TODAY: Shaw has elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A. As noted by WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford, the Red Sox will only owe Shaw the prorated portion of his $1.5MM salary for the time spent on the active roster. Because Shaw was let go within the season’s first 40 days, the Sox don’t owe the entire salary.
APRIL 29, 4:06pm: The Red Sox informed reporters (including Tara Sullivan of the Boston Globe) that Cordero has been selected and Shaw was DFA. Boston also reinstated right-handers Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford from the restricted list. To clear 40-man roster space for those two hurlers, the Sox returned COVID “substitutes” Rob Refsnyder and John Schreiber to Triple-A Worcester. They’ve also optioned righty Tyler Danish and recalled outfielder Jaylin Davis.
10:50am: The Sox indeed plan to select Cordero’s contract from Worcester, Cotillo tweets. Cordero struggled immensely through 136 plate appearances in Boston last season, hitting at just a .189/.237/.260 clip while fanning at a 37.5% rate. He’s out to a massive .296/.375/.535 start through 81 plate appearances in Triple-A, where he’s slugged three homers and eight doubles with a slightly lower (though still troubling) 28.3% strikeout rate.
10:23am: The Red Sox are designating struggling corner infielder Travis Shaw for assignment, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports (via Twitter). The team has yet to formally announce the move or a corresponding transaction, though Cotillo suggests that outfielder Franchy Cordero could be brought up from Triple-A Worcester to take Shaw’s spot on the roster.
Shaw, 32, has a lengthy history with the Sox and has had plenty of success in prior stints with Boston, but his 2022 campaign has gotten out to a disastrous start. Through 19 plate appearances, he’s yet to collect a hit or even reach base, punching out seven times along the way. Were the Red Sox’ lineup performing better on the whole, perhaps the front office might have been more willing to give the veteran Shaw a bit more leash to right the ship. Boston, however, is batting just .229/.275/.344 as a team, translating to a 78 wRC+ that ranks 27th among baseball’s 30 teams. Their 72 runs scored this season rank 20th. The Sox have scored two or fewer runs in nine of their 20 games thus far.
Shaw returned to the Red Sox for a second stint late last season after the Brewers placed him on waivers, and his second stint with the Sox proved productive. In 48 plate appearances down the stretch, Shaw hit just .238 but got on base at a healthier .319 clip and slugged a robust .524. He smacked three homers and three doubles along the way, showing enough for Boston to bring him back to the organization on a minor league contract this winter. Shaw didn’t hit much in Spring Training (4-for-24), but management saw enough positives from him to carry him on the Opening Day roster.
Now designated for assignment, Shaw will be either traded, placed on outright waivers or released within a week’s time. Given his early struggles, it seems unlikely that another club would immediately place Shaw on its 40-man roster (via a small trade or waiver claim). If he goes unclaimed or is released, however, his track record ought to get him a look elsewhere on a minor league contract. Shaw has a pair of 30-homer campaigns on his resume and is a career .237/.319/.437 hitter in 2690 plate appearances.
Franchy Cordero makes the Red Sox the best team in baseball immediately.
This man’s name sounds like a type of pasta
Add French’s mustard to your lamb for some Franchy Cordero
I wouldn’t be surprised if Cordero immediately becomes the cleanup hitter, nothing Cora does surprises me.
The Sox should have won 3 of 4 up in Toronto, but the managing robbed them of a victory Tuesday… and yesterday was one of the worst managed games of Cora’s career.
Xander given the day off after a 4-hit game? Sure, can’t have a hot hitter on the team … Cora MUST do what he can to cool off Xander.
And Xander allowed to take the day off even with JD unavailable? SERIOUSLY?
Arroyo allowed to play SS instead of Story? SERIOUSLY?
Arroyo had started only 12 games at SS in his entire career, and 9 of those 12 starts came in 2017. It was poetic justice the Sox pitching gave up ZERO earned runs, and still lost the game because of an error by – WAIT FOR IT – Christian Arroyo!!
Travis Shaw, a guy who has been hitless and walkless ALL SEASON, starting as the DH? SERIOUSLY? I know Cora had to have his FIFTEEN pitchers, he may as well have stuck one of them in as DH.
So the Sox lost a 1-0 game with Xander sitting on the bench for most of it, and Story watching Arroyo attempt to play shortstop, and a truly hitless wonder in the DH role. There you go, THAT’S the kind of manager Alex Cora is … and we are seeing what happens when he doesn’t have a bunch of All-Star caliber players on the roster. He’s the Grady Little and Jimy Williams of the 2020’s.
One thing you learn as you age is to give the other team credit for winning.
Having said that, if Houck wasn’t a clown, then Whitlock would have been there for Game 2 and we could easily have won. Blame Houck. Also, Houck would have been pitching yesterday. Completely on him that he wasn’t there. I’d like to see him optioned to the GTFU League.
For once, I agree with you Fever Pitch Guy. Cora has cost us games but he’s won us games in the postseason. He is just simply not a great regular season manager. His gutsy approach works when games are on the line but he doesn’t put logic before gutsiness in the regular season when you look at the bigger picture and multiple series (in games we need to win).
