moonslav59

What if he's a .500 manager of .400 teams? I mean it is possible, right?

I can hear it, now. Back to the Rays North.

GRE had a no hitter going, late, despite Clarke allowing a run on a couple BBs, a SB and WP. GRE won in 10, 2-1 Harrison did not look good: 4 IP, 8H, 4ER, 1BB, 4K. Campbell 1-2 w BB & HBP. POR looked like the Sox with only 3 hits. Cespedes had 2 hits in SAl's loss.

It will take more than Duran for Abel or Painter. Would Duran, Romy and Early be enough?

I'm wondering what a plan B w DD might be... Mick Abel?

Yes, and teams like he Astros can keep winning by spending about what we do, while seeing 5 of their best 8 SP'ers out for near full or the full season. They lost Correa, Springer, Tucker, Cole, Verlander and on and on... Nobody is really bitching, here in Houston. They keep winning.

Going forward? 1. Duran DH 2. Bregman 3B 3. Abreu-Refsnyder RF 4. Mayer 2B 5. Narvaez C 6. Story SS 7. Anthony LF 8. Rafaela CF 9. Campbell 1B Bench: Wong, RF'er, 1Bman, Eaton Maybe trade Duran and call up Jh Garcia?

Well, you just said it, so I guess I was reading your mind. Yes, "going forward," you think Rafaela will be better on offense (at some point.) Duran has been tinkering with his stance and approach for what seems like forever. I'm not sure why he didn't just stick with what was working, unless the tinkering came after he started doing worse, and he is trying adjust to how pitchers adjusted to his previous approach/stance. If I had to guess, I'd say Duran will be better from 2026-2027 and maybe 2028, too. They might be even, after that for another year or two. On D, Rafaela runs circles around Duran.

So, you would project Rafaela to be better on offense, going forward. I guess you like Rafaela, now.

Best OPS+ (40+ IP) .431 Rivera A+ .534 Mullins A+/AA .591 Aita A-/A+ (70 IP lead our farm) .608 Sprague A-/A+ .613 Early AA .625 Stock AAA .632 Sandlin AA .650 Cohen A- .654 Uberstine AA/AAA .663 Rogers A+/AA .669 Tolle A+ .701 Wehunt AA .712 Bates A- Selected Pitchers at 20-39 IP .334 Clarke A-/A+ .479 Fajardo FCL/A- .486 Burdi AAA (was in MLB before IL) .505 Sena AA .554 Y Cruz AA .571 Drohan AAA .574 Criswell AAA .599 McShane A-/A+ .601 Stebens A+ .621 Kilander A- .619 Wu-Yelland A+/AA .635 Monegro AA .647 Sansone A-/A+

Top Sox OPS (200+ PAs) .913 Anthony AAA (now in MLB) .905 Jordan AA/AAA .862 Nunez A- .852 Jh Garcia AA/AAA .838 Encarnacion A-/A+ .831 Ehrhard A+/AA .818 Mayer AAA (now in MLB) .810 Eaton AAA (now in MLB) .795 Thompson AAA .786 Anders .783 Arias A-/A+ .772 Taylor A+ .770 Hickey AAA 100-199 PAs .899 Fermin FCL .883 Toro AAA (now in MLB) .831 Kolozsvary AA/AAA .826 Romero AA .823 Rosier AA/AAA 40-99 1.221 R Noda AAA 1.086 Brito DSL .995 Jo Rodriguez FCL .939 Soto DSL .884 Asencio DSL .884 T Baker FCL .875 de la Cruz DSL .843 Alzi DSL .801 H Ramos DSL .795 Jo Garcia FCL/GRE

Harrison could be a nice boost to the team. We could use one, soon!

The gap has tightened over the past few weeks, but Duran has been the more proven offensive threat over sample sizes that go back 2 or 3 years. He's still slightly better, this year, so I count him as better on offense, which was what the topic was about. No doubt, Rafaela and Abreu are much better on defense. wRC+ 2025: 93 Duran/ 91 Rafaela 24-25: 117 Duran/ 83 Rafaela 23-25: 118 Duran/82 Rafaela Obviously, this shows the trends are going in opposite directions, but I still think Duran is better on offense. (BTW, Rafaela has a higher Baserunning score than Duran, this year, on fangraphs.)

