moonslav59

The Beni & Renfroe trades surprised me. Trading Devers alone would surprise me- both Devers & Dugo, even more.

I think that is the idea, and we have already started. Like the Astros, we have a GM from the Rays' organization. Unlike the Astros, Bloom was not handed the farm and 40 man roster depth Click was handed with Houston, so he has spent much of his efforts on building up the farm and roster depth to near the foundation needed to begin the final steps of building a consistently competitive team. It's hard to know, if he's done the job needed, but we should find out, soon.

The INT and return was the nail in the coffin. It was also predictable, as Clemson was desperate and had to force throws down by so much.

No, it would not surprise me, but it doesn't mean I stop counting on them as our FT'ers, right now. The odds are against either being traded, this winter.

The odds that one gets traded is slight, so both are slotted as FT'ers. That's my point.

Any team might trade just about anyone. Right now, these two are sure bet FT'ers.

I think it shows where we are, right now. We all know we'll pass KC, and we will spend more than many teams ahead of us, right now, but it also shows us behind other big spending teams and shows the challenge we have there. The ranking may not mean much, but I do think our current ranking is about right.

Another reason to start the year with Hosmer/Dalbec (Refsnyder/Arroyo/EValdez) at DH is if we end up being in the race, it's much easier to add a DH at the deadline than a good pitcher, RF'er or SS.

Devers, Story, Kike and Dugo are locks for starting positions. It's not a lock, but I'm 99% sure they view Casas as the FT 1Bman for 2023. I doubt we even add a back-up, since we already have Hosmer and Dalbec at min cost. We might not like the idea of not adding insurance, but Casas is the starter. My guess is McGuire is, too, but they did mention adding someone there, so I'm not sure, there. I hope they don't view Refsnyder as a FT RF option, but I'm fine starting the year with him as the 4th OF'er or maybe even platoon RF'er to start the season. (I do hope we add someone there.) I'm more worried about our staff: SP1 _____ SP2 _____ (Whitlock?) SP3 Sale (big Q) SP4 Bello SP5 Pivetta SP6 Crawford/Wink/Mata/Walter/Ward/Seabold/Murphy (Houck/Whitlock) Closer _____ RP2A Houck RP2B Whilock (SP?) RP4 Schreiber RP5 _____ RP6 Barnes RP7 _____ RP8 Taylor (Health?)/Kelly/German/Brasier/McGee/Reed/Ort/Politi (Converted SP)

A rare point all of us agree on. We may make a skanky bowl due to this win.

It shows the starting point for the off season.

It sure looks that way. He's "solid" against any arm.

Okay. That makes sense, as we are set to lose more than most teams. We are also set to add more pieces than most teams, especially those weak teams you mentioned. My guess is, we end up much higher than 17th at the start of 2023 but maybe not as highly as many here are hoping for.

1B Casas 2B Story 3B Devers LF Dugo CF Kike I'm okay with McGuire at catcher. If we upgrade nicely in 3-4 slots, I'd be okay with Hosmer-Dalbec-Arroyo-EValdez at DH. SP Bello SP Pivetta SP/RP Whitlock RP/SP Houck RP Schreiber RP Barnes

I think Bloom's initial priority was to build up the farm and 40 man roster depth foundations. He was given about $40M AAV to spend for 2021, which isn't bad, but with 15 holes to fill, it was clearly "not enough." The Story signing in March of this year and the current state of the improved farm might mean the priority is starting to shift from farm building to the making the big club into a solid contender. Personally, I think they view 2024 as a "better chance" than 2023, but I don't think that means we are still in "rebuild mode." We can and should make moves designed for 2024 and beyond that also help us improve in 2023. It's a tricky road, and I think many here will be unhappy we "didn't do more" in this upcoming winter. We have a lot of recent prospect graduates and ML ready prospects that are looking at getting some playing time in 2023. It's hard to think of a Red Sox team that is looking at playing maybe 15 prospects/grads while also looking to be a top contender. I think we look to pick 2-3 slots we want to fill with additions on 3+ year contracts and the rest will be 1-2 year place-holder signings, in hopes a prospect steps up and wins the job over the next 1-2 years. This doesn't mean we will suck in 2023. We have some very promising young talent to be optimistic about, and the good thing is, we don't need all 15 to do well, to significantly improve on our 2022 record. If just 4-5 do well and another 4-5 do okay, we might see a very nice team in 2023, assuming the roster additions we make do well. Bloom did okay, last winter by adding Wacha, Strahm, Hill, Refsnyder and to a lesser extent Story. (The Schreiber addition made last year came through, too.) It's too early to be "doom & gloom" over 2023's outlook. We should have over $60M to spend on AAV. That's enough to fill 3-5 slots with some promising talent.

Not so solid: 2022: .998 v L 1.020 v R Career: .980 v R .963 v L It's close, but still not true.

Are we 23rd or 17th?

The off season has begun.

My prediction for the next rankings: 1. Georgia 9-0 (@MS St, @KY, GA Tech 2. Ohio State 9-0 (IN, @MD, MI) 3. Michigan 9-0 (NEB, IL, @OH St) 4. TCU 9-0 (@TX, @Bay, IA St) 5. Tennessee 8-1 (MO, @SC, @Vandy) 6. Clemson 8-1 (Louis, MIA, SC) 7. Oregon 8-1 (WSH, Utah, @OR St)/ USC? Conference Championships Big 12: TCU v K St? Big 10: OH St or MI v Ill? SEC: GA v Ole Miss or AL? Pac 10: OR, USC, UCL or UT?

To me, there is zero chance the Sox pay Bogey $225M/8. I doubt they'd even go $200M/8. $160M/6, maybe. $135M/5 will likely not be his highest offer.

Congrats to the Astros. They were the best team, this year.

The 1, 4 and 6 teams lost! My domers beat #4 Clemson. TN lost to GA. AL lost to LSU- gotta like that!

The last game was badly called, too. It's like these umps want robo umps.

Lay down all thoughts Surrender to the void

All play the game Existence to the end...