moonslav59

The Password has been called up! Abreu to the 10 Day IL.

Jh Garcia called up!!! Abreu to IL.

I've been rough on Toro for several weeks. He helped us for a couple-three weeks, when we needed him, but that slump was just too steep and long to continue.

Overall fWAR '24-'25: 10.0 Duran 1290 PAs 5.8 Abreu 842 4.1 Rafaela 1023 2.2 Anthony in just 246 (highest fWAR per PA of the 4)

He looked pretty good on D, last year in CF (+17 DRS & +7 OAA) , but that seems like a blip, as his overall DRS in CF is -4 and zero in OAA. Rafaela is a great defensive CF'er and might be great in RF, too, but with a GG'er in RF, why mess with greatness? To top it off, he claims Cora is an idiot for not agreeing with his absurd opinion. He also think Cora ruined KC by moving him fro SS to 2B. LMAO!

Finalmente!

.749 in '23 and .665 in '24 make him passable... maybe. A DH platoon w Romy would be best. (Ref, if he returns.)

Typical Sox great hope. He did have a 5.3 bWAR in 31 GS from ('21-'22) so I think the hope is justified. 3.17 ERA and 3.44 FIP- not easy to do with a 3.7 BB/9.

Are there any good FAs who can play 1B and 2B, well?

Yes, Holobetz went 6 scoreless before allowing a run in the 7th. (6 hits and 1BB in 7.) He has a 3.20 ERA with POR. Gonzales has an .806 OPS at SAL- not bad for an 18 year old who was in DSL, last year. Futrell has a 1.35 ERA with GRE after 5 IP and 1ER, last night. Arias walked twice and went 1-3 to get to .705. He's a 19 year old in A+ ball and GG caliber on D.

He's had 6 bad starts out of 19: 7 ER in 1.2 IP v LAA 6 ER in 3.2 IP v TEX 6 ER in 4.0 IP v ATL 5 ER in 4 IP v PHI 4 ER in 4.2 IP v SDP 4 in 5.1 IP v CHC He's had on meh start: 3 in 6 He's has 12 starts with 0-2 ERS allowed 1 w 2 in 6IP 11 with 0-1 ERs!

I was thinking that, too. And we missed a perfect 6 innings pitched by some sh**ty pitcher, last night. The Sox need to take one game at a time, but we don't... Gio vs Gil 5.14 but 2.53 last 2 starts) Bello v Fried 3.26 but 9.00 last 3 starts, 7.20 last 6 and 6.80 last 8 starts) Crochet v Warren 4.25 but 1.61 last 4 GS TBD (May or Buehler) v Rodon 3.25 and 4.09 last 4 starts

100% Duran at DH works for me.

I've said your first paragraph more than any poster, here, including you. I'm a huge Brez supporter. I loved how he had a rotation 10-12 deep. I disliked his pen additions, but Chapman and Wilson surprised me (and others.) The Bregman signing and Crochet deal & extension sealed the deal as one of the best, if not the best, winters by a Sox GM in the 54 years I have been following them. This won't stop me from pointing out mistakes that were made. I try to provide context, when I do. (I am one of the few who defended the reasoning to the Sale trade, so I'm not the king whiner.)

DHam has value as a PR'er and late inning 2B defense (Rafaela to CF adds there, too.) Toro had no value since the Devers trade. Addition by subtraction, as these guys should/could never see another game for the Sox in 2025: .354 Sabol .580 Casas .612 Eaton .662 Sogard .664 Campbell .672 Toro (sub .600 since Devers) .674 Mayer The only bad batters who may get significant ABs are Wong (.441) & DHam (.492.) Pitchers: 18.00 Toro 10.13 Fulmer & Stick 8.04 Houck 6.59 Hendriks maybe no more... 7.07 Hicks & I Campbell 6.75 Moran 5.56 Kelly 5.43 Buehler (no playoff starts) .

