moonslav59

I doubt we trade for a rental 2Bman, unless they think Mayer will be out for more than another 2-3+ weeks. I do share the concern over our offense, but when I look at place to make a major improvement, I'm seeing 1B v RHP and back-up catcher. Together, maybe they add up to 1 FT player's playing time. Since Bello is doing very well with Wong, I wonder about the importance of upgrading catcher offense, perhaps at the expense of Bello's success. 1B platoon rentals should not be very costly, even for a very good batter vs righties. I'm all for a move like that, assuming they are not giving Campbell another look. The next slot could be DH, if Mayer does not return, soon. No way can we continue with Yoshida at sub .600 for much longer. If Mayer returns, and Rafaela returns to CF, we can rotate the DH with our OF'ers and maybe Ref/Romy vs L. That could be another area we could upgrade, pending Mayer's ETA. IMO, we need a solid SP'er. Buehler and Fitts are not cutting it, and I still worry about Gio & Bello, some. Chapman's back trouble is very worrisome. Getting a solid pen arm can't hurt, either. Let's hope we have better luck than we did with Lucas Sims & Luis Garcia in 2024.

When is the last time deGrom pitched 30 starts and then playoff games? He hasn't had over 21 since 2019. I'm not saying he or some other older pitcher in their rotation will get hurt, but the odds seem kinda high, to me. You seem very optimistic the Rangers will be better, but don't afford the Sox the same chance. This is not the same Sox team as we've had in recent seasons. We've had some major additions and subtractions, but also many younger players with some ML experience nearing or entering prime. We have very few players post prime. I'm thinking that expecting a younger to peak prime dominated team might have a better chance at improving than one with declining and aging players like Texas. Maybe "experience" will work in their favor, down the stretch. Maybe not. Texas has half of their top 12 PA everyday players at 31 years old or more. Their top 3 IP pitchers are 35 or older. 6 of their top 8 RP'ers by IP are 31 or older. Four are 33 or older. If we had a team this old, we'd be hearing about all the worries.

That was a very tough loss to swallow. Let's hope it doesn't dim the drive to win.

3 outs away from being tied with the Yanks for the top WC slot. (A win puts us 5.5 behind TOR for the best record in the AL.)

In theory, yes, but being athletic does not mean you can play certain positions well. He looked so bad at 2B, it's hard to imagine such a massive improvement being made. Perhaps he can play the OF, but we already are overloaded there.

One team that is coming on strong and may keep the Sox from making the playoffs or advancing is the Rangers. When posters speak of the 2-3, maybe 4 holes the Sox have, take a look at their holes: Ranger OPS listed in order of most PAs, this season (150+ PAs): .661 Semien .674 Ad Garcia .767 Josh Smith .728 Langford .867 Seager .679 Jung .629 Helm .659 Burger .669 Higgy .729 Carter .492 Joc Pederson (and we thought DHam was bad.) Their rotation looks solid, but many of their top starters have long histories of injury and or are getting older. 2.28 deGrom 118 IP (37 y/o) 3.78 Corbin 105 IP (35) 1.50 Nate 96 IP (35) 4.09 Leiter 92 (25) 2.34 Mahle 77 (30) 5.73 Rocker 60 (25) They have a decent pen: 4.11 Luke Jackson (closer) 35 IP 2.98 Latz 54, 2.17 Milner 50, 3.02 Armstrong 48, 3.69 Webb 46, 2.68 Garcia 40 Their closer looks weak, but let's say they have no holes but him on the staff, and nobody gets hurt. I'd say they still have these positional weak areas: .513 DH <.857 Sox but no Devers .655 2B <.669 Sox .679 RF <<<.813 Sox .683 3B <<<.816 Sox .685 C > .667 Sox (less Wong, recently) .704 1B > .685 Sox .706 CF < .767 Sox Meh: .737 LF (Sox .803) and .751 SS (.690 Sox) I'll compare the Mariners and other contenders, later.

I know a guy who knows a guy...

I'm not expecting a Joe Ryan or Keller. I'm not even expecting a Cease or M Kelly type. My point is that I think we'd be significant contenders if we added a Ryan, a solid RP'er and a decent LH'd 1Bman to platoon with Romy. I agree on what you think Brez will do. He may step it up, slightly. While Paxton, Danny Jansen, Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims might not have worked out real well, they were fairly decent attempts at striking gold (or maybe bronze.) Brez traded far away hopefuls: Moises Bolivar, Y Vargas, Bautista & Ovis Portes and Rule 5/borderline prospects like M Lugo, Paulino, Coffey, Kavadas, Zeferjahn, He also traded Yorke for Quinn Priester- sort of a sideways move. That's 10 prospects traded in just a week. Yorke was ranked 12th, Lugo 13th, Paulino 15th (overrated) Coffey 28th and falling and Portes 29th, perhaps rising. The rest were below 30th. If we traded the same ranked players, it might be: 12 Romero (Sandlin is 11th/Early 10th) 13 Bleis 16 Cespedes (15th is J Gonzales) 28th Ehrhard 29th Hector Ramos This year, I could see us trading #4 Arias or #6 Jh Garcia, but I would not bet on it. Maybe... 7 Tibbs 10 Early 11 Sandlin 12 Romero, 13 Bleis 16 Cespedes, 17 Paez, 19 Jordan, 21 Uberstine 23 Mullins, 24 Castro, 25 Wehunt, 31 Monegro I'm not sure trading away Rule 5 guys with no chance of being selected makes them more likely to be traded.

