moonslav59

Enmanuel Valdez had a .937 OPS with 25 HRs in 103 games, this season, before today. (.860, last year)

Turn down the option, yes!

Enjoy the shots!

I don't see it that way. We play so many times vs teams ahead of us, that if we win, they lose. We don't have to "hope they lose." We make them lose. I'm not saying we will make the playoffs, but if we go 7-2 or 8-1 vs TBR and TOR, we'll be in, as long as we do well in the other games, too.

No.

Bloom has tried to add to the pen, but nothing too costly- like Foulke or Kimbrel. Maybe he's hoping he finds the next Uehara, but that's a needle in the haystack. 2022: $4M x 2 Diekman $3M x 1 Strahm $2.3M x 1 Robles Waivers (Feb 2021) Schreiber Minor League R5 (Dec 2020): Ort MLFA (in season): Familia 2021: Trade: Ottavino & German $1.5M x 2 Sawamura (w option for '23) $2.1M x 1 Andriese Trade: Robles Trade: Davis Extended Barnes $18.8M/2 2020: Waivers (Feb 2020): P Valdez Min Salary: Osich

https://lastwordonsports.com/baseball/2022/05/11/michael-king-emerges-as-relief-ace/ https://www.baseballessential.com/news/2018/04/12/like-all-baseball-experiments-the-relief-aces-future-will-depend-on-its-success/ https://www.pitcherlist.com/going-deep-the-secret-relief-ace/ Here's one from 2015: https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2015/7/6/8895347/the-relief-ace-strategy-in-practice I think our pen could be in great shape in 2023 with this as the core: Houck: traditional closer Whitlock/Schreiber: "relief aces" The rest is kind of shaky and would need some turn-arounds or recoveries from injuries: Barnes Taylor German Not counting on much from... Sawamura Danish Crawford/Winckowski/Seabold/Murphy or other converted starters.

He deserves a chance, of course. I'm hopeful he doesn't end up like our last 1Bman who came up with a .362 career minor league OBP, but is at .318, now (.281 in 2022.)

It's not worth the bother, Bell. Wordsmithing is frowned upon by many.

I'll take a stab at providing a positional depth chart for 2023, assuming no free agents are re-signed. In other words, this is the foundation of the 2023 roster that will certainly be added to... (plus farm players not likely to be part of the 2023 ML club) C: McGuire, Wong, RHernandez (Marrero/Cottam/Hickey) 1B: Hosmer, Casas, Dalbec, Cordero (Kavadas/Jordan) 2B: Story, Arroyo, EValdez, Downs (EValdez/Rafaela/Koss/Hamilton/Yorke/Bonaci) SS: (Story), Arroyo, Downs (Lugo/Mayer/Romero) 3B: Devers, Dalbec, Arroyo (Koss/Binelas/Paulino/Coffey) LF: Verdugp, Pham, Cordero, Duran (Granberg/McDonough/Sikes/Anthony) CF: Ja, Davis (Rafaela/Bleis) RF: (Verdugo), Refsnyder, WAbreu (Jimenez) DH: Dalbec, Cordero, EValdez, Hosmer, Arroyo, EValdez, Wong (Kavadas) SP: Sale, Paxton, Pivetta, Bello, Crawford, Mata, Walter, Seabold, TWard (Drohan/Gonzalez/Uberstine/Song/Perales) SP/RP: Whitlock, Winckowski, Murphy, Santos RP: Houck, Schreiber, Barnes, Taylor, German, Sawamura, Davis, Brasier, Danish Ort, Bastardo, DHern, Feltman, Politi, Thompson, Shugart (Wallace/Fernandez/Encarnacion)

Indeed. The hit or miss factor is much higher for 17-18 year olds. He may end up never even reaching AAA, but it will take years to find out.

DH would be, whoever doesn't play 1B or maybe the 4th OF'er who is the worst fielder, assuming we add a couple OF'ers)- maybe Pham, Dugo or Refsnyder? Arroyo? EValdez? A platoon? None of these guys wow me as a DH, but we will likely go light at 1-2 slots. If we try to spread the winter spending budget out ove rall the open slots, we will likely get what we pay for- mediocrity or slightly better. I don't think we sign a DH only type, but instead we will add 2 OF'ers, a 2B/SS (wherever Story does not play) and maybe 1B or C, but with Casas being ML ready, I doubt it's a 1B/DH type.

