A Little More Acceptable

Let’s start with the obvious, the Boston Red Sox are almost certainly not making not making the playoffs in 2019.  The hole is too deep and despite playing well since getting squashed in the Bronx they’ve gone 8-4 (with a suspended game looming) including a nice series win in Cleveland.  With that said a team that looked in disarray two weeks ago suddenly is at least providing some encouragement.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe dropped a comparison to 2002 earlier this week.  That is the ...

Unacceptable

Well the good news is they aren’t dead yet but at this point pretending the 2019 Boston Red Sox are going to mount any kind of defense of their 2018 World Series title is a fool’s errand to say the least.  The simple reality is the pitching has been a complete disaster and frankly it’s a bit of a shocker.  From top to bottom they have underperformed and I can’t help but feel like this falls heavily on the shoulders of Alex Cora and management in general (both above and below him) for ...

That’s What We Have Been Waiting For

It took nearly two thirds of the season but the defending World Champions finally showed up and played the way we have been expecting since day one.  Faced with a rich challenge against Tampa Bay and then New York the Sox took care of business about as well as could have been hoped going 5-2 and showing their talent in a way they have not for most of the season.  Despite the good performance some concerns still exist that cannot be dismissed out of hand.  To wit;

Monday - 2IP, 4 runs
Tuesday - ...

A Disappointing First Half

With the Sox at the unofficial halfway point of the 2019 championship season I think it is safe to say they have not defended their World Series title particularly well so far.  In fairness some of that is down to the amazing first half the Miami Marlins…oh wait, New York Yankees have had (I get those teams with only one World Series title this century confused).  They have been remarkable and opened up a nine game lead on our heroes in the division.  Past defenses of World Series titles have ...

Has A Corner Been Turned?

Is it finally happening for the 2019 Red Sox? Are they finally starting to pull it together and be the team they should be?  For the third time this season they have won a series against a club over .500 taking two out of three from the best in the AL Twins (and wow is that odd to read).  This coming on the heels of five straight against Texas and Baltimore (the latter of which is very nearly as good as a Major League team) and the Sox are a season best six games over .500.

We have seen this ...

The First Third

The Sox reached the one third point of the 2019 season with a comfortable victory over the Indians to bring their record to 29-25. It’s not the 37-17 of a year ago but it’s a perfectly reasonable place to be considering the 2-8 start. If they simply maintain the pace they have played at since that bad start they would finish at 95 wins.

This is why I’m not a big scoreboard watcher until August. I’m pretty comfortable thinking it will take 95-100 wins to take the division crown.  The ...

Mediocrity Achieved!

So 36 games after their last dance with the magic .500 mark the defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox are there again after a win over the Baltimore Orioles who are according to league rules a Major League Baseball team.

Snark aside the Sox are resembling the team they were twelve months ago.  Think I’m crazy?  Try this on for size;

2018: games 11 to 38: 17 wins, 11 losses
2019: games 11 to 38: 17 wins, 11 losses

We can play games with numbers all we want and those first ten games ...

A Weekend of Necessity

After kind of seeing their world turned upside down for a few weeks the Red Sox pretty much ticked all the boxes this weekend and more importantly picked up three much needed wins.  It is only April etc…but the reality is that 8 1/2 back at the start of the weekend meant being swept would have put them 11 1/2 out and even simply losing 2 out of 3 would have had them 9 1/2 out.  It is early enough that those are deficits that can be overcome but that would have been a heck of a hole to climb out ...

We Can Be Concerned Now

There are still 145 games to go in the 2019 season so nothing is certain but unlike 2018 when every test was passed with flying colors the Sox have failed their first test of 2019.  After a gloomy season-opening road trip the Sox returned home and laid a fairly decisive egg.  They went 3-3 against two pretty bad baseball teams and were frankly fortunate to get out of there with the split.  The problems that existed on the road trip remain in place with the rotation showing small signs of ...

It’s Time To Party!

With apologies to Eck for the title, Tuesday is the day we have all waited for since about 11:15PM on October 28, 2018 when Chris Sale fanned Manny Machado touching off a celebration we have become delightfully accustomed to in recent years.  It is a stunning world I never could have imagined.  “Just one” that’s all I ever wanted.  Let me have that moment once, that moment when every other baseball team looks up and see YOUR team, the team you live and die with dogpiling on the ...

