5:50pm: Early’s promotion is official. May lands on the 15-day IL, retroactive to September 6, with elbow neuritis. Boston created the necessary 40-man spot by recalling infielder Vaughn Grissom from Triple-A and placing him on the 60-day injured list. Grissom’s season is over due to plantar fasciitis.
10:46 am: The Red Sox will promote pitching prospect Connelly Early to make his major league debut tonight versus the A’s, as first reported by Foul Territory. Katie Morrison-O’Day of MassLive.com noted earlier in this week that Early, a 2023 fifth-round pick, was scratched from his start at Triple-A Worcester because the Sox wanted him to be ready if the big league club had a need this week. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo wrote yesterday that Early was “very much in play” to make his MLB debut within the next couple of days.
Early isn’t on the 40-man roster, so Boston will need to make corresponding transactions to open space on both the active and 40-man rosters. Righty Dustin May will head to the injured list to open an active roster spot, per Foul Territory and Cotillo.
The 23-year-old Early has thrived in both Double-A and Triple-A this season, combining for 100 1/3 innings with a 2.60 earned run average, a huge 31.9% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate. The 6’3″, 195-pound lefty is sitting 93.4 mph on his four-seamer, complementing the pitch with a deep variety of secondary offerings including a slider, changeup, sinker, cutter and curveball (listed in descending order of usage rate). He’s kept the ball on the ground at a strong 50% clip and has thus far posted an excellent 14.3% swinging-strike between Double-A and Triple-A.
Early entered the season ranked tenth among Boston prospects at Baseball America but has climbed to sixth, even after the draft added several new entrants to the top tiers of every system in the sport. Scouting reports at BA, FanGraphs and MLB.com tout Early’s changeup as a plus offering. There’s a wider range of opinions on his slider, but the general consensus is that it at least has the potential to be an above-average, if not plus offering. The Virginia product will join fellow rookie Payton Tolle as a fairly high-profile September addition who could not only help into and throughout the postseason but could very well be auditioning for a 2026 rotation spot.
Although Early wasn’t on the 40-man roster on Sept. 1, he’ll still be eligible for postseason play. Players only need to be in the organization to have eligibility. The Sox will technically need to petition to have Early added to their postseason roster as an injury replacement, but teams do that every year. Depending on May’s timetable, he could simply be added as a replacement for the same pitcher he’s replacing on the active roster today.
There was at least one scenario where the Red Sox wouldn’t have had Early as an option to call up. When speaking with the Diamondbacks about Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen prior to the trade deadline, Early was of interest to Arizona’s front office, Alex Speier and Tim Healey of the Boston Globe report. The Sox were willing to discuss lefty Brandon Clarke but deemed Early too steep a price to pay in those talks, per the Globe duo. Kelly went to the Rangers for a package of three pitching prospects. Gallen stayed in Arizona and will likely receive a qualifying offer.
As for May, it’s not yet clear exactly what type of injury he’s facing. Boston acquired him from the Dodgers at the trade deadline, sending 2024 first-round pick James Tibbs III (whom they’d acquired from the Giants for Rafael Devers) back to Los Angeles in return.
That trade hasn’t gone at all as the Red Sox hoped. May has made six appearances, five of them starts, and pitched to an ugly 5.40 ERA with a lower strikeout rate (19.5%) and higher walk rate (9.8%) than he’d logged in what was already a shaky season with Los Angeles (4.85 ERA). He’s a free agent at season’s end and doesn’t necessarily have a spot on the postseason roster set in stone, so if May needs even three weeks on the injured list, it’s at least feasible that his Red Sox tenure is effectively over. Certainly, both he and the organization will hope he can get back in minimal time and pitch his way into postseason consideration, but time will tell whether that’s plausible.
I’m here Early for the puns.
It’s getting late early.
Too bad he’s not with Cleveland. Bob (Rapid Robert) Feller and Early Wynn baseball history.
Soto – You just ruined a really good pun I had. LOL!!
May I suggest that it’s a bit too Early for puns?
Sounds like you’re right on time
they should have let him cook. he was called up early.
It’s too Early for dinner? What was he cooking?
Early bird!
I thought that a non-Angels prospect had been promoted early, for once.
The Early returns look promising.
Another – Yes it was quite the performance. Hopefully he will have a nice career, instead of duplicating Kevin Morton who had an even better debut.
Jo Adell sound familiar?
May joining Hicks on the “not good at pitching” IL. Excited for Early, though! He’s been tearing it up.
Meow – Yes I agree, that makes 3 of the 4 pitchers as a result of the Raffy trade who have had injury issues. So far that trade couldn’t have been any worse.
May was nothing more than this year’s version of the Paxton trade deadline acquisition. Damn shame the Sox were too cheap and don’t care about winning, they would be WS favorites if they had acquired a real SP at the deadline.
They could have had Joe Ryan if they gave one of their starting outfield.The Sox were too cheap to not break up the continuity.It looks like if they gave up Early ,they could have had Merrill Kelly or Gallen.You have to give up to get something.
TB – I totally agree!
When Breslow used the trade deadline excuse of “teams have to like our players” he was clearly referring to the players he was willing to trade.
It’s just more evidence Sox management and ownership didn’t believe in this year’s team, and were not planning to try and win this year.
Fpg what team are you really a fan of?
.it sure as hell isn’t Boston
Buster Olney reported that, from his talks with people around MLB, the Twins appeared to be not interested in trading Joe Ryan.
Joe Ryan has been awful since the trade deadline.
Or… and just work with me here… they believed that fans may have wanted a big name, but they felt they had the players to compete and didn’t need to overpay for guys who might not be much better than what they already had in house. Only Ryan or Kelly were guys that made sense to give anyone of value up for, but they didn’t want to trade their whole farm for either. Instead, they thought playing Tolle and Early for 6+ years is worth more than trading them. Kinda makes sense actually, doesn’t it?
What’s going on now is why they DIDN’T give up a starting outfielder. With Anthony and Abreu out, their outfield is a skeleton crew. Imagine what it would look like if they had traded Duran?!?
Mike – Exactly! Real Sox fans didn’t want to trade Duran or Abreu, especially when Rafaela could play 2B anyways.
Fever, Rafaela can play second but is like Tony the Tiger would say GR-E-A-T!!! in center, To win, he needs to be in the outfield.
TB Sox, You can see the twins asked too much for Ryan because NOBODY got him. They asked the universe for the guy.
The Sox are not too cheap. They weren’t stupid.
In fact, if you followed the story. Every other team hung up the phone at the end, and the Red Sox were the last team still talking, so Boston went further than any other team. They were willing to put practically all the chips on the table, but Minnesota just wanted way too much.
Fever, there’s a bunch of us who are ready to get rid of Duran. Sell high on the guy because in two years when it’s time to pay him, you can’t get much for him in trade or you’ll wind up paying for past performance. It’s not going to work out if you keep him.
It might be exciting to watch him play this year and next year but that’s it. Crazy legs is bound to flame out in three years.
Gary – I mean, there is also the third option where they simply let him play out his team control and walk as a free agent. If he isn’t able to fetch an elite pitcher I am perfectly fine going that route. There are only so many 40 man spots, so if it’s a proposition of say 2 or 3 B level prospects vs a couple nice years of Duran plus a comp pick, I will take the latter.
