moonslav59

This is an even stronger point than the one made about finding a flaw in his "5 major moves." IMO, even if we got Schwarber, it would have meant no Suarez, and would we really be much better off, even if more "balanced?" I don't think Schwarber was ever leaving PHI, and with DD in charge, we'd likely have had to way overbid to pry him away. The other big question was Alonso vs Contreras. Yes, we could have signed Alonso to DH and not signed Suarez, and again, we'd be more "balanced" but how much better off? Other adds are hindsight based: Murakami, Okamoto, BLowe, Donovan or Arraez. To blast Brez for not getting any of these guys, when none of us were strongly advocating for them is not something I see as constructive criticism. The unbalanced question is legit, though, and after missing out on Bregman (Thank God!) and Bichette (Thank God and the Holy Trinity!) he should have gotten more than Durbin.

That was the "downfall" and why we traded for Durbin. As it turned out BLowe could have replaced the LHB Mayer and we'd have the same balance. When Durbin was struggling, we could have platooned Mayer/Durbin, and when RHB Story went down, move Mayer to SS, as we did anyway. BLowe has horrible splits vs LHPs, this year (mid .500s) and career splits of .850 v .680, so that was a major concern. Donovan is about the same: .820 vs .640. In hindsight, trading for one of these two and trading Mayer for something else, would have worked well for 2026, anyway.

I joined B.com after the first "law." The second one was handful enough! LOL!

Abreu and E Valdez were very near MLB ready. Both played in MLB the next year, and EValdez became a starter in mid April that next year. It was a great trade that many of us praised at the time. People in HOU always knew Abreu was the prize, but I also expected EValdez to hit better than he did- maybe end up a low-powered DH.

Whitlock has been MLB's best or near best set-up man. Our pen needs help now and going forward. Whitlock has 2 years of control after 2026. Trading him for single A players is signalling a long term rebuild- not a quick turnaround one. I mentioned I'd be okay with this, if the other deals we make are all about 2027 & beyond, but by itself, it's a bad signal. (Not necessarily a bad move.)

Just about everyone expected good to great seasons from all these guys, Narvaez, Mayer and maybe Bello and Story had some serious doubts, but we figured even if some of these guys floundered, we had some good young talent to help take up the slack. It became too hard to take up the slack for all these guys, at once. The rotation depth stepped up and did, but the everyday player side did not. Actually, Wong kinda stepped up and he and Narvaez basically flipped OPS from 2025 to 2026. Story and Mayer were replaced by a ragtag group of players who could not give what we needed. IKF started to, then got hurt. Maybe Romy can help, going forward. Nobody cam close to replacing Anthony, and even if you expected .750 from RA, the replacements fell way short of that, too. Durbin should be mentioned, too. His horrific start hurt us badly and was not expected. He played every game, because we had no replacement. Not mentioning Duran, I'm assuming, was an oversight. His decline, though not unexpected by some, was steeper than anyone projected. Maybe his homer, last night is the start of a turn-around. It sucks hoping for several turn-arounds and returns from the IL, but that might be all we have to hope for. Sandoval pitched his last rehab start and looked real good. Bello or Kelly might be able to help the pen, later. We just got Moran and Romy back. Seigler is doing well, and maybe IKF can return and replace Cheng or Monasterio. Anthony remains the major wildcard return.

That CWS trade may work out well in the long run. Gotta love Futrell's K:BB ratio. Eyanson has not really slipped, at all, except one game.

Is 17 K's a POR record?

How about the Rays? They were 77-85, and their off season was rather underwhelming, yet here they are! FA Signings: $13M/1 Nick Martinez 2.61 ERA in 100 IP (Very nice) $15M/2 Steven Matz 6.28 ERA in 53 IP $7M/1 Cedric Mullins .651 OPS $3M/1 Jake Fraley ,690 OPS and on IL a lot. Major Trades: B Lowe, J Mangum & mason Montgomery for Jacob Melton & Anderson Brito Shane Baz for de Brun, Bodine & Forret Josh Lowe for Gavin Lux & Chris Clark Colton Ledbetter for Ben Williamson Tristan Gray for Luis Guerrero What GM had the better "on paper" offseason?

