moonslav59

The Toro-Romy straight platoon has been awesome. When we no longer need to play Toro vs LHPs, his value increases. The Abreu-Refsnyder RF platoon looks to be one of the best in recent Sox history. With openings at DH and 1B for this year and next, the Toro-Romy and Yoshida-Refsnyder platoons might fill those voids, but I think we will look to make a serious addition at 1B, and his name is not Casas. If we got big by bringing back Bregman and adding a top SP'er, Closer and 2Bman, I'd be okay with leaving 1B and DH open to those I just mentioned, as well as others in the system, already, such as Duran/Anthony/Jh Garcia as DH options and Campbell & Casas as competition for a role at 1B in 2026.

Alcantara remains a mystery. So much upside there, but also so much worry. His contract is a lot, but if he can return to close to what he was, it would be a bargain. I like Fortes as our back-up catcher, but he will bear the return cost of a FT catcher. They have several interesting pen arms and Edward Cabrera has been discussed as a trade target for years, on this site. I'm just not sure we want to package up enough higher ranked prospects to get 1 or 2 guys from this list. I'm not close to knowing what the cost will be and who MIA likes the most in our system. The one thing that jumps out at me about MIA is that they might be one of the few teams that still values farther away prospects more than almost all other teams, because they have no "window" to look forward to in 2026 or 2027. There may be just 3-4 teams that fit this profile. Maybe they covet Bleis, Cespedes, Azocar, Soto, Delzine, Jo Garcia and Gonzales. I'm pretty sure they'd like Valera & Arias and maybe older guys like Perales, Sandlin & Romero, but I'm not sure I part with anyone higher than these guys, and they may demand someone not listed. I'm not sure I want to part with Arias, Valera, Soto or Delzine, either for anyone they have to offer. (I probably would.)

Crochet did great, and the extra IP does make his value more, hence the higher WAR, but what Chapman did is off the charts. It was a tough choice, but I'd go with Chapman just because of how absurdly spectacular those numbers were.

Devers has a pretty long history of having some 2-4 week slumps- some connected to injury- some not any known injury. I have to think he will get red hot, again, a few times, before his time in SF is up. I doubt he goes the Bogey route.

Agreed, but with JH, you never know from year to year. I'd love to hear we extended Bregman, Mayer, Narvaez and Anthony, next, but I share Kimmi's worries on 5 years for Bregman. I think what Alex brings to the dugout and clubhouse makes it worth the extra year or two. A longer term deal with Bregman would actually lower the AAV and tax budget hit for 2026 vs 2025. Losing the Devers, Buehler, Gio, Chapman and Hendriks contracts opens up a wide window for "repurposing" spending. On the surface, it looks like replacing a top closer for $12M is impossible, replacing a DH for $31M, a s***** SP'er for $21M and a do nothing RP'er (Hendriks) for $5M should be a cakewalk. Replacing Gio & Wilson will not be easy, but Gio makes big money. I think it can be done, but there is very little room for error, unless JH opens up the wallet beyond just the "repurposed" money.

My wife and I went to see Chicago a couple years ago. It was funny, how she barely knew the songs I loved and I had forgotten some of the more commercial songs were done by Chicago, and those were the ones she knew and loved.

I've come out against the idea of trading top prospects for rentals, in hopes we can squeak into the 2025 playoffs, but what can be done? We've seen us make deals like Beeks for Nate, Espinal for Pearce and Aldo for Schwarber, but I'm not sure we can count on finding deals like that, this July. We've tried trading lower level prospects over the last few years and failed miserably. Many fans loathed the idea of "playing it halfway" and doing "too little, too late." I find myself thinking I do not want us to try and do more than seeing what we can get for guys like Bleis, Cespedes, Mullins, Tibbs, Sandlin and or course some vets like DHam, Grissom and Wong could be sent packing, if any teams wants them as part of a package. Here is a look back at our failed attempts to find the next Nate, Schwarber and Pearce: 2024: Bolivar for Paxton, Portes for Lucas Sims, Lugo, Kavadas, Zeferjahn for Luis Garcia, Paulino, Coffey & Batista for Danny Jansen, Yorke for Priester (While these deal almost all flopped, it was actually a valiant effort, involving 9 prospects being shipped out- some Rule 5 borderline guys.) 2023: Sell: Kike for Nick Robertson & Justin Hagenman/ Buy: Blalock for Luis Urias (another vain attempt at fixing 2B.) A very do nothing deadline. 2022: Another Buy/Sell deadline: Sell: Vazquez for Abreu & EValdez. Buy: Groome for Hosmer, Rosier & Ferguson (kinda buy, too) and PTBNL for Tommy Pham. (Turned out to be a nice "buy" deadline with us getting Abreu for a declining Vaz.) I'm skipping the wildly successful 2021 deadline. 2020: Full scale Buy: Workman & Hembree for Pivetta (a young vet w control) & Seabold. Moreland for Potts & Rosarion. Pillar for Jacob Wallace. Osich for Z Bryant. (Other than Pivetta, we got nothing, but we didn't have much to sell.)

When I heard it for the first time, I didn't know it was by the Starship, so my hatred was not related. I shoulda known Slick's voice and made the connection. Another band that made a similar turn, most notably after the deaths of some key members was Chicago. After Terry Kath's death and then others, the band really put out some sappy stuff out there- more bearable that most icky pop songs, but still...

