moonslav59

That one win was more attributable to playing in an easier division. Strength of schedule: 5th Sox & 13th SEA.

Trade suggestion: To PHI: Jarren Duran ($8M + 2 arbs) & Jordan Hicks ($12M x 2) plus $8M cash To MIN: Adrian Painter, K Campbell ($7.5M AAV), Dobbins & Sandlin To BOS: Joe Ryan (2 arbs at $6M + __M?)& Pablo Lopez ($21.8M x 2 but $18.4 tax hit) Cost to Sox: +$4M (+$1M tax line) Sign: E Suarez $14M x 3, J Polanco $14M x 3, Refsnyder $3M x 1 & S Matz $3.5M x 2 ____________________________ Crochet, Lopez, Ryan, Bello, Sandoval/Harrison/Crawford/ Early/ Tolle/Perales Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Matz, Fitts, Bernardino, Murphy/Kelly/Guerrero/Wink/Criswell 1. L Anthony LF 2. S Polanco 2B 3. L Abreu RF/ R Refsnyder RF 4. R E Suarez 1B/3B/DH 5. L Yoshida DH/ R Romy DH/1B 6. R Story SS 7. L Mayer 3B 8. R Narvaez C 9. R Rafaela CF

Add Eduardo Rivera back into the SP'er mix at AA or AAA.

Sox re-sign Eduardo Rivera, who is Rule 5 eligible.... https://heavy.com/sports/mlb/boston-red-sox/eduardo-rivera-signed/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily Heavy on Red Sox - Heavy Sports&utm_content=Daily Heavy on Red Sox - Heavy Sports+CID_0168952be2e69b80b9f6d22c7cb17db5&utm_source=Campaign Monitor&utm_term=Red Sox Sign 6-Foot-7 237-Pound Hard Throwing Lefty From Puerto Rico

Go JAYS!!!

SEA had one more win than the Sox, and had we not used Buehler for 112 IP, we'd maybe have passed them.

We gave Buehler 112 IP.

No need to underthink this. Our 1B need, including depth far exceeds the need for Realmuto. Choose one from 4 choices... Bregman (3B) & E Suarez (1B/3B) E Suarez (3B) & Alonso (1B) Bichette (2B) & Alonso (1B) w Mayer going to 3B from 2B/SS. Bichette (2B) and E Suarez (1B/3B) Plus... Trade for a #2 SP. Anything less is status quo and a wasted of a window season.

Bellinger is worth more as an OF'er to another team than us as 1Bman. Even if we trade 2 OF'ers, I doubt we sign him.

Some say the extensions was that money, but not me. If we don't spend right up to the tax line, at minimum, the sham is continuing.

I doubt having Casas is preventing Alonso.

It's gets way worse if the stiff doesn't spend the Devers' money.

Yes, It was not from the trade that made the promise come true.

I would not do it. We have a great need at 1B and have plenty of younger pitchers with some significant level of promise.

It's interesting to see SPOTRAC's 2026 budgets before any additions (rounded off): 240 LAD $230 NYM 210 ATL 195 SDP & TOR 190 PHI & NYY 165 BOS at #8 & CHC 160 HOU 150 TEX 140 SFG 125 LAA 120 MIL 100 ARI, SEA, KCR 75 COL 70 STL 60 TBR, CIN 50 MIN 45 WSH, ATH, CWS, CLE 30 PIT 20 BAL, MIA

There are a few issues with this idea: 1. According to SPOTRAC, the drop off between #2 (NYM) and #3 NYY is $37M, while the drop between #5 TOR and #6 HOU is just $23M. 2. The drop between #4 PHI and #5 TOR is $35. It's seems like the arbitrary line drawn was wrongly placed. It's more like LAD & NYM are in a class by themselves, with NYY and PHI in group farther away from TOR than TOR is from HOU. The Vladdy deal does seem to separate TOR from a team that refuses to go that large and long on any of their stars. Many have bolted- from Springer to Correa to Verlander & Cole, and they traded Tucker, last winter. In that sense, the line is valid. In reality, it looks kinda like this: 2- $340-350M LAD & NYM 2- $290-305M NYY & PHI 1- $255M TOR 2- $225-235 TEX & HOU 5- $200-215+ ATL, SDP, CHC, LAA, BOS 5- $155-175M+ SFG, ARI, SEA (#15 at $165M), BAL, DET 6- $120-130M+ KCR, STL, MIN, COL, MIL, COL, MIL, CIN 2- $100-110M WSH & CLE 5- $65-85M+ TBR, PIT, CWS, ATH, MIA

That was one promise they did keep, perhaps out of luck. They said they win more.

