Meet the 2022 Red Sox

OK, enough waiting, it was a lovely weekend but now it’s on with the show.  After a 92 win season that culminated with a thrilling, memorable playoff run to the LCS we can start to look ahead to 2022.  The future should be bright for the Boston Red Sox with manager Alex Cora firmly entrenched now (do NOT re-read this post thanks) and Chaim Bloom looking like a guy who can pull the right triggers at the right time Sox fans rightly feel pretty good about where they stand in what looks like a very ...

What a Ride

Well that was a hell of a ride wasn’t it?  I guess it had to end at some point but my goodness you can’t ask for much more. Beyond that they are incredibly well situated for the future.  Chaim Bloom’s work to rebuild the system is proceeding apace and two years after trading one of the great players in franchise history, a move so many of us saw as a harbinger of disaster, that they’ve returned to the LCS should tell us that this team that has been so brilliant for the last two ...

The Boston Red Sox Will Play for the Pennant

In April 15 American League teams began their quest for the World Series.  Three of them are left standing and kids, the Boston Red Sox are one of them after a grinding 6-5 victory over a genuinely terrific Tampa Bay Rays team.  The praise for the Rays can’t be overstated, they are a hell of a team and are worthy of all the salutations.

But for now, the celebration is here with the local nine.  They.  Do.  Not.  Get.  Rattled.  This team has had so many chances to roll over and you know ...

Minors Making Major Moves Man

Well the Major League club will continue playing baseball after Tuesday’s thrilling Wild Card victory over the third place Yankees but the minor league season has largely concluded with just some Arizona Fall League baseball to follow.  With that in mind I thought a look at the system as it stands was in order.  The prospect hounds have been pretty positive about the state of the Red Sox system as the Sox saw real movement forward from many in their system.

The Good:

The biggest positive for ...

This Is Fun

Unbelievable.  All of us, and yeah I’m part of that, have underestimated this team all year and they showed us all what they can do.  Facing the presumptive AL Cy Young winner they chased him in exactly the same amount of time as Roger Clemens in the “Where is Roger?” Game.*. Xander Bogaerts who has been struggling of late came to life with the big homer and the hot Alex Verdugo did it again with a three RBI night including getting a good bounce in the corner that had Tony Clark saying ...

PLAYOFFS!

Unbelievable.  For the first time in their 121 year history the Sox will play a Wild Card game.  This will feature Nathan Eovaldi facing Gerrit Cole of the third place Yankees.  I can only wish Johnny Pesky could have lived to have seen a Wild Card game at Fenway.  Playing a Wild Card game is the dream of every young man.

OK, jokes aside I’m thinking of what MCoA wrote after the 2013 World Series.  This team, this ####### team. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy but man they came through.  ...

So Here We Are

The final weekend is here. The Sox dropped the ball pretty aggressively in Baltimore as the bats continued their silence from the previous weekend.  There is really not a lot of analysis to be done at this point, the Sox need to play well in Washington.  Given results this week things are a lot more difficult than they need to be but the fact is with game 160 tonight the Boston Red Sox still have their destiny in their hands.  As a practical matter some scoreboard watching will be in order.

I ...

That Didn’t Go Well, But The Situation Is Still Very Good

That didn’t go entirely well but it’s not nearly a disaster either.  As I said prior to the series that was a lot bigger for the Yankees than it was for the Sox and I said that assuming the Blue Jays would sweep the Twins rather than splitting with them.

The Sox magic number is now 6 for a Wild Card berth (8 to take out the Yankees).  All in all the situation is still good. The Sox fundamentally have their fate in their hands.  Winning four out of six in Baltimore and Washington is more ...

OK, Let’s Play Scenarios

OK, with tonight’s results in the books the Sox are locked in at worst being a game out on Monday morning with the knowledge that a win Tuesday would bring them even with whoever loses the Yankee/Blue Jay first game.  That’s a huge advantage for the Sox right now.  Looking at some scenarios the Sox should realistically be looking at 93 wins as a bare minimum (5-4 against NYY, Baltimore and Washington) shouldn’t be a big ask.  That requires the Yankees to go 7-2 and Toronto 8-2 to get ...

It’s A Sprint, Not A Marathon

After 5 1/2 eventful months with more than enough drama and excitement the Red Sox have reached the stage of the season where the age-old adage about a baseball season being a marathon not a sprint has turned on its head.  The Sox now have 14 games in 17 days to determine if they are a playoff team or not. 

In simple terms the 2021 season is already a huge success but the time for postmortems will come as will the time to look ahead.  For now a few random thoughts to kickoff a new thread and ...

