moonslav59

Although Jacko likes to poo-poo Brasier, he did have an 0.7 WAR in just a half season. One could argue that he might put up a 1.4 this year, thereby absorbing Kell's 0.7 WAR without adding anybody new. After all, most of Kelly's plus WAR was in the first half of 2018. (0.5 first half/ 0.2 second half.)

But, Barnes, Hembree and Brasier should look much better to you than they did last year. Plus, Brasier did not even pitch for us until July 9th. Surely, 3 more months from him should make up for some of the loss. You also arbitrarily chose 2 good seasons as being needed to have any realistic hope in a RP'er. That may or may not prove to be true, but we do have several pitchers besides Barnes who have 2 or more decent to good seasons: Hembree '16 & '17 (plus looked good in PS last year) Workman '13, '17, '18 Thornburg '13, '15, '16 (Yes, 2016 blew 13 & 15 away, but those 2 were decent.) Wright '14 and '16 were very good and '15 and '18 were decent.

So far, yes. He may be willing to wait until he sees how things shake out and make a mid season deal or two if needed. He's found some real gems this way recently.

Maybe he just doesn't like Allen. Maybe he has his eyes on a better pitcher (via trade).

We must have a spending limit.

You said we had a weak pen last year.

Only Yankee what ifs can come true. No way full seasons from Eovaldi, Pearce, Brasier, ERod, Wright, Thornburg, Smith and maybe Pedey could possibly make up for the loss of CK, JK and PomPom! Plus, Betts, Bogey, Devers, Moreland and Vaz all missed time and can't possibly play more this year.

False. We have at least 15 guys to choose from- several with past records of decency or dominance. True, they are no Zach Britton or Ottavino, but it's not absurd to think 2 or 3 will do well. Our pen was supposed to be our weakest area last year, too.

Maybe DD's best strength, to date with the Sox, is his mid season and scrap heap additions.

15 guys to choose from before DD has to go looking, and that assumes DD does nothing before opening day- not likely. What happens, if Judge gets hurt again? What happens, if age finally catches up to CC and/or Happ? Every team has what ifs. We have weak area right now, and that area is probably your biggest stregth, and that's all you want to talk about. It's obvious why.

I don’t get the sudden confidence in a half season of Brasier. Yes, he’s got stuff, but he doesn’t K people and has a pretty sordid production history. If he reverts to a Japanese minor league level producer, you’re sunk. 7.8 is not bad and a 4.1 K/BB is pretty good. DD is relying a whole lot on players who either haven’t produced to the level he’s expecting or haven’t been in the role he’s putting them in. True, but we may on;y need 1 or 2 to finally step up and produce. I've always been one to prefer quality over quantity, and sure, the Yanks have both when it comes to the pen, but we do have a lot of choices (chances) beyond Barnes and Brasier: Hembree Thornburg Smith Workman Wright/Johnson/Velazquez/Shawaryb/Shepherd Poyner Walden Brewer Putman Lakins Feltman We need 2 or 3 out of these 15 to do well. Your rotation lacks what your team will need. Price didn’t even average 6IP per start. Sale might be able to, if he’s healthy, although that’s clearly not a given with how the season ended. ERod doesnt go deep in games. Eovaldi has never proven to go deep in games. The only guy who’s pretty much a given to average over 6IP a start is Porcello. In at least three out of five games (and maybe 4 with Sale), you’re gonna need an average of 10 or more outs from the pen and that’s assuming good health. Imagine if Sale misses time and is replaced by Johnson, who in many of his starts, didn’t finish 5IP. You’re stretching middle relief into setup, secondary setup guys into closer and mop up guys into setup and middle relief roles. I have a feeling DD has reached his financial cap and he will need to get creative in-season to add to the pen. In the interim, games are going to get interesting late in Boston. Our rotation will be more than fine. Where we lack in getting deep into games, we don't get shelled and removed in the 2nd inning as often as other teams. We also have some decent depth and may start the year with a 6 man rotation. Cora rested all of our players a lot last year, even before the Yankee sweep that pretty much sealed the deal. He will likely do it again this year, so stop the late season sky is falling mantra. BTW, Paxton went less than 6 IP last year, and you have two starters that are older than any of ours. Let's wait and see who's fresh at season's end. We have nobody significantly past prime in any key roles. IP per start 6.0 Sev - Sale 5.9 5.8 Happ- Price 5.9 5.8 Tanaka- Porcello 5.8 5.7 Paxton- ERod 5.4 5.3 CC-Eovaldi 5.1 I'm not seeing what you're seeing, and I'm expecting Eovaldi to pass CC in this area this season.