The Future is The Future

As per usual the Red Sox have a loaded minor league system with Baseball America ranking them as having the 29th runner up to the best minor league system.  With that kind of optimism we probably should have a place to chat about the minor leaguers that exist.  Here in easy readable format are guys worth keeping an eye on;

1B - Triston Casas - Greenville - The big lefty was the Sox #1 draft pick last year but got injured just two games into his pro career.  He seemed to be the recipient of ...

A Bad Short Term Weekend But Long Term?

So the first four games of 2019 were not quite as enjoyable as the last four of 2018, or the first four, or really just about any four.  However, the Sox entered spring training with a plan in place to ease the pitchers into it in hopes that it would pay dividends down the road.  Add the late reports of Xander Bogaerts getting inked to a long term deal and this weekend’s disappointments will likely be a footnote over not just 2019 but the long term.

Xander Bogaerts may not be going anywhere ...Read More...

Let’s Get It On

The defending world champion Boston Red Sox hit the field just a bit over 24 hours from now.  A few stray thoughts, bad predictions and general hopes for the coming 7 months;

Breakout Star - Eduardo Rodriguez - People seem to forget that the soon to be 26 year old is already a good Major League pitcher with a career ERA+ of 107.  Reports out of Fort Myers have been overwhelmingly positive and I feel like there is some growing confidence on his part that he genuinely belongs. 

Disappointing ...

Camp is Broken

The World Champion Red Sox broke camp this weekend and headed to Arizona for a bit of a tune up with the Cubs before heading to Seattle to open the season against the Mariners.  There is news being reported in various places of some interest;

Chris Sale is a rich man.

Sale wasn’t exactly going through the couch cushions to get T-pass money before but he’s a lot richer now.  I had said earlier this winter that Sale was a bit lower on my priority list.  However this deal is a lot more ...

First World Problems: Ovations

Spring training is winding down, and most important decisions have been made. One more critical set remains: who should get the loudest ovations at the home opener?

Report from the Fort

It’s that time of year again, the time when everyone hates Jose as he tells you that he is in Southwest Florida drinking too much rum and watching the Sox do their thing.  While you are angry at me here are a few notes from Fort Myers;

- First off the good news has been health.  Apparently J.D. Martinez missed yesterday’s game with a sore back but there doesn’t seem to be too much concern on that front.  Other than that all the reports are that everyone is healthy.  Watching the players ...

Baseball Has Been Played!

The defending World Champions (that’s the Boston Red Sox if you forgot) have started playing baseball again.  Apparently the top prospects have made some noise already.  Bobby Dalbec crushed a homer the other day and Michael Chavis has cranked a couple of dingers of his own.  As both players are heavily dependent on their power to make an impact it’s a nice little sign in these crucial* early spring games.

* - not crucial

Maybe the biggest story so far is the Ryan Brasier situation. ...

Happy Pitchers and Molinas* Day!!!

* - That’s not my joke but I don’t remember who first coined it so let’s just assume I’m incredibly funny.

Today is the official early report day for pitchers and catchers at JetBlue Park.  For those of you who enjoyed shoveling snow this morning like I did you’ll be pleased to know the report from my mother in SW Florida is that it’s “chilly” (i.e. 66 degrees) and raining so they are miserable too.  A few random thoughts as people who were a hell of a lot warmer when they woke up arrive at ...

Roster Numero Uno

EDIT: Shut up, I forgot to list Xander Bogaerts because I’m stupid.  Just shut up.

With just a month until pitchers and catchers (hooray!) I figured this might be a good time to take a gander at the Sox roster as it is currently constituted.  I suspect the Sox will make a move or two to add bullpen help but what are we looking at on Opening Day in Seattle?

Infield: Mitch Moreland, Steve MVPearce, Eduardo Nunez, Brock Holt, Rafael Devers, XANDER BOGAERTS THE GREATEST SHORTSTOP EVAH
Likely DL: ...

2019: The Year in Review

Happy New Year Theradpudians!  As 2018 morphs into 2019 I thought I would step into the Sox Therapy Time Machine and look back at what happened in 2019 as the Sox defended World Series title #9.

January 6 - Three really smart guys show up at Mookie Betts’ house with gifts for Mookie’s new baby.  They give the baby a copy of Gold Bond powder, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and much mirth.  They may not be the three smart guys we thought.

January 17 - The Red Sox sign southpaw reliever ...

