moonslav59

Let's hope how they see Urias as our next 2Bman turns out better than their ideas on Kike's defensive abilities at SS.

You gotta figure he's the odd man out. Chang has to stay, due to his superior defense at SS, and Story will likely get some days off, especially out of the gate. From what I can tell by the numbers, since I haven't seen Urias play D, he a negative on D at SS (-6 DRS in 1116 innings and -8.5 UZR/150.) I'd hope Reyes returns on a minor league deal, but my guess is he will be claimed by someone. (My guess is, Arroyo will be, too.)

Graduated Home grown Players on the 40 RED= Spent time in other team's farm systems: 2017: Devers 2021: Whitlock, Houck, Dalbec 2022: Bello, Duran, Crawford, Winckowski, Wong, Ort 2023: Casas, Murphy, Bernardino, Kelly, Jacques Possible next graduates: 2023-early 2024: 4. Rafaela 13. Walter 17. EValdez 21. Mata 22. DHam 23. Abreu mid/late 2024-2025: 1. Mayer 6. Yorke 8. Wikelman 11. Drohan 12. Bonaci 16. Meidroth 18. Hickey 19. Jordan 27. Fernandez 2026: 2. Anthony 3. Bleis 5. Teel 7. Perales 10. Romero 20. Castro 24. Paulino 25. E R-C 29. Monegro 2027>: 9. Zanetello 14. Joh Garcia 15. Cespedes 26. A Anderson 28. Alcantara 30. C Coffey

Highest risers in SP's Rankings from Spring: 48>15 Cespedes 37>14 Joh. Garcia 30>16 Meidroth 33>20 Castro 22>12 Bonaci 11>2 Anthony 14>8 Wikelman

Biggest ranking drops from the spring rankings of SPs: Top 30 in Springs 13>47 Lugo 20>42 Kavadas 5>21 Mata 10>24 Paulino 16>25 E R-C 21>28 Alcantara 23>30 C Coffey 25>31 Guerrero 9>13 Walter 7>10 Romero Lower 30 in Spring 29>52 McDonough 28>50 Koss 44>59 Politi 36>49 F Encarnacion 31>36 Brannon 35>40 Paez 34>37 Ravelo 38>41 Scott (not sure why) (Not sure if anyone dropped out of the top 60 that was highly ranked in Spring.

What do you think?

Nope! The injury excuse could not be used by Sox fans, last year. Apples to apples. LOL!

The league's W-L record will be .500 again, this year, so how can the quality be declining? LOL!

He's just as good as last year: the batters just improved by a lot, as the league got better.

DD was just messin' with Sox fans' minds.

No. They are just as good. The league just got so much better!

One could very easily argue the Yanks essentially brought back the same team, since Rodon got hurt, and all the other ALE teams improved to pass them. If the league got worse, it's hard to explain why the Yanks did so much worse ve easier opponents.

Pretty damn solid top 10 "suspects.!"

So, when Ward gets DFA'd and signs a minor league deal with us, will we hear some meas?

You bashed the hell out of us, everytime we said that. Nice try.

I thought Wikelman might top Perales, but you were right. Also, Murphy graduated. I wonder where they would have placed him. My take: 2 Anthony seems right, here, but seems harsh to Bleis over an injury. 12 Bonaci is too high. 13 Walter" I'd put in Drohan's 11 slot. (Joh Garcia 12, Cespedes 13, Drohan 14) 16 Meidroth- love it! I'd flip Abreu and DHam. I predict Grant Gambrell moves to near #30 in the next rankings.

The thing was, Arroyo was not even our 2nd, 3rd or 4th worst, defensively, of the 4 IF opening day starters.

With Story returning, soon, the writing was on the wall for Arroyo. Chang and Urias are better. Reyes is a close call.

They were last year, too. BAL is way better- as is TEX and other teams. This whole "watered down" excuse for why we look better is a cop out. The same guy who blasted us for saying part of the reason we lost so many games, last year was because we played more games against good teams (due to unbalanced schedule) is now saying it's okay to credit our success to the easier schedule, due to the whole league getting worse than last year. You can't have it both ways. To me, the league is more balanced not weaker. Talent has pretty steadily improved over the years, and with no expansion happening in a long time, players are better and better. I'm not sure I can remember so many super-stud young players as recently. The influx of quality foreign players has also been notable, especially from Japan. Our team is better than this year, and not because JD and Bogey couldn't drive in runs against much better pitching, last year than we faced this year.

All teams had flaws, last year, too. "Like I said...."

Cots has this on Paxton... 23-24 club options, to be exercised or declined simultaneously, at annual salaries of $13M plus performance bonuses earned in 2022 2022 performance bonuses: $250,000 each for 12, 14, 16, 18 starts annual performance bonuses for 2023-24, if options are exercised: $250,000 each for 20, 22, 24, 26 starts, less 2022 bonuses earned

I don't see a big crunch. Trades can be made, this winter, although trading borderline 40 man roster players is not easy in winter, due to other teams having crunches. My list mentions "DFA" candidates, b ut to me, there are 3-5 more players, I wouldn't cry about being traded or DFA'd, too.

He wanted him sat down for a while 3 weeks before calling the "suspect" his "boy."

I rescind my apology for questioning your Sox fandom.

A look at next year's budget and roster situation for Bloom, who will likely be GM, next year- like it or not. Lux Tax Budget 29.1 Devers 25.6 Sale 23.3 Story 18.0 Masataka 16.0 Jansen 8.5 Martin 4.7 Whitlock 2.0 Refsnyder 125M Total Options: Turner: $13.4M player option/ $6.7M buyout: Project he takes buyout and will be a FA Paxton: $13M x 2 yrs club option + performance bonuses based on GS in '23. Club accepts. Kluber: $11M club option w no buyout. Sox decline option. Joely: $4.25 club option or $500K buyout: Project club buys him out. Bleier: $3.75 club option w $250K buyout. Project club buys him out. Est Option Total $14M for Paxton (counting bonus) Arbitration Estimates: 9.0 Verdugo (3rd arb of 3) 7.2 Pivetta (3 of 4) 5.0 Urias (3 of 4) May nontender (Project goes to arb) 3.0 Arroyo (3 of 3) May nontender (Project nontender) 2.0 McGuire (2 of 3) 1.0 Chang (2 of 3) 1.0 Schreiber (1 of 3) 0.8 Dalbec (1 of 3) Arb Total $26M for 16 Players $165M Total 24 Pre-Arb Returnees: Houck Crawford Bello Duran Casas Winckowski Wong Rafaela Murphy Walter Bernardino Robertson Mills Abreu Hamilton Kelly EValdez Mata Reyes (DFA?) Jacques (DFA) Lovera (DFA) Gudino (DFA) Garza (DFA) Ort (DFA) Est. $17M for pre-arbs, 0-3 yr bonus pool and 40 man roster players in minors. Est. $17M player benefits Tax Budget Est before any trades or signings: $200M The 5-6 DFAs opens up some slots for Rule 5 Protectees or eventual FA additions. Others may be traded or DFA'd to make more room. Here is the list of eligible Rule 5 prospects for this coming winter: (I removed players with no chance at protection) Angel Bastardo Allan Castro Juan Chacon Luis De La Rosa Nick Decker Shane Drohan Juan Daniel Encarnación Ryan Fernandez Ryan Fitzgerald Grant Gambrell Jhostynxon Garcia Wikelman Gonzalez Bryan Gonzalez Christian Koss Chih-Jung Liu Matthew Lugo Eddinson Paulino Luis Perales Johnfrank Salazar Stephen Scott Nick Sogard Jeremy Wu-Yelland Ryan Zeferjahn