moonslav59

On Rafaela, nobody will claim his plate discipline has been fixed. He still has a long way to go, and we know they've been trying to help him improve in this area for many years. 2023-2024 to 2025 K%: 27.1%>20.0% BB%: 2.9%> 4.7% HR%: 2.6%> 3.0% OPS: .664>.695 We need to see continued improvement in these areas. It would help if he'd not decline sharply near the ends of most seasons. I think we all like consistency over streakiness, but I'll take a rerun of JBJ's first 8 seasons in MLB. Near GG defense. .732 OPS, but .769 after his first 2 seasons (101 OPS+) I'm not sure why JBJ has gotten such a bad name. He started slowly and dropped off badly after age 31, but so what?

What a difference one day makes, huh? 12 games left. WC Race 83-66 NYY 82-68 BOS -1.5 from NYY and +1.0 HOU/+3.0 TEX 81-69 HOU __________ -2.0 TEX (from HOU) -2.5 CLE In the NL, 3 teams are within 2.5 games of the Mets for the last WC slot -1.5 The SF Devers -2.0 AZ -2.5 CIN

You choose to do that. You could spend some time talking about Narvaez, too. If you choose to.

Not even close. Maybe when Abreu returns, give him a bretaher.

You stopped bashing Narvaez. I wonder why?

Wow, 16 Ks. Big win. Guts,

Woo lost. Jh Garcia homered. Guerrero got lit up for 3 runs in 1 IP, so I'm not sure he's getting close to a call-up. POR lost 1-0. Rogers looked good. Sansone went 3 IP from the pen (3IP, 1H, 0BB, 2K) He has a 0.00 ERA at AA.

BOS 7 NYY 2

Looking at everything, I'd say we are maybe 7th to 9th. 10th is okay.

Both TEX teams lost, so a golden opportunity tonight. SEA is up 11-1 and TOR won. The ALE is pretty much out of our reach, now.

Wouldn't 8th in road OPS and 6th in road runs show we are higher than 11th?

Or, 1-0 v NYY and 2-1 A's. Then 3 at TBR, 3 at TOR and 3 v DET: maybe have to go 5-4? That's 8-5, total. We might win at 7-6 of squeak in at 6-7, but 5-8 would likely mean another disappointing season.

Hint: 1. ________________ 8.2 in 1995 (He also had the 9th best in '93 and the 14th best in '94) #2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10: Nomar (7.6 was his highest in '00) #6, 7, 11. 12, 15 and 19 Bogey (6.0 was his highest in '19 & '22) #16 Stephen Drew in '13 at 3.6 #17 Rick Burleson in '76 at 3.5 (also #20 in '79) #18 Jody Reed in '88 at 3.4 (also #21 in '89) #22 Trevor Story in 2025 at 3.0 and counting. Number 22 in last 51 years. He might get to #21 or #22 with a strong finish. In this context: not so great.

Here is a good trivia question: what Red Sox player had the highest fWAR season at SS for the Sox since 1970? SINGLE SEASON best season at SS.

It would be crushing, but the way this team has bounced back, time and time again from similar down times over this season, I will not count them out. We could really use Abreu's bat, ASAP!!!

This has to be the most meaningful game since the 2021 playoff games vs HOU. Let's hope we do better than that last game of those playoffs. We may need a CG shutout from Crochet with the way our offense is looking. GO SOX!!!

The combination of more than our share of big scoring games and park factors make our offense look better than it is. It's been this way for years, right? WRONG! Here are our Home vs Away Rankings, this year... H/A Runs: 7th/6th OPS: 9th/9th wRC+: 14th/10th

I was surprised he wasn't traded over this season. Maybe nobody wanted him (likely): maybe Brez set a price too high for anyone who was interested (less likely.) I think we'd keep DHam over Grissom due to his PR value and his better 2B defense. Both could easily be gone by opening day, with DHam the more likely trade candidate and Grissom the DFA'd or non tendered guy. Hey, what's the difference between non tendered and DFA'd?

