moonslav59

Eovaldi is like our 9th starter we tried this year. No Betts. No Moreland. No Beni (until late). No Devers. Cuevas, Lin & Travis in the 9th. Smells like the minors. Tastes like the minors. Opponent as good as the minors.

I don't think any of us cliff dwellers ever said we'd lose 90-100+ games in 2020 or 2021. Although we were predicted to do much better in 2011, 2012 and 2014, once could view those years as a cliff (in hindsight). I don't because we were supposed to be pretty good going into those seasons. If I had to guess, right now, what our win totals might be starting in 2020, I might go something like this: 90 in 2020 (I have always maintained the "cliff" starts in 2021.) 86 in 2021 84 in 2022 Hopefully, we tun it around by 2023.

The CWS could be a team to watch as well, and the Royals always seem to run in cycles. Watch for them to come back in a couple years.

The pen was imploding before Sale & ERod went on the DL, and the addition of Eovaldi, who has gone as deep as ERod goes and middle/long relievers like Johnson, Velazquez and Wright have taken up the slack of lost starter innings. I'm not saying the pen hasn't suffered, but we have won at a very high rate with Johnson, Velazquez and Wright starting in the place of Sale & ERod.

To me, the cliff is more about not being highly competitive for 1-3 years, and being a bubble playoff team on paper before each season begins. True, spending $200-210M every year should always produce a playoff contender on paper. I will say that this was precisely what Ben did, and he was crucified when the teams fell short-- way short. To think it can't happen again, especially when you look how the Astros, Yankees and Guardians futures look, is missing the big picture, IMO. The M's and A's might stay competitive, too. Other AL teams seem to be retooling and looking to 2020-2022 as a goal. I've never said it will be impossible to rebuild and stay highly competitive, but it is going to be extremely difficult, and we can't miss on almost any move or signing we make. our history of FA signings has not been great, so we're acting like we will magically start getting big signings right from now on. I am certain we will lose at least 2 players from this group and maybe 3: Sale Bogey Porcello Kimbrel JBJ I'm assuming we keep Betts, Beni, Devers & ERod. That's a nice core when you add 2-3 teams from my list, but with hardly anything looking very promising on the farm, I'm not sure this "core" will be enough. Let's say we keep Sale & Bogey and let Kimbrel, Porcello & JBJ walk. Our budget will be near $200M before we even look to replace the 3 guys we lost. Would we have been highly competitive without Porcello, Kimbrel and JBJ this year? I guess one could argue, yes, but the way posters are talking now on the game threads, it seems like we have little chance of winning this year, as is.

Yes, and if anyone expected big things this year, that's not on Devers. Sure, I had hoped for better offense, but "expecting" a kid his age to improve over a pretty small sample size in 2017 is more of an issue than how Devers has done. I expected a learning curve and even warned fans to expect it. The warning was focused more on his defense, but in that area, he seems to have improved a little bit. I'm still expecting great things from Devers. It may still take another year or two, but he will get "there." Again, .254 27 86 in his first 688 PAs is pretty damn good!

True about SD, but the park does not make up that much of a differential between the two 2016 numbers. My point was, he was not all that good for us in 2016, so he's basically done well in just 1 of 2.5 seasons with us. People can say what they want about the injured Espinoza, but Pom has not been a big plus for us, and if we win this year, it won't be because of that trade in any way.

Even Seattle would be just 1.5 games behind CLE in the central- probably better, since they'd have a better record by beating up on 4 doormats. One could easily argue the best 6 teams in the AL come from the ALE and ALW. BTW, 84-66 would be first place in the NLE and NLW. One could argue 6 of the top 7 teams in MLB come from the ALE & ALW. Only the Cubs' record is top 7, and they are just 4.5 ahead of the Rays, who play in a much tougher division and league.

You look at all those cheap teams, apparently losing money each year. The owner may have bought the team for a few measly millions and can seel it for 50 times what he paid for it, despite playing cheap the whole time while collecting revenue sharing.

Which penalizes pitchers who pitch to contact with success and overvalues high K pitchers who let up more runs..

Most places of work I know have personal days, but I guess if you have used them all, calling in sick and hoping you don't get caught is what you have to do. It's the Sox we're talking about. Let's get out priorities in line here, guys!

Our minor league team almost beat the skanks tonight. Relax, guys.

Fire Cora! JBJ was going to hit a 3 run job!

I'm not sure why I even bother checking in. Bored, I guess.

This place is Moroseville.

Lin should make the playoff roster over this bum!

It's called doing the right thing. This game is meaningless. The only thing Cora needs to do now is make sure everyone is rested, not injured (as best he can) and not too rested come October.

Tonight's update: Eovaldi solidified his spot on the playoff roster. He was probably a lock beforehand. Workman takes a step back, but he's still got a good chance to make it. Brasier is still looking like a lock, despite the HR.

A strong pitching staff can and will carry a poor offense much more than one hitter batting .750 not .550.

Can you explain why Bogey is dead last in DRS over the last 2, 3, 4 or 5 years?

Perhaps the biggest profit these owners make is when they sell the team at an exponential number from their cost at purchase

He didn't do all that well for us year one in Boston. He was great in SD before coming here: 2.47 ERA /1.059 WHIP, but so-so with us: 4.59/ 1.369. He's had 1 good year out of 2.5.

Sale's absence has not really hurt the team. Our 6th, 7th and 8th starters have helped us win many games. We're 17-8 in Sale starts (.680) 9-3 Johnson 5-2 Velazquez 3-1 Wright Total 17-6 (.739) Of course how the team did when Sale didn't start doesn't matter, but it really didn't hurt the team to have to find starters to take his place. (We are 5-4 in Eovaldi starts.)

Not to me. I love it when he spends, except on HRam & Pablito. I'm not sure he'll always want to spend like this year.

I wouldn't be upset if Verlander or Snell won, but I'd definitely take Sale over Snell. Verlander's extra innings and GS'd are worth a lot. His 52 more IP is 34% of Sale's total. He starter 7 more games than Sale. One could think about it this way, What are Verlander's stats over his best 25 games and compare those to Sale's, if they are close, then look at his "extra 7 starts." What if his ERA is 4.50 in his worst 7 starts. Is that something in his favor? Now, if it's 3.30, then that has enormous value. Here's what I came up with: Verlander's first 24 starts: 156 IP (close to Sale) 2.19 ERA .581 OPS against This is close to Sale, but it is still a little worse. Now, look at his "extra" 8 starts (his last 8): 45 IP (about what he has more than Sale) 4.34 ERA .742 OPS against While this has some value, it's not overpowering value.