moonslav59

As of now, before all FAs are signed, I think 86.

The only reason I think this may be hard to do is that we currently have 7 "main starters" with Sale sure to start the season on the IL- maybe even the 60 day IL. That leaves no room for anyone else to start on the IL for Houck to be considered the 6th starter. I suppose, we could start and "opener" every 5th day, or start someone like Whitlock. It may be more likely that Houck starts as a starter and is moved to the pen, when someone comes back from the IL- like Sale.

The Yanks have stayed about even, but were good to start with. The Jays improved. What other AL team got better over the winter? Some, clearly got worse, on paper. I think the Sox got better- not even factoring in returning players from injury and COVID or players possibly rebounding from bad years. Yes, we play a ton of games against NY & TOR, but if we win 2 out of 5 vs them and 3 out of 5 against the others, we'll likely make the playoffs. Those are big "ifs," but I find it interesting that some posters who railed against the idea that the "cliff" and that the idea was a joke are now preaching doom & gloom, while many that were sure of the "cliff" coming are now optimistic- maybe overly so.

Good point. I never thought of this, despite our city, Sugar Land, Texas, having the Skeeters as an Indy team for years.

I knid of expected several bargain basement moves by Bloom. Maybe some are in the works, but too many will put us over the tax line, unless we trade salary....not likely after a deal like Ottavino's.

...and maybe a handful of players that would have made MLB but got squeezed out of ever getting a shot at the minors. Yes, neither new nor tragic.

Have you looked at the rosters of most AL teams?

I meant for the players that don't make any teams, anywhere. The whole cake will be shrunk. Many players, a few of which could possibly be good ML players at some point, will never get a look see. That, of course, happens now to those who never make any teams or happen to suck when they get their brief look see. I don't see overseas leagues expanding. Maybe more Americans go to play there, but I'm not sure they want a heck of a lot more.

Indeed, although many of those 100 are low impact players. That's why I said "As of now..."

The Richard O'Connell Years (GM 1965-1977) Fisk had a brief cameo in 1969, but came up in 1971. FT in 1972. Ben Oglivie in 1971. (Traded in '74.) Cecil Cooper in 1971 for a few games. ('73 30 gms/1974 121 gms) Dwight Evans in 1972 (FT by '74) Jim Rice in 1974 (FT in '75) Fred Lynn in 1974 (FT in '75) Rick Burleson in 1974. (FT by '75 and traded by '81) Butch Hobson in 1976 (after 4 PAs in '75/ FT by '77) Then, Haywood Sullivan took over and it was all over, so quickly. Lou Gorman brought us '86, and Duquette set the stage for Port/Theo & Co.

What would be the mechanism for undrafted players to get a chance? Maybe there would be none, and we just write off the few Mike Piazzas. Maybe tryouts are held or some kind of combine for undrafted players. The future seems to be headed towards less minor league teams and players.

It's hard to put a number on total Sox wins projections. So many question marks. So many AL teams got worse over the winter, although additions are not over, yet. The Sox should improve, based on additions and returning players from injury. By how much? As of now, I'm thinking 84-86 wins. Coming close to a playoff slot.

That year will be 2022. Book it.

Jake McGee signs with SFG for $7M/2 Adam Duval signs with Marlins $2M with $3M buyout for $7M year 2. Astros sign Steve Cishek to minor league deal.Nate Jones to Braves on minor league deal, too.

Is it that costly to just keep both places stocked, independently, with balls, bats and gum?

I never heard about this. It reminds me of when Manny yelled at Youk, and many fans took Youk's side, when later, several players said Youk needed a "talking to."

Good point. Or, we limit Houk's innings by starting him in the pen, but them move him to the rotation and slide Pivetta to the pen. Yes, lot's of what ifs. Could Whitlock even rise to a rotation slot?

If, and it's a big if, 6 of our 7 starting pitchers are healthy, one will certainly be used in the pen. Maybe Pivetta fits the profile best of all. Maybe the pen is one way to limit Houck's innings. If, miracles of miracles, all 7 are healthy at once, our pen could actually be a net plus.

Yes, basically Perez started 20% of our games and might come close to that, this year. Eovaldi started 15%- maybe the same there. Houck started 5%. 26 of our 60 starts were from Perez, Eovaldi, Houck & Pivetta- starters expected to start some, this year. 34 out of 60 starts (57%) of our starts were from pitchers that might not start a single game in 2021 (hopefully). This is an area for massive improvement. There is no way anyone can characterize the 2021 rotation as the same as 2020, except for adding Richards. The pen added Ottavino, Andriese and others and lost Workman and Hembree- Push? Our offense in 2021 should be better than 2020. We lost JBJ, who had a good year in 2020. We added Renfroe and EHern, and will have Dalbec all season. I won't get into expecting rebounds from JD, Devers and Beni, but it's not a stretch to think we may be a top 3-5 scoring team in the AL. Runs scored in 2020: 315 NYY- added nothing to offense (lost Gardner) 306 CWS- added Adam Eaton 302 TOR- added George Springer & Marcus Semien 294 LAA- added nothing to offense 292 BOS- added Renfroe & EHern (lost JBJ) 289 TBR- added no offense 279 HOU- added no offense (lost Springer) 274 OAK- added no offense 274 BAL 269 MN 254 SEA 249 DET 248 KCR & CLE 224 TX

Yes, just because Munoz might be a slightly better choice, the Sox may not want to DFA or trade someone, just to make room for Munoz to be called up. I was a bit surprised Munoz cleared waivers.

Here is a look at our IP leaders for 2020 and 2019 combined (2020) 203 (0) ERod 174 (0) Porcello 147 (0) Sale 116 (48)Eovaldi 107 (0) Price 91 (13) Walden 87 (23) Barnes 84 (43) Weber 81 (25) Brasier 80 (26) Brewer 78 (7) Workman 62 (62) Perez 56 (0) Velazquez 55 (7) Taylor 54 (0) Cashner 49 (10) Hembree 40 (0) Johnson 39 (8) DHern Just 2020 Listed (ERA+): 62 Perez 104 48 Eovaldi 126 43 Weber 107 30 Valdez 144 30 Mazza 98 29 Godley 58 26 Brewer 84 25 Brasier 119 23 Barnes 109 20 Springs 67 20 Brice 79 17 Houck 895 16 Osich 83 14 Covey 67 & Kickham 62 13 Stock101 & Walden 50 11 Hart 32 10 Pivetta 267 10 Hembree 86 9 M Hall 26 8 DHern 224 8 Triggs 108 7 Taylor 49 & Workman 120 11 from 5 players combined 0 Sale 0 ERod 0 Richards 0 Ottavino 0 Andriese 0 Whitlock If the 13 players in Red pitch most of our 2021 innings, it's easy to see how we can see a major improvement over the 2020 numbers. The players in RED only pitched 37% of our innings in 2020. (193/524)

mlb-mlbpa-reach-deal-on-health-and-safety-protocols

But all this happened starting at age 27- same as Pivetta is now. Hassler ERA+ 91 up to age 26 112 ages 27-30 135 ages 28-30 Pivetta 79 up to age 27 84 ages 25-27

I think their defense is already ML ready, but I like Munoz better than both. (I have high hopes for Rosario, but not in 2021.)

Yes, he became a RP'er with a few spot starts after 1977, so the comp is a bit off, but yes, he did fairly well for several years: ERA+ 140 w BOS in '78 (102 with KC time combined 88 IP) 84 in '79 (96 IP) 147 in '80 (95 IP 114 in '81 (72 IP) 146 in '82 (71 IP)