moonslav59

If the higher need is 2B/1B/DH Romy is a better solution to Eaton. Monasterio is not what he was earlier. He's never been a plus on defense, as with Romy, but Romy hit .371 BA in SEPT AAA. Monsaterio: .198 OPS last 31 PAs. .304 OPS last 75. .651 last 240 PAs Romy was demoted after he was called up before he was ready and hit .572 over 73 PAs. Romy> Eaton & Monasterio.

I do, too. I just don't see him as helping this team, going forward. If he was going to make $4-6M on his arb, that would be okay, but $7-9M is too much for a tight-fisted owner's budget. I know $2-4M doesn't seem like much, but that could be the next T Guerrero. Jones and White. Since Jones and White are out of options, and Anthony and Yoshida can play LF, we'll have enough OF'ers for 2027. The DH position looks like the best slot to upgrade our offense, so slotting Anthony in LF and maybe trading Yoshida could be the best plan. That plan would mean Duran is on the bench. It's one thing signing a guy like IKF for $6M to be a utility infielders, but $8-9M for a 4th OF'er when we already have White, Jones and maybe Yoshida just doesn't seem like a shrewd budget choice. Yoshida could also be a decnet FT DH in 2027, despite the aging and injury issues. Here's the rub: if Duran is not worth $8-9M, how can we sign him and trade him without adding money? It would make more sense to non tender him or sign him at $6M/1 ir $11M/2 before non tendering him. (Then, maybe trade him.) I'm not sure that is likely either. Further complicating the DH-LF situation is the fact that we have Story-Mead-Arias at middle infield, which could easily help fill the DH slot. With Sogard, Seigler, Monasterio & Cheng as middle infield depth, using Story or Mead at DH makes even more sense. That would put more of a squeeze on Duran's usefulness for 2027. Ideally, Brez could find a way to trade two from Yoshida, Duran and Story. Maybe we trade Jones or White, if we keep Duran. This is much easier said than done, even if we pay big chunks of salary owed. It might be easier with less money owed now, but Yoshida's injury and Story's age might offset the less money aspect of these trade options. Let's say we trade Duran for a AAA SP'er depth piece. We trade Story + $18M for a RP'er. We trade Yoshida +$14M for another RP'er. We'd gain some pitching depth we lost with the recent trades, and we'd be left with everyday options like this: C: Rutschman & Wong/Gasper/JoGarcia 1B: Contreras & Sogard/Romy/Casas/Gasper 2B: Mead & Sogard/Seigler/Monasterio/Cheng/Rodgers/Romero 3B: Durbin & Sogard/Eaton/Monasterio/ Romero SS: Arias & Monasterio/Cheng/Sogard LF: Anthony & Jones/White/Campbell/Castro CF: Rafaela & White/Eaton/Ward RF: Abreu & White/Eaton/Campbell/Gonzales DH: ___FA____ & Campbell/Gasper/Romy/Casas/Gonzales/JoGarcia/Brannon

The trade looked great out of the gate, but Miller is moving towards the "can't trust in high leverage" category. He's let up runs in 4 of his last 5 games: 4.1 IP 5 Hits & 6 BB + 2 HBP (just 4 Ks) That's 13 runners in 4.1 IP! 6 ERs Note: Keep an eye on the prospects we got added (OF'er Gutierrez- SPs 14th ranked prospects.)

They say the Contreras injury is slow to heal, but I think he returns. Just a hunch. The series starts Tuesday, so his bruise has 3 more full days to improve. Without him, your line-up looks correct. I could see Eaton over Romy, but with Jones on the bench, when and where would Eaton play? The need at 1B, 2B and DH seems greater than 3B/OF, and both Romy & Eaton are RHBs. IKF has done a fine job, so I'm not sure Romy will play over him, but I'd rather have Romy at 1B vs LHPs than Monasterio or Sogard. I'd rather have Romy at 2B than Monasterio, but they'd be 3rd string to IKF & Sogard. I think Duran-Jones in LF with Anthony at FT DH is what we'll see, but I like Romy as the next DH vs LHPs than anyone else other than Jones/Anthony (whoever is not in LF.) I'm sticking with Romy>Eaton, but it's the last guy on the bench in a 3 game series with a day off today and Monday and Sunday's game being a start the scrubs game.

Getting Anthony and Story back has helped, but the rash of everyday player injuries has begun to rival the rotation injury level. Contreras & Rafaela (who is back) are our two everyday WAR leaders. Mead & Seigler have forced IKF, Monasterio & Sogard to play 2B. Yoshida, Mead, Gasper, White & Romy have forced Duran to keep playing FT as Anthony DHs. While only Contreras and Mead are major players, the loss of some of their replacements have put us in a bind. Kinda like 2025's playoffs that saw 42 PAs from Romy (9) Masa (7) Sogard (7) N Lowe (7) Eaton (6) and Refsnyder (6)

Sogard could play 1B, too.

