The Red Sox blanked the A’s last night, pushing them to 51-44 and tying their season high at seven games over .500. Paired with a Yankees’ loss, Boston pulled out of the basement in the AL East and sits just a game and a half back of Houston for the American League’s final Wild Card spot.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has said a couple times recently the team’s play leading up to the August 1 deadline will impact how aggressively they pursue outside help versus entertaining offers on their veteran players. The team seems to be finding its stride with two weeks to go, putting the front office in a good position to add for a playoff push.
Rob Bradford of WEEI reported yesterday the Sox are seeking to add pitching depth. He suggests a back-of-the-rotation starter and a right-handed middle relief option are on the target list.
Each of those player types should be attainable. Veteran back-end starters change hands every deadline season. Michael Lorenzen, Carlos Carrasco, Lance Lynn and recurring Sox’s target Rich Hill are among the impending free agents who are unlikely to require a hefty acquisition cost. Oakland’s Paul Blackburn and Cleveland’s Aaron Civale are middle to back end starters with multiple seasons of remaining affordable control. They’d be costlier from a prospect perspective than the aforementioned rentals as a result.
Various injuries have left Boston with a top-heavy rotation. James Paxton has been stellar since returning from two and a half injury-wrecked seasons, working to a 3.51 ERA while striking out over 28% of opposing hitters. Brayan Bello has improved his control in his second MLB season, resulting in a 3.14 ERA over 15 starts. Kutter Crawford, a midseason entrant to the rotation who has a 4.73 ERA over 10 starts, is the only other consistent member of the current starting staff.
The Sox are without each of Chris Sale, Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock. Sale recently began throwing again but is shelved into August by a shoulder blade injury. Houck suffered a facial fracture when he was hit by a comebacker in late June. He’s expected back this season but isn’t an imminent returnee. Whitlock hit the injured list two weeks ago with elbow inflammation.
With only a three-man rotation, the Sox used a bullpen game last night against Oakland. Nick Pivetta was brilliant in a bulk capacity, tossing six scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts. The 30-year-old righty is up to 35 innings of 2.31 ERA ball with an elite 38.2% strikeout rate since moving to relief in mid-May. Boston has been reluctant to move him out of a role in which he has been so exceptional. Cora said last night they’re planning to use Pivetta in a similar bulk capacity on Sunday evening against the Mets (relayed by Chris Cotillo of MassLive).
Adding a stable veteran arm to the back of the rotation would safeguard against any injury setbacks for Sale, Houck or Whitlock (or a potential issue for Paxton, whose own health history is obviously alarming). It’d reduce the chance of Boston needing to push Pivetta back into the starting staff at any point.
Boston’s bullpen, meanwhile, skews very left-handed in the middle innings. Kenley Jansen, Pivetta, Chris Martin and Josh Winckowski are the only righties in the current 10-man mix. Pivetta’s bulk role means he’s not going to be available for shorter matchup work on most nights. Jansen is locked into his customary closing role. That leaves Martin and Winckowski — both of whom have pitched well — as the only righty setup options available.
The Sox are soon to welcome back one key reinforcement. John Schreiber had a 2.12 ERA with a 30% strikeout rate in 18 outings before a lat strain sent him to the IL in mid-May. He’s made four appearances since beginning a rehab stint two weeks ago and should soon be back in the MLB mix. Schreiber would be a high-leverage arm if he quickly recaptures his pre-injury form, although there’d still be room for additional middle relief depth.
There are various righty bullpen arms who stand out as possible trade candidates. Michael Fulmer, Keynan Middleton, Reynaldo López, old friends Joe Kelly (who’s expected back from an IL stint shortly) and Adam Ottavino, José Cisnero, Chris Stratton and Shintaro Fujinami could all be on the move.
Beating Oakland is misleading – myself & eight friends could beat Oakland.
Even before this soft stretch, Boston won 5 out of 6 against Texas and Toronto…so any feelings of positivity extend well beyond facing Oakland.
