moonslav59

SS -13 Kike (Worst in MLB) 1B -10 Casas (2nd worst) 3B -8 Devers (Worst in MLB) 2B -4 EValdez (6th worst in just a few games!) LF -8 Yoshida (4th worst, despite DH'ing a lot and having many "rest days.") CF -3 Duvall (Worst in MLB despite missing about half the season) Team OAA: -50 BOS -23 CIN -17 CWS -15 OAK -14 MIA -11 BAL -10 NYM Our -50 is as bad as the 2nd, 3rd and 7th worst teams combined! Sorry, but that is just plain SICK! It's worse than the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th combined. Yes, worse than 4 of the worst 6 teams in MLB, combined. SICKO!

Nobody is saying that is the solution. Priority 1: Ace Priority 2: Solid #2 Priority 3: RH'd bat We have a major defensive improvement at SS, right now. That was our major issue. JT leave and Yoshida moves to DH, and a second position improves with no additions. Urias and Reyes play 2B full time, and again, no fix is needed. I'm not sure why you feel the need to minimize the effect our D has had on our W-L record. Talking about it does not mean we think it lost more games than our rotation did. More than lack of timely hitting did. You might not value DRS (Defensive Runs Saved,) but even if you count these runs by dividing by 2, the projected losses caused by them is significant. How does having a few worse fielders in 2004 matter? They way offset their bad D with superior O, and our pitching was better. DRS Numbers -39 Devers (3rd worse in all MLBat all positions from 2018-2022) 2023: -8 Yoshida -7 Devers -6 Duvall -6 EValdez (2B) -5 Duran (CF) This is 32 runs. Our current run differential is +24, so minimizing 32 runs is worse than us hyping it. Yoshida to DH, Duran to LF, EValdez to AAA or DH, Duval to LF/RF and we've greatly improved the D without replacing anyone. Devers to 1B is not essential to making big improvements.

I don't "hate" his D. It frustrates the hell out of me. He fields the position well enough, but he keeps throwing away too many balls. He seems to get better, then regress. I think he'd be a fine 1Bman. I don't think 3B is our worst defensive position, this year. SS, 2B, LF and 1B were worse, IMO, although DRS shows 3B worse than 1B. I'm fine re-signing Duvall. We need a big RH'd bat, but IMO, his best position is LF, then RF- not CF. Duvall was not one of our main problems on D, either. I don't think we need to try and "fix" every position on D. A healthy Story fixes SS. Full seasons from Urias and Reyes at 2B fixes that position. Yoshida to DH and Duran/Ref platooning LF improves that position without making it a plus. Maybe Casas improves at 1B. I like our defense at catcher. Dugo has a very good year inn RF, after being questionable, before. I'm fine with him for another year. CF could be greatly improved, if Rafaela can hit well enough to stick. Improve the rotation, significantly, add a RH'd bat (Duvall?) and just have a healthy Story and Yoshida at DH is probably enough to make our D in 2024 acceptable. I'd like to move Devers to 1B, but it complicates things. No way Bloom & Cora do it, so no need to discuss it more. C: Wong & McQuire 1B: Casas (Devers as back up and trial run) 2B: Urias & Reyes 3B: Devers (Urias) SS: Stroy (Reyes) LF: Duran/Refsnyder platoon CF: Duvall & Rafaela RF: Dugu (Duvall) DH: Yoshida (Casas) FA SP1 FA SP2 SP3 Bello SP4 Houck SP5 Pivetta/Crawford SP6 Sale Closer: Jansen RP2: Martin RP3: Whitlock RP4: Schreiber RP5: Winckowski RP6: Crawford/Pivetta RP7: Bernardino RP8: Pivetta/Crawford (if Sale starts) Minors: P: Gambrell, Drohan, Murphy, Walter C: Scott 1B: Dalbec 2B: EValdez SS: DHam 3B: Meidroth OF: Abreu, Rosier DH: Kavadas

I'll believe it when I see it. We keep hearing how great these Yankee farm guys are, but I'm not seeing it-- yet.

I think that would be a winning winter: Yamo or Urias + Montgomery Sonny Gray might be a good choice, as he might only get a 3-4 year deal.

The Sox are currently 25th in defense, as measured by DRS (-19.) By Position (Rank in DRS) 3rd RF (+11) 13th C (+3) 13th 1B (+1) 14th SS (0) 26th LF (-7) 26th 3B (-10) 27th CF (-10) 29th 2B (-9)

DHam homered (17th) and stole 2 bases (53) in Woo's 5-4 loss. POR won 8-3 as Hickey hit his 14th HR.