Even Cody Allen puts us over $40M. Maybe that is a higher priority than some think.

Kelly was a set-up guy, but Barnes and Brasier were, too.

Probably true, but we held our own vs your vaunted pen.

Jacko, come on now .(see bolded updated list below) Let's use your weird mark for health Games under 155 Andujar 6 Gardner 15 Hicks 18 Gregorius- 21 Torres- 32 Judge- 43 Sanchez- 66 Bird- 73 GS'd under 32 Sabathia- 3 Tanaka- 5 Montgomery- 26 Okay, well I left off a lot of players, some of them damn good- like Pedey, Thornburg, Smith, Pom, Wright... Games under 155 5 JD 7 Beni 11 JBJ 19 Bogey 19 Betts 28 Nunez 31 Moreland 34 Devers 75 Vazquez 105 Pearce 154 Pedey GS'd under 32 2 Price 5 Sale 9 ERod 21 Eovaldi 21 Pomeranz (one of our best '17 starters) 28 Wright (one of our best '16 starters) 40+ IP Thornburg 50+ IP C Smith 25+ IP Brasier (was not called up until late) 20+ IP Workman I'm not trying to minimize the Yankee key injuries, but I think you are minimizing the extent of key players on the Sox missing big time, significant time or a moderate amount of time.

I think we trade Sswihart and Chavis or Dalbec for the best RP'er we can get. It may not be the quality level many want, but we'll do it. We'll reset in 2020, so it wouldn't kill us, if we pin our hopes on the one (Chavis or Dalbec) we don't trade and he fails. We just pick up a FA corner IF'er in 2021. The $13M we save at 1B helps us a lot in resetting and keeping one more star than otherwise. I know we'll have a rough reset year, but I'm scrounging to find a way we can limit it to 1 (maybe 2) year.

Agreed, and finding 1B/DH types for cheap is maybe the easiest position to do so.

Yes, that's why I said "rightfully. My point is, the great pen didn't get you a ring, and we seemed to hit your pen twice as well as the next best team. OPS Against vs the Sox 1.222 Holder (Playoffs vs BOS WHIP: 1.50) .906 Chapman (PO v BOS 0.500) .835 Kahnle .720 Betances (Playoffs vs BOS WHIP 1.200) .689 Green (PO v BOS WHIP 1.909) .417 Robertson (0.375) .410 Britton (1.000) .333 Warren

We lost several weeks of Betts, Bogey, Devers and Vaz, not to mention Sale, ERod, Price and others-plus we'll have Eovaldi & Pearce. We'll make a run this year, too. Games under 155 5 JD 7 Beni 11 JBJ 19 Bogey 19 Betts 28 Nunez 31 Moreland 34 Devers 75 Vazquez GS'd under 32 2 Price 5 Sale 9 ERod 21 Eovaldi 105 Pearce

Did Sanchez learn how to catch and relate to the staff while out hurt last year? He should be your DH, Stanton in the OF, and you should have not brought Gardner back.

Your pen does look better this year, but before the year started you were (rightfully) ranting about Kahnle, Warren, Greene, Holder and more.

Yes, except the unbearable part. Remind me, what was the team that had their number?

Reminds me of last year's unbeatable, best-ever Yankee pen. Bring it on!

I agree, but it may also enhance his value to us, as we may want a cheap 1Bman next year, if we reset. Moreland + Pearce= $13M. However, if the top brass like Dalbec better, and think he can be ready by 2020, then Chavis will likely be the one we trade. Who knows? We could keep both and increase our odds that one will work out. If they both workout, Chavis or Devers could DH.

This^