Dirty Water - the tale of the 2023 Boston Red Sox

Despite my best efforts I’m vaguely invested in this team now. It’s the classic band of misfits thing, I think, although unlike the 2010 Giants, they don’t have pitching. Otoh that Giants team would bite 2023 Red Sox’s collective hands off for even one of their hot hitters.

It remains to be seen how their season will actually play out. Have enjoyed the rise and redemption of Jarren Duran, Triston Casas has his own thread, and ofc my absolute secret favourite Kiké! Not even mentioning Masa and his hitting streak (RIP), Bello’s promise, Chris Sale veering between throwing flames and throwing phones…

It’s an incredibly interesting team to watch, not least for the fact that they never seem to give up. Despite all this, I still cannot characterise them as a good team - the starting pitching is too much of a problem. But they are entertaining af!

they really are. the pen is so good it always feels like there's a chance, even when they lose. tough schedule rn tho

while we're throwing around accolades it's been immensely gratifying to see connor wong turning into a real major league catcher. he's a tough nut!

Kenley Jansen has been pretty great closing out games, but honestly Brasier makes me 🫣🫣🫣

Yes, how did I fail to mention him! He’s got a great arm!

Sale was so great against the Phillies, had never seen him pitch live in anything like his vintage form before and he looked incredible for three innings, before the Phillies cracked him in the 4th and he did this Sale vmic:

Chris Sale is not pleased with how the fourth inning went. pic.twitter.com/QbCSjfbwqN

— Jamie Gatlin (@JamieGatlin17) May 6, 2023

casas finally gets a meaningful dinger to provide kenley j with some breathing room. and he absolutely crushed it, a no doubter all the way

lol @ finally

His May is off to a great start. Loved Duran with the base.

Boston Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran reacts with the base after hitting a double during an MLB baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 📸 EPA/Erik S. Lesser#epaimages #sports #mlb #georgia pic.twitter.com/7oHZfWj1MS

— EPA Images (@EPA_Images) May 11, 2023

This post was tailor made for you, Tracer Hand

https://www.overthemonster.com/platform/2023/4/27/23698692/off-day-recommendation-no-red-sox-baseball-moby-dick

So good. This other maura otm! The link above was weird for me but this one works

https://www.overthemonster.com/2023/4/27/23698692/off-day-recommendation-no-red-sox-baseball-moby-dick

Sale 8IP, 3H, 1R, 1BB, 9K

DON’T JINX IT

I feel like it’s okay, that part’s in the books

kenley on the other hand

Second night in a row!

Kiké makes a better throw the game’s still tied, maybe even over

But yeah he has just not had it at all

Triston would have got that

Messy, two blown saves in a row. Cardinals have that murderer’s row in the lineup but even so.

Some credit has to go to Contreras who admitted to deliberately fucking with Jansen by appearing as if 'alert and ready' yet keeping one foot just out of the batter's box until right after Jansen started his motion. I didn't understand it in real time but the pitch clock violations weren't for being late delivering the ball, they were for Jansen 'quick pitching' before Contreras was purportedly ready in the box. I anticipate they will all learn from this and I also anticipate Kiké moving on from short soon please god, but Jansen's dip in velocity is pretty concerning, it was mainly 92-93 after throwing, what, 99mph on the game he broke 400?

Strange the turns a season can take, now it's all about the relievers blowing starting gems.

The other day I read a sub-hed somewhere that said something like "after Jansen and Yoshida's heroics, Boston the clear winner of the winter free agent market" I mean, Jansen's latest two meltdowns aside that's quite a turnaround from the unanimous consensus that Bloom had one of the most disappointing offseasons in recent memory

Yeah I was reading that as well, pure shithousing. Tactically and technically within the rules but not great, it’s a loophole I hadn’t personally seen exploited this season. No doubt every single pitcher will be told to look at their feet as well now.

