moonslav59

I see this as a one season option, and I agree on your premise.

Many- practically all. I'm not arguing against targeted big spending. We don't win without Manny and maybe Lackey & JD. Despite the feeling of JH turning miser, he did spend more than half of MLB after 2018, and what did it get him? We paid Devers almost 50% more than the previous record contract for the Sox (not a FA, I know.) We did spend rather largely on Story and Yoshida, and neither helped. I went over the top 50 FA signings o fall time, a while back and found more than half we not a plus for the team or fell way short of expectations. It's a very hit or miss endeavor, but to me, it is necessary. As much as the Price signing did not work out as we hoped, we need an ace, and could not afford trading for one. I was all for it. To be honest, I think we spent enough, this past winter. I wish we had added Scott, or even signed him over Buehler, but look at all our rotation injuries. It looks like a second major addition to the rotation was needed, even if Buehler does not work out. I'm a tweener on this issue. As much as I want JH to spend more, and more and more, I can understand it's the American way to maximize profits. I also think there is a pride aspect to spending large, often. An owner/GM look better when they a team wins when not being a top 3-5 spender (just my opinion, there.) I think we'd look like a sure playoff team had we signed Scott, and he's not really a top MLB FA signings- like Soto, Fried or Bregman were. I see our team as being loaded with young and inexpensive talent, and we were rip for targeted big spending on our high need areas. To me, the closer and top set up roles were high on the priority list. We missed the boat, but I'm not complaining about how "little" we spent, this particular winter.

9 of 16 AL teams are within 5 games of .500. 7 teams are within 3 games of .500. The A's are tied with the Yanks, and could be up on them, if the pull out a win vs SEA (tied 5-5 in 8th.) Most baseball fans knew DET and SEA would be pretty good, this year, but probably not #1-2. CLE and KCR at #3 & 4 were maybe not ranked so highly. The Yanks, Sox, A's, Astros and Rangers are all within a couple games of each other, as they struggle to me ranked high enough to make the playoffs. The NL is way more "Haves & Have NOTs." 5 teams are 8+ games over .500 and 3 are 8+ games below .500. That's more than half the NL teames.

D Williams got racked, again, as the Yanks lost to SDP.

Chapman has surprised me. I'm not sure he can last the full season. I think Whitlock and Slaten will bounce back, but the rest of the pen is like 10 to 15 coin flips. Deep but week to mediocre.

He has started. 1.241 last 9 games (44 PAs) .959 last 17 games (80 PAs) .914 last 31 games (142 PAs) How much you think he weighs? OK, his BA is .291 over 31 games, and he must weigh 300 pounds.

Maybe the importance of keeping Devers healthy and playing 155+ games is Cora's top priority in the "Who plays 1B" dilema. I can understand the reasoning, and playing 1B is not as easy as some may think it is, and the injury risk is elevated over being a FT DH. That being said, I agree with Kimi. It makes the most sense for Devers to play 1B, feel like he is again part of the whole game, and open up the DH slot for a rotation, of sorts or to give Yoshida one last long look. (I'd prefer calling up the kids and using the DH slot as a way to make room for them in the field, enough to warrant their call-ups. Letting, Bregman, Story, Abreu, Duran, Campbell, Mayer, Anthony and Refsnyder share the DH slot could keep others fresh and less likely to get hurt, instead of Devers. (No Yoshida involved, in this case.)

Maybe. Many of the most expensive FAs end up sucking or doing worse than cheaper ones. We didn't miss out on Price. Yip-Eee!

I was really high on Scott. I wonder if it would have been at the expense of Buehler.

It is. I did mention the possible influx of SP'ers moved to the pen, as a few come off the IL, but that is hard to plan for nobody else going on the IL, as some come off it. Criswell seems to suck at relief, and I don't see him bumping Gio or some others to the pen. Maybe, we end up trying Dobbins as a longman pen arm. I'm not sure Drohan will ever figure into the equation. More likely, if and when Buehler, Fitts and or Crawford return, we'll see who might join the pen. Buehler is a cinch to go to the rotation and Dobbins back to AAA or the pen. I'm not sure Fitts or Crawford bump Gio to the pen, but adding them to the pen might work. Maybe Houck ends up in the pen, again (doubtful.) I mentioned one problem with having a lot of depth that is heavy on quantity vs quality is that by the time we "trial and error" it to the point where MAYBE we find 8 good pen arms, the errors along the way lost us too many games to make the playoffs. Brez and Cora need to select well, and make changes at the "right time" with the "right" pieces. That's not easy, and our past history has not always been something to bolster confidence in fans.