Ever – Why should we give the Jays credit for winning yesterday when Cora voluntarily put the weakest possible lineup out there?
They lost a 1-0 game in part because of an error committed by Arroyo at shortstop. Don’t you think it’s fair to say that error wouldn’t have happened with Story at SS and Arroyo at 2B?
As for Houck/Whitlock, the general consensus is Whitlock will remain in the rotation. Either way, Sox pitchers gave up zero earned runs yesterday. I don’t see how Houck could have helped.
Pedey – Cora has not only shown he doesn’t value early season games, he even said he doesn’t value them. Yesterday was a classic example of that. I get that he probably told Xander days in advance he would have Thursday off, but once JD was ruled out a REAL manager would have gone to Xander and said “Sorry, looks like you’ll have to play today. I’ll give you a game off in Baltimore instead”.
Yesterday was a TWO GAME swing in the standings against a divisional rival who will surely be fighting for a postseason spot. To treat it like a Spring Training game is inexcusable.
Tito did the same thing. You tell guys ahead of time when they are having an day off, and you stick with it.
Past that, ignoring the substitutes, the regular starters combined for a 3-26 day. They had 2 singles, a double, and 1 walk.
And even further, Arroyo, who was in the lineup instead of Bogaerts, was our best offensive player, with a 1-3 and a SB.
Cora voluntarily put the weakest possible lineup out there?
===================================
JD was automatically out. Arroyo went 1-3 with a SB.
Joe – You can’t even acknowledge Story should have been at SS and Arroyo at 2B.
Or Xander and his hot bat should have been at DH if he was so in need of rest. Even if he was totally incapacitated, Refsnyder could have been the DH. Or even Plawecki. Anybody but a guy who is hitless and walkless on the season.
But you keep right on defending every decision Cora makes, I wouldn’t expect anything less.
> The Sox should have won 3 of 4 up in Toronto
Such disrespect for Toronto. The BOS managers made some questionable decisions, but the Jays are the better team. Just one example: the Jays have a closer (MLB leader in saves) and the Sox are afraid to use Matt Barnes with a lead. Eovaldi is great but leads MLB with seven homers allowed; Gausman leads MLB in FIP, has given up zero homers and issued zero walks. The Jays lefty bench bat, Zack Collins (who?), has a .881 OPS; Shaw has a .000 OPS and just got DFA’d. You complain Bogaerts sat but Vladdy (2021 #2 in MVP voting) sat the same game.
I could go on.
Fever Pitch is a Red Sox troll. He can only see things in that light. Ignore him.
I’d have switched Story and Arroyo, but back on point, we didn’t win because we didn’t score. This has been the case for the last 11 games, with 2.73 RPG. This happens to every team. I used to hear this all the time when Tito was manager. I heard one fan complain because Papi grounded into a DP. He said that they should’ve had Papi bunting (and there was one out at the time). Another at TO. Tito called for a hit & run. The batter lined out for an easy DP
Sometimes you lose because you face someone like Manoah with his 1.44 ERA. And when this flips around, and the RS start hitting the ball again, it won’t be because Cora pulled a rabbit out of a hat.
Such disrespect for Toronto.
==============================
Sorry, that’s not the way it works. If the RS lose, it has to be Cora’s fault aor Bloom’s fault. And you get extra points if you can blame both.
But the one thing you cannot do is to explain that the Jays are a good team.
Best Scream Ever – MLBTradeRumors should option your account to the local little league for deciding how other people should live. You are a joke.
Look at their line up tonight. Not many hitting. Expect Shaw to resign and go to Wooster. Who expects Franchy to suddenly hit MLB pitching? I still say if that foul homer we’re ruled fair, Shaw would still have a job.
terry – If you had asked me, I’d have told you ATM the Jays are the better team. That has NOTHING to do with the fact Cora handed the game to them on a silver platter.
What’s disrespectful is you disingenuously comparing Xander’s situation to Vladdy.
Xander sat despite being perfectly healthy, Vladdy sat because he fouled a ball off his foot the night before and they didn’t want to risk further injury.
I’m sure you knew that, and I’m sure you hoped I wouldn’t.
“Marvin” – You keep creating new user names, and I’ll keep muting them.
FYI to everyone else: If you reply to a user name I’ve muted, I won’t be able to see your reply.
Joe – You’ll never understand baseball until you devote more time to watching the games, and lose the bias.
I repeat: They didn’t lose the damn game by 2 or 3 runs, they lost the game 1-0 with the only run scoring because of an error.
Had Xander DH’ed instead of Shaw, and had Story played SS instead of Arroyo, at the very least they’d have gone into extra innings. More likely, they’d have won.
Terry – Please do!! 🙂 I’m loving it.
FPG – Nice job. I remember the good old days when Baltimore was the easy team on the schedule and you could rest a star player if he needed it during that series. WAIT Isn’t that still true?
Also, did Bogey need a rest? Were there signs of fatigue? Nope Cora had it circled as a DAY OFF for Bogey on his calendar. Fine managerial skils!!!!
Bogey was extremely hot so NOT the perfect time to SIT HIM!!
