moonslav59

LOL. Hey, they gave Durbin the shorter infield slot, too.

Exactly. His only current role is to fill in at DH, if there is a serious OF injury and PH for Narvaez, Wong or Rafaela. He's basically a DH only player on a team with Duran/Anthony at DH, now and a guy named Casas, who averages 30 Hrs per 650 on the same roster. The other killer is that all 3 of these guys are lefties, too, so he can't even fill a platoon DH role, as the roster is set-up, now. If it ends up with KC as a DH, then maybe he can platoon at DH, but KC should not be called up to start about 30-35% of all games, only.

I like how you worded this.

Yup, and if an infield injury occurs, he'll probably plays a few days in AAA, then be called up- assuming he's hitting well. IKF could also be handed a FT or near FT role, if a major 2B/3B/SS injury happens.

I heard Aaron Boone was praising the Sox offense. Does he really think he has a spot inside our players' heads? This looks like the line-up Cora will use as a template, with some possible adjustments for L-R match-ups. It's nice to see Duran hitting lefties well in ST'ing, so maybe he cans tick in the 3 hole full time. 1. L Anthony (mostly LF w some DH and RF) 2. R Story SS 3. L Duran (mostly DH w some CF & LF) 4. R Contreras 1B 5. L Abreu (watching closely hw he does v L) 6. R Durbin 3B 7. L Mayer 2B (Romy v LHPs, when he gets healthy) 8. R Narvaez C 9. R Rafaela CF Bench: R Wong C & a little 1B/2B), R IKF (defensive infielder), R Monasterio (utility infield), L Yoshida (DH/ shorter corner OF)

The key word is "can" as you capitalized it as acknowledgement. I certainly think he can. I am not sure he will. The biggest qualifier is the health aspect and not the "can hit 30" part, IMO. Here is my opinion, and this is a big if: If Casas stays healthy and gets 600+ PAs, this year or next, I'd put the odds at greater than 50-50 he hits 30 bombs and has an OPS around .825ish. I really think he's a very good hitter. He already has averaged 30 HRs per 650 in his career. I don't see this as being BOLD, at all.

He hit 31 in 2023. The years he hit exactly 20 HRs, he did it in 331 amd 378 ABs. My projection is bases on 600+ PAs. I'd feel better about 30, if he played half his games in Fenway.

Agreed. Campbell will not be an exclusive short-side platoon bat only. If he can show the ability to hit RHBs, then the equation might change, but it will still take an OF'er injury for him to play OF/DH near FT. He still might have a shot at 2B, but an injury may be needed there, as well, although the chance of Mayer or Durbin flopping is higher than one of our 4 OF'ers.

Some of the Sox biggest contracts have been extensions, so some context is needed when we say the Sox don't spend top dollar. From Devers to AGon to the record setting Pedro extension before JH. Other lessers ones included Porcello, Sale & Crochet. (I've probably left someone out.) The Sox have also gone large on some IFA signings from Masa to Moncada to Castillo to Dice-K, which often came with significant fees. The Manny signing was before JH, too, but there has been some other big signings- just maybe not top level, outside of Price. Maybe the Crawford signing could be called top level, but that really is not many a whole lot of mega FA deals under JH: Price & CC. The next level is... Story, JD, Pablito, HRam & Bregman. Still, there has been several peaks of major success along the way. The 7 year drought is wearing on some fans, but there does seem to be an uptick in talent and spending in the last couple years. The future is in JH's hands. He's not going anywhere, despite the wishes of some.

I think the context has changed as spending by 3-4 teams went haywire. Still, dropping down below #10 in spending for consecutive years was certainly a major change in the "cycle approach" to spending we witnesses for about 15 years.

I'm not sure Eaton will be ahead of K Campbell on the OF depth charts, too.

I agree. He could go 20 for 25 and maybe some team might pay $4 or 5M a year, instead of $3 or 4M a year.

If Mayer or Durbin flop, there will be some "what if" talks as Paredes swats 30 dingers for the Astros, this year. I agree that the ship has sailed. I like the Durbin trade, and I think Mayer has a higher ceiling than many might think, but I'd have preferred a surer bet.

Maybe Brez will do what Bloom couldn't do enough-- find the diamonds in the rough.

We aren't trading Masa.

What I'm hearing here in HOU is that HOU is demanding Duran or Abreu for Paredes and maybe one other piece- probably a prospect, as HOU is trying to keep their window open for 1-2 more years. They do not want to give up a 26 roster guy. I suggested King or Sousa (LH'd RP'er) and maybe Janek (a promising C prospect.) At this point, since we have Durbin, I wouldn't do it. Paredes may or may not be an upgrade on offense over Duran or Abreu. Abreu has twice the years of control. Helping fix a roster logjam is a plus, but it's not worth doing just for the the sake of it. Now, Duran & Mayer or Tolle & Mayer for KMarte gets me talking, again. I seriously doubt anything goes down, but I'm shocked Paredes is still an Astro, so maybe something gives.

