moonslav59

Team's usually don't go with utility players who can only play 1B and 3B. If it comes down to Dalbec vs Arroyo (or Downs), being passable at 2B might be all Dalbec needs to win the 2023 job.

He did not screw up with the Rays, and we'd know, if he did. There is a reason the leader of the Dodgers and Astros' front offices are from the Rays.

I think Bogey signs with DD and Philly. The Dodgers might be another landing spot, if they pass on Turner or convince Bogey to play another position (not likely.) Don't count out the Yanks trying to make a big splash while hurting the Sox PR.

I can't disagree, but I will say, he tried to add to the line-up by signing Story, and I think the plan for the pen was to have some starters move to the pen, when Sale and Paxton returned from the 60 day IL. Obviously, the plan failed, and the Kike injury did not help the line-up, either, and instead of starters moving to the pen, we saw pen arms (Houck & Whitlock) moved to the rotation, due to injuries. I think a tight budget makes planning for injuries very difficult, but clearly mistakes were made, and Bloom & Co. have responsibility for some of the problems.

It's hard to know if McGuire is better at handling a staff or not. His numbers with Chicago were not that convincing, except for this year, which showed he did a little better than the other catchers on the White Sox. It will take time to learn the pitchers, and with 3 of our starters reaching free agency and Strahm and other pen arms not likely returning, he'll be learning all over, next spring. I'm not sure if "staff handling" was even a consideration in his acquisition. Personally, I'd like to think they feel he can improve over Vaz, in this area, but only time will tell. In tiny sample sizes, so far, these pitchers have been lit up while McGuire was behind the plate: 1.700 DHern (10 PAs) 1.400 Schreiber (10) 1.250 Bello (4) 1.186 R Hill (15) 1.167 Davis (10) .937 Crawford (21) .818 Wick (22) .801 Ort (13) Only 3 did well... .655 Pivetta (24) .200 Sawamura (5) .000 Barnes (2)

The Seager contract made Correa wide-eyed, and likely got Bogey thinking $150/6 is too low. I can't blame him. It's clear to me, Bogey wants to stay in Boston. BorA$$ has said "he'd sacrifice to stay with the Red Sox," but who knows if that sentiment has changed. https://nesn.com/2021/07/scott-boras-shares-xander-bogaerts-was-willing-to-take-discount-to-stay-with-red-sox/ Bogey has also said, "Obviously, I love being here. Everyone knows it. I think that’s pretty clear," he said. Just offer him $150-165/6 and move on, if he says no. Maybe go $175/7, tops, but I'd make sure he knows, he may be changing positions sooner than he may think he should.

LOL. HOU CERA (should be done pitcher by pitcher, but...) 2.46 Castro 3.07 Maldanado 3.62 K Lee 4.50 Vaz

Small sample size alert. Vaz .333 OPS in 12 PAs (He has started 3 of the Astros' 9 games.) Diekman 4.15 in 5 games with the CWS (much better WHIP 1.154, but he was a DFA candidate.) .895 McGuire in 15 PAs (Has started 4 of the Sox 9 games.) .856 Hosmer in 18 PAs .832 Pham in 41 PAs To be fair, one can argue DHern and/or Ort have taken Diekman's place, and they have been disastrous, but I don't miss Diekman and we dumped his $4M x 2 contract, too. To me, the deals seemed to help 2022 and give us a better chance to be better in 2023 and beyond. Pham has a 2023 option, Hosmer is free for 2 more years, and McGuire has 2 years remaining. Plus, we got two decent prospects with a bit of potential to be meaningful ML pieces, someday.

It's hard to know, if in those examples, less or much less would have still landed the prize. With Bogey, he seems to want to stay in BOS, so I do think $1M more would keep him here. If he doesn't want to stay here, then, I would not want him here, anyway.

