moonslav59

In Maine, the winters are too long. It's like 5 months of winter 2 months of spring 3 months of summer (maybe 2 of summer and 2.5 each of spring and fall) 2 months of fall.

If the smaller market teams actually used the money gained through the luxury tax and other competitive balance monies, maybe it might work better than a cap. If the player's union would demand a much high min salary and a min team salary budget, then things might change, but you are probably right. It won't happen.

I'm assuming great health. Some no decisions will be wins, so maybe this... SP'ers: 85-40 RP'ers: 19-18 (maybe a bit hopeful)

Here's my 2019 Sox projections by position: Position (2018 BA HR RBI OPS & PAs by major players) 2019 Projection C (.194 10 43 .533: 286 Vaz .547/261 Leon .503/65 Swi .633) .220 12 55 .625: 400 Vaz/200 Leon/ 25 other Defense leads the way from this position, and they improve their OPS by almost 100 points. 1B: (.267 23 109 .794: 393 Moreland .762/109 HRam .715/ 103 Pearce 1.007/43 others) .275 30 125 (400 Moreland/ 200 Pearce/ 50 others) Pearce will play vs RHPs more than some expect. We should see significant improvement at 1B. 2B: (.252 8 61 .658: 287 Nunez .666/ 206 Holt .715/ 141 Kinsler .598/39 others .275 10 75 .700 (250 Pedey/200 Holt/200 Nunez) Pedey is the wildcard. Holt may regress, but Nunez should improve over 2018. 3B: (.247 26 85 .711: 441 Devers .730/ 168 Nunez .684/ 33 others) .265 35 110 .790 (580 Devers/100 Nunez) This should be our most improved position on offense. D is iffy. SS: (.288 26 118 .867: 578 Bogey .883/ 74 Holt .872/51 Lin .669) .285 25 110 .850 (650 Bogey/50 Holt-Lin) Slight decline on offense but a hopeful improvement on D. LF:.300 21 102 .851 (557 Beni .779/ 140 JDM 1.151/44 others) .310 20 100 .875 (620 Beni/150 JD) Beni leading off may see a higher OBP and lower RBIs. CF: .269 20 78 .825 (494 JBJ .734/99 Beni 1.135/60 Betts .923/9 Lin) .275 28 100 .825 (600 JBJ/50 Beni/50 Betts) JBJ plays more and does better. Beni's numbers in CF do not repeat in '19. RF: .329 38 107 1.013 (532 Betts 1.097/109 JD 1.102/111 others) .320 40 120 .990 (650 Betts/ 100 JD) DH: .269 34 107 .862 (400 JD .970/ 86 HRam .700/ 47 Pearce .827/41 Nunez .774/ 93 others) .280 40 120 .950 (420 JD/200 Pearce/40 others) Overall (not scientifically taken from positional positions added together): 2018: .268 208 829 .792 (876 runs scored) 2019: .270 200 840 .798 (890 runs scored) Starting Pitching (listed by IP in 2018) IP Pitcher W-L ERA> 2019 projections 191 Porcello 17-7 4.28> 190 Porcello 18-8 4.00 176 D Price 16-7 3.58> 190 D Price 20-7 3.20 158 C Sale 12-4 2.11> 180 C Sale 21-6 2.20 130 E Rod 13-5 3.82> 170 E Rod 15-8 3.45 *74 Pom 2-6 6.08 *54 Wright 3-1 2.68 54 Eovaldi 3-3 3.33 > 170 Eovaldi 15-8 3.45 SP/RP 99 Johnson 4-5 4.17> 100 5-5 4.00 85 Velazquez 7-2 3.18> 100 6-4 3.80 Combined SP: 2018: 68-38 3.77 2019: 92-40 3.50 RPers: 2018: 40-16 3.72 2019: 12-18 4.30 Individual RP'ers (Total IP from 2018 SP+RP) *66 Kelly 4.39 *62 Kimbrel 2.74 *17 Cuevas 7.41 *20 Scott, Haley & Beeks ~9.50 62 Barnes 3.65> 65 Barnes 3.60 60 Hembree 4.20> 65 Hembree 4.00 41 Workman 3.27> 60 Workman 4.20 34 R Brasier 1.60> 65 R Brasier 3.00 24 Thornburg 5.63> 55 Thornburg 4.00 We basically replace the 165 IP from departing pen arms with +30 Brasier +30 Thornburg (Mejia?) +20 Workman +10 Barnes & Hembree 75+ Poyner/Walden/Mejia/ ???/ trade? 104-58

I live in the Southwest Houston area (Sugar Land). The air quality is much better here than near all the refineries and chemical plants. There is no smog here. It takes me 20-25 minutes to get to downtown or the museums and about 30 minutes to the stadium/arena. During rush hour, that time doubles (or more), but I never travel those times. The State of Texas is very conservative, and it overly protects businesses that pollute, build things cheaply and even discriminate, but the city areas are pretty liberal, especially Austin. It's super cheap here. There are jobs here. The cost of living is very low. Ask yourself, why do you think many people are moving here! It has its faults, but those New England winters are deal-breakers for me.