Really think not putting in Casas to pitch top of the ninth was a mistake, I don’t think that shitty throw ends up like that if he’s on first. I like Turner a lot but he’s not a first baseman at all, let alone your guy you want there in that situation.

Can Story play short when he comes back?

lol, “to pitch”. To play.

I meant to say re Jansen, he clearly emptied the tank for that 400. He probably desperately wanted to make up for the previous night, and then got tripped up by those calls. His command looked bad but a lot more things had to go wrong for that save to go last night.

I’ve read that Boston want Mondesi at SS and Story at 2B because of concerns they have about Story’s arm but the ideal world rarely appears so who knows

Isn’t Story’s arm supposed to have been fixed by surgery? I guess they’ll find out when he completes rehab.

Brasier finally DFA’d 🙏

Great news to wake up to after seeing that box score. Ugh!

Ugly stuff

Alex Verdugo called and led a team meeting a couple of hours before first pitch tonight, reports @bradfo.

We all saw him set the tone by beating out a grounder to open the bottom of the first. But it seems he set the tone hours before that. pic.twitter.com/lFWOgn86Ow

— Boston Sports Gordo (@BOSSportsGordo) May 17, 2023

he's a solid player but for reasons i can't fully explain i don't like that guy

There’s a pretty troubling story about him from his Dodger days.

I remember that. When Kapler was coaching an LA farm team? iirc Verdugo wasn’t accused of anything but the situation was terrible and Kapler should have called the police.

btw how about Pablo Reyes??

<i>A week ago, Reyes was playing for the A’s Triple-A affiliate, unable to find a spot on the worst team in baseball. In need of middle infield help with Christian Arroyo out, the Sox acquired him for cash, and the 29-year-old has gone 8-for-19, including 2-for-5 with a pair of two-run doubles leading to a career-high four RBI Wednesday.<I>

nice pickup but can he handle bbcode

lol i don't know what's happened to me

I remember that. When Kapler was coaching an LA farm team? iirc Verdugo wasn’t accused of anything but the situation was terrible and Kapler should have called the police.

lol i don't know what's happened to me

I don't know whether I'm coming or going!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwSr04oWcAMeZNE?format=jpg&name=large

Alex Cora just now with @GreshFauriaWEEI announced they will be moving Corey Kluber to the Pen in the wake of Houck’s strong last performance

— WEEI Red Sox Network (@SoxBooth) May 24, 2023

He could blow saves

he’s not great first time through the order or any time through the order

He’ll be blowing dust off his cleats.

might simply have been too embarrassed to DFA their opening-day starter after less than two months

Yeah. I think they were probably gentler with him given that Cora was talking about “mechanical adjustments” that needed to be done like three days ago. If an SP is genuinely trying to get better - and Kluber’s a pretty professional seeming guy, so assume this was the case - they probably merit a slightly gentler pushoff. But who knows?

Btw - BELLO. Genuinely a shining ray of light on this team.

It's early but he really seems like he might be pretty special.

Can we discuss this play, Tracer Hand?!

Kutter Crawford. Athlete. 😳 pic.twitter.com/TuUxx3Nnv4

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 28, 2023

it’s worth noting what a good read that was from casas s well to stretch himself into foul territory and give kutter a clean target to throw to

Yeah this is the conversation I was having with you the other day re first base fielding right? Does his handedness impact on that play at all?

idk if anything I think being a rightie actually helps him there? mookieproof to thread

I watched the Bello innings and then the scores of last night’s game. Pretty rough outing for Bello but he only allowed one run, despite the best efforts of that guy who is not a shortstop. His skyhigh pitch count in the first two innings with all the sloppy breaking balls reminded me of a classic bad Zito outing in the 2012 NLDS against the Reds(!). And Joely Rodriguez isn’t Tim Lincecum.

Actually, just looking through his pitching sequences, it looks like Maguire kept calling for his slider, which was a ball 99% of the time? Wtf?

I should really look at it in more detail but yeah, I don’t think Maguire is much of a catcher.

