moonslav59

That could happen, but it's not something I'd feel like we improved on paper by doing. I do think adding Houck to the pen and keeping Whitlock there reduces the need to spend big on the pen over the winter, and allows us to spend more on a quality starter or two. Houck Whitlock ______ Barnes Taylor DHern Sawamura Brasier Davis/Valdez/Bazardo/Feltman/Ort (maybe Seabold/Winckoski/Crawford) Or, if we make Whitlock a starter, we'd need just one more starter- not two, but 2 more pen pieces- not 1. Sale ____ Eovaldi Whitlock Pivetta Seabold Houck _____ _____ Barnes Taylor DHern Sawamura Brasier Davis/Valdez/Bazardo/Feltman/Ort (maybe Seabold/Winckoski/Crawford)

No doubt. It would really leave a sour taste in our mouths after such a tease of a season. I doubt it happens.

We don't play winning teams the rest of the way, until that play-in game. Sure, there are indicators we will have a hard time winning, but it's one game, and I seriously doubt 8-21 will be all that meaningful. The Yanks have played real well vs winning teams, of late, but let's see how they do vs TOR & TBR to finish the year, then we'll talk some more. If they win 4 of 6 or even go 3-3, no doubt, they should be the faves, but so what? We weren't the faves going into 2021, and look what happened.

Let's say we only get $40M to spend- same as last winter. Keeping ERod $18M would be a push with the hope he improves by pitching like the second half of 2021. That would leave $22M to essentially replace Ottavino, Richards and Iggy. Not easy to do, but possible.

I'm leaning towards the QO for ERod, too, nd wouldn't be upset, if he says no, and we get a sandwich pick. If Bloom is given a $40M winter spending budget, like last winter, $19M for ERod eats much of that up, but if he can spend $45-60M, we should be able to build a serious contender for 2022.

It was meant to create "interest" for more teams, and in that way, it has succeeded. The season has remained "relevant" to BOS, NYY, TOR, SEA & OAK for much longer than it probably should have.

I included a couple examples of beating bad teams, but you know what? When the Yanks lost a zillion staright, some were to bad teams, too. SEA and the Mets are not "bad teams." There were some big wins vs good teams, too: "Won 4 straight vs HOU and NYY. People were counting us out before that last HOU game. Later, we lost the last 2 games at TBR (one 1-0) and then rattled off 8 straight vs NYY, KCR and @Oak. In July, we lost the last 2 games in NYY then won 6 of 7 vs NYY & TOR- yes those two teams. July was not that long ago and before we has Houck back and Sale, Schwarber, Iggy and Shaw. Then, we got swept by the Yanks, but bounced back to win the next 4 of 5 series- tying the other one 2-2 with the Rays. That period included losing 3 straight to CLE & TBR before winning that "BIG GAME" on Sept 8th vs the Rays 2-1.

Exactly. We are so close to being a top contender, and we should have the budget space, this winter to fill our 3-4 highest need areas: SP SP/RP (depending on where Houck and Whitlock will be) RP IF utility

It's only a $250K buy out, too. The Richards one seems like a closer choice: $10M team option or $1.5M buy out I think I'd let them both go along with no-brainer Perez ($6M or $500K buyout). The ERod choice of a QO might be closer than many think it is. One year deals are lower risk. While it won't be easy or cheap to find a solid SP'er and a couple solid RP'ers, is anyone really broken up about is losing these FAs? JD (opt out not likely) Ottavino ERod Schwarber (player option to be turned down) Vaz Perez Iggy Marwin Robles Santana Shaw

Indeed. One can easily argue none of these 3-4 teams deserve a playoff slot.

...and it wasn't just the final day: the Sox won their last 8 games to force that game. Just one loss and no game. true, the Yanks went 6-2, their last 8 games to keep the pressure on us, but it's hard to call winning the last 8 needed games a choke.

