moonslav59

I'm guessing more than the Old Testament.

Well said. I'd like to add on to the "masturbating in public." I'm not sure about the details and am not trying to defend what he did in any way, but I'm not sure he intentionally did it for others to see. I could be wrong, and certainly he has some issue to be doing that where he might be seen, but intent would make what he did worse, if on purpose.

Sounds like you really enjoy saying this. You can ignore context, as you usually do. You can choose misery and pessimism all you want. Nobody is polishing a turd, but some are seemingly enjoying squishing their fingers in it all winter long. There: I said it. I must be overanalyzing, again.

Any body wallowing in the misery of 2022, as if it was the worst season, ever, and seem to be almost hoping we repeat 2023 is doing more to the turd than I want to say.

Sale was our second best SP'er in 2019 and his 2.1 bWAR would have placed him 3rd among our starters in 2022. He might not have been great in 2019, but if he gives us those numbers in 2023, he's an upgrade over most of our SP'ers in 2022, whether you want to talk about Wacha, nate or whoever, or not.

Indeed, but when people talk about improving on 2022, we should focus on the 2022 Nate, Bogey and others, and not the glory days of 2018 and to a lesser extent 2021. The additions of Yoshia, Turner and more playing time from Story and Kike should make up for the losses of the 2022 Bogey and JD, but probably not the 2018 Bogey and JD. Wacha, Hill and Nate started 69 games, between them, so it's more like needing to replace 2 SP'ers from 2022 not 3. Kluber should replace one at maybe an even clip. 15-20 starts more from Whitlock and Bello should replace the rest of those starts. Pivetta stays the same, and Sale, Paxton, Mata, Walter, Crawford, Wink, Seabold and maybe Murphy need to replace this: GS'd in 2022 14 Wink 5.89 12 Craw 5.47 5 Seabold 11.29 3 Davis 5.47 Sale & Paxton may or may not reach 33 starts, but we now have Mata, walter and Murphy to add to the same mix as last year. That seems good, but who knows?

He's not a back end rotation guy, but no way Casas for him. Since 2020, Lopez has an 87 ERA- (Nate is 86). His FIP is 3.48 and his xFIP- is 85. (Buehler, Gallen, Gray & Stroman are at 86, Morton is at 84 and Alcantara 83.)

If Wacha, Nate, and JD were so great, why did we finish in last place? Only Wacha really pulled his weight, and it may have been with smoke and mirrors.

It's a showdown between the Old and New Testaments.

Sale's 147 IP in 2019 was more than Nate's in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022 plus more than Nate's 2019 + 2020 combined. Sale's 147 IP in 2019 is more than any season by Wacha since his 165 in 2017. Maybe, you meant to say 2019.

Same was true of Nate and Wacha, before and during 2022.

If Brasier and Taylor make the opening day roster, we may see our minor league rosters include these players and prospects: AAA: Mata, Walter, Wink, Murphy, Seabold, Santos, Crawford, Kelly, German, Ort Dalbec, RHern (hot winter), Hamilton, Koss, Rafaela, EValdez AA: Drohan, Van Belle, Ryan Fernandez, Broadway, Webb Kavadas, Scott, Yorke, Lugo, Abreu, Fergi=uson, McDonough, Binelas A+: Wikelman, Uberstine, Bastardo, Dobbins, Encarnacion, Guerrero, Olds Hickey, Jordan, Bonaci, Paulino, Mayer, Sikes, Meidroth A-: Perales, Paez, E R-C McElveney, Salazar, Romero, Anthony, Bleis

In no way was I even hinting that was what they were trying to do. My point was that in the eyes of the person who was raped, watching their rapist go free is an horrific experience and probably upsets them more than seeing an innocent man go to jail in some other case. And, in cases of rape, it's rarely a case of an innocent guy going to jail instead of the true rapist, although that does happen. It's usually the rapist being found innocent due to lack of evidence, often coming down to just two people's words against each other. The person who was raped knows the truth.