Normal baseball logic says if he goes 0 for 4 or 5 with multiple strikeouts give him a day off. Going 3 for 4 or 4 for 4 usually isn’t an indicator a guy needs rest EXCEPT TO THE WORST MANAGER IN THE WORLD!!!!
Daily illogical moves. Been preaching it since April 2018 and will keep preaching it until he’s gone.
Today, if you add the batting average of the 5 hitter (Kiki) and the last four hitters it totals .579 or 21 points below the mendoze line for all 5 players together!!! Can it get worse than it is right now? ABSOLUTELY!!. Bogey, JD and/or Devers could get hurt and be out for a long time. The vaunted offense everyone keeps bragging about all hinges on three guys that Bloom inherited. If it not for them 2021 never happens.
To show how little Bloom has done for the team, let’s check the averages of the inherited players versus the super stars Bloom has brought to Boston.
INHERITED PLAYERS CURRENTLY STARTING
Bogey – .377
Devers – .287
JD – .278 (HURT)
Vazquez – .217
BLOOM’S Brilliant Additions
Story – .210 (I like him so I won’t pick on him. Learned that from Cora!!)
Verdugo – .240 (We could have had Benny and/or Betts!!)
Kiki – .200
Cordero – .000
Arroyo – .205
JBJ – .167
I could include more to both lists but what’s the point? Clearly if Bloom didn’t inherit the team DD assembled, there would be no hitting at all so for them to win without Mookie last year, it was a miracle created by the three amigos still standing after the wrecking ball named Bloom came through Boston.
You know things are bad when entire articles are dedicated to the dropping of an insignificant player and the ensuing arguments are about which is the worst player A or B!!.
The main reason 2020 went as badly as it did was the backlash from the Mookie deal. That deal impacted the players because it destroyed their championship team and whether it happened because of money or racism or any other unknown subplot the dismantling of the Red Sox hit the clubhouse hard.
Now in 2022 we have a similar situation. Bogey and Devers are completely uncertain of their futures. Dalbec thanks to Cora is looking over his shoulder for the publicity stunt called Casas, Houck the second best starter is getting jerked around by the worst manager in baseball and Whitlock has no idea where his future will be, the bullpen, the closer or the #3 SP until Sale gets back.
The lack of sound leadership from both Bloom and Cora is killing this team and it’s about time ownership pulled their heads out of the sand or their search engine looking for new sports teams and cleaned up the mess they made when they fired DD.
Owners – GET IT DONE NOW!!! THROW OUT THE TRASH! PRETEND IT’S ONE OF YOUR HOMEGROWN ALL-STARS and send them unceremoniously packing like Betts was and Bogey and Devers will be by year endt!!
It was a rough L but you do understand why you can’t flip flop Story right? He’s signed to be your second basemen , he plays second this year.
I am speechless, what a far-out attempt of an excuse.
Disagree. I love Bogie but baseball is a two way business and if he will not opt in nor can the team get an extension done, they need to go to Xander and tell him it’s best for the team, etc.
KD- You are right as usual, days off are needed most when a player is scuffling … not when they are having 4-hit games.
Resting a player when he’s scuffling helps both the player and the team.
But it’s a moot point anyways because giving a shortstop a day of rest means having him DH if possible. Since JD was injured it was the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY to have Xander rest from playing shortstop by DH’ing.
I always say, you can’t properly judge a manager when he has a winning team full of all-stars (which Cora had last year and in 2018).
The Sox could have won 3 of 4is not a stretch. Toronto does deserve respect, but they didn’t send any message in the series. The Sox were a little thin, but are hardly lighting it up as well. They barely got by the O’s yesterday. It’s early in the season, many things can be true.
He Is a troll indeed. He blocked me for calling him on it, so I blocked him as well. Makes life much better around here. The guy gives zero legit takes..
Fever, I don’t think Terry was comparing Xander’s situation to Vlad’s in regard to their reasons for sitting. I think he was comparing the two teams’ respective situations with each of those two batters not in the lineup.
As of today, Xander has 12 runs and 9 RBI. Vlad has 12 runs and 16 RBI. If you compare the strength of each team’s lineup, the absence of Vlad is at least equal to the absence of Xander. If that was his point, I think it’s valid.
Personally, if the opponent is missing a highly productive player, I wouldn’t minimize that disadvantage by sitting one of my most productive players. I’d try to maximize that disadvantage by fielding as strong a lineup as I could. But that’s another discussion.
Any manager that says he doesn’t value early games should not be managing any team. Early season games count the same as late ones so that might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. As for days off my question is why do they need all these days off? These guys play a game that literally needs them to be still or sit on their ass for 90% of the time. They travel the country and eat good food while hanging with their buddies playing cards and working out with the occasional light run here and there. I’m tired of hearing about “the grind” of baseball. It’s not a grind it’s a fantastic lifestyle and these guys work about 150 days a year if you can call it work.
Fink – I made it really clear, the whole point of my post was that Cora voluntarily benched Xander despite the importance of the game, the fact he could have and should have DH’ed over Shaw, and the fact that he was coming off a 4-hit game. I was not in any way comparing injured players.
