Are we good enough now?

[Bellhorn04]

1 hour ago, FredLynn said:

We MIGHT be good enough to make the playoffs for a change. I'd set those odds at 50/50. Winning a ring? Not even close. To compete for a ring we need a #2 SP, another good RP, a 1B man, and a backup catcher. Too many holes to fill all at once.

Which AL teams are you so scared of?

[FredLynn]

6 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Which AL teams are you so scared of?

You mean which teams do I think are likely to finish ahead of us in the WC  or division.....the Jays, the Yankees, the Rangers, the Ms etc. Any of those teams could easily eliminate us IF we do make the playoffs-or bump us out of the playoffs entirely. We do not have the talent needed to make a deep Oct run.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

You mean which teams do I think are likely to finish ahead of us in the WC  or division.....the Jays, the Yankees, the Rangers, the Ms etc. Any of those teams could easily eliminate us IF we do make the playoffs-or bump us out of the playoffs entirely. We do not have the talent needed to make a deep Oct run.

And we could easily eliminate them too.  You are way overrating these other AL teams.  

[FredLynn]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

And we could easily eliminate them too.  You are way overrating these other AL teams.  

Our chances of making a deep run in Oct are not good enough, not with bums like Boohler, Wong, Toro etc on the roster. We are not better than the teams I listed, and there are a lot of them. Better to try to obtain more talent for a run in 2027 or 2028 where our talent level is greater than those other guys so that we can compete with teams like the Dodgers, the Phillies, and the Cubs for a ring.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

Our chances of making a deep run in Oct are not good enough, not with bums like Boohler, Wong, Toro etc on the roster. We are not better than the teams I listed, and there are a lot of them. Better to try to obtain more talent for a run in 2027 or 2028 where our talent level is greater than those other guys so that we can compete with teams like the Dodgers, the Phillies, and the Cubs for a ring.

We may not be clearly better but we are very competitive with those other AL teams.  I think you're pretty close to conceding that we have a decent chance at the pennant.  

[FredLynn]

4 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

We may not be clearly better but we are very competitive with those other AL teams.  I think you're pretty close to conceding that we have a decent chance at the pennant.  

Let me be clear: our chance of winning the pennant are low IMO, probably around 20% or less. Not good enough to be buyers.

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, FredLynn said:

Let me be clear: our chance of winning the pennant are low IMO, probably around 20% or less. Not good enough to be buyers.

20% is fair.

[drewski6]

6 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Let me be clear: our chance of winning the pennant are low IMO, probably around 20% or less. Not good enough to be buyers.

Thats prob higher than it will be in 2027 or 2028 when the yankees add 14 all stars between now and then.

Strike while there is an opening.

Yankees lost their best hitter and pitcher, Mariners have been struggling, Jays too.

[drewski6]

7 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Let me be clear: our chance of winning the pennant are low IMO, probably around 20% or less. Not good enough to be buyers.

If 20% chance at making WS says, "lets retool" then you are exactly what we think you are.  Scared.

This is why you concede in the game threads.  You are scared of disappointment.  So you concede at first chance.

20% is quite good.

[FredLynn]

11 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

If 20% chance at making WS says, "lets retool" then you are exactly what we think you are.  Scared.

This is why you concede in the game threads.  You are scared of disappointment.  So you concede at first chance.

20% is quite good.

I don't much care what you think about my mental state.

[FredLynn]

14 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Thats prob higher than it will be in 2027 or 2028 when the yankees add 14 all stars between now and then.

Strike while there is an opening.

Yankees lost their best hitter and pitcher, Mariners have been struggling, Jays too.

Get back to me when we win the AL pennant. Tell me how great our team is then. Fact is, we do not have the talent to make a deep Oct run and its best if we are sellers. Hopefully management will agree.

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Get back to me when we win the AL pennant. Tell me how great our team is then. Fact is, we do not have the talent to make a deep Oct run and its best if we are sellers. Hopefully management will agree.

I have not once said this team is great.  I have continued to say everybody sucks in the AL and somebody has to win the pennant.

[Soxlover]

On 7/29/2025 at 7:40 AM, mvp 78 said:

They needed to trade someone in the offseason and failed to do so. 

Agreed. I guess they did not want to trust or trade them big three.

i doubt any Masa trades were available.

[Soxlover]

4 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I have not once said this team is great.  I have continued to say everybody sucks in the AL and somebody has to win the pennant.

This is what should force us to be buyers.

[FredLynn]

Just now, Soxlover said:

This is what should force us to be buyers.

Exactly wrong. There are half a dozen teams in the running for the pennant. We should be buyers if we are clearly one of the top 2 teams in the league rather than waste our prospects in a trade for results that will likely not be fruitful.

