moonslav59

Kluber seems to be doing just enough to keep getting another look. Plus, it's not like we have anyone to replace him, right now.

I fully agree, and sometimes that sort of play and attitude rubs off on others.

Walter still looks far from ML ready. Woo did get the win in game 1, despite Walter going: 5 IP 8 Hits 4 ER 2 BB 6 K Abreu 2-4 w HR and 3 rbi RHern 2-4 w HR and 4 rbi Hamilton 1-2 w 2 BB and his 20th SB

He waits until a play is white hot and then rests him.

We can get pretty close to that with everyday players, but the staff will take a long time, if ever. I'm not sure we have ever had a successful pitching staff with even half homegrown pitchers.

Makes sense. There was someone else arguing Arroyo was clearly better than Kike, I would not be so surprised to see Kike back, next year. Cora really likes him. It is Duvall's last year, but if Story will play 2B, and Duran wins the FT CF job, maybe not. If he does not hit well, this year, Kike may not make $10M in 2024.

It's too early to draw definitive judgments. Only 1/5th of the season has been played. It is interesting to break down the leaders into groups: TBR (28th in spending): the quintessential spread the meager wealth out as evenly as possible. Strong farm, strong player development, great scouts that find under the radar ML talent at lower costs. BAL (29th in spending): spent years going cheap and stockpiling high draft picks on the farm. Those kids are maturing before our eyes, ATL (8th in spending): locks up their talent early at discount rates. Strong farm. Loses top talent, often. PIT (27th in spending): the real shocker, here. May not keep this up. BOS (14th): accused of going small market.

I'm not egttinng how a 3 game hot streak by Arroyo jumps him over Kike at 2B, or are you putting Mondesi over Kike?

It's hard to know if a 100% healthy Paxton is equal to the Paxton from several years ago. We can only hope.

Like I said before, you have been a beacon of light about the Sox since I have known you.

You do seem more hopeful about the rotation than I do, right now, but I have been more hopeful and optimistic about improvement than just about everyone else. On McGuire and Wong, I don't go by small sample sizes, and Wong's is tiny. I like Wong. He was supposed to have issues with defense, but he has looked fine, so far- even better than McGuire is a few areas, including pop times and controlling the running game. It looks like McGuire will start 2 of our starters or 2 of every 5 games, so it's not like Bloom & Cora have given up on him. Why do I seem to like McGuire more than some on this site? 1, What's not to like about his .843 OPS since joining the Sox, and that sample size is over double the size of Wong's 2023 OPS of .804. OPS w SOX .843 McGuie in 164 PAs .732 Wong in 148 PAs over 2+ Years 2. McGuire was known for his defense. It hasn't looked great, this year, but it should even out. (He may also be playing hurt, now.) 3. L/R splits don't really matter once the binky tandems are set up, but both have reverse splits, this year. Wong is better vs RHPs, while McGuire is better vs LHPs. Career Wong: .854 v R (94 PAs)/.535 v L (54 PAs) McGuire: .729 v R (585)/ .534 v L (145) It's always nice to have 2 strong catchers. I was one of the few posters who felt the catcher position was not one of our highest winter need areas. I felt like McGuire and Wong could match or exceed what Vaz & Plawecki gave us, with better D and maybe close to the same O. So far, the O has been better, but it is early.

Good point on the DFA then trade aspect of dumping Barnes. I like Barnes, but he imploded very quickly and thoroughly. I'm not thrilled seeing Bleier come in, but I do feel better than when Brasiort comes in.

I was always high on Valdez. The guy hit very well for two years in the minors, and kills RHPs. I knew he was not good on D, but figured he could platoon 2B, DH or maybe 1B/LF, someday. I didn't expect us to be praising him in May. I was higher on Wink than others, before this year, but that doesn't matter. Crawford surprised me.

Yes, if your glass is half full. Chang stopped the bleeding at SS, and filled an important need. He started 13 games and we went 7-6 in those starts.

The health of several pitchers just adds to an already very questionable rotation. If all were healthy I might say our best starters would be: 1. Sale 2. Houck 3. Whitlock 4. Bello 5. Crawford 6. Pivetta 7. Kluber/Paxton (Drahan, Mata, Walter, Murphy) (I might rank Wink in the top 5, but we need to not mess him up.

He was doing well, and did help the D get back to near respectability, but I'm not sure "major" contributor fits. His bat was very bad.

Today, the Sox sit all alone with the 5th best record in all of MLB. We are just 1/2 game behind the Pirates and 3 behind the O's for the second best record in MLB.

