moonslav59

Well said. One can say Manny's relationship with reality was suspect, and sometimes I wondered if the disconnect can be helpful, as the mind may not be cluttered with thoughts and worries that interfere with focus on hitting that pesky round ball with a rounded object.

I still think if some team ups their offer for KMarte, AZ will trade him, if they like the deal. It would not be the first time a GM said "we aren't trading ____," then they do. We do need to look elsewhere, though. To me it's... Plan A: Bregman Plan B is an extreme longshot: Bichette Plan C: Suarez or a trade (Paredes, Donovan, Vientos, ____?) Plan D: Mayer/Romy/Eaton 3B and Romy/DHam/Sogard (Rafaela/Campbell?) 2B

The Sox have been giving our more two year deals, recently. I guess it depends on how desperate they feel and what the trade options are. Gio got two. Sandoval got two. Chapman got 1 with an option as an extension. Hendriks got two. Bregman got 3 with opt outs. It's not all one and dones anymore. His age is a major concern.

That's how I see it. Plus, the MLB season is so long, that it's fitting the offseason is dragged out, too. Imagine having a horrible winter hot stove period, then having to wait 3-4 months in agony with no hope for any improvements. I guess the trading period would still be available, but still...

I ran the numbers: he's 30th in ISO. 37th in SLG 23rd in OBP 29th in OPS T33rd in wRC+ with Schwarber, KMarte and Lindor. One behind Alonso and two behind Witt & Machado.

Just playing around on BTV and came up with this highly unlikely 3 team trade: To BOS: Gleyber Torres & Robbie Ray To SFG: Campbell, Yoshida & Jaden Hamm To DET: Harrison & DHam It calls it a minor overpay by the Sox & SFG, when it looks to me like DET is shorted.

I think the statement might be true based on the fact that there are very few promising MLB ready everyday prospects in our system. I'm okay with that, actually, because our 26 man roster has enough quality players under team control for several years, that we don't need major farm infusion in that rea for a few more years. Of course, it would be nice if we had two Mayers, not one: one for 2B and one for 3B, but I'd still be worried about needing two rookies to carry those two slots for a full season. We could use a decent back-up catcher, but I'm fine with Wong, who has 3 more seasons of control. By then, maybe one of our farm catchers will be shining brightly. Narvaez has 5 years of control! 1B might need some help in 3 years, as Contreras runs out of control after 2027, but Casas has 3 years, so that gives the farm some time to fill that slot. The infield is the one area we look to be needy in, and so the Romero suggestion carries some weight for that reason. All he needs to do is outshine Eaton, Sogard and or DHam to win a role on the 26. Story has 2 years and an option. Mayer has 5. Campbell may work his way back into the infield conversation, but that remains to be seen. He has mega years left. The OF seems set for life, well... almost. Anthony & Campbell are locked up until 2034. (That might be beyond my life expectancy!) Rafaela has until 2031! Abreu had 4 years left (3 arbs.) Duran has 3 years left. That's 5 OF'ers for 3 years, 4 for 4 and 3 for eternity. Justin Gonzales may need to play 1B to get a shot. soxprospects.com has the AAA everyday roster listed as such: C: Delay, Rosario & Lira (with Contreras still able to catch in an emergency, we may not see a AAA catcher on the big club all year.) 1B: Hickey who can also DH or catch in a pinch. I like Romero's chances better. 2B: T Gray can also play 1B. He might have a better shot than Romero. 3B: Romero. SS: Sogard. He has the inside edge on Romero and maybe even Eaton. LF: Campbell may end up on the opening day 26. CF: Ward. I don't know enough about him to put him over Romero, and OF is blocked. RF: Eaton can also play 3B. He is likely slotted above Romero on the 3B depth chart. DH/OF: Capra This whole group looks pretty weak, except for Campbell. Not much serious upside with anyone else.

We've had so many early hopes on pitching prospects that were quickly dashed. Witherspoon has a lot of promise, for sure, and yes, we've been doing a much better job with pitcher development over recent years, but getting high quality players by trade is also a good way to maximize prospect value. I'm never going to say a good pitcher is "blocked," but I do think we look pretty solid in the pitching area, especially starters: Control ends after... 2026: Sandoval 2027: Houck, Oviedo 2028: Crawford 2029: 2030: Bello, Harrison 2031 or later: Crochet, Tolle, Early Bennett, Sandlin, Uberstine, Drohan, Mullins, Witherspoon Valera, Holobetz, Phillips, Eyanson, Monegro, Delzine, Cason There is a risk that Witherspoon outshines almost all of these guys, but we have some serious holes to plus and an owner that has been stingy with his wallet over most recent seasons.

