moonslav59

They had him listed 4th on their opening day rosters, right behind Slaten, who you poo-poo'd, recently for not having enough Ks. https://www.soxprospects.com/2024SB.htm

It's also more than EValdez, DHam and about the same as Romy

Nobody has come close to calling him a savior or great player. Saying the guy should be better than Arroyo/Valdez/Kike/Urias/Reyes is not anointing him as anything more than maybe better than replacement level. He'll likely be an improvement on D. The O is harder to call.

Well, at the start of the year, we had Jansen as the closer and Martin as the back-up closer and 8th inning guy. Since neither can pitch everyday, I think most people assign 2 guys as "eighth inning" or "high leverage" RP'ers to go with the closer. I viewed Wink as that guy, but he was being stertched out and was viewed as our long man, not really as our other 8th inning guys. Who else did we have? Slaten? Joely? soxprospects.com had Slaten listed 3rd behind Jansen & Martin, with Campbell listed 4th. (He still is listed 4th.)

Yes, totally. The fact is, until the 10th, our team was T3rd in runs allowed- earned + unearned + ghosts. THANKS TO THE PITCHING!

I wonder how long his leash will be. Zack Kelly is off to a good start in AAA. I guess Criswell will be called up to take Pivetta's start (or more,) so maybe Campbell gets demoted.

I have watched every pitch of every game, so yes. I specifically said "thanks to our pitching," which implies not the D. Before last nights game, we were T 3rd in runs allowed. That's damn good run prevention, IMO. Yes, 13 of the 38 runs allowed were unearned or ghost runners scoring, but we were preventing runs, thanks to great pitching. After least night, we are tied for 7th in least amount of runs allowed (47, with 15 being UERs or Ghost Runners.)

I get that. My point has never been we'd have a plus D in 2024. My mantra has been about getting from #30 to maybe #16 (maybe higher with the right guys staying healthy.)

The season is still young, and normally SP'ers are allowed to bring their pitch counts up, by mid to late April. With our current staff nearly devoid of 180+ IP type guys, I wonder if we will start upping their pitch counts. '24 Avg Pitch count/ Max in '24 87/89 Bello (5.1 IP/GS) 87/90 Crawford (5.2) 91/99 Houck (6.0) 87/90 Pivetta (5.5) 86/101 Whitlock (4.8) 88/101 Team (5.3) 86 League average (5.2) We have 4 QS (31%.) The league avg is 35%. Note: these guys have pitched so well, which usually limits pitches per inning and maximizes IP/GS, so if they pitch any worse, they may pitch more pitches, but have the same or less IP/GS.

We did a pretty good job preventing runs, until the 10th inning, last night- thanks to our pitching.

The idea (hope) was Story would play way more than 2023. Since the SS position is so critical, and we were awful, there, last year, that alone could have been a huge lift. I can't imagine Grissom being worse than Arroyo/Valdez/Kike/Urias. Sure, Rafaela was on the roster, before, but he hardly played, last year. I get the idea that expecting Casas, Wong and some other players to improve on D might be nothing more than wishful thinking, but a defense with Story at SS, Grissom at 2B, Rafaela in CF and Duran over Yoshida in LF looks way better, on paper.

I agree with all 8 points. Maybe, I need my head examined!

The pen was certainly overworked, last season. Using 28 players in relief tells a big story about 2023. Our pen pitched 656 innings, last year, but that does not count the opener's IP in all those pen games. (15 GS and about 22 more IP) This year, we are 10 in SP'er IP, with one team ahead of us having 2 more GSs. Last year our SP'ers were 27th in IP. It has not been a problem, so far, in fact, it has been a strength. While 5 IP does not seem like much, we've had no starts of 1-4 IP or the need for any "pen games," yet. Our pen is on pace for less IP than 2023 (623 to 656 w/o adding the 22 IP from openers by pen arms) Gone are the days of 6-7 man pens. It's 8, now. We need to improve on Joely & Campbell, as of now.

Hey, we're tied for 3rd! LOL.

It will get worse, if JH sits on his hands, this winter. At least it's interesting to see how long the streak of good starts lasts.

I don't think anyone will b e pacified with a 70-80 win season. If we lose that many and do nothing, this winter, it's going to get real ugly.

That was crap. Nothing more to say.

It's like these games are scripted, and not by anyone nice.

My top prospect list (soxprospects.com's rank, if different) 1. Anthony 2. Teel (3) 3. Mayer (2) 4. Cespedes (6) 5. Bleis 6. Rafaela (4) 7. Fitts (9) 8. Sandlin (12) 9. Joh. Garcia (18) 10. Zanetello (13) 11. Wikelman (8) 12. Slaten (20) 13. Perales (10) 14. Hickey (17) 15. Abreu (7) 16. Arias (25) 17. Meidroth (14) 18. Yorke (11) 19. Monegro (21) 20. Jordan (16) 21. K Campbell (22) 22. Castro (15) 23. Guerrero (28) 24. E R-C (23) 25. Dobbins (24)

I hope he ends up being the stud we hoped he was, when drafted. We need a hit.

Sounds like a conditional call.

The Astros have all 5 starters on the IL.

Much like last season, we see some surprise starts by a few teams: 9-3 PIT 9-4 KCR 7-4 DET 4-10 HOU

I caution making decisions based on 12 games. I also think Rafaela has probably saved more than the 4 runs with his D than the 4 that scored after his errors. Some errors end up hurting more than others due to how many men were on base and how many hits happened after the error.

Using soxprospects.com as a guide, here are my picks for the best players on each year's farm: 2003: Lester, HRam, Youkilis, F Sanchez, D Murphy, Shoppach, J de la Rosa 2004: Pedroia, Papelbon, B Moss, Lester, HRam, Youkilis, Shoppach 2005: Pedroia, Papelbon, Lester, A Sanchez, Shoppach, B Moss, D Murphy 2006: Ellsbury, Buchholz, Bard, Masterson, Lowrie, Pedroia, Papelbon, B Moss, Lester 2007: Ellsbury, Buchholz, Bard, Masterson, Moss, Doubront, Lowrie, Middlebrooks 2008: Ellsbury, Buchholz, Bard, Doubront, Masterson, Reddick, Middlebrooks 2009: Tazawa, Bard, Reddick, Middy, Rizzo, Iggy, Doubront 2010: Rizzo, Iggy, reddick, Doubront, Tazawa, Middy, Workman 2011: Iggy, Doubront, Reddick, Middy, Workman, A Wilson, Bogaerts, 2012: Bogaerts, JBJ, Iggy, Barnes, Doubront, Workman, Wilson, Middy 2013: Bogey, JBJ, Betts, Barnes, Workman, Wilson, Vaz 2014: add Devers, Margot, T Shaw & ERod 2015: add Moncada & Kopech 2016: add Beni, Dubon 2017: add Houck, Beeks 2018: add Casas, Duran, Dalbec 2019: add Murphy 2020: add Wong, Bello 2021: Whitlock, Mayer, Bleis 2022: Wink, Rafaela, Anthony, EValdez, Abreu 2023: Teel, Cespedes 2024: Fitts, Slaten, Sandlin