The Sox are likely talking to many teams about a SP'er, pen arm and an inexpensive short term 1B fix.

Earlier, this year, almost everyone felt the Sox were not close to the Yanks, in terms of being a top competitor. Now, it looks the the Jays and a couple NL teams look too hard to beat. I'm not going to claim going 3-3 vs those two NL teams proves anything, but adding 2 key pieces would certainly put us close enough to have a legit chance. Granted, those two teams may also add 1-2 key pieces, as well. While I do not think we should sell out the majority of the farm to go for it in 2025 (with mostly rentals,) I do think we can make a couple strategic moves without killing our future and make a serious run in '25.

You don't trade 3 years of Duran for 2 months of a struggling, but very good SP'er. The top 30 prospect does make a huge difference, but we have a top 10 catcher, already. I hope it was just hyperbole when suggesting Brez pack his bags for saying no. Trading Duran (plus others) for Joe Ryan or Mitch Keller makes way more sense. 2 month pitchers do not.

I don't want to trade Duran: we need to trade an OF'er. It should not be Anthony, but I'd trade him for the right piece. It probably shouldn't be Rafaela, due to his defense and flexibility, plus the longer team control at a reasonable cost. That leaves GG RF'er and team HR leader Abreu vs Duran. Nobody wants to hand Duran away. Nobody thinks he's not a very good or even great offensive weapon. Some like the idea of selling high not low. Some see his defense as the worst of the 4. Some worry about his emotional instability or whatever you want to call it. Some see his splits vs LHPs as just marginally better than Abreu's, especially of late. JH Garcia offers a very promising look at OF depth and a Yoshida-Ref platoon in LF offers and emergency depth plan. It's not an easy choice to make, but Rafaela should be playing CF and Anthony needs to play everyday. Those are the two foundational aspects of our loaded OF, as of now and probably for many years to come.

Yes, and Cora is the same manager when winning and losing. When his mostly good choices work- silence. When his mostly good choices fail- he's the bum.

When we win, the Cora bashing lessens, slightly.

"Can" and MUST! I'd be fine with overpaying for a controlled pitcher, but with rentals, keep the returns within reason. I'm not sure what sort of trade value these guys have, but some packaged together might net a nice rental: Casas, Kelly, Guerrero, Winckowski, Grissom, DHam, Eaton, Sogard Romero or Arias can be included for a top end rental type, but it better be a good one. Rule 5's: Sandlin, Jordan, Bleis, Cespedes, Monegro, Mullins, Paez and Castro, ICoffey, Drohan, Hickey, Rosier, Uberstine

Not much Cora is a bum talk, recently.

Going into the trade deadline, here are the match-ups: BOS: 3 @MIN/ v HOU NYY: 4 v TBR SEA: 3 @OAK/ v TEX TEX: 3 @LAA/ @SEA TBR: 4 @NYY WC Race 57-48 NYY +1.5 57-50 BOS +0.5 (We hold the #2 WC slot, now.) 56-50 SEA & TEX -0.5

What a nice win!

Some of the best Sox 4 SP'ers in a given season that maybe nobody will mention: 1975: Tiant 4.02, Lee 3.95, Wise 3.95, Moret 3.60 1978 (5) : Tiant 3.31, Torrez 3.96, Eckersley 2.99, Lee 3.46, Wright 3.57 1986: Clemens 2.48, Seaver 3.80, Hurst 2.99, Boyd 3.78 1990: Clemens 1.93, Boddiker 3.36, Bolton 3.38, Harris 4.00 2002: Pedro 2.26, Lowe 2.58, Wake 2.81 & Fossum 3.46 The 1981 rotation did not have great numbers, but wow: Eck, Torrez, Tanana, Tudor, Ojeda

2-0 in last 2 and 3-1 in last 4 vs top teams. If anyone wants to sell, now, when should we ever be buyers?

Agreed, but why say pick 1-5 vs 150-155? That's not what a losing season vs a winning one creates.

Grissom homered, yet again! Campbell had 3 hits for the second straight day. He also homered. Harrison struggled with control- walking 3 in 3.2 IP. SAL lost 6-5, as Gonzales had 3 hits and Cespedes & Nunez had 2.

notin, meet Sigmund.

Since Mayer can play 3B or 2B, if Arias makes it and sticks in the bigs, we'll be looking good.

One idea would be to sell every asset that is a FA after this year. Surely, that would add to a better outlook for 2026 and beyond. Unless we spend the money saved with the Devers trade and departing contracts, it would all be for nothing. (Note: I am not for selling, but if we did, we'd likely be a top contender in 2026, if we just spent to the tax line, without going over. Assuming we have a success rate like last winter.)