moonslav59

I'm is seller mode, right now, but that could change. The A's are about to lose, so a Sox win, tonight could mean we finally catch up to one of the 6 teams we need to pass to make the last WC slot. TEX 45-45 (last WC team) -1.0 HOU -1.5 MN -3.0 TOR -3.5 BAL -4.0 A's assuming they lose -4.5 BOS Having so many teams between us and the last slot makes the odds longer but 4.5 is not real bad. Again, I am still in sell mode. A win tonight might not change that, but it will encourage me a bit more.

Who said they have to get to .500 in just 9 games to be a playoff contender and non seller? Hint: nobody. Let's be real: even 4.5 GB in July is still borderline.

Rewarding if it works and we don't hand away the next Harrison. BTW, where is the talk about Jordan and DHam?

Indeed, but will they go bold or just add a midlevel RP''er? This might open up a chance to get something for IKF, Coulombe & Duran that is more than we deserve. Can we be buyers and sellers?

How about this assembled team of ex-Sox players on just 3 teams- CWS, MIL & STL: C Teel 1B 2B Meidroth 3B Jordan SS DHam LF Benintendi CF RF Braden Montgomery DH SP Harrison, Drohan, DMay, Dobbins, Priester (IL) RP Newcomb, Chris Murphy, Hicks, Paez Add LAD (Betts in CF and Kike to infield/Jordan to 3B) and PHI (Schwarber at DH) and that's not a horrible team.

Good point. It's more of a hope than something we can expect. It's not even sure he will come back. He may yet get that surgery.

The Rays had won 9 in a row, before losing 10-8 yesterday. Before that, they had lost 8 of 11. They had a 3-10 stretch before that, too. They won 13 of 14 earlier in the season, so they seem very streaky. After the Yanks, no other team is more than 4 games above .500, and that is CLE & CWS (+4) who are not viewed as juggernauts. SEA is +2 and TEX +1. Even these four barely "plus" teams look very beatable.

I doubt Brez will go into this winter thinking he will add 3 significant everyday players with 2-3 being big bats or important upgrades on offense. He might be thinking 1 major bat or two really good ones. He might view Catcher, Middle Infield and DH as the areas most likely to upgrade on offense. He probably will count on Mayer and Durbin, and maybe Story, Romy & Co to fill all our infield needs. I think he will try to upgrade Catcher offense. (Sign Jeffers or trade for William Contreras?) I think he trades Duran and adds an OF/DH. (Jeffer? BLowe as 2B/DH or _____?)

Yes, and the team that trades for him now would owe him about $15M, if traded today. We'd still get the money STL pays ($10M.)

Good point. Durbin is bottom 10% in hard hit % at 27.4%, it's interesting to note that Arraez is second worst out of 129 qualifying players from 2025-2026! Hoerner is 6th worst, Meidroth 7th worst and Albies just below Durbin at 11th worst. Durbin is second worst in soft hit% at 20%. His LD% of 18 is bottom 20 or bottom 1/6 tier. Surprisingly, that's above Abreu's 17.5%.

I will say, I never once considered putting softlaw on ignore. It was entertaining to me, and he did make some points that had merit. While he did call people "pink hats" and "Theo apologists," it seemed all in fun and was more generalized than specifically aimed at one person. I wouldn't mind if he joined this board. I have no tolerance for liars and those who continuously misrepresent and distort other people's positions, even after being corrected. Also, though who throw a hissy for calling them a _____ hater, then calling others a "Devers-hater." Cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy are not something I choose to interact with.

The thing is most teams would not trade for Gray or Chapman, because of what they are owed, so that is part of how they view a player's value. Teams that have no or little budget constraints see them as bargains.

While BTV has the value of Chapman $2M + Gray -$1.3M as about equal to Paez, Gamboa or Cheng, the money owed aspect is what brings their value down. Teams in contention don't worry so much about what is left one their contracts. Their playing values are listed as: $20.5M Chapman (owed $18.5M) $13.7M Gray (owed $15M) Their on the field value is worth over $34M Others: $48M KC (owed $56M) $21.5M Bello (owed $47M) $5M Story (owed $41M) $3.3M Yoshida (owed $26M) $3.1M IKF (owed $2.7M) $2.2M Sandoval (owed $6M) $0.4M Watson (owed $0M) (Coulombe is not listed on BTV.)

