moonslav59

This is about piece of mind for some fans and not some locked in essential strategy to winning rings.

As of now, he may be our SS for 2023.

The Astros gave Pressly 37 save opportunities and others 32 (Montero 16, Neris 7, Stanek 5, Abreu 2 and Maton 2.) In 2021, Pressly got 28 chances while 9 others shared 33 opportunities.

He should be lower than Bogey, Correa and Turner, but yes. It seems low. I bet Nimmo gets more, too.

I'm not sure anyone disagrees. The question is where do we go lighter, so we can spend more on a closer?

The 2013 example is interesting. We had traded Reddick for Andrew Bailey before the 2012 season and had hopes he might close in 2013. We traded Melancon to Pitt for Holt and Hanrahan before the 2013 season, in hopes Joel could maybe be our closer. We signed Uehara before the 2013 season as a RP'er "capable of being a closer," but with just one save from 2011-2012. I think he is the type we might be looking for., but so is every team. Koji has an 0.693 WHIP from 2011-2012 (101 IP.)

Many teams have won without a clear closer on opening day, or the same closer by the end of the season. I'd love a lock down closer, but can we afford one and still fill the holes in RF, SS, SP and more? Maybe. (I hope so.)

Minimum Needs: SS RF SP RP Probable Needs: RP P Possible others: C DH/1B P

I think we will sign a couple RP'ers who are capable of sliding into the closer role, but may not have a proven record there, and we let Houck and those 2 fight it out.

In hindsight, only.

Maybe a guy like Martin Perez, who signed for $4M, this year.

Yes, I'd certainly keep some money aside for RP'er. I went with Nimmo, Swanson, Brantley, Taillon and Wacha as my picks and left $21-22M for the pen- maybe 2-4 signings.

From SP: http://news.soxprospects.com/2022/11/fallwinter-league-roundup-kavadas-yorke.html Arizona Fall League Boston's contingent in the AFL put their best foot forward in the penultimate week of the season. Niko Kavadas hit his first two home runs while going 3 for 10 with a double, walk, and five strikeouts. Nick Yorke returned to action after missing a few games with wrist discomfort. He went 6 for 15 with a home run, a double, a steal, and three RBI. Stephen Scott went 1 for 7 but did hit another home run and walked twice while driving in three runs. Wilyer Abreu saw limited action, going 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Both Yorke and Scott appeared in the Fall Stars Game on Sunday for the American League squad. Scott got the start at catcher, going 1 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. Yorke came in off the bench and went 0 for 2. The big story of the week on the mound was the return of Thad Ward. Ward struck out two over two hitless innings in his first game since October 10 due to an oblique injury. In two appearances, Ryan Zeferjahn struck out seven over 3 1/3 innings. He allowed one run and walked three. Both Aaron Perry and Jacob Webb threw a scoreless inning with Webb earning his third save. Dominican Professional Baseball League The slate was a bit light this week with Triston Casas still nursing a knee sprain and Chase Shugart being released by las Estrellas to make room for Luis Campusano. Franklin German got the start on Friday, tossing two scoreless innings. He allowed three hits and struck out two. Victor Santos also served as an opener this week, starting the game with a shutout inning on Saturday. On Wednesday he struck out three but also walked two in a traditional relief appearance. Enmanuel Valdez got two at-bats this week as a pinch hitter, going 0 for 2. Venezuelan Professional Baseball League Darwinzon Hernández made his debut this week, striking out four over two shutout innings while walking one. Pedro Castellanos was the only position player to see game action, going 5 for 14 with 3 RBI. Oddanier Mosqueda pitched a scoreless inning in his first appearance but then gave up three runs on three hits without recording an out on Friday. Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League (Puerto Rico) The season began on Friday, with seven Red Sox prospects set to appear in the league. Ceddanne Rafaela will join Caguas on Wednesday. He has been working out with Team Netherlands in preparation for the World Baseball Classic. Matthew Lugo was hit by pitches in both of his plate appearances on Friday but returned to the lineup on Sunday while going 0 for 3. Christian Koss is 2 for 8 with three strikeouts over his first two games, while Jeter Downs has yet to appear in a game. Juan Montero came in as a defensive replacement but did not record an at-bat, while Nate Tellier allowed two runs (one earned) in his inning of relief.

Rogers was the only RP'er listed in their top 40.

...and the ones that get massive overpays by some desperate or uninhibited owner/GM.

It was never low risk at that contract cost. We all knew it was high risk.

That money was factored into what I presented.

So, assuming we have $100M to spend, which of the FAs should we sign? Fangraph's estimates (adjusted to reach whole year increment): SS 254/8 Correa 215/7 Turner 168/6 Bogey 139/6 Swanson (23.1) RF : 294/8 Judge 102/5 Nimmo (20.7) CF 18/2 Kiermaier LF (Dugo to RF): 56/4 Beni 33/3 Profar 24/2 Conforto SP 135/5 Rodon 116/3 deGrom 69/2 Verlander 60/4 Senga 48/3 Bassitt 43/3 T Walker 42/3 M Perez 41/2 Kershaw 38/3 Taillon (12.5) 28/2 T Anderson 28/2 Syndergaard 23/2 Quintana 22/2 Manaea 21/2 Stripling 21/1 Heaney 20/2 Wacha (10.0) 11.5/1 Kluber 9/1 Cueto RP 16/2 Rogers C 70/4 Contreras 1B or DH 42/3 J Bell 36/2 Rizzo 34/2 Abreu 26/2 JD 18/2 Mancini 12.5/1 Brantley 2B (Story to SS) 31/3 Drury 25/2 Segura

That was why I posted in green. "Finally," someone got it right. LMAO. This is one where we almost all got it right... day one.

It seems weird how everyone on this site loved the signings and nobody complained about it.

We have no way of knowing, if the Sox will reset the tax budget this year or in 2024, but the pattern seems to indicate it will happen, next year or the one after. Here are the tax numbers (AAV) in $millions: 25.6 Sale 23.3 Story 10.0 Kike 9.4 Barnes 4.7 Whitlock (73.0 sub total) Arb Estimates: 16.5 Devers 5.5 Verdugo 5.3 Pivetta 3.0 Arroyo 2.5 Brasier (non tendered?) 2.1 McGuire 1.3 Refsnyder 1.1 Taylor (if not healthy, non tendered?) 1.0 Cordero (non tendered?) 0.8 Chang (non tendered?) (39.0 sub total) 6.0 0-3 yr players 1.7 0-3 yr bonus pool 2.3 40 man roster players in minors 16.5 player benefits (17.5 sub total) $130M Total Estimated Option: Paxton $13M x 2 (Club option) or $4M (Player option)- good chance both say no. The tax line is $232M, so if the Sox spend right up to the line without going over, we'd have a winter AAV spending budget of about $100M, assuming no Paxton option, and all the arbs given. Our high need areas ranked in order by my own personal beliefs: 1. SS 2. SP (1-2 slot) 3. RF 4. RP (possible closer type) 5. RP (solid set-up) 6. SP/RP (depending on where Whitlock is slotted) 7. C 8. DH (1B or 4th OF w RF/CF ability) 9. P (depth) My guess is, we may fill 5-7 of these slots and leave the rest to what we already have in the system. The offseason has begun.

Still think Swanson might be the one we end up with.

Sox decline Pham's $12M option and pay the $1.5M buyout.

Yes, so maybe he signs Judge, instead!

I’ll check, later, but I had us at about $90M before the Kike signing. I didn’t think that counted Paxton, but it did estimate the arbs.