moonslav59

A lot has been said about Bloom's failures as our GM, and no doubt, he has had a lot. I guess when you make 15-20 changes or additions, each year, there will be many failures. Our opening day roster saw a major changeover, despite Bloom being at the helm for 4 winters. One of my letdowns on Bloom expectations has been his failure to find many "gems in the rough," as I have called them, over the years. That was something the Rays seemed to be very good at, and since our budget was slashed and not replenished for over 2 years, I expected to see more success stories. We've seen a few, along the way, and several near misses on timing, like Springs and Martin Perez, but less than I expected and hoped for. It does seem like some, acquired a while ago are now giving more production, prospects acquired through trades are beginning to shine at the ML level and in the minors, and some new "gems" are helping us win games, this year. I'm sure I missed some, but here is a selected list of "hidden gems" that have helped, at times: Pivetta: sucks, now but gave us a nice run while eating a lot of innings for 2+ years. Verdugo was not really "hidden" but being under the shadow of Betts was tough. He seems to be maxing his skills, this year. Wong came from the same trade and is helping us forget who Jeter Downs was. Arroyo was claimed off waivers. His continued time on the IL has dampened his value, a lot, but he has played well most of the time he plays. Whitlock has to be considered the gem of the gems. Not many Rule 5's turn out like this. Schreiber was another waiver score. WOW! He's been buttah! Refsnyder has the second best OPS by all Sox hitters from 2022-2023 (200+ PAs). Winckowski has made the word Beni obsolete in Sox Nation. (Others from that trade are now shining in the minors, too.) McGuire for Diekman? MAN! I'd have paid the CWS to take Diekman off our hands. Valdez and Abreu for 2 months of Vaz! Yoshida looks to have fooled many "baseball execs." Duvall and Turner make too much money to be called hidden gems, but both could be big parts of the this 2023 team's success. Tapia, Reyes, Bernardino, Garza... Paxton still has a lot to prove, and he's not really "hidden," but he may just beat expectations, when all is said and done. Maybe, Bloom has not done as badly in this area as I and maybe others have thought he had done and was doing, all along.

We now have 3 SP'ers under 5.00- HURRAY! Two are close. 4.08 Bello 4.72 Sale 4.99 Houck 5.14 Whitlock 5.14 Paxton That's a big improvement over Kluber (6.26) and Pivetta (6.15). Perhaps the biggest saviors of our staff have been our #6 & 7 IP leaders: 32.1 Winckowski 2.23 ERA 30.0 Crawford 3.30 ERA No more Brasier (7.29), maybe no more Ort (7.30) and hopefully not much more of Bleier (5.85.) More from... 1.32 Martin 2.12 Schreiber 3.45 Jansen That looks like a solid 10 pitchers. The next 3 are kind of sketchy, but we have a few to pick from: Bernardino Joely Rodriguez Garza, Sherriff or a resurgence from Kluber, Pivetta or Bleier More likely, we grab an arm or two at the deadline.

Houck vs RHP Kelly One game at a time! Get the win, and we will be tied for the 8th best record in MLB. So Sox!

Like more of Pivetta?

Woo won 11-7 3-5 Palka (8th HR) 2-3 Dalbec (10th HR) w 2BB 1-3 Abreu (7th HR) w 2BB 1-5 Hamilton w BB and 25th SB POR split Game 1 Yorke 1-3 w BB Game 2 Hickey 1-3 w BB GRE won 3-1 Wikleman 12 Ks and 0 BBs in 5.1 (0 ER) Anthony 2-3 w BB in Salem's loss.

The positive spin on our rotation: #1 Sale 4-1 2.23 last 5 starts (.539 OPS Against) #2 Bello 4-1 2.57 last 5 starts (.735 OPS Against) #3 Paxton 2 good starts of his 3, this year (2.45 ERA after first 2 starts) #4 Houck 9 starts: 4 good/4 bad and good last time out (4.99 ERA in 2023/3.84 FIP/ .688 OPSA) #5 Whitlock Nice last start. A friend once told me, "A pitcher is only as good as his last start." (Or was that Max? )

Exactly. We did offer Nate much more for one year. I'm pretty sure we'd have taken Wacha at $7.5M/1.

Lots of good things happened, tonight. I'm hopeful we can keep the groove going. We seem to be streaky, this year.

WC Race +3.0 BAL +0.5 HOU +0.0 NYY -2.0 BOS -2.0 LAA -3.0 SEA -3.5 TOT Best MLB records 7. NYY 31-24 8. AZ 29-23 9. BOS 28-24 9. LAA 28-24 11. MIL 27-25 If we beat AZ, tomorrow we can be tied for the 8th best record in MLB. That being said, we are also one game from being tied for 15th and 2 games from tied for 20th.

Nice win. Have we finally identified (not solidified just yet) all 5 rotation slots?

So, there actually was a reason Bloom signed the bum. Those damn metrics!!!!

He even hit the mid 70's from time to time.

I'm not big on sac bunts, but that was nice.

Kike coming through- 2 games in row!

wRC+ Sox Leaders from 2022-2023 180+ PAs 139 Refsnyder 134 Bogey 132 Devers 126 Yoshida 119 McGuire 119 JD M 112 Turner 110 Vazquez 108 Verdugo 102 Casas 100 Story

1. Tapia LF 2. Dugo RF 3. Turner 3B 4. Yoshida DH 5. Duran CF 6. Casas 1B 7. Kike SS 8. Valdez 2B 9. McGuire C

Catchers couldn't even catch the knuckleball. How could you hit it?

Where did I even hint at wanting Kluber and or Pivetta starting? I'm happy Whitlock is starting tonight,/ instead of him. I just think he's better in the pen. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Like Houck, I think ge may grow into being a good SP'er.

He may just go 3-4, tonight. I like him as a RP'er much more, too- as with Houck.

It’s not just about looking at the current ERAs. Whitlock is the better pitcher. We just don’t know how well anyone will pitch on a given day. Whitlock had to recover from an injury and certainly has had some struggles. I’m hopeful he is nearing his previous form but yes, who knows who will be better tonight. Nobody.

He may earn his way into more meaningful innings, eventually, but until he does better, this is his reality.

There is always some reason we win other than us just being the better team.

And so soon after the luckiest season in history!

The drop in walks is frightening, but being more aggressive has proven to be helpful, too. Maybe we can find a way to do both very well.

Keep doing what you do best and work on improving areas you don't.