moonslav59

I agree. I don't think they felt this way in April and May, but by mid June, they hit their stride and they look confident, focused and content. Was it luck or coincidence it happened around the big June 15th trade?

Teams like the Astros have had a lot of major injuries and overcame them, but here is the current list of Sox players on the 60 Day IL: Houck (out for 2026, too) Sadnoval Crawford Dobbins Slaten (should return in '25) Casas Winckowski, Hendriks and Guerrero (Luis may return) 10 Day IL: Mayer (September return?) Several other players missed time with injuries, like Bregman, Giolito & Bello.

Maybe that's they key. Stop trying so hard! LOL

Yup, and how about 3 guys for Jansen, Aldo Ramirez for Schwarber, Scherff for Robles, Beeks for Nate & Espinal for Pearce... I still think the Luis Garcia & Lucas Sims trades coulda worked out, and maybe M & M do, this time.

Here is the list of Sox top prospects and recent graduates since 2024: Anthony Rafaela Abreu Narvaez Dobbins Slaten Mayer Campbell Tolle Arias Garcia Perales Whitherspoon, Clarke, Valera, Early, Sandlin & others and the prospects traded for Crochet (From '21 to '23: Duran, Bello, Houck, Crawford, Casas, Wong)

Notice how the trolls have all but disappeared? (I don't see Fred as a troll: he's just Mr. Negativity.) We will probably hit a patch where we lose 3-4 in a row or 5 of 6 or 7, and they will return, but this is expected.

Post of the Month!

Henry's spending history has included several cut backs, although none lasted as long as the one that began in 2020. (2019 saw us not re-sign Kimbrel & Kelly and essentially add nobody, but the Sale & Nate extensions kicked in, making it look like we were spending more.) The drops were not as extreme, either, but he still cut back, usually right after a ring. Opening day>EOY drops '04>'05 -$4M & -$14M '07>'08 -$10M & -$8M '12>'13 -$21M & +$8M (trades to bring a ring) '13>'14 +$2M & -$8M (mid season sell off) '18>'19 +$3M (extensions) & -$2M '19>'20 -$59M AAV adjusted for short season '22>'23 -$25M & -$14M (The kick in the balz & sham) '23>'24 -$10M & -$15M (The double kick sham) It should not have been a surprise to see the +$23M uptick in the opening day budget from '24>'25, but the Devers sell off pretty much negated that.

OPS Against (50+ IP) .528 Mullins A+/AA .538 Ehrlicher A-/A+ .545 Rivera A+/AA .572 Fajardo FCL/A- .600 Tolle A+/AA .602 Aita .607 A Smith A+ .611 Early AA/AAA .625 Sprague A-/A+ .627 Travieso FCL/A- .636 Sandlin AA/AAA .641 Sansone A-/A+ .658 Rogers A+/AA .659 Cohen A-/A+ .665 Stock AAA .671 Kirwin A+ (wonder why not promoted) .675 Mills AAA, .691 Criswell AAA. .744 Mata AAA .693 Brooks A-, .708 Bates A- .711 Wehunt AA, .724 Uberstine AA/AAA .732 Holobetz A+/AA _______________ (25-49 IP) .479 Sena AA .494 Ladera DSL .524 Cordero DSL .528 Allmer A- .542 McShane A-/A+ .548 B Ortiz DSL .563 Medina A-/A+ The rest are only A+ or higher levels... .583 Moran (3 teams as rehabbing) .584 Wu-Yelland A+/AA .591 Stebens A+ .600 Brand (3 teams) & Y Cruz AA .601 Song (4 teams) .635 Monegro AA (IL) .637 Futrell A-/A+

Your best post of the month! LOL!

