moonslav59

.Nobody from the Sox top brass led me to have some hope for Mata, Walter and Murphy. Yes, I was always worried about Mata's health and the idea that the pen was likely a better spot for him, but he did have a sub .600 OPS Against, last season. Murphy fell apart, in the second half of 2022, but he had a great first half. I think he led the team in OPS Against until June or July. He still ended up at .687 as he led the whole farm in IP. Walter had some nice numbers, too. He had a .585 OPS Against and 75 Ks to just 7 BBs in 58 IP. I'm not sure why guys like Houck and Bello carry over their AAA numbers or even do better in the bigs, but so many promising pitchers, by the numbers, suck when called up by the Sox. It's not like none of these three had s***** stuff in the minors. One big point is that we ended up having to count on our 9-10-11-12 guys more than most teams end up having to do. We knew we had some injuries and injury prone pitchers, but I can't really blame anyone for not predicting we'd have all those missed starts by Whitlock, Houck, Saale, Paxton, and even Bello missed a couple, early on. Pivetta was demoted, as was Kluber, but then Kluber went on the IL. 8-9 pitchers is probably what most good teams plan on, and I'm not sure many other teams have significant;y better 10's, 11's and 12's than ours were believed to be back in March. To me, our rotation problem has been- choosing quantity over quality and durability/dependability. Until we build up the rotation from the top and stop trying to improve our #4 and 5's, we won't win, again. Bello would be a great #3 and okay as our Number 2. Houck would be a great #5 and okay as a #4. Pivetta would be better used as our #6, but would be okay as our #5. Same with Crawford. These two would be very nice 6's and 7's. We need two solid and dependable SP'ers, this winter. Even adding one ace who gives us 33 starts, alone would not be enough. Two solid #'s might be enough, but we need 2 not 1. 3 would be even nicer, but that is a pipedream, as probably even 2 is.

I’m not so sure it was Bloom who made the choice not to offer Eflin more money, but your point is well-taken. We needed minimum 2 guys from a list like Nate, Eflin, Wacha and maybe Lugo. Kluber as a third guy might have made sense, at the time- even as the second guy would have been understandable. I just can’t bring myself to believe it was Bloom’s choice to not leave a bunch of cash under the tax line on the table, and no, it’s not out of some sort of Bloom worship some here think I do. Yes, Bllom can rightfully be blamed for spending on Kluber, Mondesi, Brasier, Kike and Barnes, instead of______. Have at it. I agree.

Well said and in less words than I’d have been able to use!

Like I think it was you who said, a while ago, no Sox pitcher has been overtaxed with innings pitched, so who is at fault for the pitching collapse, if blaming someone is the task at hand? I agree on it not being Cora.

This year or next?

Not unfair at all, although the Raffy one hadn’t even started. I have no issues with Raffy’s money if he plays 1B, either. Certainly all 3 look bad or questionable, right now. I’ve never had issues with criticising Bloom on things he is responsible or largely responsible for. Have at it, please.

I still think he’s best in LF but better than Teoscar in RF.

I don’t think they looked to be bad extended depth. None were thought of as our number 6 or 7 or even 8 or 9, if you thought Wink could have been starter depth in March. We knew Paxton and Sale would miss time, and I remember saying that counting on both to combine for 32 starts was pushing it, but to me we had more quantity than quality, but some potential in 8-9, then the three you listed. Sale Paxton Kluber Houck Whitlock Bello Paxton Crawford Winckowski Mata, Walter and Murphy were 10, 11 and12th, until the choice was made never to start Wink, so maybe 9-10-11th. I still don’t think, at the time, that was a bad position to hold.

I disagree, and the idea is Casas or Duran would do the trick if packaged with 1-2 second tier guys like Hickey, Yorke, Romero or maybe Walter + Murphy counted as 1. I don’t think some recent deals gave anymore. I suppose a Casas and Duran package would gain a lot of interest but that’s a lot of potential future leaving us.

Not many managers want to get another job with another team, and although many here think Cora sucks, he’d have several teams wanting him, if he was fired. I hope we keep him, but this team is really reeling and lost.

Red means counted on to be solid plus. How can you view Rizzo as being average compared to all 1Bmen? Some pen guys could be red. You mention the chances of a vet or young guy stepping up to red, but the same chance exists that a red guy gets hurt or declined below red. IMO, you might have 4 red guys in your line up, yet you say you think you only need to add just two bats. Please explain.

Do we have any MLB ready prospects in AAA or AA that we might want to give a look at the ML level? We could DFA some FAs to be to make room of the 40 and 27. On 40: Dalbec Murphy Robertson Weiss Not on 40 (Rule 5 anyway?): S Scott G Gambrell J Hagenman Wikelman DFA guys we will likely non tender, anyway? Garza Llovera Barraclough Jacques FAs? Paxton Duvall

Today, MLB.com projected the A's would pass the Royals and not have the worst record in 2023. They forgot the Royals play us.

