moonslav59

Better than what we have, now, although he is no longer great on D at SS. He was a rare "available" April/May player that signed a minor league deal just days ago. I guess DFA'ing someone ( Brasier) was just too much for Bloom to handle.

He missed on Mondesi's return date. Chang was not "doing nothing," but his injury was a killer. I agree, though, we should have signed Andrus, like many of us wanted- even after the Mondesi trade.

How could I forget? Good call.

I'm super high on Sale, and I think the tipping pitches is a real possibility, but he has not been consistent, yet. He's the closest of the 5 or 6. Bello is second on my trust list- far from Sale. Far from Pivetta, too. Whitlock is hurt. I'm not sure what to do with him, when and if he returns.

I'm waiting for someone to say we should have locked him up before this breakout season.

I'll take a stab at this... Best defensive SS on the 40 and not on IL: T1. Arroyo & Hamilton (neither is very good) 3. Kike 4. Valdez 5. Dalbec Not on 40? Mayer? Bonaci? Lugo?

The 2 over sounds about right. The Yankee part, no. This team still has a major issue with the rotation, and that has not changed because we are +2 in the win column. If we don't start seeing some starters finding a groove, we will be back playing the +1 and -1 qame, all year long. Bello and Sale have had good starts, but still not a few in a row. A friend once told me, a SP'er is only as good as his last start, which certainly is not true, but it does have some merit. Right now, Kluber, Whitlock and even Houck look very questionable- for different reasons. Crawford may be able to fill one slot, but just saying that causes shivers down my spine.

Neglecting the rotation over the winter, or thinking Kluber and Paxton could combine to fill one slot, well was a major boo-boo by Bloom. It was one thing just about everyone here agreed on, although at varying levels of intensity. Just about all the other additions, including those made last deadline are working out from well to better than almost anyone expected: Duvall before getting hurt Yoshida is looking mighty fine. Jansen, who some felt was over-the-hill Martin, who still has much to prove Turner is a late season batter, who has started out okay. McGuire was on fire. EValdez has shocked many. (Abreu is doing well, on the farm.) Mondesi, Joely, Mills and a few others have yet to play. Tapia, Chang and others have been meh. Some players acquired a while ago that were looking kinda sketchy, are now looking like good additions: Dugo, Winckowski, Wong and even this week's version of Arroyo. The Devers extensión helped with team morale. The Whitlock, Schreiber and Refsnyder additions are looking sketchy, now, but I am far from writing off at least two of these guys. Wow, being 2 games over .500 sure changes the mood around here.- (We are currently 0.5 GB for the last WC berth- Houston.)

There is still a long way to go on Yoshida's contract, but what's not to like about his approach? It seemed like the kind that would transfer well into MLB, and after a couple weeks of adjusting, it looks like a winning approach. There had to be some culture shock, too, and playing in the WBC prolonged that adjustment time, as well. It's hard to know just how good he will be, but it is looking more and more like it will be on some level of "good."

All this fragile glut has been pointed out over and over. You are a Yankee fan, so I don't blame you for feeling confident in March, but you and others, including Sox fans "drank the Kool-Aid" on the Yankee projections. Now that what was always there has become obvious, changes need to be made.

That he did. My confidence level did not move off from a very low point, but at least it didn't move down a notch.

Rest the hottest batters?

He's younger but this will be his 8th season in MLB. He's had over 291 PAs, once. He's never gone over 443. He's only been over 150, 3 times. Paxton had 28+ starts in 2 straight seasons and 20+ in 4 straight. I was being kind to Mondesi.

I think the gods are punishing jacko for being so mean about the Sox.

We could win our next 12 and be even with the 2018 record.

Mondesi is like the Paxton of middle IF'ers.

If Valdez stick in the line-up and becomes an everyday batter, DH seems to be the best spot for him. For that to happen, Turner would pretty much have to go to 1B, which squeezes Casas before he's really had a chance to prove himself. I guess we could totally give up on middle IF defense and play Valdez/Arroyo at 2B and Kike/Arroyo at SS, but that seems too scary. You can't stick Valdez in LF with the way our OF is playing, right now, and our best defensive OF'er (Kike) playing SS. If it was closer to the trade deadline, one could imagine some sort of trade to move some pieces around, but that just doesn't happen in May.

Some recent additions to the farm... .842 Alfaro (MiLFA) .810 Rosier (Groome) .803 Abreu (Vazquez) .692 Ferguson 12 SBs/.370 OBP .645 E Valdez .916 in MLB 0.00 Bernardino (Waivers) 0.00 MLB 0.87 Denlinger (German) 2.95 S Sharpe (MiLFA) Not so recent (nondraft/IFA): .851 Hamilton (14 SB) (Renfroe) .648 Binelas (Renfroe) .570 Koss (Aybar) 3.21 de la Rosa (Beni)

You mean McGuire, but well said.

The sample size is still rather small, but keep playing the hot hand! He's at .916, now. Duran is up to 1.113! Yoshida is up to .850 and has silenced all the critics, for now.

You crack me up. "The time" has been "now," so many times, I've lost count. Like I've said over and over, Cashman and Boone are the best GM & manger combo the Sox have had in a long time. They never stop helping us look good.

At this point, the only other option, Arroyo, looks like a step up.

Indeed. Very true. I don't hear much talk about overpaying Yoshida or how Duran should never get another chance, either. The suspect, Valdez isn't doing too shabby, so far, either. (Much more to prove, of course.)

They may trade him for the next Dugo, rinse and repeat.

Dugo has come into his own!