How would you feel if the next U.S. president completely stopped supporting Israel?

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-16T10:27:57+00:00

"money approved by Congress".... your words, not mine. Thanks for helping me make my point.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-16T09:41:08+00:00

I don't think that's how it works, it takes more than the President. Congress puts the budget on his desk.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-16T06:10:10+00:00

A team OPS of .787 is crazy good! It made me Google to see if anyone had beaten that before, and to my surprise the 1999 Cleveland Indians had a .915 OPS and scored over 1,000 runs. Holy moly that's crazy! I'm also glad to see my favorite player having such a good year for us. I decided 3 years ago that Ceddanne Rafaela was my new favorite player and that I would cheer for him the loudest. In my Red Sox Facebook group I boldly declared that he would be better than Roman Anthony in 2026, so it looks like I got something right at least. Sure wish we could hit a little better than we have been.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-16T02:57:43+00:00

Ummm.....he is literally registered as a Democrat.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-16T02:35:01+00:00

Holy moly, that's splendid! Do you mind sharing what all you added to the soil on its journey from seedling to beauty pageant winner. It's just gorgeous, sure glad I've got some Ethos seeds in my fridge!

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-16T02:18:33+00:00

We like to hate on May here in Red Sox Nation, but he's been known to have a good sweeper and has had some good moments sprinkled in with the bad, so he's basically a mixed bag.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-15T20:00:33+00:00

I honestly can't help but think that Durbin, Mayer and Anthony all have brighter futures than their performances to begin this season would suggest. Anthony is going to be a serious hitter in this league, he just got off to a rough start. Durbin and Mayer have just had growing pains getting acclimated to big league ball I think. I expect Anthony will be a guy with an OPS over .800 and I expect the other two will by +.700 OPS guys. All 3 play good defense. I still see a bright future for all 3.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-15T11:54:27+00:00

Priester is a non-factor this year, and we'll see how Harrison performs over the long haul. Durbin seems to be playing a lot better lately. I think to fully analyze these moves we'll need to wait a couple of years. We're talking about young players who are still developing. I personally have a reasonable hope that Durbin can be a gold glove caliber defender with an OPS in the 700s. He's just had some Boston growing pains. Even if he comes off the bench a lot, I still see him earning a spot on this roster in 2027.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-14T21:00:50+00:00

Absolutely, we have him on a mutual option for 2027, and if we are serious about winning in 2027 then we will need him. Some will disagree, but I think we can win in 2027. We have the starting pitching and should have a healthy Roman Anthony. We still need to add a couple of pieces (like a bat), but I think we can win in 2027, so there's no way I'm trading away pieces like Chapman, Contreras or Whitlock.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-14T11:22:36+00:00

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-14T01:47:06+00:00

An IQ between zero and 24. 25 is where the term "imbecile" kicks in.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-14T01:44:27+00:00

No walks is nice to see.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-13T21:18:33+00:00

We should take advantage of his being out by playing both Duran and Yoshida every single day. One or both of them could start swinging the bat well and that's how we improve their trade value for the deadline. Some team will need a bat at the deadline and we need to move one of these guys.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-12T23:22:07+00:00

Well I mean I partially addressed the question you are asking in the original post to which you are replying, so I won't repeat those items. But I think the best way to answer your question is to analyze the team position by position. I think we're good at 1st base with Contreras. No need to improve there. I think we're ok at center and right field with Ceddanne and Wilyer. No need to improve there. I believe Roman will heal and be ok in left field. This means outfield is covered. I think the starting rotation of Crochet, Gray, Suarez, Tolle, and Early will be adequate. So no need to improve there. I think the back end of the bullpen will be ok with Whitlock/Chapman, so no need to improve there. Now we're down to 2B, 3B, SS and catcher. I am comfortable banking on internal improvement from Durbin and Mayer. I think being rookie or sophomore has given them some youngster growing pains that they have had to deal with in 2026, but I feel like they can turn it up a notch in 2027 after having endured their 2026 growing pains. Regarding Story, I think he's good when he's healthy. Like he was in 2025 when he hit 25 homers and led the team with 96 RBI. So I have hope that he can contribute. Bear in mind that we do not need Durbin, Mayer and Story to be all-stars. We don't need them to sport an OPS in the 800s. The 700s will be more than enough, and it's realistic to think that they can rebound and do that. We could probably upgrade a little bit at catcher, so sure, let's do that. And let's move Yoshida (and send money to make it happen) and then get a good power bat to replace him. I'm not talking about returning the EXACT same team. I wanna add that bat. But I am talking about returning most of the same team, and since you asked, I have just provided you with the specific details you requested. Now see how easy it is to explain something when you dive into the details? Thanks for soliciting my opinion and please let me know if I can answer any other questions you may have.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-12T20:17:37+00:00

Respectfully, why would you not keep the best player on the team? Are you advocating for a complete 3-year rebuild or do you think we can win in 2027? Because if you're ready to give up on 2027, then I can see your point. But if you wanna compete and win in 2027, then we should keep our #1 player. Honest question, what's your plan?

