GreenSox

Davis Martin would be excellent for a 5. It could be Martin for #4 and Vinny V for #5.......

Mariners play the Honor Roll of the bottom of the barrel: As, Royals, Rangers, As again and Tigers. But if they're gonna choke, all these teams can beat them.

I'll keep half an eye on Tampa; they have 4 against Toronto, 6 against Houston, 3 @ Guardians, and 3 @ Fenway. They're 7 ahead of us, but if they don't play well, a tank is a possibility with that schedule.

Well, I still think that we'll win the division if we sweep Cleveland. Kansas City is bad; but they are trying, so I could see them taking a couple of those 6. Of course I'm assuming we won't lose anymore to Detroit.

Or imagine the Sox had one that would hire a quality front office.

I'm worked up about Moncada because his contract is significantly worse (as is his play): he's c. $42 million guaranteed for the next 2 seasons. Eloy and Robert top out at around $15 mill per season. How did Moncada get that kind of deal compared to the 2 others> Plus these guys are all in their 20s. I'm expecting that Moncada's crash is the exception not the rule. Or maybe I'm hoping.

When you pay $9 Mill to Joe Kelly and $16 mill to Pollock, and consistently have a bottom tier farm and development system, I can't get worked up about it.

Moncada's hadn't worked out and was too high to begin with ("over ambitious"). Eloy and Robert aren't debilitating $ and aren't albatrosses; Eloy's a good hitter and Robert's been hurt this year. And then Sale, Quintana, Eaton.

And here is why the Sox didn't improve this season. 3, 4, 5 and 6 were all Front office moves since last season and all are disasters (well, I guess Diekman's been okay). And the other move was Harrison who's not good either. They got over-ambitious with Moncada, but most of their extensions of young players have worked out, so that's forgivable. Grandal is aging - but he gave the Sox some good play. I agree with the keep list; I'd trade the 2nd list, provided value is received. As for Andrus, fine as a bridge to Montgomery, but only if Anderson is traded or, say, moves to left field.

Oh they will. LaRussa will step down for health reasons, Menechino won't be back, and Hahn will wax blame and excuses to the writers and bloggers. Problem solved.

Well....now that you mention it.....

Let's hope it's not quite like it, because the return for Carlos Lee was a joke. The value was that it created payroll space to sign players they needed.

Except that he refuses to do anything about the cause of this mess: the dullard front office, especially the GM.

Certainly if the Sox do less than sweep the Guardians, then it's best that the Twins win as many as possible from Guardians. But, even if the Sox go 2-1 against the Guardians, we're still 3 out on the loss column, with no tiebreakers. And as for the Guardians "tough" series against the Rays, well, the worst-record wild card team gets to play the weakest opponent, the Central winner; losing that series isn't such a bad thing for the Rays. I just don't see the Sox winning this without a sweep. However, if Guardians win 3 or more against the Twins, the Twins are buried. And then the Sox get to face a demoralized Twins team for 6 games.

I can think of scenarios where it would be best if the Twins swept or went 4-1, or if the Guardians did the same, or even if they went 2/3 or 3/2; it just all swirls my mind. I think it comes down to is sweep the Guardians and the Sox will take the division; anything less and the Sox sit. One thing that would have helped, but it appears not to be, is for the Padres to have clinched a playoff spot prior to our series.

Sox need to sweep Cleveland too; and then 4/6 against Minny and I think that will get us both tiebreakers.

Yea, I see they moved Lynn up; that's even better; move the good ones up.

So are we holding back Cease for Cleveland? Risky, but I think we should. Sox are essentially 5 back with 2 weeks to play - chances must be taken.

The Tigers offense has been so unbelievably bad this season - not a single starter with OPS >.700. Their players aren't that bad - It wouldn't surprise me if the odds turn in their favor the last couple of weeks of the season. We'll have to be on our toes. On another matter, not a one of the big 5 FA infielders from last offseason has played up to their contract. Machado and Harper were such bargains; of course they were younger as well.

Or basically any at bats at all. When Cairo took over, Leury sits. When Moncada comes back, Harrison sits. Playing the unheralded young player is close to a step into the unknown for this team and for this org.

I enjoy the glorious September for what it is, but still absolutely not. Sox have infield prospects up the wazzu, and it's no stretch to believe that they can find one to match the .680ish OPS, at 10% of the cost, with the possibility of much higher. The same was true last year at this time, but they chose the 30+utility infielder route, so we'll see.

The core of that team was built from 1987-1990 by Larry Himes, via drafts of McDowell, Ventura, Thomas and Fernandez (and others) and the trades of Baines and Bannister and the trade for R. Hernandez. The Schueler group's contribution was the Raines trade right when they arrived. That says nothing about her abilities and performance, of course; and I think the evidence that she was under the thumb of Jeter is a lot more compelling than that Hahn was under the thumb of Williams/LaRussa for every move he made. I'm interested to watch how she rebuilds the Marlins.

This is where Rick "he was always against the LaRussa hire" Hahn needs to finally show some guts and insist that La Russa stay in Arizona.

And that, my friends, was the biggest win of the season...providing they follow it up with at least 3/4 in Oakland. If not, just more fools-gold.

I just don't feel the Twins. Of course I didn't feel them when they were winning 90+ games a couple of years ago, so...