Toronto put out their best available lineup, Cora did not. Inexcusable, but typical of Cora as he has never hidden the fact that he doesn’t care about winning first half games.
And yes, I care more about winning than some people here. That’s because I’m heavily invested in the team (emotionally, not financially).
I either watch, attend, or listen to approximately 150 games a year. Seeing the team get mismanaged so badly is tough to swallow after waiting nearly 6 months for the season to start. Watching them throw in the towel and sell off many of their good players will be very difficult for me to stomach, but that’s where they are heading despite the 2nd-highest payroll in the league.
I agree, he should be called up but I liked Shaw. I really did, but for the sake of the team it’s time for him to go. Platoon Dalbec and Cordero.
Franchy can’t be any worse than Shaw, at least offensively.
Franchy has to date not shown he’s a major league hitter. He’s just a placeholder at first for Casas.
You sure about that? We are far from the best team. Hope that was sarcasm.
He could play as lousy as last season and still be a lot better than Shaw was in April. What’s going on with Travis, anyways?
Travis was never as good as his first year with the Brewers but is a guy who can deliver off the bench and in limited play. if the team was winning or if that foul homer was ruled fair, he would have been given a longer leash. The move was more a reflection of their record than it was on his lack of getting a hit in so few at bats.
another shot for AAAA Coedero. why not give Fitzgerald a shot?
Or Duran. Or Casas
Duran should be up, yeah. why keep JBJ at this point.
Terrible deal to bring JBJ back as he’s costing Boston $17M this season (including his large 2023 option buyout). Since he costs so much, I don’t see them DFA’ing Jackie until the end of June at the earliest. They’re going to try to let him come out of his 1+ year slump. I’d much rather have kept Renfroe regardless of the prospects they required in the deal.
I think the JBJ deal was about the prospects more than anything else
Duran? Duran? Please please tell me now. Is there something I should know?
Renfroe is nothing special either…
The prospect return that Renfroe got was the key to that trade. They figured Renfroe couldn’t play any better and JBJ couldn’t be worse and that the prospects in a couple years will have made the trade worth it…..jury still out on this one
If dalbec doesn’t turn it around soon Casas should have his shot in short order. He’s my bet for ROY if he gets called up in time.
His K% is pretty high but he’ll be up sometime this year
I shaw this one coming
It’s Franchy time!
Frenchy has been playing first base at Worcester.
It would make more sense to replace Shaw with Yolmer Sanchez imo than with Cordero.
They are playing a utility infielder with no experience in the OF in RF half the time and a guy that struggles to bat .200 the other half…
Benintendi is hitting .393 with a .925 OPS. Here’s hoping Benny continues to rake.
He’s hot now but he’ll come back to earth
Benintendi has a .434 BABIP. If/when that reverts back to his career .321, his average and OPS will revert back as well.
Hope Benny continues to perform but I was one who complained they traded him one year too late. He’ll calm down but I still hope he doesn’t. That said, AV at the end of the season will have better stats.
Was never a great clubhouse guy though from what i heard… I think that trade goes deeper than the numbers.
30 Parks – OUTSTANDING!!!!!!
NOT ONLY Benny is raking but so is Chavis the guy that never got a chance!!! Boy that Bloom knows how to pick em!!! hahahaha
Benny is and always will be better than Verdugo because he doesn’t have any Boston hitting coaches helping him any more. The guy was a monster in College and his first two years in Boston until the hitting coaches helped him improve!! hahaha Not only did the Red Sox tear down his hitting fundamentals but then they fired him for being bad using their incorrect techniques!!!
I heard a rumor that pwndroia made up the whole “he wasn’t a good clubhouse guy” Want to know where I heard it from? I heard that rumor from a KC teammate while in their clubhouse!!. They think that rumor is horse crap.
The guy is batting in the heart of their order and his manager didn’t baby sit him when he was young so no KIKI TREATMENT for Benny, he earned it by getting a fair chance to perform, just like Chavis has earned a spot in Pittsburgh..
You can’t tell me this team wouldn’t be better with Betts in RF, Benny in CF, JD in LF, Story at 3B, Bogey at SS, Kiki at 2B, Dalbec at 1B, Vazquez Catching and Devers at DH. That team could win the AL East just as DD planned.
Except that team is costing you $280 million and you would be at least a 3 tier taxpayer. John Henry wants efficiency with those dollars meaning he wants to win without going over the luxury tax. He’s an analytics guy, he’s not just going to buy the world series when he has other sport franchises tied to him. He has soccer in Europe to worry about and Nascar too so he’s not an all in no matter what owner. Remember too if ya keep Betts you are stuck with Price’s salary as well so that could be a $300 million payroll
Also Benny proved in Boston he was no long term centerfielder. It’s one month in. Let’s see what Chavis and Benny are doing at the all star break. Hitting will come. My worry is the way the staff is used, they will be burnt out if and when Sale and Paxton are ready to pitch.
Kingbum – I can’t help but laugh at your comment. You are incredibly misinformed about costs. The Red Sox were at $228MM when Bloom took over. Had DD stayed and kept Mookie to resign him like he wanted to the Red Sox would have been $20MM over the 1st threshold. Due to Covid Price opted out so his pay didn’t count thus $32MM comes off the $228MM bringing them under the CAP in 2020 just like they were with Bloom butchering the team.
