moonslav59

I wish we did better than M & M at the deadline, especially if it was a move for a longer controlled player, like Ryan or maybe Keller, but we don't know what was needed in return. I think Brez made a lot of moves, this past winter, with the idea or plan that little would be done at the deadline, when prices are usually grossly exaggerated. Like it or not, I think that was a specific strategy. They value their top prospects highly. They value their young and controlled 26 and 40 man roster players highly. Perhaps they place too much value, but I do think we could have worked to better balance the roster. In a gross overpay period of time, we could have had someone grossly overpay for one of our OF'er than just break even vy grossly overpaying for a pitcher, 1Bman and or 2Bman. We end up with the same talent and team control as before, but with no or fewer bottlenecks. It's easy to say this in theory, but I'm not going to bash Brez over not making this become a reality. I wish he did more, but I'm thrilled with what he did, last winter, so I'm happy with out chances, this season and probably happier about the future than if we had traded away Campbell, Arias, Jh Garcia or whoever for a rental.

We have to start spreading out the offense. We bunch it up, too much and then go lean for whole games. This is not a skill set or something that can be coached or changed, as far as I know. I think we have to just hope the random nature of baseball will create a more spread out run production over the last 1/4 of the season. What can be done by Cora or Brez? "Tell the players to be more consistent and timely with their hitting." LOL!

I did. I understood your point, fully. And, why jump around in your stats/metrics of choice. Were you correct in saying... They aren't top 3 in many metrics I could find. Even if we go by the full AL: 3rd in everyday player fWAR 3rd in OPS (T4th in wRC+ is close enough to look at fWAR, OPS and wRC+ and say top 3 combined.) 2nd DRS (4th OAA) call it 3rd. I can mishmash pitching metrics, too: 2nd in RP fWAR (1st ERA-) 4th in SP ERA- (pretty dam close to 3rd. If you go by top 3 SP'ers as I mentioned, I think we are top 3 in the AL.)

2024 to2025: Defense: OAA: -17> projected +4 49 DRS> projected 47 Everyday Players: 21.3 fWAR> projected 25.3 (wRC+ the same at 105, but OPS up 14 points as the league avg has fallen.) Offense 41>41 Baserunning: 4.5>6.6 Pitching: 15.4 fWAR> projected 17.2

You don't think we improved on defense?

Try reading my words. I said "top 3 out of the 6-8 contenders." According to fangraphs, we are: 3rd in all AL in fWAR for everyday players. Funny how you use fWAR for pitch9ing but wRC+ for everyday players. We are also 3rd in AL OPs, and yes, tied for 4th in wRC+. (Ooooo, missed by 1 slot.) 5th in fWAR pitching, but behind 3 teams that are NOT CONTENDERS! We are 3rd in the AL in ERA- (a valid metric, and we'd be 1st, if you dont count TEX & KCR as contenders) 4th in SP ERA-, but 2nd if no TEX & KCR. 1st in RP ERA- in all of AL. Yes, T2nd in fWAR oen, but once again, MIN is NOT a contender. I said among contenders. Yes, 8th in SP fWAR in AL, but 6th among contenders. Again, among the contenders we are top 3 in everyday players, rotation and pen. We are about avg on D, Why not call me out on this one? We are T2nd in AL DRS (your fave D metric)- behind the team you suggested was about to "get hot," Texas. I was wrong there, but on the low side. Of course, on could argue TEX and KCR are still contenders, and that has merit, but I did write, "the top 6-8 contenders," which leaves out 1-2 teams from CLE, TEX & KC. For the king nitpicker, you miss a lot.

You crack me up, and the funniest part is, you're not even trying to.

Well, the conversation was about the Sox making a "tweak" and it improving his production. While improving from horrific to just plain bad might not earn a ML rotation slot, it is still an improvement. Nobody said 9 BBs in 15 IP was worthy of praise.

It was the best Sox trade since Sale, and might end up being better than that one.

The remaining schedule looks easier than the last few weeks looked, but nothing can be taken for granted. We also play several teams in contention, so those head-to-head games create double whammy effects for the winning team. Game remaining: (current record vs team) 7 NYY (5-1) 6 BAL (4-3) 6 ATH (n/a) 3 TOR (3-7) & TBR (8-2) 3 DET (0-3), ARI (n/a) & CLE (2-1) 3 MIA (n/a), PIT (n/a) If we can go 4-3 v NYY, 7-5 v BAL & ATH, 3-3 v TOR & TBR, 5-4 v DET, AZ & CLE and 4-2 v PIT & MIA, we should make the dance. We need to take these games one at a time, of course.

As much as we thought Meidroth could have been our 1B solution (and 3B when Bregman was out,) he's just batting .650, now. He has just 15 XBHs in 350 PAs. Teel could end up being a great catcher, but so many top catching prospects have floundered. To me, Montgomery will end up being the prize of the trade for the CWS, someday. Who know who we might have been able to sub out for Teel and or Meidroth. Maybe they did not want Mayer or Abreu/Duran. I'm glad they did not insist on Anthony.