I agree. The "much work" is not really a lot of players needed- just that the ones we get are high quality and stay healthy. Yes, Abreu should hit 30, if he ever plays FT. He's averaged about 29 per 650. With Jh Garcia climbing the ranks and Campbell, another RHB, maybe best suited for the OF, we have someone to platoon with him, if need be. I like Mayer, alot. I think he'd be fina at 2B or 3B and even SS, but health makes me shy away from slotting him into a FT role for 2026. We need to plan on no Mayer. I think Arias may push Story to 2B for 2027. I like the window we have. If we trade Duran, DHam, Sandlin & Mullins for Ryan (maybe it takes Early over Mullins) and bring back Bregman and Chapman, that could be enough, but adding to the pen would be nice, too. Last winter, I felt we could have some of our excess rotation pieces pitch from the pen, but we ended up needing all of them as starters. Next season sees the same type of set-up, and if we have less SP'er injuries, maybe it happens: Crochet, Ryan, Bello, Giolito (140 IP trigger option) Sandoval/Crawford/Dobbins/Harrison/Fitts/Criswell and then maybe Perales and non 40 man guys like Tolle, Uberstine, Early & Clarke. Someone beside Criswell should be a nice pen piece, but adding more would be good insurance.

So little power and not a plus on D. Maybe too questionable for a gamble. Plus, we need some power.

His obsession with Duran being a better defender than Abreu is all we need to know about how serious we should take his comments. That being said, I'd be fine with Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF, if we trade Abreu. Anthony in LF, but even then, Anthony in RF, Rafaela in CF and the worst defender in the OF, Duran in LF still makes more sense to me. Also, he keeps ranting about Abreu being a platoon player only, and his splits are better than Duran's were over his first couple years in the bigs, and he no longer is thought of as a platoon player, despite being pretty bad vs lefties, too, including about 150 points worse than Abreu, this season.

I saw a huge step up, last winter, but then the Devers trade kinda put some doubt back into the JH financial commitment piece to the puzzle. If we do as you and I suggest (add 3-4 key pieces and bring Bregman back) we should be a top 4-5 contender and maybe even the AL fave in 2026.

Yes, I'm raising money for a go fund an Alonso contract.

That's a big concern, despite his age.

Yes, that is the main and just reason. I've never liked bunting, except that doing it enough to force the infield in has real value not measured by the metrics. Players get more hits when the corner IF'ers are in.

Clutch is not a repeatable skillset. Even with a guys like Papi & Reggie jackson, their "clutch" numbers were about the same as their career overall numbers.

If Cora would bench Yoshida and play Duran at DH, I'd be okay. We'd need Romy at 2B near FT and Lowe at 1B near FT, otherwise rafaela is needed at 2B with Romy platooning with Yoshida at DH.

Yes, I agree on the lack of any true outstanding stars on the team, although Bregman would be top 10-15, had he not gotten hurt. Crochet is top 5 in pitching, but that's it. We have the top closer, so maybe 3 of the top players in MLB. That's a far cry from 2004, 2007 and 2018 but maybe not 2013. This team does have more balance than just about every other team in MLB. Calling it mediocrity is fine, but not having as many sucking players as other teams is a good thing, too. Since Devers is no longer here, Campbell is in AAA and Toro is benched, our top 9 batters are ALL ABOVE the MLB OPS of .719: (listed by most PAs) .792 Duran .729 Story (very slow start) .721 Rafaela .811 Abreu .721 Narvaez .926 Bregman .835 Anthony (will likely lead the team in PAs after 8/20) .845 Romy .827 Refsnyder One is a catcher, so we can construct a line-up with all 9 playing, once Ref comes off the IL. When you look at our top IP Pitchers and take away Dobbins, Houck & Newcomb, our top 11 pitchers are all below a 3.63 ERA, except Buehler (5.43) and Fitts (4.83 and now in AAA.) 2.43 Crochet 3.23 Bello 3.63 Giolito 5.43 Buehler (maybe replaced by 2.87 D May, for the playoffs) 2.86 Whitlock 3.16 Weissert 1.15 Chapman (Uehara type numbers! 3.09 Bernardino 4.83 Fitts (in AAA) 2.61 Wilson 3.47 Slaten On paper, we have very few obvious weak players. 1B: maybe Lowe redeems 2B: gonna need Romy and rafaela to shine, here SP5: Buehler (May to #4) Deep pen: fill in the blank