moonslav59

Because Ref and Abreu are on the IL and we needed a big RHB. Lowe is MLB's worst batter vs lefties. Fried had been struggling for quite a few starts. It's hard to project he'd be back in form.

Story hardly played, but a close call. OPS improvements: 210 Bichette (330 more PAs) 165 Bregman (180 less PAs) same Story (410 more PAs)

August OPS: 1.158 Lowe .967 DHam .919 Bregman .879 Roman .872 Story .832 Abreu (IL) .698 Romy .690 Ref (IL) .687 Duran .658 Yoshida .634 Narvaez .613 Wong .517 Rafaela

Had I said Story would be 7th in the AL in RBI on August 23rd, back in March, April and May, I'd be called crazy. Nice turn-around Trevor!

Sox are now 4.5 from TOR, who I feel is due for a tough stretch, soon. Sox up 1.5 on NYY & SEA up 4.5 on the WC outsider KCR & 5.5 on CLE. The Sox are 0.5 GB the 8th best record in MLB (HOU) and 3rd best in the AL.

Sweetness!

and PR'er. That's more value than Toro gave us. Maybe he can heat up, like he did for a long stretch in the summer of '24.

I do believe hot hitting is contagious.

12-1 with out top 3 batters at 3 for 12. Gotta like it!

Damn! Save some runs for Sunday!

Are Sox fans starting to see how most AL contenders have more weak spots than we do?

We may get that!

Rafaela getting hot would be a huge plus for this team!

Only a very few players get to 3B on that hit.

Nice to see Duran get an RBI.

Stanton is owed $29M, $25M and has a $25M option for '28 with a $10M buyout. Essentially, it's $64M/2 or $$79M/3. His tax line is $25M, but MIA is still paying $3M a year for the next 3 seasons. That makes it $55M/2 or $70M/3 and a tax hit of $22M. You think NY would take Yoshida and Fitts for Stanton & $5M a year?

Weissert has been pretty good, most of the season. He's gotta get through this!

Narvaez & DHam with 4 hits from the 8-9 slots is nice to see. Our depth has been a big asset, all year long. We've gone 12 starters deep in the rotation, our pen has been top 5 without Slaten for most of the year and getting nothing from Hendriks and converted SP'ers.

What a difference having a top 5 SP'er and best closer in MLB makes, huh? Our offense has been struggling, but they've had ups and downs, all season long. I'm hoping we can get on an upswing, when it matters the most.

Just heard the Sox will not face Trevor Rogers in the BAL series. That's good news.

Uehara also had an incredible post season in 2013. He let up 1 ER (a HR) in 13.2 IP. Only 7 hits allows and ZERO BBs to 16 Ks. Speaking of Ks to BBs, best K%-BB% seasons by Sox RP'ers since 2003: 44.1 Kimbrel '17 34.7 Uehara '13 32.9 Miller '14 30.8 Chapman '25 & Papelbon '07 30.2 Papelbon '11 28.9 Uehara '14 28.8 Barnes '21 28.3 Uehara '16 26.3 Kimbrel '18 26.1 Martin '24 K/BB 16.7 Martin 11.2 Koji '13 10.0 Koji '14 9.6 Papelbon '08 9.0 Tazawa '12 & Kimbrel '17 8.7 Papelbon '11 7.2 Timlin '03 6.4 Slaten '24

This wasn't a great first day in MLB for Garcia, but he did face a rejuvenated Fried on the mound. I'm still super high on this kid. We could really use another big power bat from the right side of the plate.

Lowe is the worst batter in MLB vs LHPs, this year. I can't fault Cora for having Lowe start off on the bench, knowing he will PH, if needed.

We've has some awesome closer seasons since Foulke in 2004. Koji's has stood alone, and he was arguably the main reason that 2013 outperformed their expectations and production numbers. Here are some of our best closer seasons since 2003: (listed in order by best OPS Against) ERA+/OPS Against... 381/.377 Chapman 2025 (in progress) 379/.400 Koji 2013 254/.444 Kimbrel 2017 257/.463 Papelbon 2007 517/.465 Papelbon 2006 199/.561 Papelbon 2008 194/.562 Uehara 2015 247/.565 Kimbrel 2018 127/ .575 Jansen 2024 (Others had better season than this, but I felt he deserved a mention) 223/.587 Foulke 2004 252/.600 Papelbon 2009 Best RP seasons since 2003 by ERA- (40+ IP) 20 Papelbon '06 24 Martin '23 25 Chapman '25 26 Uehara '13 31 Kimbrel '17 34 Tazawa '12 37 Atchison '12 39 Workman '19 40 Papelbon '09 & '07 43 Whitlock '21 & Breslow '13 44 Delcarmen '07 & Bard '10 46 Foulke '04 48 Okajima '07 & Aceves '11 50 Timlin '05 fWAR 3.2 Kimbrel '17 3.1 Uehara '13 & Papelbon '06 3.0 Papelbon '11 2.8 Papelbon '08 2.1 Workman '19 & Papelbon '07 2.0 Chapman '25 and counting 1.9 Papelbon '09 1.8 Schreiber '22 & Timlin '05 1.6 Whitlock '21 & Foulke '04 1.5 Martin '23, Slaten '24 & Kim '03 1.4 Jansen '24 & Uehara '15 1.3 Barnes '21 & '19, Bard '10 & '11, A Miller '14 and Kimbrel '18 1.2 Barnes '18 & Kimbrel '16 1.1 Okajima '07, Tazawa '12 & 15, Delcarmen '08, Jansen '23, Uehara '14 and Josh Taylor '21 ,

That $9-10M is the reason the Nats cut ties. It seems like we have been forever trying to guess what level of spending JH will approve, each winter, and if we predict he will allow us to spend up to the first tax line, without going over, then that $9-10M is very significant and would downscale our options. We have Bregman returning or not as a major financial choice. We have to bring Chapman back or pay bigly for another one. We need a solid SP'er, even if Giolito returns. We need pen help and maybe 2B help, along with the Lowe choice at 1B. One obvious decision could be made to solve one of the these problems: trade from our OF excess for a relatively lower cost solution, but do we have the nerve to make two major trades, like this, to fill two major roles? Will making two trades put too much strain on our depth, or force us to count on Jh Garcia, Campbell and or Mayer to win FT roles We also have some recent extensions that will kick in. I agree with all of them, but nevertheless, we added 2026 cost that was not on the books, until recently: $28.3M Crochet $16.3M Anthony $9.2M Bello $7.5M Campbell $6.3M Rafaela The tax hit on Hicks is $10.3M and Duran has an $8M option or arb. Gio's 140 IP option trigger or not could add a lot of salary or create another rotation hole. Before the year started, and even more so, after the Devers salary dump trade, our budget outlook was pretty good. Now, it's kinda tight. OPEN UP THE WALLET JH!!!! Spending to the 2nd line should be enough. Spending up to the first line might not be, unless we make two big trades that include some highly ranked prospects and young core players like Duran or Abreu plus maybe Campbell, Arias, Tolle or several prospects ranked 3-12, mostly pitchers.