Dominikk85

I think it is OK that a broadcaster criticizes the team or manager but doing it while you are having a really good season might not be the smartest idea.

Well he did play in that league because he was not invited to camp. Obviously he would have preferred schaumburg right away and face top pitching prospects over facing guys throwing 87 in that league but that league was still better than just hitting in a cage and lift weights. I think him playing in that league showed the sox he is very motivated and maybe they even scouted him there and liked what they saw.

Increasing spin even can be bad for low spin guys. High spin is ideal but it is better to have low spin that average spin because movement is always relative to what hitters are used to so an average spin FB will look more straight than a low spin FB.

The magic continues. Still not walking (11th) and still striking out (11th) but first in ISO and wRC+

Yeah. Obviously you won't put up 10 runs every night against good pitching but even against good pitching you usually get a chance to put up 2-3 runs. You just need to be ready at the right time, there will be that situation with runners on first and second and two out and if you hit a bomb there it is 3 runs. You don't get as many chances though, if you strand bases loaded you likely won't get another chance unlike when you are facing KC and the tigers. The sox will strike out in the playoffs and the lowish OBP kind of lineup of the sox will create some cold games but they can also break out at any time and have that big inning.

The sox don't really need vaughn at DH this year. Even if EE is bad the mccann and grandal situation leaves you with a decent DH. Rotate EE with the two catchers though DH and you have a decent DH. Recently RR has been sitting EE quite a bit and let the catchers DH. Let EE only hit against lefties and soft tossing righties but put grandal in against the good stuff righties and let mccann catch those days.

Mazara has been disappointing compared to his prospect hype but obviously he isn't the hitter he is this year. Mazara has been a consistent 20 HR guy and an above average hitter against righties and for some reason he can't do that this year. Still you are right that you expect more out of a top10 overall prospect than a solid platoon hitter but still this year is clearly an anomaly for him.

That would be stupid. The next wave is not going to be as good as giolito, anderson, robert and moncada. Keep vaughn Down a month or so so you have him through 2027 but vaughn will be 23 and is a first baseman and that means he is 30 at free agency and that is not great for contract negotiations, can't compare that to a 20 yo middle if guy like tatis. Regarding kopech I would keep him down those two months or whatever you need for the extra year because he won't pitch more than 130 ip in 2021 anyway and that way you have him the second half and possibly playoffs.

Vaughn will not be called up this year so what would be the plan next year? I would prefer them sending him straight to AA to start next season and if he does well call him up after a month. Starting him on opening day makes no sense at all because then you should have called him up already as it is the same service time.

Timing definitely is right It Sucks for sheets, burger, rutherford but better them than robert, eloy and madrigal. Only one really hurt by this is Vaughn and he is not that much hurt because his bat was so advanced it didn't need much milb time anyway so his timeline isn't changed that much. Most likely without corona vaughn would be a September call up and now it is probably may of next year or so. That is not a huge loss of time.

I would say whoever has the best last 2-3 starts. Dunning was excellent but he also had a very easy schedule only facing Pittsburg, KC and detroit. Obviously cease faced them a lot too as they are the teams in the division but at least cease had some starts against cleveland and one against the cubs too. So I would like him to beat (or look good at least) at least one good team.

It is not great to trot him out there but currently the sox have no alternative. Rodon is toast too and then you have Keuchel, giolito, cease, dunning and gonzalez/reylo Sure you could do a bullpen game and that might give the sox a better chance to win but the pen already was taxed a lot and needs to be fresh for the post season. Better lose a game than sinking the pen. If the sox didn't want him to pitch this year they would have needed to trade for a starter. But now they simply need to roll with what they have and hope for the best. Next year you might need an upgrade (hopefully kopech is that) but this year those guys are what you have.

His peripherals are worse but they did get better in the last weeks. Since August 15 his xWOBA is. 375 which is better than his actual wOBA in that time frame (.329). He still isn't great but he has been an acceptable DH the last month plus he actually was sitting some games. Just let him share DH with the two catchers till the end of the year and then let him walk.