My guess would be Romy ends up being the FT 2Bman. His splits improved greatly, last season while DHam's bat looked horrific. Romy might play some back-up 1B, so maybe DHam still gets some time, but we should "rest" Contreras vs RHPs, and that does help DHam play vs only RHPs. Ragans can be an ace, when healthy. The 3 years is a major carrot. I may just be shell-shocked over acquiring injury-prone pitchers.

Getting him at the deadline also loses the comp pick, if he bolts to another team for 2027.

Pleasing some fans. It doesn't bother me, at all. I kinda like suspense.

If Bregman and Bichette sign soon, Suarez could sign shortly afterwards. I think he gets 2 years, maybe a 3rd year option. A one year deal might include a 2nd year option with a decent buyout number for Suarez. $22M/1 and option for '27 at $21M but with a $5M buyout making it a $43M/2 or $27M/1 deal.

His recent drop in WAR is almost 100% driven by his change from playing the highly valuable catcher position and then moving to play 1B, which is the lowest valued position next to DH. fWAR assigned these value to him since 2020: Defense: 4.5> 5.5> -1> -4> -2> -5 (plus first 2, then minus last 3) Offense: 3>5>18>15>16>13 (low first 2, then pretty good & consistent since) On their value page, the positional adjustment looks like this: 8>1>3>0>-10 His defense at 1B is fine. His bat has not shown steady decline: wRC+: 111 from '20 to '21> 130 from '22-'23> 131 from '24-'26 OPS .807 up to 2021 (112 OPS+) ,815 '22 at age 30 (126 OPS+) .826 '23 at 31 (123) .848 '24 at 32 (138) shows he was aging very well) .791 '25 at 33 (123) was a drop, but just one year and still not far from other recent years and way better than his pre age 30 years combined. The 123 OPS+ was his 4th best in his 10 year career. His PAs were second most of his career. I'm not too concerned.

Pleasant, yes. Surprise, not to me.

Thus spoke Zarapessimitra.

Couple that with his .348 career OBP, and it's a no brainer to pay Casas and hope he can regain most or all of what he has done in the past, He's even young enough to improve on it. He had a .357 OBP before 2025 in an 840 PA sample size (.830 OPS.)

Good thing we don't need a position player after we get a 3Bman. Contreras has 2 years: Duran has 3 years, and we already have 3 other OF'ers. By the time we need a position player, Arias and Gonzalez might be ready.

I doubt we ever DFA Yoshida, or have him on the 26 as a PH'er/back up DH/5th or 6th OF. That means trading him and paying all but $3-5M per year or trading Duran. While I think Duran is significantly better on offense than Yoshida, I think Yoshida can come close to Duran's projected 2026 OPS- less power & way less speed. fangraphs projects Duran at .761 and Yoshida at .766. While I don't agree with this, I do think Masa can do okay at DH. That coupled with the concept that Duran's value to another team as an OF'er is significantly more than to us as a DH pretty much decides the issue for us. Duran gets traded.

That is an advantage for Bregman over Marte, as DHam should never play 3B, and probably not Romy, either. (Same with SS, but hey some are fine with Rafaela playing middle infield.)

Yes. It could mean he leads the teams with 22 Hrs, or he could be healthy and hit 36 and double the second most HR player on the team. Maybe he barely beats Abreu 28 to 27.

Not sure what that has to do with wanting to pass on every player looking to make the most money they can. We'd never get anyone, even many 1 year guys.

No way I give a top 5 prospect for Donovan and certainly not top 3. Maybe Valero or Bennet plus 2 from Sandlin, Phillips and Mullins. Suarez will get 2 year- probably 3, but maybe we can overpay him and get him to accept 2 or 2 with an option and nice buyout.

So, we pass on 99% of all players, then.

I guess we could try just matching it and hope Breggie likes BOS more, or offer $181M/6. I would not go that high.

Because fans get frustrated waiting?