moonslav59

For what it's worth, here is a look at the standings: 48-36 NYY (1st ALE) 47-38 TBR -1.5 ALE (WC1) 46-38 TOR -2.0 ALE (WC2) 44-40 SEA -6.0 ALW (WC3) _____________________ 41-42 LAA -2.5 WC 42-44 BOS -3.0 WC (-7 ALE) 40-42 CLE -3.0 41-44 TEX -3.5 40-44 MIN -4.0 39-46 KCR -5.5

ATL was genius to know to wait until Sale was way past prime to pounce on a trade. Sure.

Anthony's numbers are finally catching up with his previous peripherals. Here is a look at the Sox OPS leaders: .938 Bregman .868 Refsnyder .856 Romy .819 Abreu .798 Narvaez .790 Toro (.850 Cutoff for top 1/3 tier of batters with 150+ PAs) .733 Duran (.728 MLB Mean OPS of 270 MLB batters w 150+ PAs) .721 Rafaela (.714 MLB Average OPS) .709 Mayer (.690 MLB bottom 1/3 tier cutoff out of 270 batters with 150 PAs) .668 Anthony .664 Campbell .661 Story .506 DHam .401 Wong

Maybe we finally pay SF back for Pablito.

I disagree. Had we dealt the card in 2020, nobody would have complained, afterwards. ATL had no special inside knowledge. Everybody knew Sale was a great pitcher and had a chance to rebound. The rolled snake eyes. We crapped out. BTW, Sale got hurt and missed the playoffs, last year and is injured again, now. Maybe we can trade for him. I hear Grissom is available. Another BTW, 1 for 4, especially when the one is Crochet, sure beats our record from 2019-2024. I think we went 0.5 for 10.

I can totally understand this. I am far from having faith these guys do what it takes to build another winner. I just think we are really not that far away from being serious contender. One might think 5 top players is too far away, especially with our recent history of swings and misses and failure to spend enough. I get that. I think we can replace all the lost salary and spend on 3 big FA and just keep pace. Then, I think we can trade an Of'er for another key piece and prospects for another. I'll believe it when I see it, but I do think it's doable.

So, you agree it's 4 or 5? If so, is it so hard to think we cant trade for 2 and sign 3?

True. Injury risk upticked. Decline talk downticked. He's a year older. DET offered him $172M/6, so I'm thinking maybe some team would go $145M/5... maybe DET/ maybe BOS.

YUp, and most underpaid! LOL!

We'll have this for our OF options for 2026: LF: Duran, Anthony, Yoshida, Refsnyder, Jh Garcia CF: Rafaela, Duran, Campbell, Jh Garcia, Anthony RF: Abreu, Refsnyder, Jh Garcia, Anthony With players listed more than once, we have a total of 7 OF'ers. We could easily trade 2. If we keep Campbell in the IF and play Yoshida at just DH, we'd be down to 3, so I doubt we do that, unless we see Campbell as a legit OF option. I'd like to see: LF: Anthony & Refsnyder (Yoshida) CF: Rafaela & Jh Garcia (Campbell) RF: Abreu & Jh Garcia (Refsnyder) DH: Yoshida & Refsnyder (Romy) That means trading just Duran. If we trade Duran and Abreu, we'd have: LF: Anthony & Refsnyder (Yoshida) CF: Rafaela & Campbell (Anthony) RF: Garcia & Anthony (Refsnyder) DH: Yoshida & Refsnyder (Romy)

So, we put Slaten on the 60 Day to get Murphy off the 60 Day. Yoshida starts rehab with Woo, tomorrow. Good to see Bregman in the dugout giving pointers.

I think they are talking extension for Bregman, so maybe they have an idea on Bregman's chances of returning. If it looks like he won't be back, and we are sellers, I think Bregman gets traded. We could try to re-sign him, this coming winter, but how many times have we heard that?

We were cheap before 2024 and then spent less than we lost. There is no other way to spin this. cots opening day budget: $207M 2022, $181M 2023, and $171M 2024. end of season: $217M, $203M, $188M

I agree, the whole "full throttle" thing just made it worse, but even if it wasn't said, the spending fell way short of what we needed. During the 2023 season, we had already dumped Kike's deal (a FA anyway) and Brasier, and then lost FAs: $15M J Turner $10M Kluber $7M Duvall $32M in lost FA contracts. We traded significant contracts with Sale ($22M, but paid $10M) and Dugo ($8.7M arb) We added: $39M/2 Giolito (the only real signing.) $10M/2 Hendriks (more for 2025) Less than $25M AAV in FA signings and nothing longterm. $5.9M by trade w O'Neill (cost less than Dugo would have cost)

Talk about feast or famine.