The last report on Mead (9/22) he was advancing from hitting off a tee to BP. I think the odds for Contreras are higher. I think KC is not ready. Nothing on Seigler since Sept 16th. White and Yoshida are done. I see the NYC line-up as such: vs RHP (Schlitter & Cole) 1. L Anthony DH 2. S Rutschman C 3. L Abreu RF 4. R Contreras 1B 5. R Story SS 6. L Duran LF 7. R Durbin 3B 8. R Rafaela CF 9. R IKF 2B Bench: Wong, Sogard, Jones, Monasterio or Romy vs LHP (Fried & Rodon) 1. L Anthony LF 2. R Rafaela CF 3. L Abreu RF 4. R Contreras 1B/DH 5. S Rutschman C 6. R Story SS 7. R Durbin 3B 8. R Sogard DH/1B 9. R Monasterio 2B/ Romy DH or 2B Bench: Wong, Duran, IKF, Jones

Not sure on KC. He did miss the last few games. I heard Yoshida is out until 2027.

The fWAR Ranking should not change much, so here is how the Sox lined up, this year: 4.1 Contreras -129 games (4.9 per 150) 4.1 Tolle -26 GS (5.0 per 32 GS) 4.0 Rafaela- 137 (4.6) 3.8 Suarez- 28 GS (4.3) 3.4 Gray-29 GS (3.7) 3.2 Abreu- 156 (3.2) 3.0 Durbin- 152 (3.0) 2.3 Bennett- 20 GS (3.6) 2.0 Whitlock- 52 IP (2.1 per 60 IP) 1.6 Chapman -52 IP (1.7) 1.2 Sogard- 65 (2.7) 1.1 Sandoval -14 GS (2.5) 1.0 IKF- 66 (2.3) 1.0 Guerrero -40 IP (1.5) 1.0 Bello- 11 GS (1.2 adjusted to RP) 0.9 Anthony 54 (2.8) 0.9 Gasper 67 (2.5) 0.7 Jones 36 (2.9) 0.5 Rutschman 31 (2.4) 0.5 Duran 150 (0.5) 0.4 Seigler 49 (1.2) 0.4 Yoshida 87 (0.7) 0.2 Story 63 (0.5) 0.2 Eaton 23 (1.3) 0.1 Cheng 14 (1.0) 0.1 White 27 (0.6) ___________________ Other batters: 0.0 Mead 1 -0.1 Mayer 70 -0.2 Wong 76 -0.2 Narvaez 62 -0.2 Romy 19 -0.5 Monasterio 106 __________________ Other Pitchers: 0.6 Early 0.6 Slaten 0.5 Gamboa 0.3 Crochet 0.3 Miller 0.3 Weissert 0.2 Samaniego & Burgos 0.1 Moran, Paez, Kelly, Olds 0.0 Watson, Rivera, Anderson -0.1 Kahnle, Uberstine, La Sorsa, Coulombe -0.2 Monasterio

But, they didn't interview anyone else. HE WAS THEIR #1 PICK! That's what matters most, right?

There would probably be less pressure/stress, which is a big factor in emotional and mental triggers. It's hard to know. I think the breaking point was when Red called him the "butterfly Man." Who among us could ever recover from that bash? IMO, he can still turn is career around, but for this whole season, he seems to be more of a negative than a positive towards helping us win. He's had some big hits, and his speed has helped us score some runs no other runner could have scored, but overall, he's hurt the team. He currently has a 0.5 bWAR and a 0.5fWAR.

Romy hit .371 in SEPT with WOO. He's killed lefties in the past, but we kinda need someone who kills righties. (Romy did okay vs RHPs, last season.)

Are we certain Contreras won't play in NYC? Gasper will not come back, IMO. His injury is too severe. Replacement options are Campbell or Romy. (Arias might help, but keeping him off the 40 makes sense, since he's not clearly the best option.) It will be extremely difficult to score enough runs without Contreras, but I'd still think we have a good enough team to win. I wouldn't bet on it, but I don't bet anymore, so that's not saying much. We have very good pitching and defense. We've gotten where we are today in large part on the back of our bench. They've come through time and time again- sometimes just for short spurts, but nevertheless, they did, and then the next guy did, and the next. None of these guys were viewed as starters or even on the 26, 40 or even the team, at various points last winter: Rutschman, Monasterio, Sogard, Seigler, Cheng, Jones, White and these pitchers: Tolle, Bennett (Early>Sandoval) Miller, Guerrero, Gamboa, Olds, Rivera, Burgos, Paez, Uberstine & Samaniego. We have some guys back from injury (Anthony, Story, Rafaela and others,) back from the yips (Bello) and back for second and third looks (a whole bunch of players perhaps led by Sogard.) We can do this!