Gary – Duran is a tough cookie to Crack. Theres two options:
1) he’s skilled enough to put the ball where he needs to and generates 2Bs and 3Bs with his speed by taking advantage of the home ballpark; or
2) playing in fenway has literally created his game and his stats are a product of where he plays more than his talent. His use of the monster to bang out those XBHs is a thing of beauty, but, those batted balls don’t produce much in the other ballpark.
So the questuin to both boston and those other clubs is, what’s the true skillet of Duran? I expect his speed to decline as expected in FA years. Which, will severely curtail his output. You add that to how his numbers were boosted by the monster XBHs and I think you see why many front officesnsrd likely not as high on him…he’s a product kf fenway, and chemo. Use him for what you can while you can.
Dewey- I wonder if there was a chance that they would have traded an outfielder at the deadline if they did not need to move Rafaela to second to replace Mayer. We probably could have gotten by with Refsnyder as a starter in the outfield, even after losing Anthony which of course was a huge blow to the offense.
Unfortunately Ryan has been inconsistent since the trade deadline so not sure if he was the answer to our pitching needs.
FPG
I am a real Sox fan. And if a package featuring Abreu or Duran would have brought Joe Ryan I would have pulled the trigger. Very reluctantly with Duran. It’s always about quality pitching.
FPG
What a performance by Early. 11K’s to tie Don Aase’s debut mark . ( Aase was traded to the California Angels for Jerry Remy). Tolle and Early are 2 of the prospects who would have been traded to bring a quality arm back at the trade deadline. There 2 debut starts where 2 of the best ,most exciting games this season.
Any news on Romy G.?? He has been a top hitter on this club for a good spell.
DBH
I agree , Rafaela should be in center. Right now his only value is his defense in center. He is ice cold at the plate. JBJ- 2.0 . I thought Rafaela was a better hitter than JBJ, but he looks lost at the plate now. He had that incredibly hot streak, then oof. Sounds a lot like JBJ…..
Cheap had nothing to do with it. They didn’t want to mess with the group they had in Boston this season. And given the recent injuries they’ve had to OFers that’s proved a prudent approach. Unless you’re going to pretend Abreu was the current OFer who would have been sent to Minnesota, but you’re only going to do that because he’s one of the ones injured currently.
Hopefully Rafaela will figure things out at the plate. He was too good earlier to be this bad of a hitter. Probably in his head. If centerfield is where he is most comfortable he may be overthinking everything especially after some questionable defensive decisions. Granted he played centerfield last night and did not provide any offense so maybe it has to do with consistency. Please don’t let him end up as JBJ 2.0.
dewey – Not if it means keeping Duran, Abreu or Roman out of the lineup.
Gary – Red Sox didn’t seriously engage with the Twins until 15 minutes before the deadline, which was pathetic. All the other teams got serious long before the deadline.
Here is one of many sources:
sports.yahoo.com/article/mlb-rumors-red-sox-first-…
“But a source said Falvey clarified to Ryan on Saturday that talks between the Twins and Red Sox never gained traction,” Hayes continued. “Team sources said, unlike most teams that worked ahead on trade concepts, which allowed the Twins ample time to prepare for deals involving non-rental players, Boston didn’t seriously engage until 15 minutes before the deadline. By that point, the teams struggled to quickly agree on basic elements of a deal, and the Twins declined to pursue a trade.”
Gary – Within any fanbase of millions, there’s always a small portion of casuals who will have distorted views about the team.
Duran had plenty of haters years ago, those same haters would love to get rid of him …. yes, that’s true. And last year a whole bunch wanted Abreu gone. And wanted Story gone. And wanted Giolito gone. And wanted Casas gone. And wanted Raffy gone. I could go into great detail why those fans enjoy getting rid of popular players, but I don’t want to stray too far off topic.
Perhaps you haven’t heard of this famous baseball quote: “Speed doesn’t slump”..
Uncle – The Red Sox did not publicly state none of the outfielders would be traded, until right after the Mayer injury.
There is no way if Mayer had remained healthy that the Sox would have released Yoshida and used their 4-man outfield to fill the DH position every game.
If Mayer had stayed healthy, absolutely one of the outfielders would have been traded.
Uncle – Rafaela was good only from May 27 thru July 18, not even two months.
He is now very close to his career OPS+ of 86.
Same thing happened last year, he got hot midseason and then faded badly.
He hasn’t played 2B in a long time, so the position change excuse doesn’t fly anymore. He’s simply a bad hitter who is capable of good stretches, just like JBJ.
I know Rafaela was hyped a lot, compared to Mookie, etc. It was wrong to do so, it was wrong to give many fans such high expectations.
Butch- crochet was awful after the trade deadline last year. Doesn’t mean Ryan wouldn’t be a good cog in the machine going forwards.
Not familiar with his pitch count limits, workload, or all the rest. Such as if he could be a good reliever in ’25 and starter in 26…. or whatever er else
Fpg you’ve bashed all of those players in one form or another over time
.get off your high horse your hands arent clean
Uncle, I’m a Ref fan but not full time. I’m happy they didn’t trade Duran but I expect he’s gone in the off season.
CDCHI, he is a better hitter than JBJ but JBJ was also beauty in motion in the OF. Would love to assess at the end of Rafaella’s career.
With Raffy gone Fever, without injuries, there is no reason as one can DH. Abreu has to play right and there is no comparison as to team defense. Ceddane has to play center IMO.
DBH
Both are such streaky players. Consistency at the plate is absent from both players. I always enjoyed JBJ,I remember him at S.Carolina. He just had the look of a ballplayer.
@FPG
The trade couldn’t have been any worse? Look at the winning percentage with Devers and without Devers. Keeping him would have been worse. Considering the contract that came with Devers, and how low he had made his value, that he was traded at all is remarkable. Would another lost season been preferable?
Styme – man the season sure would be lost if someone like Yoshida was replaced with Devers and his 143 OPS+, 30 HR.
That statement you made makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. The team was doing just fine with Devers. The team was missing Bregman for a good chunk of that time, the SP was poor outside of Crochet, Duran had a slow start, Anthony was wasting away in the minors, etc. But yeah, it’s all Devers fault LMFAO.
styme – Come on, you’re better than that.
Devers isn’t an NFL quarterback or an NBA starting forward.
He was a DH with the Red Sox and therefore could contribute only one way, with his bat …. which he did extremely well as the numbers prove.
I’m sure you know the winning has been due to primarily two things …. Roman Anthony and the stellar starting pitching, particularly Bello and Gio.
You can’t possibly say those factors were impacted by Raffy, that would be beyond absurd.
Besides, the Sox won 7-of-8 including 5 straight against the Yanks WITH Raffy on the Sox, right before he got traded.
Let’s move on from Devers who is 3k miles away. The Sox are a much better TEAM in my view without Deverd. No one thought any other club would pay the freight so the return is not the issue. Whether ownership spent that money on soccer players for Liverpool is and we won’t know until this off season.
He’s an out of shape baby. They gel better without him. More fun to watch without him. I will file it away with my other agree to disagree takes. I am not letting ownership off the hook by supporting the Devers trade either. On another note, It did seem late to promote early.
