moonslav59

No doubt, our system could do better, but it's not like we've produced absolutely nothing. The worst thing about these lists is that most of the names are from over 5-10 years ago, since they were in our farm system- some even 15-20+ years ago.

When we start getting some guys back, it may even add to the feeling of "YES, We CAN!" If Bogey's wrist was able to improve by this "rest," maybe in the long run, we might end up better off. I'm still waiting for the day we can use our best line-ups: 1. Schwarber LF 2. Devers 3B 3. JD DH 4. Bogey SS 5. Renfroe RF 6. Kike 2B 7. Verdugo CF 8. Dalbec 1B 9. Vaz/Plawecki C or 1. Kike 2B 2. Schwarber LF 3. Devers 3B 4. Bogey SS 5. JD DH 6. Renfroe RF 7. Verdugo CF 8. Dalbec 1B 9. Vaz/Plawecki C or The better fielding team... 1. Kike CF 2. Schwarber 1B 3. Devers 3B 4. Bogey SS 5. JD DH 6. Renfroe RF 7. Verdugo LF 8. Arroyo 2B 9. Vaz/Plawecki C

The Schwarber- Devers one-two slot punch has to be one of the Sox best ever, right? I know Boggs, alone, at lead off was pretty hard to beat, but didn't we usually bat slap hitters in the two slot behind him?

He may- he may not. He has been better than this over his career, but that is no guarantee.

Good point. We also had a few highly regarded pitching prospects we traded for high quality players, like Casey Fossum, Casey Kelly and Anderson Espinoza, but none really amounted to much. We also traded away some decent to fine pitching: Tony Armas Jr, Carl Pavano, Jorge de la Rosa, Anibal Sanchez, Frankie Montas, Justin Masterson & Michael Kopech along with some so-so pitchers.

I'd really like to see Houck get a chance, and it's too bad we can't afford to try him there, now. As of now, I see our open slots for 2022 like this: #1 or solid #2 SP'er #3/4 SP'er (to replace ​or re-sign ERod) Closer or solid set-up man I think we end up getting 2 of these 3 needs and use Whitlock and/or Houck to fill the other- most likely the closer and/or 3 slot SP'er roles. If they fill 2 of the roles, we'd need depth signings, which I hate, as compared to improving from the top. Sale _____ Eovaldi Whitlock Pivetta Seabold Houck Barnes _____ _____ Taylor DHern Sawamura Valdez/Rios/Brasier/Davis/Bazardo I like this better: Sale ______ (Solid #2) ______ (Solid #3) Eovaldi Whitlock Pivetta ______ (Closer like R Iglesias) Houck Barnes Taylor DHern Seabold Sawamura Valdez/Rios/Brasier/Davis/Bazardo

We really need 6+ IP or someone in the pen, not doing well, recently, to show up.

Don't you have to do well to do any balancing?

Agreed, but he was acquired by losing Betts, so...

He hasn't proven "ace" just yet, but yes, high upside.

No doubt, but we've really only had one guy, Jon Lester be a top ace on a ring team. We have shown we can win by building a strong farm of everyday players and using some in trade to get aces, along with some pitching prospects (Sale, Beckett, Schilling, Pedro) or just sign them (Price, Lackey) to build rotations good enough to win. Of course, developing our own has to be a preferred method, but it may not be essential. I can also see not counting Whitlock as a home grown pitching talent, but he serves the same purpose and very well could become our next ace. Houck may become a very solid SP'er or our next lights out closer. I know the jury is still out, but our young pitching looks better, now, than in a long long time.

Is he going to get a hefty SP'er offer from anyone, this winter? The way even set-up men are getting paid, these days, that might be the best offer he gets, and will have to settle on whatever that is, and it will end up having to be "worth his while." He may take a one year deal to try and prove he can do it as a closer, assuming he works his way up to that with some team needing a closer for 2022. That begs the question: who is the 2022 closer for the Sox?