$1M more and most players will take the higher offer, unless taxes, cost of living and endorsement opportunities tip the balance. Make Bogey a fair market value offer, and move on, if he says no. There are other very good players available. It won't be the end of the world, if we replace him, in kind, or upgrade several positions, instead. To me, Devers is the heart and soul of this team and provides intangibles not captured by stats and data. I've often said, "Devers Forevers," but I realize there are limits to just how high we should go, but I'd make the very best offer we can come up with to keep him. He is not easy to replace "in kind."

How about all the depth we had for the 60 game season of 2020? 19 players got 4 or more PAs, 17 had 45 or more. Chavis was 7th in PAs. Pillar 8th. Peraza 9th. 11 Plawecki 12 Arauz 14 Lin 17 Munoz (on pace for 120 PAs, which is more than Refsnyder has, this year) 30 players pitched, including Plawecki & Peraza. 27 pitchers had 4+ IP. 19 had 10+ IP, not counting Workman (6.2)& Hembree (9.2), who were traded. 15 had 14+ IP, whic h projects to over 36 IP on a full season. 15 of our 18 top IP pitchers were named (in order of most IP): Perez, Weber, Valdez, Mazza, Godley, Brewer, Brasier, Springs, Brice, Osich, Covey, Kickham, Stock, Walden & Hart! Some depth! (And people blamed Bloom for not being able to turn that staff around on a $40M total winter spending budget!) With all the injuries, this year, we've had... 23 pitchers 5+ IP 21 with 11+ 16 with 25+ 14 with 31+ 12 with 43+ We have had 18 players with 25+ PAs 14 with 109+ The killers on offense? #2 in PA w .705 OPS: Verdugo #5 w .713: Story #7 w .651 Bobby Dee #8 w .578 JBJ #9 w .660 Cordero 10. w .613 Kike 11. w .680 Duran 13. w .503 Plawecki

We ]had a few years with relatively low injuries, but this one was more than the norm, not even counting Sale & Paxton, who were expected to miss a lot of time. Missed starts: 23+ Paxton 21+ Sale 10+ Wacha 6 Nate 6 Hill Pen time on IL: Houck, Whitlock and just about every other RP'er Everyday games missed: 60+ Kike 50+ Arroyo 30+ Story 10+ Devers, JD, Refsnyder 5+ several players

Murphy had a rough time, tonight: 6.2 IP 5 H 4 ER 5 BB 5 K ERA is now 4.17. Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless/hitless 9th with 3K and 0 BB. Rafaela is at .869 in POR.

Anyone still wish we had the expiring team control on Beni?

He was part of the Vaz deal.

If here the only or even the second best SS on the market, maybe.

Add 8% inflation and, yes.

Shades of '78.

I keep bringing that up. Why cling to "team leaders" that led us into a hole? If they are good, fine, but what leadership plus skills are they showing, now? Crying and pouting about Vaz being traded, because the team sucks?

It was two months of a decent player for 2 promising prospects. We should have traded more rentals- not less!

Valdez (23 y/o) .854 in A+ 2021 .880 AA '21 1.112 AA '22 .909 AAA '22 I'm not saying these numbers will translate to MLB well, or not, but I'm not sure what more should be expected, except decent fielding. The guy will probably DH or play 1B. He's not a blue chipper, but I did not expect one. Abreu (just turned 23) .740 A '19 .857 A+ '21 .858 AA '22 Sox prospects sees him maybe average on D at corner OF, eventually. Maybe these two end up like Binelas & Hamilton- maybe not. All I said was "rising prospects", since they are doing better and rose up in the Astros system rankings over the last 2 years. I never promised All Stars.

I'm thinking the 2 guys we got for Vaz look promising. Valdez seems like a hitter (DH?) and Abreu has upside. They are both having good years and are 23. I think both have been over .800 the last 2 years. I'm not sure what anyone expected for 2 months of Vaz...someone who is being used as a back-up catcher, here in HOU (3 games started since trade.)

I don't think Bogey takes $150M/6... maybe more like $180/7. I have no idea what Devers would take, this winter.

I can name 3-4 easy names.

I'm wondering about German or even Murphy. Service time questions?