moonslav59

Duran also had a .487 OPS vs LHPs, this year at Woo. (Yes, small sample size, too.) It's not like his sudden metamorphosis has encompassed every aspect of his skillset, no matter how much we hope it has.) He deserves a chance to see if he can turn that around. His HR, yesterday helped. It brought him from .600 to just over .700. To me, the real question is, should we platoon Casas, so Duran can play everyday? There is just no way Duvall should be benched vs LH'd SP'ers. If he goes oh for the next two weeks, maybe...

Nobody is disagreeing, except in some posters minds. Should Duvall play vs all LHPs? If anyone answers no, then we will have an inferior line-up out there. I mentioned a way to get both to play, by benching Casas vs lefties, but then I caught hell for that idea. Do people really want to write off Duvall, the RBI leader in 2021, because he has had a difficult time since coming off the IL a month ago? This isn't about Duran. It's about Duvall. I never said Kike deserves to play over Duran- just he should definitely play vs LHPs. That can be at 2B, too.

I gave you the 2023 numbers, so who is being dense, here? Until yesterday's Duran HR, Kike has better numbers vs lefties, and is still close. Duvall still has better 2023 numbers than Duran vs LHPs. NOT CAREER! THIS YEAR! I've already said, I'm fine with Duran starting over Kike in CF vs LHPs, but I guess you don't read what I say. You just project what you think I said. Can you answer why we should have even played Duran, in the first place, if all you care about is a player's recent 2 month sample size? He sucked in 2022. He had a .792 OPS in Woo before being called up and sucked vs LHPs there, too- this year. NOT CAREER! I've said countless times, I want Duran to play everyday. I just want Duvall to play vs LHPs, too. I think Kike can still help vs LHPs in CF and 2B- just not SS. I'm not saying Duran should be benched for Kike. I know Kike ha ssucked at the plate for 1.5 years and is horrible on D at SS. I'm not sure what the issue is. You are inventing strawmen. I have not mentioned Duvalls first few games even once. This whole "constantly" talk is your imagination.

USA Today: "I have read many things that are true and many others that are not," Cora told ESPN. "Out of this whole process, if there is one thing that I completely reject and disagree with is people within the Astros organization singling me out, particularly (fired and suspended general manager) Jeff Luhnow, as if I were the sole mastermind. The commissioner's report sort of explained, in its own way, what happened. But the (Astros players) have spoken up and refuted any allegations that I was solely responsible. "If there is one thing I am absolutely sure of, it is that it was not a two-man show. We all did it. And let me be very clear that I am not denying my responsibility, because we were all responsible." I can't find one source that says Cora "masterminded" the cheating. Apparently he played a big role in making the plan work, but nobody said that it was even "his idea," let alone "mastermind,: as far as I know.

4.3 years of Dugo not 5. If you discount 2020 as 1/3 of a season for Mookie, it should be discounted for Dugo, too. It should be stated as 5 years for 1 or 4.3 for 0.3.

To me, it's impossible for me to imagine Bloom convincing JH & Co. not to up the offer on Betts and wanted to trade him away. Bloom deserves a lot of criticism, but not for trading Betts or the return we got for him. (Yes, it was 4.3 years of Dugo + 5 years of Wong for 0.3 years of Betts.)

It would be interesting to see all 30 boards from some past drafts, just to get an idea of how different some teams viewed certain players. Were other teams drooling to pounce on Trey Ball, or did nobody have him on the top 30 board? (Probably somewhere in between.)

I'm fine with playing Duran vs LHPs over Kike, but as of now, not over Duvall. We could bench Casas vs LHPs to let Duran and Duvall play v LHPs, but I do not think Duvall should be benched vs his better split pitchers.

100% accurate. We have some reports of what else might have been offered for Betts, and it didn't even include the Price throw-in. Downs ended up sucking, but 4.3 years or Dugo plus 5 years of Wong looks like a good trade for 0.3 years of Betts. The extension issues are separate- both the Sox failure or give one and the Dodger giving one.

