moonslav59

Agree. The last 3 have been within our top 5 or 6 pitchers, this year, Demoting them would be a mistake, IMO.

Had we kept Betts, how would we have dumped Price? Package him with Beni, Bogey or Devers? Pay 75-80% of his salary? Had our budget been set at the same as it was, we basically sign nobody for 2020 and 2021, and that's if we were able to dump three-quarter Price.

Trading Pivetta would be a mistake, IMO. We have so many fragile and or sketchy starters, that having 6 may not be nearly enough. Paxton is such a total guess, that it will take quite a few starts from him to get any feel for expectation. I'm 100% against demoting Bello. I see him as our #2 SP'er, right now. I doubt it comes to DFA'ing Brasier and Belier, since someone else will likely get hurt, but if it comes to that, I see it as the best option. With our AAA pitching depth is disarray, I fear the Sox top brass wants to keep as many options on the table as possible, despite many of our belief that the waiver wire can provide pitchers equal to or better than Brasier and Bleier (and Ort.) Bernardino kinda showed that.

Yes. Most teams would or could not trade for just his salary, and the fact that giving up a lot of talent for 1 year also does not fit many team's plans or strategies. Throw in half-Price and you exclude 25-27 teams and reduce the expected return.

I'll take a stab at this... Bernardino has options: he will go when Whitlock, Crawford or Joely is called up. The second one should be Brasier or Bleier- both out of options- so DFA or trade. I can't see them demoting Bello over the idea that keeping Brasier and or Bleier on the 40 matters more. Maybe, they trade Pivetta.

Nice graphic. Every day these guys play, one will lose. No more nights where we win, but so does 3 or 4 other ALE teams. The key is "winning." We need W's to gain or put some distance on these guys.

I try not to come across as a contrarian, but I try not to get too excited about great things going on or real down, when things are looking bad. On Duran, he made a major adjustment, so major that he's like a different player, and as such, other teams will look at the tapes, and try to find any possible new weakness. What got him out before doesn't work anymore. My point is, they will adjust. Duran may have to adjust to their adjustment to continue hitting well. Maybe, they find no big weakness. Maybe they do, and he adjusts. I'm cautiously optimistic either of those two things will happen. I brought up the Dalbec thing, because it looked like pitchers adjusted to his hot start in 2020, and he re-adjusted in 2021 to go on and hit well at the end of 2021. then, a re-readjustment might have happened, and he never found a way around that. It happens. (Who knows? Maybe Dalbec regains it.) I would not bet against Duran going on to having a good season or even career. I'll say it again, I'm more shocked by the apparent vast improvement on D. I didn't think D could be improved, so quickly. I thought it was more an instinct and god-given talent thingy. To improve in both areas, so rapidly and enormously is a wonder of the world.

He still has things to work on and work out, but it was good to see him put the fire out on a good hitting team like the Braves. The natives were getting restless in Sox Nation.

I will agree, not many fans come to the park thinking, "Where is this Verdugo guy everyone is talking about." We wasn't a big name, then, and he did very little to make a name for himself, in his first few year, here. Not bad, but not great, and not much different from what he gave LA at a very young age. He's making a name for himself, now. I have no issues with the term "noname offense." It fits in many ways. Sure, we have Devers and a few scatterings of players who have had some moments in the sun, but so many players have come out of nowhere to contribute in meaningful ways. Dugo is kind of a tweener, IMO.

Mata, Walter and Murphy are sure doing their best to fall off any ranking lists. Walter got shelled, tonight and was at 5.16, beforehand. Mata 5.61 Murphy 7.88 (Wikelman is at 9.00) What happened?

Cause he has "nasty stuff!" LOL.

Okay, but I thought we were just talking about "stuff." If we are talking durability, why mention Sale? Also, how durable is Bello? He's never been tested beyond 118 IP in a minor league season and 95 in 2021 before combining 3 levels into 153 IP, last season

