moonslav59

I think one minimal line-up change Cora could try vs RHPs is putting Abreu up 4th and moving Casas to 6th or 7th. Casas looks totally lost. I know others do, too, but they aren't batting clean-up. I'd like to see Campbell batting second, but the modern line-up philosophy points to Devers staying there. The modern theory also minimizes the 3 slot, so maybe Bregman should bat 4th (v LHPs) and 5th (v RHPs.) Maybe I'm grasping at straws, and some studies have shown the line-up construction is not all that impactful, within reason. Adding new players like Anthony, Mayer or Grandal may help, but I'm not sure any of this happens in the next week or two. How would this look? vs RHP L Duran (just have to hope he snaps out of his funk) L Devers R Bregman L Abreu (up 1-2 slots) R Campbell (up 2 slots) L Casas (down 2 slots) R Story (down 2 slots) R Narvaez (hitting okay, so far) R Rafaela (The K rate is down but so is the OPS) vs LHPs L Duran R Bregman R Refsnyder L Devers R Campbell R Story R Romy 1B R Narvaez R Rafaela (or Abreu)

I'd rather have Zavala or Grandal than Sabol. I think once Grandal is ready, Sabol gets DFA'd.

Good one. What more can a manager say? It's what he is doing and saying to the players that may have some effect, and on that front, it's hard to know. I'm not sure how much Cora had to do with the coaching changes, but he probably was okay with them. The players need to take ownership and play better. That is a truth. A manager cannot force players to play better. That's not to say they have no influence, but they can only do so much. It may be close to the time for a line-up or roster shake-up, but Cora seems to be slower on this than many want him to be. Is it out of excessive loyalty, patience or something else? Are Anthony, Mayer, Romy or Grandal the answers?

It's still way too early to know much, but sometimes you get a sense of what a team is and will be, by this time or by early to mid May. I'm not getting good vibes from this team, so far. The improvements on paper have largely not shown up on the field or box scores. We do have 4 of our top 7 SP'ers on the IL, but we knew about a few and planned for it, this time, but still... The offense has been a big issue, but the defense was supposed to be vastly improved (from worst to middle pack.) The pen was the scariest, on paper, and they have done okay. You'd think playing the CWS would be a great time to "put it all together," but instead we lay an rotten egg.

They called up Sabol due to Wong's injury, but yes, they worry about the offense from Narvaez.

While Casas has looked horrific, I'm far from giving up on him. I do not see him taking Dalbec's path.

Good signing. It can't hurt.

Anthony was about the only bright spot in yesterday's Woo game (9-2 loss.) He went 3-4 w 2 DBLs. Mayer & Grissom went 0-8. POR lost 4-3 in 10. Sandlin went 4 IP, 2 H, 1ER, 3BB, 6K. The O had just 4 hits and 3BBs, and K'd 13 times. The lower level teams were rained out.

How is this for a line-up adjustment? L Duran L Devers R Bregman L Abreu v R/ R Campbell v L L Casas v R/ R Refnsyder v L R Campbell v R/ Story v L R Story v R/Romy v L R Narvaez R Rafaela

Sox line-up: L Duran L Devers R Bregman L Casas R Story L Abreu R Campbell L Sabol R Rafaela

Would Grissom & Mullins or Wehunt make enough sense?

I don't want to jinx Newcomb, but here are the OPS of the line-up he faces, tonight: .474 Vargas .423 Robert Jr .750 Slater .455 Vaughn .593 Sosa .554 Taylor .--- Meidroth (first game) .--- Narvaez (first game) .232 Ama

Cora has patience. That can be a virtue. I'm not sure 14 games shows Cora cannot make major changes. I think th Campbell roster move showed he's willing to adjust his thinking. Deciding to play campbell in CF not LF was an "on-the-fly" change in plans based on Campbell's comfort zone in CF over LF, despite Duran being the better defensive CF'er. I think Campbell may bump Story down a notch, soon, but putti ng more pressure on Campbell could be a worry, too. (I'd put Abreu in front of Story, vs LHPs, but the lefty-righty-lefty thing is often desired.) Also, there was a time, and this is all during a pretty small 14 games sample size, that Story seemed to be showing signs of life with his bat. I'm a guy who like to "ride the hot hand" as much as anyone, but I also do not give up on someone over 3-5 games. Here is a look at some selected shorter sample sizes of Story's 2025 season: Game 1-5: .321 OPS Game 6-14: .833 I'm kinda glad Cora did not overreact over his first 5 game "slump." While his current .687 OPS is bad, he's got about 4 guys ahead of him and 4 worse than him. He's not the guy I look at first. (His arm troubles worry me more than his bat, at this point.)

Matt Moore Released.

Notables on the fWAR list for 2025: 1.3 C Carroll 1.2 Judge & Tucker 1.1 K Paris 1.0 Abreu 0.9 Bassitt, H Greene & Skenes 0.7 Campbell (T11th) Nate, Webb & J Luzardo 0.6 Betts (T 24th) B Singer, H Bro& L Gilbert 0.5 Arenado (T38th) Crochet, Cease, Heaney & C Holmes 0.4 Soto (T 57th) & C Martin 0.3 Teoscar (T80th) DeJong, Sale, Newcomb, Romy, Bregman & Devers 0.2 O'Neill, Vladdy, S Murphy, Narvaez, Rafaela, Skubal, Whitlock, Weissert, Kelly, Alcantara, Wacha & Lugo 0.1 Bogey 0.0 Duran -0.1 Y Alvarez -0.2 Luis Robert -0.3 Casas, Semien, T Bibee -0.4 W Adames -0.5 Renfroe & N Cortes -0.6 Wilson Contreras

You guessed #15. I guessed #21. SP's placed him #17 (behind Paez and ahead of Soto.) Priester had graduated from prospect status. Narvaez bumped from the top 20.

We are almost 1/11th of the way through the season, and here are our WAR leaders (fWAR+bWAR/2) : 1.0 Abreu 0.7 Campbell 0.5 Crochet 0.4 Devers & Chapman 0.3 Bregman, Romy, Narvaez & Rafaela 0.2 Story, Weissert, Bernardino & Newcomb 0.1 Duran, Kelly, Dobbins, Buehler, Refsnyder & Wink 0.0 Slaten & Houck______________________ -0.1 Wong & Criswell -0.2 DHam -0.3 Casas

It's not the end of the world, if we lose to these guys, but here is a chance to gain some ground.

I'm fine keeping as is. It seems easier to locate, to me. We no longer have to worry about the thread being started, or not, and starting the thread early is a big plus.

I'd do this deal and maybe even add a far away prospect or give a little cash.

Would this be "bold enough?" 2B Story SS Mayer CF Campbell (Strange how #1 Anthony might be the last one in.)

It might have taken 6 days to transport him to the trial in Salem, MA.

1IP 1H 0ER 0BB 3Ks Nice start.

The way he throws, you'd have thought he would have.

They must like Grandal a little more, but then that begs the question on why not sign him earlier? I guess now they still have Zavala as emergency non 40 man depth, too.