moonslav59

Losing Papi's power is going to hurt next year, but we still have the makings for a decent power team. 31 Betts 28 Ramirez 25 JBJ 2o Bogey 16 Shaw (in just 506 PAs) 13 Pedey 9 Young in 206 7 Leon in 251 If you replaced Papi's 34 Hrs with someone who hit 16, we'd still be a plus power team this year.

Punch my ticket for the roller coaster Moon, it don't look THAT scary. I'm fine with the idea of keeping him, and I can see why just about everyone agrees. I said I think there's about a zero % chance the Sox trade him. I don't want to talk badly about HanRam at this point of the season. He's doing a great job this year. He's not that scary, but at $22M per and entering the wrong side of prime, I'm thinking two things: one- we can get something very goof for him without paying anything towards his salary and two- we could use the $22M towards something very special, less risky and less scary....maybe. Saying you want to trade someone is not the same as saying you don't value that person. Look, let's be happy with what we have right now. The off season will be full of ideas to debate. I'm glad we have HanRam. He's doing very well with us.

I can't remember my projected win total, but I thought we we a top 5 fave in MLB and were as good as anyone else in the AL.

Yaz was amazing. His 1967 season was legendary. I know different sites use different methods for determining WAR, but fangraphs has Yaz's 1967 season listed as the 20th best WAR season by a non-pitcher. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2016&month=0&season1=1871&ind=1&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0 Ruth had 5 of the top 6 seasons with Barry Bonds at #5. Others listed ahead of Yaz (some with 2 or more): Gehrig 1927 Hornsby 1924 Wagner 1908 Williams 1946 (& 1942) Mantle 1956 Cobb 1917 Foxx 1932

I've been saying that for weeks.

It's not BA. It's Baseballranks

OPS last 28 days (40+ PAs) 1.192 HanRam .953 Pedey .940 Young .914 Ortiz .839 Holt .787 Betts .769 JBJ .751 Bogey .742 Shaw .620 Leon less than 40/ more than 10 1.128 Beni .700 Holaday .566 Hill .513 Moncada

Agreed. However, you have a lot to look forward to, something not so easy to think a few months ago. I remember I got a lot of flack for saying the Yanks should and would be "sellers". maybe I said it too early, but it did come true. They did a great job on getting top return on their trades. With Tex and ARod gone next year, they'll be room for additions or more youth. I knew the Ellsbury signing was a mistake. I'm glad you guys made it and not us. Will you guys trade Gardner?

He was also hurt in 2013- his great year, missing half the season.

Ooops, sorry. I was looking at ABs (baseball reference)for some years. Here are his PAs updated: 619 385 667 336 512 430 574++ 4 of his previous 5 years never going over 512 PAs. 3 of 5 never going over 430. Many of you guys hate Buch for this type of injury history, but since he's healthy now, and playing well, all is good and will continue to be.

Pretty amazing what our rotation has done, considering we lost our first half leader in many important categories- Steven Wright. 1st in ERA 2.68 1st in OPS against .627 2nd in IP 114

I'm on planet Roller Coaster. Look at 2011, 2012 and 2015. You want to believe he's going to be 2013 or 2016 in 2017. That's fine. I get it. It's not insane to want to sell high on a very inconsistent player. When we're half way through 2017, I see two things that could happen: 1) I'll be apologizing, like I have many times before as HanRam is raking again. 2) Half the posters now saying I'm crazy will be calling for his trade at the deadline or next winter. I'm not saying hand HanRam away. I'm not saying we won't replace him, possibly by using the $22M more wisely. I said last winter, I'd trade him even if he hit .950 this year, and some posters agreed. Now, nobody even wants to entertain the idea. I'm not even saying trade him this winter, until this season's over.

Yes, I was.

You're right that he's had a fluctuating career at the plate, but it might not matter if he hits .881 or 1.040. To me, as our DH middle of the order bat, just give me the RBI. This season, Hanley has already tied his career high in rbi (106, 2009, age 25, .954) w/ an .881 OPS. The Sox, as presently constructed, get on base and I don't see that changing any time soon. I think he's a perfect fit for our team going forward. I'd put their chances at trading HanRam at close to 0%. I'd be happy with a roller coaster of between .881 and 10.40, but it's been worse than that, and I haven't even brought up the injury issues. Here's the ride HanRam has taken starting in 2006.... .883 .948 .940 .954 (nice first 4 years, then this...) .853 .712 .759 1.040 (Quite a ride now, isn't it?) .817 .717 .881 Since 2009: down 3 straight, up 2 straight, down 2 straight and now up one. PAs since 2010 619 385 604 304 449 401 511++ In 3 of the previous 4 years, HanRam failed to reach 450 PAs. He's a high risk player on top of his game right now. I'm not going to argue about what we should do next year while he's in his best groove since 2013.

With such a tough road trip, and remember, the Rays are no push-over, I'm glad we have a 3 game lead.

They must weight upside potential a lot.

...and he's going to cost a ton over several years!

Even with Moncada and Beni not counted as prospects, the Sox are the only team with 3 players in the top 20. Without the SD trades, we might have 5 in the top 22. Thanks Ben.

To me, the one run losses don't bother me as much as those blow out wins followed by a 1-0 or 2-1 loss, or outscoring our opponent in a series and losing it 2 games to one or splitting 2-2. I know those things happen, but for some reason, they get under my skin more than losing 3 games in a row 8-7.

Nice sweep against one of baseball's hottest teams. Let's knock BAL out next.

His stock is getting higher! LOL

With parity the way it is, how long does it take for a team to rebuild? 2-3 years? Sale has 4 years left. Usually when you rebuild you deal away top players with 1-2 years left. I don't understand why any team would trade away a low cost ace with 4 years of control, but it seems like the White Sox will at least look into it this winter. We should do our due diligence. We should be able to offer a great package, but that doesn't mean we should go way overboard.

Baseballranks came out with their rankings. Moncada and Beni are considered "graduated" by their standards. http://www.baseballranks.com/2016/09/17/top-250-milb-rankings-september-2016-the-braves-have-a-bright-future/ There are only 5 players listed as "tier one". Devers is ranked #4 out of the top 250. (Margot is ranked 11th.) Groome is tier 2 and ranked 17th. Kopech is tier 2 and ranked #20. Nice to have 3 in the top 20! (Espinoza is the top tier 3 player ranked 22nd.) Big drop off to the next player.... Tier 8/ #108 Ockimey Tier 10/#142 S Travis Tier 11/#152 Basabe (Frankie Montas #159) Tier 12/#171 R Raudes Tier 12/#181 Dubon (Logan Allen is #187) Tier 16/#232 Chavis' The Yanks have 18 in the top 250.

Maybe. Maybe something like this instead? Moncada or Beni 2 from Swihart, Kopech or ERod Add Holt, Owens or Johnson (Don't give Swihart and Holt.)

He's going to want more years than I'd be willing to give, not to mention huge dollars. I suppose if we plan on trading Moncada or Beni as part of a big package to upgrade our rotation, then signingTrumbo or EE might make more sense. Signing one without making a trade effective blocks one of them. We do lose Young after next year, but everyone else is under control for several more years.