I don't give up on players for a 3 week slump-like Duvall. I don't give up on an .800+ OPS guy vs lefties, career, and until yesterday had a better OPS vs LHPs, this year than Duran. Were you an apologist for Duran, last year? Hint: nobody was, and look what happened, when he was given a chance, despite what he did the previous X amount of PAs. As far as all of us were concerned, Duran was a "has been," last year. I'm glad Cora doesn't think like that. I've never been one to argue someone should play over another player based on small sample sizes. The Kike argument is valid. He has not hit well for 1.5 seasons, but then again, neither did Duran for much of the last 2 years. BTW, I'm not arguing to play Kike or Duvall "everyday." I'm talking about ONLY who should play vs LHPs. Duvall led the legue in RBIs WAY, WAY back 1.5 years ago (2021.) Yes, let's just ignore that and bench him vs the handed pitchers he does best against- all because Duran has been killing righties. That's not apologies- that's facts. I've said I want to see Duran get to play everyday. I also want Duvall to play vs LHPs, as well as Turner and Yoshida. I'd be okay with benching Casas vs LHPs and playing Turner at 1B, Yoshida at DH and Duvall in LF, so Duran could play everyday. I'm not going to the mat saying Kike should play CF over Duran vs RHPs, but he has a pretty good record vs them. He was 68 points ahead of Duran vs LHPs until yesterday, even in this crappy year. Career, Kike is .812 and was .775, last year. What's your apology for Duran's .538 career OPS vs lefties? His greatness against righties makes him deserve to play vs LHPs, despite his awful record vs them?

Like all the quotes never provided for all the "experts" that graded certain trades with an "F." Talk radio is his bible. It explains pretty much everything.

So, one bad decision out of thousands makes for a crappy manager.

We don't need all of these guys to do great or even good to add a big boost. The sheer number of returning good players makes the odds pretty good that 1-2 or maybe even 3 do well, upon returning. (I didn't even list everyone.) Story Sale Whitlock Houck Schreiber McGuire Longshots to help: Joely (just returned) Kelly Mondesi Mills Bleier Kluber Not hoping these guys comeback: Ort

It was a logical question. If one or two of these guys don't come back, we don't get worse- we stay the same at their slots. I do agree on being a buyer for a solid SP'er, if we want to make a move for a 2023 ring, but I'm not sure the improved chances would be worth trading some of the future away for. Now, if we trade for a longer term SP'er, I'm listening. Nobody gives us a good SP'er for Duvall & Dalbec, so who do we give up? Do we give up much for a rental? Bloom's biggest rental trade, so far was Aldo Ramirez for Schwarber. Could we trade Duvall and Dalbec for prospects, then flip them plus Rafaela and Mata for a solid SP with more than 1 year of control? Do we add Walter or Murphy to sweeten the deal? Romero? I doubt we trade any key prospects, this deadline.

Is 4.3 for 0.3 better? Plus 5 Wong. Plus the addition by subtraction of Price

Whitlock Winckowski ZKelly Drohan (ranked 6th) E R-C (ranked 19th at age 19) L Guerrero (25th) Rogers (30th) Denlinger Not a great list, but he's only had 3 drafts, and one was the shortened 2020 one, plus there was no 2020 season for any prospects to devlop a full year.

