moonslav59

Indeed. I realize that. Things can change, but the differentials are massive, as of now.

He did pretty well starting vs RHPs, last year, too, so if we ever need him FT, he's not a black hole. He's not a plus defender, but he's okay in LF. Some felt 2022 was a a fluke for Ref. It looks like it was not.

2022 to 2023 Batting The Good .645> .816 Duran .585> .772 Wong N/A> .710 Valdez .732> .825 Dugo .788> .769 Turner (was at .666 May 29, 2022 w LAD) N/A> .853 Yoshida .677> 1.030 Duvall (ATL>BOS) The Bad .629> .668 Kike .736> .660 Arroyo .879> .783 Devers .877> .642 McGuire (Sox numbers but .677 CWS+BOS) .766> .689 Casas The Ugly .652> .490 Dalbec

Agreed. Chang is the better defender at SS, something we lack in. My list is ordered with the player I'd like to see go on the top, second most next, and so on... (By "go," I might mean demoted not DFA'd)

To those who think last year's performance is a good indicator of the next season's performance, the 2022>2023 Red Sox must be driving you nutty! Especially the pitchers: The Good 5.89> 2.23 Winckowski 5.47> 3.30 Crawford 4.71> 4.08 Bello The Bad 4.56>5.77 Pivetta The Ugly 3.45> 5.14 Whitlock 3.15> 5.30 Houck 4.34> 6.26 Kluber 3.55> 5.85 Bleier The guy many felt was a fluke has been the closest to consistency: 2.22> 1.12 Schreiber The two guys some felt was over the hill have been just as consistent: 1.46>1.32 Martin 3.38>3.45 Jansen (41 saves in 54 games> 11 in 14)

The pen in the AZ series allowed just 1 run in 12 IP. Looks like they are back in the groove. We've identified but have not yet solidified our rotation. The bats need to be a bit more consistent, but it's nice to see our bottom of the order do so much better than recent years. It's time for the top and middle to start meeting expectations. I still like our chances, but the clock is ticking.

Pivetta or Kluber for Song. Maybe a two for one special bargain basement deal.

Depends how he does in the pen. His arb raise should not be much, after a year like this, but that is a lot of money for a meh pen arm.

I wish they would trade or DFA Bleier instead of Garza or Sheriff. To me, both offer a little more than Bleier, but I guess Bleier could regain his form from years ago. According to SP's, here are the notable players with and without options (notice how I do not list Refsnyer, the guy with the second best OPSand best wRC+ since the start of 2022, and to note, he has started more games vs RHPs than LHPs over the past 2 years combined. 43-34) No Options Bleier Reyes Chang Tapia Arroyo 1+ Options Ort Sheriff Garza Bernardino Duran When Duvall comes back, maybe we DFA Ort and demote a pitcher (Garza) to put off the Tapia/Duran call. We could also trade Bleier, Pivetta or Kluber, of DFA one, if they keep sucking. Chances are they keep Tapia on the team and demote Duran, unless he gets hot, again. When Story returns, I think they choose to trade or DFA Chang or Reyes. They could possibly trade Arroyo and keep both.

Ref is not a DFA candidate. I could not disagree more.

I've heard that, too. How he does in rehab could possibly change that call, IMO.

We are entering an interesting part of our schedule: a healthy mix of good and bad opponents. We are 15-11 at home and 13-14 on the roda. 13 of our next 19 games are at home: Home 3 CIN 4 TBR 3 COL 3 NYY Away 3 CLE 3 NYY 6 v NYY 4 v TBR 9 v CIN, CLE & COL Where we stand after these 19 games might be telling. After these 19, we play 16 of the next 25 on the road: 4 MIN, 3 CWS, 3 TOR, 3 CHC, 3- OAK (a very short west coast trip) 9 Home: 3 MIA, 3 TEX, 3 OAK Despite the 16 road games, this should not be a killer part of our schedule. The next group of games have some tough opponents, but we play 15 of 21 at home: 3 NYM, 2 ATL, 3 TOR, 4 KCR, 3 OAK Away: 3 SGF, 3 SEA could be challenging.

