moonslav59

I don't see a major roster crunch, this winter, despite all the 60 Day IL players being added back, and a couple or three Rule 5's. but Hicks seems to be a hopeless case. We already have some players that most of us wish or are close to wishing were not on the 40. Hicks and Yoshida are hard to unload due to salary. Lowe might get $10M via arb, so who knows? I Campbell & Grissom may be nontendered or DFA'd/traded. Sogard, Eaton & Ali Sanchez could easily be gone. Houck will need to be on the 40, until opening day, when we can place him on the 60 Day until 2027. (Someone suggested we nontender him, but that is extreme, to me.) Winckowski should stay, IMO. He was pretty good a couple years ago. Casas should stay. It seems obvious to me. He has a career .800 OPS. Criswell, Murphy, Kelly, Guerrero will stay, IMO. DHam will stay, IMO.

Yes, I understand that, and I've always felt fWAR was better, but lately I'm beginning to wonder.

Isn't the argument that WAR "looks at the whole picture?"

A month last, but I'll take it.

Living near Houston, The Astros are the poster child for a winning team despite major injury issues, every season, particularly SP'ers. (They have also let many big stars walk but keep winning.)

Yes. I did not expect them to drop so much, this year.

ERA- Leaders (120+ IP) 43 Nate TEX (IL) 53 Skubal DET 57 Brown HOU 62 Crochet BOS 65 Rasmussen TBR 66 de Grom TEX 71 Bello BOS 9. Fried NYY 73 10. Rodon 78 T10. Giolito 78 WE have 3 in the top 10!!!

I feel good about our chances to make the playoffs, and when you consider that 3 SP'ers usually get about 80-90% of all playoff starts, I think that gives us a boost. I think we can compete with our top 3 starters, and Tolle might be a plus #4. fWAR Rankings by AL contenders: DET: 1 Skubal, 21 Flaherty, 29 Mize NYY: 5 Fried, 16 Rodon, 23 Warren BOS: 2 Crochet, 25 Bello, 32 Giolito HOU: 3 Brown, 4 Valdez, 58 Walter (big drop off) SEA: 13 Woo, 20 Gilbert, 28 Castillo, 30 Kirby TOR: 14 Gausman, 22 Bassitt, 36 Berrios Even without Anthony, the bottom of our order looks better than most teams, and if we get Abreu back & healthy, maybe the top and middle of our orser can keep pace with other AL contenders with bigger star power.

None of the players and prospects they traded have amounted to squat, since then, but the Braves have slipped, recently.

It's going to be hard winning the whole thing without Anthony, but stranger things have happened.

Perhaps KC's landing spot will be DH, where he can do one-handed push-up in the clubhouse when the opps are at bat. Ooops, sorry, we already have a permanent DH and 5 more in waiting.

"The waiting is the hardest part..."

Has his recent hot streak at AAA not been supported by the data? He seems to be hitting better, recently, despite last night's 0-4.

So, yes, pretty close. So the one guy who met the timetable was probably the one guy we really didn't need to do so.

If we are so hell-bent on keeping Hicks until 2026, can we find a reason to put him on the IL?

The Yanks have turned it around, after a long 57 game stretch of bad play. (25-32) It was nice seeing DWilliams blow another game, last night. The Yanks had won 8 out of 9 and 15 out of 20, beforehand.

I seem to remember a lot of "no timetable" talk about his injury, but yes, he did not seem to go longer than expected. So, one or two out of 20-25?

Was that right before the DFA'd him?

I've given up hoping on Sox IL players returning. When is the last time one hit his return date target?

Well, Anthony and Narvaez had "no track record," either. One major part of the idea to demote Yoshida is to let him play everyday v L and R, until he gets his eye back. It need not be permanent, unless he sucks there, too. Romy has become an offensive force, especially since last year, so I'm not sure we can count his earlier "track record." His record vs RHPs is incomplete or not very good, granted, until very recently.

If some of those Woo starters are in Boston, Mullins would get a shot. sp.com has him in the Woo pen to start the season.

Looks like one of those rare series, where we win the series but get outscored or tie in runs scored.

Maybe Eaton can get a chance to pitch.

Going by soxprospects.com and their projected 2026 rosters but adjusted by my adding in returning injured players not named Houck, and a couple flips, here are the rosters that may begin the 2026 season: MLB: Crochet, Bello, Sandoval, Crawford, Tolle, Dobbins, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Weissert, Bernardino, Hicks. Narvaez, Wong, Lowe, Romy, Mayer, Story, [Bregman] Anthony, Duran, Abreu, Rafaela, Yoshida, Campbell AAA: Harrison, Fitts, Criswell, Early, Uberstine, Drohan, Perales, Wink, Sandlin, Murphy, Guerrero, Kelly, Moran, Rosario, Montero, Casas, DHam, Grissom, Sogard, Romero, Garcia, Eaton, Castro, Hickey, McDonough, Sikes AA: Mullins, Paez, Holobetz, Clarke, Rogers/Dean, Ingrassia, Carlson, Wu-Yelland, Kirwin, Song, Hoppe. Jo Garcia, Brannon, Alcantara, Arias, Liendo, YRod, Taylor, Bleis, Ferguson, De Leon, Riemer A+ Witherspoon, Valera, Phillips, Eyanson, Aita, Tygart, Foutch, Finley, Mayers, Ehrlicher, Futrell, Brooks, Cohen. Salazar, Anderson, M White, Godbout, Nunez, Gonzales, Martin, Turner, Cespedes, Mussett, H White, Yuten, Encarnacion A-: Fajardo, Neely, Travieso, Ruiz, Patton, Brown, Morgan, J Bello, Gartrell