moonslav59

We do not have a roster crunch, even if we add Jo Garcia or Brannon. We'd have to sign 4 free agents to get down to tough DFA chocies. Plus, Brez loves dealing bubble players over the winter, so clearing roster slots is an option, if needed. Crochet, Tolle, Gray/FA, Suarez, Bennett, Bello, Houck, Crawford. Oviedo, Paez Chapman, Whitlock, Miller, Slaten, Weissert, Guerrero, Moran, Gamboa Rutschman, Wong/other Contreras, Romy, Casas Mead, Seigler Arias (added to 40) Story, Cheng Durbin, Monasterio Anthony, Jones Rafaela, White Abreu, Campbell Yoshida, Gasper That's 38 with room to add two players beyond Gray/FA. Trade: Trade/DFA: Duran, Eaton, Kelly, Samaniego, Burgos, Olds If we add 3 players, trade or DFA Gamboa, Jones or Wong, if it's a catcher. (Paez or Moran could go before we get to Cheng and Casas, but we'd need pitching depth, so either the guys we add are all pitchers or we keep White, Moran or even Gamboa.) Rule 5: We could add Jo Garcia and trade Wong. We could add Brannon and trade/DFA someone. We could add Wehunt, if we think he's that good. It's not like walking the roster crunch line will be easy, but I don't see major issues. None of the players I suggested trading first are anyone to cry about. Some will cry about Duran, but we can keep him and trade Jones. Are we really going to get upset if we lose Gamboa, Jones or Moran? Maybe one is better than Casas or Cheng, and we do have Mead, Romy and Sogard at 1B depth, but I'm keeping the .800 career batter in the fold for another season at $1.8 to $2.5M.

Yes, keep both!

We can easily keep both.

Mead should be better than both Duran and Yoshida. A Gasper-Romy or Gasper-Jones platoon could reach a 111 OPS+.

Since 2022 best current Sox OPS vs RHP (300+ PAs unless noted) (Note: White hit .906 v R in 37 PAs, this year) .878 Contreras (a RHB! w BOS only) .865 Anthony .832 Gasper (217) .902 '25-'26 .798 Duran (.744 '25-'26) .796 Casas (almost as many PAs as Contreras+Anthony) .794 Abreu (.767 '25-'26) .784 Yoshida (.739 '25-'26) .784 Seigler (131 w BOS only) .775 AR (86 w BOS only) .716 Durbin (BOS only/reverse splits and .744 '25-'26) .714 Rafaela (reverse splits and .731 '25-'26) .694 Story (.707 '25-'26) .674 Wong (.572 '25-'26) .658 Campbell (189) .656 Sogard .637 Romy (BOS only) but .690 '25-'26 .602 Monasterio (217 BOS only) _______________________________ vs LHPs (120+ PAs unless noted) 1.058 Jones (68 BOS only) .966 Contreras (BOS) .892 Romy (BOS) .901 '25-'26 .814 Casas (reverse splits) .800 Sogard (.828 '25-'26) .772 Monasterio (BOS) .746 Abreu (.767 '25-'26) .719 Story (.704 '25-'26) .696 Durbin (BOS) .695 Rafaela (.743 '25-'26) .686 Anthony .675 Campball (74) .674 Wong (.572 '25-'26) .662 Yoshida (should not start v L and .634 '25-'26) .625 Duran (should not start v L and .603 '25-'26))

Agreed, and if they move Duran, it's easier to keep Yoshida around as the back-up LF'er and DH. We can't trade him anyway, so why duplicate the value vs RHPs by Duran & Yoshida? Story would offer depth at SS. Mead would offer depth at 2B and 1B. Yoshida LF and DH. The drop off in offense might be close to negligible, especially if it's Story going to the IL (the most likely of the bunch to get hurt.) Sogard can be our next Holt. AAA could see Jo Garcia at C, Casas at 1B, Seigler at 2B, Monasterio at 3B and Cheng at SS. That's decent extended depth. Jones and or White offer depth in the OF- both out of options, and all the more reason to trade Duran. AAA could see Ward, Eaton and Campbell.

Great drummers, but Bonham's my choice as the best technical and powerful drummer. I always said of Moon, "He plays the drums like he's the lead guitarist." It's what made the Who so great- 4 guys all wanting to be the lead.

