moonslav59

He'd just be the emergency back-up, in case reyes covered 3B and got hurt in the same game.

What is a better overall OF? LF: O'Neill CF: Duran RF: Duvall LF: Duran CF: Michael A Taylor RF: O'Neill Subs: Refsnyder LF, Rafaela CF, Abreu RF

Maybe not having to run so much in the tiny RF at Yankee Stadium will give him that extra energy he needs to run out grounders.

Cooper just turned 33 and has been in decline for several seasons, in a row. He was a decent hitter: he may not be, anymore. .852 '20 .845 '21 .752 '22 .724 '23 (as a 1Bman, that is low.) He did still hit .904 vs lefties in '23, so let's hope Cora schedules the Casas days off when we face lefties. (He was .666 vs RHPs.) Career: .756 v R .816 v L (per 650 PAs: .286 26 100 w/ .338 OBP)

Must be- short term. (Maybe Casas in a pinch.) Long term? Meidroth? DHam? Jamie Westbrook?

Well, the guys we had were proven to suck, so there is that. It's very hard to imagine Grissom will be the second worst defensive 2Bman in MLB and hit just .663. Just average D and a .713 OPS (a 50 pt increase) would give the team a big boost at a key position on the diamond. I would not be surprised, if our 2B defense ranks 10-15th and Grissom hits .763 or more (a 100 point plus improvement.) .

Yes, they've said a lot of thing. Many times full contradicting other statements. I don't doubt we are at or very close to our budget, right now, but I'm holding out a little hope, that if a bargain comes along, they may go over where they want to be. They may also try to trade Jansen, Yoshida or someone else to add some space, but I'm not sure that would make us any better.

What else? Grissom for the clown carousel at 2B Innings at 2B in 2023 442 Arroyo 357 E Valdez 209 Urias 196 Reyes 131 Kike 49 Turner 18 Chang 11 Rafaela 11 DHam 5 Wong 1 Dalbec OPS at 2B: .663 OAA Rank: 29th in MLB (-13 outs) Sale had 20 starts in 2023: Paxton had 19. Combined they had 39. Gio is expected to get 32-33, so he almost covers for both. The rest will come from more starts by Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Houck or someone else. They also have to cover for Kluber's 9 starts and 16 by openers and pen game starters. The other "additions" are from within the system or returning players expected to be healthier of mature enough to play more often in '24 than '23. I'm not trying to sound happy about any of this, but there will be some new faces and more views of faces we barely saw in '23. Will it work? Can they replace JT, Dugo, Duvall, Sale, Paxton, Kluber and others no longer around? In theory, we could see this (or course, we will not have perfect health, all around.): GS '23 to 24 (63 GS to replace from '23) 0> 32 Giolito +32 16>32 Pivetta +16 21>28 Houck +7 23>28 Crawford +5 28>31 Bello +3 We had 28 pitchers with 2+ IP from the pen. If we can bring that down to 18-20, we can replace some really bad pitchers. We pitched 656 Innings from the pen, last year. I hope we don't tax it as much, in 2024. Let's say we pitch 650 in 2024 and replace the following 270 IP: 56 Pivetta 3.07 (moves to rotation FT: this one hurts) 31 Bleier 5.28 30 Llovera 5.46 25 Jacques 4.26 23 Crawford 1.66 (OUCH!) 21 Brasier 7.29 19 K Ort 6.27 17 Garza 6.23 13 Kluber 9.45 11 Robertson 6.55 11 Joely 6.55 9 Weiss 2.08 8 Bearclaw 12.91 7 Sherriff 2.70 3 Littell 9.00 3 T Scott 6.75 2 Lamet 13.50, Faria 22.50, Reyes 4.50 Added 270 IP... 83>90 Wink +7 51>51 Martin 48>48 Murphy 45>45 Jansen 45>65 Schreiber +20 42>62 Bernardino +20 20>70 Whitlock +50 23>23 Walter 9>42 Kelly +33 0>50 Campbell +50 0>40 Slaten +40 0>50 Mata, Criswell, Weissert, Fitts, M Castillo +50 Replacing the PAs (I wont get into innings on D): 626 Turner .800 602 Dugo .745 353 Duvall .834 323 Kike .599 206 Arroyo .638 112 Chang .552 109 Urias .698 26 Alfaro .368 & C Hamilton .167 That's about 2350 PAs to replace. JT and Duvall won't be easy, but some bad hitters are gone, too. Add these PAs 0> 500 Grissom +500 168>618 Story +450 89> 439 Rafaela +350 85>435 Abreu +350 502>652 Casas +150 362>512 Duran +150 149>299 E Valdez +150 580>630 Yoshida +50 185>235 Reyes +50

We don't really know what the budget will allow. I'd much rather spend anything available on SP'ers, but Duvall should be a help. If we have to trade Jansen or Martin to make his contract fit, no thanks.

