moonslav59

Elk is not the only poster who believes this.

Wiki has this... On February 7, 2020, Jared Diamond of The Wall Street Journal published a report of previously undisclosed details uncovered by the MLB investigation, drawn from a letter sent by Manfred to Luhnow on January 2, 2020, that was obtained by the Journal and interviews with sources.[135] According to the article, the sign stealing scandal originated in September 2016 when an intern named Derek Vigoa, who later became the Astros senior manager for team operations, gave Luhnow a PowerPoint presentation on what he called "Codebreaker", a Microsoft Excel-based program used by front office staff to log and decode opposing catchers signs and then communicate them to baserunners who would relay them to hitters. The report said Codebreaker was enhanced in June 2017 when the trash can scheme was developed. The report also said that Codebreaker was used both at home and on the road and Astros personnel continued to use it into the 2018 season. The sign-stealing operations were referred to as "dark arts" within the Astros front office.[136] Diamond's report quoted emails from Luhnow and Astros employees who said Luhnow was not only aware of but also enthusiastic about the sign stealing operations, even though he denied knowledge of them to MLB and in public statements.[137] In a subsequent Journal article, Diamond quoted an email sent by an Astros employee named Tom Koch-Weser to his colleagues which read, "'I don't want to electronically correspond too much about 'the system' but Cora/Cintrón/Beltrán have been driving a culture initiated by Bregman/Vigoa last year and I think it's working,' Koch-Weser wrote. 'I have no proof that it has worked, but we get real good dope on pitchers tipping and being lazy. That information, if it's not already, will eventually yield major results in our favor once players get used to the implementation.'"[138] The article also quotes Manfred's January 2 letter to Luhnow as saying, "'Most or all Astros players were active participants in the Banging Scheme by the conclusion of the 2017 World Series. ... The Banging Scheme was so prevalent,' Manfred wrote, 'that witnesses regularly describe that everyone in and around the Astros dugout was presumptively aware of it.'"

We understand dumping Vaz. We don't understand why the Sox would want him. (I'd take McGuire, even if the money was the same.)

What's keeping you from naming all 3? We are not Sherlock.

Please, God, NO!

The pen became a big issue as the regular season ended. Some were suggesting Kelly be left off the playoff roster. Cora was masterful that whole year. The playoffs were a showcase of Cora's ability to be flexible and to allow players to step up and step into roles they were not experienced in. We ha dstarters lining up at his door asking to be used in relief, if needed.

Doesn't "all levers" imply financial about as much as full throttle did?

It's come down to Gio and hopes for Clevinger or maybe settling on Paxton. Bummer is not a strong enough word.

No doubt. He looked like DFA material, before turning it around in the pen. Some of his strong stretches: 2021: 3.77 ERA and 3.27 FIP on June 6th (11 GS) 4.20 and 4.17 on August 17th (after 23 GS) 2022: 3.62 and 3.73 during a 20 GS stretch in May to Aug. 3.85 and 4.04 over an overlapping 25 game stretch. 2023: 2.37 and 2.73 after joining the rotation in SEP (5 GS) 3.16 and 3.28 after May 17th (8 GS and 22 games in relief)

He spent a lot. $154M/7 AGon extension (3rd highest contract in Sox history) The Vic, Dempster, Napoli and S Drew group was for over $95M in 2013. $110/8 Pedey extension was a major contract. $95M/5 + $88M/4 for Pablito & HRam was a major outlay of cash. He also signed Rusney Castillo to $73M/7 in 2014. Adjust for inflation, and Ben had a longer budget leash than Bloom, but still not as much as DD, starting with the Price signing and including trades that brought in higher salaries.

He's had some very long stretches of doing very well, in each of his last 3 seasons. If he could do it for 32 GS, this year, his paycheck should be very nice on the open market, next winter. (I'd like to see us extend him.)

Agreed, the AAV on HRam + Pablito was more than Scherzer. I guess the running argument was that we were not allowed to spend large & long on 30+ SP'ers, until the precise time of the Price signing.

I'm not expecting any significant rotation additions, perhaps for years. It doesn't change the fact that this is our only options for a few years. I suppose we could hope all our tweeners turn to legit SP'ers, but that is a big hope.

