moonslav59

Feeling tge love, or should I say anti hate.

He really has the profile of a platoon guy. I really like Abreu and Rafaela, but we’d need Duvall back before I trade Dugo or Duran.

Not sure, anymore. I think it will be good enough, and the D looks better.

We don’t have a third catcher on the 40, so if we do t want another Alfaro type, Scott seems like a viable option.

That’s all you’d move? He was a tweener

He had a 112 OPS+ from 2019-2021 and was still pre-prime. I expected him to at least stay the same as he entered prime. He did not.

It was t the hitting. Top 10 batters by PAs were all over .766, and 4 guys were over .900

I'm not really one who thinks like that, but it does help that a player makes a significant contribution in a ring year. IMO, the Lackey signing worked better than the Price one, and not just because of the massive money differential. When I think of Kelly, I think or how close he came to being left off that playoff roster. I'm glad he did well, but overall, he was a letdown. Craig was a net negative.

How many Rule 5 players do we add to the 40? I'm guessing 6 or 7. Probables? Wikelman Gonzalez Luis Perales Grant Gambrell Stephen Scott Shane Drohan Possibles? Allan Castro Angel Bastardo Zach Penrod Justin Hagenman Luis De La Rosa Brock Bell Brainer Bonaci Ryan Fernandez Chih-Jung Liu Eddinson Paulino Doubtfuls? Rivaldo Avila Royman Blanco Zach Bryant Maceo Campbell Brendan Cellucci Felix Cepeda Juan Chacon Casey Cobb Nathanael Cruz Nick Decker Kelvin Diaz Jordan DiValerio Juan Daniel Encarnación Alex Erro Albert Feliz Ryan Fitzgerald Jhostynxon Garcia Bryan Gonzalez Alexis Hernandez Gabriel Jackson Lyonell James Gilberto Jimenez Christian Koss Robert Kwiatkowski Eduardo Lopez Matthew Lugo Elih Marrero Yorberto Mejicano Ryan Miller Andrés Núñez Yusniel Padron-Artiles Railin Perez AJ Politi Jose Ramirez Oscar Rangel Jorge Rodriguez Ronald Rosario Cesar Ruiz Johnfrank Salazar Cody Scroggins Reidis Sena Chase Shugart Karson Simas Nick Sogard Noah Song Dylan Spacke Joey Stock Luis Talavera Nate Tellier Michael Valera Brian Van Belle Diego Viloria Jeremy Wu-Yelland Ryan Zeferjahn

It's not a question of priority, unless maybe it comes down to Dalbec vs someone else, and maybe positional depth might matter. As I said, I don't think Dalbec will be on our 40, next year. I also don't think we add someone just to be a back-up to Casas, but we will need one. I'm just curious who you think it would be, assuming we don't add anyone for that role. I've already said I'd give Devers a 1B mitt and some reps, and I know you are not against the idea, but I'm wondering why you can't answer. Yes, my answer leaves open the possibility it could be Dalbec, but only because I see him being around #6-8 on the DFA list and we might need to DFA only 7-9 guys. If we sign 4+ FAs, Dalbec is certainly a goner, unless we only protect 4-5 Rule 5 guys.

So, your answer is nobody. Adding Duran, Mills and Ort brings us to 43. Add about 7 Rule 5, and we are at about 50. Minus Paxton, Duvall and JT and we are at 47. I have Dalbec on my list of 7, so it's not like we are disagreeing, but I am still curious who our back up 1Bman might be in 2024. Maybe we bring JT back. Maybe we bring Duvall back, who has started 27 games at 1B, but right now, neither is on that list of 49. My top 10 DFA/Trade list: 1. Ort 2. Gillaspe 3. Weiss 4. Llovera 5. Jacques 6. Garza 7. Dalbec or Mills (trade) 8. Dalbec or Joely (trade or refuse option) 9. Dalbec 10. Urias (trade or refuse arb) Others? Walter, DHam or the much discussed trade of an OF'er to make room for Rafaela and Abreu and a full season from Duran.

I do think his complaining about the clause was part of the reason we traded him. We were so lucky to get Craig and Kelly for him! Seriously though, the other trades worked out better: Lester for Cespedes (flipped for Porcello) Peavy for Escobar and Hembree (who was part of the Pivetta deal) AMiller for ERod

I'm just asking, who is the back-up, right now? Are you suggesting we add a 1Bman to the 40, over the winter? Just tell me who you see as the current back up 1Bman on the 40 or a Rule 5 addition. I'm projecting Dalbec will be DFA'd or traded, but as one of the last to be so. I'm curious who will back up Casas. We know Cora will want to rest him 12-15 games.

