moonslav59

10BBs in 185 PAs is pretty bad, and it's hard to know if he can sustain his .358 OBP by hitting over .300 in the bigs, but there is still hope.

Agreed. It wasn't all about having a back-up plan. They certainly we not counting on KC at all for 2026. I think they expected Mayer to win the FT role, but surely planned on what they felt were capable back-ups: Romy, IKF, Monasterio, Seigler, Sogard, Eaton & Cheng.

It may take a lot to knock the Yanks from the #1 seed in the weak AL, but I'd love to see the Sox help out all they can. Right now, the Rays have just one more loss than the Yanks. Only two other AL teams have winning records: the surprising CWS(41-38) and CLE (42-39). SEA leads the west at 41-41. HOU holds the last WC slot at 40-43 (.482 %), thanks largely to their 5-1 record vs BOS. TOR, TEX and Athletics are technically tied for the last WC slot at 39-42 (.481%.) An interesting perspective: Sox winning % in these non playoff seasons... 2024: .500 2023: .481 2022: .481 2019: .519 2015: .481 2011: .556 2010: .549 2006: .497 .574 in 2022 Selected Pre JH: .525 2000, 1996 & '82 .524 in '89 .531 in '84 .535 in '81 & .537 in '76 .548 in '85 .560 in '73 .576 in '79 and .587 in '77! One of the most painful was .548 in 1972, when the strike season causes us to miss by 1/2 game. Pre-1967 5 teams over .600 from 1942 to 1950, including .623 in 1949. .

DD did use Ben's overvalued farm very well.

Indeed, but it was a plan. 80% of us were screaming for a Duran trade and or Yoshida dump. We kept both. There was not 100% confidence in Anthony, Rafaela & Abreu staying healthy and doing very well.

LOL! BTW, Ben's team is 41-40, now. (-2.5 from WC)

We may have control of Chapman, next year. 2027 salary guaranteed if Chapman pitched 40 innings in 2026 and passes post-season physical exam 2027 option increases based on 2026 Reliever of Year vote: $1M increase to $14M for winning BBWAA Reliever of Year or MLB Rivera/Hoffman Reliever of Year $500,000 for second or third place in BBWAA Reliever of Year or finalist for MLB Rivera/Hoffman Reliever of Year $250,000 for fourth or fifth in BBWAA Reliever of Year $100,000 for sixth-10th in BBWAA Reliever of Year

We shouldn't just hand anyone away that has more than 1 year of control. I'd like to not "hand away" anyone, but we have to take the best offers on one year guys- all fo them.

They probably did not expect a superstar by 2026, but they probably figured a .350 OBP was good enough to bat first and help the team. I'm not sure anyone expected Mayer to be a superstar in the last couple years. His health concerns have been a major talking point for a long time. KC's meteoric rise to MiLB Player of the Year did get a lot of people thinking the chances he could be a star or superstar was high, but again, I'm not sure anybody felt he would become one instantly, at least with a high degree or certainty. I think Sox management and many fans felt 2-3 would be helpful in 2026 and maybe more than just helpful going forward. Nobody ever claimed all 3 would be studs- ever- let alone this early in their careers. The team hedged against Anthony by keeping 4 OF'ers and Yoshida/Romy as DHs. The team hedged against Mayer (and his health) by signing IKF at $6M and trading 1 infielder (DHam) for 3 infielders (Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler) The team did NOT count on KC for 2026, at all. No way they felt the BIG THREE was going to all be studs or even close in 2026. Yes, a year and a half ago hopes were high and very high for many fans and Sox management, but they did have back-up plans for all of them.

While 3 weeks is a SSS, if you take every player's best 3 weeks away, you'd see some stunning differentials.

It seems like some just can't enjoy a player who is improving. They assume the worst. He did take a long time to get on track, and that hurt the team badly, as he was being played daily. This is his second year, after having a decent rookie year. In today's game, having a .700 career OPS after 700+ PAs is not all that scary. His path in 2026 has not always been up, but mostly it has. Here are his 10 game marks BA/OPS: .121/.323 .162/.495 Up .176/.528 Up .165/.486 Down .174/.505 Up (but still below 20 games before) .220/.641 Big Up After 72 games, he's at .224/.660, thanks largely to last night's game.

