moonslav59

Sorry Max, but you are dead wrong about Raffy's D being "adequate." He's not even close to being average. I fully expected the Sox to keep him at 3B, because we have greater needs and can't spend on a new 3Bman. That's not a ringing endorsement of his defense. I hope they give him a few reps at 1B, this winter and ST'ing and maybe 2024, if he looks okay there.

I did bring it up, but maybe it was when you were off in hiding. The main reason I mentioned the "leadership" last year was because so many posters were going on and on about what great leaders Bogey, JD and Nate were, and maybe they are, but what good did it do? How do you see leadership working? (Only when you win?) I didn't see many posters raving about great leadership, this year, even when we were winning, except for maybe Turner.

If we don't add a RHB in the OF, he may be worth keeping as a platoon. I think we trade Dugo and sign Duvall: without Ref... LF: Duran?Abreu (Yoshida) CF: Rafaela/Abreu RF: Duvall/Abreu

No, you called it that. The fact that others said it does not mean you aren't making the very assumptions you bash others for doing. Nobody knows what Devers was thinking. I remember the media bashing Lackey for his body language and cussing at what appeared to be his fellow players after they missed making a defensive play. Later, the players came to his defense, saying he was pissed and cursing at himself, and it only looked like he was pissed at his teammates. Much of the media blasted Lackey for that. I suppose you agreed with them, too.

Indeed! Our best wRC+ career in the last 100 years: 1500+ PAs 187 Ted 154 Manny 150 Foxx 146 Papi 142 Lynn 142 Boggs 137 Mo 135 Betts 134 Nomar 134 JD 130 Yaz 130 Youk 129 Dewey, Smith, Fisk 128 Rice

Actually, we were 11thin runs. Runs scored is influenced by Fenway. Our offense was 16th in wRC+. 11th in wOBA 9th in OPS, but not OPS+ (adjusted for park) 17th in ISO

3. Improving our RHB would take a major expenditure. Story might make up some ground, but we'd need to find 1-2 guys who do better than JT and Duvall. 4. Stop saying Devers and Casas are "adequate" at 3B and 1B. They are the worst defensive corner IF'ers in MLB. Yes, their hitting makes them more than adequate to be FT'ers, but the suck on D- no ifs ands or buts. They suck. Moving one to DH would not hurt the offense. Nobody is suggesting we replace them with an all glove-no hit player. The suggestion is moving one to DH or have them share 1B/DH. Both still are in the line-up as much as Cora will play them. I, for one, prefer moving Yoshi to DH, and having casas stay at 1B for 1 more year to see what he can do. I'd keep Devers at 3B, but I'd have him start working at 1B as the back-up. Maybe we can play Devers and Casas more games, if we let them "rest" as the DH. Their offense is their strength: let's play up to it. Their defense is their negative influence, so let's try to minimize that part without taking away from the offense. It's not a bad idea.

I only see a handful of posters ready to pencil in Rafaela, Abreu and EValdez into just 2 FT positions. I don't see anyone pencilling in 3. I think only 1-2 guys might give 2 slots to the 3. (Counting Duran, maybe there are more.) "Excited" does not equate to knowing or thinking they are locks. I'm about as optimistic about our prospects as almost anyone, and I do not trust Duran, Abreu, Rafaela or EValdez for much of anything. I'd leave one OF slot open for the best to win it. I would not be saying bring Duvall back, if I was sure these guys can do well in 2024.

I agree. Counting on Sale in the rotation is asking for the same trouble we've had for over 3 years. He will get hurt, and we'll force an effective RP'er into the rotation, where he may do okay for a while, but end up near 4.50 to 5.50. It's a broken record, and the name of the record is "Freakin' Cris Sale!" I'm fine with keeping him. He could do great for us. We just can't plan on it. IMO, I like Pivetta as the #65, but if it's Crawford or Houck, that's okay, too, but whoever it is, should share the last slot of the rotation with Sale. SP1 (Yamamoto) SP2 (Montgomery/Gray) SP3 Bello SP4 (Morton 1 yr/Lynn 1 yr or Wacha) SP5 Sale/____ (Pivetta/Crawford/Houck- choose one and keep the others in the pen as much as possible)

Same with Bogey, Nate, JD and others last year, but you would never say that.

Indeed. I think Fenway helps lefties more than righties, except for "MAYBE" HRs. Pitchers can pitch to RHBs with a certain strategy that does not work for LHBs.

Since we sucked, this year, none of it counts as "highlights," because it was all "garbage time." Plus, it's a "watered down league," so nothing should count.

QS% 2023: 54 Bello 42 Paxton (Gone) (League AVG 34%) 31% Pivetta 30% Sale (can't be counted on) 24% Houck 17% Crawford (the guy you want over Pivetta, because Pivetta can't get enough QSs.) 2022: 40% Nate 39% Wacha 36% Pivetta (36% MLB AVG) 33% Crawford 23% Hill 2021: 41% Nate (31% league avg) 29% ERod 27% Pivetta 18% Perez 18% Richards 0% Houck Nice try.

