moonslav59

The talk here in HOU is "fire sale."

Only 6 minor league players have more PAs and a better OPS (1.122) than Arias and 8 have a higher wRC+ than Arias (180.)

Some cherry-picked SP'er sample sizes: ERA/FIP 0.00/1.44 Suarez last 2 starts (12 IP) 1.17/2.45 last 5 starts (30.2 IP) 0.82/3.65 Gray last 2 starts (11 IP) 1.35/1.76 Bello last 2 games (13.1 IP) 1.32/3.47 last 3 starts (13.2 IP) 2.25/2.69 Tolle last 2 starts (12 IP) & 2.78/2.80 season (4GS and 22.2 IP) 3.16/4.35 Early for the season (8GS 42.2 IP) last start 0.00 ERA over 7 IP

By the time the deadline arrives, we'll be sellers not buyers.

It's also been nice to see a 2Bman that can actually make all the routine plays and then some. Too bad our 2B/3B combo can't hit over .620. In fact, these positions as a whole are both below .570! .491 3B .567 2B .574 SS (Not much better) .626 LF, .652 DH, .673 CF (Duran brings down Ceddanne's boost) .803 1B & .864 RF

Woo won 6-2. Sogard & Delay w 2 hits each. POR won 9-6 as Ziehl let up 11 hits and 6 runs in 5IP. Brannon hit his 6th HR and is white hot. McDonough and Ferguson also homered. Arias went 1-3 w 2 BB (1.122 OPS.) GRE lost 10-4. Winnay hit a dinger and Godbout (.908) & Gonzales (.872) each had 2 hits, as did Mason White (.934) Azocar (.807) has 2 hits in SAL's 3-1 loss.

Ceddanne is now up to .775. That's 3rd best on the team and better than the mean of MLB players who qualify with enough PAs. The league OPS is .708. Rafaela got up around .775, last year, too (.796 on July 13th) but ended at .708.

Sonny and Rafaela come through tonight. I'd like to be able to say maybe this is the start of something, but I'm not feeling it.

Understood. (I fixed your Abreu DH boo boo.) A lot wanted Alonso and or Bregman. I suppose we could have gotten Contreras and used Alonso at DH and traded an OF'er, but now we are going several moves deep. Bregman, Alonso and Contreras and a Duran trade might be something several posters would have liked, but with the limited budget, it would have likely meant no Ranger and Sonny.

Those that really wanted Schwarber have a leg to stand on, and I liked him a lot, too, but I'm not sure when the last time any Sox GM had early results like this on thier 3 major additions (Suarez, Contreras and Gray.) Again, this is not meant as "defending Breslow," buts is anyone saying those moves suck? We had a playoff team, last year and added those three. Our major 3 losses were Bregman, Giolito and Refsnyder/Bernardino. If someone had read me the May 13th stats of these 3 guys back on day one, I'd have guessed we would be first or second in the ALE. Ultimately, rightly or wrongly, the GM is the guy who takes the hit for a failing team, and the 2026 Sox are no different. He left some gaping holes, namely a big bat (2B/3B) and a solid pen arm addition. He relied too much on rookies and resurgences from Duran, Crawford and Sandoval. Those were mistakes whether we noticed them on April 1st or not. I can understand the anger, but to me, the players deserve most of the ire.

Fair enough. I became a Sox fan when my favorite player, Tommy Harper, was traded to the Sox. I stayed a Sox fan despite the racial discrimination he faced and all the crapola that followed with Fisk, Burleson, Bill Lee and on and on... I'm not going anywhere. I don't see Brez as a fascist, and I'm not sure what kinda person he is. Don't take that as a defense, cause I don't really know enough to have an opinion on what you have stated here.

Dec 2027 is a long way away.

While many of our farm pitching prospects have looked good or great to start the season, a few the everyday players have stepped up in big ways. Arias had some questions about his bat after being promoted for 10 games, last year at age 19. He's amazed even his most ardent followers. BA already jumped him up to 16th, and if he keeps up even close to this pace he might be top 10 in some midseason rankings. Gonzales doesn't turn 20 until DEC, and he's off to a very nice start in A+ (.863.) He cracked the BA top 100 (98th) and might be in quite a few top 80 or 100 by summer. It's always hard to gauge players this young, and despite both being at levels with much older players, these two are looking real fine. I'm doubtful any other everyday players crack the top 100 by the end of the season, but some players are showing a lot of upside, so far: Godbout turns 23 shortly after this season and has already made the top 10 soxprospects,com rankings list. He's at .914, so far and has 6 HRs in just 94 ABs in A+ ball. Cespedes turns 21 in SEP, and was highly regarded when signed as an IFA in 2023. He struggles a lot, but seems to have found his stride, this spring at GRE. (.950 with 7 HRs in 124 ABs.) Yophery Rodriquez is 20 is at A+ and super hot. (.980 and 9 Hrs in 101 ABs) Some others are very young, and FCL's season just started. Here are soxprospects,com's highest remaining prospects: 9. Soto (18 at FCL) 12. Azocar (19 at A-) .826 w 5 Hrs and 6 SBs in 124 ABs 13. Romero (22 at AAA) Slow start (.590) 15. Ramos (18 at FCL) 16. Rivas (18 at FCL) 28. Silverio (17 at DSL) and 29. Brito (17 at DSL) 30. G Rodriguez (20 and slow start at A+) and Heyman (22 and at .883 at A-) 33. Primera (FCL) 34. Mason White (.921 at A+) and 37. Carson (FCL)

