moonslav59

I'm saying it will go to 8, but maybe after we expand to 32 teams. (Maybe we go to 7, in between)

No doubt, Rafaela has been bad for a month or so. The number support that. Only Yoshida (.516) and maybe Bregman (.561) are even close to his last 4 week OPS or .496. I guess we should have benched Story for hitting .432 in May, which is worse than Ceddanne's last 28 days. The question is, why should we expect he will hit.496 the next 12 games? What evidence supports players keep batting the exact same as the weeks beforehand? I'm fine with playing hothands and giving slumping players a breather or short break, but I'm not benching my 4th or 5th best player in crunch time. How long a leash does he get? Maybe until Abreu returns? Is Eaton's short spurt of glory enough to take Ceddanne's place?

We've discussed the "lower/lowest limits" his OPS could be and still be acceptable or a plus. We disgree by a pretty big gap. I'm a big fan of defense up the middle and may feel it has more value than you think it does. He's taken away countless hits and some homers. Way more than Duran or Anthony would have taken away in CF. He should never have been moved to 2B. You may not value WAR, and I agree it has flaws, but Ceddanne has the 4th best WAR among position players. I don't see why our 4th or 5th best player is bearing the wrath you heep on him. He's not even close to being the worst batter. He's not even top 9 in K% on the team (among 12 batters with 190+ PAs) and you bash him for lack of plate discipline. (That is a problem, but he has his K rate down to 20%.) His BB% has almost doubled since 2023-2024 combined. His OPS is better than 2023 & 2024. He's slumping, now, like he has before. I wish he wasn't. I'm not benching him, at least until Abreu returns. I'm not one to believe a player repeats what he's done over the last 2, 3, 4 weeks. I go through this with Max, almost weekly. Rafaela is one example of a player who never repeats month to month. He may hit .400-.500 the rest of the way and be a reason we lose. He may not. He's streaky. I think he has a hot streak left in him. You don't.

Cora destroyed Ceddane by playing him at 2B. LOL!

.690 is fine with me, and it's actually showing improvement over 2023-2024 combined. I'm not sure if he can ever have a season over .800, like JBJ did, but maybe .750 for a few years would be very nice.

Here are some factoids: 1. Only 7 Catchers have more PAs and a higher OPS than Narvaez at .747. He's also pretty good on D at a key position. He's 9th in Catcher OPS 2. Only 3 CF'ers have a higher CF fWAR than Ceddanne: 5.3 J Rod 5.2 Crow-Arm. 4.2 Buxton (finally a healthy season) 3.7 Rafaela 2.7 Jake Myers (not even close) 3. Despite being a platoon and missing a few weeks to injury, Abreu ranks 7th in RF fWAR at 2.9 4. Top ERA- pitchers with 150+ IP 44 Skenes 55 Skubal 56 H Brown 59 C Sanchez 61 Crochet 62 Abbott 63 Yamamoto 64 Peralta 67 Pivetta 70 de Grom 73 Boyd 74 Fried 76 Bello 76-81: M Kelly, Rodon, G Williams, Woo, Webb, J Ryan, Wacha

Not true. 2025 162 PAs v RHPs (.709 vs .498 in 2024) 137 PAs v LHPs (1.023 vs .879 in 2024.) Over two years with the Sox, yes more vs LHPs but close... v LHPs .953 in 267 PAs Romy .956 in 276 PAs Ref v RHPs .636 in 248 PAs Romy .700 in 223 PAs Ref (also pretty close in total PAs v R & v L)

TOP SOX OPS since 6/23/24 (400+ PAs) .878 Devers .835 Bregman .813 Romy .804 Duran .784 Abreu .754 Yoshida .749 Story .747 Narvaez .676 Rafaela .616 Wong Go to 300+ PAs and add... .859 Anthony .824 Refsnyder .594 DHam

When you go three years in a row getting it mostly right, it's hard to break out of the paradigm.

If Ceddanne stinks in 8 years, fine.

After 8 years. Like JBJ, that's what Ceddanne is signed for. I guess every site needs a Mr. Negative.

On Rafaela, nobody will claim his plate discipline has been fixed. He still has a long way to go, and we know they've been trying to help him improve in this area for many years. 2023-2024 to 2025 K%: 27.1%>20.0% BB%: 2.9%> 4.7% HR%: 2.6%> 3.0% OPS: .664>.695 We need to see continued improvement in these areas. It would help if he'd not decline sharply near the ends of most seasons. I think we all like consistency over streakiness, but I'll take a rerun of JBJ's first 8 seasons in MLB. Near GG defense. .732 OPS, but .769 after his first 2 seasons (101 OPS+) I'm not sure why JBJ has gotten such a bad name. He started slowly and dropped off badly after age 31, but so what?

What a difference one day makes, huh? 12 games left. WC Race 83-66 NYY 82-68 BOS -1.5 from NYY and +1.0 HOU/+3.0 TEX 81-69 HOU __________ -2.0 TEX (from HOU) -2.5 CLE In the NL, 3 teams are within 2.5 games of the Mets for the last WC slot -1.5 The SF Devers -2.0 AZ -2.5 CIN

You choose to do that. You could spend some time talking about Narvaez, too. If you choose to.

Not even close. Maybe when Abreu returns, give him a bretaher.

You stopped bashing Narvaez. I wonder why?

Wow, 16 Ks. Big win. Guts,

Woo lost. Jh Garcia homered. Guerrero got lit up for 3 runs in 1 IP, so I'm not sure he's getting close to a call-up. POR lost 1-0. Rogers looked good. Sansone went 3 IP from the pen (3IP, 1H, 0BB, 2K) He has a 0.00 ERA at AA.

BOS 7 NYY 2

Looking at everything, I'd say we are maybe 7th to 9th. 10th is okay.

Both TEX teams lost, so a golden opportunity tonight. SEA is up 11-1 and TOR won. The ALE is pretty much out of our reach, now.

Wouldn't 8th in road OPS and 6th in road runs show we are higher than 11th?

Or, 1-0 v NYY and 2-1 A's. Then 3 at TBR, 3 at TOR and 3 v DET: maybe have to go 5-4? That's 8-5, total. We might win at 7-6 of squeak in at 6-7, but 5-8 would likely mean another disappointing season.

Hint: 1. ________________ 8.2 in 1995 (He also had the 9th best in '93 and the 14th best in '94) #2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10: Nomar (7.6 was his highest in '00) #6, 7, 11. 12, 15 and 19 Bogey (6.0 was his highest in '19 & '22) #16 Stephen Drew in '13 at 3.6 #17 Rick Burleson in '76 at 3.5 (also #20 in '79) #18 Jody Reed in '88 at 3.4 (also #21 in '89) #22 Trevor Story in 2025 at 3.0 and counting. Number 22 in last 51 years. He might get to #21 or #22 with a strong finish. In this context: not so great.

Here is a good trivia question: what Red Sox player had the highest fWAR season at SS for the Sox since 1970? SINGLE SEASON best season at SS.