moonslav59

I certainly agree, he'd be better at 2B than 3B, but that wasn't my question. If Mayer plays SS, Story 2B and Breggie bolts, who plays 3B?

I was surprised at how quickly Story's defense declined. I doubt it was just rustiness. That being said, we did not see our worst D at SS this year: DRS at SS -13 2018 -13 2017 -7 2024 & 2019 -6 2020 (projects to -16) -6 2025 -3 2021 +4 2023 +5 2022 2025 tied with 2024 with the worst OAA at -10 with 2019 at -9

Agreed. Do you think Story could play 3B well enough?

...and this is why many of my trades center on Duran. He'd be worth more to other teams than us. Our replacement for him is light years better than who he replaces on his new team. That is actually the most significant factor in the choice to trade him. Nobody else is looking at DH'ing a guy Like Duran or benching Rafaela, Abreu or gasp... Anthony. Nore do they have Jh Garcia and Campbell types in reserve, as well.

Some said he wasn't good on D. Some asked where is the leadership, when the team kept imploding, but most knew the roster was being decimated and did not blame Bogey, JD, or others for our lack of winning. Most blamed Bloom and or JH x 22.

Also, the Pivetta trade.

He didn't refuse the money given for Story and Masa. Kinda hard for me to prove, and you as well on your point that he preferred to not have a bigger budget. I seriously doubt any GM turns down more money, year after year.

I've been saying two, but one big bat would get us pretty close... 1. Anthony CF 2. Story SS 3. Abreu RF 4. Alonso 1B 5. Duran- Jh Garcia LF 6. Yoshida-Romy/Campbell DH 7. Casas-Romy/Campbell 1B 8. Mayer 3B 9. Narvaez C If Breggie comes back and we add Alonso, we'd be fine.

You have the link that says Cora specifically asked Devers to play 1B?

I thought TOR had some serious weak areas and were not much better than us or the NYY/SEA/DET... I'm not so sure, anymore, but one thing that is very helpful- just look at previous Sox championship seasons- is that their top SP'ers pitched from wire to wire, even if not having their best seasons. They showed up. Ours did not. GS/ ERA+ 32 Gausman 119 (despite turning 84) 31 Bassitt 108 (despite turning 86) 30 Berrios 102 (despite turning 80) Okay, 34, 36 and 30, but still: 93 starts from their big 3. Their top 7 batters by most PAs were all over .710 (about the league norm.) Then, they had two guys with over 225 PAs over .795. The Sox had... 32 Crochet 159 9 Houck 51 0 Crawford (out all year) Okay, maybe call one of these guys are #3: 26 Gio 120 28 Bello 123 These two plus Crochet did equal 86 GS, and they were a major reason we made the playoffs, but imagine if Houck & Crawford pitched like 2024 and we had Gio & Bello doing this well! In all fairness, the Sox did have all of our top 9 batters by PAs at .708 or better, but one was Devers. Toro (.659) was #10 and KC at #11 (.664) but Ref helped out a lot at 209 PAs (.838) and Yoshida (.696) came on at the end to give us the boost we needed. Check these GS numbers out in our ring years: 2004: 33 Pedro, 33 lowe, 32 Schilling, 30 Wake, 29 Arroyo! That was amazing! 2007: 32 Dice K, 31 Wake, 30 Beckett, 24 Schill, 34 Tavarez+ Lester 2013: 33 Lester, 29 Lackey, 29 Dempster, 27 Doubront, 26 Buch+ Peavy 2018: 33 Porcello, 30 Price, 27 Sale, 23 ERod, 35 Nate/PomPom/Johnson

Ryan has a $5.8M arb estimate for 2026, so trading Duran plus for him would actually save us money. Of course, it would also accentuate the need for a big boost to the offense, but with the hopes that Anthony an be a near .900 batter, we might be able to get by with just one real big addition (Alonso/Schwarber) or two significant ones ( 3B Bregman/Suarez and 1B Suarez/Hoskins/Naylor or 2B Polanco/Torres/ Marte trade)

I do think JH would allow us to go over the tax line, but I think he'd prefer we don't. I think Bloom would have spent more, if allowed to.

It's a longshot idea, but I don't do it, unless it affords us the ability to win a bidding war for a big bat- a bat much bigger than Duran's or Masa's. More likely, we just trade Duran ("saving" $2 to 8M) plus prospects for someone like Joe Ryan (est $6M arb) and just sit tight with Masa and Hicks in hopes they step it up a little. Add the $2M to the estimated $43M we have to spend this winter and we get to $45M. Maybe we make a second trade involving Campbell ($7.5M AAV) of find a way to exchange contracts like Hicks plus ____ for Sean Murphy, or make a deal for an inexpensive Yandy Diaz. These types of deal fill one or two of our big needs while focusing the budget money on fewer and fewer need areas- like just one or two major FA splurges- like Alonso or Schwarner or E Bregman/Suarez/Hoskins + Torres/Polanco. I'm just talking various strategies and theories we can use to free up a few more bucks so we can pay for higher quality players.