They won't trade anybody, now. Again, you confuse what I wish might happen with me thinking I think will happen. The suggestion has been to trade Duran or maybe Abreu or Rafaela. It's only been brought up a thousand times over about 2 years. No Duran at DH allows Masa a strong chance at winning the FT DH role and certainly a strong-side platoon role, as Romy can platoon with Mayer, when healthy. Even this layout could get complicated if Casas returns and looks good.

I'd go so far as to say, if just one from Romy or Casas are healthy and looking fine, there is no room for Masa. Where would he play? Who would sit? The other way to make the roster work would be to trade someone ahead of him on the depth chart.

I admit I have defended Bloom, JH and Brez on many things, so maybe you don't know what "defendsing" means either. Lack of comprehension does explain a lot.

Speaking of SP'er depth, I agree it is very important, and for once we seem to have top quality SP'ers and depth. Quality AND Quantity! It's interesting to note that our ring seasons were often led by just 5-6 key SP'ers, where very little injuries occurred and the need for depth, especially extended depth was simply not present. 2004: Amazingly, we only needed 5 GS outside our starting 5: 33 Pedro & Lowe, 32 Schilling, 30 Wake & 29 Arroyo. 2007: There were only 11 GS outside the top 6 SP'ers. 32 Dice-K, 31 Wake, 30 Beckett, 24 Schilling, 23 Tavarez, 11 Lester. 2013: A little more depth was needed, and even a trade for Peavy: 33 Lester, 29 Lackey, 29 Dempster, 27 Doubront, 16 Buchholz, 10 Peavy and 17 GS by 5 others. Those 17 GS were all pitchers who added zero value as starters. 2018: Kinda breaks the mold, as the depth helped, and the trade for Nate might have won us that 4th ring: 33 Porcello, 30 Price, 27 Sale, 23 ERod, 13 Johnson (4.17) 11 (3.33) 11 Pomeranz (sucked) 8 Velazquez (3.18) 4 Wright (2.68). Still we probably win without Johnson & Pomeranz and just needed the Nate trade to give us 5 SP'ers. Other seasons that seemed like near misses: 2003: 4 starters over 29 GS w Fossum & Suppan going for 24. 1986: 4 starters over 25 GS and 16 from Seaver, 13 Sellers and 10 Brown. 1978: 102 GS from 3 guys, 24 from Lee and 27 from Jim Wright + Ripley 1975: 114 GS from 3 guys, 20 from Cleveland, 16 Moret & 11 from Pole.

I dont see Masa as "in the way" for the same reason you dont see Sandoval as "in the way" , with above average injury look we prob wont need them and thats a good thing. But I dont want to find myself saying I wish we had Masa in the playoffs after weve traded him. And that scenario happened last year when he hit clean up for us in the playoffs and was probably our third most productive hitter in last years playoffs behind Story and Bregman. I have mentioned that I project Masa to have a similar OPS in 2026 as Duran, although that does not make him equal on offense to him. Having Masa was one reason I was okay trading Duran for someone like KMarte or Paredes plus King & Jarek. I'd rather have Masa as depth than not have him, but I'd rather have had a better 2Bman or 3Bman by more. Had we traded Duran, Masa's value increases. I'm okay with out roster. One major injury to an OF'er and I'll be eating crow. I'd like more pitching depth and know its great importance, but FT slots have more importance, to me.

Not seeing the major difference between "Can" and "Will" sure explains a lot about all your misrepresentations of posters' viewpoints.

1. Anthony 2. Contreras 3. Duran 4. Abreu 5. Errr.... Durbin? 6. Double Errr... Narvaez? 7. Triple Errr... Story? 8. Platooned Romy 9. I can't go further, even with more Errrs.

OF is a little different from 1B or C and some other positions, as there are 3 slots, and an injury to any one would put the 4th OF into a FT role. I get the need for a very good 4th OF'er, but between K Campbell, Masa and even Eaton &Romy offer some decent depth. The SP role is 5 and not 3 like the OF. The odds are greater one in 5 SP'ers gets hurt more than one in 3 OF'ers, and with the recent trend in SP'er injury, it's probably higher odds than 5:3. The 6th starter is very important, and I'd say more so than the 4th OF'er. Hell, the 7th starter might be close, especially if you have a decent 5th and 6th OF'er, as I think we do. Some of my trade suggestions included trading from OF and SP'er depth, but it was to gain a major upgrade at a position of great need (2B or 3B PLUS a BIG BAT) like K Marte. I'd probably have traded Crawford or KC for Paredes, but HOU wants one of our LH'd OF'ers and maybe would not add enough to just a Paredes return. I doubt any trade talks are still going on, but this will be the second year in a row we've started a season with a major OF surplus and a glaring weak spot or two left unattended or poorly attended. That being said, I really like Durbin and think Mayer has some serious upside, but it's a bit too speculative for my liking.

Zero confidence on staying healthy.