moonslav59

One has to think better than lowered comp picks.

Hard to know. To me, it looked like the organization was starting to slowly more towards more stability with the Devers extension and the Yoshida/Story signings all coming within a 10 month period. Add to that more 2 year deals and 2nd year team options and the Whitlock extensión, and it seemed like the tide was turning. I have always felt a strong Sox pattern has been to wait to add an ace, especially if expensive, until they felt like they were one or two big players away from ring contention, and it hasn't felt like we have reached that point since 2018 (when we added Nate.) I'm not sure next winter will be "that time," either. I had hopes this past winter might be "splurge time." Losing Nate, Wacha and Hill and adding just Kluber was a huge gamble on Sale, Whitlock, Bello and Paxton. Certainly, this is not a ring contending rotation, and it is looking like the team is more than just one ace away from top contention. The season is young. I still have hopes in Whitlock & Bello, and maybe Sale can find some lost magic. It could also be a really bad season, but I'm going to try and stay optimistic as long as I can. (I don't expect others to.)

soxprospects.com has released their Spring '23 rankings: https://www.soxprospects.com/history.htm Notable changes: Drohan from 26 to 13. I'm not sure what he did to gain so much love. E R-C from 19 to 16. Yorke to 5 from 6, and Mata from 5 to 6. Perales from 10 to 8 (Walter down 1 and Anthony down 2) Paulino 11 to 10 and Lugo 14 to 12 Wikelman down 2 to 14th and EValdez up 2 to 15. Murphy with one of the biggest top 20 drops from 13 to 17, while Bonaci dropped from 16 to 22 Jordan drops from 15 to 18 With Seabold 22, Ward 23, Downs 24 and German 25 all now gone, big rises after their slots are more from attrition, but Alcantara jumped from below 30 to 21st. Guerrero is now 25th, Meidroth 29th and McDonough 30th.

They tried to restock the farm, quickly, but almost every trade for prospects has yielded nothing or next to nothing. Some returns are still pending, but nothing jumps out at you as something special. (Hamilton, EValdez, Abreu, Wink...) The real swing and miss was not making more deals, last deadline. We've beaten that horse to death, but in hindsight, we missed a golden opportunity to get real value for the future. Doing well in 2021 lowered our draft picks and bonus pool money, but it does seem like the farm should be looking better, by now. It's also a bit telling to see how many of our current top prospects are not Bloom additions: (Bello just graduated and was a DD guy.) 2. Casas 4. Rafaela 5. Mata 8. Perales 9. Walter 10. Paulino 13. Lugo 14. Wikelman I realize many teams' top prospects were acquired 4 or more years ago, so maybe this is not such a big deal.

I was thinking it was a 5 year plan, but as with Ben, I don't think Henry's patience lasts that long. (And he got a ring!)

Hard to win with poor starting pitching AND defense up the middle. The pen can only go so far. It's hard to imagine the rotation not improving. The bar they have now set is about as low as can go. We need a major uptick, and maybe Whitlock, Bello and or Paxton can provide a spark.

Tiny sample sizes: SS: Kike -2 DRS (-7.0 UZR/150) I guess that Willie Mays catch didn't help enough. career: +7 (+9.1) 2B: Arroyo -1 DRS (+0.1 UZR/150) career +9 (+5.8) CF: Duvall -1 DRS (-37.5) career +3 (+2.8) C: McGuire -1 DRS/ career +5

We did it twice, last year and both were in a 3 game stretch.

It might depend on how our young players are looking, and if 2024 looks hopeful, but that's a fine line to draw. If our young players are doing well, we should not be worse. At least, in the past, when we sucked, we had so many 1 year deals, it was easier to move on. This time, we have more 2 year deals, options and even the Story, Yoshida, Whitlock and Devers long deals set in stone.

It's only 5 games, and I get the feeling, if we had just flipped one loss to a win and were 3-2, the mood would be much different. That being said, starting off with the O's and Pirates was a gift we squandered. I think our rotation will settle down, but we can't be digging a hole, right now.

We had 2, last year, and both were in a 3 game stretch.

I guess we decided to let Reynolds beat us, by himself.

