moonslav59

Not even Campbell to HOU for 3B Paredes & LH'd RP Sousa?

Important to who?

Word is Cora wants Abreu playing FT in 2026, so not more platoon. Maybe that was one reason Ref was not brought back. Maybe $7M was too much for JH. Maybe KC is the next RHB OF'er. It's hard to know who is better or worse vs LHPs: Duran or Abreu. The recency crowd will say Abreu is better. The "last 2-3 year" crowd might say Duran is better. Both are not very good vs lefties. The issue with using KC as a platoon is that he'd only start 30%, and ride the bench the other games. With Masa and Casas as LHB for DH, Campbell will not start there. Now, if we trade a LHB OF'er, maybe KC can get enough playing time to be on the 26 and not in AAA working his way to FT status. I know many here cringe at this idea, but Casas at DH and a Masa-KC platoon in LF might not be too bad. This assumes we trade two OF'ers, which ain't happening. More likely, we platoon Masa & KC at DH, while Casas rides the IL and we trade one OF'er. The 4th OF'er would be a KC/Masa platoon in LF, which is more acceptable.

If not, Duran & Harrison to PHI, Painter & DHam to AZ and KMarte to BOS.

We are going to need much better luck with injuries to have a shot with this 26 man roster as is. That being said, we lost a ton of games started by our rotation. Our pen stayed pretty healthy, except for key time missed by Slaten. Our starting 9 actually did not miss a lot of time. The playoff situation was absurd. Story almost played more games in '25 than his previous 3 seasons combined (157 to 163.) Duran, Rafaela, Romy, Wong and other subs stayed pretty healthy. Narvaez missed just a little time. Abreu missed a little more. Anthony and Mayer hurt. Casas and Masa missed a lot of time, but their production projection was not all that great to begin with.

He covers both sides, so he can later say he was right by quoting only the good half.

Good for you. I guess you predict he'd have done well. (LOL)

You do realize I don't care about that.

Our rotation & rotation depth has gone over a significant makeover and reduction. Gone are these 2025 SP'er numbers: GS SP'er (IP/ERA) 26 Giolito (145/ 3.41) 22 Buehler (110/5.40) 11 Dobbins (53/4.25) 10 Fitts (41/4.83 9 Houck (44/8.04) 5 Newcomb (22/4.43) 5 D May (25/5.68) 3 Bernardino (3/2.70) as an opener 1 Criswell (7/1.29) 1 de Leon (7/4.05) That's 93 Games Started vanished! (10 pitchers and 57.5% of GS'd!) There was some good: Gio+Dobbins+Criswell+ de Leo + Bernardino (214 IP & 3.58 ERA) There was some not so good to horrific: Buehler, Houck, DMay, Fitts & Newcomb (198.2 IP & 5.21 ERA) Here is how I see the current SP rotation ranking, assuming Sandoval & Crawford are healthy: 2025 IP & ERA 1. Crochet 205/2.59 2. S Gray 181/4.28 w STL 3. B Bello 163/3.34 4. Oviedo 40/3.57 w PIT 5. Sandoval IL (80/5.08 in '24) 6. Crawford IL (184/4.36 in '24) 7. Harrison 9/4.00 w Sox T8. Tolle 10/7.84 T8. Early 19/2.33 (Houck to 60 Day IL, once season starts) AAA on the 40: Uberstine, Drohan, Sandlin AAA/AA not on 40: Gamboa, Mullins, Bennett, Holobetz, Rogers, Wehunt, Rivera, Dean We go about 9-10 deep, assuming health. We added 4 pitchers to the mix: Gray, Oviedo, Crawford & Sandoval and subtracted 10 (really just 7 of significance: Giolito, Buehler, Dobbins, Houck, Fitts, DMay & Newcomb) Let's see how this group does. The 2025 rotation finished... 9th in ERA- 12th in fWAR 15th in FIP 20th in K%-BB%

Not sure why not hearing about Ref anymore is a good thing.

Skubal ain't taking Crochet-like money, either.