I knew and said it was an overpay and for too long, but felt it was a very necessary signing. I remember saying his profile was about as good as it can be up to the signing.

Houck had a 2.0 bWAR over his first 2 seasons, combined- 86 IP (16 GS and 5 RP appearances.) Pivetta has had stretches of 20+ starts, where his numbers look better than many teams' #2 or 3 SP'er. He's had bWARs of 2.5, 2.6 and 2.4, the last 3 seasons. In theory, we could have 5 guys over 2.0: Giolito (repeat '19, '20 pro-rated, or 2021) Bello (repeat 2023) Pivetta (just repeat 2021, 2022 or 2023) Crawford (repeat 2023) Houck (repeat 2020-2021) Why does this seem so unlikely? (It does, to me.)

That was the great "what if..." I think they decided to fill the O, one year and the Pitching, the next. Price looked solid, on paper. Injury free. Work horse. Consistent top performer. I'm not sure he looked much different from Scherzer, at the times of their signings. The added bonus of signing Scherzer over Price would have likely been NOT to sign Pablito & HRam. If they spent on O, the following year, it's hard to imagine doing worse than those two.

That's the pen. We need SP'ers, badly. I like to see us get two solid innings eaters, but one would bring us much closer to having a chance at competing.

For penny pinching, yes, Dalbec gets the nod. I'd rather see others on the 26, but they will all get their looks, if they deserve it.

The grass is greener, due to warmer climate and excessive watering.

The true meaning of "Moneyball."

soxpropsects.com usually does a pretty good job, all around, but I do wonder why they have Winckowski in AAA to start the season, and Campbell on the big club. I understand the situation with Rule 5 Slaten and out of options Mata creating a roster situation, but I'd flip the two. (They have Wink starting.) They also have us acquiring another SP and a RF'er. (O'Neill in LF, Duran in CF and Yoshida at DH. They have Dalbec on the 26 with reyes, McGuire and Ref as the subs. Both rafaela and Abreu in AAA. Much can change, for sure. I can't see Dalbec on the 26. That might mean we'll have to add a RF'er who can also back-up 1B, or give someone a 1Bman's mitt and hope Casas can play nearly everyday at 1B. We have SP'er depth in our MLB pen, but avoiding their use as starters would vault our pen to top 5-8 status. In AAA, we'll have: Max Castillo, Richard Fitts, Grant Gambrell, Brandon Walter and Chris Murphy as depth. The pen depth is pretty strong, especially if 3-4 out of our swingmen (Pivetta, Crawford, Houck, Whitlock) can stay in the pen. Jansen, Martin, 1-4 swingmen, Schreiber, Winckowski, Bernardino, Slaten, Mata, Campbell, Criswell, Weissert, Kelly, Guerrero and converted SP'ers in AAA. (Benitez and Olivares may climb.) Catcher depth on the farm: Roberto Perez & Stephen Scott in AAA, Teel & Hickey in AA, plus Jo Garcia and B Brannon in A+. That's solid minor league depth at a position many teams are dying in. 1B: Dalbec in AAA, along with Kavadas. Jordan in AA. 2B: E Valdez, Yorke & DHam at AAA and Paulino at AA. SS: DHam at AAA and Mayer at AA. (Romero A+, Zanetello A- and Cespedes FCL offer some very nice hopes for the future.) 3B: Meidroth at AAA and Lugo in AA. (A Anderson has promise) LF: Rosier (McDonough in AA) CF: Rafaela (Anthony in AA, Castro in A+ & Bleis in A- have a ton of promise) RF: Abreu (Yuten is far away) DH: E Valdez, Yorke, Hickey, Kavadas (K Campbell)

If we don't sign or trade for top SP'ers, it will NOT be good enough. Even if we assume, changes made have already set in motion an advance in the area of pitching prospect scouting, acquisition and development, it will be years and years before we even start seeing results at the MLB level. There has to be some sort of "bridge plan" beyond guys like Perez, Richards, Paxton, Wacha, Hill and Giolito. It's a losing formula based on long hopes of everything gelling, at once, every so often.

Maybe, someday... That is the best hope Sox fans have, right now.

One aspect of "monetball" is not moneyball.

They never really went the Rays' Way all the way. Everything they do is half-ass.