The Big Decision

In the post about the off-season Jay Seaver made a comment that I think was correct;

I’m only half-joking when I say that the biggest hole the Red Sox have to fill for 2019 is in the booth - now that they know Remy won’t be going on the road and Dennis Eckersley is not inclined to, they really need to find someone better than Lyons and (shudder) Gomes to fill that void. Lenny DiNardo seemed fairly solid when filling in back in 2017, but maybe there are better options.

Jay is right, it’s kind ...

The Band Is Back Together…Now What?

The Sox are slowly but surely putting the band back together.  Sir Nathan The Unnecessary* is returning on the heels of the Steve Pearce re-signing making the Sox a pretty complete outfit.  Obviously there is work to be done in the bullpen and that is almost surely going to be Dave Dombrowski’s focus at the Winter Meetings but the Sox still could make a splash if they choose to.  I do not expect a free agent signing other than a reliever or three but beyond that they could still make some ...

Sox Therapy Looks at the Hall of Fame Ballot

With the recent announcement of the official 2019 Hall of Fame ballot I am reminded of just how devalued I personally find the Hall of Fame and related discussions.  All too often it comes down to people shouting past each other about WAR calculations or what “Fame” means in the context of the Hall and that is not even getting into the varying viewpoints on PEDs and other questionable behaviors.  At this point it is more fun for me to see the names popping up on the list and remembering some of ...

Let’s Get Off-Seasoning!

So it’s been a couple of weeks since the Boston Red Sox WON THE 2018 WORLD SERIES…let’s take a moment…OK and now it is time to look ahead to 2019.  Apologies for the delay but I am on a bit of a vacation in Florida but sadly the weather here is awful, only 72 degrees and clear skies.  I can’t imagine anywhere else in the US is having worse weather.

Anyhoot…I think there is not a lot to talk about for the Red Sox for the coming winter months.  Unlike last year when there was a lot to do ...

The Greatest Red Sox Team…EVER!!!!

With all due respect to the speech by Curtis Montague Schilling (R-RI) after the 2004 World Series title this truly is the greatest Red Sox team ever.  They laid waste to the American League during the regular season winning a team record 108 games, then blitzed the 100 win second place Yankees in four games, ran through the defending World Series champion 103 win Astros in five games then put the smack down on the two time National League champion Dodgers in five to close it out.

And the ...

Let’s Get World Serious!

So here we go.  The rematch 102 years in the making as the Dodgers look to get revenge for the pain inflicted by Babe Ruth (imagine waiting a century to overcome some kind of pain inflicted by Babe Ruth, losers).  This should be a humdinger of a series with the two best teams in their respective leagues in my opinion doing battle.  There are plenty of questions worth considering;

1. Will Mookie Betts play second base?

This is going to get a fair amount of attention but I suspect it is not ...

American League Champions!!!!

The title says it all.  They dominated the American League for 162 games and now they’ve laid waste to two 100 win teams going 7-2 including an unbelievable 5-0 on the road.  And now 5 days off before hosting game one.

Not a lot to say right now.  Jackie Bradley Jr. is a deserving MVP, not only did he have big numbers he had them at big moments.  Beyond that, it was great to see redemption for guys like David Price who was BRILLIANT and Craig Kimbrel who pitched as well as he has in a ...

ALCS Thoughts

Not sure you’ve heard but the Boston Red Sox are in the American League Championship Series!  Yeah, that’s got a nice ring to it for the three time defending AL East Champions.  The path to a World Series doesn’t get much easier as the Houston Astros come to town to start things off tonight.  Captain Obvious stopped by to note that the Astros are really really really good.  But of course so are the 108+3 win Red Sox so I expect a tight, well played series.  The nice and fun thing about this ...

Damage Done

Bring on the Astros!!!

Good lord I’m not going to sleep tonight.  That game certainly was the opposite of what I expected, the bullpen was brilliant except for Craig Kimbrel but he was good enough…just.  Some quick notes as the strains of New York, New York keeps pounding in the Sox clubhouse.

- Alex Cora 1, Us Idiots on the Internet 0 - Ian Kinsler and Eduardo Nunez both had solid games and Nunez made a heck of a play to end it.  Full credit to Steve Pearce for a terrific stretch on that ...

Sox Therapy ALDS Preview

So here we go.  Before I dig into this a bit let me say this; I have not been looking forward to this somewhat predictable series all year.  I’m sure it will be a great series as both teams are excellent but the ancillary BS that comes with Sox-Yankees saps some of the fun out of it for me.  The lunkheads on both sides come out of the woodwork, the media can’t come up with a story line less than half a century old, the individual games are often routs and even the close games are often ...