moonslav59

The whole idea that everyone had super high projections for all our top prospects in year one or even two is a strawman position. Of course we hoped they would do great right out of the gate, and almost all of us expected more than we've gotten, so far from Anthony, Mayer and KC. Injury has been a major factor on Anthony and injuries to Mayer surprised nobody. Many were upset we rushed KC- some wanted Mayer over KC to start the '25 season on the 26. It's just plain hogwash that the hype was way too high. The fact that we did not trade Duran is evidence enough that Anthony was not penciled in as a sure bet. The trade of pitchers and DHam for 3 infielders is evidence enough that we were not counting on Mayer as a 100% lock on a FT job. Cora and other repeatedly stated he has not yet earned a FT role. He barely won a platoon role as it was. KC was demoted pretty quickly and never given another chance in the bigs- rightfully so. Not a single poster suggested he be given a chance at the 26 to start 2026, so where were the lofty expectations for the big 3 to start this season? Anthony- yes to maybe, but the others were clearly not too high. Look at Early and Tolle- the prospects every team wanted last summer, last winter and even now. They were probably listed as 8th or 9th on the all healthy SP'er depth chart and maybe even lower. I don't think anyone, especially in Sox management overly counted on them. Hell, we added Suarez, Gray and Oviedo specifically so we wouldn't have to. There simply is very little evidence to support we put too much hope on the kids. Anthony comes the closest to a yes, and certainly Tolle and Early were expected to get 2026 IP, but for those two- not out of the gate.

A few weeks ago, we regularly had 2-3 batters below .650 or worse in most line-ups.

Yes, because it takes time to recover from major injuries. He did improve from 2025 to 2026 (120 in ERA and 22 in FIP) He leads the league in IP, which can be a good thing (innings eater?) or a bad thing (chance to burn out or get hurt?) I like him over rentals like 35.5 y/o Gausman or multi year guys like 33.5 y/o Castillo, near 37 y/o Lugo and some others mentioned. I'm looking for SP'er health without the need to empty the farm. I'm open to better suggestions.

If the worst thing that happens is we have to demote Moran, Guerrero or give Watson back, it would be because someone else is better. What's the chance we finish 2026 with no more pitchers going on the IL? While I really like our current 13, number 14, 15 and 16 scare me. 14 Rivera 15 Gamboa 16 Samaniego 17 Uberstine IL pitcher La Sorsa is the only one not on the 60 IL Non 40: Wehunt, Burgos, Sansone, Bastardo, Holobetz, Paez, Mullins, Eyanson

I'd like him more for the chance of improvement in 2027 than what he gives this year, but he can eat innings in '26. Lugo and Castillo might not be better than Sandoval-Bello.

Why wouldn't I understand this? I've said it myself in the past.

Yup, and at worst, he can/should DH better than Yoshida & Romy.

I was thinking the same thing. Siegler might be better than Cheng, but not at SS. Right now, we have Romy as the back-up for FT Monasterio at SS. Scary stuff.

I'm more worried about these two young pitchers running out of steam just as we make the playoffs than needing a start or two to get over rustiness. Of course, making the playoffs is no given, so resting these guys hurt those chances, but adding a capable innings eater helps mitigate that loss (on paper.)

Would anyone trade Delzine & Cespedes for Alcantara? (Would MIA?) Alcantara has another year of control.

On the pen being better than expected. This seems to have happened for 3-4 years in a row. Maybe we need to give some credit to Sox management for achieving this so often. It can't be a fluke. I remember when we signed Chapman: many felt he was a good back-up closer or good set-up man. Many worried about Whitlock being ruined by the starter experiment. Slaten was rather unknown. Weissert was ridiculed. We patched the rest of the pen with guys like Bernardino, Wilson, Murphy and Kelly. Brez was grateful to Bloom for handing him Jansen and Martin, but both slipped a little in 2024. Guys like Weissert & Slaten led the team in RP IP and did well. Bernardino & Booser did well, but others like Wink, Chase Anderson, Keller and Horn not so well. fWAR pen rankings: 3rd 2026 2nd 2025 16th 2024 13th 2023 (Bloom) 4th since Brez took over ('24-'26) From '25-'26: 2nd in fWAR 1st in ERA- 1st in ERA, WHIP & FIP

Great post. Our real SP'er depth is the IL. No way we hand the ball to Wehunt, Burgos or Sansone for a big game. No SP'er on the IL looks close to a return. None are even rehabbing in actual games. While our 4 man rotation on the 60 Day IL might be a top 10 rotation in MLB, what good is it, if none return? 60 Day: Crochet, Houck, Crawford & Oviedo Ideally, we could count on Bello as the 6th starter, and using an opener followed by 5 IP from Bello essentially eats the same IP as a starter, but I'm not comfortable entering the final two months with nothing beyond Bello and Sandoval as the #5. Add to that the IP limits on Tolle & Bennett, and adding a pitcher seems like a no-brainer.