It seems to hurt more when that top pick is top 15. Here's a look at our "top picks:" Theo '03: David Murphy (pretty solid pick at #17) '04: 2nd rd Pedroia at #65 WOW! '05: Jacoby Ellsbury (#23 comp pick for OCab) and Craig Hansen (#26 BUST) '06: Jason Place (#27 BUST) '07: 2nd rd Nick Hagadone (#55 and a rare pitcher with our first pick) '08: Casey Kelly (#30 a pitcher that was traded for AGon) '09: Raymond Fuentes (#28 BUST) '10 Kolbrin Vitek (#20 BUST) '11 Matt Barnes (Pitcher #26 comp for VMart) & Blake Swihart (#26 com for Beltre) Ben '12 Deven Marrero (#24), Brian Johnson (#31 Comp for Papelbon) & Pat Light (#37 also for Papelbon) '13: Trey Ball (#7 Biggest Bust and a pitcher) '14: Michael Chavis (#26) & Michael Kopech (#33 P traded for Sale) '15: Andrew Benintendi (#7) '16: Jay Groome (#12 HS pitcher - likely a bust) DD '17: Tanner Houck (#24 P looking pretty good) '18: Tristan Casas (#26) '19: 2nd rd Cameron Cannon (#43 BUST) Bloom '20: Nick Yorke (#17) '21: Marcelo Mayer (#4- the highest pick by the Sox) '22: Mikey Romero (#24) (Anthony picked 79th got a bigger signing bonus)

Well said. When I said "tied," I meant factoring in the higher risk pitchers bring to a draft.

Not Bloom. He doesn't do it.

He seems to have improved on our IFA signings, as well. He also added prospects Whitlock, Winck, Wong, EValdez, Abreu, Kelly, Gambrell and others in nondraft/IFA methods. To me, this was his number one priority- maybe co-number one with fixing the budget. I think he has done well in both areas, but his grade is incomplete, to me. Building up the 26 and 40 man roster foundation has been more difficult, especially with dwindling budgets for his first 3 seasons, and virtually no farm help until Bello & Duran, this year, so I find it hard to grade him on just W-L results. I think our foundation is much stronger than in 2019, but much of it is speculative, in nature. Farm: INC (Already seeing Whitlock, Wong & Wink is a good start.) Budget: INC (The Yoshida, Story and Devers signings are still pending) MLB Foundation (26 & 40 man rosters): C- maybe. (2020 does not count, to me. 2021 was a plus. 2022 was a minus. This year is INC.) I'm assuming the poster who keep talking about the legion of "Bloom Supporters" thinks I'm one, but I don't see it that way. To me, he appears to have done what he was told to do, and the major results are still pending. I'm not going to ding him for selecting HS players and delaying the farm's ML impact, until we see how well or poorly they do.

Just pick the player you think is best. Position should not be a factor, unless you think it is an exact tie. BTW, our young pitchers have been shining, of late, and the farm has some encouraging pitchers, too.

What makes it tougher is the fact that several SP'ers are supposed to return, perhaps Houck and Whitlock right after the AS break and Sale near the trade deadline. How good will they be? Houck & Whitlock have not been all that good, so far. Sale was really finding his groove and may not find it again. If we can get to 4 games over .500 (an 85 win pace) missing over 30 GS'd by our top 5 SP'ers (and I'm not counting Kluber or Pivetta as top 5,) maybe we can improve, greatly with their return plus Story, Schreiber and others. How can our current roster not improve by replacing these guys with these other guys: Scott> Houck Jacques> Whitlock Murphy> Schreiber Walter>Sale Trade Arroyo, Duvall or Kike > Story Alfaro> McGuire I'm not sure what most of Red Sox Nation thinks, but these 26 man roster looks pretty damn salid to me. We could even add a SP'er at the deadline and be better. SP: Bello, Paxton, Sale, Whitlock, Houck or player acquired by trade LR: Houck or player acquired by trade, Crawford, Pivetta, Winckowski SR: Jansen, Martin, Schreiber, Bernardino/Bleier/Joely/Walter/Murphy C: Wong & McGuire or Alfaro 1B: Casas (Turner) 2B: Kike, Arroyo/Chang SS: Story, Chang 3B: Devers (Turner) LF: Yoshida, Refsnyder CF: Duran, Duvall (if not traded) RF: Dugo (Duvall) DH: Turner (Yoshida) People laughed at this group back in March, and many still are, but I'm liking our outlook, right now and going forward into the next few years. (I realize my opinion might change in 2-3 weeks, but I'm staying hopeful.)

All those guys will hold a a special place in my heart.

Was this Dugo's scheduled day of rest? LOL!