moonslav59

If either Pham or Ref hit lefty, I'd be okay with a platoon, but they aren't, and I agree. I'm not even sure I want either as part of a DH rotation or platoon, either, but if we upgrade enough, elsewhere, I can see going light in the OF or DH. We could sign a RF/DH type, like Mancini, but I'm not sure I want him in Fenway's RF. (Haniger?)

I'm not sure Eovaldi is "likely" to get a QO, but certainly 1 year deals are less risky. I'd prefer giving Wacha a QO to Nate. maybe we give both one, and our rotation will be set. 1. Sale or Paxton 2. Wacha 3. Nate 4. Pivetta 5. Paxton or Sale (Bello & other prospects)

If we went with an OF of Dugo, Kike, Pham, Refsnyder, I'd want some minor league depth, and not just for injuries. If we add Nimmo, we might have to trade Pham or Ref, since neither have options, or make them part of the DH role.

Yes, agreed, and that's why they did not do what was best for the long term. They buckled to fan pressure and maybe taking a hit on gate and cable revenue for a few months to maybe a year.

How's your line-up, now? Take away Judge...LOL!

Yes, third before any more signings, plus we likely will not see these guys batting (much if any), next year: .644 Dalbec (6th in PAs w 340) .578 JBJ (9th at 290) .697 Cordero (1oth-275) .648 Duran (12th w 219) .563 Plawecki (13th w 167) .322 Sanchez (18th w 44) .427 Downs (19th w 41) That's about 1400 PAs being replaced by more from Ref and hopefully Arroyo, Pham, Hosmer, Casas and McGuire/Wong. Yes, we lose some O from Vaz (7th w 318 PAs ay .759) and maybe Bogey & JD, but a small step down to Swanson and a DH that can do better than .770 is not unthinkable. Add Nimmo to RF and the expected plus at 1B with Casas/Hosmer, and we should have a amuch better offense. It does not take much to improve on these positional numbers, next year: .652 RF (Dugu/Ref>JBJ) .657 1B (Casas/Hosmer>Dalbec/Cordero) .668 CF (Kike) .745 2B (Story) .754 DH (Even a Hosmer or Cordero v R and Pham/Arroyo/EValdez v L should reach .754) We may lose ground at.. .699 C .838 SS maybe .754 DH

Wow, 2 weeks in '21. You wish the yanks could be that healthy! He wasn't hurt in LA, much at all. He was often platooned or was on the bench, because they had All Stars at middle IF and OF. Don't confuse 140 games with being hurt.

Posts like this give me great hope, because you have been so wrong about the Sox for many years in a row. 1. We will have at least $80M to spend. 2. We can trade some prospects for one key role. 3. We don't need 5 SP'er. Pivetta is a plus 4/5 SP'er ("4/5, at best?" come on! Look around, dude!), and Sale/Paxton should give us at least 33 starts between them. That's at least 2 SP'er. We can QO Wacha and not have to sign a FA SP'er for the 2 slot. We could try to count on a prospect to fill the 5 slot, and we have a lot of hopeful arms to find one (Bello/Crawford/Mata/Wink/Walter). If Bello were a Yank, you'd be pumping him up. 4. Explain about how many times Kike has been on the IL over the last 4-5 years. He's not a hulk and bulk Yankee. He's a true athlete. 5. We don't need a .700 catcher. We need a great defensive one who can handle the staff well. McGuire and Wong both seem capable and will not be a net minus, IMO.

I would not say it couldn't have happened that way, but I see it going more like this: July discussions: top brass, Bloom and probably Cora discuss all options, including a firesale of 1 year players, only. When they speak about this option, Bloom seems more willing to go this route than Kenndey, JH and probably everyone else. When they speak of going all out, nobody takes the driver's seat. They settle on not doing anything to harm the future. Then, they look for ways to make the fans think they are not giving up, while trying to improve the future as much as they can, and I think that's what they agreed to and then actually pulled off. I do think, if it was totally up to Bloom, he'd have traded any and almost all FAs-to-be, he did not want to try and extend (like Kike.) It's just my opinion, and this should not be viewed as just the Ray's Way. It's what any team should do when the odds are as low as they were at the end of July for the Sox.

Agreed, but I prefaced my statement with countering a rather weak OF by greatly upgrading in other areas, like SP, RP and staying even at SS/2B. (Maybe spend more on C or 1B or stack the pen.)

Assuming we add a RF'er, the only way Pham and ref stay on the 26 is if one is part of a DH platoon, otherwise, we wont carry 5 OF'ers. (Pham and Ref are out of options.)