I'm not one to suggest we experiment on these two big guys.

I think most Sox fans hold Mayer in very low regard, right now. (Hell, some want us to trade Anthony.) He does still have trade value, but it has gone down a lot in the last 1.5 years. I think Sox fans know this. You'll always have fans suggesting we trade Mayer, Casas, Yoshida and Story for Abrams, but that is not most Sox fans think.

Sox remaining schedule: 3 at ATH 3 at LAD OFF 3 v CWS 3 v ATH 4 at TOR 3 at PIT 3 v AZ OFF 3 v SFG 3 at MIA OFF 4 at NYY (including DBL HDR) 3 v SEA 4 at BAL 3 v LAA OFF 3 v KCR OFF 3 at TEX 3 at TBR OFF 3 v CLE 3 v CHC It's nice that we have 3 off days before 5 of our last series, but this is not an easy schedule.

Okay, we give him all he can handle, but only if he's doing well. That's a significant "if." We know Tolle & Bennett will need some rest. Maybe we pair one up with Bello and let him pitch 2-3 IP for 4-5 starts in a row. Giving them a 2-3 start total rest may work better, but they could get rusty. I could see us spreading it out by skipping 2-3 starts here and there, or going to a 6 man rotation, but then they stay on the 26 FT, and it doesn't solve the 13 man staff logjam.

Pre-deadline schedules: BOS: 3 @ ATH & 3 @ LAD TBR: 3 v TEX & 3 v CWS NYY: 3 @ CWS & 3 @ CHC CWS: 3 v NYY & 3 @ TBR CLE: 2 @ CIN & 3 v AZ Nobody really has it easy,

1.355 in last 10 games .991 last 20 games .787 last 30 games

It does seem like some are "writing them off," or at least with Mayer and KC. Wanting to trade someone is not the same as giving up on a player, unless you say "for scraps." One factor that has played into this pessimism is the fact that so many of our players who go on the IL end up staying there for what seems like forever, or at least twice the expected timeframe. Often, they get another injury while on the IL. The Hendriks case is but one. Sandoval was supposed to come back last August or September, had the whole winter to get ready and has but 3 GS at this point in his 2 year deal. Crawford got a new injury and is just starting to throw. Crochet said he felt like he'd miss 2-3 starts, and now... Houck was known to be out for a long time. Oviedo may return, this year, but who expects that? We have 5 SP'ers on the 60 day IL.

The more I hear about the poor defense by many SSs being talked about, the more I'm shying away from the idea. Sure, we could eventually move Mead to DH (1B/LF?) and slide someone over to 2B, but we have needs at other slots that don't involve so many complications. SP RP Catcher

I'm not sure some of the pitchers discussed are clearly better than Sandoval, but let's not kid ourselves. Sandoval is a highly questionable pitcher. This, coming from the guy talking up his past era of damn good pitching. I'm not sure Castillo is better or has a better future outlook. I think Lugo is better, but it's not a slam dunk. Gausman seems better. We have to realize Sandoval's sample size is 14 IP, and that's from 2025 to 2026. 5.08 ERA but 3.87 FIP in 80 IP from 2024. 4.11 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 145 IP in 2023. I like Sandoval. There is a decent chance he keeps pitching well. He should not need an IP limit beyond the norm. It might not be the end of the world, if we don't replace him, but I do think we can upgrade our 5 slot or use someone to give Bennett & Tolle some time off. I do NOT want to tax the pen with "pen games" when those two need to skip a start.

It's the same problem we would have had when Early came off the IL (or Crochet and others.) It's not an easy choice. One obvious idea is to just demote Tolle or Bennett to AAA, where they won't really pitch, for 10-15+ days, so we get their IP limited that way. That allows for 25-30+ days for the new pitcher added to be on the 26. After that, it has to be a RP'er, unless Sandoval is struggling and we put him on the IL (phantom or not.) It won't be Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten and probably Weissert & Guerrero. Watson cannot be demoted due to Rule 5 rules. That leaves Moran & Bello, who are both doing very well from the pen. I suppose you could play musical chairs with them and Bennett plus Tolle to patch together a seamless 2 months for the added pitcher to be on the 26 the whole time. Normally, these things work themselves out, because teams never go 2 months with no pitcher hitting the IL. How many times do we say, "We need to plan for injuries." Well, this is that. Another idea would be to include a pitcher in a trade or just trade Sandoval to another team to make room for Gausman, Lugo, Castillo or ______.

Honest to God, I told my wife Rafaela would hit a Granny

I can see giving up on Mayer. Some GMs might not even want him, but Anthony still has a lot of value, even if mostly specultaive.

I heard they wanted Eyanson, Arias and two more prospects for Abrams.