Shrug

There hasn’t been much to add in a new thread lately.  The discussion is rolling as the Sox have tried their best to give us plenty to gripe about.  To say the last week of baseball hasn’t been ideal is hard to argue.  The Sox got swept in a frustrating series in the Bronx and have split so far with Texas.  I think SBPT has laid out a lot of good reasons to reel in our emotions about the recent play by the Sox that is not the nature of fandom.  I’ve been as frustrated as anyone even while ...

Things to Feel Good About

I think we can safely describe that road trip as “not good.”  I know I’m out on a limb here but I’m going to say 2-8 is not quite as good as the Sox hoped for the road trip.  Making it worse was that during their closest foes in division were rolling (in no small part to slapping the Sox around for two of the teams);

Tampa 7-2
Toronto 9-2
New York 8-2
Boston 2-8

Suffice to say that’s not great and the eyeball test certainly doesn’t scream “everything is fine.”  The team ...

A Game Out Of First

Sometimes it’s just good to remind yourself, the Boston Red Sox are one (1) game out of first place and five games up on a Wild Card spot.  If you had told me the Sox would be here at the two-thirds mark of the season back in April I would have laughed, caught my breath, and laughed again.

So why does it feel so crummy at the moment?

Well that’s the easy answer; because they are playing like it’s 2020 all over again.  Actually that’s not fair, in 2020 they were fairly entertaining at times.  ...

Dance With Who Brung Ya’

Barring something late and unexpected the Sox seem to have kept things pretty stable during the trade deadline.  They added Kyle Schwarber (and let me be the 500th person to say, man I can’t wait to hear Remy pronounce that) in exchange for Aldo Ramirez but no other moves were made.  Of course the Sox have made some internal moves lately with the promotions of Jarren Duran and Franchy Cordero and of course the one we are all keen on, the impending return of Chris Sale.  I’m not quite sure where ...

Gathering Crowds

At the unofficial halfway point of the season the Sox have exceeded everyone’s expectations and sit atop the American League with the Astros. They hold a 1.5 game lead over Tampa and 8 games over Toronto and New York.  To say this has been enjoyable would be a tremendous understatements.  Let’s revisit some stuff;

MVP - Xander Bogaerts - Rafael Devers has a slight edge in WAR and JD Martinez is just behind him but for me this is Bogaerts’ team and by extension, his award.  In a lot of ways ...

Time To Start Thinking About This Stuff

With All Star Break nigh and the Sox riding high (oh that’s good) we are long past the point of wondering IF the Sox can be contenders and asking what they need to do to solidify themselves. There are some areas where improvement is achievable but I think it is without much quibble that the most obvious hole in the lineup is at first base.  I still hope to see Bobby Dalbec figure it all out but when you have a chance to contend it is difficult to carry the guy “hitting” .217/.264/.413.  With ...

And Breathe

On the morning of May 30th the Red Sox (and the rest of us) woke up in Boston, looked out the window and saw the rain pelting down.  When the game was postponed and rescheduled for the following Monday the Sox were facing a fairly daunting 17 game stretch.  At that point the Sox had faced a fairly pedestrian schedule and took advantage to muster a 32-20 record that left them a game out of first place behind the Rays.  But the next day would begin a test, 4 in Houston, 3 in the Bronx, 1 with the ...

Feeling a Draft

Next month the Sox will make their highest draft pick since 1967 when they picked third (Mike Garman so y’know it’s not an automatic).  Many names are flying around, some familiar (Jack Leiter, Kumal Rocker) others not (Henry Davis, Jordan Lawlar, Marcelo Mayer) but at draft time I always like to look to past as prelude to the future.  Rather than try to tell you something about players I have at best seen in passing I’ll tell you to go Sox Prospects or Baseball America for all the gory details ...

Getting There

They got there in the end.  The Sox wound up arguably their sternest test of the season to date with a 4-3 record during this challenging road trip through Houston and Miami.  Sorry, New York, I get the teams with one World Series this century mixed up sometimes.

Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, an uneven but ultimately successful road trip.  Losing three in a row then taking the next four is not necessarily the ideal way to finish up 4-3 (it can be a lot of fun though) but as noted, they got ...

The Return

On Saturday at about 7:10PM Nate Eovaldi will bring his left foot back, then forward raising his knee above his belt, then propel his body towards home plate whipping a baseball at a speed up to 100 MPH to Christian Vazquez or Kevin Plawecki.  37,731 people, give or take, will respond happily, or maybe sadly, or maybe mildly indifferently.  It is that last piece of information that is so important.  37,731 people.  Full…bleeping…capacity.  100% of all available seats and standing room areas ...