It's not a great result, but has he improved over his first 2 starts?

We've certainly improved in many areas over last year, and despite losing Devers via trade, it looks like we are a better team now than at the start of 2025. Gio, Bello, Chapman, Anthony, Narvaez and others have exceeded expectations. Our D looks better in theory, but has not always shown it on the field. That is one area we can do better over the last 25% of the season. Our pen has been way better than anyone expected. Just keeping pace would be great. Our top 3 rotation guys have saved the season and need to keep doing well. The 4-5 slots have been a struggle, and injuries have caused us to cycle through a few arms. I'm not expecting greatness, but if just one guy steps up, he could be the difference-maker. The offense has been fine, except for too much bunching up on production in just a few games, and then having too many near do-nothing games. More consistency is needed, but it's not really a skill set, so it's hard to know how to improve upon this weakness. In the AL, among the top 6-8 contenders, I think we have a... top 3 rotation top 3 pen top 3 offense average defense better than average base running That should make us a top 3-4 team with a chance to be top 2, if we put it all together. I doubt we fall to 7 or 8th, but our history has not been kind over the last 40 games in recent years. This team has enough new faces to believe things will be better, this year.

We also started the year with rookies Narvaez, who ended up wining the FT catcher role before Mayer and Anthony were even called up. We also saw Dobbins win a rotation slot, before going on the IL. That's 6 rookies who all look like keepers, to me. The one wo got the first shot, Campbell, might have the least shot at winning a FT role, right now. (Fitts is also a rookie, and he showed a little promise before being demoted.)

We had a few chances, early in last night's game, to take advantage of Hunter Brown's struggling moments. Then, he kicked it into another gear, as good pitchers often do, and we lost. A bad pitch by Buehler hurt. I hate to beat a dead horse, but I really think Abreu should bat 5th- not Yoshida. It might have helped, last night, but who knows.

Hence my plea to trade from strength (our OF) and add to a weak area (P, 2B, 1B.) Rafaela needs to play CF FT, unless there is an in game emergency situation or until we call -up someone for an injury replacement. This should not happen, often. I love all our OF'ers, and all have some great strengths and very few weaknesses. It's hard to know which one to trade, but IMO, it has to be done, this winter, and that is even if we had no Jh Garcia, Campbell or Refsnyder/Yoshida in the 2026 OF mix. Simply put, our 4th OF'er is worth way more to another team as a 1-2-3 OF'er than he is to us as a DH, 2Bman or bench guy. Weak areas of our 4 OF'ers: Anthony: none that I see Duran: not a great arm, but fine for LF and some CF Abreu: has not shown he can hit LHPs well enough to play FT, yet. Rafaela: plate discipline and questionable batting skills, going forward. Yoshida: should only DH or play short corner OF in emergencies. Refsnyder: may retire. Not great on D, but okay in short corner OFs. Jh Garcia: untested but pretty good on D at all 3 slots. Campbell: batting is questionable, defense in CF might be okay. Maybe can learn to play LF at a plus level.

fWAR at 2B in 2025: 0.6 Romy (needed more at 1B) 0.2 Mayer 0.1 Sogard -0.2 KC -0.3 DHam (way below 2024's number) -0.7 Rafaela (can't hit as a 2Bman, this year) Team: -0.3 at 2B

The once highly ranked Sox prospect, Mata, is working his way towards pitching for another team, next year, or just forever being a Sox AAA pitcher. He gave up the only run in yesterday's Woo loss. POR lost, despite Castro's 2 hits. GRE lost, despite 0 ERs allowed by Futrell in 4 IP and 2 hits by Taylor. SAL may get the only system win, yesterday, if they finish off their suspended game with a W. Gonzales is 3-3 (.792) and Yuten is 2-2 w a BB (.741,) so far.

Agreed, It's just a temporary insurance move.

I'd put the chances of winning the AL Pennant as such: 21% DET 19% SEA , HOU & TOR 14% BOS 8% NYY

The 3 game stretch? It's 9 BBs, which is still ugly as sin. I'm not for calling up Harrison to start. I just pointed out he's gotten decent results in his las 3 starts, despite the 9 BBs.

If Mayer can stay healthy (yea, right) maybe we see Story at 2B, next year. Of course, Bregman needs to return, so Mayer is not needed at 3B.

Fangraphs has the AL odds like this: Make Playoffs 98% TOR & DET 95% SEA 94% HOU (wonder how a BOS win last night might have changed this) 85% NYY 73% BOS 27% CLE, 16% TEX World Series Win: 9.4 SEA 9.0 TOR 7.8 NYY (continued Yankee favoritism) 7.5 DET 5.8 HOU 2.9 BOS

Meh me and see what happens!

He had a rough first two starts with Woo (9IP 7 ER,) so if the "tweak" isea is for real, maybe it took a few games to see the results. Here are his game logs since July 9th: IP ER 3.2 0 6.0 1 3.2 2 5.0 2 5.0 0 5.0 0 Last 3 starts: 15 IP 2 ER (11 hits, but 9 BB. 20 Ks is nice.)