8:10PM Eastern
Red Sox
Nathan Eovaldi (R)
1. Jarren Duran (L) CF
2. Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
3. Alex Verdugo (L) LF
4. J.D. Martinez (R) DH
5. Christian Vazquez (R) C
6. Christian Arroyo (R) 3B
7. Franchy Cordero (L) RF
8. Bobby Dalbec (R) 1B
9. Yolmer Sanchez (S) 2B
Astros
Luis Garcia (R)
1. Jose Altuve (R) 2B
2. Yuli Gurriel (R) 1B
3. Yordan Alvarez (L) DH
4. Alex Bregman (R) 3B
5. Kyle Tucker (L) RF
6. Aledmys Diaz (R) LF
7. Jeremy Pena (R) SS
8. Jake Meyers (R) CF
9. Martin Maldonado (R) C
Gametime Temp: 89°F
Chance of Precip: 5%
Houston is doing almost as well as the Yankees this season. Can't see the Sox taking this series. They'll be lucky to avoid a sweep.
Has anyone else thought that Eovaldi's a goner by the 4th inning if he comes out slinging 97MPH? I know he's not been perfect or healthy enough, but I've enjoyed watching him in his time with the Sox.
Quote from: markj on August 01, 2022, 08:07:58 AM
Houston is doing almost as well as the Yankees this season. Can't see the Sox taking this series. They'll be lucky to avoid a sweep.
That's not all we might lost to the Astros this week. Vasquez is on their radar according to Ken Rosenthal. bah!
Here's to hoping we can sweep them like the A's did last week. thumb_u
Not only Vaz. It’s looking more and more like JDM will be a throwaway to the Mets, and return will be 1B Dominic Smith. MGT. wants to get under the CBT tax so bad that JDM is simply fodder. The fuzzy math, Sox are $23mil over CBT, JDM is worth $19, Vaz is $9 and Smith is $4m. The fans will understand, yeah right.
Eovaldi will be watched tonight by a lot of teams too.
With any luck Bloom doesn't get badly fleeced on too many deals. I would think guys would be lining up to deal with him. Bloom said he wouldn't give up JDM for less than a major league player and top prospects. This is your reminder that Verdugo, Downs and Wong were the major leaguer and top prospects we got for Mookie.
Yeah, so now we'll have a three headed dud at 1b?
Speir called him a decent defender, IIRC. A Mets writer called him something else. Not as bad as "liability", IIRC, but it wasn't positive in the least.
I thought we were floating around the CBT threshold? I had no idea we were that far over, or even over at all. iono
Houston traded with O’s for Trey Mancini, part of a three team deal with Tampa. Rays get OF Jose Siri from Houston.
The Yanks got Montas and Trivino from Oakland.
Looks like Vaz is moving on. Astros are said to be ‘finalizing the deal.†Pawlecki wins out I guess.
Boston is doing a deal with Cinci for OF Tommy Pham. Interesting. He can DH, don't think he's anything beyond a n average fielding OF. Both Pham and Verdugo are LF. Somebody is changing over.
.238 avg., 694 OPS, 11 HR, 38 rbi's.
I liked Vaz. Yeah, he made some base running errors, but he was always gung-ho about the game and always seemed to give his best. I hope the trade proves valuable.
Good moves by the Astros with Vaz and Trey Mancini. Not sure what we get in return. Also don’t know what question Pham answers, unless we’re just trying to stock up on weak hitting OFs.
Vaz was in the middle of BP when he was told he was traded to the home dugout.
Quote from: longgame on August 01, 2022, 06:05:53 PM
Good moves by the Astros with Vaz and Trey Mancini. Not sure what we get in return. Also don’t know what question Pham answers, unless we’re just trying to stock up on weak hitting OFs.
We get two prospects for Vaz. Not named yet.
We got a catcher, Reece McGuire from ChiSox in exchange for Jake Diekman. Not sure how that justifies the Vaz trade, unless Bloom is stocking prospects..
So far all Blooms trades suck.
This sucks.
Reese McGuire really. He brings a whole new meaning to getting exposed. Bloom is a freaking idiot.
The trades look like a big salary dump. Boston even got Chicago to pay all of Diekman's $8mil salary.
And we get someone convicted of indecent exposure.
What a shitty way to dump that news on Vaz. He was clearly upset. Bloom is jackass.
Bloom goes for low batting averages and low character.
Meanwhile the Sox give up 2 errors and they both score.
Geez, the kids the dips**t got for Vasquez actually look good on paper. Adds to our roster crisis, but they look good.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=abreu-002wil (https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=abreu-002wil)
78 walks in 89 games? In this day and age?
it gets better, I think. Check this out.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=valdez000enm (https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=valdez000enm)
Slouch dropped 30 points getting called up to AAA. Whadda bum. Oh, and on the year - .327, 21 HRs, 77RBI. in 82 games. I ain't making this up.
Still, there's no forgiving getting Tommy Pham. I don't care how decent a bat he has. That said, I don't know him personally and have to hope that his bouncing around is because all of his charitable contributions of time and love to society are a distraction to the team. thumb_u
Quote from: markj on August 01, 2022, 08:07:32 PM
What a shitty way to dump that news on Vaz. He was clearly upset. Bloom is jackass.
Now hear this!!! Signing a VERY team friendly deal means nothing to the Boston organization.
He has every right to be upset.
I was just looking them up too Mongo. Valdez was their 29th prospect and appears to have some pretty good upside. but Abreu is a dump from them. That’s a crazy stat on the walks though.
