like Yoshida to DH but then whither Turner? It's all just slightly janked out. There's no such thing as a normal lineup. And let's not even get into the pitching situation. Who's starting? Who's relieving? Is it coincidental that after the front office failed to add any significant pieces the wheels came off? You can say oh, well, this team should have taken that as a vote of confidence and played their balls off but everyone can see how it's all put together with duct tape. I am surprised that Duvall didn't get moved. Not even Dalbec got moved!

Idk I assumed they were never making the playoffs and this is a year for development - which it pretty much has been. Casas + defence training over offseason + a year’s seasoning = a key piece next year. Duran was due more regression. Think the injuries really broke them open, the Houck one was in retrospect probably the worst. Who knows. I really enjoy watching them when they’re going good. Also, Cora needs to stop complaining about their defence when every single player that goes there gets worse!

Btw Dalbec didn’t get moved cos they probably release him, nobody is trading for him

Casas especially after April a rare bright spot, the adjustments have been really encouraging even if he skids every now and then. Urias looks good. Bello, you know how I feel about Bello. Yoshida a classic ofc. Devers very weird up and down year. Idk I think there’s still plenty of year to go, I don’t think they make the playoffs but even if the deadline theory is true, they were still losing winnable games long before that.

Yeah yeah but Dalbec DESTROYS (this is the mandated verb) AAA pitching!!eleventy1!11!!!

xpost Lots of bright spots really, enough that they really had me believing.

I think you should listen to the Bloom interview on inside the monster, he talks about a lot of these things.

I can see them acquiring some SPs in free agency especially with money coming off the books this year. Honestly if Urias really is a guy and Story is legit they probably only need a couple of quality relievers to be serious this year. There’s the bones of a good team there.

Also, stupid decisions like sending Duran to steal in SF. I watch the Giants! I know Bailey has a rocket arm that puts Wong’s to shame! Yet they sent runners against him twice and gave up two outs. You just have to look at the coaching situation as well.

It’s funny cos I started watching the Sox cos my Mariners weren’t doing it at the plate but I have the Mariners on right now and just a better looking team in all respects.

Btw they weren’t swept by the Rockies. You’re thinking of the other bad team that swept them, the Cardinals.

yeah they look good. Big Dumper has owned Sox pitching

xpost Hmm. It felt that way at the time I guess.

look I watch almost every Mariners game and I knew what was going to happen when they threw to Cal low in the zone - he hammers those every time. You think his idol Jason Varitek would have better scouting reports on him than that

the way this team does not play defense is truly frustrating, and it's one of those things that was obvious when they constructed this roster which makes me wonder what they actually care about/prioritize.

Trevor Story went 4-4 today and made some great plays including this

https://x.com/redsoxstats/status/1690790339320098817

Urias looks like a great pickup for the MI as well

No fucking way hahahaha

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F4D9Yg_WUAArxI4?format=jpg&name=large

that all seems very mild compared with what i saw on my TV. but even if we take that at face value... is that saying that they estimate he handed a run to the Yanks?

That’s usually what the scorecards mean. I think that probably comes from one of those Penvetta innings where he had to throw a bunch of extra pitches because of not getting the strike zone…Let me check.

so if that play at the plate hadn't been overturned he would have handed TWO runs to them

https://i.postimg.cc/xTB3dnnh/IMG-8035.jpg

I’m guessing it’s this one - two of those are debatable strikes and one of them is on the scorecard. Volpe homers right after that and it’s three runs. The other two runs were solo shots and no issue. Gotta be this AB cos it was the only time he got on all day.

And yeah obviously the pitcher & catcher change their approach up depending on the calls. Thankfully Connor was in for that play at the plate cos Reese McGuire isn’t making it.

I do appreciate the M’s tenderizing Houston’s bullpen a little before the Boston visit

Pausing to lol at Winckowski-Martin-Jansen being described as the “three-headed, four-headed monster in the bullpen”

"I missed on the good side of the ball and it went pretty far and it gave us the lead and we didn't look back"

Triston Casas on his home run and the victory@WebsterOnTV | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/IPDuQkgA8X

— NESN (@NESN) September 4, 2023

2022 Red Sox HR leaders:

Rafael Devers - 27
Trevor Story, JD Martinez - 16
Xander Bogaerts - 15
Bobby Dalbec - 12

2023 Red Sox HR leaders:

Devers - 29
Triston Casas - 23*
Justin Turner - 22
Adam Duvall - 19
Masataka Yoshida - 15*

* Homered today

— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) September 5, 2023

Last night was the template. Just took 130 games. The lineup hasn't been settled all season and finally with Casas at cleanup it feels like it's getting there. Cora going 'only mashers in the building' tonight

1 Rafaela SS
2 Devers 3B
3 Turner DH
4 Casas 1B
5 Duvall RF
6 Yoshida LF
7 Abreu CF
8 Wong C
9 Valdez 2B

I kind of prefer Urias at 2nd, you know? But yeah, just need to see Story hopefully unlock something at the plate cos he’s a momentum killer atm. Just take pitches and you can walk, Trevor!

