moonslav59

Good summary. I hope this draft gives us a few significant players when we need them.

It would certainly be nice, if we could sign all 10. Let's hope DD & Co. did their homework this draft.

Agreed, but maybe there's a logical explanation why he is still in AA.

Fair enough. When we signed HRam, I thought he'd play 3B, but then they announced the Pablo signing, I believe minutes later, and I thought to myself, "WTF!???"

...and many felt the offense of 2013 was weak too, and we only won because many had plus or career years all at the same time.

I've been saying there are other ways of winning besides having one or two big sluggers in the middle of the line-up for some time now. The Sox have never known "that way", and so Sox fans seem reluctant to believe it can be done. I think it can be, but the question is, is our pitching, defense and other areas improved enough to off set the loss of Papi? Only time will tell. I was wrong about our pen's chances at shining this year, and I hope I continue to be wrong on that area. Yes, our recent winning stretch has had a lot to do with our pitching, particularly the pen, but clearly the offense has improved over the last few weeks. Yes, we've had some stinkers here and there, but we seem to be hitting better, and we'll need better hitting to have a chance to win. Better than 2016? Not likely, but with Sale and a strong pen, our chances are pretty strong. I do agree with your statement about the Henry era and pitching, and certainly if this team is to win it all, it will likely be more about pitching than hitting, but I will say this: every one of the 3 rings we won was in a year where we had few injuries to our pitching starters and 2 or more stud starters going strong at year's end: Pedro-Schilling, Beckett-Schilling and Lester-Lackey PLUS a lights out closer: Foulke, Paplebon & Uehara. Sale & Price (or Porcello) and Kimbrell could fit into that mold this year, but we might need more to make up for the loss of Papi (and a Manny type as well).

From another thread... Betts is not the only player on the rise: JBJ .537 to .807 since May 14th. Pedey .638 to .759 since May 3rd. Leon .496 to .639 since May 5th. HRam frrom .641 to .750 since April 28th. Pablito from .616 to .647 since June 9th. Vaz from .754 to .788 since may 20th. One of our most consistent hitter this year, Moreland, has gone up from .765 on May 16th to .877 today. He was at .807 0n June 4th. Even Bogey is back on the rise after going from over .870 to .812 a couple days ago. He's up to .834 after tonight. Yes, I cherry-picked the sample dates, but we're 16-7 in the last 23 games, and our offense has improved just about top to bottom.

Yes, and couple this with the theory that some of our 2nd and 3rd tier prospects are doing very well this year, so far, maybe "the cliff" can be transformed into just a steep hill.

Well said.

It wasn't a joke. This happens all the time with players who are streaky and posters who rely heavily on most recent small sample sizes to sway their opinions.

...and McCann and Beltran and others. The "balls" was in terms of trading all those vets for prospects--not guys like Cespedes, Craig and Kelly, who were more established players and not truly the "rebuild" types of trades I was hoping for and that Cashman pulled off.

No. I was very clear. I wanted JF gone long ago, and winning a for 3 weeks doesn't change my opinion. Lack of fundamentals is a bigger issue than lack of fire. It's more than just that. I don't think he a smart manager that wins games for the team. I'm not calling for his firing right now, but like I said, a winning streak doesn't change my mind.

ThaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH Yankees Lose!!!!!!

Minor League News from tonight: Brentz is surprising me. He hit his 12th HR tonight. Devers HR'd and Dbld tonight. Salem game was cancelled.

Not good. I hope like hell Velazquez can come through for us, but I'm not too optimistic.

I guess then I could say your point is he'll pitch like Cy Young the rest of the way. I get it.

It took balls to trade away good players for prospects. You scored big on the ones you got. Better than the Sox did with their purge.

I agree, and we really have no other options right now, but I have very little confidence in Velazquez going forward despite his recent record in AAA.

JBJ will likely go cold again at some point, and I hope the skeptics remember this time when it happens.

Yes, and I was before his last call-up too.

Here. I'll be here his next game too.

Betts is not the only player on the rise: JBJ .537 to .807 since May 14th. Pedey .638 to .759 since May 3rd. Leon .496 to .639 since May 5th. HRam frrom .641 to .750 since April 28th. Pablito from .616 to .647 since June 9th. Vaz from .754 to .788 since may 20th. One of our most consistent hitter this year, Moreland, has gone up from .765 on May 16th to .877 today. He was at .807 0n June 4th. Even Bogey is back on the rise after going from over .870 to .812 a couple days ago. He's up to .834 after tonight. Yes, I cherry-picked the sample dates, but we're 16-7 in the last 23 games, and our offense has improved just about top to bottom.

Take a longer view... on everyone and everything.

Six players got on base two or more times tonight. Are people feeling better about the offense now?

Insurance, in case they fail to sign a top pick or leverage to use against their top picks? I'm no expert on this stuff, so your guess is as good as mine.