.723 last 8 games .514 last 15 games .610 last 16 games .783 last 22 games I'm not sure why 15 games means more than 8 or 22. I'm not counting on Romy & Toro to be our 1B solution for 2026, but these guys have done well for us, in their targeted and limited roles, as has Refsnyder for an even longer period of time. When you look at our June numbers, the leaders are shocking names. .917 Romy, .870 Rafaela, .827 Story, .788 Mayer, .780 Narvaez, ,775 Abrey, .761 Toro. 0.00 Chapman, 1.80 Alcala, 2.45 Wilson, 2.53 Kelly

I would not say "glad," since the whole fiasco stunk to high heavens from day one of the Bregman signing, and it should not have had to get this far. Once again, we are relying on the key words, "repurposing his money," and we can't kid ourselves that we will both do it and do it well. We might, but we can't count on it. Plus, we have more than just his money to repurpose, and do it well to have a legit shot in '26. We have to bring Bregman back AND spend Devers, Chapman, Giolito and Buehler's money wisely. Yes, the cloud is gone, but so are 35 bombs and 100+ RBI's and a batter that had the Yank's number. Maybe the kids take up the slack, but we didn't trade Devers for the kids: we coulda had Devers AND the kids. (Plus, we wasn't an old man, yet. Some called him a child.)

I'm not ready to anoint Hicks the closer, just yet, but he could be a very nice set-up man, going forward. Let's see how the tweaks we made with harrison work out, before we make him the #2 SP'er we need. These two, with the prospects as longshots should be viewed as ancillary pieces or depth. We cannot shy away from adding a #2 SP'er (Cease?) and a closer (Helsely, Suarez, Diaz or Chapman?), this winter, because of them.

No, he actually morphed into Freakin' Chris Sale, over the last couple years with the Sox. (Earlier, if I'd thought of it.) He is what he is, but the Sox Nation still cries over his loss. It's a freakin' shame.

As great as Crochet looked, I think Chapman deserves 1st. You said it all... "Chapman posted 0.7 WAR, a 0.00 ERA, and a 0.18 FIP. The Red Sox closer had an absurd 51.4% K rate, while walking just 5% of the batters he faced. Chapman faced 37 batters and he allowed just one run, two hits, and two walks. INSANE. "

Here's another guy with some serious upside- most likely as a RP'er. The amount of injuries he's had, through college and the pros has kept his skill level a secret. He's 24, now.

Dumb Brez!

Chris Sale transfered to 60 Day IL.

Bregman, Cease and Chapman would be fine with me. Trade Duran and prospects for 2-3 of these: 2B, 1B and 2nd Catcher. Nothing here seems absurd or will put us way over the current Deverless budget.

Agreed, and the one-two punch with "Volunteers" was formidable.

I know there is still much to prove, but I'm sold on Anthony. Mayer is close behind.

I hate the song, "Sara," too, but Miracles, With Your Love, Count on Me and Runaway are all very sappy, but I like 'em a lot. I have a weird taste of music. I hate country and almost all pop songs, especially the sappy ones, but a few grab me, for some unknown reason. I'm not a Grace Slick fan, but am a closet Marty Balin fan. I also love the spinoff band, Hot Tuna. "Volunteers" is a legendary song. Of course, "White Rabbit." Wow! "We Can be Together" is underrated, and maybe "Somebody to Love" is overrated but still a classic.

I absolutely despise that song! When I hear it, I sing along, "YOU built this city on rig-a-ma-role."

I was very angry that winter, especially after the "full throttle" quote. In hindsight, maybe even another big signing or two would not have been enough, but we were played, that winter. I liked what Brez did last winter, and while I thought signing a longer term pitcher made more sense than Buehler at $21M/2 and Sandoval at $19M/2, I can understand why the risk factor made them go short. The AAV for Buehler + Sandoval = Fried. The Bregman signing restored my faith, but now, after the Devers dump, I'm back to square one.

Ahhh, Tony C as the DH. The big wonder on "Miracles" was how it passed the censors. Great song and band. I particularly like their early stuff as the Airplane, but they had some good songs after they went pop.

I keep waiting for the "journeyman" and "AAAA" guy to come back down to earth. He hasn't. The Sox have done pretty well with guys like Toro, Romy & Refsnyder. Of course, there is a longer list of failures, but we have 3 that have stuck.

I did not mean to imply you do not want to add a solid P in 2026 by waiting for Skubal in 2027. I am pretty sure that for as long as I have been a Sox fan, 53 years and counting, I have always wanted us to add an ace or solid #2 every season. I hate the idea of trying to improve the rotation by upgrading the #4 or 5 slot, and even attempts at upgrading the #3 slot often fail, especially with the Sox choices. Okay, you want names: of course I'd start with trying like hell to trade for Skenes or Skubal without giving up Mayer or Anthony, but that may be impossible, even with an offer like Abreu, Campbell, Garcia, Tolle, Arias and Sandlin. I'm not sure who else might be available. I'm not sure I count Luis Castillo as a #2 anymore, but Pablo Lopez & Cole Ragans are pitchers I'd count as "good enough." (Trade guys) Maybe Joe Ryan or Nate. Probably Free Agency is the way to go, despite paying way to much and needing 2-3 more years than reasonable. I'm assuming we'll have enough money to keep Bregman and sign a SP'er and Closer, but with JH, nothing should be assumed. These guys fit the bill, for me: SP: Cease, Gallen, F Valdez, Ranger Suarez and maybe M King, Canning, M Kelly or Seth Lugo (shorter deal) I do not think Flaherty, Eflin and the super old guys make my list. Closer: Helsley, Robert Suarez, E. Diaz or Chapman (1-2 yr deal.) Maybe Weaver, Iglesias or Finnegan would be okay, if we check all the other high need boxes off, first.