moonslav59

Yes, I mentioned that the "timing" was off. It was just a "what if?" Since we didn't win a ring with Price last year anyways, this "what if" carries more weight.

Maybe one. I'm glad we're playing the 'Stros and O's and Reds.

YES! Price, Smith, Reed all added to a pen that has already exceeded expectations... Nice!

There have been years they did that, and one ofu s was out of it by the time we played.

His game before last. Note: his BB% was equal to Bogey's before tonight's game, but 7.9% is pretty low. Then again, why does anyone ever walk Sandy?

Good to see the bats come alive tonight. The resurgence of Bogey & Betts could be just what we have needed. Bogey on base 4 of 6 times. Betts with 4 RBI. Beni with a big hit. Even Holt lent a hand. Our late inning pen has carried us all year long. I'm glad a Devers error was not a factor in a second straight loss. Big win after being down 6-1!

The second Sale was traded, Quintana was on the market. The timing was the issue though. I doubt we could have traded for Sale back when we signed Price. Imagine though, having Sale and Quintana for low costs, not having Price, and being able to spend Price's money elsewhere. (It's not a realistic dream without Dd being clairvoyant, but what a "what if"!

ID o not want Nunez back, if his contract in any way hinders us from getting a big cleanup hitter this winter. IF not, I'd much rather have Nunez than Holt.

I might be mistaken, but didn't both of Devers' errors lead to an unearned run. Both games we lost by a run (yesterday)or went to extra innings (tonight)? No one play causes a win or a loss, but those two didn't help.

Probably, but would Nunez believe it? Let's say we sign Hosmer. (I guess we could sign Nunez first and trick him, but that's lame.) 1B Hosmer FT DH HRam close to FT 2B Pedey FT (maybes ome DH) 3B Devers FT SS Bogey FT LF, CF, RF all FT The good thing is,if w e can convince Nunez, he could get 550 PAs by rotating among 8 positions: DH HRam sits 1B HRam plays 1B- Nunez DHs 2B Pedey sits 3B Devers sits SS Bogey sits LF Beni sits CF Beni plays CF- Nunez plays LF RF Beni plays RF- Nunez plays LF Certainly doable, if everyone sits about every 8 days. Come to think of it, maybe they can convince Nunez he can get 550 even after signing a FT 1Bman. You're right.

I had been talking Sale (and Quintana) for years. I don't know how many times I was told the CWS would never trade him with so many cheap years still on the books. I'll admit, I was surprised, too. Then, we see Quintana and Gray traded for what I thought were underpays. I know I'm probably over-valuing our prospects compared to what those other trades gave up, but the "what if" nature of my obsession with the Sox can't help but wonder what our future would look like with one of those two, instead of Price.

Personally, I would not have done the Kimbrel and Pom trades. I would have tried to offer some/most those players for Quintana. Had we done that,w e wouldn't have had tos pen on Price. That would have made our long term financial outlook much brighter. It may seem contradictory, but my views on those trades have been clear. Once the trades were made, I realized we were looking at a 3 years window. The Sale trade only reinforced the improved window and the lower after window odds. I thought we might have been able to find a way to win now while still keepinga couple more big pieces to the extended future. Maybe I'm wrong. I've never pretended to be smarter than Theo, Ben or DD. I've never been down on Kimbrel, and I had nothing against Pom. Both trades have greatly improved our 2017 odds--no doubt. I'm enjoying the ride, despite thinking Id' have tried to do things differently. I'm just not going to go into denial about what these moves is highly likely to end up doing to our longer term future. I'd rather not have traded that much of out future, but if it helps us win a ring or two, it will be worth it. I think we have a decent shot this year, and if wec an get a clean-up hitter next year, and we stay healthy, we should have better odds. I'm okay with going all out to improve odds then taking a "cliff" break or trying to stay pretty competitive all the time, but not like the pre-2004 Sox take-you-to-the-doorstep for decades and decades teams. Either way, I try to recognize it for what it is and not try to sugar coat reality. BTW, I'd make 3 Sale trades in a row. You don't pass on chances like that.