Bloom out

Classy stuff

You bring him in to trade Mookie (which Dave D bears a lot of responsibility for), rebuild the farm system, get the next young core together and complement that core with some veteran pieces on short term contracts - and he does exactly that - and loads of people get injured - and then you fire him . ??? Profit!

Great job for the next guy, but I gather this is typical FSG class wrt their GMs. Didn’t they run all the other guys out of town?

Someone at the press conference ask if they are going to root out the anonymous front office sources that were in the Globe stabbing Bloom in the back.

— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) September 14, 2023

Passan cooking the fraud Henry

Over the 15-year stretch during which they won four World Series, here were the Boston Red Sox's payroll ranks in those years: 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 1st.

Over the last four years, they have been under the CBT three times and their payroll this year is 11th.

But it was the GM's fault.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 14, 2023

bloom did a bad job but he wasn’t set up to do a good job. ownership is pretty much absent at this point.

Ownership hired him to eat shit basically and he did that. Next guy will benefit

According to @BNightengale, Sam Fuld has emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace Chaim in the Red Sox front office.

Fuld was a finalist in the Red Sox managerial search the last time around. Has worked as Dave Dombrowski’s right-hand man and GM with the Phillies.… pic.twitter.com/drhUKRtI3i

— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) September 25, 2023

Can 'Superman' save Sox??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4UaxlOoxAM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ9QpRnO6nM

Season so far:

+Story at short
+TRISTON CASAS
+ Chris Martin
+ the bullpen 99% of the time (what’s that stat? 51-3 when leading after six innings)
+ Chris Sale when healthy
+ Bello mostly
+ Abreu & Rafaela
+ Jarren Duran most of the time
+ Justin Turner
+ Masa 90% of the season
+ Kutter Crawford
+ first half Verdugo

- Houck/Sale injuries
- Paxton second half
- Cora not playing Pablito at short enough before Kiké trade
- Duran/Casas injuries
- RISP problems
- JT getting injured and performance falling off a cliff as he tried to play through it
- Duvall cold stretches
- Masa being gassed in August
- Day game Bello
- second half Verdugo :(

Have I missed anything?

+ Connor Wong behind the dish
+ Bernardino (and his story)

- The entire bench staff. Dave Bush. Febles. How come Brasier is good for the Dodgers now? How come Kiké is good. What is going on.
- the fuckin barbells
- Kenley not being the same guy after his 400th save
- the Houck starting experiment
- the Matt Dermody game
- the Kyle Barraclough game
- the baserunning
- the defense

Kiké really isn’t good now, classic change of scene job. He’s reverted to his earlier year performance

https://i.postimg.cc/NMkx9rmM/IMG-9979.jpg

Brasier is a classic Dodgers pitching lab job, supposedly he showed up and Mark Prior was like “Will u throw a cutter” and now he’s elite I guess? Chris Martin credits the Cubs pitching lab with improving him last year so it’s not 100% but yeah the approach is impressive.

Oh yeah Dermody was disgraceful! Every time I see that José Ramirez three homer highlight on mlb.tv I’m like GOOD FOR YOU JOSE!!!

Kenley has been good post-400! Where he’s been bad is due to Cora doing bullshit like running him out in back to back games or two games of a double header. The walk off in SF was insanely bad luck, giving up a homer to JD Davis (the D stands for DFA this guy) in the bottom of the ninth was like a one in a million thing cos that guy can’t hit for shit this year.

I will have a little stats dive in a minute but just watching the games, he puts too many guys on

His recent splits haven’t been great but he’s been sick and playing less so the sample is a bit skewed iirc

His season splits seem to largely follow our known info about him: he pitches badly on short/no rest but also when he’s rusty (which is why Cora has used him in non save situations before)
https://i.postimg.cc/T1LP11ks/IMG-9980.jpg

👀
https://i.postimg.cc/prwLFv4L/IMG-9981.jpg

And crucially he pitches badly in non save situations
https://i.postimg.cc/3rVR6jNQ/IMG-9982.jpg

His two worst OPS against are in 1-run or tie games!

