moonslav59

The HR swing was the cause?

The roster turnover under Breslow is nothing short of stunning. The amount of holdovers is almost equal to the amount of players Brez both acquired and traded away... like Priester, Harrison, Hicks, Sandlin & others plus drafted players traded away. The remaining holdovers from the Bloom era are: Whitlock, Houck, Crawford, Bello & Kelly Abreu, Rafaela, Duran, Story, Yoshida, Wong & Casas Anthony, Campbell & Paez were added to the 40 but are from the Bloom era. That's only 15 players on the 40 with Casas, Kelly & Wong as dubious returnees. Paez is a bubble roster player. Duran, Yosida and Story have 1-2 years of control and could be traded, if the money can be balanced somehow. Only Abreu, Rafaela, Anthony & Whitlock look like key players for 2027 and beyond. Some top farm prospects are Bloom's: 1. Arias 4. Valera 10. Cespedes 13. Weunt 16. Paez (reacquired) 18. Bastardo 22. Romero, 23. Mullins, 24 Monero, 26 Rod

100%. Catchers are extremely hard to find and keep. ....and keep healthy!

That assumes he is doing well, but I guess if he's not the deal sucked anyway.

The OF has been rather stable, but may have looked much different if Anthony stayed off the IL. 1260 Abreu 1159 Rafaela 1117 Duran 178 Anthony 125 White 83 Eaton 46 Yoshida 10 Jones The Catching position by innings 543 Wong 492 Narvaez TRADED 159 AR 110 Gasper 22 Rogers The DH position saw Yosida play nearly 3 times the games as the next player, but 12 different players have a GS at DH and 17 players have played at DH during a game or more... GS 62 Yoshida 24 Gasper 21 Anthony 10 Monasterio 8 Romy 7 Jones & Duran 3 Abreu & Wong 2 Story 1 Contreras & AR

The "entire starting infield" seems like hyperbole, but it's actually sorta true. The money saved helped us pay for Contreras and IKF, The Harrison trade brought us FT'er Durbin at 3B, our innings leader at SS and 2B in Monasterio and Seigler! Infield innings leaders: 1197 Durbin (all at 3B) 1033 Contreras (all at 1B) 619 Monasterio (459 at SS, 92 at 2B, 51 at 1B, 17 at 3B) 520 Mayer (341 at 2B and 179 at SS) TRADED 469 IKF (229 at 2B, 91 at SS, 46 at 3B, 3 at 1B) 448 Story (all at SS) 400 Sogard (260 at 2B, 107 at 1B, 33 at SS) 360 Seigler (354 at 2B and 6 at 3B) 116 Cheng (116 at SS) 86 Gasper (all at 1B) 81 Romy (44 at 2B and 37 at 1B) 9 Harris (all at 1B) 4 Mead (all at 2B)

The farm has taken a big hit with all the graduations and recent trades, but we seem to have kept enough to provide a steady stream of promising prospects at positions we need and perhaps with the timing being just right. #1 Arias is MLB ready now. We have a need right now, but will likely delay his addition until after the new CBA. He should be our SS, and we seem to have decent depth to cover SS, if he falters. #2 Gonzales should be MLB ready when Duran and Contreras see their control years lapse. I'd like to see Duran off the roster this winter, but Gonzales would not be his 2027 replacement. Mid to late 2027 would be pushing it. Jones/White/Yoshida and maybe moving Mead to LF might work for a bit. KC might be our most promising Duran replacement, right now. #3 Primera is too far away and may not stick as a Catcher. Looking to 2029 or 2030 is too speculative to go further. We should have a need at C, 1B or DH by then. #4 Valera may not make it as a starter, but there is always a need for good pitchers. His ETA was set back by the surgery, so maybe late 2028. #5 Godbout might surprise us and jump the ETA that is maybe mid 2028, right now. We certainly can't count on him for 2027, and right now, we have a lot of middle IF depth. It's doubtful he reaches a MLB starter point by the end of 2027. Story's deal ends, so he may be ready to fill his roster spot, but he's not Rule 5 until DEC '28- assuming Rule 5 sticks around at its current system. #27 Mason White intrigues me. He may be a long shot and might not be ML ready until 2028, but maybe he can jump the ETA chart. #29 Isaiah Jackson is in the same boat as White. #38 Brannon has been my "sleeper" prospect. I know he K's too much, but he has some nice power. He could also help as a 3rd C, but will be a DH/1B type. #6 Delzine, #7 Hull and #8 Schaffner are all late 2028 or beyond types. #31 Ramos, #32 Silverio, #33 Brito need time. The next group looks like long shots to be anything more than role players, utility types or low to moderate leverage RP'ers: #9 Holobetz, #13 Wehunt and #16 Paez, #18 Bastardo and #25 Rivera could be RP'ers by 2027. #10 Cespedes (2B/DH), #14 Gutierrez (OF), Winnay (1B/3B) Romero (2B/3B) These guys have to prove themselves more: #15 Phillips, #20 Brown, #21 Ziehl, #24 Monegro, #35 B Morgan, #40 Mayers These guys just joined the system in '25 or '26 and have ETAs around 2030: #11 Matacznski, #12 Shelar, #17 Soto, #30 LaFavor Maybe I'm too high on the chances one of these catching prospects can make the bigs as a capable back-up: #37 Jo Garcia (DH/1B? maybe 2027?) #26 Ge Rod (2029) #28 Heyman (2029) #52 A Guzman and far away #50 Salazar I don't see a future for.... #23 Mullins and #34 Castro

I'd love to see Tolle dominate this game and give us all a good feeling about his playoff outlook. I would not pitch him too deep into the game. We need to keep him sharp but also strong.