Moon's my fave, and it's how I came up with moon-slav.

I'm thinking $2.25M to $2.75M.

Arb money? The guy has hardly played. What's he going to get $1.5 to $2M? He certainly may be with another team, next year, but I seriously doubt he's non tendered, unless the docs say he's done. He's a career .800 batter with 30+ HR power and a high OBP. 950+ PAs is no tiny sample size, but when you figure all the injury issues, I'm sure some teams would prefer to pass. I would not mind having him at WOO. We do ave Brannon and Jo Garcia, and Romy plus Sogard offer decent 1B dept, but if Casas can come close to is career numbers, he's better than all of them.

I've been talking Mead a lot. He would make more sense as the DH with Story at 2B, but it would also be nice to have someone to play 2B when (not if) Story gets hurt. I see Mead as a major bat addition. He could easily be our 2nd or 3rd best batter in 2027. A Duran-Story platoon might make some sense, but I can't see Story accepting a 30% game start plan. Anthony could DH v RHPs as Duran plays LF and Mead could DH v LHPs, when Story plays 2B. That's an expensive platoon and does not promise much better hitting than some sort of platoon involving Gasper or Casas v RHPs and Romy. Jones or Sogard vs LHPs

Bonham was probably the best drummer ever, but Moon gets under my skin with the off-beat rumblings.

I would not give him $45M/3, but someone will give more. I would not give Duran $7-8M, and he might get $9M, if it goes to ARB. I doubt we trade Yoshida, so we'd have him, White, Jones, Campbell and some AAA OF'ers as depth. (We might even try Mead in LF or see Gonzales jump the progression timeline. If the budget was not an issue, I'd be fine bring JD back, but with Yoshida and Story still on the books, and both maybe best used as DHs, I'm not seeing the $7-9M value as a high need.

I'm curious on your thoguths: how does this Pitching, pitching, pitching winter line up in Sox history? Gray Suarez Bennett Guerrero, Gamboa, Watson, Coulombe (MIller in summer) 2024-2025 Crochet, Buehler, Sandoval, Chapman, Newcomb (Matz & May in summer) (Tolle drafted in 2024)

Sox Record in GS by... 21-8 Gray 17-11 Suarez 15-11 Tolle 10-9 Bennett 6-7 Sandoval As you've pointed out, signing a DH, after getting Contreras was a nonstarter, as long as we still had Duran, Anthony and Yoshida on the roster. The real choice, IMO was this... Suarez, IKF, Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler vs Bregman, Harrison, Drohan & DHam (Bregman Lux tax money= Suarez + IKF)

Good point. The HRs will improve.

With options remaining, some good teams would find room, too. He only needs to be on a 40 not 26.

Unlike many here, I'm not all about recency. I do think Duran can do better than +0.5, but I think the 3.8 projection is irrelevant, now. Even if I was sure he could give us a 1.0 to 1.5 in 2027, it's not worth the $8-9M arb. Can he give 2, or 3 or even 3.8? Probably/Maybe/Doubtful. I'm not for Aroz., but if we shed a few LF/DH types, maybe... At the same price, I'd take Aroz for a year.

Wins are teams stats, but even so, the Sox were 17-11 in his starts. We miss the playoffs, if Burgos and Paez types went 10-18.

Just improve the OBP and SLG, and don't care if his K rate gets worse. I realize it doesn't usually work that way, but I think we'll see Roman's power increase as he ages. Hopefully, it won't be that expense of his OBP..

It would actually be Suarez plus more, because Alson got more money than Suarez. Had we traded Duran to make room for Alonso, I'd have been fine with that, but we'd be worried about a Bennett/Bello game 3 situation, too, and who takes all those regular season starts by Suarez?

Too funny.

Trading Duran still leaves us with Anthony-Rafaela-Abreu in the OF and Yoshida/White/Jones/Campbell as depth. We also have Story or Mead at DH, along with Gasper, Romy and others. We'd need at least 2 trades to make room for Aroz.

Paying for Alonso would have meant no Suarez. Yes, it was bragging about the only two things you got right. Plus, just because you were right that Alonso would have more HRs and RBI, does not mean you were right that he was the better choice over Suarez.

Bragging about being right on 2 out of a 100 positions is a victory lap better left uncelebrated.