moonslav59

No doubt, the top of the order plus Casas need to improve, but that is not a problem easily fixed or improved, unless you are advocating a significant line-up juggling or "musical chairs." The main issue, at the top, has been Duran. Our 1 slot has a .304 OBP. Our 2 slot has not been himself, but the slot does have a .346 OBP. The 3 slot has done very well (.367 OBP and .484 SLG.) The 4 and 5 slots have come up short (.715 OPS, combined.) The 8 and 9 slots are black holes that I guess some are fine with, due to their D. I'm fine with one, but to me, two becomes an issue that should be improved, if possible, and without destroying the defense. While Rafaela is better than Anthony on defense, when Anthony is healthy, his D is fine.

Bernardino was really good for us for the end of 2023 and start of 2024. Let's hope he can do that for a full season.

You often need a second closer, when you have 2-3 games in a row that need closing. I was responding to the post about Slaten being the new "closer."

Still counts as being wrong.

I watched the full series and thought it was eye-opening. I got the sense Casas is one unique guy, but I did not sense a lack of confidence. He's had bad streaks, before. He's also had some very long stretches of hitting very well. If he hits like he has, he's our 3rd or 4th best hitter and second in HR power.

You are right. I though Cooper was signed a couple weeks before Smith, but it was only 3 days earlier.

Until Anthony is able to play OF, he should not be called up. It's my understanding he has already gained the extra year of service by not being able to go over 171 days of MLB service time in 2025. Someone, correct me if I'm wrong. (I trusted Google search.)

We've used 6 SP'ers and 12 RP'ers, already with nobody doing both roles, so far. Surprisingly, as a group, our 3 depth SP"ers (Newcomb, Fitts & Dobbins) have a better ERA than the group of Crochet + Buehler + Houck, We have yet to see Gio, Bello o Crawford pitch for the Sox, and we may not see Sandoval, this year. When these guys come back, we may slide a starter to the pen to give us several multi inning pen arms to join Whitlock. Of the 12 RP'ers, Fulmer is already gone and a few others got off to rocky starts, SSS and all. Our best OPS Against pen arms, so far (not counting today) are: .315 Slaten .463 Bernardino .527 Chapman .577 Whitlock (Seems like a formidable 4.) .588 Wink .643 Weissert .742 Wilson .795 Kelly .819 Stock .967 Criswell 1.280 Fulmer (gone) 1.800 Hendriks Top WOO OPSA .390 Stock (16 IP) .393 Hendriks (2) .477 Van Belle (8) .489 Drohan (19 as SP) .507 Burdi (6) .633 Gio (6) .713 Criswell (6) .716 Bello (10) .722 Mata (11)

I'm thrilled to have two pen arms pitching like solid closers. At the start of the year, I felt that was our weakest area (along with maybe catching.) I'm not sure this can go on, all season, but it could. We still need someone like Hendriks or maybe Weissert, Bernardino or Wilson do well, too. (Maybe 2-3 or more will be needed.)

I get that. A .133 winning percent would amount to 1-6 in a 7 game sample size. They went 3-4 for 2 more wins than what could or should have been expected.

Could have said 11, before the Priester trade, and Criswell isn't even on the list of 10. Crochet, Buehler, Houck, Bello, Crawford Giolito, Fitts, Newcomb, Dobbins + Sandoval (Whitlock and Wink have started many games in recent years, as well, but hopefully, never again.) Drohan is pitching very well, now, but he's not on the 40.

If players were demoted as often as you suggest, we'd get whiplash.

You've never heard me say "DO NOT TRADE _____. " Others have said this often. Of course, there are many players I would avoid trading, if possible, and maybe I'd expect a return no GM would ever give, so in that sense, they could never be traded. I'm really not against trading Duran, but I think people are undervaluing him based on a 22 game sample size. I do not think GMs rise and fall assigned values based on SSS. Big trades are not made in April, anyway, so this talk is "fantasy league," right now. Improvements that can more easily be made are call-ups of very promising ML ready top prospects.