First of all, needing to go down to 200 IP over the last 3 years combined, just to get a sample size of 150 SP'ers (5 teams x 5 in the rotation,) should tell you something about the state of innings eaters in MLB. Let's see where Pivetta places out of the top 150 SP'ers by IP: 42 GS at 49 (more than most #2 SP'ers) 45 IP at 421 (middle of road 2nd starter amount) 77th fWAR at 4.7 (about like a middle of the road 3rd starter) 90 xFIP at 4.17 (worst 3rd SP'er in MLB- better than all 4th and 5th SP'ers.) 120 in ERA at 4.58 (worst 4th SP) 105 in ERA- at 105 (middle of the road 4th SP) 73 in SIERA at 4.08 (middle 3rd SP) 107 WHIP at 1.32 (middle 4th SP) 67 K-BB% at 16% (near top 3rd SP) I'm not seeing a SP'er not worthy of a rotation slot, until we add 4 SP'ers with Bello. Sure, if Sale is healthy... Sure, if Houck can learn to go more than 4-5 IP.... Sure, if Crawford can prove 2023 was not a fluke and improve on his 4.51 ERA as a SP, including 5.40 over his last 6 starts.... Look, I hate building rotations from the 5 slot, but right now, I think he looks more likely to give us 28 GS, 160+ IP and an ERA around .425 or better than anyone else on the team, other than Bello. He's really our #2, right now. I'd like to make him share the number 5 slot with Sale, and I get grief.

As a SP'er, Pivetta has proven he can go longer than Houck, Whitlock and Crawford. He also has had some very long stretches of doing well as a SP'er, unlike most of those other 3 listed. Would I rather have a better SP'er as our #5 than Pivetta, yes! But, I'm already getting "that will never happen," when I say we need 3 SP'ers. With no Pivetta, we'd need 4! (BTW, I technically want Sale/Pivetta as the #5, and Bello as the #3, with 3 added SP'ers.)

But many LHB's thrive in Fenway due to the huge RF and RF/CF areas that allow for more base hits, and when they go the other way, they get more 2Bs due to the wall. We have a long history of LHBs doing very well in Fenway. Just not many with HRs, unless they go to LF, a lot or hit around the pesky pole.

Red slams us for trying to psychoanalyze players.

Yes, a total bloop his by Posada to bring in the 4th and 5th runs to tie the game. Scroll to 9:30 of this video, then get back to me...

He has played some 1B, and could be that RHB we may need. With Duvall, I would think we would have to trade a LHB OF'er (Duran or Verdugo.) We DFA (or trade) Dalbec and let JT walk. If Rafaela makes the opening day roster, I could see us trading Refsnyder, despite his nice splits and our need for hitting vs LHPs. With Yoshida at DH and back-up LF, we can't have too many OF'er on the 26.

We disagree, a lot, but I have always respected you and your opinions. Well said.

Yes, that is an issue. If both Rafaela and Abreu don't work out, we'll need to add a platoon bat for Ref at minimum and 1 or two more OF'ers, unless... We move Yoshi back to LF Anthony is ML ready Rosier surprises (or someone else) On this front, trading Dugo makes more sense. It's widely believed Duran would bring back a better return, due to his years of control, speed and upside potential. I think most of us think we will need a major trade to go along with some key signings, but nobody agree on who that might be. If you look at our roster and system, to me, it seems like the OF is the deepest.

There were certainly reasons to pull Pedro, but to me it was Pedro freaking Martinez, and we lost on a bloop hit. I know all the talk on Pedro thinking his day was over. I get it. We'll never know what might have happened had they yanked Pedro. We know what happened leaving him in.

I get the sneaky feeling they feel they can come up with 4 decent starters from what we roll over. We've beaten this to death, but jerking RP'ers into the rotation and then back and forth doesn't seem like a winning plan. I think we will decide to keep Whitlock in the pen, so that might work out well. (It did for Wink.) Bello is a lock for one slot. My guess is Pivetta is for another. Signing one makes it 3. That means we would need 2 from these guys: Sale Houck Crawford (Murphy, Walter, Gambrell, Wikelman, Mata, Drohan) Personally, I'd keep Houck and Crawford in the pen and have a viable option as back-up to Sale, so we don't have to slide Houck or Crawford back to the rotation. I'm not downplaying the talent of Houck and Crawford. I like both, a lot, but they seem like great pen arms and questionable starters.

I'm sure he loves the tax brackets in CA.

My point was none look like we should be trading them. We are likely to lose Turner and have 3 candidates on the 26, already, to take his place. I don't want to jettison any of the 3- just make one the next DH.