We could promise him 550+ PAs. He could play half the games at 2B while Pedey DHs. The rest he could play DH, 3B, SS or LF. The problem is where's our new clean-up hitter going to play, especially if we further crowd the DH slot with Pedey and HRam already there. If we sign Nunez and pick up a 1Bman or 3Bman (Devers to 1B), I'm not sure we can fulfill a 550+ PA promise to Nunez, unless we dump HRam.

With so many players hurt, I'm fine with Bogey at 1. Besides, last 14 days: .365 OBP. Last 7 days: .433 (more PAs than anyone else in this sample) .

The Yanks suck! Their manager is even worse than ours! Their youth and inexperience will show. We're 5 and 5 vs those clowns in our last 10 games. We can and will beat them easier than the Astros and Guardians.

I'm totally with you here. I get how it's hard to think of winning this year without Kimbrel, Pom or Sale. We can't go back in hindsight and say, the one trade we shouldn't have made was the Thornburg trade. That was actually one I liked anyways. I can see the argument how taking away just one of the Kimbrel, Pom or Sale trades would be an even worse strategy, because we'd still have traded away enough of the future to really hurt, but not enough to give a very strong chance to win now. In a sense we'd have been playing it halfway which would likely lead to no rings in "the window" and no wins beyond either. I totally get that argument. I don't even necessarily disagree with that philosophy or plan either. I like winning now. I'm okay with winning every few years, if it takes losing in between some, too. Ideally, I'd love to win every year or be highly competitive every year, at least, but that is probably unrealistic. We wouldn't have been highly competitive now if we took away 2 of those three trades...maybe not with just 1 of the 3 taken back. I'm okay with the cliff, as long as it doesn't last too long. I don't think it will or can as long as we are continuous big spenders. To me, trying to pretend what we did is not going to affect our future in a very significant way baffles my mind. I realize there's a chance we could rebuild while winning, but the odds are very much against us. It is what it is.

I like the line-up, too. I think JF has done better recently. I'd probably have Devers higher, but I'm happy with the past few line-ups.

So, if you only look at who are the best clean-up hitters on the market, regardless of position, I'd rank them this way: 1) JD Martinez (despite injury concerns) 2) Mike Moustakas( despite playing a position we have a 20 year playing right now) Distant tie for third: Upton, Duda, Santana, Hosmer, Morrison, maybe one or two more I forgot

Maybe, if he was hitting real well, and they benched him at the end of the year just a few ABs away, he might have a case, but I think we could do it without raising red flags. The issue would be how it might affect future signings, especially ones with vesting clauses or injury clauses.

We could tempt Nunez with the FT 2B position and let Pedey DH and HRam play 1B FT. Nunez could float to other positions and allow Pedey to play 2B whenever he can. This does nothing to solve the clean-up hole.

I don't want to move Devers either, but I'd rather have Moustakas or Machado than Hosmer or Duda. I do think Devers would be a better defensive 1Bman than 3Bman over a short time, but I have not given up him as a 3Bman. That being said, he has not looked very good at 3B so far, but his range sure beats the heck out of Pablo & Co.

I know they don't want to move Devers to 1B, but his defense was why they kept him in the minors for so long, and if a better clean-up hitter can be acquired by signing a 3Bman over a 1Bman, I'd consider the move and think the Sox might CONSIDER it as well.

No, but he gets hurt too much. A secondary concern is when we play in an NL park. To play JD, and OF'er needs to sit, unless he can play 1B and HRam sits. I'm fine with signing JD. I'd rather have a 1Bman, but I don't like the 1B FA choices that much.

I just don't want to push HRam to 1B- that's my main concern on signing JD.

He also needs to pass a physical to get the option, and if his shoulder is the mess it seems to be, maybe that will save the day. We'll have to be careful not to flunk him on the physical for bogus reasons, but the chance is there.