moonslav59

Do you have a link to Henry's edict?

I hope you are being sarcastic. Henry has been the best thing to happen to the Sox in almost 90 years.

So, with these you forgot #5 JH sells the team to a bigger spender.

If Diekman can net us a starting catcher, I’m not sure about anyone’s trade value or lack there of.

I’m called by my middle name as many are. I did not choose it.

My optimism on 2023 is not as high as it was pre-2022, but I think we should get better. Brining back Bogey and Wacha will take up a significant chunk of the winter spending budget, but we should have enough to improve on the 2022 JD, Hill, JBJ, Diekman and Strahm. I think we have already improved our 1B for 2023 with Casas and Hosmer. We should be able to equal or better our .750 DH OPS by using some sort of rotation or platoon which may include some from this group: Arroyo, Refsnyder, Casas or Hosmer (whoever is not at 1B), Dalbec, Cordero, Pham or E Valdez. It's not glitzy, but if we can improve at 1B/DH without spending a dime, we can then upgrade other slots with more resources: SS (Bogey or Swanson?) or 2B (K Wong?), if Story can play SS. RF (Nimmo?) SP 1 or 2 (via trade?) RP (too many to list) SP 3 or 4 (too many to list) Bloom has to hit on nearly all of these key 5 slots, but he'll have more money than he had in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

That's why I said "I get why the pen runs are more memorable." 2023 Pen Whitlock, Houck and Schreiber Addition Addition Taylor Barnes Crawford German That's 9 for 8 slots. On the farm: Kelly, Danisg, Wink, Seabold plus maybe converted minor league SP'ers Mata, Ward, Walter, Murphy, Santos and maybe Bazardo or Ort. I think we'll add one solid RP'er or two that I hope do better than Deik & Strahm.

He has trade value. Not much, but some.

Will Casas be our next Yankee killer?

I get why the pen runs are more memorable, but Hill and Wacha let up more and more per IP.

Sorry. My post was not clearly stated. My bad. Diekman had trade value, yes. We got the CWS to pay his full 2022-2023 contract while giving us our starting catcher for the next 2 years. If he had value, maybe Barnes (with some cash) might, too. (I went back and edited my previous post.)

Game 1 3 ER in 6 IP Wacha 1 ER in 3+ IP Pen 1-12 RISP Pen blamed for loss. Game 2 4 ER in 5 IP Hill 1 ER in 3 IP pen 1-5 RISP Pen blamed for loss. This has been going on all year. Sure, the pen did not help us win, but these are team losses, and many times, the pen was not the most responsible- only the most memorable, to many. I didn't even mention the defense and base-running blunders- all year.

I don't expect anything either, but you seemed to be surprised I had any hopes at all. I'd start by pencilling him in as our 7th or 8th RP'er, due to no options and his salary, but ST'ing may move him up. I doubt we DFA him, even if he has a s***** spring. They may try to IL him, if that happens. I also wonder, if Diekman had trade value, we might end up trading him (Barnes), with some cash, if we feel he will b e no help going forward. I don't think a 30 IP bad stretch by a pretty reliable RP over 5-6 years should be enough to lose all hope. As of now, he has to prove he does not belong on the 26- not the other way around.

At one point, Betts, Bogey, Devers, Beni, and others were on the farm. No Sox team has ever won without major contributions from the farm that was built up 3-6b years prior to their accomplishments and success. There is always a lag between building up a farm and seeing the results in the "here and now." Patiences is needed. If you jump the gun and trade them most away for the "here and now," and you end up with the 2020-2022 Sox, 3-6 years from now.

So, you have no hope for Barnes going forward?

Well, when you think about 2023, it's hard to use the here and now philosophy, especially with so many players from the now becoming FAs. Next year's team will be very different from this year's team. It kinda has to be. Again, I understand your point of view and that many feel like you do. I'm not sure why you keep having to say it, but I do appreciate your change in tone towards me. I'm trying hard to keep my tone more civil, too, towards you and others. Thanks.

Yes, Barnes is not on DD. Bloom extended him, so subtract his $9M, and we still have about $90M of 1.7 WAR production from a few of DD's carry-overs..