Mookie was making $27MM in 2020 so signing him to $9MM a year more wouldn’t have killed the team because they were paying JBJ $11MM to be a one dimensional player. DD would have had no issues resetting the tax and yes they would have paid Price $32MM in 2021 and still been under thanks to all that dropped off from Retained Payroll.
Could they have unloaded the Price albatross contract for 2021 and 2022 in 2020 by offering some minor league talent with Price thus leaving the available money to spend on players whole? Yes but there are no guarantees someone would have done the deal.
In the end, even if DD didn’t win in 2020’s shortened season thanks to Cora messing up Sale’s elbow. The team could have had Sale do the surgery 7 months earlier and he would have been ready to start 2021. The payroll would have been under and the team would have had Benny, Betts, Devers, Bogey, Dalbec, Vazquez and JD. Basically, we needed a new 2b and CF and the championship team would have been competing with Sale the full year in 2021. You saw how well they did without Mookie so they would have been even more competitive in 2021 and the payroll would have been under. the CAP.
What else would be different now? Nobody would be sweating Bogey not getting a bump or Devers not getting a contract or Eovaldi. Those would be givens and with all the money that rolled off after DD was fired DD would have been sitting pretty going into 2022 and even better going into 2023. Now we have chaos in 2022 and a dismal future in 2023.
Bloom has far outspent DD. The CAP went up $20MM and Bloom is over that amount and he has ONE all-star to show for it. $93MM additional dollars of payroll is available thanks to the dead contracts rolling off and the increase in the CAP and we have the crap team Bloom has put together with ALL THAT MONEY!!! Financial suicide. That’s Bloom and how he has used all that money. We only have Story to show for it!!! $93MM
DD got accused of being a big spender thanks to the RETAINED PAYROLL not attributed to him and now Bloom has had the RETAINED PAYROLL roll off the books plus Mookie’s money and $16MM for Price and all we have to show for it is a billion dumpster dives and Story!!! TOTAL INCOMPETENCE BY BLOOM.
Dewey – I bet Chavis and Benny are doing better than Cordero and Verdugo at the all-star break!! What a colossal waste of money. $93MM of available payroll and we have: the following costs impacting our Luxury Tax payroll total:
Story $23.33MM – Team Friendly contract – GOOD
JBJ $12MM – HORRIBLE CONTRACT
Barnes $9.375 – HORRIBLE CONTRACT
Kiki lifetime .241 hitter $7MM – OVER PAY FOR A .241 hitter who hit .250
Wacha $7MM – Looked bad but so far so good but could turn on a dime
Hill $5MM – A slight upgrade from Lopez and the same price
Verdugo $3.55MM – Reasonable ARB 1 payout for league average player
Diekman $4MM – Not impressed but not expensive
Strahm $3MM – Not impressed and again not expensive
Pivetta $2.65MM – Inconsistent but worth upside
Plawecki $2.25MM – Back-up so price is a bit high but acceptable
Robles $2.25MM – Not impressed and not expensive
Arroyo $1.2MM – About right for a controlled utility player
Sawamura $1.5MM – Not impressed but not expensive
Whitlock $o.72MM – Far out performing his contract – EXCELLENT
Davis $0.72MM – Not impressed but not expensive
Cordero $0.705MM = A waste of money
Crawford $0.702MM – Looked good but fell apart fortunately very cheap
Paxton $10MM – Ridiculous waste of money!!
Price $16MM – Only a bonehead GM pays down a contract
Shaw $0.218MM – OOPS he did it again. More money wasted.
These players total $110.92MM!!
The cheap help that is filler is fine.
The expensive all-star Story is team friendly so that’s good.
Bad contracts – Paxton, JBJ, Price paydown is incredibly stupid,
Kiki is an over pay and Barnes is a huge over pay.
Players that will be gone after the season:
JD – $22MM
Bogey – $20MM
Eovaldi – $17MM
Devers – $11.2MM
They total $70.2 MM so Bloom will have $93MM the carryover $93MM available plus $70.2MM from these cuts. That’s $163.2MM!!!!!!
We had 6 big contracts when he came. Only Sale will be left.
The massive available money if used by DD would win a championship.
Bloom? Who knows what he’ll do. More mediocre players but so many of them that he still reaches the new CAP $20MM more than DD’s CAP? He’s over the CAP right now, the conservative spending GM from TB.
What a bunch of crap. This guy spends like a lotto winner except he shops at KMART. Lots more players with lots less talent but you Bloom fans think that is good. I don’t.
Bloom needs to go before he misuses the huge funds available next year like he frittered away the $93MM that would have given DD the power to keep Mookie and fill the holes that Bloom never filled.
The future is bleak unless Bloom gets fired and a real GM replaces him. One with experience and maybe a reputation of success not being cheap.
I didn’t make it up, I heard somewhere Benintendi wasn’t the greatest clubhouse guy. Could be truth or myth. I don’t remember where- take it or leave it. I honestly did not mind him leaving as I didn’t his production as completely worthwhile.
