moonslav59

Gotta add the other FAs to be: Justin Wilson and Rob Refsnyder. Hendriks and Gio, if they aren't DFA'd by the deadline. These guys won't bring much back, but we could part with one middle IF'er: Story plus a bunch of cash or DHam, Grissom, Romy & Sogard. Yoshida plus a bunch of cash is always on the table.

Some opinions on our pitching prospects (rankings provided are from soxprospects.com): Mata (ranked 3rd in '18) Murphy (ranked 13th in '19) and Drohan (ranked 6th in '23- just ahead of Perales) These three may very well have seen their ship sail. Drohan is 26, and saw his ranking spike after a very nice half season of pitching. Mata is 26 and has dealt with numerous injuries- just what the Sox need! Murphy was 26 a couple days ago, and he too has dealt with a major injury. He's pitching now, as is Mata. Drohan is on the IL. Expecting anything from just one of these three might be asking a lot, but the all once had some pretty high promise and hope. Fitts (8th in '24) and Dobbins (12th right now) offer some hope as being decent #4/5 slot MLB pitchers. They both turn 26, later this year, and are in our current rotation, at least until Crawford or Sandoval return, or until Houck maybe gets another look. They are welcome rotational depth, at worst and maybe can be solid #3's, someday. Guerrero is currently ranked at his highest point (#22) and is 24 years old. He's a decent RP'er who could still improve enough to be a solid set-up guy, over the next few years. I started with these 6 as a group of hopefuls without very high ceilings. Maybe 2 of them end up being helpful, but none become really good. Perhaps one will surprise. Perales is just 22, and has pitched in 5 seasons within the organization, but all shortened by injuries- major ones. For a SP to top out at 53 IP (in '23) that says a lot. Soxprospects.com still says he has the ceiling of a #2 and has the "best raw stuff of any arm in the system." It's hard to give up on him, and that is why he is currently ranked 4th, ahead of all other prospect pitchers. Payton Tolle is also 22 and jumped up to #5 in the rankings, recently. SP's grades him as having a "potential mid rotation" ceiling, but this guy just started focusing on pitching only in his junior year in college. He's got a nasty fastball and stands at 6-6. I'm thinking maybe his ceiling is higher than a #3. Juan Valera just turned 19, so much of his value is speculative. He was jumped to A+ ball and has struggled, this year (5.40 ERA,) but SPs says he has the "early makings of a potential high-end SP'er." His FB tops out at 100, but his secondary pitches need work. It's hard to not be hopeful with him. Brandon Clarke just turned 22 and jumped up to #10, recently. The Sox promoted him to A+ after doing very well in Salem (0.93 ERA.) He's done pretty well, so far, this year. The 6-4 lefty has a nice FB (99mph) but SP's only projects him as a mid rotation SP'er or high leverage RP'er, at this point. Maybe that changes, if he keeps pitching like this, after his next promotion(s.) Connelly Early is another tall lefty who just turned 23. He's got a 2.33 ERA in AA with a .610 OPS against, so far. He's ranked 11th and is projected to be a mid rotation SP'er as his ceiling. His velocity just ticked up to about 95, and he's still working on his other pitches, but I think this guy still has some high hopes. David Sandlin rounds out the next group of 6, and maybe belongs in the next lower tier. He was ranked 8th to start the season (his high) but has slipped to 12th. He's 24 and may be best suited in the pen or as a swingman. SP's says he has "high range outcomes" with "four pitches that flash at least average." The next group of 6 are all 21-27 years old and have some hopes, even if as decent pen arms. Jedixson Paez (21) at #16. Low velocity may keep him from advancing much. Yordanny Monegro (22) at #18. Tall and lanky with velocity of just 92-94. Hayden Mullins (24) at #24. A small guy with a high variance of outcomes. Blake Wehunt (24) and at #26. Big guy that may end up in the pen. Tyler Uberstine (26) jumped up to 25th due to nice current season at Woo. Zach Penrod (27) ranked 36th. Could be a decent set-up man. The final 6 are young or very young pitchers that all have some decent promise: #21 Conrad Cason (18) Two-way player with lots of potential. #29 Sadbiel Delzine (17) 6-5 and 190 with a 4 pitch mix. #30 Dalvinson Reyes (18) 6-5 and 200 has "high upside arm." #40 Jojo Ingrassia (22) Missed 2023, so I'm adding him to the "younger list." #43 Blake Aita (21) Has a nice mix or pitches with "high spin rates." #44 Yhoiker Fajardo (18) got in Cam Booser trade has "high range outcomes.) Honorable or just plain Mentions: #34 Eduardo Rivera (21) 6-7 AND 275- maybe a LOOGY #38 Matt McShane (22) great Salem start, not so great at GRE #39 John Holobetz (22) part of Priester trade. #47 Brady Tygart (22) 4 pitch mix and has fallen in rankings #48 Brandon Neeley (21) began season on 60 Day IL. #50 Jesus Travieso (18) IFA signing with no SP's scouting report, yet. DSL>FCL (Dalton Rogers (24), Noah Dean (24), Brian Van Belle (28), Max Carlson (23) & Noah Song (28) who once was our #4 prospect are known to most of us, but offer little remaining hopes.) 40+ pitchers named, here. I think this is the deepest pitcher farm system we have had for as long as I paid attention to farm pitching depth.

