FredLynn
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Sonny Gray had an ERA of 4.28 last year. According to BR his WAR was 1.4 and his ERA+ was below average, 96. We don’t need to necessarily sign a FA SP as our much needed #2. We could trade for him. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grayso01.shtml
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Yet you wrote that you were disappointed, I believe, that all we got is Gray and that the SP roster seems to be a completed work. At his age I think Gray is likely to be a #3-4 and is likely to spend a significant amount of time on the injured list. We needed someone to slot in right behind Crochet. Gray isn’t that guy.
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I’m not going to do the research necessary to find out who is available. That’s not my job. It’s the job of management to make those inquiries and put a competitive team on the field. Last year was an improvement but we clearly weren’t good enough to compete for a ring. They have to keep moving forward by addressing the holes on the roster. Their track record for doing that hasn’t been good.
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His ERA+, my go to stat for pitchers, was below league average. That makes him a typical dumpster dive type pitcher the Sox relish. Cheap reclamation projects. I’m looking at him as a 3-4 SP. The team has money and prospects. Why not go all in and sign a real #2 and a real RHH power hitter? This would have been the year for it. Instead it’s just more of the same. What do you think the chances of fulfilling our other pressing need is?
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A #2 SP is a pitcher who is very good fairly consistently but not as good as a #1 or an ace. Put another way a #2 SP is what Gray is not.
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We aren’t getting Seager or Alonso or anyone else of significance. Maybe Bregman-but he’s hurt a lot and is more of a complimentary piece than a real first rate power hitter now.
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Not signing another mediocre pitcher is no justification for signing the mediocre pitcher they signed and apparently are going to pass off as our #2. They aren’t fooling anyone. They have money and prospects to fulfill what anyone with half a brain knows we need to compete for a ring. Instead Henry is pissing away this window of opportunity. My guess is that our other primary need will likewise be ignored and some other dumpster dive player will be passed off as the solution to that as well. This is a very poorly run team.
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Finishing with a lot of below average IP isn’t the way to build a contender. We had two primary needs to compete for a ring: a very good SP and a power hitting IF. We got a mediocre SP. Typical.
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Mediocre pitchers are much easier to find than good ones. Once again management chose a mediocre pitcher who they intend to pass off as a good one. I’ve seen this movie before. We all have. You want to make a gentleman’s wager that they now won’t sign a bona fide #2 SP to slot in below the ace? And we had at least five SP before Gray. Crochet, Bello, Crawford, Early, and Tolle. Maybe I missed one.
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Anthony isn’t going anywhere
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I could live with a #3-4. We still need a better SP.
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Our overall record for those five years was roughly .500 level. Not good enough. Not even close.
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Yes. As usual you are missing something. It is this: we have a bunch of #3-5 SPs. Where's our #2? I never said I objected to signing Gray. I would object if management tries to pass him off as a capable #2.
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Of course you do. But I am right. How did he do last year? A: below average. Like a #4 SP. I don't care what he did three years ago. Obviously he regressed as happens to older pitchers sometimes. He's not a#2. We need a #2 and he ain't it. And BTW, the Jays just signed a real #2. Cease is off the boards. Just signed with Toronto. I have a sneaking suspicion that our idiot management team thinks Gray is just fine behind Crochet. He isn't. Gray is fine behind Crochet and ?? and Bello. Here we go again. Dumpster diving.
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Casas started off slow last year then got injured. But his career OPS is .800. I haven't given up on him just yet.
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I agree with Old Red that 2021 was the outlier. Aside from that year we were mediocre or worse from 2020 to 2024. That should not happen with the regularity it did happen with. An occasional off year, maybe two...thats it. We should compete for a playoff spot nearly every year if management is doing their job.
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I’m “commenting”.
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Take out 2020? Let’s take out 2025 instead. Regardless, that record reeks of mediocrity. I expect the team to compete for a playoff spot nearly every year. That hasn’t happened, in part due to dumpster diving and money poorly spent-and not enough of it. If recent history is a guide they’ll try to pass off Gray as a significant signing and claim that they were “very interested” in signing better players but that it “just didn’t work out”.
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Its measured by CASH SPENT WISELY as well as freely. Henry has been treating the Sox as a small market team when in fact they are a major player. When you sign dumpster grade reclamation projects over and over again the results are predictable. How did we do the for the five years prior to last year?
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Well the signing of Gray certainly keeps that tradition. It was not a "big move". I'm not going to complain about the moves the team makes until I see the final product. Just a bit concerned about the history of how they have done business over the last several years-on the cheap. We all know it.
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Let me be clear: I have no problem with signing the elderly Gray. Its fine for depth-as long as they don't try to pass him off as what we really need, a solid SP behind Crochet. I also want to see evidence that Henry is willing to spend what it takes to contruct a team that contends for a ring. Last season I was OK with just making the playoffs. This year there is enough talent to BUILD ON to construct a contender. I hope Henry's penurious imitation doesn't stand in the way, again. And Bregman, with his injury history, is not the answer for a power hitting IF. We can sign him AND sign someone like Alonso, but I don't want to see them passing off Bregman as the answer to what we really need.
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Bregman did great during the stretch run, didn't he. Never got injured or missed a game, right? Crochet is the exception and we TRADED for him. Its not evidence that Henry has loosened his purse strings.
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Nonetheless, they have not addressed the major needs of the 2026 team. We all know what they are. I think they are going to try to pass Gray off as our #2 SP without obtaining a real #2. I could be wrong about that too, but if history is our guide that is exactly what they will do.
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I did not say that at all. In fact, what I did say is that this move did nothing to address what everyone knows are our major needs. Its fluff. A minor improvement, maybe. But we need much more. And over the last several years what we all have seen is, with rare exceptions, signing reclamation projects. I'll believe Henry is serious about making the 2026 Sox a contender when I see evidence of it. BTW, Gray's ERA+ last year was 96-BELOW average. I think thats a good indication of the type of pitcher they got.
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The history of this team, for the most part, is that they are dumpster divers. Gray is another example. I suspect that he will be presented as our #2 SP that we need by management. Thats the way they work, on the cheap. I think that with the right moves-which are likely to be expensive-this team could make a deep playoff run and even contend for a ring. But not if they keep dumpster diving.