Questions Being Answered

In English soccer the mark of the elite is the ability to get it done “on a cold rainy Wednesday in Stoke.”  I don’t know if a “warm windy Thursday in Dunedin” is quite the same but last night’s game had a bit of a feel to it.  I still firmly believe the Sox are a .500 team but they are answering questions at every turn.  One of the marks of the Francona Era was the ability of the club to rebound from disappointment.  Obviously some of that was the talent in place but the ability to put it ...

Finally Lining Up the Minors

At long last minor league baseball is back in full swing!  There have been some changes since we were last here in September of 2019.  The Pawtucket Red Sox are now the Worcester Red Sox, the Lo A Greenville Drive are now the Hi A Greenville Drive while the Hi A Salem Red Sox are now the Lo A Salem Red Sox.  Most heartbreakingly for your faithful correspondent the SS-A Lowell Spinners are no longer a Red Sox affiliate.  I can’t overstate how many wonderful nights I had at LeLacheur Park ...

Tap the Brakes

Even by Sox fandom standards the emotional mood swings around this team have been pretty impressive.  In 31 games it’s gone from;

“good lord they suck, Bloom is terrible” (0-3)
“they are back! Cora told us we should have listened!” (9-0)
“look at all the problems, they gotta this straightened out before it falls apart.” (9-10)

Inhale.

Exhale.

OK.

They have played 31 games and at 18-13 and since the big winning streak have looked like the .500 team most observers pegged them as.  They have ...

Quiet Production

I was thinking of posting something about JD Martinez terrorizing pitchers, or marveling at Rafael Devers, or maybe something about the excellence of the pitching staff. And then it hit me: we never seem to say anything about Xander Bogaerts.

Home for the Holiday

As Dave O’Brien mentioned…REPEATEDLY during the road trip the Sox kick off* their longest homestand of the season tonight against the Chicago White Sox. To say the road trip was a success would be a huge understatement and the critical thing about this homestand is that on Monday morning I will make my triumphant return to Fenway.  I can’t freakin’ wait let me tell you.

* given the weather perhaps “drop the puck on their longest homestand of the season” is more appropriate.

Of course like the ...

Just How We Drew It Up

Get swept by the Orioles, then sweep the reigning AL Champions. Didn’t see that coming.

I suspect a lot of us see the first series as the kind of disappointing, 2020 all over again, mess of a team we’d expected, and the second series as a fluke. Some of us might see the second series - solid hitting, promising bullpen, capable starters when healthy - as the true expectation, and the first series as a fluke. Regardless of what your expectation of the team this year, you probably saw enough to ...

I Declare That Not A Good Start

So I don’t think I’m out on a limb there with that title.  Still, rather than try to dig into assorted cliches, justifications or excuses let’s just try to break it down a bit.

Stuff That We Were Worried About That Went OK;

JD Martinez - The Sox need the big DH to be an offensive star if they are going to do anything this year.  The early returns after a fairly mellow spring are very good.  6 for 12, 3 RBI and the club’s only homer is definitely doing his part.  Very good news indeed. ...Read More...

Random Thoughts On Opening Day Eve

It is what it says in the headline;

- I am pessimistic about the rotations ability to stay healthy but I predict that one of Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Richards or Martin Perez is healthy and effective all year.

- Franchy Cordero is going to be a fan favorite or about as popular as Carl Crawford.  There is going to be no in between for him.

- He will make less than 20 starts but Tanner Houck will be the Red Sox best starting pitcher in 2021.  I am buying big on him.  Part of me thinks he would ...

The Roster of Who The Hell Knows

I remember in 2013 just before the season opened Will Middlebrooks suffered a minor injury.  It was one of those where it could have been a lot worse and MCoA said it kind of felt like a litmus test for the season.  A healthy WMB meant the baseball gods were with us, if it was serious we were in for another difficult year.  I was thinking of that this weekend as we watched COVID descend on the Sox clubhouse, Eduardo Rodriguez came down with dead arm and Christian Vazquez took a throw to the ...

Over and Under

The season is just a week away.  The Sox will soon be playing games that count for the first time since 2019.  I mean, yeah last year technically counted but the Sox were eliminated before a pitch was thrown.  I figured a few random over/unders to give us something to chatter about and for me to look stupid in six months (if not much sooner) might be enjoyable;

Team Games Played: 140 - COVID is not the only risk factor here.  I haven’t heard any discussion of a strike but with the CBA ...