All teams do this to some extent, but the Sox seem to corner the market on it, every season. The Yanks have won 27 games by 5+ runs and 24 by 6 or more runs. They even scored 7 or more runs and lost 5 times. Yankee big wins: 12 (15-3, 13-1) 11 (20-9, 11-0) 10 (12-2, 13-3) 9 (11-2, 9-0, 12-3, 12-3, 11-2) 8 (10-2, 10-2, 9-1, 10-2) 7 (12-5, 10-3) 6 (10-4, 11-5, 8-2, 7-1, 10-4, 7-1, 9-3) In the Yankees 17 biggest blow-outs (7 or more runs, they outscored their opps by 157 runs! Wins by 6 or more runs 29% Yankees: 24 of 83 wins 23% Red Sox 19 of 81 wins

Sox OPS+ Leaders 149 Devers (traded) 138 Anthony (IL) 136 Refsnyder (short side platoon ONLY) 130 Romy (moving from short side platoon to near FT play) 130 Bregman (missed a chunk of games) 121 Abreu (IL) 114 Duran 108 Eaton (tryin to give us a boost) 103 Story and Narvaez (both big reasons we are still in the race.) 98 Lowe (dropping fast) 90 Rafaela (Hey, he's walking more! LOL) These were the big drags: 284 PAs (10th on team) Toro at .659 263 PAs (11th) Campbell at .664 181 PAs (13th) DHam at .568 175 PAs (14th) Wong at .525 154 PAs (15th) Yoshida at .605

Imagine placing a parlay on Story leading the team in HRs and RBIs, this year? Can you say, "Buy me a mansion!?" Now, add SBs (28-23 over Duran and NO CS!) The only bummer part of his 2025 portfolio is the .306 OBP. His D is not what it used to be, but it's still a plus, to me.

I also think the Sox will count on Mayer to have a FT role, next year: 3B, if Bregman bolts. 2B, if Bregman stays. SS, if they think it's time to move Story to 2B or 3B. I hope we have someone better as his back-up. We also can't count on Story being Cal Jr., either. My guess is their Plan A is Bregman at 3B, Story at SS, Mayer at 2B and Casas (Lowe?) at 1B. Romy offers the depth at 1B & 2B and extended depth on the left side defense, but we need to add a depth piece there, I think Romy's right side depth means we trade DHam and or Grissom ro create a roster slot.

We started this year with 11-12 SP'ers on the 40, and hardly any worked from the pen- due to injuries and the choice not to use them from the MLB pen. (We also tried to alleviate the problem by trading one for prospects: Priester.) I hope they don't view Rafaela as a 2B option. It's one thing having a GG type CF'er hit .675-.725, but it's another having a so-so defensive 2B (at best) hit .690. I think it is a near lock we trade an OF'er for a pitcher, 2Bman or 1Bman (3B, if Bregman bolts.) We are not going to fill 3-4 slots (well enough) via free agency. JH will not spend that much, after all these extensions are kicking in, next season. LF: Duran/Anthony, Garcia (Yoshida/Refsnyder?) CF: Rafaela/Duran/Anthony (Garcia) RF: Anthony/Abreu (Garcia/Refsnyder?) If you think Garcia is legit, we have 5 OF'ers, not counting Yoshida in LF or Refsnyder at COF. Since we seem to hate signing the best SP'ers on the market for more than 2 years, I think the big trade is for a pitcher: Joe Ryan, Pablo Lopez (Healthy?) Luis Castillo, Mitch Keller or _____. We spend the money on Bregman or another big bat at ... 3B/1B: Suarez(not good on D) Fallback is Mayer 1B: Alonso (Fallbacks: Bellinger, Hoskins, Naylor or just go with Casas/Lowe) 2B: Torres (not a big bat) or Arraez (declining but can play 1B, too.) SS: Bichette (move Story to 3B or 2B?) DH: Schwarber, Ozuna I do not see us getting serious with Cease, Gallen, King, Flaherty, R Suarez, Sale. Valdez or Bassitt might be the only guys, because age might keep the length of the deal shorter than others, but I doubt we go there, either. (How about Zach Eflin, Jordan Montgomery or just bring Gio back?) Who is the SP'er coming back from injury, we might sign to a 2 year deal?

That was a horrible game. Too many unforced errors. Way too many.

Actually, run differential should be the closest indicator of wins vs losses, and once again, the Yanks show why they are ahead of us, but we should be ahead of TOR and DET. +131 NYY +102 BOS +97 TEX +93 DET +77 TOR +50 TBR +40 SEA +21 HOU