Top pitchers selected in drafts since 2012 (top 20 picks listed only): 2012: 4 Gausman 5 Kyle Zimmer 7 Max Fried 8 Mark Appel 14 Nick Travieso 16 Lucas Giolito 19 Wacha 20 Chris Stratton 2021: 1 Appel 3 Jon Gray 4 Kohl Stewart 7 Trey Ball 10 Phil Bickford 15 Braden Shipley 18 Chris Anderson 19 Marco Gonzales 20 Jonathon Crawford 2014: 1 Brady Aiken 2 Tyler Kolek 7 Aaron Nola 8 Kyle Freeland 9 Jeff Hoffman 12 Kodi Medeiros 14 Tyler Beeded 15 Sean Newcomb 16 Touki Toussaint 17 Brandon Finnegan 18 Erick Fedde 19 Nick Howard 2015: 3 Dillon Tate 6 Tyler Jay 8 Carson Fulmer 14 Kolby Allard 16 J Kaprielian 17 B Aiken 18 Bickford 2016: 3 Ian Anderson 4 Riley Pint 6 AJ Puk 7 B Garrett 8 C Quantrill 9 M Manning 12 Jason Groome 17 F Whitley 19 J Dunn 2017: 2 H Greene 3 M Gore 4 B McKay 12 S Baz 13 T Rogers 15 Bukauskas 16 C Schmidt 18 A Faedo 20 D Peterson 2018: 1. Casey Mize 7 Ryan Weathers 8 Carter Stewart 11 Grayson Rodriguez 14 Logan Gilbert 15 C Winn 16 Liberatore 18 B Singer 2019: 7 N Lodolo 11 Manoah 17 J Rutledge 18 Q Priester 19 Z Thompson 20 G Kirby 2020: 3 Max Meyer 4 Asa Lacy 6 Emerson Hancock 19 Reid Detmers 11 G Crochet 15 M Abel 18 B Jarvis 2021: 2 Leiter 3 J Jobe 7 Mozzicato 9 Bachman 10 Rocker 13 Painter 14 Bednar 18 McGreevy 19 Hoglund

...and word is Whitlock will get one more start at AAA (Thursday) and then be ready to join the team, presumably for his next start.

meant wonderment.

I've asked this before. Wonerment.

There are many hits and misses among pitching draftees, even the highest of the high, but the point remains, our team has really sucked finding and developing young pitchers for over a decade. We may soon be closing in on being closer to 2 decades than 1.

We still have a ways to go, but I think the three young pitchers we have now: Whitlock, Houck and Bello look to be the best 3 we've had in a long time. Somebody can (and will) correct me, if I'm wrong, but is this the best 3 since... 2008: Buch, Masterson & Bard 2006: Lester, Buch and Papelbon 2005: Lester, Anibal Sanchez and Papelbon I realize Whitlock is not "homegrown," but he did have his rookie season with us.

A 102 OPS+ from 2020-2022 is not bad for a 2Bman. Arroyo's is a career +9 DRS 2Bman in 923 innings with a +5.7 UZR/150. Injuries have been Arroyo's downfall. He seems "good enough:" just not healthy enough.

Or, he'd have moved him to another position.

Cora does seem to like to play everyone on the 26, doesn't he? 1. Dugo 2. Devers 3. Turner 4. Yoshida 5. Duvall 6. Casas 7. Kike 8. McGuire 9. Chang

Many did feel he should be at 2B, and we should have signed or traded for a SS. (Andrus was mentioned, a lot, but he's playing 2B, this year.) I'm not sure many were saying he will play 2B, but maybe some felt he would.

Let's hope some players turn things around, mostly our starting pitchers. In defense of Kike, he does also have a .375 OBP, thanks to 2 BBs in 4 games, so he is doing a little more than homering. His D has looked pretty good at SS, too, although he somehow already has a -3 DRS. Casas walked a lot, last fall and in the minors. He's walked a couple times, this year, and IMO, he needs to walk a lot and hit 25+ bombs to be a help, this season. It's interesting to see our early RBI Leaders: 9 Duvall 5 Casas 4 Dugo 3 Kike 2 Arroyo Runs 7 Duvall 5 Turner, Devers, Yoshida 4 Dugo 3 Kike OBP .650 Duvall .450 Devers, Turner, Dugo .400 Yoshida .375 Kike

That would have gotten closer to a playoff slot, for sure.

If Arroyo is healthy and doing well, moving Kike to CF makes sense, but that would bench someone from Turner (Yoshida to DH), Casas (Turner to 1B), Duvall, Dugo or Yoshida. This does not seem like a good idea, so maybe Kike moves to 2B, or we just keep Kike at SS and play Story at 2B, and Arroyo becomes the utility guy. I doubt Mondesi has a say in anything.