moonslav59

I totally agree on pitching being the major holes to fill (note the plural on "holes." It is a very tall task, at hand. Throwing big money at top FA pitchers has been a losing gamble more times than not, over recent years. Trading for younger pitchers is a better bet, but giving up prospects is not something the Sox have done since the 2018 trade deadline. The two guys we have at 1.6 fWAR were somewhat unpredictable, last March: Sale and Crawford. They both rank 90th in MLB in fWAR. That is very sad and very telling. WAKE UP BLOOM & Co! If you divide 30 teams by the 90 best pitchers by WAR, the average team has 3 pitchers better than are top 2. Bello ranks 96th at 1.5, so we had 3 decent third starter types, when healthy or not in the pen. Paxton is at 1.4, about where he was over a month ago, and he's gone after 2023. Not surprisingly our pen looks better: T15 Jansen 1.3 T26 Martin 1.1 T84 Wink at 0.6 T97 Bernardino 0.5 Having 11 guys at 0.5 or better is not bad, but the lack of anyone over 1.6 is screaming for an addition. 1.0 Pivetta 0.8 Houck 0.5 Whitlock 0.3 Screiber (might have reached 0.5 has he not been hurt.)

I think having Abreu and Duran as players who can play CF, if Rafaela bombs, gives us the chance to give him a long look-see.

Yes, there aren't even 60 total FA signings per winter, let alone one year deals. Last winter, however, there were 19 2+ year deals made and 18 one year deals made.

If you added signing a top SP along with the Garrett addition, I'd like this plan. I agree with Red, we aren't moving Devers to 1B in 2024, and I think we'll give Casas a chance to improve at 1B and show he can stay there. (Personally, I'd move Devers to 1B, next year. I'm done hoping he can string 150 games together at average or avg + D.)

I love Duvall, but we need better CF defense, and bringing back Adam means we have 4 guys who LF is their best position (other than maybe DH:) Yoshida, Duran, Refsnyder & Duvall.

I think this team listed would make the playoffs as a WC team. I think you might be short-changing Urias at 2B and as a back up at 3B and maybe 3rd string at SS. He was injured for some of this year, but from 2021-2022, he averaged 24 HRs and 75 RBIs per 660 PAs with a .340 OBP. I can understand thinking maybe this is a fluke for Reyes. I will add that, I was looking at a minimum amount of additions- just 2 SP'er, but I think we might open up enough budget so space to bring back Turner or Duvall or the like- someone who can play 2B & CF or CF/R.

The rules. On SPs. Anyway

Lol Some worried about him aging poorly!

It is a tough call, especially in light of a much improved defense in RF. with all the side issues he was involved in, I’m not sure he is still a Cora fave. I’d see what we can get via trade and pull the trigger, if we can fill another need somewhere.

Is this a top contending team? SP1 Nola SP2 Yamamoto SP3 Bello SP4 Sale/Crawford/Houck SP5 Pivetta Closer Jansen RP2 Martin RP3 Schreiber RP4 Crawford (SP?) RP5 Houck (SP?) RP6 Whitlock RP7 Winckowski RP8 Bernardino, Murphy, Kelly, Robertson, Walter, Mata, Gambrell 1. Duran/Refsnyder LF 2. Devers 3B 3. Story SS 4. Casas 1B 5. Yoshida DH 6. Dugo RF 7. Rafaela/Abreu CF 8. Urias/Reyes 2B 9. Wong/McGuire C

I'd like to see them play, and 5 weeks is a decent amount of time, but it's not really all that definitive. As of now, I think I'd be fine starting 2024 with this: LF: Duran-Refsnyder platoon (Yoshida at DH and back-up LF) CF: Rafaela (Abreu and Duran as back up) RF: Dugu (Abreu as back up) If we trade Dugo, I think we'd need to add a defensive OF'er for CF/RF. Trading Duran would bring back way more than Dugo and probably even Dugo + Yorke. That would leave us with: LF: Yoshida/Ref/Dugo/Abreu CF: Rafaela/Abreu RF: Dugo/Abreu