The only out of the inning was maybe the hardest hit ball of the night.

The Betts trade was worse. That's not even 1 decade ago. That one was bad in foresight and hindsight, too.

They don't make the trade for Grissom, if they had to pay for all of Sale, too. It was about getting Grissom and saving some money to be able to up their $10M/1 budget on a SP'er to $19M for Gio. It was both.

We know what we have with Gio? I can't think of many more questionable starters than he is. I am not for running back the same rotation, next year, and I really like Sandoval. Crochet is an ace. Sandoval might be a good #3, but counting on him as a #4 is better. Bello is a #4-5. Dobbins is largely unknow: maybe a 4-5 is too high to bet him to be. Gio is a #4-5, in my book. We need a #2, and maybe even a #2 and #3.

We held the Sale card in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. You are right, we should have known to walk away before we extended him. Good point, Max.

About 15-25 FA pitchers and dozens of trade candidates. Gio may trigger his option, if he gets to 140 IP. he's at 59 IP, now with maybe 14 starts to go.

Just know that championship teams are not built overnight. It takes planning beyond today, only. It takes a healthy mix of planning for the future and today to win today.

Was it any better looking at a pitcher's final 2-3 weeks of a season and signing him to $21M/1? (Buehler) Avoiding long term big SP'er signings nets guys like we get, over and over. Sure, some teams strike gold on these types of signings, but the odds are not great. BTW, the odds are not great on large and long FA SP'er signing, too.

We do have more holes than I expected we might have, although Narvaez may have filled the catcher hole. Do you agree with these holes as being the essential ones that need filling to be a serious contender in 2026? SP 1 Crochet SP2 ______ SP3 Sandoval SP4 Bello SP5 Dobbins SP6 Crawford, Harrison, Fitts, Houck, Peralez, Early Closer ______ RP2 Slaten RP3 Whitlock RP4 Crawford RP5 Harrison RP6 Houck RP7 Hicks RP8 Murphy, Weissert, Fitts, Criswell, Wink, Bernardino, Kelly C Narvaez, _____ (Wong) 1B ______ (Casas, Campbell, Toro, Romy) 2B Mayer or Story (Campbell, DHam, Romy, Grissom) SS ______ Story or Mayer (Romy, Romero) 3B Bregman or ________ (Mayer, Toro, Eaton, Romy) LF Duran, Anthony (Yoshida, Jh Garcia) CF Rafaela (Jh Garcia) RF Abreu, Refsnyder(?) Jh Garcia DH Yoshida-Romy/Refsnyder or _______ I see 4 major holes- 5 if Bregman bolts, plus 2-3 minor ones (#2 catcher, DH and maybe another pitcher.) With the logjam of OF'ers and valuable prospects we can afford to trade, I'm thinking we can fill 1-2 slots via trade, and if the budget just stays the same 2-4 slots via free agency. Tell me, what other slots needs a ________.

I'm very optimistic about our young core and prospects. I'm probably one of the few Sox fans that is even optimistic about our farm pitching and feel that our current young pitching looks better than it has in a long time. Some of the most recent Sox pitching staffs that looked better on paper were much older with some closer to being toast than we expected- like Porcello, ERod, Price and Sale. 26 Crochet & Bello 24-25 Dobbins, Harrison & Fitts 27 Slaten, Murphy & Wink 28-29 Houck, Crawford, Whitlock, Sandoval & Criswell Okay, 3-4 of these guys are not highly promising, but I see 6-7 with proven skills and/or high upside and another 2-3 with significant promise. We may just be a solid #2 SP'er and top closer away from a very nice pitching staff in 2026. At to this a very long list of some promising to very promising pitching prospects: Very promising, IMO: Perales, Tolle, Clarke, Early & Valera Promising: Rivera, Sandlin, Cason, Paez, Monegro, Mullins, Aita, Delzine and maybe Uberstine, Moran, I Campbell, Fajardo, Futrell, D Reyes, Holobetz, J Bello and others.