Boston has been defined by inconsistency, but has also demonstrated the capacity to be excellent in each area of the game (except defense) at various times. It’s unlikely to put all the pieces together, but it’s a competitive team.
Chang fixed 70%of the issues with D.
No he did not. They are a team that fields 7 DH’s in the field every night.
Verdugo is the only average defender
Verdugo is currently the best rated defensive OF in the AL and that includes CF/LF. He’s running away with the Gold Glove in RF, so to say average is a bit of an insult.
Duran has been fairly exceptional as well, both made major improvements in the offseason.
The only average does not exclude above average.
Duran has an egregious -4 DRS. He is still better as a DH.
Stop embarrassing yourself! EVERY defensive metric on the planet says they are an average defensive baseball team!
And without Kike at SS they are above average; ie. , Chang has fixed the D.
Kevin– that’s offensive. You need to apoligize NOW.
Kevin, your point was mostly validated by using your eyes. Verdugo is having a great year in right. Otherwise your spot on. Duran has improved greatly and made a couple of amazing plays but overall he’s average as an outfielder and below average for a starting center fielder. As to the infield, Devers has improved but overall average across the board is being generous. Real Sox fans don’t need to look at saber stats to know theur defense has been their killer in 23.
Hey Kevin, sweetie, why don’t you make yourself useful and gtfo with that sexist garbage u posted. 21st Century people are talking sports here.
Oh, look, an old guy.
They are bad defensively proved by the fact they are statistically at the bottom of the rankings. They have no depth so trying to paper that over by Bloom making another of his bad trades for a backend starter isn’t gonna materially change this team into some serious contender. Get real. Best thing Henry can do now is admit that Bloom isn’t the answer and jettison his sorryazz and trade all rentals and reset cos this team as currently constructed isn’t playoff run ready at all. Some ppl on here are straight up delusional.
@Pete My favorite part of that little rant he just did was that he replied twice, the first time angry, the second time after being proven wrong resorting to low grade bigotry.
It’s almost cute.
@Kirsten ya unfortunately I’ve noticed there is a little pack of dudes with old man yelling at clouds energy who post here. Stats and evidence will never be as convincing to them as their knee-jerk reactions and individual eye test anecdotes. The occasional tirades about analytics here can really be something to see I find.
STFU! You sound like a CNN spokesman!
No, I don’t have to do a thing!
What’s really bothering you today Kev-Kev? Missed Matlock? Woke antifa kids on your lawn? Did you hear something about Andrerson Cooper that angered up the blood? Come on sweetie it helps to talk about our feelings. If you keep things bottled up you can end up looking like a moron having a tantrum in a sports comments section. Now did we learn something today?
old man yelling at clouds energy
=========================
Dude, as I like to tell people that think 65 year old people can’t use a computer, we invented all of this. Of course stuff gets improved, but I started creating consolidation programs back when WYSIWYG was a thing.
30 Parks
Beating Oakland is misleading
========================
Probably, but how about the rest of it?
You and your 8 friends were half the crowd in Oakland last night.
Do you really think he has 8 friends?
Good one
The Red Sox can have Rich Hill if they also take Andy Haines and Derrick Shelton
“Back-end starter”..When my “back-end” won’t start, it’s always nice to have a “back-end starter”.
You need to be like the Rays and invest in an opener instead of a closer.
mlb – I’d like to re-acquire Ottavino, if for no other reason than he and Casas would get along very, very well as they walk barefoot together on the Fenway outfield grass.
Get it done Chaim. This team should be getting their best additions back in early August with Sale and Story. That lineup should be scary. Also getting Houck back at some point around then. The fact that they are winning despite having 3 starting pitchers is crazy but I’m here for it!
Just go get Hill now. We know it’s likely and by getting him early, it could lower the cost of the next pick up. Right now other teams see Boston as desperate for a starter.
My only hesitation on Hill is that he is essentially a five inning guy. But if it fills out the rotation for now at a low cost, then let’s go get him.
