moonslav59

That's what I assume, and I'm sure some do it more or are better at it. Some may just be better at not getting caught. I assume everyone steals signs from 2nd base.

It's obvious why he cherry-picked that stat, despite the 2 outs having no bearing on the point being discussed.

The 40 man roster point is a great one, and may be the deciding factor in the choice to replace Story on the 40. EValdez is also on the 40, as is Hamilton, but I doubt Hamilton impresses enough in ST'ing that he is ML ready. With Mondesi's health in doubt, I still think they'd prefer more than an emergency SS player like Dalbec on the 26. If they don't like EValdez or hamilton, they may add Goodrum. They may also look ahead and add Alfaro. It's not like Wong is a sure thing.

Exactly, and as far as we know, that's all the Sox and 28 other teams did.

The good thing about Raffy is he can hit "bad pitches," too. Turner's gae is concerning, but he was red hot to end the 2022 season, so I think he'll be fine. I'm more worried about Duvall's defense in CF, as well as croner OF D,) but his hitting may not ever reach a good enough level, again. I think Casas may off some middle order "protection." If Yoshida can get on base over 38 or 39% of the time, they can't pitch around the next batter, too much. We could also see some sort of break-out season from Dugo, Arroyo, Kike and even McGuire. I've always been one to admire quality over quantity, but I just see so many what ifs that have serious upside, that I think we just need a few to go right- not all of them. Hell, we may be better if just half of these things go right: Sale starts 20+ games. Paxton starts 20+. Whitlock starts 25+ Bello starts 25+ Kluber starts 25+ Pivetta starts 30+ One out of Mata, Crawford, Walter and Wink do well. Jansen does well Houck does well Martin or Schreiber do well One out of Joely, Brasier, Bleier or Mills/Kelly do well McGuire and Wong equal Vaz and Plawecki Casas improves on our horrific 2020 numbers at 1B on O & D Arroyo + Mondesi play 160+ games and don't miss time together. Kike gets 500+ PAs and hits over .720. Devers improves on 2022. Yoshida gets on base over .385. Duvall does not embarrass us. Dugo does okay on D and improves a little on O. Turner goes over JD's .790 OPS from '22 That's 20 ifs. Is it wishful thinking 10-12 might be answered in the positive? Is 10-12 enough to improve? Can we get 13-15 positive answers? Could someone off the charts, like Rafaela, Mata, EValdez or Kelly explode on the scene? Could Mayer show up late in 2023? We tend to focus on all that can go wrong, but I see a lot that can go right, too. A whole lot!

Walter has never gone over 90 IP, so maybe he'll end up a nice pen piece. When he does pitch, he has some eye-opening stats: 3.09 minor league ERA (2.88 in AA, including 68 K and 3 BB in 50 IP) Minor league career: 246 K 35 BB 180 IP The 7:1 K:BB is awesome (12.3 K/9) Maybe I wrote him off, too early.

I like hearing him talk. He's getting me pumped up. What's the chances 5 of the 6 SP'ers will still be on the mound at season's end? Maybe 40%. We may just need 4, and I put those odds at 66%. What are the over-unders on GS totals? I'll take a stab: 29 Pivetta 26 Whitlock 25 Bello 24 Kluber 16 Sale 12 Paxton

Our highest ranked pitching prospects since 2003 on soxprospects.com: https://www.soxprospects.com/history.htm 1 Jay Groome (17) Casey Kelly (10) Traded for AGon Clay Buchholz (07) Jonathan Papelbon (05) Jon Lester (04) Jorge de la Rosa (03) Traded for Schilling 2 Brian Mata (18) D Hern (18) Henry Owens (14) Anthony Ranaudo (12) traded for R Ross Michael Bowden (07) Craig Hansen (06) traded w Manny for J Bay 3 Brayan Bello (22) Tanner Houck (18) Anderson Espinoza (16) Traded for Pomeranz Allen Webster (13) Traded w R DLR for Miley Felix Doubront (11) Daniel Bard (09) Abe Alavarez (04) 4 Whitlock (21) Noah Song (20) Drake Britton (11) 5 Brandon Walter (22) Michael Kopech (16) Traded w others for Sale Brian Johnson (15) Manny Delcarmen (06) Phil Dumatrait (03) Note: I may have missed 1 or 2.

Or, do better with deadline trades- like Bloom does.

Pitcher Ages 23 Bello, Mata 25 Wink, Murphy 26 Whitlock, Houck, Crawford, Walter 27 Kelly 28 Schreiber, Mills 29 Just turned 30: Pivetta Prospects 19 Perales, E R-C 20 Wikelman 22 Guerrero 24 Fernandez, Drohan

I've always felt this way, too. My point was about choosing Sale and Bogey over Betts, back when DD was still allowed to spend. What came afterwards was a whole new ball game. I do not think DD was aware a huge budget cut was coming after 2019, until the 2019 deadline. (Pure speculation by me on the timeline. He probably saw the writing on the wall before that, when Betts was not extended.)

