moonslav59

I do agree he has a higher ceiling for the remainder of 2025. I'm just cautioning the expectations. I've been on the Toro demotion train for weeks.

Many teams have a handful of older players that bring up the average age, but with the Sox, almost all of our older players, except Chapman and refsnyder are not key players, and Ref is a short-side platoon guy. 37 Chapman (last year of control) 36 Hendriks (hardly knew ya) 37 Wilson (last year) 34 Refsnyder (last year) & Matz (rental) 32 Story (2 more years) 31 Bregman (opt out?) 31 Yoshida (2 more years) 30 Buehler (5th starter- last year) 30 Giolito (140 IP option trigger) 30 Weissert & Kelly 29 Houck, Wong & Whitlock

.499 Lowe last 101 PAs/ .507 Toro in 102 PAs .617 Lowe last 398 PAs/.689 Toro in 2025 season (269 PAs) Am I missing something, other than a better career, beforehand?

He's hitting worse than Toro, of late: .499 in last 26 games/101 PAs (July 11th>>>) .617 since April 23rd (398 PAs)

Because narvaez was banged up and already at 730 innings, after not starting the year as the #1 catcher.

Having such a small park keeps the Sox from ever having 40-50K, like some stadiums allow. People like to watch the Sox, in person and on TV. They are a money-making team.

No. I wasn't talking about Ryan. When I made this same statement, you said something, like, "so we shouldn't have added a better SP'er pitcher, because we added them in winter."

He was our ace for most of 2024. He's got some nasty stuff - for real. Although his first 3 seasons produced only 146 IP. he did have a 3.20 ERA and 2.95 FIP (1.23 WHIP.) His 3.12 ERA/3.32 FIP and 1.14 WHIP in 179 IP in 2024 was one of the best SP'er seasons by a Sox pitcher since Nate. He likely had an injury over the second half of 2024 which showed up, this year. He had one bad season in 2023. He's a keeper at $4M. Hell, we paid Hendriks & Paxton $5M, and Sandoval much more.

I know we've beaten the line-up debate to death, and studies show changes make minimal impact, but I still wonder why Yoshida bats 5th and Abreu is often 6th or 7th. Abreu is our HR leader and has the most rbi per PA on the team (even more than Devers had.) With OPS and SLG leader Bregman batting 2nd, Abreu should bat 4th or 5th. he's our second best batter. With lefty Duran batting 3rd, now, I can see wanting the RHB Story up 4th, and he's done very well, since April, so Abreu 5th is fine with me. If Duran is ever moved back to leadoff, I'd put Abreu 3rd or 5th. Yoshida and Toro should be considered for benching or worse. I might go with Romy FT at 1B, if Campbell is not given another chance. Maybe Romy plays 2B vs LHPs and Toro plays 1B those games, or we could DH Romy & Refsnyder. I'd consider JH Garcia at platoon DH with ref or Romy and demote Yoshida.

We've heard a lot about the downtick of everyday prospects in the Sox system, and the argument does have some merit, but list list has our #1 (Arias at 24) and #3 (Garcia at 78) prospects as non pitchers. Tolle at #28 and Witherspoon at #94 round out our top 100 prospects. Perales would likely be top 100, if healthy, but there are a lot of prospects in that boat. Other everyday players with a shot at moving up might be Gonzales, Soto, Taylor and longshots Romero. Bleis and Cespedes have lost their shine. Jo Garcia is my sleeper pick. Azocar might move up, but he's only 18 We have several pitchers that could jump in the rankings with a strong finish to 2025 and or a great start to 2026: Clarke, Valera and Early. Sandlin is 24 and needs to shine brightly to jump that high. Phillips & Eyanson have promise. My sleeper is Fajardo. Delzine is 17 and Cason 19. Let's see what they do, next season.

Could be, so if true, all the more reason he will be a "call-up," either soon of on Sept 1st.

Why is this thread still given top spot priority? It's hardly even a discussion about the deadline, which was two weeks+ ago.