Why, I’d love to have Hill go three or four innings with Pivetta behind him. Not a bad every sixth game plan
Not to mention his significant injury history
Dewey – Sounds like they are saving Pivetta for another relief appearance Sunday. What happens if Sunday’s opener, whomever it is, gives up 4-6 runs? Kinda a waste of Pivetta, no? Bad enough he’s not available until Sunday.
Fever, with 13 pitchers available, the team is treating Pivetta like a starter that comes in in starting in the 4th.
dewey – I’m fine with treating Pivetta like a starter, but I’d rather he dominate for the first 6 innings and then bring in Schreiber/Martin/Jansen rather than taking a chance of going down 4 runs before he even toes the rubber.
Teams that take a lead always have an advantage.
Pivetta has a 6.30 as a starter, and a 2.31 as an RP. Call me superstitious, but I ain’t changing anything.
Joe – I’m struggling to find the difference between starting and being scheduled to relieve for 6 innings every 6 days or so..
Nick Pivetta has a first inning ERA of 11.25 in the 8 games he’s started this season. Other than that, I’d say the biggest difference is a mental one. He also seems to struggle a bit in the 4th inning this year, too (7.43 ERA in 14 games). He’s pitching sub-3.86 ERA in all other innings
No! Really? Shocking!
Sounds about like every team currently in contention.
Sounds like a package of Lynn and Kelly would fill the need. Don’t know what it would take to land that however.
Let me go with a name almost certain to light up certain segments of our fans-Steve Matz.
Matz BB card numbers are weak, but his K/W with the Cards is the same as it was with TO. His HR/9 is about at his career norm. His May-Jul ERA/FIP is 4.14/3.82. We’d need to have the Cards kick in some cash, since he is overpaid at $26M/2 for 24-25, but I think he’d make a solid to low-end #3.
There is a lot of value in that for a team with only 3 SPs.
Cardinals fans wish you were a GM.
Joe, I usually agree with you but Matz is like that flirty girl you finally take out and then asks yourself why you bothered.
Matz would be a terrible addition. Underperforms and is hurt constantly. It’s a stretch to call him a third starter even a low end one.
Red Sox are in a real tough spot right now. Caught in between. They need to be careful not give up too much, but they should reward their team for playing well.
Spot-on correct imo. They should add enough to make the playoffs a possibility, but shouldn’t be aiming for WS types of players.
my guess is bloom has mixed feelings about this year’s inconveniently competitive team. he will now face pressure to make moves which could disrupt his rebuild plan
A Nick Yorke is looking more and more expendable I will say, just for example. They have some pieces that will inevitably be blocked
Blooms plan? WTF
What do we get for Rodriguez or Lorenzo and Cisnero from you solves all your needs
That’s All-Star Lorenzen! Plus you have to offer enough to have the Tigers give up on this year. Once you make the playoffs, anything can happen.
That’s funny, I immediately thought of the same combination! Isn’t Mikey Romero blocked anyway by Mayer and Yorke?
Gruß,
BSHH
Yorke would probably be traded before Mikey Romero. Yorke has one of the highest swing-and-miss rate in the Red Sox farm system, and plays very fringe defense.
No one is blocked in A ball. Especially by other players in A ball.
Lance Lynn looks like he was born in a red Sox jersey
Lynn shut down the Bravos in fine fashion as well.
White Sox might not sell.
ChiSox are in selling mode.
Don’t know whether Hahn can get anything done.
White Sox are embarrassingly bad this year. The only team worse than them in the central is the Royals. They need to sell off everything they can and start a full rebuild. What they’re doing right now isn’t working.
Some of the WS assets are already starting to decline. I wouldn’t refuse to trade for them, but Giolito has flattened out, just like Middleton & Graveman. They are still okay targets, but every single year, there are always a couple of good trade targets that become mediocre targets after a few bad games.
IMO, the sooner the WS move, the better off they will be.
