moonslav59

Harrison seemed like the prize of the Devers trade, to me. One could argue Criswell should get another start, too. Uberstine finished the game going 4 IP, 3H, 1ER, 2BB, 8K. 15 Ks for Woos pitchers! GRE won 7-3 as Jo Garcia continues to shine. He homered and walked and is up to .745, now. Cohen pitched well.

I've posted my list of weak areas several times, so there is no need to say nobody else does it. Others do, too. How is adding Crochet, Bregman and Chapman "failing miserably at bringing the kind of players needed to improve...?" (Maybe you just meant at the deadline, when return costs are grossly high.) "Not a lot of chatter?" LOL Many made comments that they wish or expected we'd do more. Even after last night's loss, we still have the 9th best record in MLB (4th in AL.) We are 2 games behind being 5th! We are 4 GB having the second best record in MLB. Maybe we flop: maybe we don't, but we have a young and deep team. We've gotten this far with 4 of our top 6 or 7 SP'ers out all year or near all year. Hendriks and Slaten were expected to be 2 of our top 4-5 RP'ers, this year. While our everyday players have stayed healthier than most teams (Casas and Bregman injuries notwithstanding,) I think we've shown we have a nice foundation. Most of our best players are young and have 3+ years of control. You rarely speak of the good, while chastising everybody else for rarely speaking about the bad. There was a ton of talking about the bad, when we were bad. That is well documented. We are playing well, now, and there is no reason to think this is "another flop" year. There are no dominating AL teams. The Yanks are sucking. The Astros have injuries. The Tigers look beatable. The Jays have looked good, but look at their roster and tell me why you think we are "steps away" from being as good as them, DET & HOU.

It's hard to get a read on next year's starting point for the player budget, since the Bregman opt-out looms large, as well as the Gio and Story nuanced options, but here is a stab at it: Lux Tax Dollars according to cots 28 Crochet 18 Yoshida 16 Anthony 10 Hicks 9 Bello 9 Sandoval 8 Duran (team option, then 2 arbs) 8 Campbell 6 Rafaela 5 Whitlock 2 buyout of Hendriks $12M mutual option 2 Devers ("CBT True Up") 20 (18 Player Benefits + 2 Pre-arb bonus pool) $143M Total before arbs and options. $32 Bregman, if he does not opt out (maybe more, if we extend him) $23 Story, if he does not opt out, or he does and we take the add a year option. $14M Giolito, if he does not reach 140 IP and Sox take option. It may be $19M mutual option w $1.5M buy out if he reaches 140.) These three contracts could add $59M or more, bringing the pre-arb number to about $202M Arbs: Houck (2nd of 3: made $4M in '25) Crawford (2nd of 4: made $3M in '25) Burdi (3rd of 4: made $500K) Wong, Bernardino, Casas, Kelly (arb 1) I don't see big arbs, here. Maybe we add $12M and get to $214M, total. That would leave $30M to spend to the line and $50M to spend to the second line, assuming Bregman, Story & Giolito return. cots says $58M, but I'm not sure they count arbs, Gio or Duran. We'd need to add a closer, for sure. Would we have enough to sign a big FA SP'er. or could we trade for one and use the rest of the money on the pen and maybe 1B? (Did I miss someone?)

The article did not really explain how they came up with $100M. It's a nice round number. I read it is a top 3 contract for players in their first year, but he did sign earlier in his ML career than Julio Rodriguez, who had played in 108 games and had over 450 PAs when he signed. (I forget who the next biggest deal was.) I love this deal. As fragile as Mayer is, I'd try to sign him to a Rafaela/Campbell type deal, now.

It's hard to know. If he starts changing how he recognizes pitches, is it a sure bet it won't change how he swings or if he starts swinging at less strikes? I agree, that "in theory," it should help enormously, but you are talking about a pretty major change that may have farther reaching ramifications than we might imagine.

harmony won't like hearing this!

It was like 15-16 games. He's literally sucked the whole rest of hius career.