@styme
There is a lot of dumb in that post.
The winning percentage is dumb. I’m sure there is a another dozen or so factors at play.
Being able to trade Devers is “remarkable” ? Really. Does he have leprosy ? What are you talking about ? Look at his numbers.
Joemo, the San Francisco Giants are 16-14 in their last 30 games.
You’re right !! Sure glad we got Yoshida instead of Devers right now.
The Devers effect is not quite what you say it is lol.
Fever, so you’re saying the Boston Red Sox have a great team without Rafael Devers? That’s not like you. I thought you bemoaned trading him away and blamed the team for the poor move?
Seems to have worked out looking through my lens.
The Devers trade was a positive for the Red Sox. The money that was owed him can be better spent elsewhere.
dewey – I totally agree with the moving on. It’s the Raffy haters that continue to spew the hatred toward him, because they are incapable of moving on.
We’ve seen similar with the Sale haters, the Mookie haters, the Jansen haters, the Boggs haters, the Clemens haters, etc. Hell there’s haters going back to Ted Williams.
Everyone has a right to their opinion, but when it crosses over to obsessiveness and venomous hatred, that raises red flags about one’s mental health.
Hank – Yes it can …. but will it?
You DO realize approx $30M of it was already spent on Hicks …. right?
Devers “haters.” ??
“We” come out of the woodwork when Red Sox haters blame the team exclusively.
But nobody hates Devers. Great player, a lot of fun games and home runs and winning with him. But sure I love the move of trading him away.
Gary – Red Sox Nation understands he needed to be traded after all that happened …. but it’s still sad that it had to come to that. And plenty of people involved in the game on a national level have said the same.
Well of course it’s sad it had to come to that. That goes without saying. I think they envisioned a wonderful long term relationship when they originally gave him that big contract.
Gary – I totally agree.
And the national guys have stated it’s unprecedented for a player in his mid-20’s to be signed to a 10-year extension and then get traded 2 years later.
I get that Breslow is different than Bloom, but Cora/Henry/Kennedy? Did Breslow somehow overrule all those guys? Doubtful.
But hey the Sox are looking great tonight ….. excellent start for Early!
There were those who predicted ownership would trade him long before his bat declined. I wasn’t one of them but o do recall it.
fopp – There are people here who insisted Devers would have to be released and his entire remaining contract eaten because “no team will take on his contract”.
Honestly it sometimes makes me question why I bother reading the comments here. I get that some here are less than 15 years old, but I don’t think it’s strictly an age thing …. it’s an intelligence thing.
Long term trading devers for *any* return was the right move. Keeping him wouldve been a mistake.
Bat-to-ball abilities aside he publicly challenged ownership, management, and the entire organization in an insubordinate manner.
It doesn’t matter if he may have had any legitimate gripes or not. At the end of the day a player *cannot* behave that way in public, especially as an example to the massive youth movement coming up.
This was compounded by the time it occurred – new faces joining the 26man roster, and, an injury crisis
GaSox – Yep like I said since ST, the trade had to be made because you can’t treat a player like that – especially the face of the franchise – and expect it to blow over.
And who knows, maybe Baby Bello will salvage some value on the Sox side. I don’t think anyone is expecting Hicks, Harrison or May to provide much if any value.
So you going to the Big E opener on Friday? Man I had a fantastic time up there last month, perfect weather. Not sure if I’m gonna continue flying into Woosta though, the car rental prices there are crazy …. like $110/day for Economy/Compact size. They do have a train from Union Station in Woosta to South Station in Boston, I’ll look into that.
@FPG I’m in Boston now for the week. Will try to catch at least one game of the series. Still monitoring the secondary ticket market and will purchase really close to game time. Great daytime weather but bring a jacket for night games.
YBC – Awesome! Hope you make out well with the tix.
From my personal experiences, best availability would be for Sunday night’s game. It has lesser demand because so many have school/work on Monday. I’ve gotten some sweet Monster seats for Sunday night Yankees games.
Rolling the dice. I’ve bought tix before right at the Fenway gate and also along the subway ride to YS. Need someone to panic dump right before the first pitch. :fingers crossed:
YBC – I would think it’s easier to do these days since all tickets are digital. Sellers don’t have to physically transfer tickets into buyer’s hands, the seller could be thousands of miles away when the tickets are sold and transferred.
So yeah if a seller’s tickets are overpriced, they can end up panic-selling because right before gametime the potential buyer pool is limited to people at or near the park.
Good luck! Sunday is Crochet so that could make it a little harder.
Fever, if you’re a Costco member, I just read they have the best program for short term rentals.
Fever, my anniversary is tomorrow. In 2995, I was offered four seats at the old stadium behind home plate with the Diamond Club buffet to boot. I turned them down as it was my wedding night and I didn’t think home plate after the game was an appropriate honeymoon setting…
Dewey – Happy Anniversary! Yes you made the right decision. It’s all about priorities.
Baseball is wonderful, but to quote a certain movie: “You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?”
Fever, thanks. It has been a long and windy journey. I took so much for granted until I thought I’d lose her in both 14 and 18. Now I’m so glad to share my life…
GA-Unfortunately the Sox ended up in a position where they had to trade Devers because he was publicly unhappy with how things worked out. Better communication with Devers as they were looking at bringing in Bregman might have reduced the friction. Later on instead of telling him he was definitely going to be the DH permanently they could have left the door open to being in the field at some point. Breslow admitted he made mistakes in that situation.
I don’t disagree that Devers contract seemed like an impulse move and he was going to end up being overpaid as a DH. That doesn’t mean taking his bat out of the lineup has not had a negative impact on the offense. They made no attempt to replace his bat and the offense has had very mixed success because of that.
Compound that with getting back some crappy pitchers who were overused and no doubt lost games, primarily Hicks. Bring in May who has been as inconsistent as expected and suddenly injured, as well as dump Buehler so you only have 3 starters with major league experience. That doesn’t leave you in a great position to be successful.
I would love to see the bats heat up as they started doing yesterday and watch Early and Tolle have success. I am just concerned that we don’t have enough offense and starting pitching to put us in a good position to challenge the other strong teams.
dewey – Thank you for the tip, I appreciate it.
I’m a huge Costco supporter, and shareholder.
I actually almost always use Costco for car rentals. I’ve used them to purchase my car, my homeowners insurance and my car insurance.
Every since Covid and the chip shortage, car rental prices exploded and what was the norm ($25 daily for weekends, $40 for weekdays) is now more like $70 daily for weekends and $100 weekdays.
dewey – I hear you. There is so much in life we all take for granted, because we can’t imagine the day when it ends.
I’ve lost some very close people the past few years. I try to fill the void with baseball … because unlike people, baseball is always there …. every day from March through October, year after year.
You can always try turo, sometimes they have cheap rentals if you’re not picky.
GA: Good to see you. Hope you are doing well.
You won’t see the total effect of the Devers trade until you see how the Red Sox SPEND the money they saved on a malcontent poison pill who would have affected all their other good young talent. Bring it up again in December during Free Agency.
I’m curious to see who they sign, or who is willing to sign there this off-season.
