moonslav59

Yoshida is an unknown. I like the signing for the Sox, but he could end up as a total flop. Yes, he could be, but the floor is higher than Duran, Pham, Cordero & JBJ. The idea that Dalbec and Hosmer would replace JD’s production is absolutely laughable. You know it and I know it. Hosmer is done. Bobby D has been figured out and he cannot adjust. You specifically said to compare to last year's team. It's no joke that JD's RBIs were horrible and his .790 OPS is approachable. BTW, I counted DH as one of the 3 drop offs. If we sign Gallo or Conforto, we'll be pushing Yoshia and Dugo to a lot of DH'ing, so now that minus looks closer to a plus.[/b You don’t know if you’re gonna get a healthy Kike. Odds are he does better than 2022. That's all I said. He's been more healthy than many Yankee players you are counting on. You put Sale and Paxton as your 1-2. They made a total of 2 starts last year and have a history recently of being on the shelf. That’s not a good start. No. I combined Sale and Paxton into one pitcher and "maybe 33 starts." You are trying to avoid the obvious here. Sox sucked last year. Sox lost a ton of talent. Sox didn’t replace said talent. Sox will suck again. We lost more deadwood PAs than good ones. We lost a lot of bad IP'd but more good ones. That's before any additions were and will be made. When is the last time you've been right about the Sox? 2014? You thought we'd suck in '21 and were better in '22.

I won’t be happy with the overall winter moves, if we add Kluber, Andria and Gallo/Conforro, but it could end up working out like ‘21 or better. I won’t be betting on it, but some kids might carry us farther than we know.

I once counted 20 prospects DD traded that were at one time or another a top 20 prospect on soxprospects.com. To be fair, several were traded after dropping in the rankings, and some were no longer top 20 when traded, but still: compare that to Groome, Aldo, Scherff and Northcut. No doubt, our recent teams, and the 2024 team could look a lot better had we traded even 10 prospects, but that has not been part of the plan.

How could I forget! Don't forget Nicholas Northcut! Three years and that's what we come up with. You think it might be time they go slightly bolder?

Hard to know, right now, last year's Nate and JD were not the guys you remember from 2018 and other selected recent years. JD had a .790 OPS after falling to .759 in mid September. Nate pitched well, but only started 20 games, so we are not needing to replace 30 game Nate. Bogey and the Wacha results (not Wacha the current pitcher) will be harder to replace, and it won't be done with one or two player, if at all. As it stands, now, I think we can come close to replacing JD's bat from what we have already (Dalbec-Hosmer platoon with Refsynder and Arroyo as possibilities.) That may be wishful thinking but they just may need to come close. The RBI total may not be hadr to duplicate or improve on. I like our catching tandem, but I'm sure you see it as a step down. SS is a big step down, even if we sign Andrus. That's 2-3 slots down- one by a lot. Now, 6 pluses: CF: 140+ games by Kike LF: Yoshida just needs to hit over .700 to be a plus over 2022. He may hit .800. RF: Dugo/Ref platoon looks like .800. Their D is worse than JBJ- but we also had Duran and Cordero in the OF, too. (1,000+ PAs from JBJ, Cordero, Duran & Pham.) If you don't see the OF as a significant upgrade, I may no longer trust anything you say. 1B should be a huge upgrade on D and at worst a decent one on O. 2B should improve with 145+ games from Story and maybe an uptick in production over '22- certainly reasonable. 3B should improve as Devers moves into peak prime. It's going to come down to pitching, as always. Even subtracting Whitlock from the pen, it's improved and deeper. The big if is the rotation and guys like Sale and Paxton, who I'm hoping can combine for 33 starts. Bello could work wonders, but he's still an unknown to a large extent. Pivetta is one of MLB's best 5th starter, and if we don't need him to be our #3, he can be a plus. 1. Sale/Paxton 2. Whitlock 3. ______ 4. Bello 5. Pivetta (Crawford/Winckowski/Mata/Walter) I hope we get a solid #2, but a guy like Kluber might fit the #3 slot well enough to not make the rotation a net minus. Granted, this may be wishful thinking. We have $40M to spend to change some of the comps, and maybe even a big trade up our sleeves. Let's talk again, in March.

Agreed, but looking closely at what we have right now, helps to more clearly identify our greatest need areas. Due to Kike and Story's flexibility, we can acquire a SS, CF'er or 2Bman and hardly miss a beat at the other two positions. SP remains my highest need choice with SS/2B/CF 2nd and RF 3rd.