Of course we "don't know," but we can speculate, and that is largely what this site is for. When there are massive differences in strength of schedule, it's worthy of mentioning. Maybe I say it too often for your liking, but to me it's a major point, so I repeat it like many here do with their points. I'm not sure why you don't tell Deja Doh that "We don't know...," so my guess is you agree more with his take than mine- which is fine. I've tried to point out that my takes on what slots got better or worse are "only on paper," and yes, we could get worse at several positions I called even or improved, especially if an injury occurs. I think it's easy to think, "we lost Bogey, JD and Nate plus some players that did well in '22 for us, like Wacha, Hill and Strahm, but I think, and this is just my opinion, guys like JD, Nate and Bogey are maybe thought of in their 2018 forms- not their 2022 form and even some other off or less than expected seasons. Nate was great for 2 months at the end of 2018. he sucked in 2019 and did well in the short 2020 season and very well in 2021. @022 was good, but he missed more than a third of the season. Which Nate did we lose? JD has been a great signing by us- no doubt. He turns 36, this year and had a bad 2020 short season and saw his OPS+ drop from 173 in 2018 to 139in '19, 128 in '21 and 117 in '23 (.790.) Which JD did we lose? Bogey was a fantastic player for us. As you know, I have questioned his defense at a very important position, but he has always been a clear major plus player, every year. That being said, his OPS+ dropped from 2019, but stayed level at a very nice level: 135 ('18)> 139 ('19)> 128 ('20)> 129 ('21)> [131 ('22.) I'm not one to use RBIs to make points, but it was concerning to see his RBI totals drop, so much. 220 ('18-'19) to 152 ('21-'22.) Which Bogey did we lose? Also, Vaz has been a yo-yo at the plate over his time, here. One good hitting year- then bad, then good... I've questioned his handling of the staff many times, but it certainly remains to be seen, if McGuire and Wong can do better. Two of our biggest weaknesses were addressed: OF offense and the pen. Both could end up being better than average- maybe not. 1B was our worst position, in terms of O and D. It might be a big plus on both sides, but maybe not. The games will show, if Bloom's remake worked, or not. I like our chances- others don't. I can understand their position and they have a lot of facts and evidence on their side, too.

Agreed. There is no way Walter ever becomes an ace. He's 26, already. Some of the others are young enough to still show a stark improvement. For now, it's Mata & Bello. Whitlock was not really a product of our farm. Houck seems best suited for the pen. It is nice to have these 4 young pitchers at the ML level or ready for it in Mata's case. I'm not sure when the last time we had 4 like these ones.

I could have sworn he said something like this. Maybe it was Bloom.

I tend to agree, but I do wonder how hard DD pushed for signing Betts vs Sale & Bogey. You know that had to be the choice being discussed. Ultimately, the final call came down on Henry, but he may have been acting on the advice from DD and others. Had there not been an opt out in Bogey's deal and Sale not been hurt every year, maybe the choice they made would have been the better one. Maybe, maybe, maybe... I don't think it's a coincidence the money it would have taken to get Betts was very close to the same they ended up paying Sale + Bogey.

But, but, but... they kept Volpe, Dominguez and Peraza, and that's all that counts.

Also, most over 50, or even over 40 (and 30 in some systems) are never expected to sniff the bigs.

Shaughnessy is one reason I don't pay to read the Globe. Also, name one team that does not steal signs with a runner on 2B.

He can still pitch with a busted nose, anyway.

Okay, give the A's 66 wins and call it a day.

We won 78 games playing the toughest schedule in MLB, last year. We got worse at 2 positions (SS and 2B) and maybe the rotation, but that is debatable. We stayed about the same at 3B, C, DH and CF. We improved at 1B, LF, RF and the pen. Our team is deeper than we've seen since 2018. The pen looks as good as any Sox team, on paper, in a long time. We have 6-10 young players looking to make a mark. Sure, we have enough question marks to make anyone's head spin and think negatively, but we don't need them all to go right to improve on 2022. I'm surprised we've had our first Sox fan say "no chance," and it's still mid February.

Could this be the final records of 2023? 100-62 NYY 100-62 HOU 92-70 TOR WC1 90-72 CLE 86-76 SEA WC2 85-77 BOS WC3 84-78 TBR 81-81 MIN & BAL 78-84 CWS, TEX & LAA 62-100 DET & KCR 52-110 OAK

#51-55 on Soxprospects.com: http://news.soxprospects.com/2023/02/2023-countdown-to-spring-training-55-51.html

So, you were talking about practice, too?

Cora has said a lot of things that just do not happen. Just before the Barnes DFA, he said he was their 8th inning, high leverage guy.