moonslav59

It could be just wishful thinking, but I think he will be fine. I think his playoff performance proved he was "over the injury," so now, it's just about finding and remaining in a groove.

Yes, a lefty- hence Romy and Ref are rightfully starting.

I am agreeing with you. Yes, Castillo had 2 months and 1 arb left, and the Ms gave up a lot to get him, then extended him to near market rates. It is very rare, indeed. I am almost always for trading for top of rotation SP'ers, but rarely mid-season, and I still think we have some of the best rotation depth in MLB, this season, despite the Priester trade. We've already seen decent results from Fitts (now on the IL,) Dobbins and Newcomb, who we not even top 6 in our winter rotation depth chart. While we knew Sandoval and Murphy would be on the 60 day IL to start the season, and Gio and Carwford would miss some time, this is how I saw our rotation depth chart like this: 1. Crochet 2. Houck 3. Buehler 4. Bello 5. Sandoval (60 Day IL) 6/7. Crawford (IL to 60 day?) & Giolito (rehabbing now) 8. Fitts (added to IL, recently) 9. Priester (traded away) 10/11/12. Criswell, Whitlock and Wink were still being talked about as starters, although I wanted all in the pen. 13/14. Murphy (60 day IL) & Dobbins 15. Mata (not on 40 and now in pen) 16. Drohan (not on 40) 17. Sandlin (in AA and not considered ML ready) Newcomb was basically unknown and not in rotation consideration my most of us.

Agreed, and the cost is usually way too high. Here are some recent mid season trades: 2024: Kikuchi (rental) to HOU, Eflin (injured) to BAL, Flaherty to LAD - none were close to aces. 2023: Verlander (rental) to HOU 2022: Castillo to SEA might be the most recent example. Maybe I'm missing somebody.

Telling quote: More than two-thirds of all international free agent pitching signees never made it out of rookie ball.

I think Mayer has been ML ready since he was called up to AAA, last season, but the injury made it impossible. That being said, I'm not sitting Bregman or Story, and I'm not moving Campbell to CF to make room for Mayer. If one of these guys could play 1B (I guess Bregman is closer than others,) I'd think about it, but before I move Campbell to CF to make room for Mayer, I'd call up Anthony to play LF and move Duran back to CF. I don't think we can trade Story to make room for Mayer.

Some selected Sox pitching prospects and their OPS Against numbers: .489 Drohan (second most IP in farm system) .489 Steven Brooks A- .526 Mullins A+ .636 Uberstine AA .645 Ingrassia A+ .673 Aita A- .688 Vogatsky A- .703 Sandlin AA .

I agree on Sandlin as a RP'ers, but think he could be a real good one. Valera has started slowly, while Clarke could be the new "darling." Small sample sizes, but it's interesting to see Dobbins doing way better in MLB than in AAA. Mullins and Aita are off to a nice starts. Has Drohan gotten himself back into consideration?

Could we see this alignment in 2026 or 2027? 2B: Campbell SS: Story/Mayer/Arias/Rafaela 3B: Mayer/Romero LF: Anthony CF: Duran/Rafaela RF: Abreu/Rafaela

I agree. If we could count on Story's health and Bregman coming back, maybe Mayer could be considered, but those two unknowns make it too risky. If we wait a year or two, maybe something changes. Maybe prospects like Arias and Romero (who could be blocked, when he is ML ready) gain enough trade value to be the foundation of a major trade. (Maybe one of those two middle infielders rise up enough to help us feel safe enough to trade Mayer.) With Duran and Abreu in the OF and Rafaela looking like he may never get his offense to the level of acceptability, there is room for Anthony. When you look at middle infield and the OF, having two guys like Campbell and Rafaela, who can play CF and MI, there is some flexibility on making a bold choice on which prospect or vet to trade, but I do think that day will come- perhaps this coming winter, even if Bregman bolts and Story's health stays equally up in the air.

Refsnyder, too (as a platoon, only DH.) Grissom sucks on D but will likely never hit well enough to be viewed as a DH.