N Lowe hit about .790, and so did Contreras. One could argue that trade brought us to even at DH/1B, if you throw out the Devers & others at DH games. I do agree that Masa/Casas/Romy could and should hit around .790, too, combined. My concern is replacing Bregman with Mayer, and if Romy is at DH/1B, then DHam & Sogard play 2B.

It's a lot to give up. I might not give up this much. It was just something that worked on BTV, and I like to make sure the other teams get slightly more BTV value, so it seems more fair. I'd prefer to give DHam and a far away prospect and keep Romy, but that trade would not fly.

BTV Accepts: Duran & Hicks for Paredes, Sousa & B King __________________ K Campbell for Paredes & Sousa _________________ To BOS: K Marte To AZ: Painter & Romy To PHI: Duran & Harrison

BTV accepts... Rafaela, Crawford, Cespedes, Yoshida & Hicks for Donovan & Arenado They have Arenado at -15.1 (It should be worse) Yoshida -26.1 and Hicks -18.0, so straight up would require us to play $29M! That's absurd. It would put us over the tax line and close to the second one!

I can see them thinking that, but we've already traded a lot of rotation depth, and I doubt they have that much faith in Oviedo and Sandoval/Early/Tolle/Harrison. Right now, I think Bello is the surest bet, but I don't know everything, so you may be right. I thought Bello looked real good, until the end. I think he can step it up more. He's not a big guy with a ton of K's, and that's what Brez likes so....

It was not a known fact Crochet would be this great. There was a lot of talk about his low IP totals. In hindsight, it was an underpay, despite how well Meidroth and Teel look. At the time, we made the best offer, and many thought it was too much. (I loved the overpay on day one- same as the Sale trade.)

The weathermen in TX have it easy. They are never wrong.

The only reason we should trade Bello is because we think we can do better with someone else. He is not overpaid, especially in light of today's market, He makes $6.2M in '26 and $8.7M in 2027. It jumps to $16.2 and $19.2M in '28 and .29, but even that might not be an overpay. $21M option for 20230 w just $1M buyout. Trading Bello opens another hole and knocks everyone on the rotation depth chart up a slot, when we should be knocking 'em down a slot.

I do think Gray rates to do better than Buehler (at the same point as last winter.) I'm not sure Gray will do better than Giolito, but recent fWAR says he will. Anyone (Oviedo/Crawford/Harrison/Sandoval) should do better than Beuhler/Houck/Fitts/Newcomb. Would signing Suarez and trading Duran or Rafaela for Lodolo be just enough?

The only way to get Crochet was "to overpay." Yes, I agree. Let's overpay. BTW, what about AZ "overpaying" for Duran or Rafaela and a pitcher. (Have you seen the overpays for pitchers, this winter?) I'd have been okay with Okamoto over KMarte, since he'd cost nothing in trade, and maybe we could still trade and OF'er + Crawford for a #2. Suarez on a 2 year deal might be doable.

Staining to be okay with it. Yes i think they will go cheap, too, but we can make one big trade and stay near the 25 budget but be better.

So the plan is hopes and prayers, and many here seem fine with that. No wonder JH has no sense of urgency to placate the fans. Most seem content with the status quo.

Top Sox Prospects by Level: MLB/AAA: 1 Tolle, 3 Early, 9 Sandlin, 14 Uberstine, 15 Drohan AAA/AA: 4 Witherspoon, 6 Bennett, 10 Phillips, 11 Eyanson, 13 Romero, 16 Holobetz, 17 Mullins, 18 Bleis AA/A+: 2 Arias, 12 Godbout, 22 Castro, 28 Monegro, 29 Samaniento A+/A-: 5 Valera, 7 Gonzales, 19 Cespedes, 27 Taylor, 31 Guzman, 32 Heyman A-/FCL/DSL: 20 Azocar, 23 Delzine, 24 Ramos, 25 Rivas, 30 Cason, 33 Pimera

There is a lot about Texas to dislike, but the state is growing in population, even beyond immigrants. I'm not sure how sustainable it will be, but we'll see. I doubt we retire here.