vjcsmoke

We had a really nice 10 game win streak that was topped by a great sweep of the Rays. But the last 5 games we've gone 1-4 against winning clubs like the Cubs and Phillies. Did we only catch lightning in a bottle, and these are the real Red Sox? Will we be able to consistently beat good teams or only beat up on division doormat clubs? Hard to say because of course 5 games is small sample size. But it's certainly a little concerning. What's the missing jigsaw puzzle here? Or is this who we really are as a ballclub and we can't make a couple of deadline moves to improve from this?

Han Solo once said, "Never tell me the odds." 😆 I get it though. But at least there is some reason for optimism. There's still a CHANCE at postseason this year!

I'm aware we beat up on 2 bad sub. 500 teams. But you can only play who is put in front of you. So I'm glad they got to flex a bit on the bad teams. What might be more impressive is their last close 4-3 win over the Rays, a team that is actually a threat to us in the division. Still thats 7 wins in a row for Red Sox now. Let's keep that positive momentum going!

I'm looking at baseball reference and for 2025 it currently has Toro at .293 BA, .341 OBP, and .792 OPS. Those aren't earth shattering numbers but they are respectable despite the caveat of small sample size, ie only 164 at bats. Toro's best year was 2023 when he slugged 1.302... in 18 at bats. His career numbers are considerably lower with .229 BA, .292 obp, .365 slg, and 656 OPS. But who knows he could just be a late bloomer. I don't think Toro is great but at least he's not embarrassing himself with his bat this season.

Don't look now but we have won 5 games in a row! Our bats have heated up. Roman Anthony starting to get into a groove. His OPS already up to a respectable .750 now instead of the .600 horror show when he was first called up. Do you guys think we can sneak into the wildcard race and make the playoffs for the first time in ages?

Flipping some expiring deals to set up for the future makes sense to me. Red Sox will sadly miss the postseason yet again, but that fate was pretty much decided once they moved Devers in the deal to San Francisco. I'll keep tracking them, but I don't think we're better than the 4th team in the AL East.

Brace yourselves for another Red Sox salary dump. Report here that Red Sox will look to trade away Bregman if they can't negotiate a longer term contract: Red Sox Anticipated to Trade Alex Bregman If 'Sides Can't Work Out Deal' Oof, Red Sox fans just can't catch a break! 😅

I can't project Hicks into our closer. He's been a very inconsistent albeit hard throwing pitcher who has never figured out how to locate his fastball consistently. The big difference between Hicks and Chapman is that Chapman has proven himself a very good reliever in the past even before getting the closer role. His career ERA+ is 162, career FIP 2.39, and career WHIP of 1.092 with a 14.7 K/9. Those numbers are just consistently really good. Jordan Hicks career numbers are significantly worse. 95 ERA+, 3.84 FIP, 1.322 WHIP, and only 8.8 K/9. A 102 mph fastball doesn't mean a lot unless you pair it with consistency and the craft to punch out batters once you have them on the ropes. His BB/9 at 5.1 also indicates he has control issues and could also put a dangerous runner on base instead of getting that vital out. At 28 does Hicks have some room for improvement? Yes, but it's not like he's a spring chicken who is just learning the ropes and has lots of room to improve. His ceiling is just about reached and he still hasn't full 'figured out' how to dominate batters at the MLB level. Hicks to me is not a closer, I just hope he can become a plus bullpen guy. He just doesn't impress me much. Now Harrison, I hope he can capture the mojo that made him the top pitching prospect in the Giants system but he did not impress much in his MLB callups. Only 88 ERA+, 4.56 FIP, and 1.297 WHIP. I know it's a small sample size but we can't pretend the Red Sox aren't taking on some risk for taking on this unproven starting pitcher who hasn't had a breakout season yet. At least Crochett had one season of looking really excellent for the White Sox before we made the trade for him. I can't say I'm glad that Devers is gone. He was a proven, elite batter and the return for him does not look impressive. Nor do I have confidence the Red Sox will replace his salary with good quality players. Their track record with free agents has been very spotty at best over recent years.

I don't think that the Liverpool transactions have anything to do with the Red Sox. Liverpool has been spending very frugally over the past few transfer windows and they saw a chance to obtain a generational player in Wirtz and jumped on it using the savings they had been stockpiling, aka their transfer war chest. They are now building themselves up into a potential dynasty which is a bold and laudable move to strengthen from a position of strength as current Premier league champs. As for the Red Sox, it truly sucks the way FSG have run the club recently. Selling off Betts, selling off the majority of the 2018 championship core, and now salary dumping Devers for a poor looking return. We aren't even getting back a Verdugo quality player to plug into a starting position. It's just shameful. Henry, Breslow, and the entire Red Sox front office should be ashamed. The Devers trade potentially drops us out of playoff contention for the 4th year straight. I don't know how this gets fixed but ownership has made themselves into the problem instead of part of the solution.