I can see Michael Lorenzen and Jose Cisnero wearing the Red Sox uniform by months end. I prefer they take Eduardo Rodriguez, however.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Eddie in Red Sox uniform again but unless they can move say Enrique and Duval for salary relief then he would put them over the lux tax and Bloom can’t make that mistake two years in a row. Bloom should look to move some guys that need 40 man protection this off-season they have a lot of potential loses in the rule 5 coming up.
How about Erod, Baez and Cisnero for Duvall, Story and Nick Yorke. Swap bad SS contracts, you get a good SP, we take Duvall for salary relief and get an IF prospect who can hit. Some tweaking likely required 😉
I wouldn’t want any part of Baez he’s probably the most toxic contact in baseball there is no way that guy is opting out.
The more I think about it Eddie is a solid target I would definitely expire that if I was Bloom but if they attach Baez I would say good luck and hang up the phone.
I didn’t bother mentioning Jay Baez. The only team that I can imagine taking him would be LAA but they will need ready pitching in the deal too.
@Bruin1012:
The Tigers could easily pay down salaries to improve the return. Selling Baez at this point – hopefully his absolute nadir – is indeed impossible.
Gruß,
BSHH
> Nick Pivetta was brilliant in a bulk capacity,
> tossing six scoreless innings
> with 13 strikeouts.
***hitless innings
Hey there, can you pls explain your method of posting? Sometimes it’s clear coherent and insightful, and sometimes it’s like the above post where I’m not sure what your saying and it’s weirdly confusing and somewhat childish. I would love an explanation. Thanx!
Are you asking for a “friend”?
He threw 6 hitless innings last night. Kinda selling the guy short by simply calling them shutout innings.
As for me, I simply do what the people inside my head tell me to do.
Ceddane Rafaela as the centerpiece for Civale. BTV gives Rafaela a surplus value of $18.2 mill and Civale a surplus value of $25.2mill. So the Sox would need to add a couple pieces. Bryan Mata ($2.2mill) and Brainer Bonaci ($5.1mill) make it work on their system.
Of course it is a beatable offer…
Would take it if I was in charge if I got one more piece. Can Cleveland throw in an MLB ready Reliever (and take Joely Rodriguez’s contract)?
Ketch I think the Red Sox value Rafaela quite bit more then btv. The fact is Rafaela is near big league ready and checks the boxes for what the Red Sox like in versatility. The guy is gold glove caliber in center and at least average or above average defender at short, 2nd, and 3rd base. I like Civale but I just don’t see Boston trading a guy who at the very least is a super sub who can run and play nearly any position on the filed above average and gold glove caliber anywhere in the field so his floor is extremely high. If he hits at all at the big league level he’s a star.
I think I’d go after Eduardo from the Tigers he’d cost a lot less and who knows maybe he’ll want to stay in Boston and not opt out. I like Eddie’s stuff and think he would solidify the rotation.
You don’t trade Rafaela with Kike & Duvall gone in ’24. He bats R and can play good D at CF/ 2B/SS.
Dalbec could still be a fit in ’24, he bats R and with Devers/Casas hitting L sets up as a iB/3B/DH platoon player v. LH starters.
Do I have to say it? Bobby Dalbec isn’t going to get playing time and the RS front office is wasting his value in AAA. Trade him to the Dbacks (they NEED a POWER BAT 3B). Trade:
Dbacks get Dalbec
Redsox get Davies and Dominic Fletcher.
The Dbacks are doing just fine in the power department. Starting pitching is their number one need. There’s no way they give up Fletcher for a retread like Dalbec.
Longoria is still producing at a well above average level into his mid-late 30s. I’m sure they’d be much more willing to run with Longo at 3B for the rest of the season than give up anything of value for Dalbec.
The D’backs have absolutely no use for Bobby Dalbec. They have three competent 3B and a good bench. They need two SPs and upgrade to the pen with a long reliever and a high leverage RP.
Or they could trade for flaherty and hicks. 2 top 20 prospects probably gets it done.