Devers was a diva there yes. But that was an organizational failing allowing him to act that way, to some extent at least. And it definitely showed a lack of communication skills with their previous face of the franchise player.
For players that have options, it could be a factor when they are considering Boston among other teams. Money is always a factor of course. But everyone saw how that played out. And it wasn’t a good look for the team.
I agree that we do need to see how the money is used to fully evaluate the Devers trade. I think you are greatly exaggerating the impact Devers would have on the younger players with his vocal frustration about how his role was handled. Obviously I was not in the clubhouse so maybe he was worse than I realize, but I did not hear any of the current players celebrating his trade and all I have heard is how much the players have come together throughout the season.
It is what it is. Devers is gone and not coming back so that chapter is over. I was excited to see the level of success for Early. What an amazing debut.
FPG
It’s time to let the season be what it’s gonna be .. this is our team .. enjoy it .. let the negativity go … C’mon FPG. Last nights game was a joy to watch. Devers is gone ,he’s not coming back. I say good riddance.. He did not want to be a part of the future of the Sox next run of continued success. Despite a plethora of injuries,the Sox are still right there and have a good enough chance as any team to win it all. I’ve said before , I enjoy the back and forth with you , but c’mon,this team lead by Cora and Breslow are pretty damn good. Some luck, sure , every team needs it.
cdc – I’m not sure to which post you’re replying, but none of the above posts of mine have negativity.
In fact, I wrote this to Gary 12 hours ago …. how did you happen to miss this? How do you happen to miss EVERYTHING I write that’s positive?:
“But hey the Sox are looking great tonight ….. excellent start for Early!”
I hafta admit, you ignoring the many positive things I say about the Sox and harping on the few things I say that aren’t positive is getting kinda annoying. If you want me to be a cheerleader and a suckup, sorry dude that’s not me …. the truth is all that matters to me, whether it’s good or bad. I’m like the CNN slogan …. fair and balanced.
BTW – I’ve been saying for over a month the Sox will make the playoffs, you missed all that too?
How about all the Sox players I’ve stood by and supported, even the ones that other “fans” have crapped on all season?
Yeah it feels like you’re starting to get personal, hope that’s not the case because I think you know what happens when people get personal with me. Keep the topic on baseball please. …..I spend more than enough time here talking baseball, I do not have the time to spend defending myself against blatantly false accusations.
cdchi: Good post. FPG will often claim he is being attacked when he isn’t.
FPG
My bad…. I respect all your opinions.. I don’t agree with them all ….
Like Sonny said…
It’s not personal… It’s just business..
cdc – Same here, I respect and enjoy your opinions even though I don’t necessarily agree with all of them.
FPG
What’s your opinion on bringing in the closer in a tie game??. I wAs watching MLB Network and Dan Plesac said you have to and the other host disagreed. It’s amazing how many times a save is not on the line ,the closer does not perform. Not that I’m down on Chapman,the man has been incredible. Solid argument both ways I think. I think I agree with Plesac, you want your top guy in there.. you don’t want your best still in the pen ..
cdc – It depends, if the other team’s 3 best hitters are due up then I agree. Or if the closer will pitch 2 innings then I agree. Otherwise I disagree.
Like yesterday, if the 9th was going to be Chapman’s only inning …. who would have pitched the all-important 10th with the ghost runner on 2B?
I was thinking the same thing, many closers don’t have the proper frame of mind sometimes when they are brought into a non-save situation.
Did you know Chapman had a consecutive hitless batter streak of 50 before yesterday, which was third-longest in MLB history? That is absolutely amazing, 50 consecutive batters without a hit.
FPG
Just looked this up. Cy Young 25 and a 1/3
Eckersly 21 innings as a starter in 1977
J van de Meer 21 inning
Randy Choate is up there along with Max Sherzer
What Chapman has done this season is incredible.
cdc – I just realized something very important. Wednesday was the first time Chapman didn’t throw to Wong or Narvaez, as Ali was his catcher! Coincidence that his dominant streak ended at that time with Ali as the catcher?
FPG
Hmmm. Wow….
I did not think about that… Certainly interesting. It happened so quickly .
@MeowMeow
May still has a chance to make a correction here or there to be decent. Hicks on the other hand is totally and completely useless.
Hopefully it’s not too early for his promotion.
I am quite thankful that there is some good pitching depth in the minors this year, but man not getting a good SP at the deadline is really biting the Red Sox right now.
They’re gonna use three starters in the playoffs and they’re going to make the wild card, so tbh it isn’t “really biting” them at all. That said, May has been awful.
Also, to get a good SP, the Red Sox would likely need to trade guys like Early and Tolle.
It’s very hard to win a 7 game series with 3 SP, and I honestly don’t trust Giolito against good teams. He has had I think one good start against playoff bound teams, against HOU around the deadline.
Arizona, a team which traded away two of their best hitters, made childs play out of Tolle due to the lack of secondaries.
Tolle may be a great SP, but if he can’t pitch better than 3IP/5ER against a team that sold at the deadline, I don’t have hopes for him to do well this year. Let him actually develop something other than his fastball.
And yes, to get good players back a team needs to give up something good in return. That’s how trades with most teams operate. Don’t trade them for some rental, but for a good player with multiple years of control. Hording prospects hoping they all reach their potential is not a way to run a team. It doesn’t work.
All- You are probably right about the cost being too high at the deadline. I think the bigger issue was going for Buehler in the offseason when there were much better options.
Joemo wants to go from the last place team to world championship in eight months.
He wants to go from nothing starting rotation to four All-Stars starting pitchers in nine months.
Yet he’s happy we have a good minor-league supply of starting pitchers !!! nope
You cannot win with some of these people. They’re going to complain about every Red Sox move no matter what it is.
Come on Joe be realistic.
Uncle: Agreed Buehler was not good. They may have wanted a SP on a one year deal with all the young pitching they have (Fitts, Dobbins, Tolle, Early, hopefully Crawford coming back, they had Priester then too). Not sure who else was available on a one year deal. Maybe better pitchers were available.
Uncle, With the Young pitchers already in house, the Red Sox were glad to take a one-year flyer on a guy.
I don’t think there were any Joe Ryan‘s available in the off-season unless I’m missing some names and that’s usually the case.
They picked up their ace, so that was pretty good.
But I think we should keep an eye on this coming off-season and watch the Sox get another Frontline guy.
Suits, I practically mirrored your comment. Good minds think alike !!
I was a little salty they didn’t go get anyone at the deadline, but seeing both Tolle and Early’s stuff in action now I completely get it. These kids will both be better than anyone we could’ve had at the deadline in pretty quick order.
all in the suit that you wear
Not sure who else was available on a one year deal.
=================================
Morton (6.09) got $15M. Cobb got $15M and didn’t pitch. Based on his playoff appearances against the NYMs and NYYs, I thought he was worth the gamble.
Gary- I agree the market was limited when it came to one-year starters. If I remember correctly there were a few better pitchers that could have been available for a short term deal but they would have likely been 3 year deals and obviously a more significant expense.
After seeing how Early performed I may be underestimating how quickly some of these young pitchers will be contributing to the major league team. I am always concerned about rushing them. I will be curious to see how Tolle pitches in the next few games.
