Sunday Morning Coffee Thoughts

Good Morning my friends. We are now into the month of August and the trade deadline is tomorrow. The Sox are on a roll and trade rumors are running wild, while I sit here enjoying a beautiful morning in Southern Maine. I also want to wish my brother Brian a belated Happy Birthday (yesterday) as he celebrates while visiting his daughter in Hawaii.

As is our custom on Sunday mornings, take a walk into the kitchen. Check the shelves and way in the back find your long lost Mike Carp coffee mug. Dust it off. Then fill it to the top with the caffeinated beverage of your choice. Then find the most comfortable seat available to you and enjoy my latest offering.

Red Sox

The month of July has been almost a fantasy for the Red Sox and their fans. A record of 21-4 for the month. A 15 game winning streak! They started winning at home! They are firmly entrenched in the second wild card slot and are a mere 3.5 games behind the Yankees for the top slot in the wild card. They pitch well, play defense, can bunt and play small ball or go deep when needed. Everyone on that roster knows that they will be called upon to keep this thing going and to a man have done so with varying degrees of success.

Here are some things to watch after the trade deadline:

1. Don’t count on Mayer or Story to contribute down the stretch. Same for Roman Anthony. It is great to see him swing the bat again, but it is not time to rush him if he is not ready. All bets are off if the opposite is true.

2. Time to think about a one year extension for Sonny Gray!

3. There has been a lot of complaining about the Early-Mead trade after Mead got drilled and broke his wrist in Sacramento. Yes giving up a pitcher with Early’s talent is tough, but the Sox had a need and they tried to fill it. As I wrote this week in my article about the trade for Beyond the Monster “Need for need based trades are ones that generally work out best for both teams.”. The point is that Mead was an answer to the problem not THE answer to the problem.

4. Can we all agree that Breslow got two veteran leaders and huge contributors for this team in the persons of Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras. Their presence has the secret sauce to this teams ability to go from abysmal to awesome.

5. Romy Gonzalez needs some more time at AAA to get right. They will need him in September and beyond.

6. Jarren Duran - We saw the “Good Duran” and the “Bad Duran” in a matter of a couple of days this week. His little blow up about Contreras not scoring on a shallow fly ball to left was pathetic to watch. Contreras would have been out by the proverbial mile. Then Friday night in Los Angeles, the “Good Duran” made an appearance as he contributed with some timely hitting. I understand he plays with passion and struggles with mental health issues. However, this is a team game and we need to see far more of the “Good Duran” and not experience the “Bad Duran” that has been so prominent this season.

7. The current cast of roleplayers for the Red Sox (Seigler, Sogard, Monasterio, Gonzalez and Cheng) are very adept at what they do. They have provided much needed depth in the middle infield. Their presence and contributions over the last six weeks or so have been consistent and laudable, in particular with Monasterio. That said, these guys are utility or bench players and over the long haul more is less with respect to the their contributions. This is not a dig against this crew, just an admission of the reality that is their collective careers and a reality of the game of baseball.

8. Brayan Bello may want to be a starter, but right now he is the best long man they have. The way this team is playing, his role is in the bullpen and they will need to count on him down the stretch. The following stats are astounding when looking at his performances in both roles:

   1. As a starter: IP 35.2, ERA 10.35, WHIP 2.22, K’s 22, BB 21, Home Runs 10, Opponent Slash Line .365/ .435/ .623 (OPS:1.057)

   2. As a reliever or bulk guy: IP 35.0, ERA 0.77, WHIP 0.86, K’s 32, BB 4, Home Runs 1, Opponent Slash Line .208/ .242/ .256 (OPS: .498)

9. I see that Kristian Campbell is heating up again. I can’t help but think that he is part of a trade either with this deadline period or over the winter. There is promise and skill but there is also a lack of sustained performance.

10. The forgotten man, except for the annoying Mass Mutual commercial on NESN featuring Wally, is one Tristan Casas. He too is vying for the teams “Setback Player of the Year” award. Time might be running out on his time with the team as well.

THE “OG’S” IDLE THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK

• Another magical moment in the broadcast booth on Friday night when Nomar and Lou Merloni were able to talk during the action. Dave O’Brien was barely tolerable during the exchange.

• Franklin Arias seems not to have lost his home run stroke since his promotion to AAA.

• Watching Contreras take one above the ear flap Friday night gave me Tony C. like scary shudders down my spine.

• Looks like the Twins are buyers this deadline season. A total 180 degree turn from 2025 when they were handing out plane tickets out of town at the deadline like candy.

• At this point in the season the word “Interim” when referring to Chad Tracy as the Red Sox manager is insulting to the man! Time to make it go away!

• For the record, Aaron Boone is starting to look like a man who wants to be shown the door. I think he’s had enough! If I saw him in a bar I would probably buy the man a drink. He needs it!

• Need to get myself a Salem Ridge Yaks hat!

• Tomorrow at 6 PM EDT when the trade deadline officially ends cannot come soon enough for a list of reasons about 10 miles long.

• Finally, Skubal to the Dodgers with Glasnow and Snell coming back is almost unreal. They are out Yankee-ing the old Yankees under George Steinbrenner.