moonslav59

This is basically how I see it. I've had some minor differences of opinion over some of the things he does, but I don't view myself as being smarter than him or knowing all the facts and issues going on at any given moment on a team, so I've never felt my differences rose to the point where I felt he has to go. I still don't, although I don't feel as strongly about this, as before. I've blamed the roster he's been handed as the main reason for mediocrity- or worse. After watching that 2020 season, 2021 seemed miraculous. The moves made before 2022, 2023 and 2024 all looked so feeble, not only to me, but to just about everyone here. The deadline non moves, too. Now, we had an offseason of hope and renewed energy and finally a roster that had the potential to be a winner, in a league that looked like most of the better teams did not improve themselves or even got worse on paper, and we end up with the same mediocre results. Let's blame the manager and make it simple. Identify a fall guy other that the actual players that failed to meet the expectations we saw on paper. I'm not sure what a manager is supposed to do to prevent Duran from a major regression, to teach Rafaela more plate discipline (Oh, wait, he has shown improvement, there,) to get a vet like Story, who finally seems healthy, to hit like he did 5 years ago, to replace china doll Casas with nothing in the system, to get a rookie catcher to outplay Wong (Oh, wait...) and to fill in the shoes of departing Devers and Bregman on the IL. I guess Cora is the reason Campbell imploded, and we were stuck hoping on DHam to play like he did for 2 months in 2024. I hate using the injury excuse, but we all knew our pen was highly suspect going into this season. Slaten was a big hope, and he's been hurt for much of the season. Make sure Cora gets no credit for Chapman and Wilson exceeding expectations, since that veers from the drumbeat narrative. When a manager has to reply on Weissert, Kelly, Guerrero and others in high level situations, what can we expect? The game threads are littered with "Why did he bring in _____?" Well, the simple answer was, "He has nobody better." Now, the rotation: I applauded Brez for doing something no Sox GM had done in years: built rotation depth to the point where needed one at the deadline should never happen. Yes, much of it looked mediocre, suspect or injury prone, but it went 10-12 deep. Let's look at what I felt was the depth chart, pre-injuries, ex ept for the known Sandoval one: 1. Crochet: Can't blame Cora for anything here, although many complain he's pulled too early or was left in too long that one game. 2. Houck: I'm sorry if I can't find a reason why Cora cause him to disappear. 3. Buehler: I'm not aware Cora told Brez to sign a guy who is actually getting worse. 4. Crawford: Yup, Cora's fault. 5. Bello: Don't give Cora any credit for Bello actually doing better than 2024. 6. Sandoval: We knew he was more about 2026 than 2025, but sure, blame Cora for not being a witch doctor who could find a cure. 7. Giolito: Let's Brez the credit for him actually doing well, lately, since Cora can only do harm. 8. Fitts: We all knew he was a bit of a dice roll. 9. Priester: Brez traded him away for a low level OF'er and far away pitching prospect. 10. Criswell: Has only been uses in the pen at the MLB level. I guess we could lay blame for not giving him a shot on Cora, but this is the #9-11 guy on the depth chart. 11. Whitlock: used in pen. Anyone disagree? 12. Wink: used in pen and now on 60 Day IL. 13. Murphy: started on IL and was know to be out for most of 2025. 14. Dobbins: No credit to Cora, PLEASE! 15, Newcomb: rose up during ST'ing to jump over 9-10 guys. Here are the results, and of course, it's all Cora's fault: Slot. GS/ERA 1. 17/2.06 2. 9/8.04 3. 13/6.29 4. 0/ IL 5. 12/ 3.31 6. 0/ IL 7. 10 4.53 8. 6/4.68 9. 0/ traded away 10. 0/ pen 11. 0/ pen 12. 0/pen & IL 13. 0/ IL 14. 10/ 4.10 15. 5/3.95 (DFA'd) Can someone tell me what available manager would have been able to work with this and create a winner?

This is the main beef I have with Cora. Maybe Brez should have insisted he have that talk. Maybe there have been other similar talks that should have happened, but did not, so Cora could continue being the ultimate "players' manager." I'm still not sure this rises to the level of termination, and I would like to know what Brez's role was in not having "the talk." Firing the manager, to me, often looks like the easy way out. It would further shift the blame away from the real reasons our teams have not been winners. But hey, we gotta blame someone. It's in our DNA.

The famous, "He should sit down and tell the player to be more selective at the plate." comes to my mind as the types of suggestions I've heard in the past.

How is this a what if? Everyone here has been highly critical of the teams built by or GMs since 2019, and then we act like the manager mismanaged a team that should have been winning.

To me, the biggest issue I've seen with Cora was his inability to even ask Devers to play 1B. If he was told to do it, but didn't, it makes it worse. Many of us don't even think it should have been a gentle question asked, but a demand. That's pretty major, but I don't have any other issues with the way he manages the team.

What if he's a .500 manager of .400 teams? I mean it is possible, right?

I can hear it, now. Back to the Rays North.

GRE had a no hitter going, late, despite Clarke allowing a run on a couple BBs, a SB and WP. GRE won in 10, 2-1 Harrison did not look good: 4 IP, 8H, 4ER, 1BB, 4K. Campbell 1-2 w BB & HBP. POR looked like the Sox with only 3 hits. Cespedes had 2 hits in SAl's loss.

It will take more than Duran for Abel or Painter. Would Duran, Romy and Early be enough?

I'm wondering what a plan B w DD might be... Mick Abel?

Yes, and teams like he Astros can keep winning by spending about what we do, while seeing 5 of their best 8 SP'ers out for near full or the full season. They lost Correa, Springer, Tucker, Cole, Verlander and on and on... Nobody is really bitching, here in Houston. They keep winning.

