moonslav59

I'm not sure what's wrong with Toro-Romy at 1B. May 1st>>> .919 Romy- Best on roster .795 Toro- 4th best on roster w dbl the PAs as Ref and Bregman ahead of him. Season: vs LHP: 1.074 Romy vs RHP: .840 Toro We could only hope Casas would do this. Now, can they keep this up, or do we bet no and trade for a 1Bman?

I don't see Brez trading any of our 5 rookies: Anthony, Mayer, Campbell, Narvaez or Dobbins. I seriously doubts he trades some other highly ranked prospects for rentals, and I just don't see many nonrental big deals as deadline possibilities, so I think he does like he did, last year: trade borderline 40 man roster players and soon to be Rule 5 prospects for players he feels will help. The highest prospect he traded, last year was Yorke for Priester, who was close to being a prospect, himself. Look at the list of other prospects he traded: they were either very far away prospects or borderline Rule 5 guys or players that reeked of becoming AAAA type prospects. Yorke for Priester Bolivar (Paxton) & Portes (Lucas Sims) M Lugo, Kavadas, Zeferjahn, Vargas (Luis Garica) Coffey, Paulino & Bautista (Danny Jansen) That's 10 prospects for 4 rentals plus Priester, who he later traded away. This is what I see Brez, doing this year, assuming we don't sell and are "buyers." Rule 5 borderlines: Sandlin, Uberstine, Castro, Bleis, Jordan, Monegro, Paez & Mullins (not so borderline: Drohan, Hickey, I Coffey AAAA types (some vets named, too): DHam, Grissom, Wong, Eaton, Sogard, Thompson, Sikes along with some on the Rule 5 list that fit here, too. Far aways: hard to name, but Cespedes comes to mind. IMO, not just my likes and dislikes, I do NOT think Brez trades any rookie or top 7 prospects. The highest prospects he might trade could be: 8. Tibbs 10. Romero 13. Sandlin 14. Bleis 15. Cespedes 17. Paez 19. Monegro 24. Jordan, 25 Mullins, 26 Uberstine, 27 Wehunt, 28 Castro, 37 Drohan, 41 Alcanatar, 46 Anderson and other older prospects not mentioned. What we can get for these guys may end up like what we got in 2024.

i've looked but can't find where Theo talked about getting away from the farm first philosophy and veering too hard to the win now mentality. I agree the high farm prioritization has been the overall JH goal, and it worked. I like the idea. I liked how JH made strategic choices to spend when spending was needed. Big prospects for stud trades did occur, but they were spread out. I'm not sure I'd call it a 180 from Ben to DD. Ben spent a lot, and I think JH felt the team was at the spend big cycle point and felt DD was the better man for that. (I agree, but still wanted to see Ben for one more year, with a demand to make at least one big prospect for an ace trade.) In one sense Bloom "did what he was hired to do,"as in cut salary as directed, but he was also hired to do what the Rays did- keep the farm a top priority while also building a competitive team at the big level, along the way. 2021 was the only success for Bloom on the front, and one major reason he was successful in building the farm was that we did so badly, he got high picks to land Mayer & Teel. He did do well getting KC and Anthony with Comp picks and setting Brez up nicely to get B Montgomery & Tolle in 2024. I don't think Bloom would have made us better in 2024 or 2025. He would not have made the boold moves Brez made and the team needed.

Some lame idea that we will win more games without Devers than with him, and talk that we will be buyers. To me, if we can't extend Bregman, we should trade him, and if we are trading Bregman, then don't stop there- just go all out and trade all free agents to be plus Duran and if anyone wants DHam, Wong and Grissom, then them, too.

WOW! I thought I was moving into sell mode. DD said he did not not want to trade pitching, not that he needed Abel and Painter "this year." Besides, Painter probably isn't going to pitch in the bigs, this year, for PHI. Abel has 6 GS and a 5.04 ERA.

I'm thinking more about being sellers than buyers, so maybe you are asking the wrong guy. I'm not sure I want us to trade top prospects, even if we go 15-5 to send the month. Then, if I am looking at buying, DH is not the slot I see as even a top 3 or 4 slot we need filled. I'd like the 34 year old Ozuna, who is a FA after this year in our line-up, yes, but I doubt I'd be willing to give up what ATL might demand. Sure, he's only at .760, this year, but he was over .900 in '22 and '23, so I think he may be more expensive than you think. I'd look at a #2 SP'er first- but again, not a rental. Next, I'd look at 2B, but with Bregman's return, I'm fine with Mayer/Story at 2B and SS. That leaves the pen and 1B as higher priorities than DH. Right now, our OF is packed, and Anthony is being used as our DH. Who sits so Anthony plays everyday? Duran or the Abreu-Ref platoon? I'd rather have Anthony than Ozuna, to be honest.

Bregman, Duran, Chapman & Tolle for Abel & Painter?

We'd have to include a chunk of change. Ozuna is a FA, after 2025: Story is not. I like the Story for Murphy idea, since Murphy has a big contract and several years left, and we find our back-up catcher and DH player in one move. Murphy can hit, too. Not like Ozuna, but he's only 30, bats RH'd and has averaged 30 HRs per 162, since 2023 (.769 OPS.)

Well, we just traded away ou FT DH, so maybe taking on Castellanos' contract could be the factor that gets DD to a yes- not that I want Nick, but he does have a .768 OPS and might love Fenway hitting (although just .763 career.) He is owed $20M in 2026, then is a FA. Duran, Mullins &Sandlin for Abel & Castellanos. I'd sub Abreu for Duran, if they insisted.

I think he meant "No and Yes" No, they will not decline the option. Yes, Garcia might get someone like Pivetta, tops.

