moonslav59

I think Houck has proven he has the "talent." Or "had" the talent, if something physically has happened to change that forever. He had very "nasty stuff" for years. If he can regain that form, he might be the 2nd or 3rd best starter or RP'er.

I'd do this and maybe sub Early or Perales for Sandlin or add Mullins or Monegro.

Wow, he musta done pretty well over the next 3.1 IP, then.

The guys we've used at DH, since the trade have done pretty well, so that should be a factor in judging the post trade results. One player, each game, would not have played, had Devers not been traded. Their results matter, too. Refsnyder has not done as well as I expected, when DH'ing. but Anthony & Abreu have a 1.167 OPS as a DH,. Although Anthony was called up days before the trade, he may not have had a place to play, or some other OF'er would have been benched: look at the last 28 days OPS of our OF'ers/DHs: 1.750 Yoshida (4 PAs) .999 Abreu (57) .963 Rafaela (83) .832 Anthony (98) ,786 Duran (96) and .833 since June 15th .754 Refsnyder (42) I still wish Devers was our DH/1Bman, but we've done fine with his replacements. .

I think he gets promoted, soon, despite how good Alcara & Murphy have looked. I'm not one to put much stock in one game, but Houck looked pretty good, last night with WOO. 4.1 IP (76 pitches) and just 3 hits, 2BBs, 6 Ks and 1 ER. If he has one more good game like that, he may get the call, 4-5 days later.

I agree, but I ask, where do we find a trade like Nate and Schwarber, this July? We'll see a few in MLB, in hindsight, but it seems they are hard to spot when made, in recent years. Many felt the Astros grossly overpaid for the rental Kikuchi. I did, too. I think it's harder to make deals like those, now. The Portes trade could have worked out well, as with the Blalock for Urias deal, I did not mention, before, but they did not. I think Breslow will look to make deals like those, this deadline, but I also see him making one big splash deal involving one of our starting OF'ers and a prospects or two near or better than Aldo Ramirez and Jalen Beeks were when traded. Maybe a third team (Philly) is involved. Abreu or Duran Maybe Arias or Romero plus Perales, Early or Sandlin gets added. Other pieces like Cespedes, Bleis, Mullins, Monegro, Tibbs, Paez, Jordan, Uberstine or Wehunt could sweeten the deal, a little. I'm really thinking Joe Ryan could be the prize Brez is seeking, with an extension in mind, if possible. Having Crochet and Ryan locked up for 5 years would be pretty impressive. A supporting cast of Bello, Dobbins, Sandoval, Fitts, Tolle, Harrison plus maybe one or two from Perales and Early looks nice and deep, too.

Good point. I stand corrected. They won't DFA Hicks for Houck. Maybe a phantom IL stint, but more likely a demotion for Alcara, Bernardino or Murphy. Maybe we add a RP'er (Weissert, Murphy, Bernardino, Kelly, Guerrero?) to the package, when we trade Duran or Abreu.

Had Bello pitched like this, last year, we'd have still been upset with how the trade worked out, but the logic behind freeing up some money to do better than the Kluber's and Richard's of the world would have seemed a bit more apparent. BTW, Gio is pitching, right now, while Sale is on the IL. Imagine the different conversation, if 2025 was 2024. (Okay, Grissom would still suck, but...)

Even trading one starting OF'er leaves more than Anthony as reserves for "what ifs..." Let's say we trade Abreu: LF: Duran, Refsnyder, Yoshida, Garcia CF: Rafaela (Duran or Anthony,) Campbell, Garcia RF: Anthony (Rafaela) Refsnyder, Garcia This looks deeper than almost very other team in MLB, right now. I think we gotta trade an OF'er by the deadline, when needs are so high for some contending teams with a gaping hole in the OF. Take advantage of the overpay setting.

Buehler cost more than Chapman.

