8/10-8/12 Red Sox vs. Rays Thread

We got this.

Much better matchups than the Toronto series. Fangraphs odds implied 1.6 wins for the Red Sox in that 4-game series, and considering that series amounted to one blowout loss and three coin flips that turned out to be pretty accurate.

But they imply 1.7 wins in this 3-game series. Back at Fenway, the riff-raff is out of the starting rotation, the bats are waking up, the schedule is finally becoming a little more forgiving - it's a good time to go on a run.

Agreed, let's hope the offense builds off of what they did on Sunday, and it goes without saying that we really need ERod and Eovaldi to step up and give us strong performances in this series.

He's one Tampa pitcher the Red Sox hitters really know how to hit.

So you're saying that on roughly 7/20, with the team having lost 6 of 9, sure, but still 1.5 games up in the East and having just won the first game of what would turn into a 7-2 stretch, the Red Sox should have shaken up the roster?

C'mon now dude.

Like I get that the easy turning point that one can use is July 5, because that's the peak of the Red Sox lead in the division, but this isn't September 2011 we're talking about here. Hell, even Dan Shaughnessy just wrote "But the recent slump is nothing like the ghoulish stuff these eyes have seen over six-plus decades of Sox watching" in one of the most measured takes I've ever seen from him. ( www.bostonglobe.com/2021/08/09/sports/this-red-sox-slump-is-simply-market-correction-by-team-that-had-been-overachieving/ for those interested)

Have you considered that part of the plan at the deadline was to forego the seller-friendly prices teams were getting for rentals and then pivot to internal solutions if things didn't turn around?

The next nine games should have a defining impact on what the Sox do for the rest of the year. While I agree with many that most of what is going on is a team which had been overachieving (and even stranger overachieving without any of it's players overachieving) returning to the mean, I also don't think the Yankees and Rays are good teams. So let's say the Sox go 7-2 including a sweep of either the Rays and the Yankees. At that point hope would be rekindled. Sale is coming back. Schwarber should be coming. If Rodriquez, Pivetta and a Houck combination with someone pitch like they have shown hints of maybe things would come together. I also think Richards might be pretty good out of the pen.  His raw stuff is not bad and would play up in short stints.
If, on the other hand, the team ends up not making up any ground and even loses ground I hope the decision is made to treat the end of the year like last season.  That would mean sticking with Duran, Cordero and Dalbec and playing them almost ever day as well as being extremely cautious with Sale.

Yarbrough to DL, assuming a righty starts, means a second game of Franchy at 1st, rather than two of Dalbec. difference is probably negligble. I cant wait for Tampa, in lieu of pitching Yarbrough to pull off a bullpen game and have 6 guys throw either 1 1/3 or 1 2/3 and beat us 2-1.

My guess is Franchy stays as an occasional OF/1b against RH, Marwin and Santana go. They could still play JD (although I don't love it) in the OF  occasionally and have two LH bats at DH and 1B on top of Raffy and Verdugo against tough rh's. 

And here's part of the other bit. So yeah, I've been consistent in my messaging and my cynicism regarding the Front Office:

I'm not ready to give up on Dalbec or Cordero.  Haven't seen enough of Cordero and Dalbec is intriguing.  Consider that supposedly Gallo is (I'm being sarcastic) a super star slugger and his average in identical to Dalbec's.   We know Dalbec has Gallo type power which he hasn't tapped into.  It's one of the season's bigger mysteries as he was not a type who had a lot of cheap HR.  When he hit them they were bombs.  I think a big problem for him is he's a rookie and a Red Sox. As such his strike zone was minuscule and the walks and accompanying BB which would have helped his OBP went to hell as he began chasing due to the knowledge that he was getting nothing from the home plate umpire. It is impossible to overestimate what a powerful position a home plate umpire is in. Short of Barry Bonds at his height they are the most important person on the field in every game. They can completely dictate the outcome of game. 
Dalbec has persevered with extreme dignity and given umpires no reason to not reward him with some respect. Not only does he not complain he does not even give the dirty looks which always plagued John Lester.
In any case Dalbec has not yet entered my Chavis list where a guy has been given multiple looks and shows no improvement. And maybe I'm wrong but had Dalbec ever fit the "obvious hole" category or does he just either hit or not hit for no glaring reason?

I agree with your point about not giving up on them. Regarding the umpires squeezing him: I’ve seen him take or swing and miss at wayyyyyyy too many pitches down the middle to give him that