Ex Sox Pitchers (Qualified) 2.25 ERod 2.27 Sale 3,45 Wacha 4.02 Eovaldi 5.79 Springs 50+ IP 2.58 Newcomb 2.82 Harrison 3.12 Drohan 3.54 Martin Perez 4.61 Buehler 4.80 D May 6.28 Matz

Some ex-Sox numbers: .937 Schwarber .796 Nate Lowe ,791 Devers .756 Dubon .736 Betts .722 Benintendi .717 Meidroth .715 Dom Smith .704 Br Montgomery .694 Teel .685 Bregman .672 V Grissom .658 Bogaerts .642 Blaze Jordan .636 DHam .605 Moncada, .600 Tristan Gray, .586 Danny Jansen .581 O'Neill, .555 Yorke, .483 Z Short, .472 Jh Garcia .445 McGuire, ,422 Refsnyder, .182 Sandy Leon

Yup, two solo blasts in the Giants loss. We could use that! 🤣

Maybe we can finally win three series in a row. We've only won two in a row, once. Yup, we've gone 8-2 and lost 1 in the last 3 series.

Day off then 3 at CWS and 3 at NYM. We were 8 games under .500 a month ago, and here we are again. Run Diff Standings: +78 NYY (2nd best AL record) +35 TBR (1st) +27 SEA (T4th) +26 CWS (3rd) +11 DET (13th) +5 BOS (12th) _____________ -8 TEX (6th & last WC slot) -9 CLE (T4th & ALC leader) -17 MIN (8th) -28 BAL (10th) -42 TOR (9th) -44 HOU (7th & 1 GB WC slot) -72 ATH (11th & ahead of the Sox)

Yes, his knee, shoulder, ankle....

I really wanted Neto, last winter, but the Angels are a tough team to trade with.

He was ahead of Gray in many categories- just not ERA and W-Ls. Gray might take his place, now that he's hurt.

Tough cookies.

Hardly anyone thought this team was bad on paper going into the season. We knew there were holes, but it looked like every other team had as many or more holes. We have a plus run differential but have played badly. We just passed the halfway point and are playing well. Is it entirely impossible this team can't turn it around, and not just by barely enough to squeak into the playoffs near .500? I totally get the point about not selling the future to try and improve a "bad team," but tehre are a few weeks left to make the decision. Right now, I'm in sell mode.

Getting hurt while hurt seems to be a Sox specialty.

The Sox can control their own destiny to a large extent, but not totally: -0.5 A's (4 games right before the deadline) -1.0 BAL (7 games vs them) -1.5 TOR (7 games left) -3.0 MIN (zero) -3.5 HOU (zero0 -4.5 TEX (3 games in late Sept) -6.0 CLE (3 games in late Sept) -7.5 CWS (3 games coming up soon & 3 more later on)

Woo won today as newly acquired catcher Kniszner homered, and Gasper doubled twice. POR won 10-0 as Wehunt let up 1 hit in 5IP and Paez let up 1 in 4IP. Together, they K'd 17 batters!!! Wehunt walked 4 and Paaez none. Brannon hit his 12th dinger and has risen to .924. Could he be our next DH? GRE lost, but Jackson and M White both hit their 12th homers.

I'm for selling, as of now, but 4.5 GB in August is still "in it." It's still early July. Let's wait to the end of July to decide. Hardly any trades occur before then, so wait we will do. Too bad the Yanks didn't sell in 1978 down 14.5 games in mid July.

Agreed. Riley is owed more than Yoshida & Story. Add Murphy and it's likely BOS who says no. I did not suggest Story and Yoshida because I thought ATL wanted them.

You named 4, and apparantly he valued Harrison enough to trade for him. He has made many good trades, and most are still TBD, even the Harrison trade.