It's funny how AE was so highly regarded. Injuries may have been his ultimate downfall, but what about these deals: Aldo Ramirez for Schwarber Jalen Beeks for Nate Moises Bolivar for Paxton & Ovis Portes for Lucas Sims... Oh, wait....

I listed him as one of 3 possible demotions. As long as Murphy and Alcara keep getting guys out more than Hicks does, I think his name on the list is valid. Houck is going to get another look. It is likely someone goes on the IL to make the choice easy, but I listed Hicks first, because I see him as more likely, as of right now. That's not to say he stays in AAA to end the season, but the guy needs to show he belongs. Maybe Bernardino could earn a demotion, if he keeps going like he has the last month or so. I have I Campbell going down when Dobbins returns, so who do you demote for Houck and then Sandoval? As bad as our staff has looked, at time, suddenly, these choices don't seem so easy, anymore.

Romy made some key adjustments, last season. Being a platoon hitter vs LHPs, makes the sample size smaller and harder to judge as long-lasting, but this is two years in a row now, so maybe not the flash in the pan you allude to. He hit .879 v LHPs in 2024 (110 PAs.) TOP BATTERS in MLB vs LHPs with 200+ PAs since 2024: 1.300 Judge 1.032 Alvarez 1.031 J Ramirez 1.016 K Marte 1.004 ROMY at #5! .988 H Ramos .985 Schwarber .976 Rooker .973 Goldschmidt .972 Teoscar .955 Vladdy .942 Refsnyder at #12. The Sox seem to have the knack for finding great weakside platoon batters, and when you have batters like Abreu, who s truggle vs lefties, it works out very well. I'm a solid Romy and Ref believer that this is not luck. The Toro train is slowed to a crawl, and although he's a switch hitter, he's not good vs LHPs. Toro: .830 v R (.675 career) .608 v L (.602 career) I think it is safer to view him as a "flash" than Romy or Ref.

I agree, but a month or two or three ago, we were saying Story, Gio, our pen and others were "weak links." Maybe Wong comes around. He looks totally lost, now. I'd still like to see us get a solid #2/3 SP'er, a solid pen arm, a 1Bman and a back up catcher, but I'm not for trading away very nice prospects for rentals. We have a lot of players coming off the IL in the next few weeks, but we have to plan on others getting hurt, and we can't afford a major injury at catcher. That's for sure.

SP's moved Tolle to #3. Jh Garcia, my man, up to #6 from 14. They got Tibbs at #7 and jumped Clarke from 18 to 8. Sandlin & Romero slipped down a bit. Bleis, Soto, Gonzales all moved up, some. Azocar from 51 to 20. Jordan from 32 to 19 and Nelly Taylor from 26 to 18. Other big jumps: Uberstine 54 to 21, Fajardo 40 to 22 & Ehrhard 47 to 28. Big falls: 9 to 16 Cespedes, D Reyes 21 to 43, Nunez from 33 to 48 & Tygart from 31 to 49. Zanetello 37 to 53 6 pitchers in top 11. 16 in top 31. Other than Tibbs at #7, here are the other newbies to top 50: 33. Holobetz & 42. Y Rod (Preister trade) 45. J Bello (Devers trade) (NR) 35. McShane , 39 Travieso , 44 Jorge Rodriguez, 46 Anderson, 47 Encarnacion

Starters: Tolle, Perales, Clarke and maybe Valera/Early Pen: Early. Valera, Sandlin and maybe Paez, Monegro, Mullins Maybe Delzine, Cason & Rivera move up.

When Bregman & Dobbins return, we'll probably see DHam demoted to AAA (finally) and I Campbell demoted or DFA'd. Sandoval and Houck may get Hicks, Murphy or Alcara demoted. How does this roster look? SP: Crochet, Giolito, Bello, Dobbins & Sandoval (Buehler, Fitts) RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Wilson, Houck, Buehler, Fitts, Weissert, Bernardino/Alcara/Murphy 1. L Duran LF 2. R Bregman 3B 3. L Abreu RF/ R Refsnyder DH v L 4. R Story SS 5. L Anthony DH/R Romy 1B v L 6. R Narvaez C 7. L Yoshida 1B/ L Anthony RF v L 8. L Mayer 2B/ Rafaela CF v L 9. R Rafaela CF/ Mayer 2B v L (Maybe Romy some) (Wong as 2nd C and Toro 1B/3B depth) Gotta say, this looks much nicer than a month or so, ago.

