moonslav59

I don't think having more than 1 or 2 lefties in our pen is essential. Once Thornburg returns, we'll have a guy who is better than almost any LOOGY in the league: OPS Against by splits: .531 vs LHBs in 414 PAs .732 vs RHBs in 496 PAs It's obvious by the nearly identical PAs vs righties and lefties, the Brewers used him vs LHBs much more than a normal right-handed RP'er would see.

soxprospects.com had this on Kopech's slider: Slider: 84-87 mph. Plus potential, showed wipeout potential and bat-missing ability. Yes, the 4.6 BB/9 is hideous. His 11.9 K/9 is promising.

Ultimately, who we get mid season will be the guy we traded Buch (and whoever else we end up trading) for.

I always thought Buch's breaking ball was his best pitch, but having a faster fastball certainly helped.

You ask this... "...win now win now win now. I'm really curious to know what posters you are referring to." Then say this... "There are many posters here who truly do not think that Dombrowski has done anything to dampen our future dreams." Trading Moncada, Espinoza, Kopech, Margot, Basabe and others has done "anything to dampen...future dreams?" All I can say is WOW! And if you want names of posters, you just claimed there are some. I'm not whining. I love this roster. I'm just not into thinking wishing for miracles or some vastly different way of building a farm that has yet to be explained 4-5 years from now is a solid plan to have sweet dreams about. Call it whining about the future, but I don't see it that way. I'm happy we kept Devers, Groome and Travis, but I hoped we had kept Espi and Margot (even if to have traded for something better than a closer or 3/4 starter). My beef is minor. I love this roster!

I'm hopeful at least one from Lakins, Raudes and Anderson can come through. Maybe we can add Cosart and Shawaryn to the list.

Kendrick! I'm almost always for building up the rotation from the top or near the top, instead of signing 5th starters, and although I liked our rotation without Sale and keeping Buch, you just can't pass on a once in a decade chance to trade for a cost- controlled super stud starter like ... Chris Freakin' Sale!

Both Matt Barnes and Heath Hembree are under team control for 5 years, Carson Smith for 4 years and Tyler Thornburg for 3 years. I would hope one of them can take over as a closer. I hope so too. We haven't had a lot of luck producing our own closers, but between the 4 you mentioned, I think one can rise to the role. I also believe DD is vested in Pom. It's way too early I know but if he pitches well this year, I can see Pom being extended this winter. This would lessen the impact of not being able to sign both Porcello and Sale. Depends on what his demands are. He may look for a long term deal, especially if he has a good full season. I also think we may look for Groome to replace Pom after 2018, and then step it up in 2020, if we lose Porcello after 2019. This is all assuming we extend Sale. If not, we'll probably push hard to extend Pom, assuming he has done well. 2020? Sale, Price, ERod, Wright, Groome (and- or Pom?) We should work to extend Sale AFTER the 2018 season when his second option year comes due for 2019. Totally! To me, Groome reminds me little bit of Pomeranz. I'm optimistic, but I liked Espi and Kopech more at this point in their careers.

Agreed. With Swihart in the wings, I'm pretty sure most teams envy our catching situation despite some posters' dire WAR projections or calls for Swihart to force a trade of Leon or Vaz.

Certainly a future with many more top prospects looks brighter.

It doesn't interest you that the same posters who are praising his moves now and the "win now" philosophy will later bash him for having the same philosophy they agreed with earlier? Win now is fine, but expecting miracles later is a lot to expect from any GM who takes this path, yet it happens over and over and over and...

I wanted Miller back as well. KRod posted a better WHIP than his career last year, so that's a sign he's done well converting from power to finesse. Since 2015, his WHIP has been 1.02, which ranks 15th out of 79 RP'ers with 110+ IP since then. His WHIP was at 1.16 before the 2015 season. (Note: while his K rate slipped, it was still at 8.0 last year.) In all fairness, Clippard did worse than his career norm last year.

Makes sense, but our history of spending large on FAs needs to change for it to matter. One of our biggest success areas has been signing (and trading some) international free agents- some with huge bonuses or contracts. We paid a huge cost and 100% tax on Moncada who was essential in the Sale trade. (Another big piece was Basabe -the greater- for Sale.) Margot was the #1 piece that got us Kimbrel. Espinoza was traded for Pomeranz. We swung and missed on over $70M for Castillo. We've also signed international FAs: Bogaerts Devers G Bautista Basabe & Alomte (got us Ziegler) These are some huge names. It will be very hard to come close to this. Longer ago... Iggy & Montas (who got us Peavy- who got us Hembree) Doubront (who got us Marco Hernandez) Dice-K, Okajima, Tazawa

Blake who? (Just kidding)

Yes, but so do those on the other list you said "looked damn good".