They may not have to. They are 5 GB the division leaders MIL, who currently ranks 28th in Pitching fWAR.

We should start seeing more upward movement of prospects in the coming months. How well these kids do at their new levels is always interesting to follow. We've had a few of our best prospects start out, slowly, this year, but we've also had our fair share of rising prospects and a few near the top doing very well. End of season rankings and 2023 starts: 1, Mayer- Good 2. Casas- okay at big level 3. Bleis- Bad 4. Rafaela- Bad 5. Yorke- Good 6. Mata- Bad 7. Romero- N/A (Injured) 8. Walter- Bad 9. Anthony- Okay 10. Perales- Good 11. Paulino- Good 12. Wikelman- Bad 13. Murphy- Bad 14. Lugo- Okay 15. Jordan- Good 16. Bonaci- Good 17. Valdez- Good 18. Hickey- Good 19. E R-C- Good 20. Kavadas- Okay Good: Hamilton, Abreu, Guerrero, Ravelo, Fernandez

The good thing about Raffy is that his "slump" is only .697 with a seasonal pace or 130 rbis.

On Story at 2B or SS. I think we signed him to play 2B with the idea that if Bogey bolted, we could have a capable SS in the system. They guy was still a plus defender at SS, despite a compromised arm due to an injury that should be healed, soon. It's hard to know, if we ever truly wanted Bogey back. My opinion is well known, but just an opinion. As it looks, right now, we have way more 2Bmen than SSs, and Kike, although looking better at SS than earlier, is still better at CF (and 2B) than SS. Chang is a decent defensive SS, but Story is clearly a better overall SS, or at least projects to be. There is a chance Story's arm will be better than it was in COL, near the end of his time there. It might take time to get there. He might make some bad throws out of the gate, but he should be our best SS and best 2Bman, when healthy. I think Cora will play him at SS, at least to start. Maybe Kike platoons with Valdez at 2B- maybe Arroyo does. Maybe Kike platoons with Duran in CF- maybe Duvall does. Maybe the platoons go away and some sort of rotating days off everywhere but 3B, RF and Story (SS/2B) gets established. I'm excited thinking about Story and Duvall's returns.

I, for one, enjoy seeing more teams and playing more games against them. Yes, the excitement level is higher when playing division foes, especially the Yankees, so the new schedule does minimize that, but it is "more" fair. Not totally fair but a move in the right direction, again, IMO. The most excitement a team can have, and what we all judge our team by year after year is making the playoffs. Being penalized for being in the toughest division or helped by being in a weaker one is not fair. The new schedule is fairer but not perfect. It will never be perfectly fair. No major USA sport has that. IMO, the old schedule was overly unfair and warped, although more exciting.

Those damn sweeps.

26 games at .697 is a long slump, but it's not like .697 is off-the-charts awful. He still has 21 rbi and over that stretch, his numbers projected to 650 would be ... .242 25 131 In 2022, he his .879. He had a 34 game stretch at .588. In 2021, he hit .890. He had a 41 game stretch at .731. In 2019, he hit .917. He had a 26 game stretch at .716.

This will be a good test for him. That Portland roster does look good. Who moves up from Portland to Woo or is booted? Any ideas? Maybe Fernandez? Kavadas or Lugo?

The whole Sox system lost, today. Woo lost 11-4 w Dermody having a bad start. Hamilton tripled- making it hard to steal a base (plate.) Arroyo went 2-4 w a 2B Abreu 1-2 w 2 BBs POR lost 10-8 w Liu getting rocked, as did Denlinger in relief. 3 Homers: Kavadas (2-5), Scott (1-3 w BB), Koss (2-4) Rosier 1-4 w 2B GRE lost 5-3 2-4 Jordan w 2B 1-4 Bonaci w 3B and BB 1-4 Mayer w BB 1-3 Paulino w BB SAL rained out

That might have been our best and only chance, today. Big K by AZ

Don’t give up, Max. Maybe Kelly won’t go 9.

MIA might want more than Rafaela and will likely get better offers. Would you give Rafaela and Mata? Rafaela and Walter?

Way more game thread traffic when things aren’t going well, for sure.