It's about getting better. You can get better without fixing a "problem."

He played in more games and had more ABs than any other Sox player, last year, except Duran. He's had about as many ABs as possible ("consistent") as it can be since he started playing FT in AUG 2023. I'm not saying more time can't work, or that he is the weakest link on the team, but CF seems like one area we can improve on without making any trades, and Ceddanne can still find a lot of playing time.

Yes. I meant this series. (3-1 is .250 for CWS)

I don't see calling up Anthony as any kind of "force." 1. We are not benching Rafaela for Anthony: he would still play a very significant role. (Platoon w Abreu and play some SS, 2B, 3B, PR and late game defense.) He could still work his way back into more playing time. 2. Rafaela has played 200 games and has over 720 career PAs. I'm not sure what another 50, 100 or 250 would prove. Even if he improves his offense, Anthony could still very well produce more. 3. We don't need to, nor should we trade any OF'er or Casas. Anthony has enormous potential to provide a huge plus to a teams struggling on offense. This is not some roll of the dice. Anthony is the top prospect in America and is widely viewed as ML ready, yesterday. He's got nothing more to prove in AAA. I'm okay waiting until his shoulder is healed and he's played some more OF before calling him up.

I didn't mean to slight Dom, but remember, we cycled through Cooper, first. It's not something we'd want to have to do. I think Grissom & Romy would get the first look, if Casas slumps for 2-3 more weeks. I think Casas is a good hitter. I'm not sure what this funk is about, but I have faith in him coming around. (Sorry Splendid, I have no evidence to support my faith.)

.133 is closer to .250 than .000.

Has Chapman done anything to lose the Closer role? 4 svs 0 BS

I agree on defense over offense at catcher, but I also think having a sub .600 offense at catcher necessitates having a CF who hits over .600. We need to call up Anthony. I might trade Story for Murphy and call up Mayer- more out of the worry on Story's health than anything else.

Of course there is always a reason for musical chairs. I see why Cora does not want to play Ref in LF, even if it's a better defensive alignment, and he even stopped playing Campbell in LF, out of comfort for him. I'm just saying what I'd do, and I'm not mad at Cora for doing what he does. He is platooning Abreu- home and away, something you said he shouldn't do, so no big deal, right? He also moved O'Neill around the OF, last year, much like I suggested we do with Ref or Raf. RF vs LHPs and LF vs RHPs. Musical chairs that had nothing to do with RAF playing SS. It happened, whether you want to believe it or not. It was what was best for the team.

Wow. How original. We all wished DD had extended him with no opt out, even if it cost more, which it would have. You went on and on about the need to extend Bogey, but you would never say for how much. When I kept saying he was not extended, because we never offered what it would take, and nobody knew what that number was, you just kept saying we need to extend him. Nobody said we should have matched or come close to the Padre offer, so bringing that up was trolling at its finest. A lot of posters and Sox fans were very upset we didn't or couldn't extend Bogey. Using the term "crazy" may not be a term many would use, but I think it got very serious, where posters were calling for heads to roll over the failure to keep him in a Sox uniform. I do think we low balled him on the initial offer, much like with Lester and others before and afterwards. That was a mistake. That does not mean we could have signed him for $160M/6 or $200M/7, except for maybe when DD was dealing with him.

Casas has started 19 games. He's been horrible. We all agree on that. His defense has always been terrible. That hasn't changed. I think it's too early to pull the plug. I hope he's not the next Dalbec. He had a longer good stretch than Dalbec did, and his OBP blew Bobby Dee's away. Casas: first 222 games. .250 BA .357 OBP .473 SLG 125 OPS+ Dalbec's first 156 games (66 games smaller than Tristan's) .2423 BA .308 OBP .511 SLG 114 OPS+ I'm not sure Grissom & Romy are the solution, but maybe someday, we may have to try it out. Anyone want to find another Dom Smith type?

I've always maintained I'd trade any player for a better return.