moonslav59

Even if you account for the "juiced ball," he's had two very good years that some players can only dream of having. He had an OPS+ of 112 in 2018, which adjusts for everyone's better offense. His 130 OPS+ his rookie year might be unstainable, but 400+ PAs is a much bigger sample size than Chavis of Dlabec had with their nice stretches. I'm not saying I like him better than everyone I listed, but his ceiling has to be, at least a 112 OPS+.

Santana has already shown a very high ceiling- higher than anyone can expect from Chavis, Kike, Arroyo, Marwin (without trash cans), Cordero and maybe even others. He has a history: 2 very good seasons.

I could see Chavis, Groome & Ward traded.

My 13 once Arroyo returns and assuming Duran is still not ML ready: Devers Xander JD Vaz Verdugo Kiké Renfroe Arroyo Chavis Santana Plawecki Marwin Dalbec When Duran is ready, it's Chavis vs Santana. Marwin ain't going anywhere.

I call it a "bridge year," but it is really in the midst of a rebuild that I would claim started with the Betts trade, where we actually did get a ML player with 4+ years of team control plus prospects. Bloom went about it the right way- first rebuilding the farm and strengthening the bottom of the 40 man roster, which mostly happened this past summer & winter, as our bottom of the 40 man roster sucked last spring. The 40 man roster will improve even more as players who reach rule 5 status or are just too good to "keep down" will be added in the coming year or more. Here are this winter's Rule 5 candidates: Jecorrah Arnold Brayan Bello Cole Brannen Gary Calvo Marco Cardoso Pedro Castellanos Felix Cepeda Kole Cottam Kutter Crawford Ricardo Cubillan Osvaldo De La Rosa Tyler Dearden Jonathan Diaz Danny Diaz Jeter Downs Jarren Duran Tyler Esplin Durbin Feltman Ryan Fernandez Ryan Fitzgerald Antoni Flores Frank German Rio Gomez Devlin Granberg Gilberto Jimenez Jose Larez Dominic LoBrutto Bryan Lucas Charlie Madden Alan Marrero Elih Marrero Joan Martinez Alexander Montero Robinson Montero Oddanier Mosqueda Brendan Nail Brett Netzer Tanner Nishioka Kaleb Ort Michael Osinski Yusniel Padron-Artiles Aaron Perry Beiker Pineda Antonio Police AJ Politi Ceddanne Rafaela Oscar Rangel Tyreque Reed Jesus Rosillo Yasel Santana Zach Schellinger Alex Scherff John Schreiber Gregori Segovia Chase Shugart Miguel Suero Jake Thompson Wilker Vargas Thaddeus Ward Grant Williams Josh Winckowski A lot of these guys will make the 2022 forty man roster. That's one reason we signed so many players to just one year deals or one+ options. We might also start seeing some 2 or 3 for 1 deals to prep for clearing space on the 2022 40.

I call it "bridge" not "rebuild," because we did not add any player for the long term, except prospects, which I guess is part of a rebuild. To me, once we sign or trade for someone for the long term, the rebuild has started. I know this is a narrow view. We actually started the rebuild when we traded Betts.

You think he'll be moved to Greenville midseason?

I still see this as largely a bridge year. Only Kike was signed to 2 years. That doesn't mean it has to be a wasted year. I thought we'd win 84-88 and with a little luck could make the playoffs. We've had some luck and some pleasant surprises, very few injuries and great leadership from our coaching staff and veteran players.

What's the over-under on the next no-no? 2 weeks, 1 month? a few hours?

...and our spending plan for 2021.

True nuff. As long as we get something good from the return, it will be easier to handle.

Cordero has looked good while others- not us- have watched. Just in scattered short sample sizes and in the minors.

So, the Sox never did this before?

Best game, in terms of excitement and ebbs and flows. Of course, it wasn't our best- played game.

Which is not all that far off from 2018. Plus, I would not count a player's first year or two towards his "norm." His last 4 years in Boston was .917. (27 SB per 650.)

I've never trusted us drafting pitchers, but we have Bloom, now. Take the best player- pitcher or not. I just hope it's a college player, but I don't pretend to know who is the best available at #4. It seemed like for the longest time, the mock drafts had, pretty much, the same top 3 players, and it looked like we would miss getting one by one pick. Now, it seems wide open.

It's also another example of why you don't give up on someone after 1-2 weeks, let alone 6 weeks! (I don't feel this way towards Cordero.)

Dalbec up to .690! (he was at .558 on May 10.) He's been at 1.279 since getting a couple days off (5/11-5/12) Kike up to .768. Vaz to .678. Chavis .806.

It happens enough times to make it worth a shot. Build confidence. Work out the kinks. A different coach working with him. Playing every day.

It's always been scary. We just hide it better, some nights.

This team looks magical. No doubt. It's renewing my belief that Cora is the best manager in Sox history. I'm very optimistic, but there's no denying we have some serious weaknesses, but as I said at the start of the season, so does everyone else. If our 3-4-5 starters keep going strong, there's no doubt, we have a legit shot.

I think we face Velazquez- a righty, so Renfroe should not start. Maybe Kike in CF and Marwin at 2B? I might keep Chavis in the line-up. He's over .800, now, and hungry for a ML job.

I wanna poster of Vaz's finger. Forget the 2 three-run dingers. Play of the day: Vaz calls first pitch right in his career!

2 months ago, we'd have laughed at even the notion he opts out.

1. I knew it was sarcasm. 2. I've been bitching about Vaz's handling of pitchers longer than anyone. 3. Swihart was actually worse than the bad Vaz is.