Check the ahead/behind split though - more closely correlates with pitching in a loss or going into the top of the ninth behind (ie a non closing situation)

Lmao…uh…?

Alex Cora said he’s “not ready” to be a GM, that if he felt he was, he would’ve wanted to be a candidate - but made clear to ownership he’s not in that position. He received assurances from owners last week he’ll be back as manager and will be part of the GM search/hiring process

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) October 1, 2023

https://www.sporcle.com/games/zFordesi/every-2023-red-sox-player
😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

m o n d e s i - incorrect

40/56 😩

I scraped 49 - and one of them wasn’t Yoshida

i forgot about arroyo 🫢

Besides that five hit game of his and that weird double play against the Braves I understand that

says something dunnit.

also i have no shame in forgetting the parade of ineffective relievers

I got most of the relievers! Blanked out Dermody the homophobe, Walter (!), Lamet, Barraclough (!!) and someone else

i mean… “nick robertson”? obviously made up

zack little? tayler scott? come on

Zack Little I missed. Tayler Scott I remembered from the cubs series, he came in with a big lead and almost blew it and they had to warm up Kenley 😭

Nick Robertson pitched the other night! I think he came over in the Kiké trade

Stats has a questionnaire up:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_UYLdjkRjI1MV00mbtL_44ekmbUsbiW5azd7MNzFQVQy-SQ/viewform

I saw that but haven’t done it, any good?

Ok I’ve done it now, some interesting questions in there. What SP did you think they should go for

i want Shota!

He seems good, Yamamoto is clearly The Guy but who knows if John Henry will crack open the wallet?

I personally like Montgomery. Tough lefty, pitches deep into games, increasing the himbo quotient, what’s not to like

I just checked his Instagram and the first three words on the profile are “follower of Jesus”. His doctor wife is right, he really is dumb

Ya know, I really should have known religious discrimination wasn't beyond you, but there you go

I thought about seriously responding to this, as a Catholic from a family that was always socially liberal in a country that was not so when I was growing up, and then I realised I’d be wasting my time.

as opposed to when you post religious discrimination

It’s not obligatory to interact with my posts, so how about you don’t?

yeah please don't shit up multiple threads H.P ffs

Also not obligatory to post religious discrimination so how about you don’t?

Thanks tracer! Happy to when gyac stops posting garbage

H.P. - as one of the original moderators of this board, fellow baseball lover and - afaict - only other woman on this board, I am asking you nicely, can you please not engage in this creep behaviour of following gyac around multiple threads and picking/reviving beefs and threatening to continue until she meets your demands?

It's incredibly unpleasant, controlling and typical harassing behavior that I promise you every woman online has experienced and is sick of.

Dude, I am sorry for whatever is going on in your personal life, but if you love baseball at all, can you please take a good look at what you are doing? Maybe try to incorporate some sportsmanship and good character into your own posting?

You've earned a FP from me. Please drop it.

Weird narrative you've spun? If this is the board where religious discrimination is cool and a good thing to post then sorry, I missed that memo. Stoked to see many posters backing up that type of behavior.

Love the personal life stuff being put in too (which has no factual basis). I consider calling out religious discrimination good character, but maybe we just have different value systems and we'll have to live with that.

HP, I don't know if the threadban function works, but I've just given you one for this thread, so we'll find out. Please stop chasing gyac around ILB and picking fights.

Thank you WmC.

TH, the survey results are in and RSS published here

73% of people want Brayan Bello and Triston Casas to both receive long-term contracts from the Red Sox this winter, with only 6% wanting to extend neither. 17% are ready to extend Casas, but want to hold off on Bello.

92% say there needs to be changes made to the Red Sox major league pitching coaches.

higher chance of that than kennedy having any interesting answers but i will try to stay open-minded

Abreu included by SK in discussion about extending young players

What I would dearly love in 2024 is for Cora’s guys to actually have a set role for more than about 5 minutes. Who’s playing center? Who’s a starter? Am I batting 8th or second? It changed all the time, drove me crazy. I know, injuries, but still

JT is such a guy

Turner, who played with the Orioles and Mets in the early years of his career, credits players such as Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Ty Wigginton and David Wright for instilling the idea of a mutually respectful relationship between teammates, regardless of age. Rather than following the concept of “making them earn it,” Turner believes in embracing rookies and making sure they’re comfortable.

“I always say I’m like the bumpers on a bowling lane,” Turner said. “I don’t want to interfere with them or stop them from doing anything, I just want to keep them moving in the right direction, make sure they don’t wind up in the gutter.”

