moonslav59

Tradition went out the window long ago. The DH. Teams switching leagues. 2 divisions to 4 to 6. Next, we'll be hearing about robots for umps!

Baseball would be a better game, if they downsized. Eliminate TBR, OAK/LV & PIT (or MIA?) Have a nice player dispersal draft or the 120 players on those 3 teams' 40 man rosters, where the bottom 9 teams pick first round, then middle 9 teams, then bottom 9 again, then top 9, middle 9, bottom 9. Repeat. (Bottom 9 get 6 picks each, middle 9 get 4, top 9 get 2 and the rest are free agents) How to divide up their minor league players would be interesting, too. 3 divisions of 9: TOR, BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL, WSH, ATL, MIA DET, CLE, CIN, CWS, CHC, MIL, MIN, STL, KCR HOU, TEX, COL, AZ, SEA, SFG, LAD, LAA, SDP Schedule: 4 games x 18 non div teams= 72 games 11 games x 8 div teams= 88 games 2 games vs ???

How about 3 x 10 team divisions? EAST: TOR, BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL, WSH, ATL, TBR, MIA CENTRAL: PIT, DET, CLE, CIN, CWS, CHC, MIL, MIN, STL, KCR WEST: HOU, TEX, COL, AZ, LV, SEA, SFG, LAD, LAA, SDP 4 games vs non div teams (4 x 20=80) 9 games vs div team (9 x 9= 81) 1 game vs closest record previous season.

They have us above TOR, which I agree with. The AL has 6 teams at 55% or greater, while the NL has 5 teams at greater than 43%, Major difference, there. (NL has 5 at 62.6% or more.)

They could go 3 games for the first two rounds, 5 games for the championship round and 7 for the WS. YUCK! Did I just say that?

Touche, but it doesn't fit the Chicken Little anaology.

I'd like to see 3 home and 3 away vs every team in MLB, minimum. 6 x 29=174, so that ain't happening. 3 H and 2A or 2H and 3A, alternating years is 5 games x 29 teams= 145, so that would allow 4H and 4A vs 4 division foes to bring it up to 157. I'd do away with AL & NL and reginalize the league into 5 divisions of 6 or 6 divisions of 5. Here is my 5 division set up: EAST: BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL, WSH SOUTH: ATL, TBR, MIA, CIN, HOU, TEX NORTH: TOR, PIT, CLE, DET, CHC, CWS CENTRAL: MIN, MIL, KCR, STL, COL, LV WEST: AZ, SEA, SFG, LAD, LAA, SDP 6 x 5 team divisions: East: TOR, BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI South: BAL, WSH, ATL, TBR, MIA, North: PIT, CLE, CIN, DET, CWS Central: MIN, MIL, KCR, STL, CHC South West: HOU, TEX, COL, LV, AZ West: SEA, SFG, LAD, LAA, SDP

YES! I failed to mention our top utility guy is all about defense. We won't see Ref in the OF anymore, either. It remains to be seen if KC plays 2B, but I like the Mayer/Romy/Durbin choices. DHam was good defensive 2Bman, but not anywhere else. Sogard, Eaton and some of our past infielders were not known for defense.

Yes, we've heard your point and reasoning many times. There will always be tougher and easier divisions, but adding PHI and NYM would be too much, for me. I'm fine with the way it is now, since they balanced the scheduling more.

Getting two out of three home games means something, too, but I'm okay with all 3.

If Romy begins the year on the IL, maybe Mayer gets his chance at FT play on day 1. To me, Romy is like Ref: he needs to start every game vs LH'd SP'ers. If Duran is at DH, I'd rather he platoon with Mayer at 2B. If Masa is at DH, maybe DH not 2B.

I think we should be a better defensive team, this year than 2025. Durbin may be a step down from Bregman at 3B, but we should be better at 1B (Willson), 2B (Mayer) and the OF (no Ref & less Duran.) Maybe Narvaez gets even better. Maybe Story takes another step down.

Better for you, fine, but some of what you wrote is just not true. There were many years where an ALE team, not just the Sox, were more than "good enough" to move on, but were snake-bitten by the quirks of the playoff structure and/or scheduling unbalances. Weaker teams make the playoffs often. To me, that's not really fair.

Putting the Yanks and Mets in the same division/league makes sense, as does BAL w WSH, KC w STL, LAA w LAD, CWS w CHC (MIL) and maybe a couple others like CLE w CIN (DET?), but having TOR, BOS, NYY, NYM & PHI in one division would not be fair.

They could go 14 team playoffs, where the top 2 teams get a rest.

They probably do know, but Cora loves to have "flexibility." If someone gets hurt, positions may shift.

I was torn between B+ and B. I think we failed to fill a big need better than adequately and left a position log-jammed. Otherwise, we'd have gotten an A or A-

I could see that. The one doing better starts more and more and goes longer and longer.

I thought about that one. I think they may ease Sandoval into a SP role by being the long man for a while.

I really am okay with adding 2 pitchers and Oviedo just basically replaced the depth we traded away. I still feel like we could have done better than Durbin + IKF, somehow- someway, especially when we have a clear surplus area to deal from. There's always a "what if..." I think we improved the team by more than most here seem to think we did. I'm also not so sure why so many posters seem to think other teams got better. Hell, the Yankee winter stated motto was "Run it back." They did nothing at all. Somehow, the hopes of a returning injured pitcher only works for other teams. The Jays added a couple nice players but lost a couple. The O's were horrible, but suddenly they are going to jump 20 games, because they got Alonso, and we didn't. The Tigers? The Astros? LOL. The M's look good, but their once vaunted rotation is full of questions, now. Did they do anything to get significantly better, this winter? I can sympathize with those who had higher winter expectations, because I am one, too. I had my own idea on what was best, and it included two very good bats minimum, but there are others ways to improve a team. We improved the pitching and defense and look like we got a bit worse on offense, but when you look closely, position by position our offense looks close to the same as 2025's.

Another pivot? Downwards, of course.

Sox SSs drafted since 2004 (top 4 rounds or notables) 2004: Pedroia (#65) 2007: Ryan Dent (62) 2008: Casey Kelly RHP/SS (30) & Derrick Gibson (77) 2009: David Renfroe (107) 2010: Sean Coyle (110) & Garin Cecchini (143) 2011: 5th Rd. Mookie Betts (172) 2012: Deven Marrero (24) 2014: Michael Chavis (26) 2016: CJ Chatham (51) 2019: Cameron Cannon (43) & M Lugo (69) 2021: Mayer (4) 2022: Romero (24) Cutter Coffey (41) & Meidroth (129) 2023: Zanetello (50) A Anderson (83) K Campbell (132) J Riemer (133) 2025: Mason White (118)

Plus, the "throw in" Meidroth.

So, Casas and Romy start the season on the IL, Masa makes the 26, and here is the opening day line-up and roster: Starter: Crochet (#2 Suarez, #3 Gray, #4 Bello, #5 Oviedo) Closer: Chapman (#2 Whitlock, 3 Slaten, 4 Weissert, 5 Crawford, 6. Sandoval, 7 Watson, 8. Moran) 1. L Anthony LF 2. R Story SS 3. L Duran DH 4. R Contreras 1B 5. L Abreu RF 6. R Narvaez C 7. L Mayer 2B 8. R Durbin 3B 9. R Rafaela CF Bench: Wong, Masa, IKF, Monasterio