moonslav59

Because they are bound to be overtaxed going forward: 2 doubleheader make-up games 3-4 starters maxing out on IP limits pretty soon It would have been helpful to have yet another SP'er wo can go 5 IP, today. We do have the ASB coming up, so maybe this is chicken littling it.

Yes. I know! They should just rolled with it, instead of making him start again.

I have to ask without sounding mean: "Are you serious?"

Ref was one of baseballs best batters vs LHPs for a 3 year stretch. Yoshida at DH, then Anthony kinda squeezed Ref into the OF. The real mistake was platooning Abreu not Duran. (Not just for defensive reasons either.)

That hints at mental/emotional issues. He looked nasty after an opener.

With all the injuries we've seen, not just on the Sox, but MLB in general, the bench seems to be as valuable as ever, and it got me thinking about how well ours has been doing. Much talk has been focused on trading away pitching depth like Harrison, Drohan and Priester the year before and Sale the year before that, but a lot more players were traded away that are not talked about as much. On the pitching: IMO, our starting 5 and depth going 5-6 deep looked as good as any other team in MLB. We were likely ranked top 3-5 in both categories. One could argue we lost our #1 Crochet, our #4 Houck, our #5/6 Crawford, #6/7 Sandoval and #7/8 Oviedo. On top of that our #5/6 Bello imploded. Despite missing the aforementioned starters, our rotation depth has carried us to having a shot at the playoffs. Last year, we looked pretty deep, too, but ended up needing to trade for DMay. We are seeing Rivera pitch today, too. There never seems to be enough. Let's look at the everyday depth. It sure looks like Brez chose a good time to not bring Refsnyder, DHam and others back. The one guy doing well, Nate Lowe was replaced by Contreras, so it's hard to look at that swap out in a bad light. 2025 Depth listed in order of most PAs .726 Narvaez 446 PAs (most saw Wong as the #1 2 winters ago) .826 Romy 341 PAs (was expected to be a platoon and played v RHPs a lot.) .859 Anthony 303 (was expected to be called up at some point- maybe 2026?) .659 Toro 284 (started out okay then faded fast) .838 Refsnyder 209 (was big help for a few years) .590 DHam 194 (can't believe some cried about losing him) .674 Mayer 136 (Many felt was rushed up to the bigs) .790 N Lowe 119 (Mid season addition) .661 Sogard 104 (did okay) .731 Eaton 90 (did fine) 29 PAs from Sabol, Ali Sanchez and JH Garcia The 2024 bench was highlighted by the circus carrousel at 2B (317 PAs DHam, 223 EValdez, 216 Romy, 114 Grissom) and the awful back-up 1B plan that Dom Smith (.706) sort of rescued as a late season add on. Dalbec and Cooper- oh my! McGuire struggled as the back-up catcher and we added Danny Jansen late. How about the 2026 bench? .710 Yoshida 196 PAs (has been improving over the season) .629 Monasterio 161 (steady on D) .705 IKF 132 (great on D but on IL, now) .775 Wong 130 (rescued the Narvaez disaster season) .613 Gasper 119 (had a nice first 8 games then kaput) .855 Seigler 75 (a big reason we are winning, now.) .721 Sogard 41 (on the IL) .721 Romy 37 (welcome back) .766 Eaton 36 (nice) .616 Cheng 29 (plus SS defense) Brett Harris has 3 PAs

Good point, and while he was a bit up and down from level to level, he did hit .875 in AAA. He kinda struggled in lower levels: .721 RK (95 PAs) .679 A- (221) .737 A+ (492) .693 AA (697) His .501 start to his MLB career, last year in about the same amount of PAs as this year drags his career OPS to below his minor OPS. .682 MLB .747 Minors

This game is up to the pen. They've really done an amazing job, this year, and seemingly have overperformed for several years, recently. With so many starters already past their career highs in IP or about to soon, the pen should not be asked to do this, today. Looking at out upcoming schedule, we have two doubleheaders scheduled. Luckily, one is the first game after the ASB followed by 5 straight days with games, so we will need a 6th starter or pen game then, too. The one that really worries me is in August, when we play 19 games in 18 days with no days off.

We've drafted pretty well for a few years, so I think these guys know what they're doing, but I'm hoping the guys they pick are big bat types. If they don't I won't be bummed. Good pitchers fetch good bats in trade, or guys like Gray and Bennett.

Let's say the most Duran optimistic GM thought he'd decline from 8 to 4: they'd still have made a hefty offer.

While nobody expected a repeat of 2024 in 2025 or ever again, i don't think anybody projected this steep of a decline. The fact is an 80% of the 2025 Duran (who was 80% of the 2024 Duran)would have been very helpful in 2026. I don't want to sound like I'm defending the guy I suggested trading more than everyone else combined, but none of us expected this bad. I do agree we should have traded him, but I'm biased. I wanted to trade him before 2024, too, so I'm not gloating, here.

Someone would have given up something good after 2024 and something better than now after '25, but I agree. I have been for trading Duran for a long time, but one argument made sense to me: "When our weak area was obviously offense, why trade your top 3 offensive weapon, even if he has shown decline before reaching prime.?"