I don't want to see Farnchy or Duran either, and with Ref or Pahm as back-up, hopefully, we won't, but we will not be adding a 5th OF'er via trade or free agency, unless it's on a minor league deal (not a bad idea.) If we add someone like Nimmo, we might have a hard time getting playing time for Pham and Ref, so no minor league depth should be needed.

I agree, and with Refsnyder and Pham as the 4th OF & possible DH platoon, we should be fine.

I really would prefer Dugo in LF, and since Pham and Refsnyder both bat righty, it's hard to work out a platoon for LF or RF. (I'm not counting lefty Duran in the OF mix, except as minor league depth.) If we can find steep upgrades at SP & Pen, and someone close to Bogey's production at 2B or SS, I guess I'd be okay with ... LF: Pham CF: Kike RF: Dugo or LF: Dugo CF: Kike RF: Refsnyder Pham & Ref might end up being part of a rotating DH slot, along with Arroyo/EValdez and one from Hosmer, Dalbec or Cordero.

We had a 13 man staff, all year. The league average for starter IP is 5.2. We went 5.0, so I'm not sure our pen was taxed much more than most. To me, what killed our pen was the need to use Houck and Whitlock as starters, and needing to us "openers" a few times, which really tax a pen. We also had to se Crawford, Wink, Seabold & Bello as SP'ers, when we might have used them more in the pen- perhaps with greater success than they gave us a starters. What's hurt this staff the most was needing to pitch 31 different pitchers- 27 if you take away the 4 everyday players pitching here or there. 22 pitched more than 9 IP, 19 over 20, 17 over 30. I wonder what our ERA+ would be, if any pitcher under #15 in IP did not need to pitch: 71 Bello 73 Barnes 72 Robles 64 Ort 96 Valdez 36 Seabold 89 Familia 20 DHern The team ERA+ is 92.

Wow! I love it!

But it was never, ever DD's fault.

Here is a look at many of the prospects Bloom traded for or drafted Rule 5: (MLB are career numbers/ minor league numbers are 2022 only) Whitlock (Rule 5) 2.72 ERA in 149 MLB IP Winckowski (Beni) 5.75 ERA in 67 MLB IP 3.83 ERA in 47 AAA IP (.576 OPS Against) Seabold (Workman/Hembree) 10.67 ERA in MLB 14 IP 3.18 ERA in AAA 76 IP (.646 OPS Against) Ort (MiLB Rule 5) 6.43 ERA in 21 MLB IP 2.88 ERA in 41 AAA IP (.572 OPS Against) Wong (Betts) .855 OPS in 31 MLB PAs .838 OPS in 323 AAA ABs Downs (Betts) .427 OPS in 41 MLB PAs .728 OPS in 284 AAA ABs German (w Ottavino) 2.83 ERA in 48 IP AA/AAA (.500 OPS Against) E Valdez (Vaz) .968 OPS in AA/AAA ABs W Abreu (Vaz) .828 OPS in 423 AA ABs (102 BBs) Binelas (Renfroe) .729 OPS in 400 A+/AA ABs Hamilton (Renfroe) .695 OPS in 418 AA ABs (62 SBs) R Hernandez (Springs/Mazza) .769 OPS in 355 AAA ABs C Koss (Y Abar) .774 OPS in 448 AA ABs M Ferguson (Groome) .716 in 402 A/A+ ABs (59 SBs) C Rosier (Groome) .730 in 371 A+ ABs (40 SBs) J Wallace (Pillar) 4.18 ERA in 52 IP at AA H Potts (Moreland) .726 OPS in 245 AA ABs

Max, our culture is all about blame, and since the old adage is the buck stops at the top, many feel it has to be Bloom & Cora's fault. It's oversimplification and more of the blame everyone but the actual people responsible for losing- like the players. The GM chose the wrong players. The manager played the wrong players. The manager managed the players wrongly. Sure, they get pissed at players, here and there (see the game threads), but for the most part it's more Cora and Bloom's fault than the fact that Bogey and JD can't get key hits, that 80% of the rotation got hurt, often at the same time, the 800+ OPS 1bman was a fluke, one of the second half & playoff heroes (Kike) slumped, then got hurt, then when a bunch get healthy, Houck and others get hurt. That all has to be on Cora and Bloom. Someone has to be blamed. It can't just be poor or unfortunate circumstances. Someone has to pay for the frustration we all feel. You "can't fire the team," so...

It's nice to play in meaningful bowl games, and advancing one round will be better than we've had in ages.

Cept the granny.

I was going to say the same. I thought PH'ing Arroyo was best, but Cora made the right choice. Many probably felt brining in Kelly was a big mistake. Oh, wait...

He's made some mistakes, like every manager does, but he is so far from "horrible," it makes me laugh when someone says it.

Wrong! Exclamation point!

I am feelin g better and better about offering Wacha a QO.