moonslav59

Yes, the best argument was the one where someone said we had a chance to trade Sale and his full salary earlier and chose not to. On that I can agree to a mistake made, if true.

Sato would move Durbin to the bench (or 2B) not those two. We could sign both and Durbin could play 3B, but then we'd maybe trade Anthony or Mead to clear up the DH slot for just one of them. Yes, Sato at 3B, Mead at 2B would force Durbin to the bench, but with or without Suzuki.

How about Durbin 3B, ELCD SS and Mead 2B?

Hard to know, and the hindsight bias makes it even harder. He was a pretty highly regarded prospect with defensive issues at SS, was called up and had a decent first 150 PAs in MLB. His second season was not so promising (80 PAs.) I think the trade was more about ridding themselves of a pitcher they could not rely on, while saving some money. They and I thought Grissom had a decent chance at winning the 2B job and maybe sticking close to his .746 OPS with the Braves. Again, "maybe" he could even be okay on defense if playing just 2B. We had sucked at 2B for a while. We had gotten next to nothing from a $26M pitcher for years. I see how pissed posters get over $21M for Buehler, $19M for Sandoval and $10M each for Kluber and Richards, because of us ignoring their injuries and injury histories. Sure, none except Kluber were ex-Cy Young pitcher, and I get the apples to oranges aspect of my point, but the fact was and still is, Sale was fully unreliable at the time we traded him. Sure, we shouldn't have had to pay $17M, too, but the deal made some sense at the time. That doesn't change the results, and the results were the trade sucked, but I still think there was logic to it.

Sato has 79 HRs and 160+ HBHs in the past 2 seasons in Japan. BLowe has 66 HRs in 2 years, but just 115 XBHs.

I may be the only one with some hope. I think we can and should protect him with a slot on the 40 and an arb accdeptance. You don't just throw away a career .800 batter. Now, we can't keep as many IL guys as this year, and I'd like to see us part ways with 1-2 from Duran, Yoshida or Story.

How about signing Teruaki Sato? He'll be 28 by opening day and had 79 HRs and 81 2B+3B in the past two seasons combined. He's a LHB. He can play 3B of LF. (We could move Durbin to 2B and Mead to DH, or we could move Anthony to DH and trade Duran.) No way we sign Sato & Suzuki, but that might even make Fred happy. 1. L Anthony DH 2. R Suzuki LF 3. L Sato 3B 4. R Contreras 1B 5. L Abreu RF 6. R Mead 2B 7. S Rutschman C 8. R Rafaela CF 9. R Arias SS Bench: Durbin, Sogard, Wong and Jones or White

We need a LHB more, but another RHB yes!

1 really good one still makes us rely on Mead and or Anthony to have a big year, so 2 would be better.

Oh, I enjoyed the loss and the sweep was very sweet. Man, those Rays are always more "for real" than anyone thinks they are. No rings is the kick in the you know what for them, though.

I like the idea of having a balanced line-up, but we still need more than one star batter.

The thing is being over 100 is not enough, when you hardly have any of them over 110. We have some top WAR players but not enough top batters. 300+ PAs (267 player sample size) fWAR 31 Rafaela 4.1 34 Contreras 4.0 55 Abreu 3.3 63 Durbin 3.1 No top 30 WAR players, despite only 30 teams. Three in top 60 is okay: 4 in top 63 is better than most teams, but now look at wRC+ 4th Contreras 151 90th Abreu 112 110th Rafaela 109 155th Durbin 100 Having the 4th best was great, then WTH!!! Abreu was 81st in OPS, and Ceddanne was 96th. Unacceptable. Those two are fine, but they should be the 4th and 5th best hitters- not 2nd and 3rd.

Yes, in rare moment in Sox missed signings history, it wasn't about the money. I know we coulda really used Bregman, last year, especially looking at how he did better than I and others expected, but going forward, I'd rather have Durbin & Suarez than Bregman at more money.

I agree. If Duran is gone, mead could DH, so Lowe could play 2B. I've soured on Lowe some, because he sucks vs lefties.

"Fairly soon" sounded ominous.

He's had several "events" occur, this year. He doesn't bother me. I kinda like he "edge" he brings to the team. That could turn on a dime.

Traded? He's got 2 control years. He's 35. Are you talking major decline or retirement/FA in 2 years?

Just not true.

There is context to the name con. I did not invent that or whine about it. I simply pointed out your nickname does not fit, and you whine about me pointing out the truth.

What always hurts in seasons like this is when we say, "The Yankees suck!" it implies how we are worse than "sucks."

There are two major connotations for the word "con, " and neither fit Willson. Just because his name starts with Con doesn't mean the nickname fits.

Soxprospects.com really likes Durbin as the 400+ PA Utility guy, and I'm thinking he and Sogard would make a nice bench. Sign Soto. Arias at SS Mead at 2B (DH)

I'm not sure, but I think the last one cancelled the Rule 5 draft. I think it was early DEC 2021.

Agreed. The Durbin deal looks better.

A look back at the non-flashy Brez trades last winter- many designed to clear up roster slots, Rule 5 and options issues. A flurry of RP'ers dealt on NOV 18 Hoppe for Heyman Bernardino for Ward Murphy for Ronny Hernandez Luis Guerrero for T Gray (later on 1/21 traded for Nate Baez) DEC 4: Jh. Garcia & Travieso for Oviedo, Samaniego and A Gusman DEC 9: Grissom for Isaiah Campbell DEC 10: Reimer for Rule 5 Watson DEC 15: Perales for Bennett FEB 1: Hicks & Sandlin (2 PTBNL) for Ziehl The Bennett & Oviedo trades were more mid-level, but the other deals are still mainly TBD. I expect several similar type deals this NOV>DEC, unless a lockout changes things up.