soxprospects.com as updated their profiles: 5. Drohan: Potential back-end starter. Ceiling of a mid-rotation starter. Even that projection might be light as there is a chance he takes another step forward with his stuff in the future. Already took a massive step forward during the 2022-23 offseason adding a cutter and increasing his velocity by a full grade. Now profiles as an athletic left-hander who will show four average-or-better pitches and a solid command and control profile. Strong pitchability and pitch utility. Can show hitters four unique pitches in distinct velocity bands that move in different directions. Changeup is a major league-quality out pitch and gives him a weapon against right-handed hitters. Cutter and curveball both are effective also and will flash bat-missing ability. Fastball is very effective at generating weak contact. 6. Mata Projects as a back end starter or multi-inning relief arm with premium stuff to handle a late inning role if necessary. Ceiling of a mid-rotation starter. Still has a wide range of outcomes as he makes his return from Tommy John surgery. Raw stuff is back, but feel for secondaries and command come and go within outings. Might be able to start, but could be more effective in shorter bursts out of the bullpen. Delivery still has effort and we need to see how his stuff holds up over longer, 5-to-6-inning stints and when pitching on a consistent starter's schedule. Will show the potential for a true four-pitch mix with two potential plus offerings. Has shown the ability to miss bats with all four pitches at various points in his career. Harnessing command of his arsenal will be key for his development. Injury risk had become a concern even pre-Tommy John surgery, as he last made it through a full season healthy in 2017. Tommy John Surgery in April 2021 clouds future starter profile. 8. Perales Potential major league starter. Ceiling of a number two starter. Wide variance arm with a high-ceiling and low-floor. Has shown among the best raw stuff of any arm in the system and was identified by scouts as the top pitching prospect in the Florida Complex League in 2022. Will flash two plus pitches and three at least above-average pitches. All have shown bat-missing ability. Next step in his development is finding consistency with his delivery and showing he can handle a full season's workload. (Not recently updated.) 10. Walter Potential back-end starter. Ceiling of a mid-rotation starter. Will show a starter's arsenal with three average-or-better pitches and the ability to turn over a lineup, but does not have a typical starter's delivery. Control is already above-average-to-plus and command should get to at least average. You can debate whether he fits better as a starter or reliever depending on the day you see him. Has some traits that would push him to each potential outcome, but has the makings of a major league-caliber arm either way. If pushed to the bullpen, combination of stuff and handedness gives him a decent floor. 14. Wikelman Potential swingman capable of starting or providing length out of the bullpen. Ceiling of a mid-rotation starter. Wide-range of outcomes due to lack of consistency and where he is in the development process. Potential for three above-average-to-better pitches, but a long way to go to get there and must significantly improve command and control to reach his ceiling. Still learning how to pitch, but is not as raw as some comparable arms age-wise in the system. Has simplified his delivery, which had a lot of moving parts, which should make it easier for him to keep his arm in sync with the rest of his body. If command does not improve, that, along with his size and delivery, could push him to a short relief bullpen role. 16. Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz Ingredients for a potential back-end starter, but there is a wide gap between what he is and what he could be. Already shows a four-pitch mix, with his fastball and curveball showing the most potential. Needs to improve his changeup and slider and physically mature to take the next step in his development.

Dugo was 22, when we got him, and he did have about 162 games under his belt with promising .784 OPS. It was rather disappointing to see him not improve on that from age 22-25. He was .779 with the Sox before this year. To be fair, his OPS+ improved from 106 w LA to 111 w BOS. The main idea pillars of the trade, IMO was mainly threefold: 1. Salary dump of Price as well as the one year cost of Betts. 2. 5-6 years of Dugo who looked like he could be a damn good player, although not close to the level of Betts, but it was 5-6 years to 1. 3. The possibility that one or both prospects might contribute, someday. (Downs and Wong) Has the 6.6 bWAR from Verdugo over 4 years been enough to offset 1 year of Betts? I think the answers will surely involve subjectivity and bias. To me, losing Betts sucked, bigtime. Losing half or Price was a good thing, although we mostly failed to capitalize, except for 2021. Gaining Dugu and Wong look to have been helpful, but the results are not final. One thing is for sure, the trade look better, now, than it did 2 months ago- same with the Beni trade. If Hamilton amounts to anything, maybe we revisit that trade, too.

If history has anything to do with what we do going forward, we will never go way over the tax line, even for one year, we will never stay over for 3 years and pay the max tax plus give up draft slots and we will reset in 1-2 years after going over. I do see us going over some, next year. I don't see us trading Story, unless we treat him like Price and include a top player with him (NOT!) We do not have huge long term deals holding us down, and maybe the Devers deal never holds us down. We have a lot of 1-2 year deals that offer management a lot of flexibility to pounce on one big guy, if they feel he's the guy they want. We apparently "overpaid" for Yoshida, because we really wanted him. Maybe there just hasn't been a player they want enough to outbid everyone. Maybe there won't be next year, either. I think our budget looks much better than in 2019. I think our farm looks much better, but that has yet to be proven. I'm thrilled we kept Devers. I like the direction we are headed, despite the major bumps along the way. I think we can win a ring, again, and pretty soon, but we will need some young guys to turn into stars, and then supplement with FAs or a big trade... or both.

Main piece does not mean great. He was expected to be the major return from the deal. He was much more of a known commodity than Downs and Wong. The term "non name" is pretty subjective. I had heard of him before the trade talks. Cordero was the "main piece" of the Beni trade. He was "non name," despite being called Franchy. (Wink is, now.)

Probably, but there does seem to be more parity, right now, than before. It's not always this bunched up in early/mid May.

What's not to love? I do think he can continue, but many players, including Dalbec, have looked like very good hitters for longer stretches than this.

AL Only 3 teams are farther than 4 GB the last WC slot. NL No team is 7 GB the last slot. 14 teams are 3.5 or less behind it. 26 of 30 MLB teams are within 4 games. Looks and smells like parity.

Right now, the hoarders aren't winning. It's early, of course, but it looks like only KC & OAK look really awful. STL & CWS have bad records, but I get the feeling they are better than 13-25. CIN, COL, WSH and DET may drop from their not do horrible current records.

The Rangers are not a traditional "hoarder." The Padres are relatively new at it. The Phillies & Mets have been and have not been, over the years. Padres: 24th in 2019 Phillies 24th in 2018 Texas 22nd in 2021 Mets 19th in 2016 and 12th not too long ago.

I'm not sold, at all. I love what I'm seeing, and you can't fake improved defense, but he has a ways to go to convince me this is for real. Also, pitchers adjust, and players need to adjust to those adjustments. Can he do that? We'll see.

There were rumors of other players, but I can't remember who they were. Were we in on Senga?

How about Chase Meidroth? He came through with a walk-off single as part of a three-hit game in his Sea Dogs debut.

I don't think we were very seriously in on signing Nate- maybe Bogey, too.