moonslav59

Exactly. You apparently missed the sarcasm.

The infield has a little more to offer, but yes, it's hard.

One wanted too much honey. One got hives. One wanted to be a "king" bee elsewhere.

We have a bunch of arms that can start. The question is, are 6 good enough and healthy enough to hold us to Sale's retuen? ERod Eovaldi Richards Pivetta Perez Houck 2nd Tier Andriese Whitlock Seabold Mata Last resort: Gossett Hart Ward Politi German Winckowski Reyes Or, go with "an opener" day 6.

Let's not forget JBJ's career OPA+ of 94 (also 94 from 2017-2020). 99 Cordero 99 Marwin (108 since 2017/ 93 after trashcan year) 98 EHern (98 since 2017, too)

The hope for a 4.08 career minor league pitcher with 17 IP in the bigs makes so much more sense.

We went from the killer Bees to the killer Dees. Dalbec & Downs with taters, today.

He was placed on the list Feb 22. I found this... It’s unclear whether Cordero tested positive or is isolating due to contact tracing. Per the MLB’s health and safety protocols, “individuals who test positive will be required to isolate for a minimum of 10 days, receive appropriate care and monitoring from the Club medical staff, and be cleared by the Joint Committee and the individual’s team physician, following a mandatory cardiac evaluation and a determination that the individual no longer presents a risk of infection to others.” Meanwhile, players who have had close contact with a confirmed case of COVID “will be subject to a mandatory quarantine of seven days and must test negative on day 5 or later among other requirements to rejoin club facilities.” and this... Red Sox OF Franchy Cordero (COVID-19) could rejoin the team on Monday. (Chris Cotillo on Twitter) Alex Speier... Cora says Sox are hoping Franchy Cordero (COVID protocols) is cleared to play before Tuesday.

Nobody who has ever bombed out does well, afterwards. In think I might have more faith in Pivetta than Perez. He may also be more likely to have more IP than Richards or Eovaldi.

COVID precautions.

Hard to know or calculate. Renfroe makes $3.1M, this year and has two arb years left. He may never reach what Beni made, and Beni had one year left after 2021. Cordero makes $800K and has two arbs left. Do you count the $2.8M we are paying Beni? (What about the Betts money?) Beni makes $6.6M and has one more arb year left. Interestingly, Beni's $6.6M -$2.8M = $3.8M, almost the exact same as Renfroe + Cordero, but had we kept Beni and not added Renfroe and Cordero, we'd still have to pay the second player over $700K and Beni $6.6M, so a total of $7.3M to $3.9M.

Renfroe or a Renfrfoe/Cordero platoon is likely better than Beni, too.

Yes, but nobody answered my question: would adding JBJ & Odorizzi make us serious contenders in 2021?

The obvious choice is EHern with Arroyo, Chavis & Gonzalez splitting time at 2B.

If we signed Odorizzi, Bick Dick would not be needed.

Ooops. I went back and edited.

I predict Duran & Houck start the season in AAA. Houck has the better chance at beginning the season in the bigs, due to Sale being on the 60 day IL and the fragility of 3 other starters, but even if Houck does start in the bigs, my guess is, he will be sent down for enough time to gain a year of control AND to limit his IP, this year, which should be part of any plan, as it is. Duran's best hope is that Cordero flops or gets hurt, but even if he does, we have Marwin, EHern and Chavis who can play OF and Arroyo, Marwin or Chavis to play 2B, if EHern plays OF. I may be over hyping the team control aspect of the choices, but there are several other valid reasons to keep both in the minors for significant periods of the 2021 season. Again, Houck's IP will surely be limited, so why not do that by sending him to AAA for a period of time? Duran is still learning the OF position. He's just made a major adjustment to his hitting approach. He has not produced good numbers at a high level of the minors for any significant period of time. We have 6 guys out of our 13 everyday players that can play OF without Duran with maybe EHern being the best of the 6 on defense not even being slated to play the OF on opening day.

If we were to suddenly spring to life and sign Odorizzi & JBJ to deals (or even 2 of the 3), how close would we be to being considered top contenders, which I define as being heavy favorites to make the playoffs and a reasonable chance at advancing at least 1-2 rounds. 1. Verdugo RF 2. Bogey SS 3. Renfroe/Cordero LF 4. Devers 3B 5. JD DH 6. JBJ CF 7. Vaz C 8. Dalbec 1B 9. EHern 2B Bench: Plawecki, Renfroe or Cordero, Arroyo, Gonzalez SP1 Sale (60 day IL) SP2 ERod SP3 Eovaldi SP4 Richards SP5 Pivetta/Perez Closer: Ottavino RP2 Barnes RP3 D Hernandez RP4 Brasier RP5 Sawamura RP6 Andriese RP7 Perez or Pivetta RP8 Whitlock (Houck starts season in AAA.) (Brice DFA'd or traded-one after Sale is activated) Note: I doubt we add even one of these three, but play along...

I keep thinking I will start Part II, but I want to make sure the roster is set. My guess is, we make no more significant moves, but with Odorizzi & JBJ still out there, and the possibility of some sort of cut-rate bargain deal being out there, I've been holding off.

Agreed. I like this better: LF: Renfroe (Cordero platoon, if EHern in CF) CF: Cordero (EHern) RF: Verdugo

Why not? It's not just something you use with young studs. The rules are the rules, and if a GM does not use them to help his club, he'd be losing ground to all the others that do it. And, they all do it. Yes, the rules need to be fixed. It will be interesting to see how much more quickly players are brought up once the rules are changed. We could see the reverse happen, if the rules are set up in certain ways: young players brought up, too early, so as to maximize ML playing time.

Not surprising. Verdugo not playing. Duran >>> Verdugo. Chavis at DH. Chavis >>> JD. (Sarcasm alert.)

Let the games begin!

I doubt he cracks the top 40 Sox prospects, but someday...

There are times you need to act like the Mariners. There are several reasons to not start with Duran as our CF'er.