It looks like the 3+ years it took Bloom to build up the bottom of 40 man roster depth to respectability, while many of us, myself included, lamented the neglect of the top of the 40, particularly getting us an ace, has finally begun to show some results. We saw some spatterings of success, along the way (Whitlock, Renfroe, Arroyo, Schreiber, Refsnyder, the '21 Kike and a few others,) but not like this. I'd add McGuire to your list.

We might have to call him up quickly, just to say we got at least 1 IP from him, here.

And, they have/ had... Betts JD Pillar Hembree Price Kelly

We traded Barnes for Bleier. (Not DFA.) Wong has been great, recently, but McGuire has also done a fine job. It looks like they will settle into a binky system where Wong goes 3/5 and McGuire 2/5. That could flip over the course of the season. 1B has been one of our worst positions, so far, and it's been a long time since we had a significant plus first baseman. At least the defense is solid from Casas. I think Casas will improve, and I hope it happens, soon, but having Turner as his back-up and many fine players to slide into DH makes this roster construction way better than last year's, in this area. 2B/SS is going to be all about returning players. Losing Story and Mondesi and then Chang is something few GMs plan for. They may happen to have better middle IF depth on the farm that are ML ready, but it's hard to plan for 3 guys out at the same time. Arroyo is starting to look better, but Kike at SS is a real concern. Looks like we will play the waiting game here, as some will blame Bloom for not signing someone like Andrus or even adding Iggy a week ago. Fair criticism, if you ask me. 3B: It looks like Devers is not getting fat after the signing or putting his feet up and losing his "edge." Devers forevers came true! The OF has to be one of the most amazing turn-around/overhauls in Sox or MLB history. We went from near worst to maybe the best with just two additions- one of which has been on the IL for half the start of 2023. The Dugo-Duran turnarounds or upticks, whatever you want to call them, are stunning. Yoshida is looking like an MVP, the last couple weeks. I'm talking AL MVP- not Sox MVP. With Kike and Tapia in the wings and Duval due back, all I can say is WOW! Turner has been very good and is known for heating up over the second half of the season. Stay tuned. The pen has been a savior, and if we can get something from Joely or a SP'er moving to the pen, it could even get better. The rotation, as we all know, is going to be the key to where we end up by season's end. I still have some optimism we will find the right mix. It would be nice if it did not have to include Houck and or Whitlock, which would make our pen a top 5 pen in MLB, IMO, but I'm not sure that is possible. Perhaps a deadline deal can get us to the promiseland.

That's a great example of small sample size judging, and how even 5 weeks of baseball is rather small in the grand scheme of things. Also, it shows the importance of beating the teams you need to pass or stay ahead of in the standings: each game is a 2 game swing.

We certainly have found the groove. I hope we can keep it going and going. As much as I'm loving this, I have to think about some serious flaws we still have not solved- namely our SP'ers. I'm more and more convinced that Sale can give us what we need the rest of the year- maybe not an ace, but more and more solid and dependable as the year progresses. The rest of the rotation is one big question mark, with even Pivetta not being the solid #4/5 he has been since joining the Sox. I'm still hopeful enough of our starters will improve by just enough to contend, but we need to start seeing more proof and more consistency for somebody- anybody! What's not to love about the pen, the line-up and the promise of returning players like Story, Duvall, Mondesi, Joely and maybe even something useful from Paxton, who got the win with Woo, despite walking 5. I'm still cautiously optimistic about the season, and I certainly feel better now than a week ago, but I know some struggles lie ahead for us, unless our starters take control and soon.

TBR is for real and were expected to be good. The O's have been building up a mighty foundation of young players that look to be finally maturing. I thought they were a year or two away, and they made very few moves to even replace what they traded away at last summer's deadline. To me, the big LOL is the Yanks tied for the 16th best record in MLB (also the 14th, but 16th sounds better.)

Woo won 14-2 to get to .500 (15-15.) 4-5 Palka w 2 HRs & 5 rbi 3-6 Alfaro w 2B 3-4 Sogard w BB 2-4 Hamilton w 2 BB 1-3 Goodrum w 3 BB 1-2 ABreu w 2 BB 1-4 Fitzy w HR & BB POR split and is 18-7 Game 1 Liu threw a no-hitter (7 IP CG) 2BB & 6K After being demoted on soxprospects.com, Kavadas went 2-4 w 2B & HR (rare no BBs) Rafaela 2-4 w 3 RBI Yorke 0-2 w 2 BB Game 2: lost 2-1 Rosier 2-2 w BB GRE won 10-9 (They are 10-14) 3-5 Jordan w BB 3-6 Paulino w HR 3-4 Lopez w BB 2-6 Mayer w 2B 1-5 Hickey w HR & SF SAL lost 5-2 (They are 11-13.) 2-3 Coffey w BB 0-3 Bleis w SF and rbi de la Rosa 4 IP 3H, 1ER, 4BB, 4K