His stock has been in a steady decline on BTV. I hope he's not our next Duran.

Well, I'd rather trade Casas than Bleis, so that's about where my head is.

I'm not against the idea, but to me, if we have to part with one of our highest ranked prospects, I would not choose Mayer or Bello. I'm not sure Yorke and others high on this list are really this valuable: BTV 55.4 Mayer 39.7 Casas 26.9 Bello 15.1 Rafaela (I'd keep him over Casas, too. He can play CF and 2B.) 12.1 Yorke 8.7 Bleis (a keeper, IMO) 8.7 Romero 7.2 Duran (over valued, here, IMO) 6.6 Wikelman 6.5 Coffey 5.6 Lugo (We need 2B/SS more than 1B) 5.6 Walter 5.0 Jordan We might keep all these guys and just buy our way to filling slots.

There is also James Click of the Astros, but he's a tough comp, due to inheriting a solid team and farm. Here are the moves he's made... https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Astros-general-manager-James-Cllick-moves-grade-GM-16440979.php

Cool. I saw G Love live in a small venue in Maine. It was great! I'd love to see the Mountain Goats.

Maybe not as obscure as what you have, but IMO, many of the bands I like blow some HOF bands away. Here are some rarities and maybe unknowns to many... I'd say Smoke is pretty obscure: Maybe Bauhaus Mountain Goats Funkadelic's Maggot Brain Les Claypool's Hendershot G. Love's Baby Got Sauce American Woman by The Butthole Surfers I Walk Alone by Mecca Normal Syd Barrett and

Good to see the Yanks get one hit by the lowly A's. Man, their O is really coming up short. The Yanks started out looking like the 2018 Sox, but despite the recent winning streak, they have been playing like the 2022 Sox since July 31st. Hell, the way they are playing, maybe the Cards or Phillies will pass them for the 5th best record in MLB. July 31>>> 12-13 BOS 9-16 NYY

Bonaci with 2 dingers that brings his OPS up to .787 at Salem. Lugo is still white hot- going 3 for 5, tonight. He's up to .840, now. Mayer 1-4, HR and BB Ferguson, acquired in the Vaz deal, went 1 for 1 with 2BB and 3 runs scored. Rosier had a 2B. Groshans with his 5th HR with GRE. POR lost 2-1 and then won 2-1. TWard pitched well in the winning game: 5 IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB and 10K's!!! Wallace got the 2 inning save

I have over 1,000 CDs, and was late to the CD craze. I had over 1,000 albums at one time, too. I have a lot of alt rock and early classic rock. Not much into pop or metal. Hate almost all country. A select few... Sonic Youth The Psychedelic Furs Talking Heads Robyn Hitchcock The Smiths The Clash Violent Femmes Nirvana Mazzy Star (Hope Sandoval, marry me!) The Cure (early stuff) Echo and the Bunneymen G. Love and Special Sauce Fun Lovin' Criminals The Who Pink Floyd, including Syd Barrett's solo work Zep Hendrix The Dead, Doors, Beatles, Stones.,. Little Feat Leonard Cohen The English Beat, The Jam... Joy Division Neil Young Nick Drake (all 3) Velvet Underground & Lou Reed The Pixies Tori Amos Joni Mitchell Tacy Chapman Joan Armatrading Bob Marley Cat Stevens Fleetwood Mac Robert Palmer Dylan Tom Waits Early Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna... War, The Animals Funkadelic, Sly... B-52's Elvis Costello Beck Tom Petty Stanley Clarke Belly Iggy Pop & Bowie Primus Belle and Sebastian Mountain Goats Professor Longhair Billy Bragg Public Image Ltd. The Breeders REM, The Police, Genesis, Peter Gabriel The Butthole Surfers Roxy Music JJ Cale Clapton Sex Pistols The Cars Smoke Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Sublime ICP, Cypress Hill, Eminem, Notorious B.I.G., Snoop U2 Steely Dan Trio The Band and some surprising pop bands like ABBA, Barry White, KC & the Sunshine Band, early Chicago, Three Dog Night & Simon & Garfunkel That's my short list.