I'm super pumped about '27. The big loss could be Gray, but I think he may be back. Nick Martinez might be the second choice, as he won't get a long deal. Morejon would be a fantastic add to the pen, and if we got 2 of these 3 pitchers, I'd be fine with the Offense as is. Story, Duran and Yoshida would be fine as bench/depth pieces, but I doubt we'll view them that way. If we don't trade Story or Yoshida, I'm almost certain Duran will be gone. Somehow. Someway. I think Brez makes a few minor to moderate trades, this winter. He always does. Even if we somehow trade Story, I think we'll trade some middle IF depth too. (IKF is a FA.) Arias, Story, Mead Sogard, Seigler, Monasterio Romy, Cheng, Romero/Rodgers. I also think Brez would be okay with the OF depth of Jones/White and maybe Yoshida/Campbell/Eaton/Ward, assuming we trade Duran. We need some SP'er depth and some pen help, so maybe we trade for pitching. The return or replacement of Gray could be the key, and of course how Crochet does could be the biggest feature of the 2027 staff, but here is a look at the foundation. (Note some pitching depth is listed as starters and relievers.) SP: Crochet (Gray) Tolle, Suarez, Bennett, Bello, Oviedo, Houck, Crawford Paez/Holobetz/Wehunt/Ziehl/Mullins RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Miller, Bello, Houck, Crawford, Slaten, Guerrero, Weissert, Moran, Gamboa, Kelly, Burgos, Bastardo, Olds, Samaniego, Rivera

It happened a long time ago, so I do believe. It seems worse in April and September.

Gotta hand Bello some props. He's done very well since the 8 run game back on June 4th. He had a couple back-to-back hiccups as AUG turned to Sept. (4 runs in both games,) but has let up - 0-1 ERs in all other 12 games counting today.

Fangraphs has determined we lost the most fWAR due to injuries in MLB, but here we still are. the third best team in the AL. It's not like we had the easiest schedule either. The rotation took a big hit, even if we don't count Houck, who was known to be out for all of 2026. Crochet, Crawford, Oviedo and then Early all went down before Sandoval came back. Bello didn't get injured, but he forced more rotation depth needed due to his yips. The rest of the major injuries seemed to affect 3 positions way more than others: SS, 2B and DH. DH: We started the season with Anthony & Duran in sort of shared LF/DH roles with Yoshida getting a few sniffs here and there. It didn't take long (5 weeks or so) for Anthony to go on the IL. Yoshida pretty much played FT with Gasper and a few others like Jones & Romy starting once in a while. We picked up White to play OF a little bit. When Yoshida went down, it became pretty much Gasper & Jones. SS: Story was handed the FT job after having led the team in HRs, RBI and SB, last year. By mid-May he was out and Monasterio/Mayer took over. Then, Mayer got hurt, and it was pretty much all Monasterio and Cheng for a while. Story came back a few weeks back and has been the SS pretty much FT 2B: The season started with Mayer and IKF sharing the position. Once mayer began playing SS, we saw IKF and Sogard at 2B a lot. IKF got hurt. Our big winning stretch began when Seigler started playing 2B a lot. For some reason, we moved towards Sogard at 2B. Once IKF returned, it's been Sogard-IKF at 2B. Check out the GS numbers: 2B- 40 Seigler, 39 Mayer, 35 Sogard, 30 IKF (That's not easy to do: 4 guys at 30+) Monasterio started 9 at 2B, Romy 5 and Mead that one game. SS- 60 Story, 51 Monasterio, 20 Mayer, 13 Cheng, 11 IKF, 4 Sogard (5 guys with 11+) DH- 65 Yoshida, 33 Gasper, 25 Jones, 21 Anthony, 12 Monasterio 8 Duran & Romy, 4 Eaton, 3 Wong & Abreu, 2 Story & Seigler and 1 by White, Contreras, Sogard, AR and Narvaez

Going through NYC to get a ring will make it even sweeter.

Even the subs of the sub's subs are going down.

Is it okay to say Antony is back, now?

I think we can go 13-9 and win a ring. That's not 32-5. This was an historic streak, and we've been near .500 afterwards, but consider these numbers... 2004: went 41-41 from May 1st to AUG 1st. They went 28-7 afterwards. They followed that up going 7-8 before ending the season going 7-2. The rest was history. 2007: We started the season 36-15, then 13-16 before finishing up at 47-36 (10-10 last 20.) 2013: We finished the year 5-6. 2018: We started the season 21-7 and 39-17. That was an amazing season. Even taking away that 39-17 start, the team still went 69-37. Nobody cared they ended the season 1-3 and 3-5.

My thoughts on him are well documented, but Rafaela's health matters. White is done. Jones is a strict platoon bat.

I don't disagree. I'm thinking one- maybe two- might be gone from Yoshida, Duran or Story. Yoshida might be the best of the three on offense, but DH is the easiest slot to replace on our current roster. Possible DHs: Mead or Story (assuming Arias at SS) Gasper- Jones Duran-Romy There is also Casas, Sogard and maybe Brannon or Jo Garcia. If Duran returns as the LF'er, Anthony should be the FT DH. If Story returns as the 2Bman, Mead could/should be the FT DH. We might try to keep some flexibility by keeping Duran and Story, but if Arias is a starter, there would be a significant DH logjam. since only Story or Mead can play 2B. Then, we'd have Anthony and Duran to play LF and/or DH. I'd be fine with Duran on the bench, but not at $8-9M.

Abreu Should be the #5, but 3 is okay. I'm not sure AR should be the #5, either, but who else?

Uh no.