moonslav59

We are 26-16 since June 30th and have won 7 of 10. Just keep this going against tougher teams, and we will be okay.. We are 8 games over .500. We were 7 games over on May 6th- the end of an 8 game win streak. We were 6 games over after a 4 game win streak ending on May 20th. We were 6 games over, again on July 14th, after a 6 game win streak. We got up to 9 games over on July 28th, after winning 5 straight, but then lost 7 or 8 surrounding the trade deadline. The worst we've been has been... 3 games under on 4/13 2 games under on 6/13 & 6/29 Longest winning streaks: 8, 6, 6, 5 & 4 Longest losing streaks: 5, 4, 4, 4, 4

Here is an interesting comp on August 20th: Tax Budget 2023: (source: cots) $256M DD's Phillies 67-57 $217M Bloom's Sox 66-58 Could be an interesting storyline for winter banter.

They also did not bring back Kelly and made no deals at the deadline. It was obvious the spending strategy changed before DD left, and even DD could not turn 2019 into a highly competitive team. The declines from the vest were as much a reason for the disappointing season as losing Kimbrell, who was a ticking time bomb over the end of 2018, as it was. (Hell, some argued for Kelly being left off the playoff rosters in 2018.) It was obvious what direction the team was headed, and JH read the writing on the wall. He chose not to try and spend his way out of it, and that sealed the deal, totally. It sucked, but it was what it was. I'm not throwing blame on JH, because he's the best thing that happened to the Sox in over 80 years. Had he decided to spend more money than he ended up doing in 2019 and beyond, then signing Betts was essential, but once he made the choice, trading Betts makes more sense. I still wish we kept him, regardless, but our team would have been totally stripped of a supporting caste had we extended Betts and kept the same budgets.

That's why the season is 162 games long.

We may need to go 5-2 v HOU and 3-0 v TOR, but 4-3 and 2-1 would inch us closer, and greatly improve our odds. We have our work cut out, but facing our closest competitors offers us the best chance to gain, quickly.

We could go 4-3 and have a shot, but yes 5-2 puts it in our own hands, for the most part.

Even if we decide not to go over the tax line, don't you think we will come close to it? Let's assume the spend to about $5-7M under the line. That's still a lot of money to spend, and the need areas are greatly reduced, no matter how pessimistic one might look at it. SP SP CF Depth MI (I don't think we need pen help, unless the plan is to use all our long men as SP'ers, again.)

I guess he's looking ahead.

I get it, and it still hurts. It's hard to know what would have happened had he gone to free agency as a Red Sox player. The whole COVID thing might have messed things up, but I have to think the Dodgers would have offered a lot, and they would not have lost Verdugo, Wong and Downs to offer the world for him. How high would have been reasonable for the Sox to match or better the highest offer? If Betts meant what he said, you'd think we'd just have to match or come close for him to return. I tend to believe Mookie, but I do think players would want to give the impression they have always been "loyal" to the team they are on. If it would have cost $360/12 to get him, I'm not sure that would be a good thing for the team, in the long run. Personally, I'd have done it.

MLB OPS Leaders 1.071 Ohtani .989 Betts 12. Devers .877[ 16. JD .856 22. Turner .844 27. Casas .836 39. Masataka .817 79. Verdugo .765 (Duran DNQ)

DD's team sucks! LOL

I think it's like $3M a year.

Many of those who declined were expected to decline due to aging and recent trends. Many who got hurt had long histories of getting hurt. True, the Yanks had some bad luck, but even with average luck, they'd be near .500 or a little above.

Weird, right? The whole JBJ for Renfore thing was supposed to be about D.

I agree. I can see us spending very little on everyday players. Maybe look for a 1 year CF'er. C: Wong and McGuire 1B: Casas (Dalbec AAA) 2B: Urias & Reyes 3B: Devers SS: Story LF: Duran/ Refsnyder (Yoshida) CF: ______/ Rafaela RF: Verdugo (Abreo AAA) DH: Yoshida I hope this also means we spend more on starting pitching.

I liked de la Rosa more, at the time.

Is that counting what MIA pays towards Stanton's deal?

All the more satisfying.

Woo got smacked down. Drohan is really making his meteoric rise in the rankings look totally like smoke and mirrors. (His ERA is now 6.00 in AAA.) Woo had just 4 hits: 1-3 w BB Rafaela & Abreu 1-2 w BB Kavadas POR won 2-1 Gambrell went 6 (3H, 1ER, 3BB, 5K) 3.42 ERA Jordan 1-3 w HR and BB Yorke 3-4 w 2B GRE lost 8-4 Anthony 2-4 w 3B & 2B & BB Teel & Paulino 2-4

I hope you do. The Judge-Ohtani contracts will strangle you for a decade.

When it always seems to benefit the Yanks, I think conspiracy.

It would mean... Games 3B: 157 Chapman/ 5 Devers 1B: 142 Devers/ 20 Casas DH: 140 Casas/ 10 Devers/12 Yoshida

We are now over 75% through the 2023 season, and here are the comps to 2021 and 2022: OPS '21>'22>'23 C: .686> .694> .683 1B .761> .683> .821 2B .777> .724> .654 3B .909> .856> .839 SS .822> .815> .652 LF .695> .694> .824 CF .678> .671> .784 RF .803> .661> .765 DH .906>.763> .805 Pitching ERA- 94>104>96 WHIP 1.38>1.35>1.30

Players and teams are always going through ups and downs. That is what should be expected, and not for trends to keep crending in the same direction.

Urias has a longer history, but I agree: it's great having both. Oue 2B slot seems filled, nicely, for 2024.