Vaughn is not going to be traded. Next year mccann and EE are likely gone and then DH is open for him. As for the people wanting to trade him: consider that he is a good prospect but he still is a right handed first baseman. Fangraphs have him ranked 40th as a 55 fv. That means you are mistaken if you believe him and a throw in gets you bieber or buehler, more likely you would get a guy with 2 years of control or more of a mediocre guy and I rather have a 120 wRC+ first baseman the next 7 years (even if that is worth only like 2.5 WAR) rather than getting a mediocre pitcher for him and a throw in. If you really want a young super ace we are talking vaughn AND kopech and that is too much for me. Sure if the indians get a brain stopping and offer you bieber for vaughn and rutherford you do it immediately but that is not going to happen.

Eloy is not slow and he sometimes makes good plays especially when he doesn't have to make a tough route decision. Eloy is bad when it comes to planning routes and also general oversight in the OF (knowing were walls and the CF are) but when he can just go full speed without thinking he is not that bad. In this case the ball was hit straight into the gap so he didn't really have to think much but just took a direct route to cut it off, he basically just went the shortest way. That is no always good because if you miss the ball that way it probably is a triple but in that case it worked perfectly.

Not a good sign of course but I think it is the right decision to skip a start. sox absolutely need a fresh and healthy keuchel in the postseason and better skip one start now and give away a RS game than having a compromised keuchel in the playoffs. Hopefully the rest can resolve that or at least bring it to a manageable level.

I think nick still needs to get used to the level. He is a player who plays the game hard and takes chances. At lower levels being a bit reckless on the bases can be quite successful because the guys then get nervous and make errors. You still want him to do that but tone it down a little because big leaguers can make plays. The rule of thinking is run so that you are safe with a good throw but a perfect throw gets you because if you only run if you are 100% safe you are too passive. Madrigal still needs to find that happy medium. You want to get thrown out by a perfect throw but you don't want to get thrown out by any halfway decent throw.

Yeah, if the sox don't trust collins they can always get a bad hitting good glove guy cheaply on the market. For 40 games a bad stick in the lineup is not that terrible. I rather have Vaughn for 140 games in the lineup than mccann for 40-50.

Yeah, cease is not bad but as a rookie pitcher you can't hope for much more than 5. Maybe in the post season dunning can help out as a multi inning reliever and help the pen that way.

I do understand why RR is not using guys for 2 innings. He would win more games if he did that but the pen is worked hard anyway and 2 inning stints make regeneration harder. I rather occasionally have an inferior reliever getting shelled and losing the game than working the pen aces hard and going into the postseason tired. Ideally you would use a quick hook and use the aces more but the sox only really have two starters who can go deep regularly (giolito and Keuchel) so the pen will be used a ton in the postseason. Winning the division would be great but the sox absolutely need a fresh pen and riding the best pen guys hard would be bad.

Yes. Grandal is a guy who catches 120+ games in a full season. If it was more a 90/70 games split McCann might have stayed but not to catch 40 games.

Vaughn alone doesn't get you a true TOR in his prime with 2+ years of control and a rental is not worth giving him up. Just keep vaughn, get rid of EE next year and maybe sign a pitcher.

You simply keep playing grandal who is an elite hitter and defender and occasionally play mccann. Give grandal some days at DH too. McCann is a free agent after this year and likely will go to a team that offers him a starting job.

Before the season the sox hitting and rotation were seen as promising but the pen was considered a weakness by preseason projections. However the pen really stepped up this year and did rather well but the last 2 weeks the pen did not so well with a 5.1 ERA. Is that a regression that was expected or do you think that some of the guys stepping up are for real and that is not something you are worried about?

I would prefer facing the twins or blue Jays. The twins offense even though it struggled this year can break out but the twins starters are quite beatable. Same is true for the blue Jays. The Rays and indians just have nasty pitching and even though the indians offense is bad the top of their lineup has enough potential to score a couple runs which could be enough. And astros rotation got worse but their offense is a juggernaut and if Verlander is back they still have a great 1-2 punch. Yankees depends on their health. Currently they are kinda beatable but if they get a couple guys back they could all of a sudden be really good again.