Now that I know he has an $8M option for 2026 and a willingness to extend, I'd add more to my suggested offer for his services. He does meet my skill level for a solid #2 behind Crochet. I know you have to give big to get quality pitching, and the Crochet deal showed us that, but it also showed us it can be well worth the sacrifices. Emphasis on the "s" for plural, because we'll have to give up more than one prospect, unless MIL covets Duran or Abreu, in which case we could maybe have to just add 1-2 decent prospects, with likely 1 being a non 40 man/non Rule 5 type prospect. Abreu, Romero & Mullins or Sandlin?

The Devers move to DH then trade, added with the Meidroth trade and injuries to our starting corner IF'ers (Bregman & Casas) forced the scramble to cobble together some sort of plan to cover 3B, 1B and also 2B. Toro is much better at 1B, but he's played over 3 times the innings at 3B in his career, and many more than Mayer has played, there. 1295 at 1B, 1047 at 2B and just 344 at 1B, counting the 254 from 2025. He had less than 100 innings at 1B, before Casas went down. I don't like seeing Toro at 3B. I'd prefer Mayer FT, until Breg returns. I'm not sure we need to try and fix 1B, at the deadline, since the Toro-Romy platoons is doing better than all but 2-3 other positions on the team. 2B has been a complete mess since Pedey got hurt. We've seen two half seasons of decency at 2B, since Pedey. (I'm not counting Nunez in 2018.) Kike & Story. That's it. We even traded Sale to try and fix 2B. We turbo-charged KC's promotion to try and fix it. It's been one major catastrophe for way too long.

Garcia is also a plus defender and can play CF & RF, well. If Sox brass really believes in him, then surely Duran or Abreu will be traded between the deadline and the start of 2026. If Refsnyder returns, he can platoon with Yoshida at DH. If not, Romy can be the DH platoon with Yoshida.

Agreed. I'm usually the last guy wanting the manager fired. I do think managers make mistakes, including Cora. I like him more than many here and much more than some here. I shy away from in game criticisms because we don't know all the facts, and I feel it is too speculative, even for someone like me, who is always presenting what if scenarios. I realize many fans call it a bad move before the move blows up, so it's not really "hindsight" criticism, but we rarely hear about the times Cora's moves worked, over the objections of posting fans- on and on. (Not that you do that. You don't. I respect your views, a lot.) Weissert was struggling. There were likely very good reasons for not bringing in Hicks a batter or two earlier, that maybe we don't know about. Maybe it was a mistake, Maybe even Cora would say it was. Like you, I don't roast managers and call for their firing over a few questionable moves.

Rafaela sure has shown great improvement over his previous MLB and farm approaches. The June batting leaders are a bit shocking, even beyond the 4 you mentioned.

I will say that the bottom of the A's 40 man roster can probably make room for adding 3, but the point is valid. Take Yoshida & Romy out and add Paez & Monegro and maybe they don't hang up.

Add Wilson to the good offseason additions. Only Buehler looks like the bad move. Then came the Devers dump. This season reminds me of 2022, where it looked like we made better off season moves (Story, Wacha, Strahm & Hill) than the previous season (Richards, Perez II, Marwin & Andriese) but the team record got significantly worse. (Okay, I left out Kike, Ottavino & Renfroe in 2021 and JBJ, Paxton & Diekman in 2022.)

I fully expect this and would want us to trade Bregman, if we know he's not coming back in '26. There is also that sli chance we trade him and then re-sign him, this winter, but I think that would be a first.

I like the suggested moves, but I think DD demands Abreu over Duran. I also think MIL would get more than DHam, even for a rental 1Bman. They might prefer Grissom over DHam, but they also want more than Monegro or Paez- maybe Sandlin or Cespedes or Bleis. Maybe they take DHam & Jordan or DHam & Guerrero or Kelly, but those are two 40 man roster guys.

No, It's Devers Fordevers. (as in only for himself)

I get what your opinion was. You and I both thought and expected they'd do more than just Gio. After the Gio signing, we both agreed it was okay, but only if we added an even better SP'er. Sadly, we didnt even add a worse one.

I wasn't aware of Peralta's 2026 low cost option. Why is MIL trading him, then? If they are looking to cut $8M, then they would not want Duran, but maybe they'd take Abreu. I'd like to keep the RHB, Garcia, but for 1.3 years of Peralta, I'd do it. I'd add Mullins, too.

You are not alone in wanting to avoid trading any of our better prospects for rentals. I am with you on this. With Bregman out and Meidroth traded away and Devers, too, we had to play players where they are not a good fit. (Toro has played 3B in his career, I might add.) IMO, the Romy-Toro platoon at 1B and the Abreu-Refsnyder platoon in RF are two big reasons we are still in the WC race. I'd like to see Mayer play FT 3B, until Bregman returns, but that does not fix your "out of position" issue. Who would you play at 3B? I was fine giving KC a very long look at 2B, but he was doing very badly on defense, and then he seemed to totally lose his batting skills. That went on for a very long time, too. DHam has a very nice 2024, so I can at least understand why they gave him a lot of reps vs RHPs. I'm not sure what other options we had, other than Mayer at 2B (out of position) and then Toro at 3B (not 1B, where he has played good D.) Some players have not worked out, and Cora made changes- kinda like taking Weissert out when he was sucking.

Of course it's speculative, as we only have hindsight to show how one move worked and speculation on what might have happened with another move. Of course, it's hard to imagine worse than a grand slam, in this case, but how many times have we thought a pitcher should be removed, then he settles down and does well. We just don't hear about those speculations.

I understand these types of criticisms. I would point out the the quality of arm to replace him with are highly suspect, and the guy they did bring in let up 3 hits and a BB on his way to getting 2 outs (Hicks.)