Kinda what I was getting at. I'm not sure I'd like every owner being like the Dodgers and Mets owners.

I'm not expecting anything more than disappointment, and yes bringing back Breggie and Gio, even add on Matz and Ref would be a bummer, to me. 1. It's doubtful they give us equal value in 2026 as 2025. 2. We still have not made up for losing Devers, and no, Anthony is not his replacement. 3. We ended up with an offense that came up way short, when it counted and were grasping at rookies to try and find a #2 SP'er we thought we might have had with Gio & Bello until September rolled around. This is the time to go bold. They made motions of grandeur, last winter with all the Soto and other overtures, and then actually shocked some of us by going $40M on Breggie, at the last minute. Months later they dumped Devers and made more promises. Now, Breggie has opted out, Gio too, and we await Story's choice. Ref & Matz are FAs. The much brighter outlook of last March is now no better than the outlook at March 2024. We still have a winter for moves and shakes. We need to get bold, but it's doubtful JH & Co. see it that way, or at least to the extent many of us feel they need to be. Only time will tell, but it's going to take a lot to satisfy me, yet I say that with very low expectations on what they will end up doing. I want a lot but am counting on next to nothing more than status quo.

Teams "count" on certain players, even if the "want" better. I'm pretty sure the Sox are counting on a FT Anthony, Rafaela, Narvaez, and if not traded, Duran and Abreu. Perhaps, they still plan to platoon Abreu and possibly Duran might begin one. They probably count on Story at SS or maybe longshot thinking- 2B. They might also "count on" Mayer to fill 2B or 3B with the idea that Romy & DHam are capable back-ups, if he gets hurt again. That's 6 of 9 slots before any OF'er is traded. (One could DH.) That leaves 2 slots uncounted on. (Brez & Co may see just 1- see my Romy-DHam comment.) 1B and 2B/3B. If we trade an OF'er, we can count DH as the third need. I'd like (want) three, but I'd be happy with 2 major high quality batters. Who Brez and Co is "counting on" is anybody's guess. He may think we can just roll it back or maybe replace Lowe with Hoskins and call it a day on the offense. God, I hope not.

And Anthony for Devers?

Yoshida is the ground ball to 2B poster boy. Okay, his BA is 40 points above Casas, but his OBP is lower by 10. Casas is 25 points ahead of Masa in SLG %. I'll take the slow poke who can hit 35 bombs and get on base more often. That's not even counting age regression and progression.

Yes, I called us "loonies". The top Sox OPS+ players of 2025- only 100+ listed: 151 Devers (334 PAs) gone in June 140 Anthony (303 PAs) Rookie season 131 Refsnyder (209 PAs) FA 128 Bregman (495 PAs) FA 128 Romy (341 PAs) Outlier season? 121 N Lowe (119 PAs) Probably non tendered 116 Abreu (417 PAs) Platooned in '25 114 Duran (654) Loonies wanna trade him for pitching 105 Eaton (90) Probably not on opening day 26 104 Story (654) 33 years old likely peaked out 100 Narvaez (446) Rookie season We are losing about 1050 PAs of OPS+ above 121. If we trade Duran, it almost 1750 PA of OPS+ above 114. That's between 25 and 30% of all our PAs and nearly a third the total PAs above 100. This is the starting point and we need to get better than 2025 on offense. I've been thinking 2 major additions might be enough, but we likely need 3 out of these 4 slots: 3B, 2B, 1B, DH Then, we need a dependable, solid #2 SP'er.

I really think our needs, though narrow (maybe 3 major additions,) are very significant.

If you knew both would be healthy and give you 650 PAs, then what?