No way do we cut our 2024 ace.

So, now you agree with me, after blasting me for saying this a while ago.

I think we call up Hamilton and... Criswell, but only if we start him or Bernardino, who has one of the team's best OPS Against, this year: 70+ PAs against .403 Chapman (leads MLB) .465 Slaten (IL) .530 Guerrero (IL) .556 Whitlock .568 Bernardino (demoted) .613 Crochet .614 Murphy (demoted) .645 Weissert With 2 of the top 8 demoted (and Guerrero was, too) Brez & Cora must not value OPS Against as having much pull.

Avoid the trolls.

If only Bloom understood facts.

It's better than having 4 bench players who never play, except on rest or injury days.

I seriously doubt he's the next Dalbec, but even Bobby Dee deserved a long look before cutting ties. .819 Dalbec over his first 545 PAs in MLB. Over the next 3 years, he got 499 PAs to prove those first 545 PAs were not for real. (He his .599.) Maybe they gave him too much time, but Casas is no where near Bobby Dee territory. While the frustrations, due mainly to injuries may make us want to just give up, his injury history is not as long as Chris Sale's and we all know what happened when we traded him out of frustration. .830 in his first 840 PAs: Casas. That's nearly 300 more PAs than Dalbec's nice start, and his.580 stretch in 2025 was just 112 PAs long. Way, way, WAY! short of giving up and thinking his first 830 PAs were NOT for real. Okay, okay, go ahead and add the last 103 PAs of 2024 at .580 to that 112, and you come to 215 straight, but then you have to add his first 122 PAs at .888 to his career start, making that over a 950 sample size! (near .840!) I am so far away from giving up on Casas, that a DFA cannot be taken serious. I'm not even for trading him, while his stock is low. We need a 1Bman, and this guy hit .840 over his first 950 PAs of his career. I'm fine with making him the DH and finding a way to rid ourselves of Yoshida, but that horse has long been beaten senseless.

Kind of a quick hook. He had a pretty major injury. Maybe it's career ending, but I think if he's healthy, he will be an .800+ batter. He may never be even close to average on D at 1B, so I think DH is is spot. It might keep him from getting hurt, as often, too. The problem, again, comes down to Yoshida. I'll take Casas over Yoshida. How about Yoshida + Fitts for Willson Contreras? The money is almost even. Contreras plays 1B, Casas DH and we trade an OF'er in a package for a #2 SP'er. Bring Bregman & Chapman back and call it a winning winter. If Casas gets hurt, finding a DH is easy: Jh Garcia-Romy (Refsnyder)

They say Slaten will be ready, but he has not thrown in a game, yet. Don't forget Criswell. Harrison does not seem like an option, as of now. Kelly is pitching for Woo after coming off the IL. I doubt he's on the 1-2-3 next list. He's maybe 4 or 5.

DHam cranked one, tonight, with Woo. Call him back up!!!

I've said they are better on defense but have been playing about average, this year. We lead MLB in unearned runs allowed. That can't make us above avg in the play on the field.

Dinger time with Woo. 5 homers: KC, Jh Garcia, DHam, Eaton & Thompson. Password is up to .941.

330 pitchers have pitched 40+ IP, this year (11 per team) Here are the ERA- rankings for MLB: 1. Chapman 28 32. Crochet 58 55. Whitlock 65 58. Weissert 67 85. Bernardino 73 104. Bello 77 160, Giolito 89 190. Dobbins 97 251. Fitts 114 288. Buehler 128 330. Houck 189 We have the best and the worst! ________________________________ SP rankings 50+ IP (150 pitchers or 5 per 30 teams) 10. Crochet (a solid #1) 39. Bello (upper end #2) 63. Giolito (upper end #3) 87. Dobbins (lower end #3) 131. Buehler (mid #5) 150. Houck (bottom #5) ______________________ Out of 90 SP'ers with 100+ IP: 6. Crochet 23. Bello 37. Giolito 84. Buehler