moonslav59

Probably not, but we lose Wilson and some of the others are kinda sketchy.

The depth did better than I imagined, as did Gio & Bello. Crochet pitched more innings and better than I imagined. (Priester did better, but for another team.) I hope our 2026 rotation can do as well as 2025. If we get another SP, we can do better, as we should try to be.

I think we protect Sandlin. Mullins & Paez are on the bubble but IMO a no. Monegro is a no due to the injury. Bubble, otherwise. Uberstine is a no. Other no's: Hickey, Castro, Drohan and all others,

I liked the preseason look of 2025 more than this, and that was with serious doubts about Gio, Bello and concerns about Houck's second half of '24, Crawford's repeating 2024 and Crochet's ability to go over 150 IP.

Maybe Harrison would be the 2026 Priester. I'm reading Dobbins will be 100% on opening day of ST'ing. W4e started the 2025 season (after day one, as 60 Day players start on the 40)with Sandoval, Penrod & Murphy on the 60 Day IL. Crawford, Bello, Gio & Perales started on the shorter IL. That was 7 pitchers (5 SP/ 2 RP) on the opening day 40 man roster starting the season on the IL. Our starting 5 was Crochet, Houck, Buehler, Fitts & Newcomb. We had these SP'ers on the 40 but not 26: Priester, Dobbins, Criswell & Wink (pen?) 5 OD rotation, 5 IL, 3-4 in minors and on the 40. That's 13-14, and it wasn't enough. We traded Newcomb & Priester but acquired Harrison & May. We added Early, Tolle & de Leon and still used Bernardino as an opener 3 times. We have room to add one major SP'er and still ha ve the same or less SP'ers on the 40 as 2025. Crochet, ____, Bello, Sandoval, Crawford To 60 Day IL day 1: Houck AAA: Early, Harrison, Dobbins, Fitts, Perales, (Pen? Tolle & Criswell) That's 13, but going to 12 once Houck goes on the 60. Again, I'm not sure Brez will do it, but I'd add a #2.

From what I've heard, Jh Garcia is already a better defender than Duran and might be better than Anthony (no knock on Roman.) JG's bat is unproven and likely starts as a platoon, but with so many lefties and Rafaela having reverse splits, we can cover him. (I'm assuming Ref does not return. If he does, then this becomes questionable.) I am also very far from giving up on KC. Someone said he has a "long road back." If he's not back, soon, he likely never will be. The guy can hit. IMO, he will at the major level and soon. His issue is defense.

No.

Again, I'm not for the idea, but I'm not handing Duran and Abreu away. The theory is their trade returns significantly boost 2 of our weakest areas by exploiting our OF depth.

Houck is out until 2027, and we lost Gio & Buehler. Fitts proved nothing. Perales has a long way to go to prove he's for real. Dobbins and Crawford showed promise at the MLB level, but should be viewed as #5s. If Sandoval is healthy, he's maye a #4. We went into 2025 with 11-12 SP'ers with MLB promise, and that wasn't even counting Early & Tolle, and we still ended up looking around for a SP at the deadline and for game 3 of the playoffs. #1 Crochet #3 Bello #4 Sandoval, if healthy #5 Crawford, Dobbins, Early #6 Harrison, Fitts, Tolle (pen?) Criswell, Perales Love the depth: hate the lack of top quality SP'ers, other than Crochet. I'm not saying Brez will add a #2, but I hope to hell he does.

Do you think the talk of getting Joe Ryan at the deadline was sincere?

Maybe a Merrill Kelly type 1-2 year deal.

Yup.

The idea is to give them about $10M of value which includes subtracting the Hicks underwater value, and yes, no Early. How does BTV view Harrison, Hicks, Cespedes and Bleis?

Wow. I knew it got more expensive near the end, but didn't know the end was now. I'd bring up Masa, but I doubt we can even give them Hicks.

More likely, we make one or two somewhat significant trades. Duran, _____ & _____ for Ryan Campbell, _____ & ______ for K Marte One or two mid level signings.

I'm not suggesting we can just get any team to trade us their best young pitching, but here is a list of the top fWAR pitchers under 29: 10.8 Skenes 10.4 Crochet 7.9 Yamamoto 7.7 Hunter Brown 6.9 Cole Ragans 6.6 Georger Kirby 6.5 M Gore 6.1 Luzardo, 6.0 Skubal, 5.8 Woo 5.2 Bibee, 5.1 Schwellen., 4.9 Abbott, Soriano & Lodolo 4.8 Pfaadt, 4.7 C Sanchez, 4.4 L Webb, 4.3 T Rogers 4.0 Bello & L Gilbert, 3.9 Pepiot & Olsen 3.7 R Nelson, 3.3 Bubic & T Bradley, 3.1 Parker & Wood Rich. 3.0 S Baz

That's what I'm afraid of. I would not be shocked if all we do is go back to signing a $10M/1 pitcher, a $3M RP'er and waiting to scour the waiver wire for another summer's 1Bman claim. Run back 2B with DHam, Romy and Sogard. God, I hope not, but again, my expectations on JH are nil. I do have expectations for Brez & Co, but JH's wallet has something to do with that, too.

The plan should have gone further from day one. DH Casas 1B Devers 3B Bregman No "DH for life" promises to Devers. No "Making me play every position," from Devers' mouth. I'm still convinced nobody can be a worse defensive 1Bman than Casas, so just hand Devers the job, day one. Besides, he said he wanted to "stay on the field," so let him... at 1B. Casas is a fragile China Doll, so DH'ing made sense, too, although he'd still find a way to get hurt just swinging a bat or running to 1B, so there is that.

Good thing Brez won on that one.

We could likely get by with 3, maybe even two major additions, but I mean major. 3B or 2B (Mayer or Story plays the other.) SP2 1B (Not DH)

One of the last things I want to see is Masa in the OF, but it did seem strange that Sox management kept Masa down all year while he "bult up his throwing arm strength." I guess when you have a team with 4-5 guys who suck on D, you look for ways to let them DH instead of a low-powered batter like Yoshida.

Nobody knows, and that's why anything anyone suggests is "highly unlikely." IMO, Brez will make a major trade or two, because we have some logjams and high need areas. I also think he makes a major signing or two, but it could be like the Bregman, Buehler, Chapman and Sandoval deals like last winter, but thatw as a big chunk of change... on short deals. Whether he comes close to what we lose with Devers and Bregman remains to be seen, and I'm not projecting he does it.

$30M x 8 vs $12M x 2. There is still a huge chunk of change unspent.

Like I said, I'm fine if Bregman walks, but lets not pretend Brez can't do something to keep him here.

I'm fine with Bregman walking. My point was about JH spending the "money saved" from Devers AND Bregman.... or not. (Or half, or 2/3...)