5/27-5/29 Red Sox vs. Indians Series Thread

His BA against RHP is around .300, he always hit them for a high avg on top of the walks. Also, Ockimey makes more contact than Dalbec, his K rate was always lower than Dalbec while being more challenged in terms of age advancement.
Cora has been using a platoon at 1st base for more than a year now, why not keeping the same process with different personnel?

Will Smith from the Giants is very compeling: LH, pounds the zone (under 2 BB/9) and miss bats and is a free agent after the season but supply/demand and a smart new FO may drive the price up.

Eovaldi and Johnson. Nunez is a bigger issue than Lakins. Hembree isn't a bad 6th inning or7th inning option.

Good point, but it seems like malpractice to sign JDM when Mookie Betts doesn't have a contract yet. You can't sign everybody, especially with John Henry as your owner.

Fangraphs odds to make the playoffs: 79%.

Friendly reminder that the Red Sox are 18-9 since April 29th, aka, exactly the same winning percentage they had in 2018.

Elite closers do blow saves too, sure. But... I don't think the problem is that Barnes didn't enter the season stamped with the Proven Closer^TM. It's the depth getting to him and Walden. Brasier's been shaky. Workman is inducing soft contact but the walks and the lack of track record for soft contact don't portend well. Hembree's gotten okay results despite peripherals and a batted ball profile that should terrify anyone. I'll match their top two relievers up with anyone right now, it's the fact that they have two relievers who have been outstanding and several more guys who are like #5/6 options.

And Barnes is currently 12th on the team in batters faced - he seriously just passed Thornburg last night. He's been allowed to dominate in short bursts as he's gotten good rest/recovery, but you wonder if he can still pitch at that level if they lean on him harder.

To show his workload hasn't been particularly heavy? Thornburg was pitching low-leverage, but also only doing it like once a week. It's not to minimize what Barnes has done, and it's worked out well to this point. Hopefully it means he has more in the tank for the stretch run, like the opposite of how Junichi Tazawa was used by Farrell. I'm just not sure it's going to be fair to expect him to dominate at the level he has if they need to turn to him for 5-6 batters or on consecutive days more often. He's only worked consecutively five times, and Cora hasn't yet had him work three straight days.

One loss, folks - a bad one, but counts the same as a "less bad" one. Got that mess out of our system. Start the winning again today. Certainly not a comfy game to try to fall asleep after...but it's another day.

Brewer recalled because this organization has no other options. Shameful.

Pedro, I'm not sure I agree with this.

Yes, the AL East is the strongest - but only the top 3. The AL East is very weak toward the bottom.

The Sox would be battling with Cleveland and Oakland for that 2nd wild card spot if they don't catch TB, which is questionable.

However I wouldn't be shocked if Cleveland dealt Bauer away during the deadline. This team, if it does make the playoffs, isn't going to go far. I don't think Cleveland would go all in. They're as likely to sell. Frankly, they're not a very good team. The Red Sox made them look good yesterday, but they're really not.

So there's Oakland, but from top to bottom that division doesn't have any awful teams even though Seattle has been awful since their starting burst. Still, the M's are a bad team, not a horrible one. The Rangers and Angels are reasonably near .500.

The A's aren't a juggernaut. It's not hard to imagine them tripping every now and then over the Rangers, Angels, and M's - and of course playing Houston isn't going to help them.

Yeah, the Sox have the Yankee and Rays to deal with - that's one more additional great team, but they also have the Blue Jays and the Orioles to deal with.

It wouldn't be hard to see Toronto dealing Strohman away or whatever veteran assets they have. I do like Toronto's future a bit, but I don't think that comes this year - I think Toronto will lose around 90 games.

The Orioles are awful now and will continue to free fall throughout the rest of the season. In theory the Red Sox should beat up on Baltimore even though they haven't yet.

So no, I'm not going to tell you the Sox are shoo-in to make the playoffs, but I don't think it's as dire as you have it. Yes, they could blow it. No, it's not highly likely they will. It's unlikely the Sox catch TB and even more unlikely they catch NY, but it's NOT unlikely they make the playoffs anyways.

The Sox, have played well for the month of May even though they've cooled off the past couple of weeks. It's not hard to imagine them going on a bit of a run where they go 35-20 for a stretch. They probably won't be able to sustain it because they will trip over their bullpen as the season goes on. They'll have the days where they strand a village, and they're going to have games that you'd think they'd win drop into the loss column.

The 2018 Red Sox were amazing at avoiding that. The 2019 Red Sox keep finding the pitfalls. That's what I think will prevent them from finishing first, but I think there's just too much talent to keep them from finding their way into the 90 - 95 win category and into the playoffs.

Pedro...there is no Doomsday....there is only Boomsday....because Rafi Devers awaits all mashable pitches.