I thought it was about Tolle or Early than Mayer for Marte, Maybe Mayer's stock has fallen as viewed by Brez.

Yup, just barely turned 29. He's also a RHB with 20 HR power- maybe more in Fenway. Who says no? Mayer & Story or Yoshida for Riley How about: Mayer, Yoshida & Story for Riley & Murphy

KMarte is owed just $12M for 2027, so maybe AZ will want to wait a half year or a full year to trade him, Afterwards, he's owed $20M, $22M and $22M with a player option for 2031 at $11.5M. That's $76M/4 or an AAV of $19M, if he's traded this winter. That is likely more than what BLowe gets or about the same.

We'd have to insist on them taking Yoshida and or Story as just a partial money balancing aspect to this trade, but I'd consider it. I'm not sure taking on a declining high-priced player ia good gamble, though, but a change of scenery may help.

I think Romy can add a big enough spark to make a difference. The return of Anthony- no date in sight- could be a major factor. A couple trades for BLowe & Jeffers types could tip the balance just enough.

The Yanks are losing 6-0 to MIN (a team we need to pass,) but it's nice to see they are about to go 1-5 after our 4 game sweep of them a couple weeks ago. The Yanks will be 1-9 in their last 10 games, if they lose today. Even the best teams of this weak league are beatable. Are the Rays really this good?

A healthy Story could have hit better than his replacements have done, especially if he hit like 2025, but his SS defense was a minus, and there was no sign of moving him to 2B in 2026. I don't view his loss as a sure negative to the team. Anthony & Romy, yes. IKF was hitting well, when he got hurt, too. I don't think our everyday player injuries has been overly excessive or even above the norm. Losing Anthony seemingly hurt, but we don't really know how well he'd be doing. Our injuries to the rotation were extreme, even within the context of all the league wide injuries to SP'ers. We lost 5 of out top 9-10 SP'ers, including our ace. Crochet was a clear #1 going into 2026. Houck was our ace 2 years ago Crawford was widely viewed as having a real chance to be a solid #2/3 Sandoval was a solid 2.5 to 3.5 type a few years back. Oviedo was projected by some to be our #5 to start 2026. (Bello was demoted.) It's hard to say we were severely hurt by these injuries, in light of the results given by Tolle, Bennett & Early, but one could argue we could have bolstered our pen with some of these guys (Crawford/Bello/Sandoval/Bennett/Early/Tolle)

I'm thinking we should be able to expect a .750ish batter for the rest of Durbin's control years. Couple that with near GG defense at 3B, I'm happy. .750 might beat out Bregman's next 4-5 years, too. That's an added plus, when you factor the money differential. For now, I count Rafaela (CF) Contreras (1B) Abreu (RF) Anthony (LF/DH) and Durbin (3B/2B) as the only sure keepers for the opening day 2027 line-up. Romy can shore up a FT role by showing he can hit righties the rest of 2026, and if he doesn't he's a sure platoon bat in 2027 (1B/2B/DH.) That gives us 5. 5.5 or 6 core everyday players. We'll need 3 serious additions this winter: SS, C and 2B/3B or DH/OF.

Good points, but have we really had more injuries than most other teams, especially on offense? Anthony & Romy hurt. Story's replacements have hit better than he did.

Agreed, and RF defense is huge in Boston. (Glove & arm) I expected a career year in 2026, and it's not too late to see it. He's only .017 from his career high OPS. His OPS+ 118 in '24 118 in '25 118 in '26

Basically, the only thing a GM can do is make good moves to try and improve the team. Nobody disagrees on Gray, Suarez & Contreras being good to great moves. None were overly costly in money or players traded. (We got Gray & Contreras for less than what we gave up for Crochet, and we even got the other team to pay us money, for once.) IKF, Durbin & Coulombe have worked out pretty good, too. Those were the second tier moves. This doesn't ignore the mistake "non move" on adding a big bat, but it should have more than made up for it.

In any other year, it would be 99% sell, but when the last WC slot is at .500, that changes everything.