moonslav59

So, now the idea of Houck as the closer is in question.

WOW! Simply, Wow!

Don't let Goldschmidt or Arenado get up.

The Sox have 299 RBI on the season. Devers and Story account for 86 of them. Almost 30% in 21% of the PAs!

For 3 seasons, these guys out hit Papi & Manny's best 3 year stretch: 1948 .369 25 126 Williams (1.112 OPS) .269 29 137 Stephens (.821) (Note: Doerr was .285 27 11 and .891 for the 2nd place Sox) 1949 .343 43 159 Williams (1.141) .290 39 159 Stephens (.930) (Doerr: .309 18 109 & .890) 1950 .317 28 97 Williams in 89 games 1.099 .295 30 144 Stephens (Dropo: .322 34 144 & Doe .872rr .294 27 120)

Ruth & Gehrig

The no-hitter and 3-hitter by the Dean brothers in a DH is right up there, too.

True, but we have a lot of those lesser pitchers, and we might only need 1-2 to stick as a capable 5th starter or pen arm, where one can get by a little easier on one "plus pitch."

The mighty O's shut out the Rays, today.

Story Land = RBI Land

I did. my point was, however, that the bottom of the 40 man roster is now at a point where it seems the choices are much harder. The players are much less "crummy," but you'd never know that reading the game threads. (My top 3 were Brasier, Diekman and Plawecki or Sawamura- only because we have 4 catchers on the 40.) At the risk of upsetting anyone who hates my lists, I think these are very eye-opening and place great emphasis on just how bad the bottom of the 40 was after 2019. Granted, many were chosen by Bloom at or near the min wage, but when you are forced to cut salary, it is what it is. Some of the many players who populated the bottom of the 40 in 2020, and remember, if the season had been 162 games not 60, we might have seen more names: Listed in order of most PAs or IP (I guess some would have to be called top 15 or 20 out of 40, at some point... Chavis Pillar Peraza Plawecki Arauz Lin Munoz Puello Grullon Lucroy Perez (#1 in IP) Weber (#3) Valdez 4 Mazza 5 (was crummy for us) Godley 6 Brewer 7 Brasier 8 Springs 10 (was crummy for us) pro-rated to 50 IP!!! Brice 11 (pro-rated to 50 IP) Osich 13 Covey 14 Kickham 15 Stock 16 (Pro-rated to 35 IP) Walden 17 (same) Hart 18 (to 26 IP) Hembree 20 M Hall 21 DHern 22 Triggs 23 Lever 26 Tapia 27 That's 31 names. Maybe discount 2-3 as not worthy for a crummy label, and we're still at 28-29 names cycling through the bottom 20-25 slots over the season. To me, this is STUNNINGLY HORRIFIC! (THis is where some context is needed when remembering just what the starting point was for Bloom. Then, factor in no Betts, no Price, no sale, no ERod and just a quarter season from Beni and three-quarters for Nate. (Note, I only listed players who played and not guys like Jeff Bandy & CJ Chatham.) Now, we will see a marked improvement in 2021, and instead of 20-25 slots where replacement level or worse players were recycled, we see about 8-12 somewhat "crummy" labeled players in the bottom of the 40. Again, listed in order of PAs or IP: Marwin (8th in PAs & was DFA'd) Plawecki 11 Cordero 13 (sucked back then) Santana 14 (127 PAs!) Chavis 16 (Is playing better for PIT, now) Arauz 17 DFA'd this season Lopez Wong Munoz Motter Richards 4th 137 IP (Not really bottom 10-20. Perez 5th 114 IP (same) Ottavino 8th (same) Sawamura 10 DHern 13th 40 IP Valdez (same) Andriese 15th 37 IP was DFA'd Workman (acquired) Brice 20th 12 IP Brasier 21 Weber 22 Peacock 23 Feliz, Gonsalves, Bazardo, Seabold, Brennan, Espinal, Crawford, Brewer, Ort I got a little loose here, so let's say 25 names cycling through the bottom 10-15 slots. Now, 2020's worst players on the 40: (In order of 40 man roster seniority) Brasier DHern Valdez (Arroyo?) Groome Wong Seabold Sawamura RHern Crawford Downs Winckowski Diekman Robles (Some on this list do not deserve to be associated with the word "cummy," and to me, this list shows a vast improvement from 2020 and even 2021. is it just me?

Both Jordan and Curry have that sparkle in their eye and a likeable smile. That, and being great.

Maybe Duran's ceiling is an injured Sizemore.

DFA'ing Plawecki and calling up Wong does not help the 13 pitcher rule, either, so it ain't happening, but the list of crummy players at the bottom of the 40 is shorter and not as bad as it was, even just 2-4 months ago. Bloom has done a pretty good job finding role players and promising prospects that don't scream out "DFA ME!" I know that's a low bar to set, but it does show progress in that area.

