moonslav59

Can we stop hoping Duran is going to get his head together? He was great in '24, pretty good in '25, but he sucks now. .701 since Sept 2024 is lower than IKF's OPS with the Sox and a lot of others. NUFF SAID!

No, I'm looking to bench or demote Duran. To platoon LF and DH, we needed White or Jones to be a LHB.

Post draft and trades?

We shoulda got a LHB OF'er not White, but White's career v RHP is better than Duran's 2026 v R. Both are better v L, as we could have guessed. Look-See... Career splits for Jones & White with 2026 for Duran V L .808 Jones .619 White .567 Duran (.611 career) v R .629 White .628 Duran (.799 career) .479 Jones Whitehas speed, too, so that's not a major factor in the decision.

How about Jones and Rogers and their tiny sample sizes adding up to 13 for 27 with 4 doubles and 2 HRs (12 runs and 7 rbi!) An OPS North of 1.400! We have a bunch of regulars- some "new" at being regular moving up in OPS: here are the leaders... .927 Contreras (Can he stay over .900?) .790 Abreu (Can he finish over .800?) .787 Rafaela (Can he end strong, for once?) .779 Monasterio (This guy is a doubles machine!) ,747 Yoshida (Kinda earning some respect.) .730 Durbin (What more can be said?) .713 Seigler (Nice glove work, too.) ,711 Sogard (blasted Romy to AAA.) IKF .705 (Was hot when he got hurt- may not see again.) .701 Wong (waiting on AR to see if demoted) .675 Anthony (almost out of hope for '26) ________________ .613 Duran (How is he still 3rd in PAs?) Why isn't he at least up 9th? (No, don't say RBIs, PLEASE!)

Randy was so upset, he wants him moved to the rotation.

I've been saying play Yoshida LF platoon with Jone for a month. DH anyone else but Duran and it's a big plus.

It has been the definition of working. (for Bello)

LOL. How is this for a sample size? AUG 29, 2024> today (300+ PAs) .929 Contreras .821 Bregman .808 Devers .804 Anthony .769 Abreu .764 Romy .730 Rafaela .728 Durbin .707 Story .706 Yoshida .701 Duran When guys like Story and Yoshida are ahead of you, it's time to think beyond the tiny sample size of 1288 PAs.

KC had 3 hits & BB, with NO Ks (at .728.) Olds let up 5 runs in the 9th for the loss. M White 3-4 w 2 dingers in POR's win. GRE lost 15-12 despite 14 hits and 10 BBs. Ro Hern 3-4, Schaffner 2-7

We've been talking about how much Brez has turned over the 26, 40 and full farm system in less than 3 years. I went back and looked and found these numbers and some names on pitching only: Pitchers added: 44 Draftees/Undrafted FAs: 16/22 in 2024, 15/24 in '25 & 13/22 in '26 (including Tolle, Eyanson, Witherspoon, Phillips, Futrell, LaFavor.) 65 IFA 3 fall of '23, 11 in '24, 33 in '25 & 18 in '26 (including Delzine, Zink, Mambel, D Reyes, B Ortiz, Ja. Gamboa, Pereira) Of course some of these guys never made the cut, but it's almost 100 pitchers taken in just these two categories! MiLFA/MiLRule 5: T Guerrero, S Newcomb, Burdi, Erik Rivera, H Harris, J Benitez, H Olivares, J Alexander, Luetge, Moore, Ottavino, O Berrios, Al Gamboa, Sweet & others Waivers: Maz Castillo FA: Suarez, Chapman, Sandoval, Ju Wilson, Giolito, Buehler, Criswell, Hendriks, Trade: Crochet, Gray, Bennett, Priester, Harrison, E Miller, Zeihl, Moran, Slaten, Fitts, Weissert, Oviedo, Samaniego, R Watson, Hicks, Sandlin, Matz, D May, Judice, Fajardo, Holobetz, Luis Garcia, Lucas Sims, J Paxton, I Campbell, B Horn, Alcala, Jose Bello, Uwasawa, Vogatsky. McShane Traded Away: Sale, Priester, Harrison, Drohan, Dobbins, Early, Perales, Bernardino, Luis Guerrero, Wikelman, Hicks, Schreiber, Sandlin, Fitts, Clarke, Galle, Dobbins, Travieso, Fajardo, Aita, Newcomb, Hoppe, Booser, Zeferjahn, O Portes, VSantos, N Robertson, Ammons, Van Belle, Penrod

Almost everyone goes to 14+14, and with Bennett & Tolle at career max's in IP, we likely will too. The White and Jones with no options is an issue, and since both ar RHB, I'm not sure we'd demote Duran, even if it was the right thing to do, because he's a lefty. We can manage the infield fine without needing one infield utility, as we can yo-yo the depth, since there are no option issues. I don't think Anthony will be ready by Sept 1st, and maybe won't be this year, so we can maybe start with 3 catchers. By the time Anthony is ready maybe someone is slumping, of they will be totally fed up with Duran and demote him.

We hardly ever did, unless you mean his batting order slot. We need to tinker with demoting him to AAA, or at least the bench, as a PH'er/PR'er.

