moonslav59

No even for Masa? OH MAN!!!

Some of it better than their pitching coaches advice! LOL

Hey, join the club. The Sox wnet decades without ever being considered serious contenders. Talk abut hard times: no team ever missed the playoffs ny a half game, except the Sox (the 1972 strike shortened season) The Sox missed the playoffs while winning... 97 in '77 99 in '78 91 in '79 93 in '02 89 in '10 90 in '11

Okay. Somehow I missed that time. Yes, the last team in won 89. So, it's not zero teams with 88 wins, it's one out of 8 samples, where an 88 win team lost out on making the playoffs.

We know. I posted every season since they started the WC format. The format changed starting in 2022. That is the time frame we were talking about whereby no 90 win (or 88 win) team missed the playoffs. None. Nada. Never happened. The last team in won between 83 and 88 games in the 8 samples. (4 in AL and 4 in NL.)

So? Is that supposed to mean that is who he is doomed to be forever? I don't put a ton of faith in small sample sizes, like you seem to do. Tristan's numbers from '22 to '24 is a sample size over 900 PAs. That's larger than the Dalbec one some got all goo-goo gah-gah over or Will-da-Beast Middlebrooks. I am fully prepared for Casas to never regain what he did over those 3 partial seasons, but if we had 9 guys do that, we'd have the best offense in MLB. He's one of the last batters I think needs help with his approach. Anthony is the one ahead of him. If it ain't broke- don't fix it. If he struggles in 2026, then hell yes, try to fix it.

There are several examples where ring teams we horrible at one key aspect of the game.

I'm not for trading Duran for prospects. I said if we are looking to trade an OF'er at the deadline (most likely Duran or Abreu) it would have to be for prospects, because contending teams will not give us what we need. "We'd a third team involved." Duran for Prospects, Prospects to another team and star infielder to us.

So, basically, if we just swapped Contreras (2.2 projected fWAR) & Kiner-Falefa (0.1 proj WAR) for Alonso (3.6 projection) we'd go from 4th plays to WS contender. (Keep Suarez, Gray & Durbin)

It will come down to Cora being kay with it, or not. I think I'd rather Durbin and Mayer stick to one position for the nest 4 years. Maybe Mayer moves to SS, when Story bolts or is moved to 2B.

I'd still prefer a 2B/3Bman over a second SP'er.

Numerous teams have won rings without power, without good defense, without a good rotation and without a good pen. there are many ways to build a ring team, and some have won with a great rotation, average offense and a good pen & defense.

Yes. Stay away from: vs RHP: Mayer 3B/Durbin 2B vs LHPs: Durbin 3B/Romy 2B

Suarez, Contreras and Gray are not dregs. The bigger problem was getting 2 pitchers and not 2 infielders with one being better than Durbin + I K-F. Had it been Alonso + Durbin/ I-K-F, that would be different.

I think they want the Romy platoon option at 2B and not juggle Mayer between 3B and 2B.

That is a difference, but Casas has had this approach through the minors and 3 partial seasons in MLB at pretty much the same success rate. Of course, if he does not have the same success, the whole point changes.

Yes, at this point, it seems like the best approach. We don't need a roster slot, now, so give Masa a look, even if some is at AAA, if he agrees. If Casas or Campbell look great, it might not matter what Masa is doing, he'll lose his shot at DH to one of them. The 4 OF'er logjam will also pressure Masa to a trade or DFA. The best we can hope for is that Masa looks good and some team offers to pay $5-8M of his annual salary, even if we get nothing back in return. Maybe we add Mullins to the trade. With the money saved, we can trade for a higher salary player to fill a need we realize mid season.

Except that we still have 4 OF'ers and 3 DHs. To me, this was the biggest sin of this winter. It would be fine, if we filled our three biggest needs and still had this, but we didn't. Okay, Contreras and Durbin are okay, but neither filled the big middle order bat we needed. Contreras is okay, but he's not "that bat." The problem with deadline trades is that trading Duran will be for prospects and not a piece we need. We'll need a third team to get what we need. That's not impossible, but it makes it more complex than it needed to be. Why overpay at the deadline, when we had all winter to get this done?