If we trade an OF'er, this winter, where I am almost certain we do (Duran or Abreu,) we can have Campbell learn to play LF and act as our DH when not playing LF or CF. We'd also have RHB Jh garcia as OF/DH depth. Campbell may end up as our longtime 1Bman, where can allow Casas to DH, and hopefully cut down on his chances of getting hurt. (He did hurt himself swinging a bat, so there is that,) I think Campbell still has enormous trade value. I have never believed GMs drop value based on a couple bad months of play on any player. With Jh Garcia knocking on the 26 man door, and an OF'er bound to be traded, I think Campbell can still fill a key role on our 26, especially if we rid ourselves of Yoshida, someway-somehow. Let's assume Brez goes real bold and trades away Duran & Campbell, this winter- maybe for a Ryan and a 1Bman or 2Bman (adding other midlevel prospects, including a pitcher or two, like Sandlin, Early, Paez or Mullins.) C: Narvaez & Wong 1B: ____ (trade or FA) Casas/Romy 2B: ____ (trade or FA) Mayer (DHam/Romy/Romero) Rafaela in an emergency SS: Story & Mayer (Arias) Rafaela in an emergency 3B: Bregman & Mayer (Romero) LF: Anthony & Jh Garcia (Yoshida) CF: Rafaela & Jh Garcia RF: Abreu & Jh garcia (Maybe Ref comes back for another season) DH: Yoshida/ Ref or Romy platoon SP: Crochet, Ryan, Giolito, Bello & about 8 to 10 guys fighting for the 5 slot (Sandoval, Dobbins, Crawford, Harrison, Criswell, Wink, Tolle, Early, Perales and Uberstine) Houck out for the season.

Good summaries. Certainly, our everyday player prospects look worse than before, but when you just graduated Anthony, Mayer, Narvaez and actually Campbell, too, it's pretty hard to stay even. 3-4 very nice everyday prospects is not enough, but my contention is, we should not really need many more ML ready prospects for the next 2-4 years. I know that statement could come back to haunt me, but our 26 and 40 man roster is loaded with young and cost-controlled players with 3+ years of team control. We look weak and shallow at 1B, but we are not without hope there. Casas showed he's a damn good hitter, when healthy, and may be our next FT DH, another position that could be viewed as weak, despite our 4 OF'er conundrum. We also have Campbell and may convert JH Garcia or Gonzales to 1B, soon. 2B has been a weak area for over 6 years, and Mayer's injury issues and possible need at 3B, if Bregman bolts keeps it an area of need. Campbell does not look like our 2B solution, and neither does Grissom or DHam (not prospects.) Romy may just be a platoon solution at 1B or 2B, but maybe he can become a decent batter vs RHPs, someday. (he's at .737 v R in 2026.) 3B could be an issue, if Mayer stays hurt, all the time. Romero offers some hope at 3B or 2B, and if Arias proves to be a MLB SS, we've added Story as a 2B option, and Mayer as not needed at SS and added playing time hopes at 3B or 2B. Catcher is always a position of need at depth. Just about every team wishes they had more depth. Narvaez looks like one of the best young catchers in MLB, so we likely just need depth for our #2 catcher. I, for one, am fine with Wong as our #2, and he has 3 years of control left. I'm also higher on Jo Garcia than most, and we do still have a couple other catcher prospect hopefuls in the system. OF is more than set. We can afford to trade 1-2 OF'ers and still be fine. The immense prospect pitching depth, even if not many are top ranked, allows us the flexibility to make trades that include a mid level ranked pitcher to sweeten the returns.

Seems that way, but that may just be the recency effect. I loved watching Kike in CF. Watching Renfroe hit 31 bombs and throw many runners out at 3B and home. JD's last big season (73 XBHs) Dalbec have a great second half of the season to end up over .790. Schwarber's addition and subsequent performance (.957.) Nate lead the league in GS and have a 3.75 ERA. Barnes first half of the season. Whitlock have one of the best RP'er seasons in my lifetime. 0.92 Papelbon in 68 IP '06 1.09 Uehara in 74 IP '13 1.43 Kimbrel in 69 IP '17 1.47 Stanley in 67 IP in '80 1.85 Papelbon in '09 1.88 Workman in '19 1.93 D Bard in '10 1.96 Whitlock in 73 IP in 2021 (3rd best among Sox RP'ers w 73+ IP since 1971.) I do love watching just about every player on this team, mostly Rafaela, Duran, Bregman, Abreu, Narvaez, Romy & Ref, Anthony, Chapman, Crochet and several others.

Our defense has hurt the team pitching numbers, this year. We've allowed a staggering 66 unearned runs, and we've all watched enough games to know many more earned runs were allowed due to defensive mistakes not counted as errors. Our team pitching ranks T2nd in ERA- at 87 (Only TEX is better) What is more shocking is how the pen has led the way, but let's not shortchange our top 3 SP'ers, this year. ERA- 2nd RP at 80 9th SP at 92 SP'ers with 90+ IP 3. Crochet at 53 (Nate and Skenes 1-2) 21. Bello at 71 (just below Framber and above Pivetta) 38. Giolito at 80 (just below Castillo & Lugo and above Keller) (Next year's new SP'er, Joe Ryan is 14th at 66.)