Yes, assuming they are fully healthy and have found their grooves. Every team can say this or something close to it, but when you have your very best pitcher plus who many felt was going to be our best batter, soon, that hurts. The less talked about injuries are to Houck, who was our ace in 2024 and Mead, who looked to be our 2B solution and moderate bat help. I also remember hearing Merloni gushing over the impending return of Crawford. Then there is the big enigma- the .800 hitting china doll Casas. Trevor Story was our HR, RBI & SB leader in '25. Oviedo was supposed to be more than decent rotation depth. IKF is our $6 million dollar man! Rutschman should be joining the team soon, but I'm not sure we can count on anything from anyone else. Story is probably closest to returning, and nearly everyone is saying, "Please no- don't hand him the SS job FT or outright." Interesting times, but with a few of these guys healthy, we might have the best record in the AL and major MLB, right now.

They should have platooned him half way through 2025- not Abreu. Maybe it was the Cora loyalty thingy.

It might depend on AR's ability to catch a lot. Yes, it's a rarity before Sept 1st, but what of afterwards?

Whenever Brez says yes.

At best, bat him 9th. He's been bad all year long, with a couple spurts of life that didn't even last a week. At worst, yes- demote him to AAA. Make him show he can hit there, before he gets another look-see. (if ever)

Major fight in this team, even when they lose. The vibe is undeniable. I'm still feeling real good about our chances.

We need to have a new Prospect Ranking Poll for this site.

With so many trades involving highly significant players and prospects, plus many mid tier players, we will almost certainly regret a few. We've already seen the Sale trade pass the "TBD" label and go to the severe negative side of any grading system. The thing I find positive is that hardly any trades are for rentals or even 1.?+ to 2 year players. There have been a few, but not many. The trade for Crochet is now TBD, after starting off looking great. The extension seemed to add to the feeling it was a good trade, but health issues could put the extension in the TBD category. Many of the trades were prospects nearing Rule 5 for prospects farther down the road and 40 man roster bubble players for prospects. By building up the farm depth with seemingly minor trades, it allowed him to then trade some higher level prospects- some nearing or at Rule 5 levels for MLB players or lower farm level prospects with more upside. This site seemed overrun with criticisms about losing Sale, Harrison, Drohan & Priester. We may hear more when others start doing well- like Dobbins has been doing recently. It's understandable to get upset, when you see players we traded away doing well or very well, especially when the return package are prospects or players starting off slowly (like Durbin,) but Brez has had the longer term in mind with most trades. That seemed to shift some, last winter and this deadline. That makes sense, too, since we are now in "the window" where winning seems beyond just a hope. Just about every trade makes or made sense to me, even the ones I wasn't sure about or even disliked day one. Some, like the Sale trade, I ended up liking a few days later. I'm liking the AR trade now more than day one, but am still about 50-50. The Mayer trade still looks bad, but I think there were reasons for doing it, I'm not privy to. It seems like with Miller has major BB issues, but maybe they fix it or improve it enough. It's stunning how much the 26 and 40 man rosters have flipped, but the whole system seems to have been near totally purged and in in some areas re-purges again. The 40 man roster has just 7 players on it that were there before the 2022 season started and 3 have been on the 60 IL: Houck, Crawford & Story with Wong, Whitlock, Duran & Bello. 5 more were added before Brez took over, making 12 in total. (Some on the 40 now were in the system but not on the 40- like Anthony, Sogard & KC.) There are 47 players on the 40, including 8 on the 60 Day IL, and as far as I can tell, 32 were acquired by Brez. By the end of this coming winter, the ratio may change further. Looking at soxprospects.com's rankings list, the vast majority are Brez additions, which is not all that common, since most teams' have many top prospects that were added 3 year or longer ago. Brez: 1 to 10. 12-13, 15-16 and 19-21 11 is Wehunt. 14 is Cespedes. 17 & 18 are Bastardo & Paez who were both lost and re-added, so maybe they don't count. That makes 17 out of 21 as Brez guys, 2 were lost to Rule 5 and added back and two holdovers from Bloom. Romero is #22, Mullins 23, Monegro 28, and Brannon & Jo Garcia 34 & 35. The ratio after #35 looks pretty similar.

It's not like Brez has gotten every pitcher trade and signing right, but I trust him with pitching more than any other Sox GM/CBO we've had in a while- maybe even more than DD. I've never seen a GM add and subtract so many pitchers in less than 3 years. That includes draftees, Rule 5 picks and losses, with some coming back. Hell, he's traded for several then traded them away. Of the 34 pitchers used in 2024, only Whitlock, Bello & Slaten have been on the 26 in 2026. Houck, Weissert, Kelly and Crawford are in AAA or on the IL. Of the 35 used in 2025, only Whitlock, Bello, Slaten, Tolle and Moran are on the current 26. Crochet, Houck, Crawford, Weissert & Kelly are still in the system. He's already traded Early & Uberstin from the 2026 team and cut loose Coulombe, Kahnle & Anderson and added a few during the year. The amount of minor league pitchers he's traded- many who never played in the bigs is almost as astounding. We have yet to see Oviedo pitch, and Sandoval just started not long ago.

Fred said a month. (past Aug 31)

He keeps getting hurt, looks good, looks bad, looks great,,,, rinse and repeat.

About to start hitting from a machine. That's not AUG 31st ready,