As a plan, yes, but depending on the roster, it is clearly indicated at other positions, too. BTW, it's good to see Abreu hitting LHPs well. Now, if he can only hit RHPs like his old self, we might see that bust out year I've been hoping for. v RHP: .679 v LHP: .982 He's brought his career numbers near even: .790 v R .766 v L

Rafaela has shown continuous growth and improvement to anyone and everyone willing to see it. What may be the most surprising is the acceleration of that growth, this year. I'm not just talking about the consistency we've seen from game to game and week to week, but he is no longer getting himself out as much. Someone was saying they felt like no pitcher ever overpowered or dominated Rafaela, and that his issue was always himself getting himself out by swinging at balls he had no business swinging at, but now he is more patient, he shortens up his swing, when needed, and he has a little pop, too. I'm not a big ASG matters guy, but I'm happy for him. I'm sure it matters to him he made it. Some Ceddanne numbers: 2023+2024>2025>2026 K%: 27.1>19.9>19.3 BB%: 2.9>4.8>5.0 LD%: 23.8>21.4>26.8 (major bump in '26) Hard Hit%: 36.6>38.6>32.4 (down here) Oppo%: 18.7>17.3>23.4 (major bump) BA: .246>.249>.283 (WOW!) OBP: .275>.295>.331 (Amazing!) SLG: .389>.414>.437 (About as steady as can be) I will say, that the one time I ever heard Fred say he "might be wrong" was on Ceddanne.

Platoon DH seems like the best we can do. I don't see a better option on the roster. Other than Duran, nobody has more trade suggestions by me than Yoshida, but with Anthony out and so many bats struggling, including LHB Duran, Yoshida t DH vs RHPs is clearly the best option.

There certainly was something Cora and Co. was not happy about. Did anyone ever find out the specifics? Something about not following their approach or winter workout plan? It's hard to pinpoint, but the SP'er vs coming in after an opener disparity hints at between the ears issues.

How many teams have 4 SP'ers (not counting Sandoval) under 3.15 and 3 RP'ers under 2.35? SP: 2.54 Gray 2.64 Bennett 3.14 Tolle 3.15 Suarez (Sandoval at 2.08 filling in) RP: 2.25 Whitlock 2.28 Chapman 2.33 Guerrero

Maybe he's one of those guys who does better in MLB than the farm. How about Wong taking up the Narvaez slack? Nice to see Yoshida get over .700, but some prefer Sogard to DH.

See a pattern here... Some small sample sizes here, and these are before tonight's game: (I did not leave anyone off the list) OPS Against Leaders .200 Rivera 10 PAs (Brez last winter) .550 Bennett 182 (Brez last winter) ***.562 Whitlock 120 (Bloom) .566 Moran 147 (Brez last winter) .583 Guerrero 72 (Brez last winter) .594 Sandoval 19 (Brez year before) .607 Chapman 104 (Brez year before & extended) .613 Tolle 326 (Brez drafted years before) ***.614 Kelly 71 (Bloom) .621 Suarez 376 (Brez last winter) .646 Coulombe (Brez last winter) .661 Gray (Brez last winter) .670 Weissert (Brez 2 winters ago) .713 Anderson (Brez Rule 5 winter before) .714 Samaniego (Brez last winter) ***.720 Early (Bloom draftee) .752 Watson (Brez last winter) .771 Gamboa (Brez last winter) .818 Crochet (Brez from winter before) .847 Slaten (Brez 2 winters ago) ***.851 Bello (Bloom) Kahnle, Uberstine, Oviedo & La Sorsa 74 PAs (all Brez) Who do we hear about? Sale, Harrison, Priester & Drohan.

The added Comp pick also adds bonus money, so even if we swing and miss with that pick, we might still use the bonus money to draft a kid "overslot." We've had great success with Comp Picks, though. I'm curious to see if we focus more on bats than arms, but I think they will take the best player, regardless. What else is weird about the MLB draft is the no trading picks part, although Comp Picks can be dealt.

Tracy told him to start hitting better.

Not me, but I'm starting to climb up onto the fence. I agree on Chapman. Yes, it opens a new hole for Brez, and as many think, he's an idiot and can't acquire any good players, so why create another mistake ready to happen? (LOL) Trade Gray, Coulombe, IKF, andoval, if anyone wants him and then Chapman. (Maybe Whitlock & Duran) 2027: SP: Crochet, Suarez, Tolle, Bennett, Early, Oviedo/Bello/Eyanson/Holobetz/Wehunt/Paez RP: _____, Whitlock, Houck, Crawford, Slaten, Moran, Weissert, Guerrero/Kelly/Watson/Samaniego/Uberstine C: ______, Narvaez/Wong/Jo Garcia 1B: Contreras, Romy/Casas/Brannon 2B: ______, Romy/Mayer/Seigler/Sogard 3B: Durbin, Mayer/Eaton/Monasterio SS: ______, Story/Mayer/Cheng/Arias LF/DH: ______ & Anthony, Yoshida CF: Rafaela, Duran/Ward RF: Abreu, Campbell

You weren't the only one. This type of thing makes it tough on a team, and the GM often bears the brunt of it for now seeing it coming.

Big win tonight. I'm resisting getting too excited. CWS & CLE are tied. Either could be the WC. TEX passed SEA in the ALW. Either could drop out of the WC race with a bad stretch. WC Standings 52-42 NYY 49-46 CLE or 48-45 CWS 47-48 SEA (losing record is the WC team) -1.0 MIN 46-49 -1.5 HOU 46-50 (including 5-1 v BOS!) -1.5 BOS 44-48 -2.0 TOR 44-49 (Sox passed tonight) -2.5 DET 44-50 (Back in the race) -3.0 BAL 44-51 (may be sellers) -5.5 ATH 41-53 (great O/ no D) Run Differential +87 NYY (WC team) +33 TBR +31 DET (behind BOS) +26 CWS +22 BOS +15 SEA -8 CLE (tied for 1st ALC) -10 TEX (1st in ALW)

McDonough HR'd again. WOO beat Luis Perales. Brannon HR'd again and Rosario hit 2 in POR's win. Winnay had 3 hits. GRE won in a shootout. Gonzales hit his 12th, M White his 13th and GRod 6th/Heyman 9th. SAL won, too.