Going forward? 1. Duran DH 2. Bregman 3B 3. Abreu-Refsnyder RF 4. Mayer 2B 5. Narvaez C 6. Story SS 7. Anthony LF 8. Rafaela CF 9. Campbell 1B Bench: Wong, RF'er, 1Bman, Eaton Maybe trade Duran and call up Jh Garcia?

Well, you just said it, so I guess I was reading your mind. Yes, "going forward," you think Rafaela will be better on offense (at some point.) Duran has been tinkering with his stance and approach for what seems like forever. I'm not sure why he didn't just stick with what was working, unless the tinkering came after he started doing worse, and he is trying adjust to how pitchers adjusted to his previous approach/stance. If I had to guess, I'd say Duran will be better from 2026-2027 and maybe 2028, too. They might be even, after that for another year or two. On D, Rafaela runs circles around Duran.

So, you would project Rafaela to be better on offense, going forward. I guess you like Rafaela, now.

Best OPS+ (40+ IP) .431 Rivera A+ .534 Mullins A+/AA .591 Aita A-/A+ (70 IP lead our farm) .608 Sprague A-/A+ .613 Early AA .625 Stock AAA .632 Sandlin AA .650 Cohen A- .654 Uberstine AA/AAA .663 Rogers A+/AA .669 Tolle A+ .701 Wehunt AA .712 Bates A- Selected Pitchers at 20-39 IP .334 Clarke A-/A+ .479 Fajardo FCL/A- .486 Burdi AAA (was in MLB before IL) .505 Sena AA .554 Y Cruz AA .571 Drohan AAA .574 Criswell AAA .599 McShane A-/A+ .601 Stebens A+ .621 Kilander A- .619 Wu-Yelland A+/AA .635 Monegro AA .647 Sansone A-/A+

Top Sox OPS (200+ PAs) .913 Anthony AAA (now in MLB) .905 Jordan AA/AAA .862 Nunez A- .852 Jh Garcia AA/AAA .838 Encarnacion A-/A+ .831 Ehrhard A+/AA .818 Mayer AAA (now in MLB) .810 Eaton AAA (now in MLB) .795 Thompson AAA .786 Anders .783 Arias A-/A+ .772 Taylor A+ .770 Hickey AAA 100-199 PAs .899 Fermin FCL .883 Toro AAA (now in MLB) .831 Kolozsvary AA/AAA .826 Romero AA .823 Rosier AA/AAA 40-99 1.221 R Noda AAA 1.086 Brito DSL .995 Jo Rodriguez FCL .939 Soto DSL .884 Asencio DSL .884 T Baker FCL .875 de la Cruz DSL .843 Alzi DSL .801 H Ramos DSL .795 Jo Garcia FCL/GRE

Harrison could be a nice boost to the team. We could use one, soon!

The gap has tightened over the past few weeks, but Duran has been the more proven offensive threat over sample sizes that go back 2 or 3 years. He's still slightly better, this year, so I count him as better on offense, which was what the topic was about. No doubt, Rafaela and Abreu are much better on defense. wRC+ 2025: 93 Duran/ 91 Rafaela 24-25: 117 Duran/ 83 Rafaela 23-25: 118 Duran/82 Rafaela Obviously, this shows the trends are going in opposite directions, but I still think Duran is better on offense. (BTW, Rafaela has a higher Baserunning score than Duran, this year, on fangraphs.)

2B has been a big weakness for 7 seasons, except for a couple nice half seasons by Story and Kike. It does look like having either Story or Mayer at 2B (whoever is not at SS) should be an improvement. Improving on bottom 5 might not be enough. We need some vast improvements at positions like 2B and SS. SS was fine under Bogey's regime, although the defense was lacking. Story's D seems to be back to his norm, and he's been hot, recently, but a 0.0 WAR cannot go on. I'm confident Mayer will be a significant plus at SS or 2B, in a short time. I'm not confident in Campbell, anymore. A DHam-Romy platoon is okay as depth but not as the go-to plan. I still have pitching as a higher priority, but middle IF is a high need area.

Our bottom of the order is better, this year- I think.

Max is gonna get upset. It's the pitching!

Yes, almost exactly the same amount on 1B and 24 SBs to 15. Over a season, that's about 50 to 30. That is significant, but 30 SBs and the threat of Duran stealing bases still has significant value.

I totally agree, and even if Duran never comes close to these numbers, again, he will still likely be a top 5-6 offensive player on this team: better than Rafaela, better than the kids, for at least a year or two, better than Story and better than a Narvaez-Wong combo. Better than Casas. Only Bregman and the Abreu-Ref look like sure bets at being batter at the plate. Duran's speed might jump him over those two for total offensive value, going forward. Trading our 2nd or 3rd best offensive player needs to bring back a very special player, and they we have to cross our fingers on Rafaela, Abreu, Anthony, Garcia or maybe Ref/Masa/Campbell. That being said, I have to think about this: We trade Duran, Romero and Sandlin for a solid Pitcher. How much is that upgrade worth over Buehler or Fitts? Now, weigh that vs the downgrade from Duran in LF to Anthony/Garcia/Campbell. One could argue, it's worth the trade.

Last year, Duran had 168 singles + BBs + HBP and 34 SBs. This year, Duran has 81 singles + BBs + HBPs and 15 SBs. IMO, he slight drop in SBs is dues to being on 1B, less often.

It makes sense to make him the DH. he sucks on D and is a china doll. I would not count on him for anything, though. I don't think he has the trade value that matches what he could become. The guy can hit, despite what Max tells us about his 3 week sample size to start the year.