Back in 2019, @jcmccaffrey wrote an article about how the starting pitcher typically chooses the jersey for the day. I wanted to know if that was still true. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it looks to me like certain pitchers have clear preferences.

James Paxton is a real one pic.twitter.com/WbZgUOih8G

— Sox & Shoes (@soxandshoes) October 5, 2023

No City connects no care

Did you see the new piece about Alex Verdugo?

He was so great early in the season. I honestly don’t like how Cora’s treated him. He was striking out a lot towards the end which was very atypical for her.

Offensively, Verdugo took a step back after a strong start to the year. Through the first three months of the season, he was hitting .301 with an .836 OPS, but by the end of July his average had dropped 30 points and his OPS was down 60 points. He finished the year with a .264 average, his worst since arriving in Boston in 2020, and a .745 OPS.

Sources: Red Sox fire pitching coach Dave Bush https://t.co/7IeL9xfW4j via @BostonGlobe

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) October 9, 2023

The best running joke of the season is the Dave Bush mound visit. I swear it results in an RBI 100% of the time

— cesar flebotomo (@thrischomas) August 30, 2023

That's my Bush!

FEBLES OUT

Posted on Jacoby Ellsbury’s Instagram story
https://i.postimg.cc/43S09cK0/IMG-1139.jpg

The pic doesn't come up for me

Is it the shot in the bar with Youk et al?

Yes! I’ll send you it

Big Ol Tek

Haha, tiny Pedroia nearly lost in the crowd is the best part of that picture

Literally do not even care pls hurry up

Continuing to update the story on the Sox search: Multiple sources believe the team has offered the job to Craig Breslow, and expect him to become the next head of baseball operations for the Red Sox. https://t.co/SGBgGIwuki via @BostonGlobe

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) October 24, 2023

Are they running Twitter sentiment analysis on each of these leaks before deciding, good God

No supposedly a cubs writer was ahead of them on this one

Breslow in

Craig Breslow will get the chief baseball officer title. That comes with full autonomy... including when it comes to naming his No. 2 in command, it seems. On what comes next (and a pitching coach note, too):https://t.co/EjSZg9pgmz

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) October 25, 2023

he seems like an interesting dude but has he ever done a deal in his entire career?

No idea, but the Cubs and Theo Epstein were very hot on him and promoted him several times? Guess we’ll see who the GM job goes to.

Right he did some whizkid pitching analytics stuff for the Cubbies, but has he ever recruited a player? Negotiated a deal? No, is I think the answer, so yeah his No. 2, and the rest of the team will be pretty important I guess

He was still pitching just 6 years ago!

The pitching coach note is promising

yeah his pitching expertise should pay dividends longterm but my impression was that ownership (and certainly fans) want to start winning now - hope he can do both

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just don’t trade Triston Casas for Kolten Wong and Bello for the corpse of Lance Lynn? Honestly though it depends if ownership gives him money. Might be moot if they don’t.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9ScwuKa8AAEExI?format=jpg&name=900x900

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGG0o5P1HFw

ok that made me extremely uncomfortable

Breslow intro presser at 3pm GMT

Join us live at 11am ET for Craig Breslow's introductory press conference: https://t.co/kEp0PGLISy pic.twitter.com/eFhzVzi3jE

— Red Sox (@RedSox) November 2, 2023

Kiké really isn’t good now, classic change of scene job. He’s reverted to his earlier year performance

Breslow’s experience as a major league pitcher and his ideas for rebooting how the franchise develops and improves pitchers were noted. Case in point, watching Ryan Brasier, released by the Red Sox in May, thrive in the Dodgers bullpen didn’t sit well.

”That obviously was disappointing,” Werner said. “We didn’t love the fact that he actually had a very productive season.”

Oh yeah I totally forgot about the Dominican series in ST, let’s see, they’ve got beloved Red Sox Dominican players Raffy Devers and…Triston Casas?

#SpringTraining: Dominican Republic edition!

The @RedSox will face @RaysBaseball March 9-10 at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo.

Tickets are on sale December 12! https://t.co/PnAXIxy3yF pic.twitter.com/alvdoWpjxu

— MLB (@MLB) December 5, 2023

Cruising through Samaná. 🇩🇴 pic.twitter.com/krCDPnVEdU

— Red Sox (@RedSox) November 30, 2023

On the subject of the most hench outfield:

HE’S READY
https://i.postimg.cc/503WBHCs/IMG-2806.jpg

HE’S READY
https://i.postimg.cc/YqjBFCqx/IMG-5091.png

HE’S READY
https://i.postimg.cc/3NfMqP9p/IMG-2807.jpg