You got to get over Betts though. He would be great to have on this team but he wasn’t coming back, plain and simple. He should have been traded the year before to get more back in all honesty. I was rooting for that.
Shaw hit a three run homer in the Trop, if not for those stupid catwalks. Called back as foul; struck out next pitch.
Also, note that his salary became fully guaranteed if he wasn’t released by mid May.
Casas really needs a half season in AAA to get his footing. I don’t think he would keep his head above water if brought up today. I’m not bearish on him long term at all, but he needs better contact against AAA/AAAA pitching first. He has 29 games of AAA experience and missed a big chunk of the AA season, after (obviously) no 2020 minor league season. Be patient.
I don’t think that it works that way. If a batted ball hits the outer 2 catwalks in FAIR territory, it’s a HR. Enlighten me of how a foul ball can do this.
It was confusing to veteran broadcasters (shrug). I think the idea was that it was a close fair/foul issue that was too tough to tell, on a ball that is usually a HR in a major league stadium.
Just mentioned it because he doesn’t look totally cooked. There were a couple of ropes mixed in with the 0-fer. He’ll surface somewhere as a decent enough lefty off the bench.
I agree Casas is in the midst of a slump in AAA right now. I think they will wait until he gets on a roll in AAA before calling him up. I’m guessing mid June. Dalbec is on the clock he needs to start hitting and a lot loss swinging at balls out of strike zone.
Rules are rules. Remember the Renfroe play last postseason in the outfield at Fenway against the Rays?
It’s the other 4-42 since spring that is troublesome…
Ivan Putski – that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time! The Golden Era of wrestling.
Say good bye to “the Mayor of Ding Dong City”. I do think it may be over, but you had yourself a run! Next thing Bloom should do is make a trade for a good reliever and free up space at the same time, say, Dalbec and Arroyo for said reliever. That would leave room for either Casas or Fitzgerald.
Who’s a “good reliever” that’s a trade possibility?
Knew this was coming. Shaw just could not get on base at all. 0-19 with 7ks and 0 walks. I hope he accepts the assignment to Worcester to work on getting out his slump.
Cordero has hit well and deserves one more look. With Shaw gone Cordero can play 1B and Dalbec and Arroyo can cover 3B if Devers needs a break. Trading Renfroe and not getting another offensive minded Outfielder is looming large over the Sox offensive struggles right now. I don’t doubt learning to play 2B is impacting Story at the plate. Sox need something to happen soon as the have been involved in 8 one run games already 3-5 in those games)
Too bad Cordero is left handed because he would be a great complement to JBJ in the outfield as much as first base.
Of course it’s Cordero coming up! He’s Blooms guy. Anybody else who deserves a shot came from the time previous to Bloom, and thus he has no skin in their game!
I don’t think Cordero is the solution either, and have mentioned that in the past. But who are all these other players that deserve a shot? Duran has -0- HRs, and is on pace for 178 K/600 ABs. Casas has been quiet in the past 2 weeks, and only has 71 AAA ABs.
Dude’s raking.
Dude’s raking.
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Not really. In his last 13 games, he has -0- HRs, and 16 Ks in 45 ABs. That projects to 213 Ks/600 ABs, at age 27, in AAA. I have to hope the best, and also I assume he can’t be any worse than Shaw, but I think the chances of Cordero being even a league-average hitter is slim.
Shaw has negative aggregate WAR since 2018. I suppose someone could take a chance, but he seems spent.
I think a trade is coming. Certainly we will probably see Cordero but that doesn’t help our left handed hitting outfield and I see Dalbec as either do or die at 1B. We need a consistently good guy there.
I could see Dalbec or Arroyo being moved but I’m not sure they’ll have many suitors.
WOW! The new Red Sox existence. Incredible. Waiting breathlessly for borderline prospects to make their debuts…….Arguing back and forth about which extremely borderline player should be in the lineup…..fighting about which ineffective reliever should have been used last night….
Red Sox Nation, welcome to Pittsburgh and Baltimore. That’s your new world.
Thanx, Mr. Bloom.
Sure, we heard all the same stuff last year, and it seemed to work out okay. Y’all need some patience.
I agree with you, but on the other hand, the first time they were 5.5 games or more out of first place last year, was August 18th.
rhswanzey – Joe knows the Sox had the best record in the league deep into July.
But why let facts get in the way of using an analogy to criticize others?
This year’s AL East isn’t last year’s AL East. Jays are definitely better, Yanks look to be better, Rays might even be.
Ya it’s early, and the lineup is still the lineup. And there are some dreams to be dreamt about the pitching. But there’s a undeniable reality that more things have to go right for the Sox for them to win than any of the other 3 teams.
But why let facts get in the way of using an analogy to criticize others?
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Because everything I say is true. And this is not a 2022 thing. Half the RS fans are the best in the world. The other half are the worst. The complaining goes on 24/7/365 for the past 20 years.
I understand some fans are scarred from ’67, ’75, ’78, ’86 & ’03. But trust, all is not lost.
bobtillman
But there’s a undeniable reality that more things have to go right for the Sox for them to win than any of the other 3 teams.