Wong has been on fire! I think he will be one of our September call-ups. Casas might be the other, especially, if Hosmer stays on the IL.

There will always be fringe groups whenever a line is drawn. Of the top of my head? Steppenwolf, George Thorogood, Steve Marriott (Humble Pie), Dire Straits, BOC, Bad Company, Doobie Bros, Jim Croce and a few of my own personal faves that won't even be considered due to their obscurity.

I think the Sox will make him a starter in 2023. I'd prefer they keep him in the super RP'er role he's excelled at, but the value of good starters is just too great to convince Sox brass to not try him at starter, IMO. I doubt they spend big on the pen, though, so that's one reason I'd prefer to keep Whitlock where he is.

I'm not defending Bloom's deadline choices. I think he should have sold off all expiring assets, but I do think some of the moves set up some positions to either add depth or to possibly upgrading a few enough to let them rise, so we can spend more on upgrading other positions. Catcher: Maybe they view McGuire like Stallings and are okay with sacrificing catcher offense to better our defense and staff-handling at this position. McGuire, Wong or RHern (Cottam/Hickey down the line) 1B: Adding Hosmer at the minimum salary could end up being a very nice addition, assuming he can get over .700. Now, a .700 hitting 1Bman is a net negative, comparatively, but if he allows us to greatly upgrade CF, RF, SS or Pitching, then maybe it's a net plus. Hosmer, Dalbec, Casas, Cordero (Oh NO!) (Kavadas/Jordan down the line) LF/RF: Adding Pham may allow us to move Dugo to RF. I'm not a fan of that defensive alignment, but if we can spend more on CF (Nimmo) or sign Nimmo and Kike, then our OF looks much better with Dugo/Phan in LF, Kike in CF and Nimmo/Refsnyder in RF. (We won't carry 5 OF'ers, so maybe one gets traded.) I hate to count Duran as OF depth, but he may end up being okay in a platoon LF role ONLY. 2B/DH: Enmanuel Valdez looks like a longshot to win or play a major role at 2B or DH, but it doesn't hurt to add some depth or competition where needed. Pitching: We didn't really add any pitching at the deadline, but we did get some looks at some young pitchers. Some have not looked too promising, but a few with bad numbers have actually shown some signs of life, such as Bello and Crawford. Winckowski looked okay for a while, but then dropped off. Maybe he needs to adjust to the adjustments teams made on him- same with Seabold. The addition of Schreiber to the staff looks like a godsend. I hope he can continue doing well, next year, and I don't see why not. This doesn't look like a fluke. He has nasty stuff and his peripheral data looks like he's the real deal, although the sample size is kind of small. We've also seen some encouraging play from Arroyo, although I certainly would not pencil him in at 2B with Story at SS, next season, but I feel better having him as depth or a utility player. Refsnyder has also seemingly earned a depth role, next year. Each by themselves don't seem super encouraging, but all together, they improve our outlook and 40 man roster depth. On the flip side, one could argue these moves further solidify our mediocrity, and adding so-so players is not a step forward, but hopefully some of these guys can fill some key slots or depth slots, which will allow us to go bigger and better at as many positions as we can. I'll be thrilled, if Henry opens his wallet enough to fill all our open slots with high or higher quality players than we've had, recently, but my gut says, there won't be enough for every need area. CF ______ (We have to fill here) 2B/SS ______ & Story (Arroyo/EValdez) C ______ (McGuire/Wong/RHern) 1B ______ (Hosmer/Casas/Dalbec) RF _______ (Dugo/Refsnyder, assuming Pham in LF) SP _______ (We need at least 1 solid SP) Pivetta, Sale/Paxton, Crawford. Bello, Mata/Wink/Seabold/Murphy/Walter RP________ (Depends where Houck & Whitlock are slotted and how well Barnes and Schreiber finish the season. Taylor may return or a prospect helps?)