This a very misleading article. Bloom never said the Sox are trying to add pitching depth. Bradford said that and then suggested a starter and rh relief pitcher. So everyone is really commenting on Bradford, not Bloom. Much ado about nothing.
Is he their Heyman?
> Is he their Heyman?
That name makes me laugh whenever I see it. All I can think of is Ron Burgundy saying in great amazement, “By the Heyman of Olivia Newton-John!!”
PK: Good point. Bradford has no quotes from Bloom.
Chaim Bloom shops at Spag’s.
Does Spags still exist?
nope and anyone who’s been born in the last 40 years would know that.
I think Lorenzen would be enough to get them a wildcard spot. Being a rental limits his value somewhat so Bloom should definitely take a look.
Predicted Bloom Moves
Story for Kike’s spot
Schriber for Jaques
Whitlock for Murphy
Sale for Bleier
Houck for Walter
McGuire for Alfaro
Duval for a 5th starter type
Dalbec for a AAAA RHRP
That’s it. Don’t get too excited
Ehh, I‘ve heard this narrative a lot out of fellow Sox fans but there’s one big flaw in it: Story, Sale, Whitlock, Houck, Paxton, etc are all injury prone. Relying on this team to stay healthy heading into the playoffs is a big IF. Adding to this team with spare parts like Duval and Dalbec I’m on board with but we need depth and some insurance for if our IL guys go down again.
P.S. am I the only one worried about how Story will do at SS with his elbow issues?
Story’s arm strength is already better than before the surgery. Like Hernandez, Story will field most everything. So I don’t see his fielding as an issue. Will he hit better than Chang? Yes. In Story’s last year at shortstop in Colorado he was a +17 run differential with a weakened arm. I think he’ll be fine and our best option this fall
Thanks Dr. Lambert.
In the end I don’t see Bloom making bigger moves than the O’s, Rays, Jays, Astros, and Rangers. I don’t think we have the capital or appitite to spend. He’ll make a couple bargain moves to keep us afloat but. I liked the Schwarber deal last year. Thoughts?
Ham: Agreed.
Kenta Maeda of the Twins could solve either the Red Sox needs for a back end starter or a middle reliever. Do the Red Sox have a right handed hitter who can help the Twins in their 2023 quest? Preferably a Centerfielder, Shortstop or Right Fielder?
Dalbec and Kike. They’re both as good as the other at SS, and Dalbec can sometimes hit. Kike can play OF. Take both of them.
Do you want someone who stands in the batter’s box to the left of home plate? We have those. Oh wait, you want a hitter? That’s a little tougher.
Choked on my drink. Thank you for the laugh.
Duvall and Kike for Maeda. Sell high on Duvall and get a pitcher (get rid of Kike). Why not?
I would do that in a heartbeat.
Ohtani and Rendon for Kike and Dalbec. No mpney exchanged, just take the contracts. Chaim, do you want to win or not?
Rendon is untradeable. He is overpaid by about $90M. No player in history is good enough to make up a $90M deficit in 2 months.
We the Mets have Carrasco or Quintana and Ottavino for you
PLEASE trade Carrasco! Throw in Vogelslug and 10 pizzas from Max & Leo’s for Dalbec and you got a deal!
What toppings?
Translation. We aren’t going to get any kind of difference maker. We are looking to acquire (hopefully) two healthy human beings in the attempt to eat up innings at below, or league average results. Anything better than that would be icing on the cake.
I don’t blame them with the state of our pitching staff, and hardly anything up and down the system. What this should tell you finally, without a shadow of a doubt, is that management still has no confidence in the team this year to go deep into the playoffs, or even make it if they acquire any impact players.
I have always been of the belief that you bring talent in to either shore up a blatant weakness or solve a problem. I haven’t seen the Red Sox do the latter in years.