I'm really not for trading top prospects for rentals, but I gotta think if AZ decides to sell, a nice duo pick-up would be Zac Gallen (not having a good year, but last 2 gms: 13 IP, 10 Hits, 1BB, 19 Ks, and 1 ER) and Eugenio Suarez (29 HRS & .883 OPS)

Last 30 Days: HRs: 7 Story, 6 Rafaela, 5 Abreu, 4 Romy & Duran, 3 Mayer, 2 Anthony & Narvaez RBI: 24 Story, 20 Abreu, 16 Rafaela, 14 Romy, 13 Duran, 11 Anthony, 8 Narvaez & Toro, 6 Mayer OPS (40+ PAs) 1.167 Romy .999 Abreu .977 Rafaela .911 Story .795 Anthony .790 Duran .785 Narvaez .754 Refsnyder .661 Mayer, .624 Toro, .481 DHam

The last 30 Days... Rotation: 0.70 Giolito 39 IP 2.18 Bello 33 IP 2.51 Crochet 32 IP 3.55 Fitts 13 IP 3.60 Dobbins 10 IP (8.49 Buehler in 5 GS and 23 IP) Pen: (5+ IP) 0.00 Chapman 9 IP 0.00 Murphy 6 IP 0.96 Alcara 9 IP 2.84 Kelly 6 IP 3.38 Wilson 5 IP 3.86 Whitlock 12 IP 4.86 Bernardino 10 IP 4.91 Weissert 11 IP (10.13 Guerrero 5 IP) WOW!!!

Look at some of the views we had on some Brez choices, before this season began, and how we view them now: The Gio signing. The Bello extension. The Rafaela extension. The faith in Story at SS and keeping Mayer at AAA, then calling him up for 3B. The Narvaez trade, in lieu of adding another more known catcher. The "neglect" on pen additions and signing a 78 year old closer in Chapman. The Wilson signing. The Toro signing. Of course, some of these moves can go south, at any moment, but these all look better now than they did a few months ago- some even just a month ago, like Story. The Buehler and Hendriks deals still look bad, and Sandoval is very much TBD, but I gotta say, "KUDOS to BREZ!"

How about the "Rock Bottoms?"

I know you gotta give to get, but I'd avoid giving up any or our 5 rookies (Anthony, Mayer, Narvaez, Campbell & Dobbins) or Tolle to get him. They may hang up, if we deny them one. Twist my arm and it might have to be Dobbins from these 6 names. I might even want to trade Campbell before Tolle, but that might take more thought. His lack of position worries me. We have enough DHs. How about this: To PHI: Duran To MIN: Abel To MIN: Fitts, Arias, Early & Monegro To BOS: Ryan We keep all our top prospects, except Arias and maybe our top 3 pitching prospects, but MIN gets Abel & Fitts, a top SS prospect and two decent pitching prospects, too. Is that enough? If the Sox do this trade and extend Ryan, we'll look very well set up for a pretty long window, including several younger players at relatively low costs with upcoming arbs and reasonable extensions.

I Campbell looked bad, tonight, but maybe he's just shaking off some rust. The guy was pretty good in 2023 and the talk was he had some pretty good stuff. Let's give him a few more looks.

Great game by Gio! He's making the signing look like it was just bad luck for 2024. It doesn't really come close to a balance on the Sale trade, but many viewed the savings from that trade as helping the Sox afford to sign a $19M x 2 pitcher not a $10M/1, or less, like we had been signing for years. Now hearing much fire Brez and Cora talk, anymore.