While many players added to the 40 man roster were in our system before 2019, only 9 player remain on the 40 from the 2018 team, and two of those players (Eovaldi and Brasier) were added mid season 2018. (Duran was drafted in 2018 and added in 2021.) Vaz, Bogey, Barnes, ERod, Sale, Devers & JD have the highest 40 man roster seniority. One could argue, we've just seen a near total rebuild. Players on the 40 man roster not even in the Sox system in Oct of 2018: Arauz Perez Plawecki Verdugo Valdez Pivetta Arroyo Wong Seabold Rosario Potts Whitlock Renfroe Ottavino Kike Richards Cordero Sawamura Santana Schwarber Robles Davis Shaw Munoz Iggy That's 25 new players in 2+ years. If you count Eovaldi, Brasier and Duran as mid 2018 additions, we have 28 out of 40 players not in the Sox organization before June 2018.

I'm not disputing this. My point is the same can be said about NYY and TOR. I get the big single pitcher argument, but that is never a guarantee in a one game play-in. Sure, it gives one team an advantage, but we are not even sure Cole will be the guy we face. They may need him in their final series vs TBR to just make the WC. BTW, in many games, where it seemed to be a point where, if we lost, we'd be doomed or close to doomed, we won. We got swept by the O's to start the season, then won 9 in a row. I know that was a long time ago, but time and again we responded to adversity. In early June, we lost the first 3 to HOU and then won 4 straight vs HOU and NYY. People were counting us out before that last HOU game. Later, we lost the last 2 games at TBR (one 1-0) and then rattled off 8 straight vs NYY, KCR and @Oak. In July, we lost the last 2 games in NYY then won 6 of 7 vs NYY & TOR- yes those two teams. July was not that long ago and before we has Houck back and Sale, Schwarber, Iggy and Shaw. After we lost 12 out of 16 to TBR, DET, TOR in early August, we swept the O's to get back in it. Then, we got swept by the Yanks, but bounced back to win the next 4 of 5 series- tying the other one 2-2 with the Rays. That period included losig 3 straight to CLE & TBR before winning that "BIG GAME" on Sept 8th vs the Rays 2-1. After losing the last game at the CWS, we lost the first game at SEA- the west coast trips always being a big sore spot in Sox history. All looked lost, but what did we do? We won the next 2 at SEA, swept the O's and Mets to win 7 straight. Many of those games could have been called "must win" games. We just lost 3 to the Yanks. It sucked, but let's not pretend we have never come up big when it counted.

I'd love to see baseball get down to 28 teams- 4 divisions of 7 or 7 divisions of 4 teams. Disband Oakland and Florida and move TBR to NC or Sacramento. The draft for their players would strengthen the weaker teams, at least for a while. You could even have the worst teams get more draft picks than the better ones. (like worst 14 draft, then worst 7 get picks 15-21, then next 7, then the 8-14 teams pick again, all before the best 7 pick their first player.) The farm additions could be historic. Initiate a base/minimum player budget for every team that goes up every year. I'd realign the team divisions and have a universal DH and robo umps for strike calls. 4 divisions of 7 teams BOS NYY NYM PHI BAL WSH ATL TOR PIT CLE CIN DET CHC CWS MIN MIL STL KCR TEX HOU COL SEA SFG SAC (from TBR) LAA LAD SDP AZ Play 3 games vs non division teams (3 x 21= 63) and 16 vs division (16 x 6=96) then add 3 games somewhere. Maybe 7 divisions of 4: BOS NYY NYM PHI BAL WSH NC (from TBR) ATL TOR PIT CLE CIN DET CHC CWS MIL MIN STL KCR COL TEX HOU AZ SDP SEA SFG LAD LAA Play 4 games vs non div teams (24 x 4= 96) and 22 games vs own div (22 x 3= 66) or 5 vs non div (5 x 24= 120) and 14 vs own division (3 x 14=42). Playoffs could be ... 4 divisions winners + 3 WC + 2 WC play-in . 7 division winners + 2 play-in WC teams.

True, but the Yanks were pretty good when Kluber & Chapman were doing well. We've added Sale, Schwarber, Iggy and Shaw, and shed Brice, Andriese, Marwin and Cordero/Santana. We are a better team, on paper, now, despite the pen woes. I refuse to judge any team on one 3 game series.

That 2004 example shows just how trends can change on a dime. Lost 3 straight to the Yanks- some by a lot. Sound familiar? Then... BAM! This season is NOT over folks! Keep the faith!

It's come to the point where you almost expect a comeback win. 37 seconds, this time.