Nice to see our rotation is looking like they are ready to start the season in form.

In his time with Boston, Porcello places... (109 SP'ers with 400+ IP from 2016-2018) 5th in IP with 790 8th in wins with 59 15th K/BB at 4.27 29th in WAR 11.2 31st in WHIP 1.23 41st xFIP- at 94 48th xFIP at 3.99 52nd in ERA- at 95

IMO, he kept a few teams from even talking to his agent and perhaps driving up the cost.

I'm not thinking his contract was a loss. I'm glad he's been on our team and has another year to go.

I'm not sure this is the year Devers busts out. He's still young. He still has some issues he needs to deal with, but I am extremely confident he will be a great hitter at some point. My biggest worry is his defense, but I think he can grow to become a decent or even a plus defender at 3B. At worst, I think he can be an average defensive 1Bman. He will also hit well enough to be a DH, if things don't get better on defense. I'm very hopeful he does well this year. I'd probably project an .800+ OPS this year.

It's a great city. Lot's of nice restaurants,live music and parks. Enjoy!

Nice to know. I wonder, if they will ever incorporate some sort of CERA value into WAR. (Very hard to quantify.)

To me, it's absurd to think Henry would be okay with paying Betts $36M a year but really pay him $70.2M a year. The Sox HAVE to reset at some point- most likely after this year.

Yes he did! 6 IP 0 ER 3 H+BB 6 IP 2 ER 6 H+BB 7 IP 1 ER 5 H+BB But before those last 3... 6 IP 4 ER 9 H+BB with Vaz 1.2 3 5 H+BB with Leon 2018 Season 2.37 with Leon (.587 OPSA in 329 PAs) 4.68 with Vaz (.780 OPSA in 394 PAs) Career: 2.83/.636 with Leon (769 PAs) 4.32/.735 with Vaz (1113) 5.73/.646 with Swihart (48)

Price does better with Leon by more than Porcello.

They do a lot of pinching- just maybe not actual pennies.

Besides his Cy Young season, he's been very consistent. Not great- not bad.

You can buy a huge house with a decent sized yard for $200-250K about 20-30 minutes from downtown Houston. That's a monthly payment near your listed range.

Ho-hum

If DHernandez & Chavis or Dalbec can fill Porcello, Pearce & Moreland's shoes next year, we may be able to keep more stars than we thought was possible while still staying competitive. $36M Betts $35M Sale $31M Price $25M JD $25M Bogey $17M Eovaldi That's about $170M for 6 players. Add Pedey's $13M and we're up to about $183M for just 7 players. Add the player pension and 40 man roster scrubs in the minors and we're up to $200+M. That leaves about $5M to fill in the other 18 players on the 25 man roster and stay under the luxury tax for one year. $25M to stay under the $20M penalty line. $45M to stay under the $40M max line. We'd need to say good bye to JBJ & Nunez. Keeping Holt & Vaz might be hard. Barnes & Beni will start getting arb salaries with Devers not too far away either. It won't be easy. I think we lose Bogey and/or JD.

Porcello will almost certainly be gone after this year. He's been our horse, so it will be hard to replace him without spending anything. D Hernandez may be our best hope in keeping Betts & Sale while remaining competitive. We'll also need Chavis/Dalbec to replace Pearce/Moreland after this year. Losing Pablo, Porcello, Pearce & Moreland's contracts will help, but with rising arb costs and a few other holes to fill, it won't be easy to keep a fine supporting cast around Betts, Sale, Price and maybe Bogey/JD, if we stay below the tax lines and pay 3 guys over $100M.

Are you up to a full 25 man (IL) roster, yet?

As a fellow Mainer, Texas is pretty inexpensive, too. No income tax (but an 8.5% sales tax). Housing, food and gas are cheaper here. AC (electricity) costs can get high in the summer.

Seems like the Yanks are dropping like flies. Let's hope our health stays well.

Referring to several or us posters who have pumped up Devers and have very rosy outlooks on his future.