moonslav59

I totally agree. Advancing metrics has a place in decision-making, but so does the human element. We have made some (slow) changes, at the top and in the area of talent discovery, acquisition and development. It might take years to see a change to the good. Perhaps we already are seeing it, our recent meltdown, notwithstanding. The one are I'd like to see us move towards is dealing from strength (everyday players) for pitching. I think it is easier to evaluate pitchers on the farm and in MLB than those in college, high school or in other countries. This makes even more sense, under the idea that JH is stingy with large and long FA pitcher signings. Pedro Schilling Beckett Sale Porcello ERod Nate Peavy Beats... Price Lackey Giolito (Add Richards to Kluber)

This is huge, from you! (I hope you didn't jinx him.... LOL )

That was an insane return, especially when compared to Fedde. Pivetta has been better over the longer term. We will not be sellers, this year. I'm still waiting to see the "lane"

I'm sold. 6th best fWAR since 2023 (200+ IP) 2.52 ERA and a 2.36 FIP (2.70 xFIP) Just under an 11:1 K:BB rate Best ERA- at 61 Best xFIP- 64 Best K-BB% No other top 5 pitcher is as young (27,) under team control for 2 more seasons (3 playoff cycles) and is available. What are you waiting for?

Braves get Jorge Soler RHB.

Skubal has 2 arb years left and may not want to sign an extension, but getting JH to offer one would likely be the biggest obstacle, anyway. I'm not sure this is what JH might do, because keeping the top prospects would cost less than Skubal.

The Sox are up on HOU & SEA in the standings, but one will make the playoffs by winning the ALW. I'm not sure the ALC will send 3 teams to the playoffs, but as of now, three are in. CLE has a comfortable lead, so it will likely come down to BAL or NYY winning the ALE and the WC 1 slot. These teams will battle it out: 58-47 MIN +2.0 on BOS (two less losses) 58-49 KCR +1.0 on BOS (tied in losses) 56-49 BOS 56-52 SEA -1.5 from BOS (3 more losses) 54-52 TBR -2.5 from BOS (3 more losses) TEX seems to be buying, but they have 6 more losses than BOS.

The Sox have signed their top draftees. They got Cason by paying him overslot and many others slightly under slot. $5M Bradon Montgomery ($5.5 slot) $2M Payton Tolle ($1.9M slot) $700K Brandon Neely (879K slot) $500K Z Ehrhard ($631) $400K B Clarke ($478) $300K B Aita ($351) $250K W Turner ($275) $1.25M Conrad Cason ($220K slot) $185K Hudson White ($195) _____ Devin Futrell ($183)

Rumors: Yanks and Astros in on Yandy Diaz. Yanks and Sox apparently in on Taillon. Yanks also in on Flaherty.

Of all the players in all levels of the minors in 2024 (572 players with 300+ PAs,) here are some of the top ranked OPS players: Top 10% 1. Campbell 1.018 7. Kavadas .975 10. Gasper .956 11. Lugo .942 60. Mayer .853 Top 20% 80. Meidroth .842 92. Teel .833 110. Sogard .821 Top 30% 131. Alvarez .812 137. Castro .808 154. Anthony .801 Top 40% 197. Yorke .785

KCR was losing to CWS, but scored 6 in the 8th to go up 8-5. (3 Hrs, including a granny by Whitt.) MIN lost, bigly to the Mets. It seems we lit a fire under the Yanks, who destroyed the Phillies 14-4. HOU is down to PIT 5-2 in the 9th, and BAL is down to TOR 6-4 in the 7th. It might be nice to gain on some.

That might be what he's looking for, which to me is not picking a lane. Her is a Q: if Priester was still a prospect, would he be ranked ahead of Fitts, Sandlin? Ahead of E R-C or Dobbins?