Only Devers, Bregman and Story are expensive, although some arbs will start getting costly, soon. Bregman may bolt, and Story has 2 more years, after this one. This should (more) allow spending on pitching.

The Casas replacement choice is forced, and it could be reversed or altered, next year, especially if Bregman bolts. I agree on Narvaez, and we have no other immediate in system options, except Grandal as his back-up and 1B with or over Wong (C & 1B) and Romy (1B.) Lets the kids roll. Maybe all will not do well, and we can't expect K Campbell x 3.

You have to admit, this past offseason was closer to "full throttle" than past seasons, and by a lot.

I'm more optimistic than many, here, about this roster. I'm hoping the pen gets better when we start moving SP'ers into it, as others return to the rotation (Buehler, Fitts, Crawford and possibly Sandoval late in the season.) RP'ers are the most often players traded at the deadline and even before. We HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims. Maybe Hendriks finds the groove, but counting on it seems like homerism. Our best and most realistic chances are that Slaten and Whitlock get over this blip, and Chapman has one big season left in him. Guys like Bernardino, Weissert, Guerrero, Wilson, Kelly, Newcomb and even maybe Mata, I Campbell or someone else in AAA can step up and have one of those "up seasons" mediocre RP'ers often have every 2-3 years. We may need 2-3 to have "that season." I think our offense will be fine. I think our D is better than they have looked, recently. Our rotation has many question marks, but we have some solid arms who just need health on their side. Since we have 7-9 SP'ers, I'm staying optimistic we can keep 5 going at any given time. Yes, it is the pen. That is the area I stressed all winter long, well, after we addressed the rotation with Crochet and Buehler. I'm still thinking 86-90 wins, but that is based on speculation not on what we have seen, so far. I'm not one to believe a player or team stays constant all year long and repeats the first 20% of the season over the next 80%. (This also leaves the door open for us to be even worse.)

I liked Williams more, too, but the upgrade was not enough to offset the other losses. Getting Fried was great. I had advocated us signing him, a lot, but he is not enough to offset losing Cole and Cortes. Bellinger is not close to Soto. Yes, the Yanks have some younger guys with expectations of growth and improvement, but we have more, so I did not see that as a gain over the Sox. I honestly felt, the Yanks got worse over the winter. They were maybe even before the Cole injury news broke, IMO.

It looks bad, now, but there is a lot of season left, and maybe this trade deadline, we will actually do something helpful.

Looks like his bowed legs. I was thinking maybe Rico, since that looks like third base behind him.

Lowest OPS Against in the Sox system .234 Clarke A-/A+ .436 Burdi AAA .463 Early AA .465 Y Cruz AA .470 McShane A-/A+ .473 Sena AA .499 Cohen A- .502 G Jackson AA/AAA .519 Mullins A+/AA .532 Bates A- .533 Rogers A+ .543 Drohan AAA .552 Mills AAA .559 Criswell AAA .579 Aita A- .579 Stock AAA .584 Kilander A- .604 Uberstine AA Other Notables: .635 Brooks A-, .637 Hoppe AA, .645 INgrassia A+, .662 Carlson A+, .672 Dean A+ & .672 Wehunt AA, .679 Tolle A+, .686 Paez A+, .700 I Campbell AAA, .721 Vogatsky A-, .721 Cellucci AA/AAA, .742 Sandlin AA, .743 Monegro AA, .773 Guerrero AAA, .774 O'Donnell, .786 Bello, .830 Dobbins, .852 Valera, .864 Mata. 1.382 Judice

I'm excited to see all the Sox arms moving up the ladder.

I'm not sold on Campbell b eing the best choice at 1B, but let's roll with it... 1. L Duran CF 2. R Campbell 1B 3. L Devers DH 4. R BRegman 3B 5. L Abreu RF (Refsnyder v L) 6. L Anthony LF 7. R Story 2B 8. L Mayer SS 9. R Narvaez/Wong C Bench: R Rafaela, R Romy, Ref/Abreu, Wong/Narv (Toro & DHam to AAA)

He was upstaged by Tolle, who K'd 12 in 5 scoreless innings. (3H and 0 BB) The staffed K's 19!

Seems obvious. I'd be okay with calling up Mayer and moving another infielder to 1b, despite none looking like a good fit at first. I'd also call up Anthony. (BTW< Mayer and Anthony went 5-10, tonight.)

That was what I suggested- or save the 40 man slot and call up Grissom to play 1B w Romy.

MLBTR To replace Casas on the active roster, the team has selected Abraham Toro’s contract from Triple-A Worcester. Boston had an open spot on the 40-man, so no further corresponding transaction was necessary.

We had an open 40 slot for Toro, anyway. The Casas replacement slot is TBD.