Gary- I blanked on who I was thinking about. My preference would have been to try to sign Pivetta to a three year deal with the money wasted on Sandoval and Buehler.
I know he ended up with 4 years, but if they had extended him sooner I think they could have gotten him to go for 3. That gives you a solid starter who may not be spectacular but was usually dependable. At least you knew what you were getting.
Not a one year deal, but with all the injuries over the last couple of years Pivetta at least seemed to stay healthy and eat innings from what I remember. I really thought he would be back with the Sox.
Yes, in many ways an innings eater who is decent is worth his weight in gold. I agree with you.
Gary – Sox spend a massive amount on their roster. They should be competing every single year.
They could have had an amazing rotation if instead of Buehler, they signed an actual SP in FA and not another reclaimination project.
Sox were 3rd in the AL East last year.
Last year the Sox had some decent SP in Bello and Houck.
If you’re going to insult me, at least get your facts straight.
Lol insulting you?
Why do people take this stuff personally? We’re talking sports bro. I don’t even know who you are.
Telling you to be realistic is challenging your statements not insulting you.
Joe, if it was as easy as spending money equals winning then everyone would do it !!
But there’s no guarantee that spending money means winning. That’s hilarious.
When Spending money you expect to win, but everyone knows you don’t receive expectations every time lol
Now I know why you thought I was insulting you because that’s the type of behavior You’re probably used to when making statements that are similar to this.
Granted, I do take it to heart when people say they’re Red Sox fans and then CONTINUALLY bash the team.
But that’s OK. Your opinion is as valid as mine and probably more so and probably a little better thought out. But still, I’m gonna question some of the things you write and that’s why this is fun. Talkin Red Sox baby !!
We already explained to you above why the Red Sox signed Walker Bueller.
Find a guy who will take a one year commitment nothing more and play the odds going to have a bounce back year. That’s it nothing more nothing less.
The Sox are loaded on the farm and that was the thought last winter. You don’t want to commit four years to Nick Pivetta or similar 6.00 ERA kind of guy.
All: Looking like they may have rushed Tolle to the majors before he was ready. Another rough start. The positive is Harrison was decent, granted I did not even realize he had been called up.
Sucks that Chapman had to take the loss, but he can’t be perfect every game. Even the best closers have an off day. Slaten has also not been the same after coming back. Hope he gets things figured out.
At least the offense continues to score runs.
“Hoarding prospects?” The words you use sometimes are just incorrect.
Look at the Garrett Crochet trade? 4 prospects for one guy. That’s not hoarding prospects Lol !!!!
Tolle may not have been ready, but the Red Sox were ready for him to come in and provide a couple of starts.
They needed him and he came through and pitched. He gave up some runs but the guy stepped up to the big stage. Not mad at him at all. He’s gonna be fine.
Pivetta has a 2.85 ERA this year with a 13-5 record. He had an ERA a little over 4 last year. I would have been fine with the Sox giving him 3 years as I stated. I thought you agreed with me before with your comment about an innings eater being worth their weight in gold.
I get that you are fine with the young starters and taking a gamble on Buehler. I just don’t think that was the right move. We can agree to disagree.
Totally agree with you bro. I’m still reeling from we’re over here from Joemo saying I insulted him. All good. I probably read something else and replied to yours. I definitely got the facts wrong that’s for sure.
OK, looking back again. That reply was to Joe Mo not you. I got a little mixed up sometimes because on the website on my phone every answer is lined up right underneath the original comment so we can’t see who’s replying to who.
But again, all good and thank you for your diplomacy in replying.
Uncle: Agreed that Tolle was probably brought up a little soon, but from his interviews, he is doing fine mentally. So, I think it is good he was brought up to get a taste of the competition at the MLB level. Tolle has pitched the most innings he has ever pitched in a season this year. So, he may be running out of gas a bit at this point. I read that today the plan was for Tolle to face the opposing team’s lineup one time. So, maybe they are limiting his innings at this point. Not sure what is going on with Salten. I think Chapman will be fine.
Joemo, you can’t have both. Signed Dave Dombrowski.
Gary – Please tell Dave “Thank you” again for Bello, Houck, Crawford, etc.
The farm system he left was loaded!
Read the headline wrong. I thought that they were promoting him early and not later. Didn’t know that is his name. And I was wondering “who’s Connelly?”
“noted earlier this week that Early…”… You just couldn’t resist could you Mr. Adams? Ps. Congrats on being the first human to use early 3x in a sentence.
I knew they would promote Connelly Early.
Better late than never.
Wow, we have an entire rotation on the injured list with may, houck, Crawford, criswell and you could count dumping Buehler. I love seeing the kids come up, but this depth is really getting thin.
Fitts too. If they had any luck, they would never have needed to trade for May.
You can add Hunter Dobbins to the list. Dobbins had 61 innings which is more than May, Houck, Criswell, and Crawford. With his low 4s ERA was pitching well.
Tang – Houck and Crawford are the only legit MLB starting pitchers in your list though.
Red Sox couldn’t have messed up this season any more than they did with their cheapskate starting pitching decisions.
May & Buehler – Both suck.
Criswell – AAAA pitcher
I am with you though on the kids. Since the Red Sox already said they aren’t trying to win until next year at the earliest (no pun intended), now is a good time to let them get their feet wet.
Fever- If they really had no intention of trying to win this year, I don’t think they would have brought in Bregman (causing all of the Devers chaos) or even Chapman. It seemed like there were quite a few fans who were convinced Hendriks was going to be the closer, meaning Chapman was going a step further to be successful this year. May turned out to be as bad as expected, but why bother making that move when you could just settle for Buehler who would probably provide the same results.
While the moves they made were not all successful, it did not come across as if they were just calling it a year and not trying to go for it. I also think they may have overestimated the talent of Buehler and May (maybe Hicks as well), thinking their pitching staff could “fix” them.
Uncle – This year was supposed to be the ramp-up year. Play the kids, make the changes they wanted to make (like 3B), and then start 2026 running.
They took a lot of heat for being so cheap in prior years, they needed to spend the money somewhere.
Chapman replaced Jansen because they needed a closer, right?
Bregman was signed because they wanted to get rid of Raffy, right?
If they intended to win this year, why the lottery tickets (Buehler, Sandoval, etc) and why the inaction at the trade deadline?
FPG: “If they intended to win this year…”
================
They ARE winning this year.
It’s September. Better its thin now than in July.
styme – Say what?
If it was July at least the Sox could’ve acquired pitching help ….. but only if they wanted to, of course.
Assuming the don’t catastrophically implode. Plus they won’t go very far in the playoffs with this rotation if Bello and or giolito aren’t perfect and healthy
Tang – I absolutely agree with you, if they go far in the postseason it will be because of the pitching …. not because of the offense, unless Abreu and Roman are back by then.
@Tang It
The rotation still has its 3 aces in Crochet, Bello, and Giolitto and a dominate backend of the bullpen. We could definitely use Cooper Criswell back, as one of the last times i saw him, he outdueled Hunter Brown and we beat the Astros!
This guy better never be late for anything. The jokes will write themselves.
you don’t need to worry, he is never late, he is always early.