I will give you a perfect example, and we will see what the Red Sox do. Trevor Story. He has never had a plus arm, even before the injury. His range has never been excellent, but more than adequate at short, while at second it has been comparatively good against other fielders there. He is coming off an arm injury and they can either place him at second or short while they explore bringing in a middle infield option. Placing him at second would SOLVE a problem. You would have a plus defender that can hit playing every day at second. A position that has been an issue since the day Pedroia was injured (years ago), and you can concentrate on bringing in a real shortstop. You negate a problem at two positions with one move. It would not shock me, based on everything we see over and over, if the Red Sox place Story at short. It is the kind of move I have come to expect. Rather than create a strength in one place, they will probably opt to have two positions where there are weaknesses. Weaknesses they are well aware of, and can easily be avoided. We shall see.
Jeez William! Brevity, man! We all have short attention spans. If you’re going to blog a novel,sell subscriptions!
Haha!!
William’s last name is Tolstoy.
k =)
Story was a solid fielder before the arm injury and if it’s corrected, he should play fine at short. If he doesn’t, then just keep Chang there and let Story play second. They don’t need a flashy move at the deadline, just need to move off Kike’s money and get a guy that can eat some innings with a respectable era. Arroyo has held down second fine, albeit with seriously zero power
I agree Biggar Story is very athletic had a ton of range he was an excellent defensive shortstop it’s his arm is it viable if not go with Chang at short and Story at 2nd but they should be able to figure out if his arm will work at short during rehab. The idea that Story doesn’t have the range for short is laughable.
Pivetta was brilliant last night. Being a long man has done him good. An argument can be made that when he did start, he was left in too long and got himsellf in trouble. With his limited arsenal, he has been lights out since moving to the pen.
Bobby – Nick’s biggest problem was the first inning. He gave up 10 ER over 8 first innings, by far his worst inning this season.
Gentlemen let’s cut the crap…. Right handed reliever…. Proven track record ( 2018) fan favorite ( mine) cost barely nothing ( Mayer/ York/ Bello and cash) BRING BRAISER BACK!!! ……… oh look the nice man is bringing me jello now…bye bye…
olmtiant – Where ya been? I thought of you when I saw Brasier got the save the other day.
Fever… always a pleasure.. yeah that’s 2 ( one with us) a lotta work/ a little RR and biding my time to sing his praises again!!!! Seriously just reading all others… you/ Sinester/ wayzee/ joe b etc….I’m torn… feel we can get something decent for big maple / maybe Duvall.. but hate to piss a opportunity away..I feel nobody is totally dominating in AL right now( injuries etc)
CLE is NOT trading Civale despite MLBTR’s repeated insistence they’ll make him available. They have just enough bodies to cover their rotation as it is.
Everyone and their mother is looking for a starter. Even if they’re only Rentals, the likes of Giolito and Flaherty should get you something decent in return. Problem is I don’t know if the White Sox have a capable front office to get good value for Giolito. I think the Cardinals are going to be smarter about their return package. Just my two cents.
Realistically the Sox need two starters. The right-handed relief help could come internally with Schreiber coming back and eventually Houck and Whitlock too
Please no more Rich Hill….. I would try to pry Giolito from Chi Sox or Jack Flaherty or Jordan Montgomery from St Louis if they sell.
What that front office don’t understand is u get a top of the line starter and back end and bullpen help and we can deff make it too the playoffs but they need a legit number 1 and they don’t have it .. would love too see maybe flaherty , giolito , or better yet ohtani especially because u get a 2 for 1 with ohtani u get a bonafide ace and a legit masher .. may take alot too get him but well worth it .. but we really need a number 1 axe .. and if we can get it this year would love to see roki sasaki come here . With li lin and morataka morakamui I spelled it wrong most likely lol but the Japanese Market gonna be crazy at the end of the year. .. we deff have a good offense . I wish we still had JD though not gonna lie
sports85 – Just for the record, JD and Mookie and Schwarber have a combined 76 homeruns right now.
