moonslav59

I'm sure other teams have examples like this, but we have our share, for sure.

There is time to snap out of it. BTW, Duran has hit .840 in last 34 games. .810 last 13 games. 1.014 last 6 games. We need more slumpers like Duran.

The bottom of the order carried us.

Your predictions have been great, today.

...and when Rafaela swings at a pitch 8 inches high, he should be benched.

Grasping for straws by playing the hot bat? 1.032 last 12 games (27 PAs) .795 last 23 games (47 PAs)

Holobetz went 6 for POR: 4 hits, 0 ER, 0BB & 2K. Guerrero and Song are blowing up. (He was part of the Priester trade.) J Bello went 5 IP: 3 hits, 0ER, 2 BB and 4K. (He came in the Devers trade.)

Hickey has been red hot. He's homered 2 times, today. He's Rule 5, this winter. Any chance of giving him a shot, this month?

Harrison pitched the first inning and was yanked. Anyone know why?

True, but we have 12 pitchers in the top 20 to 6 in 2005, so yes on being deeper. Anyone know any other pitchers from the Sox farm in 2005 that made the majors? (Note: none from this year might come true, as well.)

He was hitting the ball pretty hard for outs for a while. I'm not sure about "Checking out," as some players just have slumps that are not related to being disinterested or checking out. The injury may be a factor, but he should be over it by now. Unless he starts hitting, we may not have much hope.

Holobetz might turn into something, eventually, too. I'm not so sure about YRod, but he's still only 19. Between these two and Phillips, the jury is still out, but Priester's 2025 season is setting the bar pretty high.

So true. There is so much luck involved in baseball, and that is one reason they play 162 games. We need to turn this around, and quickly.

Here is another guy- not traded, but who had a 5.84 ERA with the Sox, last year in 25 IP (1.622 WHIP.) He signed with the Cubs, this winter, and now has an 0.978 WHIP and 2.20 ERA in 61 relief innings... Brad Keller.

But Brez traded for him, too. LOL

It's like all the air was let out of the tire.

Yanks won 3-1. They scored 2 unearned runs on a Vladdy error.

That's what I figured. He has never begun a game as the leadoff hitter.

I assume you meant pitching prospects. Our prospect list was better last year. In terms of pitching, although some of the past pitchers were more highly regarded than they turned out. (The same could happen to many of today's pitching prospects.) Here is a comp of some selected rankings lists of pitchers: Today: 1 Tolle, 3 Perales, 4 Witherspoon, 6 Clarke, 7 Valera, 8 Early, 9 Sandlin 14 Phillips, 15 Eyanson, 17 Paez, 18 Fajardo, 20 Uberstine 22 Mullins, 25 Delzine, 26 Wehunt, 27 Cason, 29 Rivera, 30 Monegro 31 Holobetz, 33 Aita, 35 McShane, 38 Travieso, 40 Drohan, 41 Ingrassia, 42 Bello, 44 Foutch, 48 Morgan, 49 Tygart, 50 Neely, 51 D Reyes, 52 Patton OCT 2019 2 Mata, 3 Groome, 7 Houck, 8 Song, 10 Ward, 11 Zeferjahn, A Ramirez, 13 Murphy, 17 B Bello OCT 2016 4 Groome, 5 Kopech, 8 B Johnson, 16 R Raudes, 17 TBall, 19 Shawaryn, 20 K Martin (2015 had Espinosa 3rd) OCT 2014: 2 Owens, 5 ERod (via trade) 6 B Johnson, 7 Barnes, 9 Ranaudo, 11 TBall, 14 Kopech, 19 Stankie OCT 2012 2 Barnes, 4 Webster, 8 Owens, 10 Britton, 11 Workman, 13 B Johnson, 14 Alex Wilson, 15 Ranaudo, 19 Pimental, 20 Light OCT 2010 1. C Kelly, 6 Doubront, 7 Ransudo, 9 Pimental, 10 Britton, 18 Weiland, 19 Workman, 20 Bowden OCT 2007 1 Buchholz, 3 Bowden, 4 Masterson, 7 Hagadone, 14 Bates OCT 2005 1. Papelbon, 2 Lester, 3 A Sanchez, 5 C Hansen, 6 Delcarmen, 17 Buchholz This 2005 one looks nice but not as deep.

Yoshida has batted in the 1 slot just twice. My guess is they was as a PH'er or after coming into a game, later. I'm not sure anyone else jumps out as being more deserving, and other options are mostly RHBs, so it is what it is. Hottest hitters last 2 weeks: 1.031 DHam (not playing vs the RHP) .995 Narvaez (rest did him some good) .980 Refsnyder (welcome back) .964 Anthony (on IL) .927 Lowe (righty killer) .913 Story (back in a groove) .900 Jh Garcia (5 PAs) .838 Romy (becoming the real deal) .793 Duran (pretty steady) .743 Wong (better than before) 1.171 last week .696 Rafaela (been kinda steady between .700-.720) .686 Yoshida (not sure he'd be playing w Anthony & Abreu) .962 last 7. .594 Eaton (better than Jh Garcia?) .366 Bregman (lots of hard hit outs)

Rather shocking. The Yorke trade looked good, at the time (PLus for Brez.) Then we flipped Priester, when we felt we had a deep enough rotation depth. Then, we end up trading for May and forcing pen games. That part alone is bad enough. Priester's enormous success, although maybe not worthy of being undefeated, really hurts. It's like the Sale trade, where Sale went on to shock the baseball world, while Grissom sucked. The money "saved" being used to help sign Gio looked even worse. The return on the Priester trade is still TBD, but they have a lot to produce to even out this deal. IMO, Brez has made way more good deals than bad ones.

Nor should we justify the worst batter in MLB vs LHPs in the line-up based on one AB and a triple.

An all-healthy 2026 roster-minus Houck, who is out until 2026 and assuming Bregman & Gio return- yes big assumptions: (AAA and on 40) SP: Crochet, Bello, Giolito, Sandoval, Crawford, Dobbins (Tolle, Fitts, Harrison, Criswell, Perales) RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Bernardino, Winckowski, Hicks (Guerrero, Kelly, Murphy, Moran, Sandlin-R5) C: Narvaez, Wong 1B: Lowe, Romy (Casas) 2B: Mayer, DHam (Grissom) SS: Story (Sogard) 3B: Bregman LF: Anthony/Duran (Campbell) CF: Rafaela/Duran RF: Abreu/Anthony DH: Duran/Garcia (Yoshida) To 60 Day IL on opening Day: Houck Not returning: Wilson, Hendriks, May, I Campbell, Matz, Refsnyder, Eaton, A Sanchez)

Fangraphs Odds: Make Playoffs: 99.5 to 100% TOR, DET, NYY 96% BOS 90% HOU 68% SEA 19 TEX, 16 KCR, 7 TBR, 5 CLE Win World Series: 11.3 NYY 10.5 TOR 9.3 DET 5.4 SEA & HOU 3.3 BOS NL: 15.3 LAD, 12.0 PHI, 9.3 MIL, 9.1 NYM, 4.2 CHC, 3.5 SDP We are 12th in odds of winning the WS.

Chances for a ring. I do not see TOR as having a much higher chance at making the WS than the Sox, DET or NYY. Nobody looks dominating in the AL. If Anthony and Abreu come back, I think our chances become much better. hence less "Qs" about our chances. To me, we have the best 1-2-3 SP & 1-2 RP quintet in the AL and maybe even MLB. Our defense is playing better. Our baserunning is better than average. Our line-up is questionable without A & A. Even with them, it may not be strong enough, but my whole point- all year- is that all AL teams have major issues with their O or pitching (or both.)