I didn't say you should remember. I just corrected your false statement about me not saying it.

The point about Kluber, and I'll add all the "opener" and pen games is a good one. They are addition by subtraction. Crawford, Houck, Whitlock and most pitchers do much better from the pen than as starters, so there is a natural instinct to assume those guys will not improve on their 2023 numbers, if they start more than they did, this year. On Sale and Paxton: out SP'er ERA was 4.68. 4.50 Paxton in 19 GS (96 IP) 4.30 Sale in 20 GS (103 IP) Only Bello had better numbers. (Kluber 9 GS 6.26 ERA in 42 IP) OPSA as SP .706 Crawford .709 Sale 20 GS .742 Houck .754 Pivetta .765 Paxton 19 GS .777 Bello .841 Whitlock .881 Kluber 9 GS Our SPing sucked, last year. It doesn't look like it got any better with Gio maybe replacing 33 of the 39 GS by Sale & Paxton. Hopefully, the others can improve on Kluber and the pen games by a lot. I don't think our Starting 5 looks better than 2023.

If I had to guess, I'd say it is probably going to happen, again- maybe in 2026, but it seems more like a hope than an expectation.

1. Tito 2. Dick Williams 3T. Cora 3T. Jimi Williams 5. ???

He should sign early.

Agreed, but I'm done expecting it to happen, only to be let down, over and over. I'm not saying I believe it will never happen, but who knows with these guys? The Price signing was very long ago. The Nate signing and Sale extension seem like long ago. We've spent only $6-$12M on the rotation, every winter from 2020 to 2024. (I'm counting Gio $19M minus $10M on the Sale differential= $9M.) Why should we think 2025 will be different? We can hope it will be. Do you expect it to happen, next winter?

They may never say yes. I thought this could be the year, after thinking 2022 or 2023 might be it. I'm not holding my breath.

He was a good one, for sure. RIP.

If JH is going to wait until we are one pitcher away, that day may never come. I agree with your point. I'm hoping he'll be okay adding two, at some point- sooner rather than later would be nice.

Agreed, and to me the pen looks fine or better than fine, depending on where Crawford, Whitlock and Houck are slotted. Even right now, we'd be in the PO mix with 2 solid SP'ers added. Maybe not ring contenders but at least close to or better than the 2021 Sox level, on paper.

We are not even sure he will add then, either. I hope he does. If some of the kids come through, this year, and it looks like 2 from Anthony, Teel and Mayer will join the 2025 club, maybe JH chooses 2025 as "the year." It does look like 2026 might be the earliest we can expect or hope for big spending. It sucks to have to wait that long. I feel we are close enough, now, to add two top SP'ers and be in the mix. Obviously, JH disagree or just wants to make more money. As for not getting close enough, until we already have some good pitching, I do think a big boost from some kids could get JH thinking, the time is now. Hoping Crawford, Houck, Whitlock, Bello, Wink and some others get better and bring us close enough for JH to think we are 1 or 2 big arms away from glory, might be too much to ask, but it's not impossible.

It's not the best foundation in MLB, but it's pretty good. I think it can be a winner, if we add two top SP'ers.

I did say that, earlier, when I posted about Wood and Lauer being good for a couple years. I could have spelled it out, but then you complain about my posts being too long.

We were talking about the two year stretch before '23.

Okay, but he did ask why I don't start following the Yankees. Surely, our FO is a mess, right now. I'm not a FO fan: I'm a Sox fan. I'm not keen on teams that spend a ton to win- like LAD & NYM (to lose.) I realize we were big spenders, but I never viewed us like the Yankees- pre 2003. I admire the Astros, Braves and Rays philosophy more than the Mets, Dodgers and Rangers' way, but all have been better than ours, of late. I'm not denying that or even hinting at that. I'm also not totally immersed in just the here and now. I like our past. I like our future. I think we have a pretty nice foundation, now, but we need a couple major additions, that our FO just won't allow to happen. It sucks, but it is what it is. We've spent more than almost everyone else for about 2 decades. We even spend more in the winters of '21-'22 and '22-'23 than most teams. I'm not calling for JH's head over this winer.

I talk about the past, present and future. Lately, it's been more about 2025 and beyond. Nobody is denying the Dodgers have a better product, right now. Thinking someone is is what is delusional.