moonslav59

What's the most anyone can offer this guy under the current rules?

A good one? Better than a FA signee? What could we get by trading Barnes, Hembree and Travis?

Best records AL 97-58 CLE 95-59 HOU 90-64 BOS 86-68 NYY 81-74 MN NL 98-56 LAD (not counting Sat night gm) 92-61 WSH 89-65 AZ (WC) 86-68 Cubs 83-71 COL 82-73 MIL 82-73 STL (Can you believe these guys?)

Did you write all this yourself?

Anybody know if he needs surgery? Maybe he can be "cured" over this winter and have a great season in 2018. You'd think he'd want to do everything possible to make sure he's in top shape at the end of 2018, without risking losing too many PAs in 2018.

Yup. And, if Thornburg starts out on the DL, we'll have Hembree, Wright, Maddox and Scott fighting for his slot.

No, I realize how good a hitter Stanton is. I know that carries a higher OPS than any of our starters. I still think that some people have fallen overly in love with his home runs. And he's having what may be a career year. Or, he could be hitting his prime. We really don't know. This is not an outlier season. This will be the thrid year he's led the league in slugging. His career SLG is .553. His career OBP is .360 His .913 career OPS is about 120 points better than any current Sox player's 2017 OPS. As for his HR power. HRs per 162 Games: 2017: 60 2016: 37 2015: 59 2014: 41 2013: 33 2012: 48 His power is real. His power is proven, Only his health and contract cost are serious issues. My point is that I don't think Stanton worth the contract PLUS the players that we will have to give up. I'll stick with Beni, who is a darn good player in his own right. I thought we could get him for nothing- just pay all his contract. (BTW, we can afford him next year and still stay below the second luxury tax penalty line.)

I hated the Kimbrel deal, even though I thought he'd be a top 3 closer for us. It looks better now due to the sharp rise in top closer costs and the cliff drop by Guerra. I disliked the Pom trade, even though I liked Pom, but he's done great this year, and Espi had surgery. All the other trades I liked or was okay with.

I went from seeing our pen as our weakest (not weak) link in March to not needing to touch it this coming winter. 2018's pen looks strong AND deep: Kimbrel Smith Thornburg Kelly Barnes Ross Workman Wright Hembree (out of options) Scott Maddox Taylor Martin Johnson, Velazquez, Beeks, Elias, Haley, Cosart, Poyner, Buttrey

They didn't want him this year, because they wanted to reset the tax. That's not true for next year.

We were in first place despite nt playing these 19 easy games earlier in the year. We have a very good team. The Yanks do too, but we are better.

But, JF is happy they were aggressive, right?

If we get a clean-up hitting 1Bman and bring Nunez back, that could be all we need to squeeze out HRam, unless we end up needing Nunez at 2B or elsewhere a lot.

Totally agree. Even with all the injuries this staff has gone through, and now the Pedey, Nunez and Betts health issues, it looks like all the pieces might all come back just in time for the playoff run.

You're probably right, but he might be stretched out enough for 5 innings in 16 days from now. Also, we have the day off after game 4, so the pen can all be used, if needed.

I'm not sure 9 days off is good for Sale either, despite me thinking he probably is fatigued.

I'm not counting Price out of the #4 starter conversation either. We're more than two weeks away (Oct 9th) from the 4th game of the playoffs.

Yeah, it's not a "sure thing", and maybe I've been too optimistic all year, but this team is too good to choke this away.

If we have someone equal or better to HRam to play, I doubt a union grievance will carry much weight, despite what pace he's on next year.

Good point, and he's already showed he is unfazed by high pressure. I still think HRam has a chance to shine.

HRam and Betts are perhaps our best hopes at showing some dominant power in the playoffs.

Like all in for Price? Or, all in for Sale?

Yes, it's no coincidence that the 3 rings we got involved these key elements: 2004: Pedro, Schilling & Foulke 2007: Beckett, Schilling & Papelbon 2013: Lester, Lackey & Uehara 2 aces and a top closer goes a long way. Longer than having 9 bash brothers in the line-up and no pitching.

Just about every DD trade has looked good (so far).

I don't want to jinx anything, but we've had this thing wrapped up for a week.