This Gambrell guy is really doing very well. (He was part of the Beni trade, so many bashed ceaselessly.) Today: 5 IP, 5H, 2ER, 1BB and 9Ks! In Woo's 4-0 loss, they K'd 14 opps. Dalbec had 2 hits. POR lost 5-2, but Rosier continued to impress: 2-3 w 3B & BB *up to .818 OPS). Yorke went 1-3 w BB (.817 OPS) GRE won game one 1-0 on an Anthony HR. The team only mustered 2 hits. Penrod 6IP, 2H, 0ER, 2BB, 8K. They lost game two 7-4 as Rogers got lit up. Anthony went 1-2 w a 2B and 2 BBs (.989 OPS) Castro went 3-4 w a 2B, (.866)

If the SSs are the best on the board, I hope we draft 4 next year.

You didnt like Castillo or Lopez? Who's favorite GM?

Again, who is disagreeing? Why the need to keep repeating a point we all agree on. The pen sucked.

The funny thing is, MVP uses more advanced stats than just about anyone on this site.

You mean like the overall stats of Berrios after the trade? 4.34 ERA You know, your fantasy trade of Duran for him.

Losing big to HOu really hurt, badly, but beating these teams might have made a big difference: 0-2 STL 0-3 PIT 0-3 MIA or even... 1-2 COL 1-2 CWS 1-2 WSH Of course, 1-7 v TBR hurt like hell, too, but we are 18-7 vs BAL, TOR and NYY. We are also 11-5 vs ATL, AZ, MIL, PHI and TEX.

You mean like the poster with a long list of doing just that? Just recently... Now , you are just being ridiculous.... ...You are not making any sense... You just want to get into an argument over it, like you always do.... Well, I was right all along , hard as it is for you to admit. That's just from this page. Who is talking down to who?

I believe you, but Dale insists the pen lost games for us all year long. I'm pretty sure the pen did lose some games after the ASB, even if not by a closer.

My point was asking what Sox pitcher was "hyped as the next Pedro." BTW, I'm not suggesting we trade for a pitching prospect. I'm thinking someone proven and has 3-4 years fo team control. Maybe 2, if we can extend him. Yes, that will take a "haul," too but Mayer is a good start to a package. Duran and Perales or Wikelman might be a good start, too. Rafaela and Yorke plus some second tiers... You don't think that's not a good enough start? Add Hickey and Murphy/Walter... The Castillo deal was costly, but SEA extended him: The Reds receives SS Edwin Arroyo, INF Noelvi Marte, RHP Levi Stoudt and RHP Andrew Moore. I think 2 were top 100. There was a rumor we kicked the tire on Verlander, but he's not they type I'd trade top prospects for. Civale might not have been an ace, but what did he cost? (I think he had 2-3 years or control, still.) The Marlins traded Pablo Lopez, but not for prospects. I'm sure someone knows better than I do, about some recent trades for SP'ers who were or quickly became solid #2s or aces.

People said he was too skinny and small to ever be a durable SP'er, but he had a great season before the trade. Armas and Pavano were both good prospects, but I'm not sure they were great prospects. I think Pavano was. I'm sure someone will correct me, if I'm wrong.

Standings update just for Red: With the Yankee loss to Detroit, today -4.0 from 3rd place (TOR) -4.0 from 5th place (NYY) A great day for the Sox. We are also tied with MIN for the 7th and 8th slot in AL winning %: about in the middle. We are also #15 out of 30 MLB teams. Rejoice in our mediocrity.

Then, you said this.... I said Dombrowski should have done something... Why wouldn't doing nothing at the deadline be part of the equation. The season was not over, by then. What's so hard to get about this? Yes, we lost games, all year, but we did nothing at the deadline, and it could have been different.

Who is disagreeing that the pen and rotation were the major reasons for the decline? Why they weren't fixed gets to the root of the problem that has continued since the end of 2018, and it does not contradict the points you made and we all agree on. You may think DD and Bloom have chosen to not spend or trade prospects to fix obvious problems, but one reasonable position is to think the directive came from those who write the checks.