I just hope we get a good return on Duran. I'm not satisfied with what we got back from the Devers trade. A perennial all-star, top-10 batter who was batting over .900 OPS at the time of the trade should have brought back a bigger return. Heck, San Francisco had a really good 1st base prospect, Bryce Eldridge, who would have solved positional issues for us but we didn't push to include him in the deal. Instead we accepted Tibbs as a substitute. I think we had taken a package of Eldridge and say Wisenhunt instead of Harrison and Tibbs that would have potentially solved our big league 1b issues relatively soon.

All of those were one year deals. Bregman’s opt out clause makes it virtually a 1 year deal. Extending Crochett just made sense to solidify the trade price we paid especially when it became apparent he was the real deal as a top of rotation pitcher. Still have zero faith in ownership group and management. They have betrayed our faith too many times. Dealing away Devers for salary dump and poor return feels too much like the Betts trade.

Red Sox management literally hired Breslow to lie to us. Of course he's going to say he believes in this team. Saying otherwise would kill ticket sales. He's not a total idiot. Getting rid of Devers was dumb AF but it was probably part of management's bigger picture plan to reduce salaries. I don't see how you replace a .900 OPS hitter that was anchoring your lineup. And even if you do, let's say Bregman comes back healthy soon, all the other hitters decided to slump at the same time. Oof. And our pitching outside of Crochett is still quite unreliable. I don't see us making the playoffs in 2025. Red Sox will continue their quest for mediocrity and lower payrolls. Don't know what else to say but their quest to become Tampa North has been a failure and a disaster.

The Red Sox are famous for their PR debacles now. Nothing would surprise me at this point. Would I like to keep Bregman? Yes, he's a very good player and a solid clubhouse figure from all reports. Do I trust this cutthroat front office to do what's best for the team? Absolutely not. Not a single shred of confidence in them remains.

I don't think we have that run in us. I don't trust this team to spend big nor to spend wisely when they do. Bregman signing is an outlier compared to the usual disaster signings. I feel like Cora must have pushed hard behind the scenes to make the deal happen. Bregman was very, very good for us when healthy. Which is why it won't surprise me if ownership moves him for no other reason than salary savings. A Cheaper less competitive version of the Tampa Rays North is what they want. Well they are getting it. I feel the only reason they gave Devers his contract was they felt a revolution about to boil over if they shipped off our last homegrown star so close to dumping Mookie Betts followed by the rest of the 2018 championship core. If John Henry dare showed his face today in front of a Red sox faithful crowd he would get roundly booed for getting rid of Devers as well. Red Sox will be moving on some pieces at the trade deadline because we're not a playoff caliber team anymore, it's just a matter of what kind of return we can get for them and who goes.

I'm willing to trade any or all of them. The Red Sox already hit the tank button once they got rid of Devers. The 4-8 tailspin after the trade just confirmed the post mortem. I hate to give up on the season already but you have to be real, we're not going far with what we've got now. Can we plan for next season? In particular the guys on the last year of their deal should be moved for future value.

What are the indications that Skenes is even available?

Giolito was another bad signing. Red Sox are going nowhere fast and have assured themselves missing the playoffs again after trading away their best player for peanuts yet again. Giants pitcher Harrison is a decent prospect but who knows how long until he will be ready for MLB action? losing to the blue jays 9-0 is simply embarrassing. 3-7 after devers trade now. My prediction is pain. Nobody looks good right now.

I'm reading that he will be promoted to the 40 to protect him from the rule V draft. Sounds like an interesting prospect. Our only real 'problem' is that our outfield is too full. It's hard enough finding playing time for Roman Anthony. Also Yoshida will be rehabbing next week with an eye for a return to the MLB roster. Unless we trade an outfielder first like Durran or Rafaela, the Password will probably stay in the minor leagues. Maybe he'll get a cup of coffee when rosters expand for September 1st.

Red Sox since trading away Devers, 3-6. 2 wins against the mariners, 1 win against the giants. 6 losses to mariners, giants, and angels combined including a sweep by Angels. They are playing .333 baseball. Great way for the front office to sabotage our season just as we were starting to play winning baseball. I hate them so much. Will FSG ever sell the Red Sox to make way for serious owners?