They should be very very good for the next few years, too. My point was not made lightly. They just might win it all, this year. They are the only team in the ALE with a winning record vs every team in the division: 18-1 BAL 11-8 TOR 11-8 BOS 9-7 NYY (3 to play) The Sox are the only other team to have winning records vs 3 ALE teams. 12-4 BAL 10-9 NYY 10-9 TOR 8-11 TBR

The Rays are a damn good team, but I might still put my money on the Sox in a bet on who wins the next ring. Rays or Sox.

Key words, "right now." I refuse to define any team by a 3 game series. We have all seen the Yanks, Sox and Jays look unbeatable for pretty long stretches, then putrid for equally long stretches. All of these team have major flaws. They all seemed to catch up to the Sox over the last 3 games, but we overcame them in the previous 7 games. At times, it looked like the Yanks we doing their best to hand us back the gifts we gave them, but we lacked getting the big hit like they did. I just wish we'd realize that the Yanks really only have two weapons: Judge & Stanton. We need to avoid walking guys ahead of them and maybe pitch around them or throw a few hard ones up and in. I think Sale can go six or even 7, if he is on, by keeping his pitch count down. No way we can win, if our pen spazzes out like this weekend. We still own our own destiny, and with 6 games to go versus weak opponents, we will only have ourselves to blame, if we blow this. I've pointed this out before, but I think it needs repeating. Having an easy last 6 games means we had a hardier first 156 games, so we earned our place in the wild card standings. The Yanks play the Jays for 3, and someone will lose 2-3 games. If we take care of business vs the O's, we'll lengthen our lead vs the Jays of possible be ahead of both the Jays and Yanks after the next 3 games. Then, we face a Nats team that traded away many of their best players and weren't all that good before the trades. This weekend sucked, but we need to get over this whole recency effect when judging players and teams. If this season has proven one thing, it's that recent performance has no relation to what comes next. The ups and downs have been startling and plentiful. There is no reason to think that will change over the remaining 6 games. If I had to bet on which team might lose 4, 5 or 6 of the next 6 games, I'd pick the Yanks or Jays- not the Sox. The schedule is but one factor. No doubt, I'm bummed out like every other Sox fan, but this season has been exciting, surprising and fun to watch. It's not over, yet. Try to see the bright side.

Ahh, yes. That makes a bad joke even worse.

All will be forgiven when we beat the Yanks in the WC game.

What? No movies with black actors as stars? (Just kidding-- lol!)

I'll take Sale. I'm a Sox fan. We earned the April and May wins. We've played better the last month. Counting the last 3 games like they are gold is not something I ever do. Am I worried about losing to the Yanks and Cole? Hell, yes, but I give us a 50-50 shot with Sale or Eovaldi on the mound. We have shown we can get to Cole. I'm hoping the Yanks need to use Cole vs the Rays at the nd of the season, and we can rest Sale on the last day.

We're still up one on the Jays and now down one on the Yanks. The Yanks and Jays play 3, so somebody has to lose 2-3 games. If we can sweep the O's, we are guaranteed to be up on someone. Assume a sweep of the O's: Yanks sweep, we are up 4 on the Jays and still down 1 to NY. Yanks win 2, we are up 3 on the Jays and tied with the Yanks Yanks win 1, we are up 2 on the Jays and one on the Yanks. Yanks win 0, we are up 1 on the Jays and 2 on the Yanks. If we just win 2 of 3 vs the O's... Yanks sweep, we are up 3 on the Jays and down 2 on the Yanks. Yanks win 2, we are up 2 on the Jays and down 1 with the Yanks Yanks win 1, we are up 1 on the Jays and tied with the Yanks. Yanks win 0, we are tied the Jays and up 1 on the Yanks. The worst we can be is up 1 in the WC2 race. God forbid, we win just 1 out of 3 vs the O's... Yanks sweep, we are up 2 on the Jays and down 3 on the Yanks. Yanks win 2, we are up 1 on the Jays and down 2 with the Yanks Yanks win 1, we are tied with the Jays and down 1 to the Yanks. Yanks win 0, we are down 1 to the Jays and tied with the Yanks. The worst we can be is tied for the last slot, even if we lose 2 out of 3 to the O's. (This is not counting the Ms or A's, who play each other, next.)