moonslav59

As "high as I am," I gave the deadline trades a "C," and am not yet sold on the "fixing" of the middle infield. I want more than anything to believe in Monasterio at SS and Seigler>Mead at 2B. Sogard looks nice as the utility guy going forward and Arias is a top 5 prospect in all of baseball. We even have Romy as a possible platoon place, one he properly "rehabs," again. It's hard not to be happy about our current middle infield, but to use Red's words, all these guys are "suspect," even Mead, I'm not being a downer, here, but there was a reason I had SS as my second choice to Catcher in our everyday needs priority rankings. You know my "love" for Duran, but I still had SS higher ranked than LF/DH.

The games played also plays into the worthiness of an extension and how much is the extension and years. I don't agree with blanket statements like "A" if we extend him and "B" if we don't. What if he plays less games for us? What if he plays 75% of the game but hits .625?

I'm not saying I agree with the BTV value, but they say Story is worth $4.7 over 1.3 years, so maybe $3.5 for 2027 alone. He's owed about $30M for 2027 and the buyout on 2028. In theory, we could trade him and pay $26 of the $30M owed and save $4M, maybe, or like you said, take back an equally ugly contract. At those numbers, it's pretty close to DFA material, but the guy did hit over .800 for the last 82 games of 2024. He can steal bases, still. Maybe somebody takes him with $22-25M paid by us. Worth a try. If not, cut him loose or let him come to ST'ing to try out for 2B only. I don't see a roster crunch, but if Brez adds some players, and one arises, fine- DFA him.

I don't think we traded for that 2-3 Rut. I think we knew that was a long shot. How many games he can play is a big part of his value and projected value. Last 2 years: despite a .713 OPS (still 101 OPS+) his bWAR is 3.8 over 157 games and 649 PAs. They'd take that in a heartbeat. They'd tale a 3.2 bWAR in 130 games, too. His 2025-2026 fWAR is 3.5, so over 130 games that might project to 3.0. I think the Sox would be fine with that too. The team fWAR at Catcher is 0.2, this year and was 1.8 last year. That's much worse than 3.0 to 3.5. Is that upgrade worth giving up 3 top 6 prospects plus Narvaez? Games played will likely give us the answer, but he could do worse or better when he plays, too.

I get why they did it. I just don't think they did it to save a spot for La Sorsa or the like.

The Soxprospects.com podcast mentioned thinking there might not be an innings limit on Tolle & Bennett. They loved the AR trade and mentioned he has a higher WAR in way less games than the team as a whole. They thought adding Azocar was overkill, but needed to get him. "Both can be true: it's a ridiculous overpay and a good trade for the Sox." Even if he doesn't ever play like his first 2 seasons, if he stays healthy, he's a 3-4 WAR catcher, which is a huge upgrade. They kinda talked up Gutierrez. He was 20-25 in SF's system, which is a pretty good system. High A with good numbers and high contact rates. Probably LF'er due to arm. Fast and has some power. "No path for Mayer here... He gets back to California." No rental deals- not bad for 4 deadline deals.

So, only 8 straight more?

Casas should be wrapped in bubble wrap, but then he'd suffocate.

LOL

While all these trades are TBD or N/A, my thoughts: B Mead B- Rutschman C White C- Miller/Gutierrez Overall: I'll go B- thanks to Mead.

A Great B Good C Okay D Bad F Horrible (I didnt count the Mead trade. Maybe that brings it to a B- or round off to B.)

6 middle infielders on the 40 is not really excessive, but trading Story would help.

Chapman and Whitlock ready to go, if needed. Looking good.

I was thinking B- to C+ and settled on "C" I feel okay with the AR trade, but OK is a C. I'd have kept Mayer and hope his stock goes up.

It was not everyone for sure. Many thought Sale still had hopes. I disliked the money part, but I ended up being okay with the trade. I felt we "used the savings" to sign Gio who looked like a cinch to give 150 IP in 2024. (LOL)

i may have started the Valentine one before opening day.

Very nice post.

I do feel more confident with Tracy than Cora on not so easily defaulting to Story at SS and IKF at 2B, if the mix is still doing well when they get healthy. Maybe they took Mayer out of the mix to make the choices easier.

Despite having 8 players on the 60 Day IL I'd want protected going into 2027, I don't really see a 40 man roster/Rule 5 crunch coming up. (Okay, Story, Casas and Kelly could go, and I wouldn't blink, but I think there is room for all 8 plus maybe Brannon or Paez added for Rule 5. That's maybe 9 guys to add. Say good bye to 4: Gray, Sandoval, IKF and Rogers to free agency Not so hard to DFA or trade 4-5: La Sorsa, Brett Harris, Gamboa, Gasper & Jones or White. One could also trade or DFA Kelly, Story, Casas or Yoshida or Duran. Are Eaton and Samaniego untouchable? As deep as I've bragged about our roster, many are not hard to replace or clear out some bottle necks.

