jacksonianmarch

Cora took for granted the preparation that a championship team needs to undertake to win the title. He thought he was helping his squad by resting them, but he set a tone that wasn't healthy. It didn't prepare the pitchers for the rigors of the season, which I believe, led to some injury and a lot of the early poor play. It was an arrogant approach to the season, one you would see with a guy like Lucchino running the FO again. He got arrogant and every time he did, the team suffered. This time, Cora got arrogant and it bit his team in the ass. You will bet ST next year is gonna be rigorous

apples and oranges

You guys don't read well. 10 WAR seasons don't happen regularly. There have been 60 10WAR seasons all time. 60. And that's for players dating back to 1905, ie 114 years. That means a 10 WAR season happens once every other year. Not for a single player, but for the entire f***ing league. Saying Betts won't reach a 10WAR season again isn't a knock on Betts. It's acquiescing to reality. But I did say he could have another 2016, you know, when he had a ho-hum 8WAR season

Your farm is dead. A dead farm produces flawed pieces but also produces next to no tradeable talent. The talent you use to replace your guys isn't just in your own system. But it is elsewhere and obtained with the talent in your system DHern has some talent for sure. 17K/9IP is unreal. As is his 7BB/9IP. He has got to find the strike zone to be relevant. Chavis is no longer part of your farm. He exhausted his rookie limits. That being said, what I saw of him is a guy who isn't suited for the type of baseball played now. He cannot hit a high fastball yet demolishes breaking pitches. Strange from a young guy. He is going to have to fix that huge hole in his swing or he will be extinguished. Houck isn't a future closer. You cannot put 1.4 baserunners on base in the minors and magically become a dominant closer until you figure it out. He put 60 men on base by HBP or BB in 107IP. He is likely to end up in your pen next year, but he hasn't shown the ability to be a reliable anything Duran didn't hit in AA. He has to hit in AA before you can even consider him as a potential major leaguer. Feltman has sucked. He walks too many, he gives up too many homers, he gets hit harder than most closer types. He needs to not suck before you can consider him a possibility Lugo is an 18 yr old position player who didn't get out of short season. He may be great. He may fizzle out. He isn't a jewel until he starts to hit.

Good to see JMont back. Will be better to see him healthy through a full offseason and coming into spring. Throwing his usual 91-92, but everything it hanging high.

Never ever ever change the foul ball rules. This isn’t softball

There is a cost to greatness. The piper is getting paid now. The Sox have always maintained a great farm, which is why they won 4 titles with four distinctly different clubs. Their dead farm now points to an ugly and protracted rebuild unseen in these parts for decades

Betts is having a great year. He’s got an outside chance of reaching 7 WAR. It’ll be his third best season. I said before and I’ll say again, he won’t have another 2018. Could he have another 2016, maybe.

They sold on Espinosa at exactly the right time. He ended up with TJS by the end of the fall and his value dropped to nil. You can debate what they got for him all you want, but jettisoning him was the right move in retrospect

There are PLENTY of great players who struggled in their first year of professional ball, especially IFA guys in their first year in the states.

You dealt the #1 prospect in baseball and another top 20 guy in Kopech to get Sale. You cannot replicate that

Interestingly, every time a guy goes down, the replacement goes nuclear. Stanton goes down, Tauchman mashes. Hicks goes down, Frazier mashes. Judge goes down, Gardner gets pressed into FT duty, he has a career season. Andujar goes down, Urshela hits .330. Didi is out for 2 months, Lemahieu has an MVP caliber year. Voit goes down, we get EE. EE goes down, Ford mashes. Sanchez goes down, Higashioka and Romine mash. Sevy goes down, German wins 18. Betances goes down, Kahnle returns to his top form. The depth on this club is insane, and outside of Betances, EE and Didi, they’re all guaranteed to return

Shaughnessy was SPOT ON with DD. Everyone thought he was a fool when he reported in the middle of the summer that he was on the outs and heck, the guy didn't even finish the season. Now he is saying that Betts or JD or both are out, I would go with him. It makes sense. And I know the sox don't want to spread the message that they're done in 2020 too, but I think most sox fans who aren't drinking the Kool Aid are aware that the window closed.

Their head of baseball ops is Henry right now. And he will give a directive to the group and they'll have to enact it. If the directive is to lower payroll, then they'll lower payroll. The only actual way to lower payroll and get something in return is to shop Betts. A JD deal could also lower payroll, but you'd have to part with some money to get anything of value.

Sanchez says his groin issue is akin to the one he had earlier in the year. It cost him 16 games yet he said he was ready after ten. I’m hopeful he’s okay for the POs. Edwin is also hopeful this is minor and will be able to play in the POs. We’re gonna need him. Happ and his biceps tendinitis sounds like a season ender. We keep winning and losing players along the way. It’s insane

Sevy, Montgomery, Stanton and Betances will all return this week

Buxton had a big WAR in a small sample size this year. The guys who play with reckless abandon are often hurt

No issue with velo, but his OPSa when throwing fastballs under 95mph is over 1.000

Also, you aren’t getting Beane. Just get rid of that thought. Beane has his castle in Oakland. He runs that organization. Starting over in Boston with more pressure and oversight would be a major change for him and I bet he wouldn’t bite. He’s got a great gig in Oakland and a built in excuse of being small market. No accountability

I am entirely, 100% convinced that you’ve seen the best from Sale. His arm just cannot handle it anymore. He either dials down and becomes more hittable or he continues to sell out for velocity and gets hurt. Price, similar as well, although he’s adjusted to his lost velocity. He just cannot stay healthy. Eovaldi is showing you what i saw for a couple years in the Bronx. Great stuff, intermittent dominance mixed with maddening inconsistency and major injuries. His choices to lead his rotation will haunt the Sox for years

Are you honestly saying that players nowadays aren’t more muscular than in years past? If so, I’d like to sell you some wonderful swamp land in Florida

You’re seeing faster and stronger players. The downside is the higher injury rates. It comes with the territory

This is what DD does. He gets enamored with the clubs he builds and then he extends them beyond a reasonable level. He did it in Detroit. He did it in Boston. He left a dead farm and a payroll full off past their prime stars. It's part of the DD experience

Exactly, their deals this year should make you more aware of the fact that they are going for it in the short term.

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