Duran was pretty good, last year, and GMs don't always look at just this year's numbers, but here is one way to look at his career on offense: .729 first 697 PAs (2021-2024) .834 middle 735 PAs (2024) .726 last 1018 PAs (2025-2026) Fun with numbers could break it down like this: .622 first 335 PAs .810 middle 1793 PAs (the vast majority of his career PAs) .624 las 322 PAs Basically, he's bookended about .623 in 650 PAs (1 season total) around a decent .810 over 1800 PAs (3 seasons) What kind of value do you give to this soon-to-be 30 year old? He still is a threat on the basepaths, but often blunders. He's been up and down on defense over his full career, but is probably not viewed as a liability in LF.

Knees are crucial for catchers. If he could keep enough skill to be a 2nd or 3rd catcher, his bat might make him a worthwhile 26 man roster addition. I'm not sure his bat is good enough to be a DH or 1Bman, but maybe it can be. He's had pretty nice exit velocities and is still just 21.

And you speak of divas. LMAO

It was wrong byond the knitting.

"A crutch" - too funny. I just cited what I googled. There was a lot of talk about AZ wanting Mayer not Duran. I'm not sure why Section 10 talk trumps all others and is your "crutch." Here is a non AI google I found: Intel from The Boston Globe's Alex Speier suggests that the Arizona Diamondbacks were trying to pry Marcelo Mayer away from the Boston Red Sox, along with either Payton Tolle or Connelly Early. But Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow wasn't having it. According to Speier, Mayer and Tolle/Early emerged as demands from Arizona during Ketel Marte trade negotiations. Breslow was reportedly willing to give the D-Backs a worthy return of stud prospect Franklin Arias and one of either Tolle or Early. When Arizona ratcheted up their ask by involving Mayer, Breslow reportedly lost interest. BTW, Carrabis said this... " I get that it was talked about during the winter, but in June?"

Sox OPS Against as SP .607 Suarez .624 Tolle .629 Bennett .705 Gray .726 Early _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .818 Crochet (6th in most PAs against) 1.057 Bello (5th in most PAs Against) _____________________ _____________________ As RP (50+ PAs Against) .480 Moran .484 Bello .580 Coulombe .596 Chapman .614 Kelly .633 Samaniego (4 of the top 6 are at AAA, now.) .639 Whitlock .663 Guerrero _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .725 Weissert (.468 last 4 weeks) .764 Watson (.593 last 4 weeks) .916 Slaten

Well, you are the only poster who claims every post is perfect, so you probably think this is not-picking, too. 🤪

AI cites Sports Illustrated when providing this... The Arizona Diamondbacks were heavily linked to Boston Red Sox shortstop Marcelo Mayer during offseason trade talks centered around Ketel Marte. However, the Diamondbacks wanted Mayer included in the return package, which the Red Sox refused, and Arizona ultimately removed Marte from the trade market entirely

I'd love to see Tolle dominate the Yanks.

What does that have to do with saying its the "real question?" No, hardly any players go two months that low. No Sox players is doing what he's been doing in June, either. To me, Duran's .624 OPS on June 26th is more of "the killer," since he was batting 1-5 most of the season.

Was that ever confirmed? I heard Mayer plus one from Early or Tolle, but I can't find any proof of that, either.

Fangraphs had the Sox projected with the 10th best team WAR. 15th best "Batter" WAR, which includes defense. 1st in Pitching projected WAR. 60% chance to make playoffs (85-77 season) Player OPS projected rankings: 35 Anthony .803 52 Abreu .788 60 Contreras .785 67 Casas .782 (WOW!) 89 Yoshida .768 104 Duran .762 120 Romy .755 Going by league averages, we should have 2 batters in the top 60- we had 3. We should have 3 batters in the top 90- we had 5. We should have 4 batters in the top 120- we had 7.

Yes, 87 players were projected to hit 20, but no Sox players- not even Contreras (19) Abreu (18) and Story (17) They projected Ceddanne with 16, Duran & Roman with 15 and Mayer/Narvaez with 10. Durbin with 9. Doubling current HR totals would be... 32 Contreras 24 Duran 20 Abreu (close) 14 Ceddanne (under projections) 12 Durbin 0 Story & Roman (under)

I'll never brag about being right on that one. I was not alone in that position, either. The massive spending and trading away over 20 prospects that were once top 20 was the writing on the wall. JH was never a year-after-year big spender. He often cut back after winning seasons. The expectation that "because he can spend more, he will" was not supported by any evidence, and we have seen that happen in recent years. I never expected the "cliff" to be more than 1-2 years long. I'm not happy about this coming true, and this became like the cliffs at Acapulco. Dive after dive!