If Turner is a "nobody," then so is JD: 2022 .788 Turner (.858 after May 16th) .790 JD M (.698 after May 29th and .759 after May 16th) 2021-2022: .811 Turner (40 HRs 168 RBI) .820 JD M (44 Hrs 161 RBI) 2020-2022: .818 Turner (.282 44 191) .805 JD M (.269 51 188) 2019-2022 .836 Turner (.284 71 258) .846 JD M (.280 87 293) You have to go back to 2018 to make the sample size sway heavily to JD's side.

You lost Wacha and Eovaldi from your rotation and added back Kluber, who isn’t very good. Are we losing the 2018 or 2021 Nate of the "other Nate?" We are also "adding" up to 20 starts from Whitlock and another 20 from Bello. You lost a generational talent at a premier position and replaced him with a DH. It's not going to be hard to replace Bogey's D, and Yoshida does not have to hit as well as Bogey to help this year's O be better than 2022's. You lost your DH, who was still good and replaced him with nobody. Our DH position hit .765 in 2022. Turner can do that in his sleep and is hardly a "nobody." And your team won 78 games last year in a buzzsaw division. And now we don't have to play them as much. Baseball is a funny sport in that the best team wins 60% of the time and some years mediocre teams make runs and go to the POs. But the Sox are built to be doormats again without some heavy additions. We made heavy additions in the pen and have something we haven't seen in a while: YOUTH!

I would not trade Casas for Lopez and M Rojas.

Verdugo, Duran and Murphy for Cabrera?

I never said that. Everyone is due a fair process. I said the person who was raped or abused and then watched the guy get off free is not happy about it. It happens, often. The next person who gets abused is not happy either.

To the person harmed, it matters more. BTW, they might be helped thinking the guilty person is in jail, even if it's the wrong person. Also, when Bauer does not go to jail, there is no innocent person going, instead. The harned party feels angry and hurt. That was my point.

No, there is not. I know many of the areas I projected gains are question marks and even big question marks. That doesn't change the fact that most positions do look better, on paper, even if it's speculative. The point was not meant to force anyone into thinking we will be any better. I was curious, where anyone specifically disagreed with my projections- position b y position, but nobody is forced to answer that. We can choose to be optimistic about projected improvements or focus on the speculative nature of wondering about 2023. Just how good will Yoshida be? Is Turner over the hill, or was his nice finish to 2022 a sign he's still got it? Just how many innings will Kluber, Sale and Paxton throw? All huge questions. How well will Bello's sophomore season go? Can Whitlock excel as a starter over a full season? Can Story and Kike bounce back? Who plays 2B and SS? Can McGuire and Wong do well enough to not make our catc hing position a loss? Can the improved pen that many felt was the key to our losing so much in 2022 help turn so many losses into wins in 2023? Yes, soooooo many questions. (We are not alone in having many Qs.)

Not to tho those the guilty hurt or any future ones they may harm.

Another MLBTR article about how the Marlins are looking to trade a SP'er from Lopez, Luzardo, Rogers, Garrett or Cabrera. I would not trade Rafaela for Cabrera, but I might package him with a second tier prospect for Rogers, Luzardo or Garrett.

The same way it mattered that pitchers preferred to pitch to Maldy over Vaz, they MIGHT prefer McGuire over the 2023 Vaz. They MIGHT end up doing better. It's a worthy point to bring up in the context of comparing 2022 to what MIGHT be expected in 2023. Okay, I overstated the "back-up" tag on Vaz. He was never the back-up here, except for Sale and Porcello. Saying he was did not help the point I was trying to make. He will not be a back up on the Twins. We MIGHT end up doing better with McGuire and Wong than Vaz and Plawecki. Vaz was a good hitting catcher, while Plawecki sucked on O but seemed to do well with the staff. Maybe McGuire and Wong can do well with the staff and hit b etter than they have, so far in their rather short careers.

I made a simple point and admitted I pushed the envelope by pointing out he ended the season as a back-up. Who made this into a big deal?

Very true. Let's see how he does with their staff. BTW, I would not have mined us signing him back, but just not at that money. If we did have him on our 2023 roster, I would not be so sure I'd want him starting more games than McGuire, but only because I'm not sure how well McGuire handles a staff. He started out poorly, last summer.