moonslav59

No doubt. I think MVP was higher on him than most of us, a year or two ago.

They are talking him down from a ledge, as we speak.

What a big plus he has been for us, just about all year. He has a 3.13 ERA after his first game. 92 IP 73 Hits 22 BBs 88 Ks

Might have done the team a favor, too- not just Cora.

Don't push Kutter and blow it all up.

Like deGrom or Rodon?

Yes, and when you figure much of our pen was forced into the rotation, the ranking's swing is even more stark. fWAR Rankings SP 24th in 2023 18th in 2022 RP 10th in 2023 27th in 2022

That was my point. At the time PIT had a very good record, and we had faced more .500+ teams than anyone else. Now PIT sucks, and it looks like the early schedule was more against losing teams.

If Connor is Wong, I don't wanna be right!

I was sure that Ben was going to make 1-2 prospect deals, but they hired DD before we could find out. I feel Bloom will, too, but I think I can see the wisdom or "waiting" a little more than you do. Trading prospects before you think you can compete for a ring, starts the aging clock on the pitcher you get a year or two or three too early. By the time your farm is at the point you can expect constant infusions, your pitcheer is in decline. Where I differ from JH & Co, is I think we could have been close enough in 2022, and certainly in 2023. They better think '24 is it.

I also think those kinds of plays can jack up a team in other ways.

Not that he can't also help in '23. This guy is good. This is not a fluke. He's not some DFA grab like Arroyo.

We have done very well vs some of MLB's best SP'ers, this year. We seem to fall flat vs the no-names. Cole has a career 3.19 ERA, but is 4.31 vs BOS. I'm glad Crawford is going on an extra day's rest.

Drafting pitchers, highly, which has been a losing strategy or signing big name FA pitchers, which has been a losing strategy, are not the only two ways to build up a rotation and pitching staff. IFA is one road, and the Sox seem to do better there than via drafting or signings. Trading for a solid ace or #2 has also proven to be an area the Sox have nailed, since trading for Pedro over 20 years ago: Pedro Schilling Beckett Sale Porcello I like those winning percentages more. You should, too. Even teams that are much better than we are at developing fine young pitchers, often do not draft them highly. We've swung and missed on most of our mid-level pitching additions. There is no sugar coating that. That strategy is not a winning one, either, but switching from one losing strategy to a more expensive losing strategy (signing guys like deGrom or Rodon) does not make sense to me. Drafting pitchers higher in the draft, just to say you did, despite the odds being greatly against a hit, is not something I want to switch to either. And, I'd at least wait until I know I have a better pitcher development system in place. I like the direction our development system seems to be heading (key word: "seems,") but I'd want to be fully convinced, first.

They are 16-9 in his starts. The Yanks have scored 5 or more runs in 13 of his 25 starts and averaged 4.73 runs per start for him. Over the season, they have averaged 4.24 rpg. Other pitchers have been snake-bitten harder. The ex-Yankee, James Paxton's new team is 7-9 in his starts despite his 3.34 ERA.

The question for Bloom moving will be forward will be how he deploys his resources. He has been hesitant to trade prospects during his tenure, but at some point he will have to trade from the surplus to acquire established big leaguers.

In this "watered down" league, the Sox are 1.5 games behind #10 MIL and a slot in the top tier of MLB (top third winning %.) What seems strange to me was it seemed like we started the year off playing the toughest schedule and now have the toughest one to finish the season. It's not so much we had a very easy middle schedule. I think teams like PIT had a winning record earlier, when they swept us, and now they suck. (Now, the Yanks are below .500.) Some perfect symmetry: The Yanks are 1.5 games from the bottom tier!

So? OPS on... May 1: .840 JD/ .723 Turner June 1: .931 JD/ .759 Turner July 1: .872 JD/ .812 Turner Aug 1: .872 JD/ .837 Turner Now: .866 JD/ .838 Turner Let's see where they are at season's end. AUG 19, 2022> season end .837 JD/ .972 Turner

Most K's on the farm... 144 in 90 IP Wikelman 140 in 105 I Coffey 139 in 103 Bastardo 127 in 84 Rogers 124 in 98 Liu 115 in 110 Gambrell 113 in 109 Drohan 94 in 70 Perales 94 in 84 Dobbins

Post ASB ERAs (9+ IP) 0.73 Martin 1.86 Jansen 3.14 Crawford 3.18 Bernardino 3.21 Winckowski 3.31 Pivetta 4.00 Sale 4.35 Schreiber 4.45 Paxton 5.00 Murphy 5.03 Bello

The Sox OPS Leader Board remains as tight as ever... .850 Devers .838 Turner .836 Casas .832 Duran .831 Yoshida .815 Duvall (221 PAs) .776 Verdugo .765 Reyes (123 PAs) After AS Break 1.153 Casas .934 Devers .928 Reyes .875 Turner .770 McGuire .766 Duvall .728 Duran .716 Urias .675 Yoshida .628 Story .617 Wong .569 Dugo .522 Ref

BOS & SEA won HOU & TOR lost Updated Standings: 70-53 HOU WC2 67-55 SEA WC3 (a new leader) 67-56 TOR -0.5 64-58 BOS -2.5 (on pace for 85-77 record)

Before tonight's games... Sox Farm Leaders (100+ PAs) 1.049 S Scott (21 xbhs in 122 ABs) 1.040 Rafaela (27 xbhs in 160 ABs) .984 Dalbec (30 HRs) .917 Abreu (Coming on strong!) .893 Fitzy (career AAAA) .875 EValdez (.357 OBP .810 RHern (14 HRs) .804 DHam (14 HRs and 45 SBs) POR .877 Hickey (26 xbhs) .817 Scott (12 xbhs in 120 ABs) .816 Kavadas (14 HRs) .814 Rosier (.351 OBP & 42 SBs) .801 Yorke (35 xbhs) GRE 1.023 Anthony (24 xbhs in 158 ABs) .954 Meidroth (just under 100 PAs) .918 Jordan (.385 OBP) .825 Bonaci (.353 OBP) SAL .879 Asigen

Reds and Red Sox sweep the weekend!

That '78 team had Hobson 9th and Dewey 8th for much of the year.