Must still be in "hoard prospects" mode. Our best prospects traded under Bloom, and correct me if I'm wrong, have been... Aldo Ramirez for Schwarber Jay Groome for Ferguson, Rosier and Hosmer plus cash.

I'd prefer Arroyo at 2B and Kike in CF over Kike at 2B and Duran in CF. I think Hosmer & Dalbec platoon at DH, and since Hosmer gets the major splits, I'd list him or both. Yes, Pivetta is the 5th SP'er, and I'd place Crawford over Winky. I'd take 4-5 guys over Brasier as our 13 pitcher, but the guy has 99 lives.

Let's say the reports we want to reset are true, we'd have about $40M to still spend and have $1-3M as a buffer. Assuming we will spend it, and the statements we wanted to add 8-9 players to the roster, once can assume we still have 4-5 players to add via trade or free agency. That likely means no major signings, but perhaps a moderate one or two. Here are some players who play positions of need: (Not saying I want to sign them or the Sox do or will have interest) I'm sure I'm missing some or missed some that signings... SP: Rodon, Nate, Syndergaard, Kluber, Stripling, Fujinami Smyly, Cueto, Bundy, Wacha, Lyles, Greinke SS: Correa, Swanson, Andrus, Iggy/ 2B (move Story to SS): A Frazier, Solano, Segura, C Hernandez, Harrison, Alberto RF: Conforto, Gallo, Myers, Duvall, Grossman C: Zunino, G Sanchez, Casali, Narvaez, R Perez DH: Brantley, JD, Cruz, Drury, J Turner

Can you come up with a comp to Sox prospects?

Not much left for catching options. There was talk we wanted to "add a catcher," but no word on him being a starter, back-up or organizational depth beyond Kaleb Hamilton.

Less than a fourth of Bogey!

Murphy was set to make about $3.5M in his first arb, next year. For that, he had to go! We thought we had it bad!

You better hope not.

I can't see it being the same or worse with the addition of Yoshida, likely more playing time from Kike and none or less time from JBJ, Duran and Cordero. OF Innings in 2022 1300 Dugo 700 JBJ 670 Kike 460 Duran 420 Pham 300 Refsnyder 210 Cordero 110 Almonte + Ja Davis PA/OPS LF 420 Dugo .677 225 Pham .681 40 Almonte .760 CF 340 Kike .647 195 Duran .679 65 JBJ .466 55 Ref .966 RF 220 JBK .620 220 Dugo .839 80 Refsnyder .677 50 Arroyo .444 50 Cordero .341 20 Duran .435 RF

Yes, twice! Same as those two buffoons!

Serves me right for sticking up for DD.

Let's see what Nate gets.

$63M/3 is actually less than I expected on today's frenzied market.

I guess he's being paid enough to be Henry's punching bag.

MIL will get Wm Contreras. He'd have fit nicely on the Sox. I wonder what they gave up to get him, and what we might have had to give.

Seems that way to me, too. But it's not something that can't be fixed, and winning helps. a lot.

I have to think they will be affected by all the massive criticism and outright anger by fans and the media over this. Whether they change as a result remains to be seen. (I doubt it.) It's no fun going through this so often, but it was easier to turn my head when we got a ring every few years. I've tried to convince myself having this management group is still worth it, because I honestly feel like our longer term future has been getting bright for 3 straight years, after taking a heavy hit the previous 2-3 years. I'm not so sure hopes and optimism can carry me much longer. I'm really excited about Bello, Casas, Mayer, Bleis, Rafaela, Mata, Yorke, Walter and the amount of second tier prospects like Romero who might take bigs steps up, next season. I'm not sure if the supporting cast of Yoshida, McGuire, Dugo, Whitlock, Houck, Pivetta, Jansen, Martin and a few other players under control for beyond 2023 is enough to feel we are just one or two big additions away from being on top, again. Extending Devers would help, a lot.

Maybe this will be the start of a trade flurry: To ATL: Sean Murphy To MIL: William Contreras To A;s: Manny Pina, Freddy Tarnock & Esteury Ruiz (Others may be involved and one report has Kyle Muller to the A's.)

They see Mayer as the much cheaper option, even if they have to wait a year or two. I see how we can kill two birds with one stone (well, 2 stones): Sign Correa Trade Mayer for an ace at a low cost. If you average Correa's $35M per and an arb pitcher's $5M, we just paid $20M each for an ace and an all star SS. (Ain't happening.)