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, Soxlover said:

Agreed. I guess they did not want to trust or trade them big three.

i doubt any Masa trades were available.

No trades were available at Henry's price point. 

[Soxlover]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No trades were available at Henry's price point. 

Yes. I felt that was assumed.

[Soxlover]

18 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Exactly wrong. There are half a dozen teams in the running for the pennant. We should be buyers if we are clearly one of the top 2 teams in the league rather than waste our prospects in a trade for results that will likely not be fruitful.

Exactly wrong. Two trades make us a top 1 or 2 AL team, easily. (1 or 2 more than they make.)

[drewski6]

40 minutes ago, Soxlover said:

Exactly wrong. Two trades make us a top 1 or 2 AL team, easily. (1 or 2 more than they make.)

Also this notion that third place team (in the AL, not even AL East LOL) should punt is so wild and so outside of norm.

Teams that are in ninth place buy.  Because you never know.  The Rangers werent the third best team in the AL when they won the WS 1.5 years ago.

[sk7326]

Are we good enough ... to make the playoffs and get hot for 3 weeks?  Hell yeah we are.  

[moonslav59]

14 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I like Mayer. I'm more concerned about the lingering issues with his wrist since he's missed significant time each season he's played. 

That's my worry, too, but he was hitting well enough before getting hurt.

[Kimmi]

On 7/29/2025 at 11:44 PM, moonslav59 said:

What AL team is significantly better than the Sox?

Records since June 30th:

17-7 BOS

18-8 TOR

15-8 TEX (losing tonight)

14-10 SEA (losing tonight) & KCR

14-11 BAL

13-12 CLE

12-11 OAK

DET, HOU, NYY & TBR all with losing records.

The Red Sox have the 4th best run differential in the AL at +68, behind the Yankees (+99), the Tigers (+81), and the Rangers (+72).  I think the Sox are a better team than some people give them credit for, and I don't think that our offense has hit as well as they are capable of doing.  

[Kimmi]

On 7/30/2025 at 7:56 AM, mvp 78 said:

Grissom can't hit quality pitching. Right now, he's feasting on lesser AAA arms and not hitting better AAA arms. 

He has to get the experience somehow.  Perhaps during the middle of a playoff race is not the best time, but I can't imagine he'd be any worse offensively than Hamilton.  

[Kimmi]

On 7/30/2025 at 11:27 AM, cp176 said:

Wow  - Let’s give it up to the metric and analytical minds doing their thing I guess.  I haven’t seen him play,  Have any of you?  I guess that I was thinking that maybe he provided an option that might have been an improvement over Hamilton.   Whatever - it was just a thought.  I think that it helps to get as much information as you can about any player.  

The Braves were very high on Grissom at one point.  Like you, I think he deserves a shot.

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

The Red Sox have the 4th best run differential in the AL at +68, behind the Yankees (+99), the Tigers (+81), and the Rangers (+72).  I think the Sox are a better team than some people give them credit for, and I don't think that our offense has hit as well as they are capable of doing.  

The Yanks, Tigers and Rangers all got significantly better, while we did not.

SEA & HOU got way better, on paper. That's 5 teams.

TOR stayed about the same as the Sox and are ahead of us 5 games.

We gained on nobody but CLE & MIN who sold. 

There is no was to sugarcoat this Bloom-like deadline.

 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

He has to get the experience somehow.  Perhaps during the middle of a playoff race is not the best time, but I can't imagine he'd be any worse offensively than Hamilton.  

Maybe a little better but a lot worse on D and baserunning.

[Kimmi]

On 7/30/2025 at 1:03 PM, FredLynn said:

Get back to me when we win the AL pennant. Tell me how great our team is then. Fact is, we do not have the talent to make a deep Oct run and its best if we are sellers. Hopefully management will agree.

The goal is to make the postseason.  Once you get there, the playoffs truly are largely a crapshoot.  The Red Sox have just about as good a chance of winning in the playoffs as the other teams.

[moonslav59]

Just now, Kimmi said:

The goal is to make the postseason.  

For 5-6 other AL teams, yes.

[Kimmi]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The Yanks, Tigers and Rangers all got significantly better, while we did not.

SEA & HOU got way better, on paper. That's 5 teams.

TOR stayed about the same as the Sox and are ahead of us 5 games.

We gained on nobody but CLE & MIN who sold. 

There is no was to sugarcoat this Bloom-like deadline.

 

Not a great trade deadline.  I'm disappointed.  However, I still feel good about our team.

[moonslav59]

Just now, Kimmi said:

Not a great trade deadline.  I'm disappointed.  However, I still feel good about our team.

Maybe, after the anger subsides, I'll feel some optimism, but this is a big gut punch by Sox management.

Once again, their words rang hollow.