Tiny sample size, but our catchers are now a combined... 12 for 24 1 HR 4 2B 1 3B 7 RBI 5 Runs 2 HBP (0 BB/3K) Some very big hits.

Well, that's assuming many of these kids come through. If they all come through, what could we have expected from this? 1) Beni LF 2) Moncada 1B 3) Betts RF 4) Devers 3B 5) Margot DH 6) JBJ CF 7) Bogey SS 8) Pedey 2B 9) Swihart SP Sale, Price, ERod, Espi, Groome RP Rauses, Barnes, Johnson, Workman, Taylor, Martin Bench: Hernandez, Asuaje, Chatham,

Nasty is how some have treated Ben. The same might happen to DD, if he wins in 2018 and has two bad years in 2020 and 2021. I never said it WILL HAPPEN. I hope to God it doesn't. I plan on being alive for at least another decade or two, and I've come to expect a highly competitive team or a team with a strong farm that looks to be a winner in the near future every year. I hated the last place finishes sandwiched around the 2013 ring, but I never got too down, because the farm was growing and growing. I'll be okay with some down times after this window closes to some extent as long as I see a light. I'm not sure how we're going to build a strong farm through a 4 year winning stretch (low picks) and a much more restrictive international FA market and luxury tax system. BTW, I'm usually accused of being an optimist and "homer", but I try to keep it real. I didn't mean to squash people dreams, but I have yet to hear anyone explain how we're going to do it based on the new system and DD's track record with low draft choices, building a pen, and signing big ticket FAs. Something is going to have to change for it to work.

Here's a projected 2021 roster with no additions from soxprospects.com and assuming we keep Betts, Bogey, JBJ and Sale: Sale, Price, Sale, ERod, Groome, Raudes Barnes, Johnson, Workman, Taylor, Martin, Cosart/Lakins 1) Beni LF 2) Bogey SS 3) Betts RF 4) Devers 3B 5) JBJ CF 6) Pedey 2B 7) Swihart C 8) Travis 1B 9) Dalbec DH Bench: Hernandez, Matheny, Chatham, Longhi, Romanski Lots of potential for sure, but a lot of huge questions. Yes, we can draft someone from now going forward that could impact. Yes, we may sign some mid range or minor FAs to fill some holes, but building another big winner after 2020 or 2021 is going to very very difficult. Again, I love our roster right now. I love having Kimbrel and Pom for the next 2 years. I'm hopeful we win a championship or two in the next 2 years, so we can say those two trades were worth it. I love the Sale trade and liked the Thornburg trade. I've complained about some moves, but I can see what the plan is. We're hoping we did not give up too much of the future to try and win in the next 2-4 (maybe 5) years. I'm fine with the plan, but I see it for what it is. I'm not going to sugar coat the extended future, because the ways to build a strong team through spending on international FAs, FAs and falling draft picks due to signability are gone or going fast.

I've never said we'd be a doormat. Any team, even with the worst farm in MLB should not be in the cellar with a $200M+ budget. For argument's sake, let's say we keep these guys: $30M Price $30M Sale $28M Betts $22M Bogey $20M JBJ Groome replaces Porcello Travis replaces Moreland/HanRam Devers replaces Pablo That's 3 for 3 on top prospects coming through and a $130M for just 5 out of 40 players on the luxury budget. Not doormats. Not going to be easy to fill out the rest of the roster with quality enough o be competitive, let alone highly competitive. Also, if we ever stop being highly competitive for 2 or more years, don't kid yourselves, you'll all be calling for the GMs head, even if he wins a ring in the next 2-3 years. Same as with Ben.

Great job, Pom! Just what we need!

Well, my idea of signing Clippard and trading scraps for KRod would have meant about this: Financial cost: $12.25M/2 Clippard ($6.125M towards luxury budget) $13.5M/2 KRod ($5.7M towards luxury budget) Total: $11.825M luxury cost Kimbrel:$37M/3 ($10.75M luxury for 2 years then $12M for 2018) Prospect cost: Kimbrel: Margot, Guerra, Allen, Asuaje KRod: The equivalent of Javier Betancourt (maybe Wendell Rijo or Carlos Asuaje?)

Seems pretty simple to me. I'm barely okay with signing a big time FA closer at top dollar. I'm barely okay with trading 4 prospects for any RP'er, even a top 3-5 closer like Kimbrel was expected to be (by me too). Doing both is like paying double.

What makes you so sure? We can't just sign guys like Bogey, Moncada, Espinoza, Margot, Iggy, Montas and Devers anymore. It's not a highest bidder system anymore. My guess is we may not have a top 25 pick in 3-4 years either. It's not impossible, but it will be extremely hard to build up to a point where we can have major impact guys (plural) come up every year or two.