moonslav59

It's hard to know how his D will age, and RF in Fenway is a very difficult position to play. So is CF, and he wasn't too bad. (-4 on OAA disagrees.) Dugo was never considered a good RF'er, until suddenly he looked good in 2023. He does seem like the easy guy to trade and replace with a RHB, but just doing so for the sake of it, may backfire. Chances are, he will be back in 2024. I really like Duvall, but 3 years might be too much.

If he batted RH'd, he'd be a 100% lock. He's probably 85-90%, now.

Around here, except on the game threads, it's always on the GM or manager.

Or, Bresblows.

To me, Duran, Refsnyder and Yoshida are best in LF over CF and RF. Until 2023, I'd have said the same about Dugo. Our need seems to be more for CF than RF, but the big RHB might trump that.

Other aspects of FIP are BB% and HR%. Low K pitchers with decent BB and HR rates can have good FIPs. Career: 2.1 BB/9 1.1 HR/9 4.06 FIP 4.40 ERA It is rare that a 6.7 K/9 pitcher has such a high fWAR, but also IP is a major factor. The guy had close to 2100 IP over his 12 year career. That is 7th most in that period.

They had 5 better than Beeks.

They usually lash out at the GM and owner- not the players. Ask Red, he has his hand on the true pulse of Sox nation. His corner is bigger than any of ours.

Theo's name was really Beo Cepstein, but he changed it to break the cycle.!

He has no more experience than Bloom did. In fact, he hs less. I'm just curious why you have a different opinion right off the bat.

Through free agency? You are a true comedian!

Porcello only had 1 season with an fWAR above 3.0, and that was 2016 at 5.4. That year, he had his lowest BB/9 at 1.29 and a pretty low H.9 at 0.93. His K rate that year was very close to his career avg (7.63 to 7.65 Because he faced much fewer batters in 2016, his BB% was his lowest, ever at 3.6%- best in MLB among pitchers with 180+ IP.

That's a bit extreme. Even if you take his worst sample size (3 years,) he has a .743 OPS, which is a 108 OPS+. 26 HRs and 57 XBHs per 650 is not too bad. Best defensive 3Bman from 2021-2023: OAA 47 K Hayes 30 R McMahon 29 N Arenado 22 Chapman He may not earn his salary, but he doesn't "suck." (BTW, last place: Devers at -25. The next worst is at -14. That could be a 47 out swing or about 15 more outs a year!

Another poor defensive LF'er? No, thanks.

Even with Dave Dombrowski, we never seem to get past our A-B-C-D's.

What's with all the C-B's and B-C's? Ben Cherrington Chaim Bloom Craig Breslow

The fact is, he did not trade any of the Sox prospects- no matter where they were ranked, nationally. His highest prospect traded after the Sale trade was #6 Beeks. By definition, there were higher, and theoretically better ones that could have been traded, but were not. Certainly, Devers was on everyone's radar, but of course, he was not a prospect by the time period I was talking about. These were: (Remember, back in 2018 and 2019, teams were more willing to take farther-away prospects than they seem to do, now.) Summer 2018: 1. Chavis 2. Mata 3. Houck 4. Casas 5. Groome 6. Beeks (traded for Nate) 7. Shawaryn 8. Ockimey 9. Decker 10. Chatham Granted, after Beeks, we would not have gotten anyone good, in trade, but the need for a couple RP'ers was high, and they don't usually need top prospects to obtain. By winter '18, Dalbec, DHern and Antoni Flores joined the top 10. By the 2019 deadline, Duran (#3), Feltman (#10) and Jimenez (#8) had joined the top 10. No, there were no more Moncada and Espinoza's left, but there were better prospects than Beeks in the system, and none were traded after Sale- 6 years ago!

I'm pretty sure DD was not happy about the push to trade Betts and Price in the summer of 2019. Apparently, a winning stretch changed the plan. I'm pretty sure it was not DD's idea to let Kimbrell and Kelly's slots go unfilled, the winter before 2019 and summer of '19. I can't prove he wanted to trade some more prospects to fill some needs, but it does seem to be his MO. There was obvious friction building up between him and the higher ups, and it's not a big stretch to think it might have been related to a change in direction, which included more focus on the farm than the big club and more money being spent. When it comes to who made the choice between Bloom and upper brass not to trade prospects, it might be kind of like the who came first- the chicken or the egg argument, where there is no defining answer. I think JH & Co. hired Bloom, because he fit into their plan to make the farm a higher priority. He willingly took the job and understood the concept, because he had lived it for his whole career.They did not need to pressure him not to trade top prospects: it was just something they all mutually agreed on as a guideline or concept. Maybe, there was no firm mandate from above, but the overall strategy was clear to everyone, from top to bottom.

Apparently, the more you get out and hear more and more talk like this, the better understanding you have of the game and the needs of the team. These guys really know what they are talking about!.

After the Sale trade in Dec 2016, the only semi-major trade was Beeks for Nate. I would not call the Espinal for Pearce trade or the Buttrey for Kinsler trade as "major." I'd say a change happened over DD's last 2.5 years, but if you want to start at the 2018 deadline, then it was over his last 1.2 years. My point was, the big trades stipped during the end of DD's regime and continued through all of Bloom's years. The reasons why is up for debate.

Sports talk radio, here around Houston, is full of people blaming Dusty Baker for the Astros loss. Some are blaming the loss of Click and those let go after the cheating scandal. Of course, it doesn't seem to rise to the level of Sox fan vitriol, but it is still pretty bad, considering this is a team that has made the ALCS for many years in a row.

O'Neil does have power from the right side, but do we really need another LF'er? I said, "I'd do it" a few minutes ago, but now I'm not so sure. We need a big RHB who plays CF or RF well.

Here are the '23 playoff ERAs of the top AZ pitchers by IP: 5.24 Gallen (22 IP) 2.65 Kelly (17) 2.70 Pfaadt (17) 2.53 Thompson (11) 0.00 Ginkel (9) 0.00 Sewald (8) These guys sure turned it around, except for their ace.

I was for "buying" (and more than just Urias) at the deadline, but in hindsight, I'm not sure it would have worked. In hindsight, we could have... Traded Paxton in a three-way for someone like Civale, but even he did not do well for the Rays. I'm not sure trading for Montgomery would have been enough. I was not for selling off the whole farm or even major pieces for a shot at 2023. If we traded for a longer term player, or someone we ended up extending, then I'd have been fine with trading a top prospect or two..

I'd do that.