That almost always is true, but we could make a change that backfires.

The thing is, everyone wanted Tolle and Early last summer. I really like Tolle & Mead for this year and beyond.

I still wish we had another big bat, too, and I wanted one at this deadline. AR offers a chance for a vast improvement over Narvaez on offense, but he's no Alonso or Schwarber. The thing about the Durbin for Bregman trade off is that it was more, and we can see it now, Bregman, DHam, Harrison & Drohan for Suarez, Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler How about that Perales for Bennett deal that kinds flew under the winter radar stations across New England? Anybody upset we lost Dobbins (doing well, now,) Fitts, Clarke, Gallo, Fajardo & Aita? We got Gray and Contreras for that group. Despite the injuries to IKF and Oviedo, those deals don't seem awful anymore, but winning helps with those type deals.

I do hindsight judgments, too, but I try to avoid them or lessen their impact on my grading a GM. In my own mind, I'd feel like a hypocrite, if I counted the Sale trade as a major deduction, when I liked the trade a couple days after thinking about it. Ultimately, he deserves a ding for that one, but I don't think I ding him as much as others for that reason. Of course, the bad deals get discussed more than the good ones, and sometimes trades and signings start off looking bad (Durbin, Giolito and to a lesser extent Sandoval and others) and turn out okay or even good, and sometimes the opposite happens. Honestly, I thought Brez did a very good job last winter, despite not finding another big bat, but the Suarez signing and Durbin trade we done to offset that "miss" (Bregman.) I thought we'd do better than last year, and last year was not bad. When we lost so many games, I resisted blaming it on Brez, and often I asked, why not blame the players. I even got more critical of Cora than ever before, but that actually started with his avoidance of doing his job on talking to Devers. The team we had on opening day was basically the same team Brez put together over 3 winters and two deadlines. The only real change was the players doing better, a new manager and Brez's bench guys stepping up bigtime. I remember some poster complaining about our lack of depth back before opening day. I realize the bottom line is wins and losses, but some serious introspection should be taking place by those who live and die by it. How can they reconcile thinking Brez sucked two months ago and now praising him. It's the same team. Maybe cut these GMs some slack and realize that baseball is not so easily predictable and so GMs should not be so quickly judged. At least couch your criticisms with, "So far, it sure looks like Brez goofed on ____," or "That decision sure looks bad SO FAR." Players and teams can turn on a dime. I'm not sure Brez deserved all the bashing two months deserve as much praise as he's getting, now. I've praised him a lot, because I liked almost all his deals when they occurred. (I'm not sold on the Mayer trade, but it's probably minor.) I was okay with the Durbin trade 2 months ago, too, and argued about who here cried about Harrison before he did well? Posters were bashing him for being "all we got for Devers." Same with Priester, and I'm still hopeful someone from that trade comes through. The Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler trade now looks like a win, while a month ago it looked like a clear loss. Brez has been decisive. He focused on fixing the pitching pipeline and acquisition formulas, and so far it seems to be working very well. He hasn't hoarded prospects or babied vets. Things past GM were criticized for. He's made many very bold trades and signings, and most have worked (so far) or are still TBD. He hasn't added any long term contract issues, although the Campbell and maybe Bello extensions look sketchy, but neither are like Story or Yoshida deals. We have a young core of SP'ers with some vets on the right side of 31. We have a young core of everyday players with 2-3 or more control years at arb or lower cost. Our pen has Chapman as an old man, but Brez has had 3 straight pens that overachieved any of our expectations, so I'm willing to say he knows more than I do on pen building. He's fixed our defense in a major way. There seems to be less base-running blunders, and even when we were losing in April and May. (Less SBs, too, for some reason, but it's working.) It's hard for me to point at one thing and say Brez sucks at ________. I don't care if he was the 12th pick. I don't get the Bres-LOW nickname. I'm not slamming anyone for thinking this was not the year. I got on the top of the fence and even went over to the "Sell, sell, sell" side for a few days, myself. I do think some went overboard on attacking Brez's body of work and focusing only on wins and losses. We have gotten a lesson on that, this year. We all learned something.

Wasn't there a Fire Cora Thread every year?

Last 82 games of 2025: .292 15 58 (.838 OPS) That's good enough to DH!