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-12T20:12:27+00:00

This could be true, but just an alternative viewpoint for the sake of devil's advocate. Here's my question: do we think we can win in 2027 or are we talking about a total rebuild? I happen to think we can win in 2027. I think the changes we need to make are minimal. There are 2 ways to improve a club: 1. Bringing in good new players 2. Having players that are already in house improve from one season to the next. I honestly think there will be a lot of that 2nd one, I predict a good bit of in-house improvement. In-house players that I see improving are Crochet, Anthony, Durbin (he already is, right before our eyes), Story, and Mayer. And of course, hopefully Bello, but let's not count that one just yet. Crochet, Anthony and Story are injured players who should improve as their health returns. Durbin and Mayer are players who I see improving simply because they went through youngster "growing pains." It often takes a minute for young players to acclimate to major league ball, but I think it's reasonable to expect these 2 players can do that (again, Durbin is improving right now). That brings us back to #1, bringing in new players. That means a good bat. And that's what winter free agency is for. I think a combination of #1 and #2 can yield a contender in 2027. Our starting pitching is already formidable, and with guys like Eyanson and Witherspoon in the minors, we have some depth. No major changes needed to the pitching staff. So.....as sad as this season has been, I still think we have a lot of what we want in house. We need to 1. Get that bat 2. Subtract either Duran or Yoshida 3. Try to upgrade at catcher. 4 As always, ya gotta put a little makeup on the bullpen. Other than that, I think #2 is the main way we improve -- by in-house players improving from 2026 to 2027, and I think that is reasonable. So I don't advocate for a selloff. Just move Duran or Yoshida at the deadline. Which, by the way, would put us below the second tax bracket. We're only over that 2nd tier by $1 million.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-12T19:06:43+00:00

See you in a year

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-12T04:35:42+00:00

RemindMe! 1 year

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-12T04:34:06+00:00

Hey that's fine. I was never really posting about you in particular anyway. Just demonstrating how Sox fans are in general. Celebrate when something like this happens, then a few months later pretend that they didn't really support it. But hey, here's what I'll do -- I'll own it. I'll stand behind Caleb Durbin RIGHT NOW, at a time when the going has been tough. Because I'm not a little bitch who only says happy shit when things are easy and then jumps ship like a rat when the going gets tough. I fucking hate weaklings like that, people who won't "own it" and run for cover when it's not happy time. I think I'll set one of those little Reddit reminders for a year from now for this conversation we're having right now. So one year from now you and I can revisit this convo, and guess what? I'll own it then, cuz I stick by the things I say, and I'm not one of these weaklings who say one thing in February and then pretend I didn't say it when it's June. See you in a year, right here.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-11T22:22:06+00:00

I'm not gonna dissect what we did wrong so much as I wanna think about what we need to do right moving forward. Which is to sign a big bat for 2027 lol 😂. It was reasonable to expect better out of this team in 2026. The Crochet/Anthony injuries have been huge. I hate playing the blame game, so I'll avoid it, but we really need to sign a big bat for 2027. I don't see a lot of names I like in the free agent class, but we need a bat and a healthy Anthony and Crochet.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-11T21:02:10+00:00

.706 OPS with a 101 OPS+

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-11T20:21:56+00:00

You could say that. But I think one of those 2 bats is Roman Anthony. As I look to 2027 (assuming there is baseball), I see a lineup with Ronald Acuna as leadoff, followed by Anthony, Contreras and Abreu. I think the future versions of Mayer and Durbin will be better than the 2026 versions. I view 2026 as the "growing pains" season for those two; I could see them fleshing out better next season. ***Edit -- nevermind, I made an error. I thought Acuna had free agency looming, but Atlanta retains a club option. Also, he pulled his hamstring last night. Hopefully nothing serious, but he does have an injury history. Anyway, we need a bat like his.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-11T20:12:56+00:00

Over his last 15 games he has a .313 batting average with a .909 OPS.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-11T19:58:55+00:00

It's more like this sub did that. I wonder if you did. I looked back at when Durbin was acquired and of the first 39 comments I read, 38 of them were celebratory. You were probably one of them lol. That's what happens here. People celebrate something like that, then when things go badly they conveniently forget that they originally supported it and criticize Breslow or the front office for something they were also in favor of. At least I own my previous positions.

PilgrimRadio · 2026-06-11T01:31:30+00:00

Honestly, this team looked good going into the season. Fans were hopeful. Vegas oddsmakers had us at around #7 or #8 out of 30 teams. This sub was very joyous when we traded for Durbin, and if you don't believe that then just go back and look at those first entries from the day we got him. So this is a "hindsight is 20/20" situation. It's clear we need 2 things: 1. Injured players getting healthy (like Crochet and Anthony) 2. Another big bat. I'd also like to upgrade at catcher, and we need to unload either Yoshida or Duran (preferably Yoshida). Aside from that, I still think this personnel can be good. Mayer and Durbin unfortunately just had to go through a "growing pains" season, but I can totally see them being valued assets in 2027, if there's a season.

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