moonslav59

The AL lacks any runaway team, this year, and even the ones at the top have serious flaws, or they are playing poorly, of late- or both. HOU has lost 4 of 5, have been shut our in 3 of the last 4 games and have scored 10 runs in their last 6 games. They have been dealing with major injuries, all year. That is catching up to them. 7th in fWAR everyday players SEA is 13-12 in their last 25, and their pitching has not been what it used to be (10th if AL Pitching fWAR) NYY have gone 5-1 v MIN & STL, but are still 19-23 over the last 42 games. Their pitching has let up 4 or more runs in 9 of the last 10 games (3 in the other.) 8th in fWAR pitching in AL DET has been pretty steady and is 7-2 in its last 9 games- mostly vs weaker teams. TOR is close to DET, but they have gone 10-12 in their last 22. They have the 3rd worst fWAR Pitching in the AL. CLE sold at the deadline, then have gone 10-6. KCR has gone 26-15 since May 31st and have won 6 of 7. I'm just not seeing an AL team, on paper or by record, that clearly looks like they significantly outmatch us. Everyday player fWAR: 25.8 TOR 24.5 NYY 20.4 BOS (significant drop from top 2) 19.9 DET 19.4 SEA 16.9 ATH 15.5 HOU 11. CLE 9.7 12. KCR 9.2 OPS: NYY, TOR, ATH, BOS, DET, SEA, HOU, 12th KCR, 14th CLE DRS: TEX, TBR, BOS, TOR, CLE, NYY, DET, KCR, SEA, HOU (top 10) Pitching: 15.9 HOU 14.6 KCR 14.5 MIN 14.1 TEX 13.2 BOS 12.7 DET 8. NYY 11.2 9. CLE 10.7 10. SEA 10.1 13. TOR 8.2 BOS is the only team in the top 5 for Pitching and everyday players, DET is closest at #3 and #6.

I hope next year's goal is to go into the second threshold area. I believe it when I see it.

Agreed. I'm not sure he ever gets a look-see with the Sox. He may be part of a package deal, this winter.

Maybe. The urgent order of business is getting Bregman to come back, even if on a 4 year deal. With Mayer's health in constant flux, we have nothing else for 3B. I think we will let 1B and 2B slide, again. I'm not happy about it, but they will probably think we have enough to work with: 1B: Casas, Lowe, Romy/Toro, Campbell and now JH Garcia playing 1B w Woo. 2B: Mayer, Romy, DHam, Grissom with Mayer or Arias pushing Story to 2B, someday. By "going all in," one choice could be to bring Bragman & Chapman back while adding Alonso & a trade for a SP'er like Ryan. The Gio triggered option is probably the second key, along with hos all our injured pitchers are progressing. Knowing Brez & Co, they will put too much faith in these post-rehab pitchers.

His defense will improve what we've had at 1B for years. I hope he can regain some of his decent O. He just turned 30, so there is some hope.

"Set you off" was a poor choice of words. I apologize. You did respond to my post, where I was implying you were off topic, and I should not have done that, either.

We are over the tax line, despite dumping Devers. Yes, we are still around 10-12, so that is "mid," but I'm wondering if JH goes all-in, this winter. (I'm not expecting it.)

Not really.

It's been 4 years since we've been alive in mid August.

We are owed a break, right? LOL

You think the games we win would reflect good things, but they don't.

I'm still glad I missed out. We were fortunate others lost, too, but it was also an opportunity lost. It shows just how much the AL lacks a break-away team.

I can guess how bad they were.

Horrible game to watch. Very painful.

The injuries on this team are piling up.

Why no Abreu? Is it a Cora scheduled day off, when the guy sits vs all LH'd SP'ers, anyway? Is Abreu hurt?

The problem is, Brez & Co. may not agree. Our 1B and 2B play and depth has been atrocious for many years. I must admit, I did like the idea of Campbell and Mayer in the 2B mix to start, this year, and DHam was coming off a decent second half of '24, so I can't roast Brez, too much, but 1B is another story (on depth.) Now, we know Campbell will not likely ever play 2B, again. (OF and 1B or DH?) Mayer cannot be counted as a FT anything. DHam is nontender fodder, as is Grissom- or traded. Arias is too far away to push Story to 2B. My guess is we add no 2Bman, this winter. We may not add a 1Bman, either.

Brez could help in that area.

Yup, no one players wins or loses a ton of games for their team.

The Sox may end up over the tax line, so they would have paid a tax on the $2M or so, had the claimed him off waivers.

Got it. To make room on the 26, they had to demote someone. Both Toro and Sanchez are out of options, so it made sense to just DFA one: having 3 catchers was always going to be temporary and insurance w Marvaez being banged up and tired, so he was let go. We still have the Mayer to the 60 Day IL as a way to add someone else to the 40, and we'll have Sept call-ups, soon, to add two more to the 26. JH Garcia just played a game at 1B, so maybe he will be a call-up. Campbell could be another one, but 1B seemed like his best shot, and now Lowe is here and out of options, too. It looked like they were preparing Sandlin for a 40 addition (Rule 5 in DEC) so maybe they could call him up as a RP'er, but he has kinda sucked, recently in that role.

Id bet my left you-know-what that Mayer will be more than twice the defender Campbell ever can be as an infielder. He may be better on D at SS than Story is, and I love Story's D. Maybe by 2026 or 2027, Story will be at 2B and Mayer at SS. Mayer needs to play 145+ games. Period. It's very hard to win a job playing even 100 games.

I think I mistakenly set him off, by assuming he was following my line of discussion, when he was going in his own direction.

Like CERA, now it's 1BERA and even DHERA... LOL!

Unless Bernardino is injured, I'm not understanding why he's still in Woo, now. Some said he needed rest: well, he got some. Maybe OPS Against is not the best stat to use for RP'ers, but to me, it beats ERA and WHIP, which counts singles the same as HRs and BBs the same, too. We have 5 RP'ers who have faced 135+ batters (95+, too.) OPSA: .393 Chapman is mind-boggling and blows even Uehara's numbers away. (161 PAs) .566 Bernardino, yes, better than Whitlock and all others, except Slaten at .465 in 90 PAs Against! .568 Whitlock in 235 PAs- most on the team, by far- many in high leverage and Late & Close situations. Then, big drop to... .670 Weissert in 215 PAs (2nd most) is actually pretty decent. .679 Wilson at 157 PAs (5th of the top 5.) IMO, even if Slaten wins back his top 3 role, Bernardino is my #5 or 6 guy, not 8th. All healthy: 1. Chapman 2. Slaten 3. Whitlock T4. Weissert & Bernardino 6. Wilson 7. Moran, until he shows me he's not better than the rest. 8. Matz > Hicks (both with no options, so Brez would demote Moran, IMO.) 9. Criswell (better than Hicks) 10. Murphy (better than Hicks) 11. Harrison 12. I Campbell (on the 26, now!) 13. Fitts or Kelly