I could see a Duran-Campbell or Duran-Romy DH position being very productive.

I'd be thrilled to get Schwarber or Alonso, and from what I'm now reading about Alonso's defense, the two look pretty even, now. I'd look at cost, years and age (Schwarber is about 2 years older.) I'd rather get one of these two than Hoskins and G Torres.

Sox players hardly ever get back when "expected." I do expect Anthony, Mayer & Narvaez to be over their current injuries by game 1 of ST'ing. Crawford is a close call. Dobbins & Casas are question marks.

Spotrac has Alonso getting $5M more AAV than Schwarber. It's hard to guess how many years each gets, but I'll take Alonso. We aren't going to trade Yoshida, and we have players like Duran and Campbell who profile best at DH. As much as I like Schwarber, adding a DH further harms our defense by forcing poor defenders into on field positions. I'd also look at E Suarez, since he can play 3B (barely) or be moved to 1B, if we go with Mayer or Story at 3B, next year (or if we keep Bregman.) If we do keep Bregman, even Suarez might cost too much to sign, and certainly Alonso & Schwarber would be off the wish list. It might end up like: Bregman 3B, Hoskins 1B, Mayer/Story at middle infield. Yoshida/Romy DH. Trade an OF + young pitching or Crawford for a better pitcher.

I'd love adding another catcher, especially one who hits well enough to DH or play a decent 1B, when not catching, but I think JH will have a limit on spending, and we just used a lot of prospect capital to get Crochet, so I'm not sure Brez has another one in the works. We have a lot of young talent log-jammed in the OF and promising pitching depth. As long as we trade for a solid #2 SP'er and or a big bat that plays 3B, 2B or 1B, I'd be okay with trading from strength. Making a big trade then takes the winter spending budget and divides it by 2 not 3, or 3 not 4, thereby allowing us to add higher quality players (in theory.) If we have $45M to spend, dividing by 2 is way better than by 3 or 4. I'd rather get one $28M and one $17M player than three at $15M or four at $11M. To me, a big trade is essential but maybe not probable.

Of course the idea is predicated on allowing us to get the big bat we need by spending the money needed to get him.

At least we have many pitchers with promise to roll the dice on. Some should do better in 2026, and that can make up for more human efforts by C & C.

Sox Injury Update per MLB.com: Narvaez: will have knee surgery to repair his meniscus, but "should be fine for ST'ing." Anthony oblique & Mayer: Right wrist. "Might have made it back" had the Sox advanced in the playoffs. Crawford: Right wrist subsheath tear. Had surgery July 2nd. "Expected to have normal offseason and be ready for the start ST'ing." Dobbins: Right ACL tear. Had surgery to repair ACL on AUG 13th. Injured on July 11th. "Expected return: 2026." Another site says ready for start if ST'ing. Casas: Ruptured patellar tendon in left knee. Has progressed "on schedule." He "expects to be ready for ST'ing." Houck: Torn ulnar collateral ligament in right elbow: had TJS. Expected to return very "late '26 or (early) '27"

One thing in Devers' favor was that apparently he wasn't asked to play 1B by his manager. I'm not big on the blame game, so I'll just call it a push. I'm happy with the new direction the team has taken from the farm to the 40 to the 26.

MLBTR projects the Sox arb amounts: Nathaniel Lowe (5.145): $13.5MM (I think we do not offer him an arb.) Jarren Duran (3.155): $8.4MM (Red Sox hold an $8MM club option with a $100K buyout) Tanner Houck (4.100): $3.95MM (Will miss the 2026 season.) Kutter Crawford (3.136): $2.75MM Romy Gonzalez (3.083): $1.8MM Connor Wong (3.079): $1.6MM Triston Casas (3.032): $1.7MM Brennan Bernardino (2.150): $1.1MM Josh Winckowski: (3.003): $800K No Lowe and the arb cost will be about $22M

Yes, year to year, but as players near 31, their contracts don't always go up, unless it's their first tatse of free agency, or they are late bloomers.

I think Vladdy was grossly overpaid- perhaps because he is the face of the TOR club seaking to capitalize on a window of opportunity to win a ring. There are so many more contracts like Teoscar, Santander, Alonso and Adams than Vladdy & Soto. fWAR is greatly influenced by more PAs, and Alson is 6th in PAs since 2023. He's 62nd in fWAR at 8.4. He's 25th in wRC+ among 103 players with 1500+ PAs. 22nd in OPS (just above Duran & Naylor)