jacksonianmarch

Grady was a supreme talent wrecked by injury.

Bringing in Hill, Wacha, and Strahm have been pretty solid signings. Story is starting to come around. Bloom grades highly mostly because he didn't seem to do much yet every new move he made hit beyond Diekman. Maybe B+ Cora's grade knowing his pitching staff has been nails isn't that great. He should have gotten more out of a team that has the 2nd best run differential in the AL. Maybe C-

Season isnt over. I'd almost expect there to be dichotomous grades. If Cora does well, it will handcuff Bloom and his grade would suffer. If Cora fails then Bloom can deal off his expiring parts and really rebuild the club the right way and he would get a better grade

Ultimately, the sox are a team that was built off the remnants of a World Series caliber team. While last year was fun for you guys, the likelihood of that happening again is incredibly low. The 2021 sox were not very good yet they were willed and motivated to make an ALCS. But now you are dealing with the business side with the core of your team facing contract years. This is what GM's tend to want to avoid. But your GM seems to want a blank slate, and he would have gotten it had the sox not gone nuclear over the last few weeks. If I were a sox fan and I wanted to see this team become a juggernaut again, I would actually hope they dealt off their contract year players, commit to Devers and build from within and the FA market to build a contender circa 2024-2025. If the sox stay in this and don't tear this thing down, my bet is the sox team will be mired in the "WC contention" phase for awhile

Sale is going to compete, of that I have no doubt. But Sale, even if he is completely right, he still doesn't have that top end form anymore. His days of 98-100mph gas when he wants it are gone. One other thing he lacked last year was breaking ball command in the zone. That was how he got a ton of K's in the past. A slider that would look like a strike and then plummet out of the zone. Those sliders didnt leave the zone the last few years he has thrown and has led to a lot of hard contact. Sale, IMO, possesses the stuff and control to transition to a finesse pitcher, I just wonder if he has the mentality. Finesse pitchers can still challenge hitters, but need to challenge them only in certain locations and in certain counts. He can no longer just grip it and rip it and throw a high heater and hope for the best

Dodgers, Astros, TB and even the Yanks have renewable fonts of talent. Every year they trade off top talent or graduate top talent and the next year they’ve still got big top 100 talent right behind it. The Sox don’t have that at this point. You’ve got top talent with Mayer, Bello and Casas, but you don’t have the pipeline to this point, that renews that talent. It’ll come. Bloom is building that

Sweep!!

Remember how I told you there was a path to relevance? Well, they took it. After the Tigers series, you’ve got a path of hell And nothing makes me happier. It’s mid June. There’s another 6 weeks til the deadline. If the Sox remain in the playoff hunt, they won’t get to cash in on their expiring contract players

2-0 to start a 13 game hell run vs the Rays, Jays and Astros. Pitching has held up. After this run they alternate bad and good teams for awhile before going to the Fens July 7. Will be interesting to see where the Sox are by then, especially if the Yanks make hay vs the Rays and Jays. Might be 1 and 2 in the division by then

Volpe .302 with an .850OPS in June. Starting to heat up

They stopped being a one dimensional club shut down by power pitching. Health has been huge for the offense and starters, but losing a top prospect and your best middle reliever for the season in May isnt necessarily a phenomenal start to a healthy year. They’re a versatile team now. They can beat you with big ball, small ball, speed, defense, pitching. I think Donaldson has brought a certain mentality to the club that has helped make the team grittier. Ultimately, I’m very happy with what I’ve seen. And the 8-1 twins game was the only game out of 60 this year they were really out of early. That’s the mark of a good team. Get behind, claw back, hold the other teams offense, get and keep leads. They’ve been dynamite

Carpenter reworked his swing, hit the piss out of the ball in AAA and Cashman noticed. He’s added a sudden jolt to this lineup. After being relegated to the fringes of the MLB, he’s absolutely loving his utility role on the best team in baseball

Ho hum, just beating the f*** out of the Cubs here

The Sox brought in a doc to tell their team how to take steroids. How do you spin that?

They’ve been peaking for 59 games?

This team has been so much fun to watch after the first two weeks. The night before, they win by bludgeoning the twins and using great pen work, today they win with phenomenal pitching and one situational hit to walk it off

Yanks won’t let him go is my opinion. They did let Cano go, but he was never the legend Judge is. Also, Judge does have a good grasp on history, and being a legendary Yankee comes with its perks after he retires. My bet is he checks out the market and the Yanks bring him back.

I expect Cortes to be a reliable starting pitcher as long as he doesn't get hurt. In terms of Holmes, have you seen his stuff? He throws a 100mph sinker that moves a foot and then a wipeout slider. I expect him to continue to dominate as long as he stays healthy. The difference between the Yanks and Sox in the rotation is night and day. Yanks have established #1 or #2 starters in their first four slots of the rotation who are all in their prime and then just added Cortes, who this year is the overall #1. Removing Sanchez and putting competent defenders at C only added to their effectiveness. Their starting pitching is on pace for a legendary season. Their pen is missing some guys, but that just shows you their depth. Chad Green, a borderline all star reliever, has been out 19 days now. Chapman has been out 2 weeks. Prior to his Achilles struggles, he was a world beater. Loaisiga went down with a shoulder issue and he has been a mess from the rip. Even with all that, they are third in BP ERA in baseball. Holmes has been the best reliever on the planet this year. Peralta has been awesome. King has been awesome. Clarke Schmidt has been awesome. Castro has been erratic but effective. Luetge's fallen off. Green is down for the count. Loaisigia and Chap are still on the IL. JP Sears has thrown 7 shutout innings and looks the part. Banuelos just came up, and he is the kind of reclamation story everyone loves. And the Yanks have Wesneski and Waldichuk killing it in AAA.

Paxton is a tantalizing talent who cannot stay healthy nor return from injury on time

Different situations. Yanks are on a March for the title. I’m pretty sure most Sox fans would agree that this Sox team, without major additions, are not title contenders

Why am I tickled pink? Because your GM did very little to improve the team after an ALCS run with the intention (it seems) to replace Bogaerts. If you take Bogey to the wire and he hits FA as a red sock, you get a fourth round pick back. If you have the chance to unload him in a trade, you should get at least one top 100 prospect, maybe more. If the Sox don’t get to deal Eovaldi, JD, Kike, etc the value goes away at end of the year rather than continue to pay dividends into the future. And right now, the Yanks are a far, far better team. So the worry that the Sox will somehow morph into a true threat is low as I don’t think Bloom will deal off his big pieces in the minors. Also, I don’t think the Sox can catch the Yanks. It’s a big difference going from a one game playoff in Fenway to a 5 game set with home field for the Yanks and the Sox having to go through 2 games just to survive there. This extra wild card has created a much bigger impediment to winning the ALDS as you’ve now got to burn your two best starters if you aren’t WC 1. Now, I respect your GM. He’s dynamite at picking winners, especially in trades. If given the amount of trade capital a slumping Sox team could offer, he could make trades that have you back in championship form in 2-3 years. I don’t want that.

This thread tickles me pink. I really want the sox to be buyers at the deadline, not sellers.

My prediction is Judge will get an 8 year $35 mil AAV deal as long as he keeps it up this season

Short term deal. You don’t give a 31 yr old a 10 years deal

Also, the AL is a collection of have’s and have-not’s with very few in between teams. The White Sox, Angels, and Sox fit in that category. Maybe the Guardians as well. But of all those teams, the angels have the most talent but have also been perennial under performers. The Sox have really put themselves in a good position to hold that third wild card spot. If they can do some damage in Anaheim they’ll make it easier