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That’s mostly right. The undeniable truth is that the ALE is really tough. This is the same as last year. Toronto wasn’t bad. They were certainly no worse than the Yankees or Red Sox. But someone had to lose.
And there is no doubt in my mind that the same thing will happen again this year. One of the four of us will likely have to lose. But that doesn’t mean the losing team will be a bad team. It’s just the luck of the draw.
Joe – You’re not doing yourself any favors with comments such as your “half and half” one.
No doubt you have similar viewpoints politically, you think everyone is either far left or far right and your side is “the best” and the other side is “the worst”.
I’ll let you go back to your safe space now.
I think that was said last year as well.
Fever Pitch Guy15 hours ago
you think everyone is either far left or far right
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You’re absolutely blathering now. My view is 100% the opposite. I believe this country is comprised of 70-80% moderates with 10-15% either far left or far right.
Go back to hitting keys at random and let spell-check make it legible.
Joe – Okay, pretend you didn’t write that “half the Red Sox fans are the best in the world, and the other half are the worst”.. somebody must have hacked your account to write that, eh?
No middle ground, eh? So fans like me, who praise my team’s good decisions and object to their bad decisions, don’t exist eh?
Only the sycophants who praise everything Bloom and Cora does and doesn’t do are “the best”, and all the other fans are “the worst”, eh?
You must have a really good shovel for that huge hole you’ve dug.
FFTD, but many RS are awful. I’ve never seen so many complainers. It was the same when Theo & Tito were dominating. Some fans couldn’t wait to get rid of the,
IRT the hole I dug, I’m sticking with it. When you and KD and Parks and AL34 and GARSfan were all panicking, I was plenty comfortable in our ability.
This is a good team. The pitching will be above average, and the offense should be top-tier. Feel free to stay in perpetual panic made,.
Bobtillman – My sentiments exactly. I’m listening American Pie you know the song about the day the music died. I think of DD and Bloom replacing him every time I hear the song. The day the greatness died in Fenway.
Bloom is a travesty and should consider rejoining the TB staff so he can pay attention to the real brains down there because he wasn’t that guy!! I also keep hoping Houston has an opening for a bench coach so we might get rid of Cora.
I’m also thinking Elon Musk should purchase the Red Sox so we can compete for rings again!!!
He’d be a good fit on the A’s seeing as how Neuse can’t field a routine grounder. If only they had a multi billion dollar owner who could pay him. Oh wait…
Came here to read the comments from sad Red Sox fans and got exactly what I came for.
It’s still early let’s see the records after 40 games.
I do agree that Al East is even tougher this year and that doesn’t bode well for the Red Sox. I still believe in the offense and the starters have been better then expected. At this point I think that Robles should be the closer he has pitched very well for quite some time now.
I think Boston is going to play better as the season goes along but they may not be enough to make the playoffs but it is a long season and injury’s can occur. I do believe that barring injuries Toronto is the best team in the AL East but injuries happen so let’s see what happens.
It is frustrating to watch the Red Sox lose so many winnable games early on though. This series in Baltimore has the feel of being very important Boston has to win this series or things could get real ugly real fast.
Bruin1012 – They aren’t ugly now? Going into tonight’s game we are ONE game ahead of the 2019 team that had Cora screw up the Spring Training then they played in Japan and had a miserable west coast trip, Cora swapped Benny and Mookie and Eovaldi got hurt. You remember, DD got fired and that was the day the music died!!!
This team is only missing Sale and they proved last year they don’t need him so why are they so bad?
1 – Poor off season moves by the GM?
2 – Daily bad decisions by the manager?
3 – NO LUCK?
4 – TOR and TB playing like they should not dropping games to a weaker team?
5 – NYY not tripping over their feet when playing Boston?
6 – Bad management of the pitching staff?
7 – Bad batting order daily?
8 – Not effectively using two great young pitchers in Houck and Whitlock?
9 – Batting a sub .200 hitter at the top of the order?
10 – Batting the second best hitter so far down in the order?
ALL OF THE ABOVE IS MY ANSWER!!!
KD – As usual a lot of what you say makes sense. I’m curious, do you think Whitlock should return to the pen? Or stay in the rotation? And what about Houck, rotation or pen?
I think one of those two should be in the pen, not both.
KD you want my answer well here it is only a fool judges how the baseball season is going to go after the first month of the season.
I’m not saying that there are not some very big red flags the offense has been putrid and if they continue to hit like that then everything else is moot the Red Sox will be very bad. I don’t think they will continue to not hit though I think they will go on a run and I think they will play better ball in May through September into October. I could be wrong and if I am there will be some veterans traded at the deadline but I doubt it they will probably get back into it by the deadline but we will see. I do no one thing this teams offense is due to beat up on some pitching staffs. They will be OK as I say every year you are rarely as bad as you look when things are going bad and rarely as good as you look when things are going well. Let’s just all remember that and let’s see where everything at the end of May.
I will say this, this Red Sox team is not as good as that Toronto team is from a personnel standpoint and barring injuries don’t see the Red Sox being as good as that team.
