moonslav59

If I had to choose, in hindsight, as many are on the ATL-BOS trade, I'd have chosen not to extend Sale. He had one great season out of the 5 year deal and no other seasons that were even good. Most, he hardly pitched, at all.

Nothing to do with "fault."

Yes and No. I think it goes beyond "hope" when expecting younger players to improve as they gain experience. I think it's an expectation for most to improve, and plan on a few not to improve. I don't think we are a half a team away from being serious contenders, even if you look at just the 26 man roster (13 players needed?) or the starting lineup + 5 SP'ers and 4 RP'ers (9 out of 18?) It all starts with Bregman's return or not, but if he bolts, and we spend $40M elsewhere, the theory is we should be able to fill his line-up slot or two with that money. Of course, players like Rafaela, Narvaez, Abreu and the 3 kids could regress, next year, but many could improve my major amounts to offset those declines, and then some. Plus, we could see Casas back, Duran peak again, Story hit .750 and the Ref, Romy, Toro brigade continue as is. We lose a lot of pitchers, but we also lose their money off the budget, too, including wasted money like Hendriks, and money we spent this year with next year in mind, like Sandoval. There are some positive ways at looking at this, if you choose to do so. Yes, it's not about just spending more: it's also about spending wisely, and that may be a bigger ask than asking JH to spend even equal to 2025's over the tax line amount. If we keep the budget the same, we will have an insane winter spending budget, especially if we go by AAV/Tax dollars and do some creative financing with contracts, like the Dodgers have mastered. We have some major pieces we can afford to trade away, due to near equal depth at like positions. Not many teams have the packages we can offer in trade, without opening a new gaping hole at another position. This doesn't mean we have to trade Duran and Abreu and pin all our hopes on 3-4 kids in the OF (Anthony, Rafaela, Garcia & Campbell,) but I would not view that as needing wildly unrealistic hopes in our youth, especially if Refsnyder returns and maybe Yoshida plays some LF at Fenway, only. We have a pretty deep foundation, even though many are young, too young or looking too close to mediocre to get excited about, but it's more than half a team. IMO, if we go big, we could be serious contenders with 4 additions assuming Bregman returns (SP2, Closer, 1B and 2B) or 5 without Bregman. I think the rest of the team can be good enough support of these added 4 to 5.

We could likely seriously compete by hitting on 4 out of 5, IMO with normal expected age-related growth and low side key injuries. I do not think these are unrealistic expectations, except maybe the injury part. It would mean breaking some molds, like signing a long term pitcher, unless we fill that need via trade. We could trade Abreu and Duran and then sign Tucker, but that might be hard to do, if we bring back Bregman. A Bregman and Alonso pair might be more doable, or Tucker & Alonso, but then we'd have Mayer at 3B and we'd have to sign Torres or trade for a 2Bman. The closer will likely come from free agency, but who knows if Brez sees someone out there we can trade for. It might be someone we raise an eyebrow to, as many of us did with the Chapman signing. It would be a tightrope walk, for sure. We could improve our odds by adding 6 or even 7 significantly plus players and squeeze 1-2 more of our current players into depth roles, but I'm not sure we'd spend that amount of money plus trade capital to make it happen. Adding just 4-5 might be pushing JH beyond his limits.

I do think it would cost 2 of out big 3 to get Skenes. If I had to keep one, I'd keep Mayer, despite thinking Anthony will be better. We need a middle infielder, badly, and I don't see Campbell as that guy. I'm curious how much value BTV gives JH Garcia. The idea of adding quantity over quality appeals to me, but likely not to PIT. I'm thinking adding 2 prospects from the 4-6 range (Garcia, Arias and Perales) might equal Anthony. I don't see Garcia or Arias in any of these offers. Would Campbell, 2 from Perales, Garcia, Arias and Abreu get it done, per BTV? Would all 3 do it? (We might have to sub Tolle for Perales.) I'd prefer subbing Duran for Abreu, but he's more expensive to PIT.

2025 Run Differential 112 NYY 99 DET 69 TBR 46 HOU 17 BOS & SEA 12 TEX -3 TOR -14 MIN -37 KCR -49 LAA

MVP: Crochet Rookie of the Year: Narvaez Comeback of the Year: Rafaela (Giolito closing in) Offensive Player of the Year: Bregman (Abreu closing in) Best Pen Arm: Chapman (nobody closing in)

For what it's worth, here is a look at the standings: 48-36 NYY (1st ALE) 47-38 TBR -1.5 ALE (WC1) 46-38 TOR -2.0 ALE (WC2) 44-40 SEA -6.0 ALW (WC3) _____________________ 41-42 LAA -2.5 WC 42-44 BOS -3.0 WC (-7 ALE) 40-42 CLE -3.0 41-44 TEX -3.5 40-44 MIN -4.0 39-46 KCR -5.5

ATL was genius to know to wait until Sale was way past prime to pounce on a trade. Sure.