Those are mostly tight wins. Can we really expect the pitching to stay that good? We have a gaping hole in the lineup. Some are saying Yoshida is the answer. Yoshida was always a mediocre offensive player at best. You're plugging in a .770 OPS bat to replace a .900+ OPS bat. That usually does not save your lineup.

I'm doubtful that Cora will stay long with the Red Sox. It sounds like there are big personality conflicts if a scout would utter an expletive directed at Breslow. Although the Crochett trade looks like a big win, the Devers trade looks like a big loss, especially the way it was handled. Negotiating through the media, creating team unrest before shipping out an established star player. It's not a good look. The communication problems are an issue. You can't rely on analytics alone to run a franchise. You need to be able to lead men and convince them that your project is worthy of passion and belief. I don't get that vibe from Breslow during his tenure so far. AI hiring practices and analytics do not create a ballclub atmosphere. I do like the fact that Bregman appears to be a leader who the players seem to look up to and can talk to. But we've had way more moves shipping OUT that type of player than bringing them in. If Cora hadn't gone to the mat asking for Bregman, I don't think he joins the Red Sox. What happens when the manager who recruited him gets dumped by this front office? Who builds the locker room if Bregman gets the boot in another salary dump? Can't say I feel optimistic in the wake of the Devers trade.

Devers homers against us in his revenge game and we lose to the Giants 3-2. You can't hate this front office and ownership group enough. That's supposed to be our elite player, not the Giant's. Ugh. What a Salary dump trade. Feels bad man.

Yes the Red Sox wisely reinvested that money by signing injury prone pitchers or position players who either were injured often or performed very poorly or at best mediocre when they were actually healthy. Trevor Story 6/140m. 2025 performance: .230 avg .275 obp .363 slg .638 OPS. We don't even need to get into his horrific injury history with the Red Sox, His tepid performance when healthy already makes him a horror show of a signing. Masataka Yoshida 5/90m. .285 avg .343 obp .433 slg .775 ops. They have done worse than this, but feels like very mediocre return for the money. In fact the Red Sox probably want to get out of his contract if they didn't have to eat so much to send him away it's probably not worth it. Lucas Giolito contract 2/38.5m. Performance: 2024 0 games played. 2025 45.2 IP 50 hits 87 ERA+ 1.423 WHIP 6.94 FIP. Yeah that deal was a stinker. Walker Buehler contract 21.05m. Performance: 2025 59 IP 67 hits 69 ERA+ 1.508 WHIP 5.34 FIP. Another 20 million dollars plus well wasted on broken down pitchers. I could go on but you get the point. Opening up 31 m in payroll in the Devers trade doesn't mean they are going to use that money wisely. The Red Sox have been wasteful with that money in free agency more often than not. I would rather pay the elite player that 30m dollar salary than two broken down has-beens that 30m dollars. Let's put it this way would you rather have Betts for 30m or Story + Yoshida for 30m. Or how about Devers for 30m or Giolito and Buehler for 30m? You take the great player every time. Stop wasting money on has-beens or injury-prone reclamation projects that 'might' turn out to be productive.

I only expect Anthony, who is our top prospect and MLB top 5 prospect, to do as well or better than the .280/25/90 pace you theorized. Don't forget these players are all rookies. Campbell and Mayer are just getting their feet wet even if they are talented and might end up good going forward. There's also a question of where they will all play. We have too many outfielders and need to make room for Anthony. We have a 1B issue unless we unexpectedly shift Campbell or Mayer from their natural positions. Trevor Story is going to get games and minutes ahead of them because of his hefty salary even if he is an inferior player to Campbell/Mayer. We'll have to see going forward but I wouldn't put too much pressure or expectation on the rookies to produce. They are not saving our season. Looking back to the past, when the Red Sox were at their best they had veterans to lead the way and added young talent to supplement such as Ellsbury/Pedroia to complete the team, etc.

Devers trade to the Giants feels like another salary dump by the Red Sox. They are allergic to keeping their own stars when large sums of money is involved. It feels like they deliberately sabotaged the relationship to create an excuse to trade Devers contract away. You're telling me they couldn't have handled this quietly in house instead of negotiating through the press and insulting Devers to the point he felt very unhappy? It's all deliberate and calculated. This feels like the Betts trade all over again. Except they are doing it after giving the big contract. If Breslow gets rid of Bregman at the deadline too you will know for sure it's all money motivated. A mandate from the top, get rid of big salaries, we need to go cheap. You can't hate this front office and ownership enough. They dismantled this team's chances in 2025 right as it was heating up and starting to play over .500 ball.