Obviously promoted late after September 1
Now that’s a Boston name if I’ve heard one. Only wish it was Connelly O’Early.
May mainly suffering from bloated ERA
Well hopefully the this EARLY pitcher gets the WIN…..
It’s get late [for those A’s fellas with] early out here. – Yogi
At triple-A, he has good pitch arsenal, strikeout rate ranks 85th percentile, shows his ability to miss bats, suppresses hard contact and good pitch movement and stuff.
I’d like to see that walk rate come down and despite the spin rate on his slider and sweeper being quite high, the expect outcomes are less impressive with a xwOBA of .308 and .394 respectively. The sweeper’s been hard hit iwth a .403 xBA and .408 xSLG.
prospectsavant.com/player/813349
Good team to test his abilities against, though, so best of luck tonight.
May is still a top tier starter, just ask him.
@GOP Lizards
Everyone is a top tier starter. Just depends on which tier they consider to be top. I tested my arm last night and I’m throwing gas at 52 mph. I’ll probably be good against the U9 players.
I am laughing out loud because I know dads who “measure their skills” against middle school kids!
Phantom injury for May
For the 40 man move, we are discussing Fitts to 60 day IL if we don’t think he can make it back for postseason or DFA Jovani Moran or Isaiah Campbell. We have a lot of LHP in bullpen now, so Moran more likely the DFA candidate.
I forgot about Grissom just like the entire organization has. Worked out that we think his foot is gonna hurt for awhile, so on to the 60 day for him. Another move Wednesday for Harrison.
Sox biggest weakness the last several weeks has been their offense, which would have been even more wasted if they had had to give up Duran for another good arm. May was a huge disappointment, and one has to believe they’re going to review what went wrong in their assessment. But the fact that May was a bust doesn’t lead to the conclusion that they should have given up Abreu (injury came post-deadline) or Duran to get Ryan (who has been inconsistent himself since the deadline). The idea that getting Merrill or Gallen as a rental would have made them World Series favorites is preposterous.
Although their fans will rationalize til the cows come home, the Devers trade has proven to be a disaster for the Red Sox. Posey knew exactly what he was doing. Hicks should be out of baseball, Harrison still can’t figure it out in the minors, and they traded Tibbs for a permanently broken May. Meanwhile, Devers is having an MVP-type season. Add to that Posey dumping the mercurial headcase Doval on the Yanks as their fans have watched him blow up over and over, and Buster should win GM of the Year.
Thanks for taking Devers!
Tell – Excellent post!
Those who liked the Raffy trade and claim to be Sox fans are simply using hatred as a coping mechanism.
Nobody in their right mind would think Harrison, Hicks and May combined could provide as much or more value than Raffy this season.
yea I mean I get that the sox needed pitching but tibbs is the guy out of that trade they probably should have kept
Tibbs doesn’t excite me. He has a .695 OPS in AA, is striking out at a high rate and not hitting for power.
Devers is fat and has an attitude problem! He is Pablo Sandoval waiting to happen for the grand price if $300,000,000! The Red Sox have already spent some of that money on Roman Anthony!
Solid to portly. No attitude problem in sight as a Giant. They are paying $250m for 8 years.
Just correcting your BS.
It’s not BS. You send a child to his room for a week and hopefully his attitude changes.
That’s the case here.
How long then. When can I expect the bad behaviour to begin ?
I think everyone’s hoping the bad behavior is over. But it was there in Boston and wasn’t going away anytime soon.
A nice trade across the country helped fix that situation quickly.
My main reason for commenting was to hit back at your “BS.”
It wasn’t BS for us. It was very real.
Fingers crossed everything works out with the Giants from here on forward.
It’s not happening now. To say it he “has an attitude problem” is BS. If the comment was “he had an attitude problem”, I don’t call BS. It’s not difficult.
Tellit, that’s ridiculous.
You’re going to use your loudspeaker three months after the trade because Devers has hit 30 home runs on the season.
What happens in year four or 6 from now? Are you going to be around to eat crow?
He’ll still be with the Giants at that time earning 30+ million dollars per year and DHing. The Red Sox saw eight years of big money ahead and decided they wanted flexibility.
Nothing wrong with that especially if the guy is not a team player.
It wasn’t about getting equal value for Devers. It was about moving him and his contract. It’s worked out fine for both teams.
Hank – The trade can’t be completely graded for at least another 8 years …. and you’re saying it “worked out fine” after less than 3 months? Well alrighty then ….
I just wish the Sox would have not panicked at the deadline and traded Tibbs for May. The Red Sox should never answer the phone again when the Dodgers call.
The situation with Devers had become untenable. They tried to fix things with him, but he simply refused to do the right thing and just do as they asked him. Do they miss his bat? Sure. But the team chemistry had become toxic and the only thing left to do was to rid themselves of the cancer he had become. I’m not happy that it came to what it did, I wish he was still on the Red Sox, but I don’t disagree with them for doing what they did.
You mean his injury stats? Yes I’ve seen those. Quite impressive. Or do you mean his pitching stats this year? Why yes, those too are just awe-inspiring.
Frankly, he would be better off as an Oriole.
never too late for Early, and it’s not too early to be rid of May even though its September..
you May be right but it is too Early to tell.
He’s a little Early!
Good thing they’re not promoting Connelly Late. 🤣
Very well may be phantom IL. Too early to tell though
And you ma’am may very well be phantom menace. Too early to tell though waitin on this prospect kid Anakin
Here’s the deal. We blew it and bet the entire season on Kristian Campbell being our 2b. If we instead put Breggie at 2b, kept Devers at 3b and had Anthony on opening day roster to rotate DH spot among him, Duran and Abreau, we would be top seed in AL. Instead we completely whiffed on assessing Kristian, gave him $60 million and moved Raffy. Sogard and Eaton now ahead of Kristian on AAA depth chart. Team has done a great job recovering and being positioned to make playoffs.
Your hindsight and into all things Red Sox this year is worth zero. Anyone can look back at a team’s moves and say these were poor and those were pretty good.
The Red Sox have the best record in the AL since July 1. Somebody must be doing something right. How about just enjoying that and getting behind this team for the last 2+ weeks of the season. The crying on these comments makes some of you sound like you’re from NY.
I see no scenario where starting Devers over Bregman at 3rd is a positive. None whatsoever. It might be the single biggest defensive upgrade I’ve ever seen.
The number of extra outs we got at 3rd starts the bidding at 20, and could be 30 or 40 extra outs. There is such a big difference that it is impossible to count.
Devers is a cancer, the team was terrible with him and i dont care if he hits 700 with 80hrs in San Fran, the truth is our team did 1000% better when he was gone.
He’s a terrible influence on the younger players and his defense is not good at anywhere in the field, he’s a dh and that’s all.
The Red Sox were terrible with him, and thrived without him, no amount of spin you Devers fans have can change that. With Bregman’s Elite defense at the hot corner, we instantly improved and the chemistry went up by a mile.
Devers wouldve fit in perfectly with the late 80s 25 players 25 caps Red Sox that had ZERO chemistry. No Thanks!