Abreu sucks vs lefties. Even if they figured a pitching change, KC is likely better vs a RHP than Abreu vs the LHP. That's one reason to trade Abreu over Duran, although Duran is borderline platoon, as well.

Way to step up big, guys!

Fork time by early June? Sure looks like it, right now.

Got me thinking. This thread might become the best for the rest of the season.

If KC had not graduated, we'd have 7 in the top 100. Thanks, Bloom. It's one thing you got right.

There was always that "5 tool" talk, and maybe it comes true, but nobody ever saw him as being an Anthony or even Mayer, IMO. We do have some players with high ceiling on the farm.

Garcia is really looking like a hitter. Bleis is on fire. Another dinger and up to .848. Maybe he is finally coming into his own. Cespedes is heating up, too- a dinger and up to .742.

All players with one year remaining are on the table, including those with options: Bregman, Chapman, Wilson, Buehler, Refsnyder, Giolito, Hendriks and of course anyone willing to take Story or Yoshida off our hands (with cash included.) Yes, an OF'er, and Duran seems like the slight choice over Abreu. Maybe make a choice on who our middle infielders will be, and 3B, if it looks like Bregman is a goner. We won't get much for DHam, Grissom or Romy, but one should go. Maybe, we go with 3B Bregman, SS Mayer and 2B Campbell or 3B Campbell, SS Mayer and 2B Story. Who knows? Devers should try 1B to start 2026. Give JH Garcia a 1Bman's mitt and see if he can play 1B better or be the DH. C Narvaez & Wong 1B Devers/Jh Garcia (Romy) 2B Campbell/Story (DHam) SS Mayer/Story (Romy) 3B Bregman/Campbell (Romy) LF Anthony/ Jh Garcia CF Rafaela/Campbell RF Abreu/Refsnyder/Anthony DH Jh Garcia/Devers/Campbell

Walker Buehler's Day Off. Man, this is brutal

He might be the best 2Bman we have, right now, especially needing Mayer at 3B and Story at SS. I can't see the point in the DFA him opinion.

No doubt, and these are some of our major infield utility players over the past 7 seasons: Games Played since 2018: 224 Arroyo 196 Holt 168 Chavis 150 DHam 125 E Valdez 109 Romy 85 Reyes 77 Marwin 76 Tzu-Wei 61 Marco Hernandez, 59 Arauz, 50 Chang, 45 Sogard, 37 Kinsler, 34 Peraza, 31 Grissom, 31 Urias, 26 Owings, 23 Iggy, 21 Westbrook, 17 Munoz, 14 Jeter & Y Sanchez, 9 B Phillips. Look how many of these guys were awful on D, and how few were even decent on D. This is not a justification for keeping DHam around, but he's a way better defensive 2Bman than most on this list, and we don't really need him at SS, as Mayer and Story are better. (Romy is, too.) DHam's running skills is big plus, too. Okay, the .647 career OPS is god-awful, and it's just .666 after his rookie season, but his D at 2B, decent splits vs RHPs (.729 in '24) and speed makes me want to keep him around over several others. I'm not claiming he's a stud. He's also just 27 and entering peak prime years. There is hope he can do better.

As much as you have criticized Bloom and JH for "roster construction," it seems you still want to blame Cora for not working more miracles than just 2021. It's everybody's fault these sucky players did not do better.

This does seem true. Sometimes it's based on first impressions that are hard to overcome. Sometimes, it's a particular skill we are more enamored with than perhaps we should be. Sometimes it's the "recency effect" or career numbers that are boosted by long ago successes that are no longer within reach, but we hold out hope for recapturing past glories.

Facing the RHP, here is our line-up in the Bronx: L Duran LF L Devers DH L Abreu RF R Narvaez C S Toro 1B L Mayer 3B R Story SS L DHam 2B R Rafaela CF

Houck was supposed to be a decent #2, but he's looked like the "other" kind of number two, as in doo-doo. We did seem to finally have rotation depth, even after trading away Priester, and the depth has done pretty well, except with the departed Newcomb. Dobbins at 4.06 and Fitts at 4.71 have done what could be expected from pitchers ranked 8th to 10th on the rotation depth chart in December. Injuries have hit our rotation, as it always does. The Sox are not alone on this, and it's not really an excuse, for that reason, but we have seen these missed starts: 12 Sandoval (totally expected when signed) 12 Crawford (not sure when he returns) 5 Giolito (I wish it was 10-12 missed starts) 3 Buehler and Bello (and Houck, thankfully) I still see our rotation as having hope, and it is one area we could see a legitimate hope for improvement. Crochet is a CYA candidate. Buehler is a legitimate hope. Bello could be a nice #3 or solid #4. We need 2 from Fitts, Dobbins and maybe Criswell to bridge us to Sandoval's, Crawford's or Houck's return. It's not a huge reach to think we can cobble together 2-3 good starters from these 6 pitchers. We have better hope here than our infield, where all 4 slots have major issues. Our pen has done better than expected and is top 5 in IP, so I'm not sure how long that holds up. Our OF is our big plus and it has top depth, too.

