mvp 78

Paxton was out for over a year. Hendriks should be back this year. I think there's a considerable difference. Average is BORING. Schreiber was BORING. Being worried about losing years of control is a zero sum game at some point.

I think he's added some decent bullpen depth. There were recent years when they've had to bring up some real stinkers from AAA.

If Crag was CBO, I believe he would have dealt JD or Sale in '22 and the Sox would have gotten under the CBT. There's also no way Paxton would have been on the team after the trade deadline in '23. If Bloom was the CBO this offseason: Sale is still here Verdugo is still here Bloom signs low stakes starter like Lorenzen for 1 year Churns through the waiver wire for relievers like nobody's business Doesn't trade for Slaten, but drafts Anthony Prato from the Twins (UTIL) We're all waiting for Bloom to do something, but he's wishy washy about how amazing this season will be.

It was already obvious they've given up on this year and that next year is built on wishful thinking. Will this work out? Who knows! At least it's a guy with a good backstory rather than boring, average, low ceiling John Schreiber.

What is Schreiber like going forward? All below 50th percentile: Av Exit Velo Chase % Whiff % BB % Hard Hit % xERA 51st GB % 54th He's an average reliever?

No, but why are you worried about the Sox giving a bigger paycheck to Hendriks? If it's a swap of Schreiber for 1.5 years of Hendriks, I'm fine with it. I've seen enough relievers pop for one year to know when to cut bait on a guy like Schreiber.

Away splits 2023 736 2022 779 2021 796 2020 936 SSS! 2019 877 2018 800 The last time he had an away split this bad was 2017 when he hit 726. That was the year he was hit on the year and struggle hitting all year long. That's why I suggested that there could be something else going on and that maybe he can pull out of it next season. Or, he's just getting older.

We'll see how much Dombrowski Crag has in him. Oink oink.

Jansen is currently on the shelf. They'll trade him at some point most likely. Hendriks would take over at closer when he's ready. If they are really going to compete next year (yeah right) they'd at least have a potential closer in place.

Notin is worried about the extra money that Henry would have to spend for a guy that could actually have talent.

Hell yes.

Oh no! Not John Schreiber! How could they do that! He was so awesome for that one season when they should have traded him then!

Hard to have a bullpen arm when your control is all over the place. He had a 10 bb/9 last year. Not good! He's very inconsistent from game to game and batter to batter. Can't hold his delivery at all. He's Ryan Fernandez with double the bb rate. Ceiling of a middle reliever. I'd just DFA him and not worry about it.

I dig it.

Let's go!!!!!

736 Away OPS. 848 Home. Petco is bad for HR and 3B, but that's not really part of Xander's game. He's a 2B's and 1B's guy. Every year, his home and away numbers have gone down. It's not just a Petco Park issue. If his home splits were cratering but his away split held the same, you could blame Petco. That didn't happen.

I could see Bello taking a jump this year. It's likely he doesn't, but I could see a situation where he figures it out. Same thing with Giolito since we've seen it before with him. Pivetta has pitched well since he started throwing his sweeper. Houck is whatever. Crawford is decent enough. If they stay healthy, that could be a near playoff team depending on how well the defense performs behind them. Adding one more pitcher would make a substantial difference for sure.

Sounds about right to me. 72 wins if it falls apart. 88 wins is the ceiling if everything breaks right.

Duran's trade value is much higher than Schreiber's. If he's traded for a prospect, it's for a top 5 prospect. A guy who projects as much closer to a ceiling of a TOTR starter, but is either further away or has injury concerns.

I don't think they make the trade if they believe he's a bullpen arm. They are keeping him as a starter for the next few years.

Yes.

I would still be surprised if Mata makes the Opening Day roster. I don't think he has an MLB arm. This is really like carrying two Rule 5 guys.

Wikelman had a high BB/9 going back to A ball. Unless you've actually seen the guy pitch, I'm not sure how you can provide a scouting report like this. A starter that has velo in the mid 90's with a slider/curve/changeup mix can get to AAA if the 4 pitches are average. This is what BA said about him: While he has a four-pitch mix, Sandlin relies most heavily on the mid-90s fastball that touches 97 mph and has above-average ride. Sandlin’s preferred secondary is a mid-80s slider with horizontal break and high spin rates. He also throws a low-80s curveball with two-plane break and bite, and he mixes in a changeup that breaks like a splitter as well. He’s still refining his arsenal--especially his secondaries--so there’s a chance they continue to improve. The fastball and slider are above-average offerings right now, and some believe he may profile best in the bullpen, where he can dominate with those pitches alone. He may end up being a bullpen guy, but saying hitters should lay off his splitter or cutter when he doesn't throw one is wild.

Something underwhelming like Duvall?

I'd swap Murphy and Winckowski. Push Winck to the pen.