Sox Therapy: The First Third

With the Sox having completed the first third of their schedule on an 84-78 pace I’m feeling purdy smart.  Having said that they’ve gotten here in a path that frankly I’ve found dramatically different than I anticipated with the most noticeable difference being that a team I thought would be pretty dull when the season started has actually been pretty entertaining.  They bookended the first 54 with two entertaining losses; rallying from 8-2 down to lose 10-9 on Opening Day and then last night’s ...

Hall of Merit: Reranking First Basemen: Discussion Thread

Rank the following first basemen

Dick Allen
Cap Anson
Jeff Bagwell
Jake Beckley
Dan Brouthers
Will Clark
Roger Connor
Jimmie Foxx
Lou Gehrig
Hank Greenberg
Todd Helton
Keith Hernandez
Harmon Killebrew
Buck Leonard
Willie McCovey
Mark McGwire
Johnny Mize
Eddie Murray
Rafael Palmeiro
George Sisler
Joe Start
Mule Suttles
Bill Terry
Frank Thomas
Jim Thome

Sox Therapy: Lining Up The Minors

With the big club both playing well and actually being interesting the minors have been under the Walter O’Reilly (IYKYK) a bit.  But as with the big club the early returns are relatively positive down on the farm.  Let’s take a moment to look at the state of things there.

1B - Niko Kavadas - AA - .220/.404/.317 - As stat lines go that is definitely one.  In 109 PA Kavadas has got 64 TTO events; 38K, 24BB and 2 homers.  The K:BB rate is good but to find success the long ball is going to have ...

Hall of Merit: Reranking Shortstops Ballot

Rank the following 28 shortstops

Luke Appling
Ernie Banks
Lou Boudreau
Joe Cronin
Bill Dahlen
George Davis
Jack Glasscock
Hughie Jennings
Derek Jeter
Home Run Johnson
Barry Larkin
John Henry Lloyd
Dick Lundy
Dobie Moore
Dickey Pearce
Pee Wee Reese
Cal Ripken, Jr
Alex Rodriguez
Joe Sewell
Ozzie Smith
Alan Trammell
Arky Vaughan
Honus Wagner
Bobby Wallace
John Ward
Willie Wells
George Wright
Robin Yount

Sox Therapy: The Only Game In Town (except the Celtics, but I don’t care about the Celtics. No you shut up)

With the National Hockey League having decided to cancel this year’s playoffs it looks like the only option for Boston sports fans is the Local Nine.  After a month of baseball things are decidedly adequate.  The Sox so far have about played to expectations clocking in at 15-14 with a potent offense (3rd in runs/game) and a pungent pitching staff (12th in runs/game).  Not coincidentally the defense has also been poor with only juggernauts Kansas City, Oakland and Chicago below them in Defensive ...

Sox Therapy: Reality Check After Series Six

The Red Sox have played OK, and I think it’s OK to say so.

Sox Therapy: Shrug Emoji

I dunno.

I mean really, what the hell has this all been about?  Four series in and had the Sox won on Patriots’ Day it would have been the first time in their 123 year history that all of their first four series were sweeps.  They actually came close in 2021 before losing the fourth game of the fourth series by a run as well.

Anyway, have we learned anything in the first few weeks? I don’t really think so.  Mostly it seems that we have just confirmed that most of what we expected when the ...

Hall of Merit: Reranking Centerfielders: Results

Mays, Cobb, Speaker in our new rankings

Hall of Merit: Reranking Shortstops: Discussion Thread

Rank the following 28 shortstops

Luke Appling
Ernie Banks
Lou Boudreau
Joe Cronin
Bill Dahlen
George Davis
Jack Glasscock
Hughie Jennings
Derek Jeter
Home Run Johnson
Barry Larkin
John Henry Lloyd
Dick Lundy
Dobie Moore
Dickey Pearce
Pee Wee Reese
Cal Ripken, Jr
Alex Rodriguez
Joe Sewell
Ozzie Smith
Alan Trammell
Arky Vaughan
Honus Wagner
Bobby Wallace
John Ward
Willie Wells
George Wright
Robin Yount

Sox Therapy: Opening Weekend Opinions

So the first weekend of the season is in the books and I feel comfortable calling it “eventful.”  I don’t remember who said it after the Opener but the Orioles and Red Sox looked very much like the fourth and fifth placed teams they are widely predicted to be.  With that said some random thoughts;

Good:

- OK, the Boston Red Sox are going to score some runs.  The offense was both impressive and relentless.  Say what you want about Kiké Hernandez but he’s a hell of a hitter to have ...