I am here because I do not want to talk about the Mariners. 🫣🫣🫣

I saw that but haven’t done it, any good?

Ok I’ve done it now, some interesting questions in there. What SP did you think they should go for

i want Shota!

He seems good, Yamamoto is clearly The Guy but who knows if John Henry will crack open the wallet?

I personally like Montgomery. Tough lefty, pitches deep into games, increasing the himbo quotient, what’s not to like

I just checked his Instagram and the first three words on the profile are “follower of Jesus”. His doctor wife is right, he really is dumb

Ya know, I really should have known religious discrimination wasn't beyond you, but there you go

I thought about seriously responding to this, as a Catholic from a family that was always socially liberal in a country that was not so when I was growing up, and then I realised I’d be wasting my time.

as opposed to when you post religious discrimination

It’s not obligatory to interact with my posts, so how about you don’t?

yeah please don't shit up multiple threads H.P ffs

Also not obligatory to post religious discrimination so how about you don’t?

Thanks tracer! Happy to when gyac stops posting garbage

H.P. - as one of the original moderators of this board, fellow baseball lover and - afaict - only other woman on this board, I am asking you nicely, can you please not engage in this creep behaviour of following gyac around multiple threads and picking/reviving beefs and threatening to continue until she meets your demands?

It's incredibly unpleasant, controlling and typical harassing behavior that I promise you every woman online has experienced and is sick of.

Dude, I am sorry for whatever is going on in your personal life, but if you love baseball at all, can you please take a good look at what you are doing? Maybe try to incorporate some sportsmanship and good character into your own posting?

You've earned a FP from me. Please drop it.

Weird narrative you've spun? If this is the board where religious discrimination is cool and a good thing to post then sorry, I missed that memo. Stoked to see many posters backing up that type of behavior.

Love the personal life stuff being put in too (which has no factual basis). I consider calling out religious discrimination good character, but maybe we just have different value systems and we'll have to live with that.

HP, I don't know if the threadban function works, but I've just given you one for this thread, so we'll find out. Please stop chasing gyac around ILB and picking fights.

Thank you WmC.

TH, the survey results are in and RSS published here

73% of people want Brayan Bello and Triston Casas to both receive long-term contracts from the Red Sox this winter, with only 6% wanting to extend neither. 17% are ready to extend Casas, but want to hold off on Bello.

92% say there needs to be changes made to the Red Sox major league pitching coaches.

higher chance of that than kennedy having any interesting answers but i will try to stay open-minded

Abreu included by SK in discussion about extending young players

What I would dearly love in 2024 is for Cora’s guys to actually have a set role for more than about 5 minutes. Who’s playing center? Who’s a starter? Am I batting 8th or second? It changed all the time, drove me crazy. I know, injuries, but still

JT is such a guy

Turner, who played with the Orioles and Mets in the early years of his career, credits players such as Nick Markakis, Adam Jones, Ty Wigginton and David Wright for instilling the idea of a mutually respectful relationship between teammates, regardless of age. Rather than following the concept of “making them earn it,” Turner believes in embracing rookies and making sure they’re comfortable.

“I always say I’m like the bumpers on a bowling lane,” Turner said. “I don’t want to interfere with them or stop them from doing anything, I just want to keep them moving in the right direction, make sure they don’t wind up in the gutter.”

Back in 2019, @jcmccaffrey wrote an article about how the starting pitcher typically chooses the jersey for the day. I wanted to know if that was still true. Maybe it's a coincidence, but it looks to me like certain pitchers have clear preferences.

James Paxton is a real one pic.twitter.com/WbZgUOih8G

— Sox & Shoes (@soxandshoes) October 5, 2023

No City connects no care

Did you see the new piece about Alex Verdugo?

He was so great early in the season. I honestly don’t like how Cora’s treated him. He was striking out a lot towards the end which was very atypical for her.

Offensively, Verdugo took a step back after a strong start to the year. Through the first three months of the season, he was hitting .301 with an .836 OPS, but by the end of July his average had dropped 30 points and his OPS was down 60 points. He finished the year with a .264 average, his worst since arriving in Boston in 2020, and a .745 OPS.