Note: This is neither a defense or a criticism of Breslow, but this is the roster and farm he inherited: EOY Roster for 2023 Sale (IL) Kluber (IL) Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Houck, Paxton Jansen, Martin (IL) Whitlock, Winckowski, Bernardino, Schreiber, Blier, Joely, Llovera, Murphy, Jacques, Brasier, Kelly, N Robertson Wong, McGuire (Ronald Hernandez) Dalbec (Casas) EValdez, P Reyes/Urias (McDonough) Story, Arroyo (Koss/ Kike was traded away) Devers (Sogard) Yoshida/Refsnyder Duran Verdugo/Duvall Turner Farm by rankings: Anthony, Mayer, Teel, Rafaela, Bleis, Yorke, Perales, Abreu, Wikelman, Cespedes, Zanetello, Meidroth, Castro, Jo garcia, Drohan, Hickey, Paulino, Romero, Jordan, Monegro, DHam,... Dobbins, E R-C, Guerrero...Mata...Arias Things were not all that great, and the farm was not looking all that great, either. JH did start allowing more spending, but not a big jump.

I don't think saying Breslow's choices were better than our awful choices is defending him. It's more about how s***** we were. Being slightly better than s***** is not a defense.

I'm not one to think players are ruined by rushing them, but I don't see the use with these two. Maybe give some from Romero, KC, Ward, Sogard, Eaton, Capra & Seigler a look-see, but jumping guys who have just joined AA ball might not be a great idea. That being said, I'd like watching the games more.

To me, the worst was after we lost Betts and did not replace his and many more to follow's salaries, in kind. We got so low, that the recent uptick in spending is like bringing a squirt gun to a raging fire, but adding guys like Suarez, Contreras and Gray appeal more to me than Mazza, Godley,Kickham and Jose Peraza. I get how sucking year after year has an accumulating effect, but that sucked more to me.

Well said. I still watch just about every pitch of every games, but that's just because I have OCD. I do still enjoy watching many aspects of the game and try to focus on a few players I see as having hopes of becoming much better, I do think some of our players are vastly underperforming what maybe they can still give us, but I'm not holding my breath or predicting enough of them improve enough to get us anywhere. The fact that rest of the AL sucks and a bad team or two will likely squeak into the playoffs and maybe one could be us is nothing fun to root for.

Not all all. Our ideas sucked. Saying Brez did better than us is not anything good, at all. Saying some of his moves worked out good and or better than out choices, is not saying his overall work should be or is being praised.

"Carrying water for Breslow." LMAO

Apparently, the more specialized and improved pens negated the need to boot the SP'er out of the game as early as possible, but that shouldn't mean walks are not still a powerful tool on offense.

Yes, you are having a rough rough time supporting your claims against non existent posters.

Two of the team's biggest issues have been Story and Yoshida, and we all know Brez has few choices, if any, to do anything about both of them.

Arf all you want, but maybe 90% of the posters who want Brez fired are also the arm chair GMs that had worse winter ideas than Brez. It's okay to be okay with that and also bark like a wounded dog.

IMO, they all share in the blame, and the budget limits and no trade clause rule are major factors in why Brez did not do what many of us and maybe he wanted to do. Yes, Brez is responsible for the roster- maybe less so for returning vets on the team since the Bloom era, who were untradeable or near so, but still yes. I don't disagree. My point is, and this is not "high-fiving" is that he caught a lot of grief over the winter choices he made. There were many choices, and each of us had our own ideas. I refuse to think he could have spent much more money than he ended up spending, so to me the talk is mostly an either/or type discussion. You wanted Schwarber and Bregman, but no way we'd get them and Contreras, Suarez and Gray. I wanted Alonso or Schwarber and a trade for someone like Marte (and later Neto came into the talks, briefly.) I also wanted one major pitcher like Suarez. (I would not have spent big on two: Suarez and Gray, while the we skimped on offense.) I look at the bottom line for this winter: Added: Suarez, Gray & Contreras with lesser adds like Durbin, IKF, Oviedo, Monasterio, Samaniego & Watson) I don't see the major additions as the reason we suck. I'm not sure adding Alonso, Bregman or Schwarber over Suarez would have added significantly more wins. There are other areas to blame Brez for, but this would not be my choice to focus on. I'm not telling others they can not rip him for those choices, and I agreed on the theory that we skimped on batting and over-emphasized SP'ers, but the main failure of this team has been the returning vets and non-pitching youngsters. Was Brez supposed to add 3-4 big impact players PLUS swap out Duran, Story, Yoshida, Bello, Crawford, Sandoval and maybe Mayer, Anthony and Crochet, since none have helped much? I'm not casting stones at other posters, but I'll use myself as an example. Had we added 4 of my selected choices and nothing else, would we be much better off? Alonso or Schwarber Marte (Mayer at 3B or No Mayer since he'd be part of the trade) Ranger Suarez or Joe Ryan/Lodolo/Mitch Keller ESuarez/Polanco/TShaw No Gray, Contreras, Durbin or IKF (No Duran & Tolle or whoever was traded for Marte) I'd say it's an easy no answer, so I find it hard to bash a guy who did better than my ideas, this winter. IMO, Brez did better than most of the ideas thrown around here, last winter, and no that's not anointing him king GM.