May will most likely have TJ surgery. While elbow neuritis is not a UCL injury it can lead to it. Ridiculous, I already see where this is headed
Maybe 3 times is the charm for Dustin. I mean there have only been 3 other players to have it 3x, and only Jason Isringhausen really came back and made an impact, but you never know. Might be time for May to realize he’s better suited to the bullpen after this one.
@quinnap89
if he does he does, next man up. Sox just have to hope Criswell or Fitts come back soon, that would really help tremendously, especially criswell as he outdueled Hunter Brown in August, the kid is the best starter on the shelf atm.
He’s better than Fitts or Harrison whom walks a lot and truthfully should be a long reliever imho.
Not quite elbow strain, more like eye strain. It’s tough to see a real pitcher out on the mound.
SO MANY SAD SACK SOX SUPPORTERS !!!!
We’re 3 games out of first in September. I don’t have to burn my hat this year. At least not yet !!! That’s a good thing !!
Gary – Are you sure you didn’t burn your hat yet? It’s a visor now, it wasn’t at the start of the season ;o)
Well I’m sticking with my prediction the Sox make the playoffs.
They are 4 losses behind the first place Jays, and 4 losses ahead of the Rangers for the final WC spot. So I agree, anything could happen.
@feverpitch
We won’t win the division, too many injuries. But, we won’t have to as the odds of us losing a wildcard spot are slim. Will we be as high on the spot as we want?
No, but just being in the playoffs after four abysmal years is a heck of a lot more fun than not being in.
I truly believe we make it this year, again, i don’t think we catch Toronto, but get 1 or 2 guys back off the DL and a wildcard spot is ours for the taking.
I love this team, it plays with grit, heart and determination and our bullpen is coming together nicely. Its not all perfect, but we have so many young, exciting players, i think we can make a 2013 like series run like nobody expects.
Pol – I honestly don’t think it matters which of the three WC spots the Sox get. Home field won’t matter if Crochet/Bello/Gio and the bullpen perform as they have been.
Yeah I hear you on the playoff drought. 20 years ago making the postseason wasn’t that big a deal, it was expected. But now I can understand why it’s a big deal, because it’s been so freakin’ long since the last time!
I don’t see how the Rangers can catch the Sox, not with all their injuries. Nate’s injury really killed their chances.
Young teams tend to play with grit, heart and determination and the Sox are one of the youngest in MLB.
Anything is possible, but lack of postseason experience will work against them. The 2013 team had a bunch of seasoned veterans with much postseason success, that was the difference for them.
What an impressive performance. The Sox may have found their 4th starter for the playoffs tonight.
Kid looked good! Nice thing about Alaska is even the west coast games are over by 9pm! Hopefully Tolle can bounce back tomorrow.
That’s assuming the polar bears don’t eat you
But polar bears are cute and cuddly.
Right, everyone loves the polar part, forget the bears part til it’s too late
We have garbage dumps in various places upstate NY, just like other places. That draws bears. Inevitably, someone needs to take a picture of the cute freaking black bear.
Of course, to a bear, an arm is as tasty as day old pizza, and that makes for a heck of a picture, assuming it’s not your arm.
Theo – No worries, Alonso is a vegan.
I see what you did there!
Congrats kid, excellent start, 👍
Wow!
The kid was amazing…hits the strike zone with regularity…..he gets the A’s next week @Fenway. Let’s see how it goes with their 2nd look at him. But if he’s anything close to last night, we might have a keeper!
I have been talking about this kid for a few years now. He’s got a full starters pitch mix and his best pitch imo the changeup he didn’t have a feel for last night. He’s a mid rotation arm imo right now. His arsenal is a complete starters pitch mix and while he may not have the upside of Tolle he’s better prepared right now to pitch out if the Red Sox rotation. Tolle imo would be better served bringing the heat out of the pen but once he develops those secondaries better he’s going to be a monster.
Early is a pitcher he has a good idea what he’s doing on the mound. He will throw any of his five pitches at any point in the count. This nonsense that the experts said he’s not a strikeout pitcher is just that nonsense. You don’t have to have an overpowering fastball to get strike people out and get swing and miss. He’s also an achiever every goal that the Red Sox brass gave this kid he met and exceeded every time. When everyone went back to there family’s in the off-season Early spent the entire time in Fort Meyers. Working on his conditioning, fastball velocity, pitch shapes he’s a hard worker and very disciplined. I expect big things out of Connelly Early and he also has the maturity to overcome bad outings I don’t think if he throws up a stinker it will deter him in any way he’s quite mature and regimented with that military background.
The real question now is since he’s arrived Early, no pun intended, who are we going to lose to the rule 5 due to him taking a 40 man spot.
Z. Kelly? G. Weissert? D. Hamilton? I. Campbell?
Bruin – You absolutely deserve credit for your past comments on the farm system. It’s always a pleasure reading them, thank you!!
Thanks FPG. It’s great to see what I’ve been saying for years now coming to fruition. This team is loaded and it’s just the beginning. The young position core is already in place now comes a lot of pitching this farm system is so deep in pitching prospects.
@Bruin1012
I have no idea who we lose @rule5 draft but i will say this and im not sure if this is a popular take or not, but its mine.
It annoyed me to no end how much Felgar & Mazz kept pressuring the Sox to trade top prospects every year when we really didnt have the team to compete with the big boys.
Think about it, if those Dopes got their way, one of Marcello, Anthony, Abreu, Early or Duran would’ve been traded for a slim to none chance on a weak team catching fire.
Thankfully, we did not listen, our front office held off for 3 straight seasons keeping the top prospects and only giving away some for Crochet, (Well worth it as he’s 2nd in Cy Young voting).
Because we stashed so many prospects, we may lose someone now, but the guys we brought up have all very strong save Campbell. Should we have gone all in on Joe Ryan? Maybe, but that would’ve meant losing someone on the active roster most likely.
I think we may have had the best farm in baseball for two seasons, and giving up Tibbs for May might have been a mistake, but the cost of Ryan would’ve been astronomical im guessing and is that really worth it for a 1yr rental?
All in all, ill take the rule 5 losses knowing this staff is drafting well and extending them young BEFORE they get too pricey (ala Atlanta Braves) and that is the exact formula for long term success.
I am usually disappointed by the takes of Boston sports radio hosts.
@all in the suit that you wear
Its super negative, especially Maz and Beatle, ugh those two guys are super annoying.
Pol – Do you work for the team? You seem to use “we” a lot (at least 7 times in that one post alone), which implies you do … but then a lot of what you wrote implies that you don’t?
So what do you think of the Sox trading Priester and Newcomb …. ya think they could have helped fill a couple needs if they had stayed with the Sox?
We as in Sox fans, and no i dont work for the team lol. Give me a break. Ive been a fan of the team since 1978, and ive seen them make TONS of boneheaded moves like signing hanley and kung fu panda, carl crawford among others.
This ownership group held on to prospects when others like Dumbrowski would sell his entire farm for a veteran.
I think they are boneheads for NOT extending Bregman when given the chance.
As far as Preister, that move always puzzled me, seemed like a mistake at the time. Newcomb i havnt payed enough attention to know he is doing.
Can we skip the personal attacks please? I am a red sox fan and also a Pirates fan, my gf is from small town near Pittsburgh and while i just cant bring myself to follow the steelers, i decided to make the Pirates my National League team 4 years ago and they are in a much bigger mess than Boston is. Theyre held hostage to shareholders and refuse to spend.