It does look like Duran is coming around. That steal of home might get his juices flowing. Devers has looked better, too, and I keep bringing up that he's hitting the ball significantly harder (by %) than any other Sox player over the 2025 season. Story seems to be cooling off, but still piling up the rbis. The notorious slow starter, Bregman, might be on pace for a career year. While I did not expect our catchers to hit well, this year, I'm hoping they can vastly improve on their .158 BA and .499 combined OPS. I'm not expecting Rafaela to hit .700, and he may not top .650, which might be as low as his defense can carry. Casas is the guy we should expect to vastly improve, as others likely cool down. As for the pitching, we see some unexpected names on some leaderboards, including Chapman, Weissert and our 9-10 SP'ers on the preseason depth chart: xFIP 2.46 Chapman 2.72 Weissert 3.13 Crochet 3.30 Whitlock 3.39 Dobbins 3.49 Newcomb 3.58 Kelly 3.63 Buehler 3.95 Slaten ERA- 42 Chapman, 45 Crochet, 47 Whitlock, 60 Dobbins, 66 Bernardino, 77 Fitts, 88 Slaten, 89 Weissert, 94 Wink We need bottom dweller, Houck, to get his act together.

A lot of really good pitchers get traded, and not just the 2 month rental traded. We just got Crochet, as an example. I think Mayer or Anthony could be the foundation to a trade that not many other teams have to offer. I'm not looking to trade Anthony, and it would take a very nice return to get me to listen for either of our top two prospects. If you look at the success of the Sox over the last 2 decades, much is due to acquiring a great young pitchers and later extending them. All via trade... Pedro Beckett Sale Crochet (I hope brings major success) Other young and not so young additions helped, too (not all by trade) Wakefield FA Lowe Trade Schilling FA Dice K IFA Lackey FA Price FA ERod, Porcello & Nate by Trade In the last 25-30 years, only 2 of our top 14 SP'ers by WAR were homegrown: 2. Lester 8. Buchholz After #14: 15. Houck 16. Pivetta Trade 17. Saberhagen FA 18. Arroyo Waivers 19. Bello 20. Crawford 21-30: Burkett, F Castillo, Gordon, Doubront, Pomeranz, Nomo, Wells, Hill, Fossum, Clement Only 5 of our top 28 were homegrown, and 3 are active and might move up.

Always seeing the bright spots.

Agreed.

Which team would say no to this trade, assuming ATL is out of playoff contention near the deadline: To ATL: Marcelo Mayer (6-7 years of control) Yoshida at $18.6M from 2025 to 2027 plus $12M a year offset To BOS: C Sean Murphy at $15M 2025-2028 w option ($12.6 Tax hit) LHP Dylan Lee 3 arbs left The Sox tax hit is about even, but ATL saves some money per year.

SP ERA Leaders 1.95 Crochet 2.45 Dobbins 3.18 Fitts 4.28 Buehler 4.43 Newcomb 7.58 Houck (Bello 1.80 in 1 GS) WHIP RP'er 0.90 Bernardino 1.02 Whitlock 1.06 Chapman 1.22 Weissert 1.37 Winckowski 1.40 Kelly 1.50 Wilson

Updated Sox OPS: .961 Bregman .901 Abreu .837 Campbell (RHB Platoons: .872 Refsnyder and .825 Romy) .755 Story .722 Devers .704 Duran .622 Narvaez .583 Casas .582 Rafaela .292 DHam (Catchers: .355 Sabol/ .279 Wong.

Nice, somewhat comfortable win.

Before going 3 for his first 6 ABs, today with an HR, Devers led the team in Hard Hit%, and it's not really close. 45.3 Devers 37.7 Abreu 36.2 Story 34.9 Story 29.9 Duran I'm fine with a great batter being a little "undisciplined," and I think it helps a line-up to have varying approaches.

Post of the month

This certainly could be it or part of "it." The guy has often slumped early in the year. He's leading the team in hard hit%, this year. Could we be making a big deal out of next to nothing?

Another tough loss and winnable game gone by. Gotta get em game 2.

You'd trade Crochet?

Pretty bad when you can let up 4 runs in the first and still see your ERA go down after the game: Houck from 7.66 to 7.58.