Bruin1012 – We agree. I don’t predict seasons because I don’t want to look as foolish as Joe Brady. I lay out the talent level versus the other teams and determine what SHOULD happen based on talent. Based on the .400 winning percentage in 2020 and a lack of quality players being added to the Red Sox I set the talent level of Boston in 2021 at 67 wins which was 2 wins over .400. So slight improvement from 2020.
This year I would have been more optimistic since the addition of Story is a big plus. Unfortunately the loss of Renfroe partially off sets the gain from Story. I thought going into this year a .500 record might be achievable if Sale was anything close to the old Sale. I expected an appropriate recovery period for him and as always Cora has doubled it (or the powers that be) who constantly baby Sale and force a loss of games played and future injuries. These were not problems under Farrell nor under Ventura in Chicago. These are Cora issues with Sale.
So, the team after beating LAA just climbed over .400 and could be heading to an upper 40s percentage of wins. Lots of tough match-ups early did them in during 2019 and this year was similar.
Toronto’s team is missing ONE key component, an experienced vet like JD to stabilize team performance. Their talent level is off the charts and so far they have been missing T Hernandez. He is very much comparable to the Red Sox missing JD. If TOR traded for JD to be their DH I think they win the world series.
If we dealt him, I hope we could get an outfielder back. Gurriel seems like a fair target if TOR can sign JD to an extension at a similar price to his current contract. Gurriel is controllable another two years so his cost is very reasonable. He’s a 120 OPS+ guy so he would be our best OFer.. Put him in right field and the outfield significantly improves. Devers goes to DH, Story to 3B and Arroyo to 2B. That’s a win-win since Devers finally moves and clears the way for a real defender at 3B. The ERAs and WHIPs go down, less runs are given up and there is a slight drop off in hitting since JD is better than Gurriel.
Win – Win but I don’t know if TOR sees themself like I see them. They need a JD type player just like Boston did in 2018 to put them over the top.
REFSNYDER RETURNED??????? I’m decimated. Have to become a Diamondbacks fan.
BobT – Phoenix will love your well thought out comments, but the dumb attempts at humor not so much…
It was nice to see Danish get a cup of coffee.
Send Dalbec to AAA to work on his hitting and possibly play some 3 B.
He was a pitcher in his College days–perhaps he comes back as the next Shohei Ohtani.
Give him some opportunities to pitch in relief. The way the pen is being called on to pitch almost 1/2 of every game-he might be a huge help
Shaw was a marginal player years ago. Time to hang em up.
Even with their ace starting pitcher throwing 7 shutout innings, the Red Sox still lose to the lowly Orioles.
Only 22 games played and already 6 1/2 games back.
But as Cora always says, the important thing is the team will be well-rested in October … while they are watching the postseason on TV.
This team is not going anywhere and it is squarely on Bloom’s shoulders. Watching as he jerks around Boggy and Devers. JD will be gone at the end of the year as well.
Al – If JD can get healthy, he will be gone during the trade deadline fire sale.
Bloom will be able to get a boatland of prospects during the fire sale, because Cy Young candidate Eovaldi and MVP candidate Xander will both likely be traded along with several others on one-year contracts. This season is looking even worse than 2019.
Easy now easy. O’s ain’t all that lowly. Your boy Bloom could take a lesson or 2 from Elias in regards to stockpiling talent for near future returns and gains.
Jeff – Nothing personal, but the O’s are the worst team in the league right now … until they call up Adley and GrayRod.
FPG – None taken. And yes, hitting and defense are pretty ugly for now. Pitching at “the show” level, may I argue, not league worst? Elias has stockpiled some arms outside of traditional draft method, both starters and relievers, that so far are producing with consistency this year. Some favorite IEs. Looks like Bundy to LAA wasn’t just about a salary dump. And the older Tyler “Tommy John” Wells baller he picked up via Rule 5 from Twins is producing. Yes? No? Maybe?
Jeff – Thumbs up from me.
It’s time to DFA Jackie Bradley Jr. He did not hit last year for the Brewers and he is not hitting this year with that solid .156 batting average. He cannot hit and what a contract to absorb. I said months ago that it was a bad trade Bloom made with in trading Renfro for him. Dalbac needs to be sent down to the minors. Another bad move was letting Schwarber get away and counting on streaky Dalbac to start. Benintendi trade was another bad move as well. Trading a young player for really nothing equivalent. Counting on an injured Sale again.
So Travis Shaw is going to hope that maybe just ONE more team thinks he is capable of repeating numbers like his 2018 season?
SalaryCap – imo any MLB player released will try to catch on with another team for a MLB minimum salary of what is it now? $700,000 prorated…a lot of CEOs, doctors, lawyers…. do not make that much…. I would gladly play bench warmer for $700,000 (unless it was with the Yankees or Mets lol).
How he prolonged his career an extra 4 years is miraculous
KD176 days ago
Bruin1012 – We agree. I don’t predict seasons because I don’t want to look as foolish as Joe Brady.
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But you do predict seasons. You predicted 65 wins last year. You don’t remember that? That’s why you won’t predict this season. You don’t want to look foolish again.