To me, he is the guy you go all out to get. His type are usually only traded in winters, when they happen, at all. Crochett with 2 years left might be a distant second. I'd start with offering one of these two combos and add some mid levels to sweeten the deal: Anthony and Campbell Mayer and Teel Maybe Anthony and Teel. Basically, try not to part with Anthony and Mayer or 3 of the top 4. We might have to add Bleis or Cespedes, plus one from Sandlin, E R-C or Fitts. My guess is an Anthony, Teel, Cespedes and Sandlin offer might be one no other team would or could top. (That might be too rich for me, too.)

Buchholz was so long ago, just the thought of your point made, here, should have been the impetus for some major changes. I've been fine with drafting and signing IFA everyday players over pitchers, if they are the higher odds on players to add, but at some point, the idea should be to trade some for young and controllable pitchers. I've been fine with overpaying for FA pitchers, despite the fact that many never seem to come very close to expectations, but we kept trying and trying. Since Price and Sale, I would not call it "trying." Now, back to your point, for a while, this spring, it looked like Houck might end up taking the lead over Buch. Buch was a pretty awesome pitcher and had some incredible long stretches of great pitching. His ERA- of 42 in just over a 100 IP in 2013 was one of MLB's all time best. His issue was never going over 190 IP, going over 175 just once and over 150 IP just 3 times. Houck has yet to top 130, so he may never beat Buch in even his weak area. Others that have been okay to good: Crawford Bello and cricketts... Who are our best hopes? (Yikes!) E R-C? Dobbins? Early? Portes? Valera? Mullins, Monegro, Paez, Wehunt, D Reyes? Maybe a recent draftee?

Getting something truly meaningful.

So far, there was no "lane" chosen. The Yorke for Priester deal was basically 2 young players with 5-6 years of control for each other. An everyday player for a pitcher is a nice idea, but it's not a "lane." Paxton is more like a Tommy Pham, Hosmer type deal than a true "buy lane" deal. There is still a few hours to change this, but I'm not expecting much. That Fedde deal looks like "the missed deal" of the deadline, so far. I can't imagine we could not have beaten that return with a couple 10-20 ranked prospects.

Montas to MIL- no miss there.

it's not about my expectations. I no longer have any for Sox management. I called out Brez, specifically on the Fedde miss, but it might be on JH for refusing even $7.5M for 2025 on his deal. The FO is a sham, and I expect nothing. I will continue believing this, if and until they give me reason to stop. I have, however, not lost hope a change might come.

Didn't realize it?

All these runs and no BBs.

RHB Ahmed from TBR to LAD (.789 v LHPs) Innings 153 at 2B 152 at RF 99 at 3B 91 at SS RHB Lane Thomas from WSH to CLE (.922 v LHPs in 2024.) 647 innings in RF/ 20 in CF

Can Yoshida do enough to get out of our doghouse?

I would look for a right hand bat guy that can play corner infield and DH. Surely there's someone out there that fits the mode. Only Aaron Judge had a better OF OPS v LHPs than O'Neill, so maybe we just need to extend or re-sign him and trade Abreu in a package for pitching. We have LHB Anthony and RHB Campbell and Lugo who can play LF in 2025 or 2026 for the Sox. 2025 OF>> LF: L Duran, R Refsnyder/Campbell/Lugo CF: R Rafaela, L Anthony/Duran RF: R O'Neill, L Anthony, R Refsnyder DH: L Yoshida/ R Refnsyder> Campbell/Lugo Note: this does not mean I dislike Abreu or appreciate him any less than anyone else. I really like him, a lot. I just think he is the best trade chip we can afford to lose and replace with pretty highly regarded players. Ref is great vs LHPs, now. Campbell or Lugo can be by 2026.

We do have Ref, but a good RF'er with a RHB would be nice to take O'Neill's place in '25.

Me neither, buy sp's has this... Run: Below-average speed. Good instincts, but not a burner. Will play faster than his foot speed because of how he reads the game. Field: Instinctual defender with very fluid actions. Looks like he is gliding on the field. Soft hands and solid footwork. Moves well and has plenty of range for shortstop. Confident defender; will take a flashy infield. Potential plus defender at short.