Our last pick was Teel from college. 10 of our top 12 picks were from college. I hope you were just being sarcastic?

You need to get over this. If a HS shortstop is the best bet draft choice, I'd hope we draft 20 in a row. That's the way it should be. That's the way it is for every team for every draft.

For the same reasons you and I really like Casas, other GMs do, too. I am 100% convinced Devers would be better on D at 1B, in maybe 1 month. It's not like 1B defense is at the top of the priority list, but improving the D at 1B and 3B would be a significant plus. I'm not fine with Duvall in CF or RF. He's best in LF, which is position we are already overloaded. If we traded Duran or Dugo, then maybe...

I think having Houck, Pivetta and Crawford scheduled as your 3-4-5, is asking for trouble and a repeat of 2023. If it ends up being them due to injury, okay, but we cannot sign just one SP'er, have Bello as the #2 and go with what we got to fill in the rest. If we do, I'll be looking at 2025 on day one of 2024.

Kluber, once we struck out on Eflin.

I'm not against the idea. I do wonder about the Sox not wanting to move Casas to DH, so early in his journey. I know you are not arguing the Sox will do this but only that they should, and I'm liking the idea more and more, as I think about it.

Looking at the fWAR Leaders in 2023 Pitching, I can't help but notice all the ex-Sox pitchers and one that we apparently came close to signing (Eflin): 5.1 Wheeler 4.8 Strider 4.7 Gausman 4.6 Gray 4.0 Gallen 4.0 Eflin 12. Pablo Lopez 3.6 (no link to a trade with Sox, but listing anyway) 14. Luis Castillo 3.2 (see Lopez) 15. Nate 3.1 21. Senga 2.9 22. ERod 2.8 41. Seth Lugo 2.2 50. Wacha 2.0 Were available, recently: 31. Stroman 2.5 35. Civale 2.4 49. Walker 2.0

MVP Outlook: AL: It has to be a lock for Ohtani. He's the best hitter in the AL and a damn good pitcher, too. The race is really about who finishes second? fWAR 6.5 Ohtani + 2.3 pitching fWAR = 8.8 5.3 JRod 5.2 Robert 5.0 Whitt 4.7 Semien 4.4 Jose Ramirez 4.3 Tucker The NL race is still open, but two guys are clearly the front runners: 7.8 Betts .317 38 116 (Great D 6.7 Acuna .337 30 83 (1st timer with 30 and maybe 35 HRs and 60 and maybe 70 SBs) But... 6.9 Freeman .338 25 111 5.2 Lindor .251 24 85 4.9 Kim .277 17 76 4.6 Olsen .268 43 103 4.6 Riley .278 32 98

I wonder why GOOGLE missed it.

I can see why it's hard to imagine Bloom trading any highly regarded prospect or young player, and similar things were said about Ben, before DD took over. I'm not so sure we can assume it is a rock solid tenant of Bloom's philosophy on roster building or has just been a strategy put in place to get us to a point, where the priorities can change and so do the strategies to meet the new circumstances. I have no basis for this belief, but I think Bloom will eventually be open to making a big trade, or he may be steered into doing one from above, but the timing of such a trade would likely only happen when the organization believes at least two things are in place, and I'm not sure now is that time: 1. We have a major league roster foundation set where only 1-2 major additions are needed to open a highly competitive window of at least 2-3 years. 2. We have a farm system set up that can afford to part with a package big enough to land a top player but still remain strong enough to promise continued infusions of talent to the big club. I'm not sure we can ever get to this point, but personally, I think we are close, now. A third aspect to the 2 major points above might be that the budget is set up where there is very little deadwood, and going over the tax line is possible due to the previous season being under the tax line. (This looks okay, now.) To get a major young pitcher, I have to think it would take Casas or Mayer. Trading Bello defeats the purpose of improving the rotation. Anthony's stock is on the rise, so maybe he could be a centerpiece. I would not be for trading 2 of the 3, and that might be what a team would demand, but I'd say no to that. We aren't getting a top pitcher by trading 5 second tier prospects or young players from this list: Duran, Bleis, Houck, Yorke, Rafaela, Crawford, Perales or Wikelman. Here are the values given by BTV: 59 Mayer 47 Casas 41 Anthony 40 Devers 39 Bello 29 Bleis 27 Houck 25 Duran 19 Yorker (perhaps over-valued) 17 Crawford 13 Yoshida (likely over-valued) 10 Verdugo 7 Screiber 6 Rafaela (likely underrated) 6 Wink 5 Drohan 4 Perales, Wikelman, Wong & Romero 3 Meidroth, Walter, E R-C, Abreu, Urias & Alcantara 2 Pivetta, Cespedes, Bastardo, Monegro, Mata, Murphy, Castro, Hickey, Brannon & Bonaci

I believe you. I was just wondering where you find this info, as I googled it and searched MLTRs, today.

I'd say the chances are less than a half a percent we sign Chapman and start a domino fall.