I am a Sox/Pirates fan, and mostly just comment on Boston because right now Pitt is a complete mess. I used to be on the Red Sox message board when it existed on mlb.com.
Sox have made some great moves of late, but a few seemingly boneheaded ones as well. But, i for one am glad they hoarded prospects, but perhaps it is time to trade some for positions of need as we have an overflow in the outfield. Sandy Alcantara anyone?
Poly – Seems like we are about the same age. 1978 was around the time I began following them, and I became a Pirates fan in 1979.
I see it would be pointless to discuss Dave, who you consider to be “dumb” despite the fact his track record makes him one of the greatest executives in the game and a certain HOF’er. If you look at the players he traded while in Boston, and what he got in return, it’s kinda ridiculous to complain.
Bregman had a good 5 weeks to start the season. The numbers speak for themselves, Sox were smart not to extend him. I’m guessing a year ago you wanted to extend Houck, Casas, Wong and Rafaela too.
Newcomb has a 1.82 ERA and 1.054 WHIP with the Athletics, and all the Sox got for him was cash considerations. Needless to say, not a good move by Breslow.
I asked you if you worked for the team, how is that a personal attack?
Well I’m glad to see you posting here, hopefully we can share in the excitement of a memorable postseason.
The Sox are finally drafting some good pitching and while Tolle had some issues in his last start, i still like his potential quite a bit. Early has oodles of potential, so does Tolle, jury still out on who will be batter. As for the future read below.
What we need is to extend Abreu, and dump Campbell, he was a 1yr wonder and is massively overrated. Go after Bregman conservatively, meaning more years, less annual avg pay. Look into the japanese 3rd baseman, and trading for Alcantara.
If Bregman doesnt return, go Full Throttle after Bichette and put Marcello at 3rd. Schwarber would be nice, but its a lot easier to get a 1st baseman than it is a SS who can impact the team.
If somehow Story and Bregman leave, dump all the money into Bichette and Schwarber, no excuses, we have plenty of cash. Let marcello take 3rd and run with it. My preference is Breggy stays, but we may have pissed him off without extending him.
This is a key offseason for this team with marque players we could really use to help all the kids.
Poly – Agreed on the pitching, Bloom seemed to focus almost entirely on drafting position players and filling out the pitching staff with lottery tickets and bargain basement signings.
You should have been here during the Bloom years, it was comical how the Bloom suckups kept defending everything he did. And when he was finally fired, surprise surprise …. the Bloom suckups suddenly distanced themselves from him.
I’m a huge supporter of Abreu, last year when almost everyone here demanded he be traded I said “NO – DO NOT TRADE HIM”.
But his inability to stay healthy has become a concern, therefore I wouldn’t rush into extending him. Same with Mayer, I love the guy but he needs to prove he can stay healthy.
Campbell with that contract has very little trade value right now. I think with the proper coaching and a competent manager, he could end up earning that contract. I wouldn’t let him go, certainly not now.
Bregman will not accept anything reasonable, he proved last offseason he’s all about the money …. which is one reason why Boras is his client.
Good luck landing Japanese free agents after the horrific reputation the Sox have earned the past few years. There’s a reason why Japanese free agents didn’t even bother visiting the Red Sox when they were making tours visiting other teams.
Bichette is a very good player, but it’s the same situation as Mayer …. I definitely wouldn’t give a huge contract to someone who is so injury prone. Health history matters a lot in baseball.
The Sox have strongly made it known they don’t want another big ticket fulltime DH. Even if they manage to trade Yoshida this offseason, I wouldn’t expect a Schwarber signing …. which sucks because I love the guy and wanted him extended in 2021 when almost everyone else here insisted that would be a bad decision. Ahh, I do miss the Bloom Suckups …. NOT! LOL!!
DUDE – Since May 8th Breggy Beer Man is batting .249 with just a .725 OPS and playing average at best defense. That’s no small sample size, it’s 270 PA’s and it’s in line with his downward trend since 2022 (look at the numbers). Anybody who gives him the contract he wants will be making a huge mistake, not to mention he’s got quite the injury history now.
And to all the Rafaela haters out there, give the guy credit …. he is a great athlete who is ready to play every day. The guy never gets injured (not counting a bloody face from his gold chains LOL).
I have seen every red sox team since 78 when i was a boy, tho admittedly, did not follow ownerships moves till the late 80s early 90s when we nearly got Nolan Ryan and several other missteps.
Seen the collapse of 86, the 25 guys 25 caps red sox that had no chemistry. The loss of Clemens, the arrival of Pedro and Manny. Some fun competitive years until the 03 heartbreaking loss to Yankees and the redemption of 2004 which nobody saw coming when we were down 0-3.
Ive been on this board for years, i think under another name? But, rarely posted, forgot my pw and made this account.
Imho, i disagree, ive seen Bregman and Story make sensational play after sensational play at 3rd. Bichette is a beast, and to me he is totally worth any injury concerns, i know he misses around 18 games a yr due to injuries and one he missed 25!
Still, his stats and production are some of the best at his position. Honestly, i think just returns to Toronto anyways.
Bregmans errors ive seen came early in the year, not sure what you are talking about, all i seen him do is make great throw after great throw. Some he doesnt, but fatboy wouldnt even get to those balls, let alone have a play on them.
Bregman is exactly the kind of leader we need around a young team imho.
Poly – Thanks for providing the background, I’m glad you’re here.
This is what I’m talking about with regard to Breggy’s defense, he’s 8th out of 14 third basemen with min 850 innings.
fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?stats=fld&…
Bo missed 81 games last year, exactly half the season, and when he played through the injury he was awful with a .598 OPS. He missed 27 games the year before too.
Story and Duran are more team leaders than Breggy.
FPG: “Bloom seemed to focus almost entirely on drafting position players”
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False. In Bloom’s drafts:
2020: 2 of 4 picks were pitchers and 12 of 16 undrafted players signed were pitchers
2021: 8 of 20 picks were pitchers and 1 of 2 undrafted players signed were pitchers
2022: 13 of 21 picks were pitchers and 0 of 2 undrafted players signed were pitchers
2023: 12 of 22 picks were pitchers and 1 of 2 undrafted players signed were pitchers
Most people don’t realize Bloom really picked up especially in the last two years he drafted quite a bit of pitching. The one thing he didn’t do was spend high draft picks on pitching it was third round or later before he started drafting pitchers while Breslow is going after premium draft picks pitching talent. Breslow also seems to be prioritizing pitching at every level in the organization. The idea that Bloom didn’t draft any pitching is a fallacy.
I think it was only four drafts. There aren’t any obvious pitching selections that anyone else would’ve made. Mayer and Teel were the right picks. Yorke didn’t work out, but the only pitcher I’d have liked was Miodzinski, but he was chosen 14 picks later. I don’t think Romero will work out, but again, there were no pitchers there to draft at that position.
This is a good article about Red Sox pitching prospect Anthony Eyanson, but it also discusses their approach to drafting pitchers, their development program and other prospects.
masslive.com/redsox/2025/09/red-sox-prospect-is-na…