The Elephant in the Room - The Red Sox

[sportsfan8703]

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BOS/2024.shtml
 

They’re 53-42. 4.5 GB. Really good rotation. Young, and athletic. Good Bullpen. Their weaknesses are 1B/DH. That’s the cheapest thing to buy at the deadline. 

They also have 3 prospects in the top 25. 

We’re judging ourselves off of the Yankees. It’s the Red Sox we should be worried about. 

Edited July 19 by sportsfan8703

[terpoh]

They do not need to buy 1B. They have one of the best 1B in the division in Casas and he'll be back soon. Good news is we've built a solid cushion and we only need one more win over them to own the tie breaker too. They've made their run and taken advantage during our funk end of June and into July so hopefully we're able to get back to who we are after the break with some new additions to bolster the roster. 

Edited July 19 by terpoh

[Sports Guy]

I’m worried about us. Get some pitching and everything will take care of itself.

In a broader view, Boston is the bigger worry long term if their pitching can sustain.

[Rbiggs2525]

I’ll start by saying, ain’t nobody worried about the Red Sox. I see regression with this team in terms of pitching and not having middle infielders. I also think their GM knows that and they will not be making any big deadline moves.

[Rbiggs2525]

Also to there prospects. I don’t see star with any of them. Mayer looks like an oversized shortstop that will hit a little but hurt on defense. Anthony is interesting. Teel looks like a slightly above average catcher which is hard to find.

[LGOrioles]

They’ve played pretty much as well as they possibly can and they’re still only 11 games over and are in 3rd place. Their pitching is legitimately good, but offensively no team has gotten luckier on their balls in play (they have the highest difference between their wOBA and xwOBA and easily the highest BABIP) and they’re 25-30 against teams over .500 (28-12 against teams under .500). They’re 24-13 since June but 15-11 in that time frame against teams other than Toronto, Oakland, and Miami. Their schedule is a lot tougher through August so it’ll be interesting to see how they do, but I would not be shocked to see them play .500 or below the next month and a half. They’re a good team but I don’t think they’re on the same level as the O’s or NYY. 

[gamiliel]

35 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m worried about us. Get some pitching and everything will take care of itself.

In a broader view, Boston is the bigger worry long term if their pitching can sustain.

This is exactly right!

[Frobby]

In my opinion, the Red Sox cannot and will not catch us unless we play quite poorly.  So, I’m just worried about how we play, not what the Red Sox are doing.   They are on pace to win 90 games.  We would win 91 just by playing .500 ball from here.  If we fail to do that, we have bigger problems than the Red Sox.   We played crappy baseball for a week or two before the break, and now we need to wake up.  

[Spy Fox]

I think their success is pretty dependent on the simultaneous breakout seasons that Houck and Crawford are having. Both those guys are 28, and have shown potential for a while but have never been this good. And they're already past (Houck) or soon to pass (Crawford) their career IP highs. Their contender status may depend on whether those two guys can keep it going for the stretch run. 

[Safelykept]

Wonder how much an elephant they might be with a couple of key injuries to their pitching staff? That said we need to get better.

[Aristotelian]

They do have a 2014 Royals vibe. I wouldn't want to play them right now.

Will be interesting how they handle the trade deadline. 

[ShoelesJoe]

I believe the Red Sox have the toughest schedule in MLB in the second half of the season. We're middling, and Yankees have one of the easiest schedules. 25 of Boston's next 34 games are against teams with winning records. I think they'll fade significantly in that time. 

[sportsfan8703]

As @Sports Guy pointed out, the Red Sox are a team that could make a deal for Skubal.  Really they have a system to get anyone they want.  

I'm confident in us.  We need to buy a SP, RP, and Luis Robert. 

The Red sox aren't the cute, and cuddly, sub .500 team we think they are.  They could get on the scene real fast.  Offense is always cheaper to buy than pitching.  

[TommyPickles]

The Red Sox have had an impressive season and I'm not hating on them.

But the O's are 5-1 against Boston this year. I could see Boston sneaking into the playoffs, but I could also see them just missing out. I'd also be fine playing them in the first round.

[LookinUp]

I'm not sure how you can watch how we played the last two weeks and not worry about the Yankees and Red Sox. 

I do think a lot of that had to do with Gunnar and Westburg hitting slumps. That definitely exposed the rest of the lineup, so hopefully we get that fixed and find some pitching soon.