I liked him, a while ago. He may still be better than Wong. Grandal is about to retire, so that hope is extinguished. Jo Garcia is way too far away. I'm sure glad we stole Narvaez from the Yanks. Catcher fWAR 1. Raleigh 4.4 2. Narvaez 2.3 3. W Smith 2.3 4. Dingler 2.0 5. G Moreno 2.0 6. Kirk 1.8 7. Kelly 1.6 (Some of us wanted him signed) 8. Baldwin 1.5 9. A Wells 1.4 NYY 10. Wm Contreras 10. S Murphy 1.3 (Some of us hoped we could trade Story & cash for him.) 12. Heineman 1.2 (We had him.) 9 catchers are between 0.8 and 1.0 10 catchers are between 0.5 and 0.9 Wong is tied for #50 at 0.1 with Danny Jansen and is ahead of Vazquez and 11 others at 0.0.

True, 1.1 innings at 3B is not a 3Bman, but he has played 69 OF innings, where we don't need him. He does have more MLB innings at SS than 2B and had way more in the minors. BTW, I did say "maybe." It's about the same as saying "Maybe Campbell or Anthony can play 1B." Many "utility players are only middle infielders, and few can run like he does. I'd keep him around ahead of Sogard, Eaton, Noda, Burdi and Toro, if we could get Devers or Campbell to play 1B. He might be tied with Penrod. That's #6, maybe.

My thoughts are that I don''t blame the manager for being handed weak and highly flawed rosters for 6 seasons (2019 to 2024.) Yes, 2021's roster was flawed, too, but we put everything together and made a solid run. I think the 2025 roster is good enough to be a playoff team, and I have said Cora can be partially responsible for the letdown. We did lose a big chunk of the rotation, started the season with an awful pen on paper (pun intended) and then lost Bregman and Casas. The total implosion by Houck is not Cora's fault. (Giving him 9 starts might be.) No, it's not all about rosters, but with the rosters Cora was handed for those 6 years, coming withing a few outs of a trip to the WS in 1 season is about the best I could expect. Maybe 2 playoff trips could have been expected, and Cora got one. I'm not hanging him for that. I understand the criticism, and many feel wins is the bottom line on everything. I guess the Rockies would be a playoff team with a great manager.

He can play SS and maybe 3B. I think they tried him in the OF, but we have 10 guys ahead of him, there. You don't have to be a great defender to be "utility," but it does help, I agree. Our past utility infielders were often worse on D than DHam. His ability to be a PR is a value, too. He has some pop, but not much. He's down past the top 5 players to be DFA'd on my list. Besides, he'd be traded and not DFA'd.

So was the roster he was handed, until this season.

DHam is a slow starter and has hit .708 after his first 13 games, this year. He has 10 SBs in those 24 games and plays better 2B defense than KC and others. He is a decent utility player, except for his poor SS defense. If it wasn't for out 1B situation, Toro, Romy and eaton would all be ahead of DHam on the next-to-be-DFA list. I'd DFA Noda or Sogard or one of the 3 I just mentioned before DHam. I'd rather have DHam playing than Story, too. (Mayer at SS, DHam at 2B v R and Story/Campbell at 2B v L, but that ain't happening.)

Criswell has been a better starter than reliever and in larger sample sizes than Toro and Mayer. I'd replace Gio with Criswell, but that still leaves his starting over one of Fitts & Dobbins, so point well taken. (Unless Bello to the pen... LOL) I'd still rather have a healthy Casas than Toro & Romy atg 1B. I'm not one who thinks Casas would have stayed that cold, all year.

There are a lot of current FT or near FT Sox players that have not been earning their slots. If Cora is one thing as a manager, he's loyal to those he thinks are better. All of these guys have numbers that, at best, hint at a benching, demotion or a rest: Story: We used to say, "Well, he's still a GG-type SS," and we'd hope he could hit over .750. Now, he's not the same defender and is on a really bad cold streak. How long is long enough? How Soon Is Now? The guy has hit .403 (OPS not a Ted Williams BA) in his last 153 PAs! Campbell: The elephant in the room. His meager numbers are boosted by his first 8 games in the bigs. He's hit .553 in his last 193 PAs. That's about 1/3 of a season. It's at .490 in his last 135 PAs and .368 his last 107 PAs. The Sox have a long history of sticking with struggling rookies, JBJ & Pedey to name a couple, but this is looking really bad. Now, one could have made the same argument about Rafaela, and some were. His OPS was pretty low, all year and for most of 2024. He's over .700, now, but just 9 games ago, he was coming off a .272 stretch of 11 games (34 PAs.) Some were arguing Devers should be demoted in the line-up in mid April, so many times, patience is a virtue. With pitchers, it's a little harder to judge, but Houck did get 9 starts before the plug was pulled, and Gio is up to 7 starts, now, and he has a 6.42 ERA and a 1.634 WHIP. When is enough enough?