2B has been a big weakness for 7 seasons, except for a couple nice half seasons by Story and Kike. It does look like having either Story or Mayer at 2B (whoever is not at SS) should be an improvement. Improving on bottom 5 might not be enough. We need some vast improvements at positions like 2B and SS. SS was fine under Bogey's regime, although the defense was lacking. Story's D seems to be back to his norm, and he's been hot, recently, but a 0.0 WAR cannot go on. I'm confident Mayer will be a significant plus at SS or 2B, in a short time. I'm not confident in Campbell, anymore. A DHam-Romy platoon is okay as depth but not as the go-to plan. I still have pitching as a higher priority, but middle IF is a high need area.

Our bottom of the order is better, this year- I think.

Max is gonna get upset. It's the pitching!

Yes, almost exactly the same amount on 1B and 24 SBs to 15. Over a season, that's about 50 to 30. That is significant, but 30 SBs and the threat of Duran stealing bases still has significant value.

I totally agree, and even if Duran never comes close to these numbers, again, he will still likely be a top 5-6 offensive player on this team: better than Rafaela, better than the kids, for at least a year or two, better than Story and better than a Narvaez-Wong combo. Better than Casas. Only Bregman and the Abreu-Ref look like sure bets at being batter at the plate. Duran's speed might jump him over those two for total offensive value, going forward. Trading our 2nd or 3rd best offensive player needs to bring back a very special player, and they we have to cross our fingers on Rafaela, Abreu, Anthony, Garcia or maybe Ref/Masa/Campbell. That being said, I have to think about this: We trade Duran, Romero and Sandlin for a solid Pitcher. How much is that upgrade worth over Buehler or Fitts? Now, weigh that vs the downgrade from Duran in LF to Anthony/Garcia/Campbell. One could argue, it's worth the trade.

Last year, Duran had 168 singles + BBs + HBP and 34 SBs. This year, Duran has 81 singles + BBs + HBPs and 15 SBs. IMO, he slight drop in SBs is dues to being on 1B, less often.

It makes sense to make him the DH. he sucks on D and is a china doll. I would not count on him for anything, though. I don't think he has the trade value that matches what he could become. The guy can hit, despite what Max tells us about his 3 week sample size to start the year.

We need 4, maybe 5 OF'ers, and maybe Refsnyder comes back, next year as a bridge to Garcia or Bleis. We have Duran, Rafeala, Abreu, Anthony, Campbell, Garcia and maybe count Refsnyder and Yoshida. That's 1-2 more than we need, and IMO, we could be fine after taking away any name on this list. There are 6 players plus Ref & Masa. That is abundance to the point of being wasteful, when you have such great needs in other areas. Anthony is the last of these I'd trade, but he'd also bring back the most. The infield is more complex and sketchy. We are not sure Campbell can play any infield position well, including 1B. Casas is always a concern. I'm not sold on Toro-Romy as our future 1Bmen, if Casas fails. I like having Arias as depth for down the road, so I'm not for trading him. I want to keep Mayer. With Story a concern and aging. I'm not for trading Mayer or Arias. Campbell could be a trade piece, but I'd avoid, if I could. I'm not for trading any top player or prospect for a rental, and that includes Arias and Garcia. I'm thinking Romero, Bleis and maybe Sandlin is about as high as I go. I'm just not sure they bring back what we need, so playing it halfway doesn't make sense to me, either. This is not an easy choice.

Ellsbury reincarnated.

Yup. Playing it halfway gets you halfway to 1.000, as in a .500 team.

LMAO. I'd really prefer to keep all the young talent, but some appears to be blocked or log jammed. Someone needs to decide who is the better ones to keep and part with. We have areas of great need and areas of abundant talent: do the math. I draw the line at pets.

Campbell went 0-4 tonight with Woo. 4 Ks!!!! Too bad we are playing DHam and Romy at 2B.