moonslav59

I figured you were, but that .550 SLG would be pretty nice to see.

Bats will explode tonight!. (I hope!)

I'd be okay with .650, but I know most couldn't handle even .700. My .700 would look more like .300 OBP and .400 SLG not .150/.550.

2017 Numbers: Moncada (AAA): .271 7 19 .796 in 247 PAs Margot (MLB): .259 4 13 .694 in 200 PAs A Espinoza: Injured Kopech (AA): 4-3 2.90 12.0 K/9 & 5.8 BB/9 T Shaw (MLB): .302 11 46 .888 in 245 PAs M Dubon (AA): .289 2 23 .717 in 276 PAs L Ax. Basabe (A+): .221 3 15 .641 in 251 PAs L Aj. Basabe (A): .224 2 7 .642 in 200 PAs L Allen (A): 4-3 1.88 11.0 K/9 & 3.6 BB/9 in 57 IP J Guerra (A+) .241 3 25 .586 in 240 PAs C Asuaje (AAA) .238 2 32 .703 in 210 PAs (2 PAs in MLB) V Diaz (A): 0-1 7.71 in 4.2 IP (Injured) P Light (AAA): 3-0 3.76 6.8 K/9 & 5.1 BB/9 in 26.1 IP W Rijo (A+ and AA): .196 0 4 .619 in 56 PAs A Wilkerson (AA): 5-2 3.36 in 64.1 IP J Alomote (A+): 4-5 3.90 in 67 IP (86K/37BB)

I wouldn't overpay for a rental, but maybe Moustakas would agree to an extension as part of the trade. Then, I'd be prepared to offer what it might take, then again, signing Moustakas longterm might prevent us from keeping Bogey or JBJ. Tough call. My guess is we go "light" and try to find lightening in a bottle in hopes that just mediocrity at 3B will be a big boost over what we've seen so far.

Very true, but we'll be paying that contract whether he plays or not, so it's all about keeping all our 3B options and slim hopes alive until someone comes to the rescue, be it Devers or an acquisition.

My Line-ups (guideline) vs RHPs 1) Bogey SS 2) Pedey 2B 3) Betts RF 4) Moreland 1B 5) Beni LF/HRam DH 6) Young LF/DH or HRam/Beni 7) JBJ CF 8) Vaz C 9) Pablo 3B vs LHPs 1) Bogey SS 2) Pedey 2B 3) Betts RF 4) HRam DH 5) Travis/Moreland 1B 6) Beni LF 7) JBJ CF 8) Rutledge 3B 9) Leon C

Sounds like we agree, in theory.

I hated the idea of losing Lester. The lackey situation was complex, but once it became clear Lester was going to free agency, the purge was the right way to go. I remember posting at the time, that people say "you have to fire the manager, because you can't fire the team," but we "fired the team" that summer. My beef was that I had hoped we traded for younger players and top prospects and not Cespedes and Craig types. I had hopes for Kelly, and some of them are starting to pay off now, but the Yanks did better with their "purge", IMO.

Woulda been nice to sweep, but it was nice to see Sale pitch even better than his recent starts. I'll be at the game tonight. I think the bats will wake up. No Keuchel- No McCullers. GO SOX!!!!!

Well said. I'm willing to overlook his poor start in MLB and not hold it against him years later. Maybe cherry-picking his numbers starting with his white hot streak in August of 2015 might not be the fairest sample size to chose, but JBJ is nearing 2 full seasons of exceptional play-- GG type defense AND .800+ batting for 3 straight seasons. I can't see how anyone can't look beyond the poor stretches and see the totality of what JBJ brings to this team. Yeah, I prefer consistency at the plate, but it's not like having a player who has red hot and ice cold stretches is necessarily a bad thing as long as the final numbers end up near .800. Heck, with JBJ's defense a .700 OPS would still make him unqualified success.

Nobody comes close to "hate" in my book. I do hate that we signed Pablo, but I don't even come close to hating him.

So, yeah. He sucks. Yeah, but I'm not thrilled with Marrero & Rutledge either. Until Devers is called up, I'm keeping any glimmer of hope alive.

I have been very pleasantly surprised by this pen, especially since I was counting on Thornburg to be a major piece and still thought the pen was our weakest pre-season link. Not "weak" but weakest.

I liked the trade at the time, so it's hard for me to criticize it in hindsight. I do expect Travis Shaw to slump again as the season wears on, but we sure could have used his bat this year at 3B.

He might very well end up being a streaky hitter, and if he does, he may have a long cold streak in store for us, but my guess is he will follow that up with another hot streak, so again, try to take a longer view. Players don't always repeat their most recent numbers over and over again. Most players have ups and downs-- maybe JBJ's are more pronounced and or lengthy-- both good and bad.

With our lack of power, I think Mookie up 3rd or 4th is better. With Bogey's lack of power, I feel he should be batting 1st or second. I like Beni one or two, but I have no issue with Pedey up 1st or 2nd.

Good summary. I hope this draft gives us a few significant players when we need them.

It would certainly be nice, if we could sign all 10. Let's hope DD & Co. did their homework this draft.

Agreed, but maybe there's a logical explanation why he is still in AA.

Fair enough. When we signed HRam, I thought he'd play 3B, but then they announced the Pablo signing, I believe minutes later, and I thought to myself, "WTF!???"

...and many felt the offense of 2013 was weak too, and we only won because many had plus or career years all at the same time.

I've been saying there are other ways of winning besides having one or two big sluggers in the middle of the line-up for some time now. The Sox have never known "that way", and so Sox fans seem reluctant to believe it can be done. I think it can be, but the question is, is our pitching, defense and other areas improved enough to off set the loss of Papi? Only time will tell. I was wrong about our pen's chances at shining this year, and I hope I continue to be wrong on that area. Yes, our recent winning stretch has had a lot to do with our pitching, particularly the pen, but clearly the offense has improved over the last few weeks. Yes, we've had some stinkers here and there, but we seem to be hitting better, and we'll need better hitting to have a chance to win. Better than 2016? Not likely, but with Sale and a strong pen, our chances are pretty strong. I do agree with your statement about the Henry era and pitching, and certainly if this team is to win it all, it will likely be more about pitching than hitting, but I will say this: every one of the 3 rings we won was in a year where we had few injuries to our pitching starters and 2 or more stud starters going strong at year's end: Pedro-Schilling, Beckett-Schilling and Lester-Lackey PLUS a lights out closer: Foulke, Paplebon & Uehara. Sale & Price (or Porcello) and Kimbrell could fit into that mold this year, but we might need more to make up for the loss of Papi (and a Manny type as well).

From another thread... Betts is not the only player on the rise: JBJ .537 to .807 since May 14th. Pedey .638 to .759 since May 3rd. Leon .496 to .639 since May 5th. HRam frrom .641 to .750 since April 28th. Pablito from .616 to .647 since June 9th. Vaz from .754 to .788 since may 20th. One of our most consistent hitter this year, Moreland, has gone up from .765 on May 16th to .877 today. He was at .807 0n June 4th. Even Bogey is back on the rise after going from over .870 to .812 a couple days ago. He's up to .834 after tonight. Yes, I cherry-picked the sample dates, but we're 16-7 in the last 23 games, and our offense has improved just about top to bottom.

Yes, and couple this with the theory that some of our 2nd and 3rd tier prospects are doing very well this year, so far, maybe "the cliff" can be transformed into just a steep hill.