moonslav59

I heard what sounded like trash cans being pounded with a hammer.

Suddenly, Gio and Crochet look human.

We saw, first hand. The Wacha and Strahm signings were like blind squirrels climbing broken clocks.

Murphy was demoted. He suddenly lost control. He'll probably be back, this year or next. I think he'll survive the winter 40 man crunch.

It's not about that. It's matter of factly stating Campbell is more likely to watch a called srike than Toro. How can we know that? Also, we need to consider who might be more likely to get a hit or BB.

Nick Burdi DFA'd and Jovani Moran added. Burdi did pretty well, for us. Maybe the rehab was not progressing as hoped.

I would not have grossly overpaid for a top 1B. I just wanted a platoon guy who hits .750 v RHPs. On SEA's strong farm: I think ours is pretty close, if not better, depending on who we say has graduated or not. I'd have been okay with offering two from this group of sox prospects w their SP's rankings provided: 9. Sandlin + 16. Cespedes 10. Romero + 12. Bleis If adding Castro gets it done, fine. I might even add Mullins. Ideally, 12 Bleis, 16 Cespedes & 22 Mullins

Based on that tiny sample size?

It was obvious, last deadline: Priority 1: Do not trade away any very promising prospect or young player for an iffy here and now strategy. Priority 2: Trade a bunch of borderline or Rule 5 prospects to get the best players possible to meet the needs of the pitching staff and catcher. Paxton, Simms and garcia all failed. Brez failed at upgrading the staff. He did okay with the Jansen addition. IMO, he learned a lesson: load up on pitching depth during the winter, when it is easier and less costly, in terms of trade capital needed to offer, so you get to a point where you don't need to trade for 3 pitchers in July, when costs are usually absurdly high. He did okay, there, but then he traded Priester- another mistake to add to the Sale trade and Buehler signing. Brez has made several mistake- some of them very big, and some of them had some logic attached to them, at the time. That's not saying he deserves a trophy for trying, but failing. He's had many more successes in his major choices. You can choose to mention them or not. I think we all are rooting for management to continue the improvement to the point where we are immediate contenders as well as keeping a bright future. Balancing the two is not an easy task, and I think the pressure from the top has been to make the extended future the top priority, despite talking out of the sides of their mouths..

Alcala claimed by STL. How bad is their staff?

He failed in 2024. I said that. Who came even close to awarding him a trophy? He tried on the Sale trade, too, and failed. No trophy there, too.

I rarely go by one season to make statements, and I did say "might be...: He has 50 SBs and 8 CS since 2024. I believe he was only on 1B 94 times, in that period of time.

I think his effort, last deadline, was almost at the level needed. Many of us wanted him to sell, so one could argue he did more than he should/could have done. The fact that Garcia, Sims and Paxton failed does not make Brez look any better, but he did try, and he did get Jansen. This year, we had a better chance at making the playoffs and going further, and he did less. I'm not arguing Brez did well at the deadline- I just don't tend to choose one of many areas someone does not do well at. (Plus, maybe M & M do better than expected- just as the pitchers we got last summer did worse.) I think Brez is going about things the right way, in the overall view. Building depth and quality during the winter is the best strategy. Continually grossly overpaying every deadline, as you seem to suggest is a better strategy, is not a good philosophy, IMO. Are there time you need to throw caution to the wind and go against your overall view? Probably, yes, and I do wish Brez had done more. I'm choosing not to hard on it and talk about little else but that one area of his body of work. He built up a staff that quite honestly should not have needed a deadline deal. He overpaid but did not grossly overpay, this past winter to do just that. The Buehler deal does look like a gross overpay, now, but the Dodgers did offer him the QO. Chapman & Wilson were steals. Bregman was worth it. He's built up a solid everyday player group of players that are young, mostly inexpensive and under team control for 3, 4, 5 or more years, except for Bregman and Refsnyder. The farm is solid and now has hopes that pitchers will start falling from the trees. I agree that obtaining a #2, like Ryan would have made us the AL favorites, and that is no small thing to ignore or sweep under the rug, just because Brez did well, up to the deadline, but GM need to balance the now with the long game. If he fails to land a solid #2, this winter, I will be as critical as you are in this area. We don't know exactly what MIN wanted. If it was Duran or Abreu plus Tolle, I'm not going to blame Brez for saying no. I MIGHT have said yes, butwith extreme reservations. Even if I heard they insisted on Duran or Abreu plus Arias and Sandlin, I would not roast him for saying no, despite me thinking it was a clear yes offer. You do mention some good things, but it always seems like it's an aside or minimal afterthought. The fact is we are better than we have been since at least 2021 and more leikly 2018, and our extended future looks way better than it did in 2018, when the pending "cliff" was being heavily debated.

Bregman to wait to offseason to discuss extension... https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/alex-bregman-to-wait-until-offseason-to-discuss-contract.html While Bregman is “obviously…open to talking” at season’s end, the third baseman stressed that “for the next few months, I’m just really focused on the baseball. I’m just focused on trying to do what I can to help this team win and get into the playoffs. I feel like that’s where my head and mind need to be.”

I'm not worried about him, at all.

In general, it's much less costly to make winter deals- not deadline ones. I had wished we had done more, but I'm more than okay with the full body of work from Brez. We had about 10-12 SP'er depth and needed every one of them, including the one he traded away (Priester.) We could have used a 1Bman and a better pitcher(s) than M & M, but gross overpays are just that. BTW, SEA has traditionally had very good pitching staff, and their home field makes them look even better, but this year, they do not. 19th in fWAR, 16th in FIP & 18th in ERA-, all behind the Sox. How can their GM be that short-sighted????

i'm not for giving top prospects for a rental, but 1B rentals are not very costly. We didn't need to get the best- just a platoon 1Bman who can hit .725 and play decent D. No top prospect was needed. On Yoshida, I think we'd have to have paid $12-14M out of the $18M for nothing in return. We could have added someone like Mullins and maybe saved a few more millions. Now that he has just 2 years left, maybe a taker can be found for Yoshida. We could also take back a high priced pitcher with a little hope left in his arm.

He did get Gio, last year and Crochet, Chapman & Bregman, this year. $21M on Buehler blew up, so of course that is all you see and write about. Not many GMs go 10 for 10.

Tolle had a rough first start with Woo. 5 IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 3K (2 HRs) Mata pitched well in relief, but you have to wonder, if his days are numbered with the Sox. Campbell homered in the 6-3 loss. He had 2 hits and a HBP. POR lost 3-1 to drop 3 games under .500. Mullins pitched well (2.28 ERA) Castro is heating up and had 2 hits. GRE won 2-1, as Sansone pitched well. They are 2 over .500. Jo Garcia had an RBI. Mussett had 3 hits. SAL won 8-7 but has no chance of reaching .500. Martin went 4-5, Salazar 3-3 and Gonzales & Azocar each had 2 hits.

Once Max says it's okay to DFA Toro, Brez will comply. Max? You there?????

Who are these "some fans?"

Cut the leash on Toro loose.

We gotta say good bye to Toro. Period.

It would make more sense if the mistake was this and not a mix up in names.

DHam has two useful skills and neither lead him to a starter, even vs RHPs: 1. He may be one of the top 3 base stealers in MLB. 2. He plays plus D at 2B- a position we have sucked in (D & O) for over 5 season. If he is going to be on our 26, that is the only two ways we should use him: PR'er and late inning D at 2B.