moonslav59

Yes, let's give credit to JF for what Beni, Betts and Bogey have done this year. (Note: all have done worse than last year at ages normally seeing improvement.)

Sox definitely got a 'surge' from adding Devers, Nunez and Reed at trade deadline. Having Devers for full year next year at 3B should equate to raising our 3B production out of near bottom in majors next year. To me, that's our best hope along with getting bounce back years from some of our players that declined this year. Something similar to what Beni I assume has done in LF. Weird thing is, our LF OPS (.733) is worse than last year's (.759) despite Beni going FT. (Beni is .757 as a LF'er this year.) I do think next year's LF OPS should be way better than .733. Add that to 3B and maybe improve at 1B, and that might be enough. Fully recovered Carson Smith should do at leat as well as Reed, if not better. Plus it'll be full year's production. Maybe Thornburg gives us aded depth in 2nd half of 2018. That's the big hope. Our pen did very well this year and could get much better without needing to spend anything. What's becoming clearer is as with starting pitching, a team needs 10 starters to fill 9 positions. Super sub is a must and it ain't Brock Holt. It will be tough to replace Nunez, unless it is Nunez. What to do with Fister? Do we offer him a two year, say $15M deal or just hope Wright returns 100% for 2018? Any starting pitching options in minors that did not make appearance in 2017? I'd like to have Nunez back, but not if his cost prohibits us from fixing the 1B problem. We need a big hitter next year, and it's not going to be an OF'er, unless we DH him (JD Martinez?). Will DD simply keep his fingers crossed and hope for Betts and Xanders' bats to return to 2016 level? (I think he'll settle for simple 'tweak' if win the whole thing, otherwise he'll make big splash.) We may try to do what TB did last winter and catch lightening in a bottle (Morrison's 2017 outlier season). One year fix or bridge to better FAs in 2019.

Maybe Lackey, even with the lost and putrid 2 years? I get what you're saying and agree that most large and long FAs are busts or serious under-performers. We all know, we will dip into the big FA signing again, so when I say, "sign Moustakas", I'm saying it in the context of that. Just like Price: I was against signing him but knew we were going to sign a big pitcher, so I agreed he was the best of the ones available.

Also, a weak Septemeber means we played a stronger earlier part of the season, so being this far in first place after playing the hardest part of the schedule should mean we could be better than the record indicates.

I doubt Machado plays anywhere but 3B, unless injuries force him to 1B. If we ever got Machado, Devers would go to 1B, IMO. That's two years away, though. I'm not happy with a one year fix at 1B, and I do not think Hosmer solves any of our major issues.

OK, we keep HRam and force a $22M payment...like how the Astors got DET to pay $16M. I thought Cincy and MIA wouldnt mind having HRam instead of just $22M.

Make that 11-5!

Watching the Rangers-Yankee game. Texas now up 9-5!

Mata moved from 16th to 5th on soxprospects.com (before this game). Once Devers graduates, he could move to #1 or 2.

Go Rangers!

No way. I wasn't counting HRam as a positive for the team we trade him to. He was meant as a "salary offset". With the salaries Votto and GS have and their ages as the contracts wind down, I think you are overvaluing their trade value. Beni (plus others) might be needed but not Betts and Beni.

Forcing Bobby V might have been the beginning of the beginning of the end.

Hopefully we won't be down 2-1 for game 4 of the playoffs, which should be ERod or Porcello's start.

Good thing Reed didn't step in it.

Wow, two crooked numbers in one game...within 4 innings!!!!

Yeah, but did I mention that Archer had let up 3Hrs by Betts before tonight?

He had 3 HRs vs Archer before tonight.

If we want Machado, my point was that I doubt we can go large this winter, too. I'm fine, if we do and JF pays the tax. I mentioned signing someone to a one year deal as a bridge to Machado.

I agree. I think it was a steal. Gray is an ace who has had injury issues. He looked healthy when the deal went down. It's shocking to see how many great pitchers have been traded starting with Sale: Quintana, Gray, Darvish and someone else I can't think of right now.

I don't mind doing research, but that would be too daunting for even me. I'm actually kind of surprised there seems to be so much dispute over the amount of mental mistakes there have been this year. I knew there might be some disputes over what is mental vs Physical (like Holt's double-clutch and throw), but I'm kind of surprised some feel the number is so low as to not have affected even one game result. Even thinking blunders making a difference in just 1 or 2 games is a bit surprising to me.

Machado is not a FA this winter. Waiting for 2019 is a plan, if we just sign someone like Morrison or Duda to a one year deal this winter, but neither solves our high need for a big bat.

Following up on the idea of trading for Stanton or Votto and including HRam as a "salary offset". Here's how the numbers unfold: Votto is owed $157M/6 (including the $7M buyout of 2024, or $170M/7 if they keep him for 2024). Forget bringing up the age issue for now, let's look just at the financial numbers. While $157M/6 comes to over $26M a year. That's a lot, but the luxury tax cost is "just" $22.5M a year. That's basically what HRam makes. Cincy has no luxury tax concerns. They look at the $26M/yr number while we look at the $22.5M number. This alone makes this type of deal worth looking at from both sides. If we made this trade (HRam and some very good young talent) for Votto, we'd barely add any luxury tax dollars to our budget for 2018 and maybe 2019 (depending on HRam's vesting option). That would allow us to sign a top free agent, perhaps to replace a key young player included in the trade (like maybe Cozart, if we traded Bogey as part of the deal, Moustakas if we decide to move Devers to DH or JD Martinez, if we traded an OF'er). Stanton: The same type of financial situation applies here. Stanton is owed $292M/10. That's $29M a year, but the luxury tax hit is "just" $25M a year--not bad for a team like the Sox trying to avoid paying a mega luxury tax. Including HRam in the deal would mean GS only costs us about $3M for the next two year (in the "window"). We'd be hit hard afterwards as we would be with Votto, but we'd be fine for 1-2 years still within the so-called window of our high chance of winning a ring. If we include a player like Bogey or JBJ, we'd be able to subtract their arb costs over the next few years, but we'd have to replacee them in kind somehow.

Moving HRam might involve paying $10-12M out of the $22M owed next year (and maybe 2019 as well). I'm not happy with the defense of Nunez at 2B, SS or 3B, but his bat should more than make up for it. He's no Holt. I've mentioned trying to include HRam as a salary offset piece, if we go after Stanton or Votto, but I'm not sure how realistic that can be.

We also could have played HRam at 1B and benched Moreland. To me, Nunez should play tonight.

The double clutch or hesitation suggest mental uncertainty on what to do not some kind of physical ailment or lack of physical skill. Lack of 1B experience can be part of the reason for the mental blunder, but mental it was.