Indeed. Nearly half his errors have been throwing, over his career. His range is good at 3B. This is why I think he'd be a big plus defender at 1B after maybe a month of work, there.

Some of your call-ups just happened during printing press time. Sorry, if I missed any before hand.

My position hasn't changed. I can't keep track of yours.

Do you guys ever listen to yourselves?

My updated list of SP'er I hope we pursue. I'd like to see us grap 2 from the top list, but hoping for 1 from the top and 1 from the second tier is likely asking for way too much: My list (not in any order) Ohtani (not someone we will sign Yamamoto age 25! Snell 30 Urias Just turned 27 Gray 33 Nola Just turned 30 Second Tier: Kershaw 35 Montgomery 30 Giolito 29 Flaherty 27 Wacha 32 ERod 30

Stop trying to fix Devers. Don't tinker with success. His unique style helps the team and makes pitchers adjust to a non cookie cutter line-up.

Stop!

Perales, Wikelman, Mata, Gambrell Long shots: Walter, Murphy, Dobbins, Bastardo, Troye, Liu Far away" E R-C, Monegro, I Coffey, Rogers, Paez It's hard to know, but I'm not sure another Bello type is soon to be called up. I will say, this group looks no worse than many recent years, and this is after 5 recent and significant call-ups.

My point wasn't about those 5 guys being great, but rather a marked improvement over any group of 3 to 5 pitchers since the Theo era. I'm not sure if it's a fluke or not, but if change does come, I expect it will be slowly, as it takes a minimum 4-6 years to develop a drafted or IFA pitcher into a mature ML pitcher. Bloom has not been our GM for 4 years, yet, and it seems you are already expecting greatness.

TB Rays Drafts Pitching (Top 4 picks) 2010 4th pick J THompson- Long Beach St 2011 1st pick (24th) T Guerrieri- HS 6th pick (42nd) J Ames- Lower Columbia College 2012 4th pick (152) N Gannon- HS 2013 2nd pick (29) R Stanek- Arkansas (RP) 2014 none 2015 none 2016 none 2017 1st pick (4) B McKay- Louisville 2nd pick (31) D Rasmussen- Oregon St 3rd pick (40) M Mercado - HS 2018 1st pick (16) Liberatore- HS 2nd pick (31) McClanahan- So. Florida Post Bloom.... 2019 2nd pick (36) J Gross- HS 3rd pick (40) S Johnson- Campbell 4th pick (61) H Mullins- HS 2020 1st pick (24) N Bitsko- USA 3rd pick (57) I Seymour- VA Tech 4th pick (70) A Burleson- E Carolina 2021 none 2022 3rd pick (103) T Martin- Okl St I'm not seeing some great success story, here.

Well, okay. The trade for Sale worked, and that was not that long ago. The Porcello trade was a good one, too. (It was the extension that killed us.) Start with the DD era. Almost all our best pitchers were not from our system and we did win 92+ games 4 times in 7 years. Look, I agree, the best system is one that develops strong pitchers on a pretty consistent basis. Nobody says that's a bad idea. But, if we start today, or started 4 years ago, it takes time for the results to start being seen, and in the mean time, only one solution can be used to carry us to that day, if that day ever comes: trading or buying pitchers. BTW, I'm not down on Bello. I'm just pointing out how it takes years for guys like him to become an ace, and maybe even 2024 is too soon to call him that, as he likely will not give us 190+ IP. Also, Bello was signed as an IFA in the summer of 2017. It's been just over 6 years, and he has just recently starting to contribute. Yes, college pitchers might be 4-5 years, 3 if lucky. Houck was drafted out of college in 2017. He started contributing in 2021: 4 years. Whitlock was drafted out of college in 2017: 4 years, again. Crawford? You guessed it: college 2017. It took him 5 years to contribute as a plus. Winckowski? Drafted from HS in 2016: 7 years to be a true plus in MLB.

Picking out a GM's worst decision is not how I grade a GM. If it was, all would get an F.

My words are uncountable. LOL

Couldn't Bello, Houck, Whitlock, Crawford and Wink be a sign the times are changing? It could be possible, right? Have any changes been made on the farm, in the areas of scouting and developing pitching?

You mean from the worst pitcher development system in the universe? BTW, Bello is not a beast of burden, yet. I doubt he gets over 190 IP in 2024, but I like him a lot. We need two 200 IP studs.

Signing Eflin and Wacha and not Kluber and Brasier or Mondesi on the roster, and we are in a playoff slot, today.

Even a much lesser move like trading for Civale, in August would have made us better, now and next year. (He may have 2 more years of control.)

I'd say with average D, we'd have 6-9 more wins. With top 5 D, maybe 7-11 more wins.