27-31 in first 58 games 38-21 in last 59 games The second sample size is larger. Hopefully, it is a more accurate portrayal of who this team really is. Since May 30, the cut off date chose for the above example: 42-16 MIL 40-21 TOR 38-21 BOS Since June 7th: 37-14 MIL 35-17 BOS 34-20 TOR Since June 10th, we are 2 games up on TOR. Let's hope we pass them up in '26~ Notes: We just passed SDP for the 8th best record in MLB. We are 1/2 GB Houston for the 7th best record in MLB, and we play them next! We are 2 GM DET, PHI & CHC for the 4th best record. We are 2.5 GB LAD and 3 GB TOR!

Indeed! This is just one game, but the feel of this team looks super nice, right now.

We are not in Kansas, anymore.

It's like hearing, "The manager needs to tell his players to focus more on defense." If that works, then who needs a manager?

Teams can win with a "disaster" at one or two positions. Winning does not make Toro good or even okay. He sucks. 1B remains a disaster for yet another season. It has nothing to do with us winning. Posters can love the team, be optimistic about the team's chances and still see a major hole on the roster. Our hole is 1B. Maybe Campbell will plug it, someday, but as long as Cora & Brez think like you do, that Toro is okay enough, we will continue to suck at 1B. I'm wondering why Fred has not spoken out on Toro. Do I have to be the only one doing it? (LOL, I jest, of course.)

It's worse than that: .638 career before signing. .538 first 8 games in '25 (16 games stretch at over 1.100) We are looking at a 45 game current stretch at .577. That's nearing twice the sample size we gave Garret Cooper in '24 (.455) and over double the sample size we gave Dalbec in 2022 at .570. I'm just not seeing the value. If the guy had a decent career, before hand, maybe take a chance he can regain, but he didn't and this is what he is: .538ish to .638ish.

Not really acceptable, to me. He sucked before and after his 16 game stretch, early in the season. He sucked for years before we signed him.

It's like 5 something before and after his 16 days in Oz.

The leash remains tight, but he lives another day (or two.) This dog will not be let loose.

Just about every deadline trade ranges from overpay to gross overpay. We just choose to downscale the overpays. It makes more sense to make grand deals in the winter, and that is what Brez has been doing: Crochet trade Dugo for 3 pitchers (last winter) then 2 washed up pitchers for O'Neill Slaten & Sandlin trades. Largest AAV signing in Sox history (Bregman) Best RP'er for dollar pair of signings (Chapman + Wilson) Best catcher trade made by the Sox since VTek with Lowe (Narvaez) In short, Brez loaded up on pitching depth, last winter, so he would not have to trade for costly SP'ers at the deadline. He still fell short. The Priester trade hurt, as did the Sale trade the winter before, but I applaud the overall effort and strategy to load up on pitching from top to bottom and down to the DSL level. Look at the projected pitching staffs for 2026, even without Chapman, Wilson & Buehler, who will be FAs: MLB & AAA ML Ready: Crochet, Giolito (maybe) Bello, Sandoval, Crawford, AAA> Dobbins, Harrison, Fitts, Wink, Tolle, Perales, Early, Uberstine, Sandlin (pen?) Wehunt & Drohan- not to mention Houck who will be out all year. This is stunning! No additions made, yet. AA: Clarke, Rivera, Holobetz, Paez, Rogers, Dean (That's 6) Ingrassia (pen?) A+: Witherspoon, Valera, Phillips, Evanson, Aita, Taygart (6) A-: Fajardo, Neely, Travieso, J Bello (pen?) Y Ruiz, Patton, Morgan, Brown (8) FCL: Cason, Delzine, D Reyes, Zink, Frias, Cordero (6) This being said, I wish we got better than May, but Brez is doing it "the right way" by making the big deals in the winter not the deadline. Let's see how we do this fall, and then how Brez wheels and deals, this coming winter. We have some surplus value at a few positions: I think Brz knows that and will balance things out in a big way.

We are not only beating really good teams on the road, we beat a pitcher having a great year on the left coast!