moonslav59

Would you take JBJ, Duran, DHern, Houk and Chatham for Santana, EE + Cash? What if Casas was subbed for one of the prospects above?

We'd still have a good team without JD and Porcello, but probably not "highly" competitive, unless Bogey, Devers, Betts and Beni all equal their best seasons all at once, AND some of our farm hands step up and play decent ball... not great but just decent. Oh, and everyone stay healthy... LOL!

The Rays & Guardians lost, as of course did the Rangers. One more big game vs Texas, then we play 3 at BAL and 3 at MN. After a much needed day off, we come back home for 3 v TOR and 3 v CWS . Then 2 days off as we go to London fo 2 v NYY.

It was a nice run by the Bruins. They played tough all playoffs, except maybe this game. Get 'em next year!

Agreed, but if the rest of the players play like 2018 with maybe Devers, Vaz and Bogey playing a little more like 2019, we should still be pretty, highly competitive. Here's a look at a possible 2020 roster (assuming JD stays and Porcello, Moreland, Pearce, Nunez, and Thorburg bolt via free agency): Luxury Tax Dollars SP (~$83M) 25.6 Sale 31.0 Price 17.0 Eovaldi ~8.0 ERod (3rd arb out of 4) 0.6 B Johnson 0.6 Velazquez RP (~$12.6M) ~4.5 Barnes (2nd or 3 arbs) ~2.5 Workman (3 of 3 arbs) 0.6 Walden ~2.5 Hembree (2nd or 3 arbs) ~0.6 ________ (JBJ traded for cheap but solid RP'er) 0.6 Brasier ~1.0 Wright (3 of 3 arbs) C (~$4.5M) 4.5 Vaz 0.6 Centeno or Leon (possible massive pay cut?) 1B (~$1.2M) 0.6 Chavis 0.6 Dalbec or Ockimey (Chavis) 2B (~$19.3) ~4.0 Holt 0.6 Chatham ~0.9 Marco Hernandez 13.8 Pedroia 3B (~0.6M) 0.6 Devers (last pre-arb year) (Dalbec) SS $22 Bogey LF (~$6M) ~6.0 Beni(1st of 3 arbs) CF (~$0.6M) 0.6 G Hernandez RF (~$27M) ~27.0 Betts DH ($22M) 22.0 Martinez $203M Total ~$15M Player benefits ~$2M 15 pre-arb players on 40 man roster (minors) $220M Total $208M is the luxury tax for 2020. We could stay under by more by saying good bye to JD, getting Pedey to retire or trading salary. (I was wrong about being able to reset by just trading JBJ, in an earlier post.)

The 'Stros are stingy with their prospects, but I'm sure they'd rather have EE than MM. Remember, they get BRIAN Freakin' JOHNSON, too! (LOL)

Yes indeed! I fully agree!

It's pretty hard to keep up an almost steady daily rise in your OPS, but JBJ is doing a good job trying to do just that. If he gets just 1 hit, he almost alwayd gets a BB or HBP with it, of the hit is a 2B or HR. Big run scored today. Big hit in 9th-- too bad no rbi with Marco on 2B.

Just watched the last 4 innings. I thought we had found a new way to lose (thanks to Vaz's throw), but we finally got a key....errr... walk! Big win!

I see the same thing you do. It's like 2017, when I called it "lack of fire and desire."

Just a couple plays made (calls called, hits hit) and it's a whole new ballgame.

I'm not saying we win last night with JBJ. Last night was not the major example of my argument. It was the Rays game, where we sat Bogey, Beni & Devers, but you never know in a game like last night. The improved defense alone might have made kit very close. Remember, every time a play is not made by the defense, another batter (plus) gets another PA. Also, once we got down big, we changed our pitching choices and did not PH anyone. It's not about one game. It's about the philosophy that when the chips are down and we need everyone to pick up the slack, our manager is choosing to give our hottest players days off. It's the wrong signal to send. Whether it meant a loss turned into a win or not is just part of the issue.

I would not be happy going into 2020 with just these players trying to win a right-side IF position: 1B: Chavis, Dalbec, Ockimey (JD?) 2B: Chavis, Chatham, Holt (assuming we re-sign him cheaply) If we can do this, we may have some money to spend on replacing Porcello and adding a solid pen arm, but we'd have to trade JBJ to have enough money to not be total cheapies.

Good points. I still think the Sox are very close to last year's team on paper, but we just can't string together our efforts. Our pen is worse, and with Eovaldi on the shelf, so is our rotation from 2018. I don't think good pen arms are as expensive as we might think, but I'm sure DD is looking and probably waiting for the prices to fall as we near the deadline and teams realize they are sellers. The problem is, by waiting until the end of July, we may be sellers, too.

