moonslav59

Many felt Chapman was not going to be enough. Some even felt Hendriks was going to be or become the closer. We had lost Jansen & Martin from 2024.

We heard this before 2025, too. I'm not defending the pen neglect, but it worked out okay, last season.

...and losing trade value by the week.

The farm went 3-1, last night, and while wins on the farm is not a high priority in any MLB system, it's not a bad thing. There is not much else to be uplifted by going on right now. Some prospects are off to very encouraging starts, but it's early and these sample sizes are tiny. Valera has 16 Ks in 8.1 IP and while 3BBs is not great, he's only allowed 4 hits. Bennett has started 3 times and has a .289 OPS Against with WOO. soxprospects.com started the winter projecting him to begin the season at AA, so this is nice. Cheng is no rookie, but he's making a AAA case to be called up: 3 HRs in 30 ABs and a 1.346 OPS. He even hit for the cycle a couple nights ago. Gasper is another non-rookie off to a nice 1.258 start.) Capra (1.089) and Delay (1.024) also help make our AAA depth look a little more promising than we thought it was in March. Thaiss is at .917, and Nate Baez is at 1.010 with POR. Arias has looked good with a 1.303 OPS in 5 games. Cespedes (.913) might finally be showing he was not over-hyped. Salem has been the surprising team, so far (in just 7 games, the Ridge Yaks are 6-1.) 1.100 Skylar King, 1.075 Andrews Opata and 900's for Stanley Tucker, Ty Hodge, Anderson Fermin & K Salazar. Top Salem pitchers: OPSA/ERA Dylan Brown .301/0.00 Ethan Walker .517/1.29 Adam Bates .635/3.18 Devin Futrell .297/0.00 Gibel Galvan .663/6.23 Wuilliams Rodriguez .517/4.91

Being a free agent is a big part of that. 2024 was his last arb year, and we signed him for 2024-2025, so it wasn't like true FA "market value."

If these two continue sucking, I'll be glad we "settled" at a fraction of the budget hit.

Vocabulary is not Red's thing.

Someone else will start hitting as Abreu comes back to earth, but it may not be enough.

True dat! I don't hear many posters saying that about Duran.

It's time for Suarez to start earning his keep. While it's not even the middle of April, yet, this seems like a game we kinda/should have to win.

It may not be "easy" to swap Mayer and Story at SS & 2B, but that would help, too. Line-up changes are not very impactful, but why not move Abreu to the 2 or 4 slot?

Wha, wha, wha is you at your best. (Think about that.)

Very sad outcome, tonight. Gotta beat teams and pitchers like this. Take the next two!!!

Yes, a very good point. I take it farther, too. Like when a player has a bad year in a big city, people claim he wilts under the spotlight, when maybe it was just an off year for some other excuse, combination of excuses or no excuse at all. When a rookie sucks: They "called him up too early," or "He wasn't ready," when maybe it was just a slump he was due for all along. Maybe an injury. Maybe personal issues. The same concept can be applied to many scenarios.

Some interesting pitchers off to nice starts to 2026: 0.58 WHIP Sandy Alcantara (24.1 IP) 0.76 Jeffrey Springs (18.1) 0.81 Imanaga 0.86 M Gore 0.94 M Kelle 0.98 Sonny Gray 1.04 Crochet ___________ 1.26 Joe Ryan 1.33 Gallen 1.38 Pivetta 1.43 Cease 1.47 F Valdez _______________ 1.84 Eovaldi & D Peterson 2.31 Lorenzen

Bennett had a nice game for Woo: 5.1 IP 2H 1 ER 0BB 4K, while Cheng is 4 for 4 and hit for the cycle (his 3rd.) Arias is 3 for 4, as POR won. N Baez w 3 run HR. Witherspoon went 4 IP. (3H 1ER 0BB 6K)

Cora is giving Durbin a look in the 2 slot... (Anthony gets a day off after a team day off, yesterday. He must be getting old... LOL) 1. Anthony LF 2. Durbin 3B 3. Yoshida DH 4. Contreras 1B 5. Abreu RF 6. Story SS 7. Mayer 2B 8. Narvaez C 9. Rafaela CF

Cora batting Durbin a look in the 2 slot... Anthony gets a day off after a team day off, yesterday. Lets get the win!

As much as I supported Ref, he was not needed, as we have 4 OF'ers and 4 DHs (some overlapping.)

2 starts, now... 8.1 IP 4 Hits 3 BBs (not great) 16 Ks 0.84 WHIP/ .476 OPS Against 2.16 ERA

True, but Duran lowers it by more than they ended up by keeping Paredes.

True, and all teams have them, but soe more than others. We lost Houck for the season, buts since he was not really a plus in 2025, it's not really a big deal. Crawford and Sandoval may be back in early May- perhaps as pen additions. Romy might be the most missed. Slaten could be a big loss. Oviedo was kind of unknown to begin with. Casas could never be counted on, anyway.

Good points. BTV has Duran at 38.5, Rafaela at 36.6 and Abreu at 35.0. I might put it more like Abreu 45, Rafaela 35 and Duran 30, but so be it. BTV has these selected Astros players' values: 18.1 Paredes 9.3 Janek (C prospect) 8.8 Abreu (off to a bad start & 1 year of control) 8.1 King (RP w 4 years of control) 5.7 Sousa (RP w 3 years of control) BTV allows a Duran for Paredes & King trade but calls it a "major overpay" by the Sox. Other values: 73.6 Neto (4 yrs) BTV accepts Duran, Bello & Phillips 39.8 Keaschall (5 yrs) They don't want Duran, but might take Rafaela & Romero plus. 35.3 Matt Shaw (5 yrs) 29.4 Hoerner (just signed 7 year deal) 17.3 E Tovar (5 yrs)

Farm Records: AAA: 8-3 Woo (tied for 1st in East Division) AA: 2-3 POR (1GB NE Division leaders) A+: 2-4 GRE (2GB South Division) A-: 5-1 SAL (1st Place in North Division) 17-11 Total Many felt GRE was the team to watch, and they still are, but they have the worst record of all 4 teams.

Yes, obvious how myopic you can be.