Anthony's numbers are finally catching up with his previous peripherals. Here is a look at the Sox OPS leaders: .938 Bregman .868 Refsnyder .856 Romy .819 Abreu .798 Narvaez .790 Toro (.850 Cutoff for top 1/3 tier of batters with 150+ PAs) .733 Duran (.728 MLB Mean OPS of 270 MLB batters w 150+ PAs) .721 Rafaela (.714 MLB Average OPS) .709 Mayer (.690 MLB bottom 1/3 tier cutoff out of 270 batters with 150 PAs) .668 Anthony .664 Campbell .661 Story .506 DHam .401 Wong

Maybe we finally pay SF back for Pablito.

I disagree. Had we dealt the card in 2020, nobody would have complained, afterwards. ATL had no special inside knowledge. Everybody knew Sale was a great pitcher and had a chance to rebound. The rolled snake eyes. We crapped out. BTW, Sale got hurt and missed the playoffs, last year and is injured again, now. Maybe we can trade for him. I hear Grissom is available. Another BTW, 1 for 4, especially when the one is Crochet, sure beats our record from 2019-2024. I think we went 0.5 for 10.

I can totally understand this. I am far from having faith these guys do what it takes to build another winner. I just think we are really not that far away from being serious contender. One might think 5 top players is too far away, especially with our recent history of swings and misses and failure to spend enough. I get that. I think we can replace all the lost salary and spend on 3 big FA and just keep pace. Then, I think we can trade an Of'er for another key piece and prospects for another. I'll believe it when I see it, but I do think it's doable.

So, you agree it's 4 or 5? If so, is it so hard to think we cant trade for 2 and sign 3?

True. Injury risk upticked. Decline talk downticked. He's a year older. DET offered him $172M/6, so I'm thinking maybe some team would go $145M/5... maybe DET/ maybe BOS.

YUp, and most underpaid! LOL!

We'll have this for our OF options for 2026: LF: Duran, Anthony, Yoshida, Refsnyder, Jh Garcia CF: Rafaela, Duran, Campbell, Jh Garcia, Anthony RF: Abreu, Refsnyder, Jh Garcia, Anthony With players listed more than once, we have a total of 7 OF'ers. We could easily trade 2. If we keep Campbell in the IF and play Yoshida at just DH, we'd be down to 3, so I doubt we do that, unless we see Campbell as a legit OF option. I'd like to see: LF: Anthony & Refsnyder (Yoshida) CF: Rafaela & Jh Garcia (Campbell) RF: Abreu & Jh Garcia (Refsnyder) DH: Yoshida & Refsnyder (Romy) That means trading just Duran. If we trade Duran and Abreu, we'd have: LF: Anthony & Refsnyder (Yoshida) CF: Rafaela & Campbell (Anthony) RF: Garcia & Anthony (Refsnyder) DH: Yoshida & Refsnyder (Romy)

So, we put Slaten on the 60 Day to get Murphy off the 60 Day. Yoshida starts rehab with Woo, tomorrow. Good to see Bregman in the dugout giving pointers.

I think they are talking extension for Bregman, so maybe they have an idea on Bregman's chances of returning. If it looks like he won't be back, and we are sellers, I think Bregman gets traded. We could try to re-sign him, this coming winter, but how many times have we heard that?

We were cheap before 2024 and then spent less than we lost. There is no other way to spin this. cots opening day budget: $207M 2022, $181M 2023, and $171M 2024. end of season: $217M, $203M, $188M

I agree, the whole "full throttle" thing just made it worse, but even if it wasn't said, the spending fell way short of what we needed. During the 2023 season, we had already dumped Kike's deal (a FA anyway) and Brasier, and then lost FAs: $15M J Turner $10M Kluber $7M Duvall $32M in lost FA contracts. We traded significant contracts with Sale ($22M, but paid $10M) and Dugo ($8.7M arb) We added: $39M/2 Giolito (the only real signing.) $10M/2 Hendriks (more for 2025) Less than $25M AAV in FA signings and nothing longterm. $5.9M by trade w O'Neill (cost less than Dugo would have cost)

Talk about feast or famine.

The only out of the inning was maybe the hardest hit ball of the night.

The Betts trade was worse. That's not even 1 decade ago. That one was bad in foresight and hindsight, too.

They don't make the trade for Grissom, if they had to pay for all of Sale, too. It was about getting Grissom and saving some money to be able to up their $10M/1 budget on a SP'er to $19M for Gio. It was both.