JD is killing it .. yeah I know MOOKIE is killing it .. and schwarber average not so hot but everything else unreal man .. I know we couldn’t afford them all but they thought jd didn’t have it no more and boy were they wrong .. and as far as Xander and MOOKIE they let Xander walk for nothing in a season were we over the luxury tax and didn’t make.the playoffs and that’s chaim blooms fault and I will never forgive for that he knew Xander wasn’t coming back .. and the package we got for mookie could have been sooooooo much more ..
Well JT replaced JD and he is imo having a better year then JD. JD seems to be cheating this year his K % is way up and his home runs are going to left. MVP level JD hit with power to right field and Fenway is one of the hardest places to hit homers to right. Last year JD hit a frustratingly large amount of fly balls to right that were caught on the warning track. Dodger stadium is a much better park for JD especially to right field but overall at this point I’d rather have JT then JD.
I’m not even sure why it is a conversation. JT has hit great, provided passable defense, and has helped taken some of the pressure off of Casas, allowing Casas to develop.
JD is having a good year, but the construct is completely different. LAD was looking for a strict DH, while the RS were looking for a DH/3B/1B, and now apparently, a 2B.
Exactly, similar OPS, but one is a full time DH, and one isn’t.
Bruin – If we are gonna do a comparison of JT to JD, let’s do it the way Joe Brady prefers ….
JT = 1.8 bWAR @ $15M (he’s gonna buy out 2024)
JD = 1.1 bWAR @ $10M
Therefore JT is getting paid 50% more than JD for basically 50% more WAR.
It’s a wash, pure and simple. Each player has provided equal value this season.
Joe – It’s sad you fail to acknowledge the impact JD had on the entire Red Sox lineup, just as he does now with the Dodgers lineup.
Is it just a coincidence Mookie is having his best season since 2018?
theathletic.com/3516699/2022/08/23/j-d-martinez-re…
How J.D. Martinez changed the culture of hitting within the Red Sox clubhouse
Dombrowski and Cora explained that he was not simply a home run mercenary. The team wanted Martinez also to fundamentally change the way its best player thought about hitting.
“They pretty much assigned me Mookie Betts,” Martinez said. “They called me into the office and said, ‘This is your project.’ I said, ‘Damn, alright.’”
Ok and that’s U .. other people have opinions and other people like who they like .. and again JD made the all start team once again .. so yeah either one is good in my opinion..
“Just for the record”
They have a combined 4.5 bWAR for a combined $60M.
JT, Yoshida & Verdugo have combined for 6.6 bWAR for $32.6M.
Wow, that was more fun than I expected.
Joe – I like fun, can I play that game too?
Xander has a 2.1 bWAR at $25M
Story & Kike & Mondesi have a combined -0.7 bWAR at a combined $33M
Paxton & Kluber have a combined 0.6 bWAR at a combined $20M
Wacha & Eovaldi have a combined 5.4 bWAR at at combined $23.5M
And now my personal favorite ….
Strahm has a 1.3 bWAR at $7.5M
Brasier & JRod & Bleier & Jacques & Mills & Kelly & Ort have a combined -1.3 bWAR at a combined $9.4M
God I absolutely LOVE your game Joe, it really is VERY fun!!!
And with ohtani the amount of money they can make for marketing him , than his jersey sales and everything else they could deff make the money back for him on his next contract. It’s gonna be pricey but well worth it
Even as a Sox fan, I found it a little amusing that this post made absolutely ZERO mention of Corey Kluber 😀
He sure seems toast, but there *have* been some minor rumblings about a “revamped” Kluber returning from his phantom IL stint at some point to contribute at least *something* more than pure mop-up duty. Not counting on it, of course, but stranger things have happened.
Kluber has a better ERA than Pivetta as a starter. One cannot always tell who will figure it out, and who won’t.
Gah, I hate losses like today. Score one more freaking run, you bubs. Ugh.
These are the worst losses especially knowing ur offense can deff score .. 1 loss games when scoring nothing deff hurts .. but it happens with every team though .. but we deff should have had more All-stars as well .. devers is always getting passed up ..
“Meanwhile” needs to start the sentence, not come in the middle, separated by commas.