moonslav59

One for Saint Paddy's, one for Thanksgiving,,,

I'd hate to trade ERod. We have won almost 80% of his starts over the last 2 years, but I'll listen to any trade offer for anyone.

He's on the wrong side of 30, now, and he has a 4.80 ERA (1.32 WHIP) the last 3 years combined. Getting 6 IP almost every start and a 4.80 ERA is pretty good for a #4 or 5, but I'm not so sure about him being closer to 4.80 than 5.50, next year. He probably needs a chance of scenery.

Well, Porcello let up just under 4 per 6, and you said he'll be hard to replace. That's almost 4.5 in 6.

Yes, indeed. Nobody should be happy to see JD go. He's a class act and was not overpaid.

I see some comments as unfair, too. I only used the word "ruined" to parrot the term you used in your comment, but there have been some posters who have used similar words. I think I've been fair to DD. I've said I have liked his overall plan, and I am thrilled it worked. Personally, I don't think it's being unfair to say I think he went a little too far with the prospect trades and there are clearly 2-4 that did not work out all that well, so that type of criticism goes with the GM job and is within the limits of fairness, IMO. I was fine with the trade off, and who am I to say he "went to far?" He wanted to make sure we had the horses to win a ring, and he got them. GMs have to plan on some deals not working, and going back in hindsight is not all that "fair," but it's tuhe nature of the business and certainly the nature of boards like this. Theo caught slack and Ben was crucified on this board and others. Fair? Maybe not, but I think pointing out that are farm is comparatively very weak, fight now, because of some things DD did along with other factors is just speaking to truth. With a limited budget and a new system of making it very hard for winning and big spending teams to rebuild their farm, getting back to glory will not be easy. One could argue DD knew these new rules and the direction MLB was going, and how keeping a strong farm while still winning may be what it's all about, and he chose to go for broke. It worked. I'm fine with any GM that brings us a ring. Now, it's time for the "broke" side of the equation. The budget will be reset at some point, and the farm has to be rebuilt for us to have a better chance at returning to glory.

I think this idea would be to pack it in for 2020.

What's worth more, a guy who lets up 4.5 in 6 innings or 2.5 in 4 innings?

We can't reset and replace Porcello with anything costly. There are too many injury issues hanging over the staff. I think we'll wait until the deadline to either buy or sell, and it could be a big sale.

Nice end to the season, despite ERod missing out on 20 wins. The Sox went 26-8 in ERod's starts this year. They went 19-4 last year. That's an amazing 45-12 for a 79% winning percentage!

LOL. I'm waiting for CP's response.

He has an opt out after this year and 2020, not 2021. I think he has to decide pretty quickly, so if he takes the option, there will be time to trade and teams that want him. We may need to kick in some cash to get a better return, but I think we could get something nice without adding any cash. I'll hate to see him go.

Devers ends up just ahead of Betts for 3rd: .916 Devers .915 Betts JD wins the team OPS race: .940 JD .939 Bogey

Watch this game go 18 innings!

I thought they "went home" when we got double swept when we needed wins the most.

This game is the perfect summary of our season.

He did lead the team in bWAR by quite a bit. 6.9 Betts 5.7 ERod 5.2 Bogey 5.1 Devers 3.4 JD 3.1 Workman He's scored 134 runs. I guess great is subjective, but his season is pretty close.

Porcello is certainly gone. JBJ is very likely to be traded or non tendered. I'm not sure we trade JD & Betts, but if we trade one, I can see the reasoning to trade both (and more- like 2021 or 2022 FAs Workman, ERod & Barnes).

I'm not sure I used the word "ruin" first. I think I just said that in response to your comment that some of us said he ruined the farm. I think I have said, "nearly emptied" most of the time or "traded away almost the whole farm." I think I've been pretty clear all along about my position. I was fine with trading away a lot of our prospects. I wouldn't have gone as far as DD went, but I don't think I know more than DD or would have done better. His moves brought us a ring. That was the goal. I'm fine with what he did, but I knew all along there would be consequences. I find it strange you seem to pick on those of us who said there would be consequences at some point rather than those who said the farm would or could be rebuilt easily and quickly. That certainly hasn't happened. There were many who sugar coated the consequences and still are. Clearly some mistakes were made, even if just in hindsight, and that's the nature of evaluating GMs. DD did what he was brought in to do. We won a ring. This place would be a lot different had we not won last year. I'm thankful it worked. He built a great ML team. He sacrificed much of the future to do so-more than Theo did and way more than Ben did. They both won rings and left a decent to great farm for the next guy. DD did not. Those are facts. Call it "ruining" the farm, depleting or emptying it, or whatever, but regardless of how much of what you think DD did was right or wrong, there's no denying he left a much weaker farm than when he came here. BTW, it's not the "sole cause," but it is a major factor. Big contracts, some not given by DD, add to the problems. Changing rules and regulations have added to the problem, again, not DD's fault, but he is the only GM to get the 10 pick drop penalty for going over $40M over. Ben was the one who got us the international signing ban right as DD came to power, but he's done very poorly in that area- a usual big strength of this team in the past. He made some very good in-season trades, like A Reed, Nunez and Eovaldi, but the Buttrey-Kinsler deal seems to look pretty bad, tight now. BTW, I'm not sure what poster ever said DD's trades are the "soul cause" of our steep decline. I've heard more criticism on the Price, Sale and Eovaldi signings than the trading of prospects.

Betts RF Devers 3B Bogey SS JD DH Moreland 1B Vazqyez C Holt 2B Hernandez LF JBJ CF

Also, who will be the team leader in OPS? .942 JD .940 Bogey Can Vazquez reach .800? (He's at .796.) Can Betts reach 30 HRs? (He's at 29.) That would give us 4 guys over 30!

Probably a lot of chatter on the Cubs' blogs.

17 seasons from 2003-2019: 5 AL East Titles 5 Wild Card Entries 4 AL Championships 4 WS Championships (Only three 4th or 5th place ALE finishes)

PR might be part of the reasoning, but I think we make a legitimate offer to Betts, this winter, that is fair and generous. If he takes it, great. If he refuses, there will be no Lester-like debacle. To me, the main reason for making a solid winter offer is to know whether we should trade him or not. If he turns down what we think he's worth, it makes sense to trade him, even if maybe that offer would have turned out to be the highest, and we'd have gotten him anyway. Besides, nothing will stop us from offering the same deal after he becomes a FA. The Sox have a long history of accurately valuing their own players at the time the reach or near free agency, with the exception of Lester and maybe Lackey. I'd like to see us be a good team, next year, but I'd also be okay with hastening the return to glory by maybe trading away a piece or two to brighten our extended future. If we reset, I can't see us having a good chance at winning it all in 2020. I'm not saying we can't. We still have a solid core, and if health is on our side, we could look more like the 2018 Sox than the 2019 Sox, but my guess is, we wait until the deadline in 2020 to decide on trading JD and/or Betts and Workman. We may even look to trade players that will be FAs after 2021: ERod & Barnes, if we are already dismantling the team.

True, but Hembree is a non factor. He could pitch great or s***** his last 5-10 appearances of 2019, and it won't matter. If we need to non tender him to stay under, we'd do it with any late 2019 results.