mmmmmbeeer

I just can't quit this team or franchise. I despise them but get so damn happy and hopeful when things start to click the way we expected them to click. Fact is we had the most difficult schedule in MLB through April and it wasn't particularly close. We dealt with injuries and missing players. Schedule has lightened up considerably, we're getting healthy, we're starting to see some power numbers increase, bullpen is trying to settle and will improve with Liam and Garrett coming back. Unless you're worried about Billy or Elvis, we're essentially healthy now except for Eloy's freak appendectomy. I don't know. I think it's at least possible we truly turn a corner and this team starts playing with some swagger instead of pressing. When that happens? Anything is possible.

I think he goes until either 100ish pitches or he allows two men on.

Can you imagine the grief the winner would get for winning the division with 78 wins!? I mean, I’d take it….but how embarrassing

Cleveland talked s%*# about the Sox after they clinched last season.

This is more an indication of our woeful depth than anything else, imo. Last few years when Tim goes down, we're stuck replacing him with Leury, Lenyn, or Romy. None of those guys can hit. Our best shot to win games was when we had Mendick around to spell TA7, and Mendick was nothing special himself.

Build around? No, but there aren't many guys in baseball who you would "build around". Luis Robert hasn't even yet proven to be a guy to build around. He's a very solid, core piece who is young, controllable, and knows how to drive in runs. Could you trade him? Sure. Would I trade him? No. I don't think he should be traded even in the case of a full rebuild. He seems like the kind of guy who, just by example, would be a solid vet on a rebuilding team.

TA has changed, without a doubt. Spring training he gave an interview to Our Chuck and literally got onto him for questioning the players' efforts. I mean, dude, look at your record...I would say most media took it easy on y'all and flamed TLR more. Then his stupid documentary, which hearing him talk, clearly went to his head. The baby mama drama. The injuries. The cryptic tweets. His inability to hit with RISP. Whatever. I loved him as a player for years but if he doesn't care, I don't care.

They definitely saw something. Meh, whatever...it happens. We've done it, too.

Garrett must be a Sox fan.

Pedro can’t win. No off days for a week, ace on the mound, had to give him some rope. And yes, im aware he pitched guys yesterday who he didn’t need to pitch. There again, though, those guys needed some game action after long layoffs.

‘member when Bummer was the heir apparent closer? Yeah.

Really seemed he was just starting to get into a rhythm again after coming back looking awful from his last IL stint. I do hope he takes a rehab assignment this time around.

Fucking ReyLo

I thought he managed the 9th well. I didn't like bringing Colome in late and close, nor sacrificing Burger's bat for defense with Colome on the mound. Not like Hanser is much of an upgrade, anyway.

And if that happens, the Twins are going to smell blood and could easily extend the streak another 3 games.

I refuse to believe no one in that clubhouse knows who emanates negativity and poor effort. Seby had some strong words after today's game....something to the effect of "if things get tough, you don't roll up into a ball and hide. I don't "think" we have anyone like that in this locker room, but if we do, they need to go on and leave".

Tim was in Toronto for this series. Leaders don't need to play to lead.

FFS man. Get ANGRY. Show some EMOTION. Apologize to the fans of this train wreck. Own it.

You're confusing my words regarding Reinsdorf as a reprieve for Hahn. That couldn't be further from the truth. That said, we don't know what guarantees were made behind closed doors. Hahn was awfully boisterous in 2019 about spending the money. He said we'd be major players on the FA market. He pitched both Machado and Harper (and Harper said it was close). Somewhere along the way, Jerry very clearly told him he'd have money to spend. Ultimately, when it came time to turn talk into action, Jerry went full Jerry and went cheap. Of course, all this doesn't even get into Hahn's legs being cut right out from under him in the middle of the rebuild when Jerry brought in TLR. Hahn's performance has been pretty damn bad. By the same token, outside of a few incredibly impressive Houdini acts, name me a GM who has established success when they're unable to sign a contract for greater total value than $75M in the year 2023. Unless you have both a primo minor league system and scouting department, a GM must make things work via the FA or trade market. AKA..spend money. Again, who are the types of players you're going to sign for <$75M total value? Retreads, prove-it deals, players on the backsides of their careers, relief pitchers and mediocre players. That's it. You CANNOT build a winning team/culture with these sorts of limitations, an underfunded farm system, and a woeful scouting department that's made up of Jerry's buddies who you do not have the power to fire.

Good point. A 5yr deal to a guy coming off an abysmal season. That’s the only exception, I believe.

Payroll is an incredibly misleading measure to use when evaluating the flexibility a GM was given in any particular season. Elite talent requires long-term commitment. Jerry Reinsdorf has never given out long-term deals to players. Pitchers he won't go over 3 years. I can't remember a FA position player getting more than a 4-5 year deal. That lack of commitment doesn't cut it in today's MLB. This is why Rick spent so damn much on the bullpen...it's the only position on the diamond where you could possibly attain "elite" talent on short-term deals.

This is the primary issue with this team and it's 100% the fault of one Jerry Reinsdorf. I remember Rick going around multiple media outlets and laying out his plan...basically, we've got this outstanding core and we're going to be able to augment them with meaningful FA signings...."the money will be spent". But it wasn't spent on meaningful FA signings. The entire plan was hamstrung by an owner who refused, and still refuses, to pay big money for long term deals. Impact players at the top of their games don't settle for short-term contracts. Short-term contracts are saved for "prove it" deals or guys on the backside of their careers. This is how we end up with Elvis Andrus, Edwin Encarnacion, or Dallas Braden instead of Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, or Marcus Semien. Successful rebuilds with enduring positive results require deft moves in the FA market to augment the young guys and take some pressure off of them. Rick knew it. We knew it. Media knew it. Jerry knew it. Sox players knew it. And yet here we are, getting press for a minor league signing of Scotty Piscotty.

This entire conversation is stupid. Let's be real. The only ways to truly rebuild this organization into one fit to compete are for Jerry Reinsdorf to either sell or die. That's it. Those are our options. If you read Lip's article from last season concerning the organizational dysfunction, much of which has been confirmed via other reporting, this franchise is 100% fucked. If, by some miracle, we managed to trade away what we have for 10 top 100 prospects, we'll still be losing 5 years from now because the incompetence and dysfunction within the halls of the franchise will remain. Just resign yourselves to the fact we root for one of the worst run organizations in baseball. It's not changing. There's no "lightning in a bottle" which will miraculously carry us to become competitive. We aren't baseball fans. We're nothing more than a bunch of die hard masochists.

One of the more frustrating pitchers to ever be on the Sox. You watch him throw and he has nice movement, plenty of velocity, the change was coming along....I mean, he literally looked like a backend of the pen kinda pitcher at times. But he's just so damn inconsistent and is clearly a headcase given how he would fall apart when pitching in any sort of high leverage situation. To an extent, I get why the Sox gave him such a long rope. A guy like that figures it out and you've got a cheap, badass reliever.

With today's lineup, they were done before the first pitch. We've got 4 starters resting or hurt.