I was fine with giving up him or Duran plus a decent couple prospects (not Tolle or Campbell) for Ryan. I'm not sure if Abreu is a permanent platoon. Duran started out with worse numbers than he has after this amount of PAs. (Duran is not great vs LHPs, and looks worse this year than last, but he's good enough.)

It's not as simple as just "improving" on chase rates. You are asking for fundamental changes in hitting approaches that may end up lowering a players production while maybe lowering the chase rate. Yes, in theory, better chase help, but if a guy is producing better than others, it doesn't bother me. Don't mees with a style of hitting that works.

They seem pretty conservative for everybody, especially pitchers, but that did seem absurd. Abreu's D alone would give him that WAR.

Yup, and the Sox, too.

Rafaela, too, but his was harder to project, of course. Narvaez! WOW! Has Story?

1B is one of the easiest position to backfill.

Of course a wheel or two can come off the tracks, but we have pretty decent depth on the 40, already for all but C, 1B and 2B/3B, assuming Bregman returns. Even then, we have Campbell (1B and maybe 2B,) Arias & Romero (SS/3B/2B) and maybe Jo Garcia, who should be ready by the time Wong's time is up. We could also trade an OF'er for a 1Bman, 2Bman, and or C. I'm not sure we have ever seen and everyday roster so set up for the long run as now. 8-9 Anthony 7 Rafaela & Campbell 5+ Jh Garcia 5 Narvaez, Mayer, Sogard & Eaton 4 DHam & Grissom 3 Duran, Wong, Romy, Casas & Story (if no opt out & no Sox adding 4th yr) 2 Toro, Yoshida 0-3 Bregman 0 Refsnyder (may return or retire) We do lack 2026 AAA ML ready prospects, but it looks like we may not need any. It looks like Romero (3B/2B) Hickey (DH/C/1B) Eaton (UT) and Castro (OF) are the only possible ML prospects ready as everyday players. (Rosier, Sikes, McDonough and Liendo I don't count.) 1-2 years down the road: C: Jo Garcia & Brannon 1B: Brannon & Anderson 2B: Cespedes, Alcantara & Godbout SS: Arias & White 3B: Riemer & Nunez OF: Taylor, Bleis, Gonzales, Y Rod (Cespedes?) Not great but should be enough. We will be adding more in the next few years.

Yoshida in AAA is a waste of a 40 man slot.

One report says Anthony "left $100M on the table."

Paying someone else $13-15M for him to play elsewhere is not appealing. However, if the plan is to have him be the FT DH or DH platoon with Ref orRomy, then we have to find a spoit for an OF'er, even if on another team.

LMAO

If they end up being over by $3-4M, we can think back and wonder if trading Yoshida and all but $3-4M paid out.

Fred gets under my skin, sometimes, but for some reason not as much as he apparently does to others. He does make some valid points, and when someone that negative is a Sox fan who just watched us suck for 5 of the last 6 years, he tends to be "right" more often than wrong. I think that just emboldened him. I can't see how any Sox fan can't be optimist about this team. Maybe thinking they won't win a ring in '25 is understandable, but thinking the window opens in 2027 is just plain stubborn or extreme negativity. That being said, I don't really have issues with Fred, because he is respectful and knowledgeable.

Agreed, but with the money we have, we should be able to replace Gio, Chapman and Wilson, in kind or re-sign/extend them all. Bring Bregman back and replace those 3 is really the only major priorities for this winter. (Maybe 1B, if we don't like Campbell there.)

I was thinking of taking a break from them. I fully understand the "anger of the moment" and frustration when watching bumble and stumbles. Mix that with a few beers and you can see what we get. I know much of what is said is not fully meant to be true, but I just don't enjoy hyper negativity.

Finding a taker for Yoshida would be nice, even if we may 75-80% of his deal.

I though Brigham was DHam.

Well, there is still Devers money left over, and soon we'll have Buehler money, Chapman & Wilson money and maybe Gio's money, too. If JH does not spend to the tax limit line, this winter, I'm gonna be really pissed. He should really go up to the second line. The window is wide open, despite Fred's 2027 claim.