I wonder if they think that Hernandez isn’t coming back this year and need to at least have a professional in the OF?
Houck gets robbed of a game ending strike.
Out of it anyway. Very surprising win. Even more surprising is the source of the offense. Dalbec and Duran? Who'da thunk it?
Quote from: markj on August 01, 2022, 10:15:52 PM
Out of it anyway. Very surprising win. Even more surprising is the source of the offense. Dalbec and Duran? Who'da thunk it?
markj, today was my 52nd Anniversary with my wife Linda and to get a win over the Astros might be somewhat of a present. Who really knows. All I do know is that Bloom is a moron. He is collecting prospects but let me tell you he is such a shitty judge of talent that he and the front office will pick the wrong ones to advance while our better ones will be traded for trash and become All Stars---UNLESS BLOOM IS FIRED AFTER THIS SEASON IS OVER. Calling Bloom a moron is actually a compliment to him; he is really an idiot.
Happy Anniversary to you and Linda, Fred! 52 years! Wow! thumb_u
Quote from: SeaBeachFred on August 01, 2022, 10:47:18 PM
Quote from: markj on August 01, 2022, 10:15:52 PM
Out of it anyway. Very surprising win. Even more surprising is the source of the offense. Dalbec and Duran? Who'da thunk it?
markj, today was my 52nd Anniversary with my wife Linda and to get a win over the Astros might be somewhat of a present. Who really knows. All I do know is that Bloom is a moron. He is collecting prospects but let me tell you he is such a shitty judge of talent that he and the front office will pick the wrong ones to advance while our better ones will be traded for trash and become All Stars---UNLESS BLOOM IS FIRED AFTER THIS SEASON IS OVER. Calling Bloom a moron is actually a compliment to him; he is really an idiot.
Happy anniversary to you two beauties! From the family'
Long may you run ..
Congratulations, Fred! 52 years - veddy nice, ah! Veddy nice. thumb_u
Quote from: markj on August 01, 2022, 10:14:43 PM
Houck gets robbed of a game ending strike.
I was thinking, earlier in the game, that this had been one of Angel Hernandez's better games behind the plate. The very next pitch was a gift to our pitcher - about 3 ball widths off the plate for a strike. The exasperation with him is you just never know when he's gonna really screw up a call, and how bad that call is.
Quote from: longgame on August 01, 2022, 08:16:45 PM
I was just looking them up too Mongo. Valdez was their 29th prospect and appears to have some pretty good upside. but Abreu is a dump from them. That’s a crazy stat on the walks though.
I wonder if they think that Hernandez isn’t coming back this year and need to at least have a professional in the OF?
I looked a little more this morning. Abreu had 12 OF Assists last year in A+ and 5 so far this year in AA. He does have 15 HRs, but combined that with 106 Ks in 411 PA or 329 AB. This is year #2 of that approach, it looks like. And 21 SB with one caught steeling? It's an unusual stat sheet. Oh, and he did a Duran style change, except that he had no good batting average prior to doing it. Duran was a 300+ BA guy before turning his swing into a power swing. Abreau was a 250's hitter with far fewer walks and K's. His OPS went from the 600's to the high 800's. He also hit more RBI in 2021 than he had in his 4 previous seasons combined.
Him in a corner spot with Rafaela in CF will give Portland a fun OF to watch. The guy playing RF right now for Portland has one heck of an arm, too.
The book on new guy Valdez is a plus bat, MLB potential, but he has no "defensive home". Dont know if that means he's a disaster in the field,or Astros don't know the fit, lately played 2B and 3B. He was rated by BA as Houston's #12 in addition to the #29 ranking. Smallishbplayer, Abreu is a big guy at 6'1. I watch too much football size and weights!
Quote from: Sea Dog 23 on August 02, 2022, 06:49:50 AM
The book on new guy Valdez is a plus bat, MLB potential, but he has no "defensive home". Dont know if that means he's a disaster in the field,or Astros don't know the fit, lately played 2B and 3B. He was rated by BA as Houston's #12 in addition to the #29 ranking. Smallishbplayer, Abreu is a big guy at 6'1. I watch too much football size and weights!
I was wondering about that #29 rating enough to go look and see what Houston had above if. I looked at 1/2 dozen or so and came away from it wondering the same thing. I can see BA's #12 ranking.
On Vazquez, apparently he had some comments about Bloom and just like that he was gone. Let's see who the Sox decide is a better catcher next year.
On the other hand, the Sox win so let's blame their woes on Vaz - undefeated in August!
Quote from: longgame on August 02, 2022, 07:52:56 AM
On Vazquez, apparently he had some comments about Bloom and just like that he was gone. Let's see who the Sox decide is a better catcher next year.
On the other hand, the Sox win so let's blame their woes on Vaz - undefeated in August!
Glad to see JD and Nathan still will us. Eovaldi pitched a solid game last night and should have had a six inning shutout save for the two errors. JD has been a stalwart for us for four plus years and I would love to see him finish his career in Boston, though that might be a reach knowing Bloomer Boy and Henry's stinginess in spending money on quality players, the cheap bastard.
Indeed! I'd say JD's been one of their better FA signings we've had in the past 10-15 years. I've always enjoyed how complete of a hitter he's been. Fenway's probably cost him 5 homers a year, but that's a small price to pay. Eovaldi's been a bag of injuries, but has been easy to root for. He's also not been our most injured pitcher. I was glad to see him get that 4-year deal.