Yes, we don't know what's in his head. We do know he hits 30 Hrs per 650, so he must swing at enough pitches to get that great result. His judgement on pitches taken must not be too bad, if his OBP is near .350. His results are more than good enough for me to say, "Leave well enough alone." We have batters with bigger "issues" like Story, who K's way too much and has a low OBP. At best he hits 25 HRs per 650. We have Rafaela who has improved from historically bad at K vs BB rates to just awful. We have Duran, Mayer and Abreu who have had awful splits vs lefties, and Romy, who until 2025 was awful vs RHPs. Narvaez is unknown, at this point. Contreras might be our most complete batter- splits wise, some power, decent OBP... Anthony offers the most hope. Campbell might bounce back. Casas is our best proven batter, when healthy. He's the last guy I ask to do anything different except maybe get into better shape and try to not get hurt.

The Jays added a questionable Cease and Okamoto. Ponce and Taylor Rodgers were nice complementary moves. I'm not sure this is better than Suarez, Contreras, Gray, Durbin, Kiner-Falefa & Oviedo. Do you? The Jays lost Bichette & Bassitt- maybe that equals our losses of Gio & Bergman, but we also lost Buehler, who when combined with no 2025 Houck is an addition by subtraction. The Jays had great luck with health in 2025, but are already looking at Bieber and Santander starting the season on the IL. You mention a "couple gig singings," but do you honestly think they improved? Yes, a return by Cole could be a big boost to the Yanks, but Rodon, Cole and Schmidt start the season on the IL. The Yanks basically stayed the same as 2025 and need Cole to be a plus. They were old in 2025 and are one year older in 2026. While I'm not trying to equate the return of Crawford, Sandoval & Casas to the Sox as being the same as Cole returning to the Yanks, one can easily see both as being close to the same gains. The Yanks have a better offense. Their rotation and pen are worse. Our defense might now be better than theirs. IMO, we made more gains than Cole to the Yanks. The O's are hard to judge. If one thinks they under performed in 2025, then yes, their adds could be enough to pass us. I just look at their pitching and think not.

This reminds me of posters saying Devers needed to change his approach. Yes, it would be nice if he didn't swing at pitches low and away, but changing his approach might mess up the good that comes with his approach. I'm not sure if tinkering with Casas approach would work. In theory, yet, swing more often. I'm not sure he's thinking "I want a walk." I think his approach is, I'm not swinging at pitches I don't like and think will be called balls. He misreads some of those "close pitches" as being balls, when they are stikes. I like his approach. He hits 30+ Hrs per 650 with this approach. He has a .350 OBP which was closer to .360 before his disaster 2025 season. I'll take a few extra called third strikes rather than seem him mess with the success. We have no other batters on our team that have proven they can hit at a 30 HR pace and have an OBP near .350,

Why even mention Gasper? I'd have much preferred KMarte, Neto or Paredes to Durbin & I K-F, yes. I like the Contreras deal, a lot.