It will be even more greatly improved by Story playing more games at SS. Even Urias and Reyes at 2B should improve 2B defense. If we can get Rafaela to hit well enough to play a bunch of games in CF, our D could even end up a net plus. Here are our current positional rankings and values on OAA: Overall: 30th (-51) The next team is -34. 1B: T27th (-9) Casas is -10, so he'll have to improve 2B: 29th (-13) Reyes is -1, so if he plays more... (Urias -5/EValdez -5) SS: T 24th (-6) Story is +6, so a massive improvement is possible 3B: 28th (-11) Devers is -10 LF: T24th (-10) Yoshi is -9, but Duran is 0. Ref -1. CF: 30th (-2) Duvall is -3, Duran 0, Abreu -1, Rafaela +1 RF: T10th (0) Verdugo is +1. No position is plus. All but RF is bottom 7. We could see 1B, 3B and RF be about the same: SS: -6 to +12 or more (Story) LF: -10 to zero (No Yoshi) CF: -2 to +6 (Rafaela) 2B: -13 to maybe -2 That would add about 50 to the -51 score of 2023. Some big ifs, here but not unrealistic. If Devers and Casas can improve, we could see a plus team OAA without adding any out of system players..

Who is "anyone?" Devers? Fine, but I doubt it happens. Duvall? Gotta sign him, first. Urias? Yoshida? I'm not saying keep him solely for that reason, but it is a reason to keep him over about 6-8 others on the 40, right now. If we add 5-7 Rule 5 guys and 3 FAs, then he will likely reach the top of the DFA list, but until then, I see reason enough to keep him around. Hell, he's RF depth, too! Since everyone and his brother want to trade Dugo, he can back-up Abreu in RF, too! (from AAA)

On paper, losing Kimbrell and Kelly was pretty significant, but yes, that team looked very good, despite those losses, on paper. Declining production from returning players, especially those not past prime was unexpected, and that sort of thing happens, often, just as a bunch of players can all gel at the same time. Often, the manager and or GM are blamed for those declines, and I suppose some of the blame can be placed on them for not planning on some declines better, but there was a change at the top before 2019 even started. Yes, a lot of money was spent of bringing back Sale, Bogey and Nate, but basically no money was spent on anything else, and no more prospects were traded after the 2018 deadline. It seems like you have to continually seek to improve on paper, every year. Trying to stay even, usually results in declines. Not replacing Kimbrell & Kelly was asking for trouble, and we got it. Losing Betts, Porcello, Price and others, after 2019, without spending hardly anything to replace them was furthering the major shift in philosophy. I don't think the 2019 was as close to teh 2018 as we think, and the 2020 team was a shell of even the 2019 team.

Who are the 13? Bello Martin Jansen Crawford Pivetta Houck Whitlock Winckowski Devers Casas Verdugo Wong Abreu

Farm Leaders in xFIP 3.02 Bolden A, A+ 3.05 Monegro A, A+ 3.45 ICoffey A+, AA 3.46 Paez A (lead in WHIP at 1.01) 3.50 Fernandez A, AA 3.69 Dobbins A+, AA 3.73 Wikelman A+, AA 3.85 Rogers A, A+ Others: 3.98 Gambrell A+, AA 3.98 Bastardo A+, AA 4.00 de la Rosa A 4.09 E R-C A 4.15 Perales A, A+

...and the fact that our back up 1Bman will be ______?

It wasn't meant to be, but sure, I'd have enjoyed watching more had we won more the last couple years or gone further in 2021. I really did enjoy watching this season and even more than last season. I like watching baseball. There was a lot of good things to see, especially if you look for it.

I doubt Dalbec has much trade value. Other teams are looking at 40 man roster squeezes. They might figure they can just wait and claim Dalbec off waivers or someone like him.

We could sign Teoscar and trade Duran: LF: Teoscar CF: Rafaela/Abreu RF: Dugo DH: Yoshida I'd prefer we just bring Duvall back, too.

Good points, but both are still major budget additions before winter even arrives. Same with the nearly $20M added to SEA for Castillo and MG raises. We have the Devers raise and some arb raises to Pivetta and Dugo.

His swing was slow when they had him ranked top 20 to start the season.

Last game of the minor league season for the Sox was cancelled. Final Numbers OPS (350+ PAs) .938 Dalbec .930 Abreu .869 Rafaela .869 Anthony .858 Hickey (80-299 PAs) .977 Teel (114 PAs) .953 Cespedes (209) .933 Asencio (106) .911 Campbel (84) .893 Arias (159) .886 Brannon (77) .878 GRod (136) .875 Asigen (206) .870 Nunez (215) .864 EValdez (232) .847 Musett (164) .817 Salazar (240) .815 Jog Garcia (247) HR (XBH) 33 (50) Dalbec (493 PAs) 22 (34) Abreu (363) 22 (38) Kavadas (480) 20 (54) Rafaela (444) 19 (47) Scott (403) 19 (44) Hickey (359) 18 (51) Jordan (476) 17 (37) DHam (469) 17 (34) RHern (393) 16 (36) Binelas (328) 14 (45) Anthony (491) SB (CS) 57 (14) DHam 49 (8) Rosier 39 (7) Sikes 36 (13) Rafaela 30 (6) Liendo 28 (4) Ferguson