Sources: Red Sox fire pitching coach Dave Bush https://t.co/7IeL9xfW4j via @BostonGlobe

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) October 9, 2023

The best running joke of the season is the Dave Bush mound visit. I swear it results in an RBI 100% of the time

— cesar flebotomo (@thrischomas) August 30, 2023

That's my Bush!

FEBLES OUT

Posted on Jacoby Ellsbury’s Instagram story
https://i.postimg.cc/43S09cK0/IMG-1139.jpg

The pic doesn't come up for me

Is it the shot in the bar with Youk et al?

Yes! I’ll send you it

Big Ol Tek

Haha, tiny Pedroia nearly lost in the crowd is the best part of that picture

Literally do not even care pls hurry up

Continuing to update the story on the Sox search: Multiple sources believe the team has offered the job to Craig Breslow, and expect him to become the next head of baseball operations for the Red Sox. https://t.co/SGBgGIwuki via @BostonGlobe

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) October 24, 2023

Are they running Twitter sentiment analysis on each of these leaks before deciding, good God

No supposedly a cubs writer was ahead of them on this one

Breslow in

Craig Breslow will get the chief baseball officer title. That comes with full autonomy... including when it comes to naming his No. 2 in command, it seems. On what comes next (and a pitching coach note, too):https://t.co/EjSZg9pgmz

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) October 25, 2023

he seems like an interesting dude but has he ever done a deal in his entire career?

No idea, but the Cubs and Theo Epstein were very hot on him and promoted him several times? Guess we’ll see who the GM job goes to.

Right he did some whizkid pitching analytics stuff for the Cubbies, but has he ever recruited a player? Negotiated a deal? No, is I think the answer, so yeah his No. 2, and the rest of the team will be pretty important I guess

He was still pitching just 6 years ago!

The pitching coach note is promising

yeah his pitching expertise should pay dividends longterm but my impression was that ownership (and certainly fans) want to start winning now - hope he can do both

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just don’t trade Triston Casas for Kolten Wong and Bello for the corpse of Lance Lynn? Honestly though it depends if ownership gives him money. Might be moot if they don’t.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9ScwuKa8AAEExI?format=jpg&name=900x900

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGG0o5P1HFw

ok that made me extremely uncomfortable

Breslow intro presser at 3pm GMT

Join us live at 11am ET for Craig Breslow's introductory press conference: https://t.co/kEp0PGLISy pic.twitter.com/eFhzVzi3jE

— Red Sox (@RedSox) November 2, 2023

Kiké really isn’t good now, classic change of scene job. He’s reverted to his earlier year performance

Breslow’s experience as a major league pitcher and his ideas for rebooting how the franchise develops and improves pitchers were noted. Case in point, watching Ryan Brasier, released by the Red Sox in May, thrive in the Dodgers bullpen didn’t sit well.

”That obviously was disappointing,” Werner said. “We didn’t love the fact that he actually had a very productive season.”

Oh yeah I totally forgot about the Dominican series in ST, let’s see, they’ve got beloved Red Sox Dominican players Raffy Devers and…Triston Casas?

#SpringTraining: Dominican Republic edition!

The @RedSox will face @RaysBaseball March 9-10 at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo.

Tickets are on sale December 12! https://t.co/PnAXIxy3yF pic.twitter.com/alvdoWpjxu

— MLB (@MLB) December 5, 2023

Cruising through Samaná. 🇩🇴 pic.twitter.com/krCDPnVEdU

— Red Sox (@RedSox) November 30, 2023

On the subject of the most hench outfield:

HE’S READY
https://i.postimg.cc/503WBHCs/IMG-2806.jpg

HE’S READY
https://i.postimg.cc/YqjBFCqx/IMG-5091.png

HE’S READY
https://i.postimg.cc/3NfMqP9p/IMG-2807.jpg