How about looking at 2022? Since August 11th, Barnes has pitched in 17 games (16.1 IP) 15 Hits 4 BB 18 Ks 1.65 ERA 2.01 FIP .558 OPS Against I'm not expecting this for 2023, but it does provide some hopes. You, apaprently have no hopes, at all. Forget the first half of 2021. He will not return to that, either, but he has a long history of being pretty good. He had 11 bad innings in 2021 and 20 IP to start 2022, and that's enough for you to lose every ounce of hope. Many very good RP'ers have bad 30 inning stretches in their careers and then go on to be very effective, afterwards. Do you doubt this? Do you really have no hopes for Barnes?

Read my words: "I don't think either Barnes or Bard are "reliable" I'd like both as my 7th or 8th RP'er- maybe 5th or 6th, if the top 4 are solid, but I have slight hopes for both in 2023.

One thing I find puzzling. You seem to rely heavily on what certain players are doing for their team, right now or this year and only this year, but when it came to Kike, last fall. You went out of your way to stress his past as a utility guy with a .240 BA. Why is Bard's past not important, but Kike's was, last year? I'm not trying to bust your balls. I'm just curious why the criteria changes for certain players. To me, Kike has had some very good years in the past 5 seasons. He's had some that were not so nice, but his defense has been steady, and he's been a plus one or more player since 2016. Bard was out of baseball for like 7 years, and sucked, last year. I'm not sure why he is viewed more reliable and highly, by you, than someone like Kike.

Well, you rely so heavily on the here and now, despite evidence that shows that adding guys based on only one good year in the last few years is a losing idea more often than not. I have no evidence based on 2022 to say Barnes is more reliable than Bard, so providing past numbers would just fall on deaf ears. (BTW, I don't think either Barnes or Bard are "reliable" for 2023, but both have significant hopes they can be. I'd be okay with saying maybe Bard has slightly better hopes, but to me, both have similar outlooks going forward.) Agree to disagree and move on.

How many games, this season, were Houck, Whitlock and Schreiber not on the IL or starting? I'd add piggy-backing, too, but technically that was pen work. I think the pen was okay to pretty good, when all 3 were in the pen. Giving all three clearly defined pen roles in 2023 and then sticking to the plan might create a very nice scenario, but this is assuming good health. I think we need to add a solid RP'er (closer or set up.) I'd like to add 2, but I'm not sure JH will allow a big enough budget to fill all our needs adequately, so we may need to settle on one really solid one or try something like Diekman & Strahm again, hopefully with better luck. I'd also like to add that with those 3, plus an additional solid Rp'er added, the rest of the pen should be okay in lesser roles than they were thrown into in 2022. I still have some hopes that... Barnes can return to his 2017-2020 norm Taylor can return from his injury Crawford, Wink or Seabold can fill a long/low leverage relief role German, Kelly or Danish can provide a plus as relief depth or possibly more. I have little faith in Ort, Bazardo, DHern and a few others, and no faith in Brasier, but maybe one can surprise us, or someone like Mata, Ward, Walter, Murphy or Santos can rise up and fill a key role as our 7th or 8th Rp'er. Relief Aces: Whitlock Houck Solid Set-up Schreiber Addition (Lh'd?) Key Roles Barnes Taylor The last 2 in the pen Crawford German Possibles Kelly, Danish, Wink, Seabold, Bazardo, Mata, Ward, Walter, Murphy, Santos, Ort, Brasiery, Politi

Yes, he was, but how much hope would you have for him, next year, with the Sox? There is a reason he was not on your list.

That's nearly a third of the 2022 player tax line budget. Add $22M for a 0.7 bWAR from JD and $9M for a -0.1 bWAR for Barnes and we're looking at about $100M for 1.6 WAR. That's close to half the player salary budget!

It's good to see you made an actual named suggestion. I do not think Bard is any more reliable than Barnes, and way less than Whitlock and Houck, despite their injury issues. I'd also put Schreiber ahead of Bard, but both have questionable futures.