moonslav59

It looks like they made a mistake, last year, so maybe they are leaving nothing to chance. What do other sites say we "left on the table?"

Never seen that.

I find it hard to fathom why they'd do so much to make us be or appear to be competitive, but then try to save $5-9M, or whatever the number is.

They spent a lot, last winter. I don't get why a few more millions for another SP'er of a SS who could play D would have been so hard.

...and we had some budget space to get a couple additions.

Much more of a trusted organization on farm rankings.

If you look at most of the talk about the Sox in February, Mrach and April, it was about the rotation and defense, particularly at SS. It wasn't rocket science.

It might have been 3 games, had we traded before the deadline, like several other teams did, but good point.

Both seem entirely possible. You think Teel makes the bigs before Mayer?

We've had a lot of things work out well, this year, but maybe just one of these changes might have handed us 3+ wins: Devers hits 900+ Better SS Defense early on Whitlock & Houck pitching like 2021 (or even 2022) Less injuries

No particular order.... Rotation Defense, especially up the middle Base running inconsistent hitting Pen overuse and conversion of pen arms to the rotation

Of course, it is reasonable and even true, but it's also reasonable to think we'd have 3 or more wins had our bats hit like we thought they would. Only the pen can say they were a big plus.

On SPs, there are some interesting projections on what players will start at certain levels in the system. Some felt Mayer might be near MLB ready by AUG/SEP 2023, but they have him starting 2024 in AA. The projected Portland team looks pretty good: Wikelman, Bastardo, Gambrell, ICoffey, and Dobbins in the rotation. C- Hickey, 1B-Jordan, 2B-Bonaci, SS- Mayer, 3B-Paulino, OF-McDonough, Sikes & BGon with Lugo at DH. AAA has Drohan, Walter, Van Belle, Liu and Hadenman in the rotation, but maybe Murphy ends up there. The pen might make for some nice ML depth: Kelly, Guerrero, Politi, Robertson, Jacques and Fernandez. C- Scott, 1B-Dalbec, 2B-Yorke, SS-DHam, 3B-Meidroth, OF- Rosier, Rafaela, Abreu w EValdez at DH. It seems the upper levels of the farm should be pretty good. GRE (A+): Perales, Paez, Rogers, E R-C Teel, Ravelo, CCoffey, Romero, Anthony, Castro... SAL (A-): Monegro Joh Garcia, Alcantara, AAnderson, Zanetello, Bleis, Yuten, Brannon Projected Prospects ML ready by the end of 2025: P: Wikelman, Walter, Drohan, Mata, Guerrero, Dobbins, Hoppe, Robertson, Troye, ICoffey C: Teel, Scott 1B: (Dalbec), Jordan 2B: Yorke, EValdez 3B: Bonaci, Meidroth, Paulino SS: Mayer, DHam OF: Rafaela, Abreu, Rosier DH: Hickey, EValdez, Kavadas, Lugo

In the mid to late 80's they had... Ozzie Smith Willie McGee Terry Pendleton Tom Herr Vince Coleman Jose Oquendo Luis Alicea The 2009 Yankees Posada Teixeira Swisher MCabrera Ramiro Pena

I remember the old Cardinals teams. Ted Simmons hit very well from both sides, especially for a catcher. I think at one time, the Cards had a bunch of switch-hitters: Simmons Templeton Reggie Smith Jerry Mumphrey Plus lighter hitters Kessinger, Tony Scott & Vic Harris

We thought our rotation and D would be our downfall.

Too bad we couldn't have played the Nats earlier, this year, and PIT & STL, later.

Indeed. As much as this game seemed winnable, no one game, by itself, knocks a team out of a race. If we can keep beating good teams, like we have, this year, we are still in this thing.

He certainly could, as could Devers, Duvall, Casas, Yoshida or maybe even Duran or Dugo. Some have already shown they can do it, this year, at least twice: OPS in 2023 stretch 1.544 Duvall first 9 games (1.030 first 20 games) 1.308 Dugo 8 games in June 1.288 Yoshida 14 games April-May 1.271 Casas 8 games in May 1.186 Duran 17 games Jun-Jul 1.164 Dugo in 9 games in May 1.149 Devers 12 games in July 1.139 Duran first 17 games of season (1.006 first 28 gms) 1.098 Casas 13 games in July 1.062 Yoshida last 9 games of May 1.042 Dugo 8 games in late April 1.025 Dugo first 5 games of season 1.024 Duvall 11 games in July 1.012 Devers first 14 games 0.990 Yoshida 26 games June-July Story in 2022: 1.387 in 10 game stretch in May Notice how none are from mid July to mid August, except.... 1.019 Reyes in 8 games up to yesterday.

I still think our team can hit better than we have for the last few weeks, but how long can we go on like this, before we have to start thinking we might very well have been wrong. I'm far from giving up, but our bats need to wake up.

3.34 ERA Team is 7-9 in his 16 starts. 12 of his 16 starts, he let up 0-2 ERs. (1 with 3, 1 with 4 and 1 with 5)

With all the head-to-head series remaining, anything can happen, but it right now, it does look like a 3 team race for that WC 3 slot. I do think there is an outside chance TBR folds, and makes it a 4 team race for 2 slots, but it's hard to tell. There is less and less time for that to happen. Head to head games: BOS 7 v HOU 5 v TBR 3 v TOR SEA 6 v HOU 3 v TBR TOR 6 v TBR 3 v BOS TBR 6 v TOR 5 v BOS

Let Houck start, but just yank him after 18 batter or 50 pitches, whichever comes first. With the long RP'ers we have, our pen can handle it. Just no piggy-back BS. Mix it up.

That was a heart-breaker loss.

His inability to pitch well after 50 pitches and/or the 3rd time through a line-up, for whatever reason, is not overblown. I hope it's not too late to get Whitlock back to being the pen ace he was.