I think Devers has the exact same OPS+ with SFG than he did with BOS from 2021 to the trade. (137) We could sure use that, but I'm glad we moved him off 3B. If that ended up causing the trade, so be it. It was the right move to make. It had been needed for years. 1B/DH, either one would have been fine, had he accepted it. He didn't. He's gone. We got Harrison and some scraps for him, but the plus Brez was eying was the removal of a malcontent and some precious budget space he had lacked since his arrival. Those two reasons are hard to quantify, but they are both for real. The additions of Contreras, Mead and AR might all be partially or fully inspired by the loss of Devers. Some contracts would not have been added, if Devers was still on the roster. Those are aspects that should be considered when grading the trade.

IKF was doing well before his IL stint, so I can see why he got the slot. The $6M and no options were other factors, but I agree on Seigler. To me, he and Sogard are better options than IKF & Story- the two starters.

14 players on the IL and or rehabbing. Maybe 1-2 return. Contreras should. Rafaela could. Guerrero might. Houck will pitch his 3rd rehab game on 9/15. Maybe... Oviedo might pitch in AAA 9/17. Crochet has one more pen session then might get a rehab game. Crawford has resumed pen sessions. Very long shot. Kelly is throwing pen sessions. Same. Slaten is not throwing. Same. Mead has not started swinging a bat, yet. 2027 is likely it. White is on crutches- see ya in '27. Yoshida is not close- see ya in '27, if not traded. Rivera was recently placed on the 60 IL. Casas is out until '27 (non tender?) More than half these guys might have had major roles, if healthy.

I think think viewed AR as a major piece for a 2026 ring chase. If he was just a sort of rental, it would be an expensive one but worth it, if he brought a ring. The 2027 control might be a waste, depending on the work stoppage, but maybe an extension was in the plans. I'm not saying it wasnt an overpay or bad deal, but it may work out well.

They are not even top 15 or 20.

Yup. They could be helpful, but not likely. They should not be handed any FT slots.

It's not worth the effort, notin.

Is the BJ's loss significant? 13 games to go and 7 games apart.

I love seeing strings like this. Here is another: Nomar for OCab and others. OCab's comp picks netted us Ellsbury & Lowrie. Lowrie later got us Holt. Ellsbury's comp pick got us Kopech Kopech was a major piece in the Sale trade. Sale got us Grissom, and Grissom got us I Jackson, who might be playing 25 years after the Nomar trade,

Updated ERAs (in order of most IP) Over 30 IP 2.76 Gray 3.33 Suarez 3.15 Tolle 3.69 Bennett 4.82 Bello (3.44 Early) 3.34 Moran (4.53 Watson) 4.58 Sandoval 3.60 Weissert 1.99 Capman 1.84 Whitlock 3.26 Guerrero 9 of the 11 current roster pitchers with more than 30 IP ave an ERA below 3.70. For the playoffs, we could see the big 6 as such: 3 starters: 2.76 Gray, 3.15 Tolle & 3.33 Suarez 3 relievers: 1.99 Chapman, 1.84 Whitlock & 3.69 Bennett

We only K'd 5 times. (2 by Story)

I really like this idea, but I also hope we can replace Gray in kind. I don't trust counting on Crochet, Houck, Crawford and Oviedo. Bringing Gray back would be fine with me, but not at 3 guaranteed years. (I'd try hard for 1 with an option year with hefty buyout.) I'm not sure we try and add a big bat, as Brez is likely going to count on Mead & Anthony to provide the boost. (Yoshida, Campbell, Casas, Jones/White, Romy/Gasper, Sogard may provide some minor to moderate boosts.) Removing Duran, IDK, Won and Story maybe be addition by subtraction.

Nice extra run. The O looked good today. One downside: no BBs by the starting line-up. Our staff has 11 Ks and 1 BB.

An encouraging aspect of this roster Brez built is the years of control of our most important players. The stability factor has been put in place like maybe never done before in Sox history (since the dawn of Free Agency.) Here is my subjective view of the order of our most important players and their years of control: 6 Crochet (assuming good health) 6 Rafaela 2 Contreras 2 Abreu 5 Tolle 0-1 Gray 9 Anthony 5-6 Suarez 5 Bennett 1 Chapman 2 Whitlock 5 Durbin 1 Rutschman 3 Miller 5 Bello 5 Sogard 1 Houck, 2 Crawford, 1 Oviedo, 6+ Arias, Gonzales, Godbout & Primera

I get what your saying, but looking at the end of year 2023 roster, a major turnover was needed and welcomed.

Good to see Suarez getting to 7 IP. It's nice to have a guy able to go 5 IP for a large percentage of his starts, but 7 IP for two straight starts is very encouraging. Nice job by Whitlock! Sox are 3 for 6 with RISP. Can this be correct?

OPS Against Leaders (50+ IP) .452 B Morgan (SAL>GRE) .527 Delzine (FCL>SAL) .571 E Walker (FCL>SAL) .594 Ed. Rivera (POR>WOR) .616 Tolbert (SAL) .635 Brown (SAL>GRE) .636 Gilman (SAL>GRE) .657 Paez (POR>WOR) .672 Halligan (POR>WOR) .677 Tyagart (FCL>SAL>GRE) .686 Wehunt (POR>WOR .687 Mayers (SAL>GRE) .694 Olds (WOR) .698 Carlson (POR>WOR) .703 Holobetz (POR>WOR) .709 Bastardo (WOR) .716 Er. Rivera (POR>WOR) .721 Futrell (SAL>GRE>POR) .731 Song (WOR)