moonslav59

Agreed. and we did spend way more this winter than last. Also, with Pedey's deal ending after this season, and a bunch of 1 year deals expiring (plus Barnes & ERod), I'm thinking next winter we'll see major expenditures.

I can see why people are down on the Sox. I, too, doubt we win more than 82-85 games, but that doesn't mean there isn't going to be a lot of excitement and storylines to watch. I'm way more optimistic about 2021 than 2020, and also that our farm is being built up faster than I imagined back in the days of talking about "the cliff."

Yup, LOL!

again, you're not fooling me.

You're not fooling me.

I'm sure there is more than the OF he's down on. The season is a disaster in his eyes.

My statement was not made based on 2 games. The team philosophy was not to improve our defense with acquisitions but more about trying to get the most out of what we have by focusing on the fundamentals and preparation.

I have to think it's kind of funny some of the "cliff deniers" are the now projecting doom & gloom, and many of the "cliff dwellers" are the more optimistic ones.

Maybe cut Richards a little slack?

Did you look at who started the vast majority of our games in 2020? Pro-rated to 162 games (2.7 x GS'd): 19 Godley 16 Mazza 14 Weber 11 Brewer 8 Hart 5 Kickham 5 Triggs 14 these 5 combined: Lever, Hall, Osich, Brice & Brasier That's 92 TOTAL! Give those to ERod, Richards, Sale and more from Houck & Pivetta. Maybe Perez & Eovaldi stay about the same as their pro-rated 2020: Perez 32> 32 Eovaldi 23>23 All you see is 7-12 more wins due to ERod?

I've been saying EHern is our best defensive CF'er almost from the day we signed him, but our second base options aren't all that great. I like Renfroe and Cordero better than Arroyo. Even with EHern in CF, our overall defense is a minus. Catcher: Vaz has some good metrics. I don't like the way he handles the staff, but I'm not sure that's called "defense." Call this position a push or a slight plus. 1B: I have faith that Dalbec can be a plus, but until he shows he is, I'm leaving this one as a slight minus. 2B: Arroyo/Chavis? Minus. EHern? Maybe a push. Overall? Lucky to be a push. 3B: Devers has the potential to be a plus, this year. He has plus range and a strong arm. It's the arm accuracy that makes this position a minus, for now. SS: People will argue with me, but he has some of the worst metrics over his career. At best, one could argue he's 18th or 20th out of 30, but I'd disagree. Okay, okay, he makes the plays he gets to. I want a SS that gets to make plays others dream about. Minus. LF: Maybe Renfroe & Cordero as a platoon can end up better than Beni. Push. CF: Cordero? Lost of promise, but a minus. EHern in CF? A plus. Overall? Maybe a puch to a minus. RF: Verdugo is a plus.

You really must have thought last year's team way over performed, if you think this team is just 5 wins better.

Our 2020 winning % projected to less than 65 wins. You really don't see us winning significantly more than that? Even 81 wins is 25% improvement, which I would think seems pretty meaningful to a lot of fans. I can't say I like your pessimism. Offense: we lost JBJ- you know the guys that drove 90% of this site nuts with his repeated and prolonged mega slumps. We gained Renfroe, EHern & Cordero. We have several young players (Devers, Bogey, Verdugo, Dalbec, Vaz, Renfroe and others nearing or in the meat of their primes. One can project a decline from JD due to his age, but I have to think he'll do better than 2020. Defense: Lost JBJ, which hurts. We gained EHern, Renfroe, Cordero and will see more from Dalbec and nothing from Moreland. Net loss. Pitching: Beating a dead horse. I won't spell it out, but between returning pitchers like ERod & Sale, more innings from Houck, Pivetta & Hern and additions like Richards, Ottavino and others versus the loss of the clowns we put out there last year, this isn't even close. If we can't gain 14-20 wins, I'll be shocked. My guess is, we win 16-24 more games.

Prioritized the need to work on it was more like it. Our D sucks, this year. We can work hard to make it suck less, but it sucks- badly.

My first preferred line-up had Kiki at lead off, and I got shot down. The low career OBP does seem like a deal breaker. I haven't put him there since.

I was super high on Ward, a while back. I've lost a bit of the optimism, but yes, he has some serious "stuff," but needs to build on his control. He may make it to AAA, this year, solet's see what's he's got at the higher levels.

He's nice AAAA depth. He put up decent numbers over 2 seasons, so we know he can get it done.

From what I've heard, it may be great defense. Let's hope the offense is not a drag.

Many of the examples in that song are not really irony.

Big surprise! (Sarcasm alert)

I had been giving poster one a lot of grief about being such a debbie downer, so I felt my sarcasm would be obvious.

I was being sarcastic when I said "boring."

2020 Starting Pitchers By IP'd: Red= Will have zero IP for the Sox in 2021 Blue= Will likely have less IP in 2021(pro-rated) IP Starter GS 62 Perez 12 48 Eovaldi 9 25 Godley 7 23 Mazza 6 19 Weber 5 17 Houck 3 14 Brewer 4 10 Pivetta 2 9 Hart 3 7 Kickham 2 4 Triggs 2 3 Hall 1 2 Osich 1 1 Brice 1 1 Brasier 1 1 Lever 1 Pen By IP'd 30 Valdez 24 Weber 24 Brasier 23 Barnes 20 Springs 19 Brice 14 Covey 13 Stock 13 Walden 11 Brewer 10 Hembree 8 DHern 7 Kickham 7 Taylor 7 Workman 7 Mazza 6 Hall 4 Tapia 4 Godley 4 Triggs 4 Lever 2 Hart 1 Lin, Plawecki, Peraza Pitchers who should see significantly more IP in 2021 than 2020 (prorated): SP ERod Richards Sale Pivetta Houck (Andriese, Whitlock, Seabold, Mata) RP: Ottavino Andriese Sawamura DHern Taylor Whitlock (Bazardo, Houck)

Those games were so boring.

On paper, we're light years better than 2020.