I thought so. I guess it’s a good sign to finally get to the place where choosing someone to DFA is getting a little more difficult. My DFA lists used to be 5-7 players long. Now, I’m looking at Plawecki, Brasier or even Diekman or Sawamura.

He's very impressive. I get that. I'm bothered by the over-the-top gushing and fawning over him. Maybe I'm wrong about previous stars not getting the same treatment, but it seems excessive, to me.

Which says this... Field: Potential fringe-average defender. Has the speed and athleticism teams covet for center field, but is still raw and needs to continue developing in the outfield after moving from second base during his pro debut. Not clear that he will stick in center field, and may be a better fit in left given arm and uniquely spacious right field at Fenway Park. Has improved what was initially a slow first step in the outfield, struggling with initial reads, but still is not a natural outfielder. Often able to make up for slow reads and inefficient routes with his speed. First moved to right field, where the line to the plate was similar to that at second base, before converting full-time in 2019 to center field, with the hope his speed could allow him to develop tremendous range. At second base, showed soft hands and fluid actions, though athleticism was somewhat wasted. At this point, a return to the infield would be very difficult given how long it has been since he worked out at the position. Arm: Below-average arm strength. Passable in the outfield, but throws lack carry. Summation: Potential fourth outfielder. Ceiling of an everyday center fielder. Ability to reach ceiling is dependent on keeping the swing-and-miss in his game manageable and continuing to improve defensively. Swing changes that allowed him to tap into his raw power have changed his outlook, but now needs to adjust again to be able to handle major league pitching. Now looks like a potential average offensive player with plus-plus speed who is passable in the outfield and able to get by because of his speed and athleticism while he continues to refine his reads and routes. With his speed, has the potential to put a lot of pressure on the defense and inflate his average with infield singles and slugging by taking extra bases. Could also steal 25-plus bases if he improves his baserunning instincts.

Are you saying or thinking Duran is an average defender in the OF? What about CF? What about RF? What about CF or RF in Fenway? I trust Bloom and Cora have not been "impressed" with his defense, or he'd have been playing more often. It's not just Max and a "couple posters."

1) Not all those teams "trade off" top talent. (The Astros lose them to free agency.) 2) The Sox pipeline is rapidly improving, and I believe some sites have our farm higher ranked than the Yanks. 3) Our farm is deeper than Mayer, Casas and Bello, and we have some very promising far away prospects that promise an extended pipeline. Now or soon: Duran, Winckowski, Seabold, German, Fitzy, Crawford, Wong, RHern By 2023: Casas Bello Mata Murphy Downs, Groome, Koss, Hamilton By 2024: Yorke Rafaela Walter Binelas Lugo, McDonough, Ward By 2025 or beyond: Bleis Song W Gonzalez Paulino Jordan, Hickey, Kavadas, Bonaci

Are you saying maybe Fitzy gets called up or DFA'd?

I'm not sure how well Bloom will do, when given much more money. We really only have Story as an example and a bunch of 1 year moderate deals. I agree, we should expect Bloom to do much of what he and others did in Tampa concerning finding gems for low dollars and building a farm up, and I'm happy with what he has done in this area, so far. Certainly, some mistakes were made, but most were low-cost, one year deals that are largely expected to have high failure rates. I suspect Henry will allow Bloom to have about the same budget, next year, and with so many large contracts clearing the the books, we will see just how well (or poorly) Bloom does in an area he has not had much experience in. Some seem to think his lack of experience means he's "in over his head" or worse. That may very well turn out to be true, but how can anyone know, for sure, at this point. We really only have Story's deal to judge him by, in terms of bigger deals. He's done pretty good on lesser deals, drafting and building up the farm and lower 40 man roster, but the jury is still out on a lot of is bigger moves. Verdugo, German, Binelas & Hamilton, Seabold, Winckowski, RHern and others.

And, he praised Bloom and Cora for building a good team, last year. Now, he's revising history. He's right about expiring contracts and big choices to be made, but that is next season. We lost ERod, Richards, Perez and Ottavino plus Renfroe, Marwin and Santana and the big rentals, but some of those are additions by subtraction and we gained Wacha, Hill, Strahm and Story plus JBJ, Schreiber and some farm help now ML ready. I don't see this team as being worse, and I see us making some deadline moves, again, this summer. Hopefully, we can do as well as last summer's Schwarber, Iggy, Shaw and Robles/Davis.

Yes, he's "certainly worthy of all the praise he gets." What more can I say? I'm just tired of hearing so much gushing praise that seems endless and way over the top. More than Lebron got. More than Kobe and others. I get it: what's not to love, and maybe it's just me. I'm not even a Celtics fan, but the gushing was sickening, to me.

My poll was designed to ask about their overall grades from when they joined the Sox to now, not just this year, but I wasn't very specific.

It’s about their grades as of now.