We did need a mega bat, but the idea of adding another DH just seems wrong, to me. To me, Casas is a DH only kinda player and may be our best hitter, if healthy. DH'ing might help him stay healthier, too, despite the fact that all his injuries occurred while not fielding. We also have Masa, but even if we just trade/DFA him, we still have 3 DHs: Casas, an OF'er (Duran) and Campbell who would be best as our DH in 2026. Fred is right about better moves not more. We could have traded Duran or even Abreu, and fixed that logjam while filling a greater need, like a big bat infielder (KMarte, Neto or even Paredes.) That alone was a significant blunder, and not learning the lesson from not dealing one last winter makes it doubly stinging. We could have done every move we made, except just change or add one more. 1. Keep the Durbin trade but trade Mayer and Tolle for KMarte. (We'd still have 4 OF'ers, though) 2. Trade Abreu for Paredes plus King or Janek or even Sousa. (You could do this w #1 but without the Durin trade) 3. Sign Alonso and don't do the Contreras trade. (You could do this with #2) Maybe don't do the Gray trade, so you can afford Alonso. You'd have a little extra money for something else to be added. 4. Trade for Neto. The unknown return package makes this one quationable. As much as I really like Schwarber, I don't think signing a DH was a good idea, and I can see Alonso as a DH, too, so I'm not sure about #3, either. Maybe KMarte or Neto should have been done. Had we added one of them plus Paredes, while trading an OF'er and all the pieces used to get Gray & Oviedo, we'd be a better team. (Assuming we still sign Suarez.) Maybe even doing this w/o Contreras would make for a better winter.

I did think and still do, that we coulda-shoulda added just 3 key pieces: Big bat (1B/3B/2B) SP#2 Nice bat (2B/3B/1B) We got the SP2 (Suarez) and the nice bat (1B) Contreras. We both agree we missed out on the BIG Bat (2B/3B) and you were fine with DH, instead. (I'd have been fine with Schwarber or Alonso at DH or Alonso at 1B over Contreras plus a "nice bat" at 2B/3B. I was crying for K Marte half the winter. I even was okay with E Suarez, but I cooled on that idea as the winter progressed. That's how much I wanted a second bat. I agree that we made a mistake, and even had a chance to fix it by trading an OF'er for a big bat 3B/2Bman up to maybe even now. We could have chose to not get Gray and used the trade pieces and money for a bigger bat than Durbin, too. I'm not saying nor never have said Brez had a perfect winter. We missed on one of our top 3 needs. We added 6 significant pieces when we needed 3 major pieces. I've been talking quality over quantity all winter. I think we could have done better, too and way better. That does not mean I stick my head in the sand and poison my view on what we did do to improve the team, either. (I'm not saying you did, since you are always hypercritical, if we don't do what you specifically wanted to do.) We added a very nice #2 SP'er. (I'd call Suarez a clear #1, as I think he is a top 30 SP'er- maybe even top 20.) We then added a solid #3 that might be more like a #2, depending on what you look at- Sonny Gray. He should help the team, immensely. I don't ignore this because I'm pouting over not signing Alonso. (I did not want Breggie and even near what we offered.) We added Oviedo, who may or may not end up better than Fitts/Dobbins/Harrison/Drohan. We added Contreras, who I think will hit as well as Bregman in 2026. He filled one of the 3 needs. It basically comes down to we added Gray, Durbin, I K-F & Oviedo, instead of Alonso or Schwarber. I do not see that as a major loss, despite leaving the team unbalanced, due to a weaker than need be offense. I also cringe at having 4 OF'ers and 3 DHs (Masa, Casas, Campbell.) Our plan is to DH and OF'er. WTF!!!! I'm not happy about that at all. I'm glad we still have Tolle & Early, but we could have gotten what we needed by trading an OF'er and one of them. I agree, we could have been better or even much better, but I still think we did end up getting moderately better from a team that made the playoffs and was a head of the Yanks in Sept 2025. I do not think the Yanks got better, and I know they got older. I do not think the Jays got better, and I think they likely got worse. I think the O's got way better, but they started out so far behind, I doubt they did by enough. You disagree. Getting Suarez was a great add. I may think Gray is better than many here, but I love that trade. I like the Contreras trade more than had we signed Breggie or Bichette (and yes the budget counts.) I liked the Durbin trade, but would have preferred paying more for KMarte or Neto. I like the Kiner-Falefa signing, because we have China dolls all over our infield. We got moderately better- not slightly better. While I agree we could have done more, in light of our competition not doing more, I think we will gain on NYY & TOR and stay ahead of BAL. I'm not sure we finish 1st or 2nd, but I like our chance more now than before the winter started.

Same ole-same ole.