It's not "unsupported." They now have advanced systems that track the angle and flight time of fly balls and the distance an OF'er has to go in a certain amount of time needed to get there. They compare the numbers between other OF'ers on similar plays. With Duran's plus speed, one can easily conclude he's getting late breaks or taking wrong routes, if he is not getting to balls that most OF'er are getting to. They probably also can track the routes OF'ers take. How quickly an OF'er gets started is probably a much harder thing to measure.

I do think we have a very good chance of getting something very useful from 1 or 2 of this group: Seabold 2022 Bello end of '22 to 2023 Groome end of '22 to 2023 Plus some longer shots: Mata 2023-2024 Song ??? Winckowski 2022-2023 We should also note that we just added Houck & Whitlock, two pitchers with a lot of promise and high expectations for filling key roles in 2022 and beyond. I'm not sure things are as bad as some might think they are on the pitching front.

We've been seeing some great things from the farm, recently. It was nice watching our farm depth improve, but now we are seeing some of our top farm hands take it to another level. Casas, Yorke and Mayer in particular.

That he has, and we still have 2 more years of arb control with him! Whitlock may go down as Bloom's best acquisition, to date, but Renfroe was a great one. Other good ones, include: Pivetta Ottavino Arroyo Plawecki Arauz Valdez Seabold R Hernandez Now, Richards is not looking as bad as we felt a few weeks back (Verdugo, Down, Wong?)

I'm not sure I'd risk an injury to Stanton. He is carrying you guys.

He's not 38. Of course, a few teams will offer him a 2 or 3 year deal, minimum, but certainly not at $19M a year. Maybe someone offers him something like $40-50M/3 or $50-55M/4. The question is, and I thinnk I know the answer, is will he take that over $19M/1 plus whatever he thinks he can get next year. If you subtract $19M from my suggested offers and add a year of age to him, what can he get the following winter? My numbers would be $20-30M/2 or $30-35M/3. JD just turned 34, so he will be 35 for most of the 2023 season. I think Nelson Cruz is a pretty good comp, but JD will have to hit well in 2022 to stay a good comp. That is where his risk lays- that and how he hits this September. Even if you add JD's horrific 2020 numbers to his 2021 numbers, he's still over .800. .806 in 781 PAs 31 HRs 112 RBIs 85 XBHs Nelson Cruz hit .848 at ages 32 to 33, but he exploded to .936 at age 35, his first year with SEA. He's been at .933 for the 6 years after that, not counting 2021. I am not saying I or anyone should expect that from JD, but Cruz got a pretty good deal from SEA ($57M/4) at about the same age JD is, now and after similar numbers.

I don't think the numbers or eye test lie, but to me, the sample size is way too small to make a judgment. We do know there seemed to be a reluctance to calling him up, when we had a real OF need, so I don't think it's a stretch to think maybe his defense was a real and major concern. I am far from giving up on Duran, and I fully agree he's "capable of improvement." Speed helps a lot.

SF won an a walk off error by newly acquired Trea Turner to take back the lead in the NLW and NL overall. The Sox are now 8 behind TBR, so winning the division is all buy hopeless, unless we sweep them, later in the week. NYY won in extras vs the O's, last night to hold their 1.5 game lead over us. OAK's pen allowed 9 runs in their last IP to lose 11-10 and fall 3 behind us. Here's how the AL looks: 85-50 TBR 79-55 HOU 78-56 NYY 78-57 CWS 78-59 BOS -1.5 WC1 74-61 OAK -3.0 WC2 73-62 SEA -4.0 WC2 71-62 TOR -5.0 WC2 (Remember, CLE still has a winning record at 67-65. -8.5 WC2.)

I think the best spot for him is LF most of the time, 1B vs some tough righties and DH when JD needs rest. It could work out nicely.

Freakin' Yanks win. Stanton has been the man.

Yes, and I'm not for trading him, unless we get something very good back. I still have faith he'll be good. This sample size is tiny. Did I give up on Dalbec? (Actually, I did for a couple days, at one time, but that's beside the point.)

I'll have to read about that game in the morning.

Send him to the Gallows!