True, but it's not much longer than a flight to the left coast and our players do get more rest than playing.

Maybe they view a healthy Moreland as being better than the slumping YG. Maybe not.

I'm quickly losing my optimism. We probably can't wait for the deadline to make a deal. We need pen help NOW! We could use a 5th starter, too, but Eovaldi may make that deal unlikely. I just used the .575 number MVP brought up. I am NOT assuming we can or will win that much going forward as the team is currently constructed.

They could let Porcello, Moreland, Pearce & Nunez walk and trade JBJ. They'd have a little money to fill the gaps, but we'd have to hope Chavis, Dalbec or Ockimey come through. We'd have to hope Holt (assuming he returns) + Chatham can hold down 2B. We'd have to sign a very cheap all glove CF'er. We'd have to hope Eovaldi stays healthy and sign a cheap 5h slot SP'er or hope Johnson, Wright or Shawaryn come through. It's not as impossible as it seems. If not, after Betts walks, we can do it after 2020.

Again, I am not talking about just the last game. The madness is not getting my point about a longer stretch than just last night. We sat Bogey, Beni & Devers vs TBR just a few days ago. Was that my imagination? Moreland and Pearce were out last night (and Pearce was actually getting hot before going on the IL). JD was out before that, and we were resting 1-3 starters vs the Rays.

We are 34-34 after 68 games and have 94 to go. If they play .575 the rest of the way, it's .575 x 94= 54 wins and 40 losses. That makes us 88-74. Right now, the Rangers are on pace to win 88 games. The Guardians are on pace to win 83 games. Is it a big stretch to see us win one more game than the above numbers show or the Rangers to lose 1 more than their current pace dictates?

I'm ok with a day off once in a great while, but not when we had 3 guys out hurt and we'replaying the Rays and Rangers- two of the teams we have to leap frog. We may end up not being able to give anyone as day off the rest of the year. Would that be a terrible thing? We have these scheduled days off the rest of the way (look at all the rest coming up soon and in August): Jun 20 Jun 27 & 28 (rare 2 days off) Jul 1 (4 days off in 12 days!) Jul 8-11 (4 day AS break and 8 days off in 22) We do play 17 games in a row after that "vacation", including the last 10 vs NYY & TB, so I don't see any "rest" give that stretch, unless a poor match-up dictates one. Day off JUL 29 17 games in 16 days including a dblhr with the Yanks (maybe a little rest needed here, but we do have 2 out of the next 5 days off and 3 of 8 off) AUG 15 off 3 games AUG 19 off 2 games AUG 22 Off 2 games AUG 26 off 2 games AUG 29 off 3 games SEP 2 off (6 out of 18 days off!) 10 games SEP 13 off 2 games SEP 16 off (2 out of 4 days off) 13 straight games to end the season

How about this? To:SEA Y Guriel Beni To: BOS EE + Cash Santana To: HOU Moreland B Johnson (IL)

Agreed, but maybe the defense would have saved quite a few runs, and possibly JBJ might have actually gotten a hit with men on base.

Overall (not lately), the pen has done better than the starters. Price & Sale are not enough. We need more consistency from Porcello & ERod. Our 5th starter is pretty much an automatic 6+ runs scored and a likely loss. Here are our ERA- numbers from April 24 to today: 43 Price (1.06) 44 Sale (0.75) 81 Porcello (1.11) 88 ERod (1.29) 109 Weber (1.40) 135 JSmith (1.59) 164 Velazquez (1.55) 191 DHern (2.67) 213 J Taylor (2.22) 11 Hembree (0.81 WHIP) 30 Workman (0.89) 32 Shawaryn (0.17) 54 Walden (0.93) 67 Brewer (1.55) 90 Barnes (1.35) 110 Brasier (1.21) 177 Lakins (1.85) 213 Thornburg (2.22) 230 Poyner (2.40) If we can replace the pitchers in red with Eovaldi and an acquisition or two, maybe our staff would be much better. We still could use a bat, and I'm not sure Moreland's return is what I'm talking about.

It might also help if his posts are based in facts. Last night, he said JBJ is "plummeting," when he couldn't be more wrong. I'm fine with people being wrong, but when you point it out, he never recognizes the mistake or re-states a point. He just name calls. True, I called him a clown several times, and I think that was being kind, after the insults he hurled towards me and others. Sorry, but I just haven't seen the "insight" you speak of. Maybe it was there before us band of board -destroyers joined this site.