moonslav59

Opening up the can of worms for injury-shortened careers is problematic, but to me, Tiant was a great pitcher for many years. I'm tight-fisted, when it comes to the HOF. I see more undeserving players in it than deserings ones out of it. It's easy to compare some players to the worst ones in the Hall, and that makes sense, but I don't like to do that.

Rafaela in RF would be way better than Ref. Ref vs Romy is another question. Duran in CF is no slouch. Anyone who thinks Duran LF, Rafaela CF and Ref in RF at Fenway is a better defensive alignment than Ref-Duran-RAF is in La-La Land. Rafaela hardly played RF, last year, because he wasn't needed there as much as he was at SS and CF. We had O'Neal and Abreu for RF for over 110 games. The other 50 saw a mix of Ref and Abreu, with Abreu starting vs some LHPs, when Ref was in LF or DH'ing.

Cora could have played O'Neal in LF and Ref in RF at Fenway, but as far as I can see, he never did. Most of ref's starts in RF at Fenway was during the time Abreu was ou injured. It was obvious, Cora tried hard to avoid Ref in Fenway's RF. I doubt that changes, but he may end up there a handful of games, again.

Yes, you further strengthened our position. Cora will move a player like Rafaela to SS, if needed. Now, he is needed in RF vs LHPs. Thanks.

Crochet is the top priority, for obvious reasons, but we can do three things at once, and maybe Anthony or Campbell say yes, first.

They are a couple of super-duper wild cards. They could step in and hit the ground running, or take a while to adjust. Maybe one or both never amount to much, but these two show a lot of potential. It's been a half century since Lynn and Rice. Mayer might be top 10 or 15, if he could stay healthy.

Agreed, and maybe all of them will be announced after opening day or the first game played by rookies. Since we are not really close to the tax line, maybe the Crochet extension can and should be made to start in 2025, if it would bring down the overall AAV for future tight budgets. (Yeah, right.)

Abreu should not start vs LHPs.

Losing Devers would end the season, IMO. We might as well trade all one year contracts for the most we can get.

Well, Anthony and Campbell are controlled beyond 2028, but they are younger. I get it. I can see the no on Crawford and Slaten, unless they take a good deal.

I meant to add more to the Castillo trade and or pay down some of Story's contract. My bad.

Exactly. The only change is that with no O'Neill, we use Rafaela in RF, instead. There is not reason to think Cora will choose Ref. BTW, O'nell started 56 gms in LF and 34 in RF, so there is more evidence that Cora does not mind shifting players to different corner OF slots, based on park and who else is playing or platooning with Abreu. O'neal also swapped corner OF slots within 28 different games. Abreu started just 6 games vs a LH'd SP and 104 vs a RHP.

You keep saying this, but Cora has been doing this, all along. Last year at Fenway, Ref started 21 games in LF, and only 6 in RF, including 4 games in a row, when O'Neill went down AND Abreu was out, too. It's obvious that Cora rightfully avoids playing ref in Fenway's RF. Conversely, in away games, Ref started 14 games in RF (my guess is that these were shorter RF or equal to LF is space.) He started 10 games on the road in LF. Cora is not dumb, and he does not hesitate to move people around, even within a game. He jerked Rafaela between SS and CF, often. He moved DHam from SS to 2B quicker than he did Kike back to CF. Nobody is saying playing Ref in LF at fenway park is asking for some big change from Cora. We are just suggesting he continue doing what he has been doing. Now, the Devers to 1B idea is major and is asking for a major shift in game planning. This Ref idea is NOT!

Yes. I was thinking that was 2 years ago, but it was last spring. Damn, time flies! One was March 7 (Bello) and the other APR 10 (Rafaela.) I hope we extend Crochet, Campbell and Anthony. Abreu might be worth a shot. How about Houck or Crawford? Slaten?

On MLBTR chat, someone was shot down for suggesting Yoshida and Story for Luis Castillo, but it got me thinking, what about Story for Castillo and Giolito, Cespedes and Penrod for Arenado and Helsley (plus some cash?) That would force a Mayer call-up or trying Campbell at SS. (I doubt we go with Rafaela/Romy.)

Flaherty to DET for $35M/2. Do they have enough budget space for Bregman? I'm guessing Bregman to TOR or HOU. (BOS might have moved from 4th to 3rd most likely, but they might have to add a year to get him back w Cora.)

Where are our extensions? We seem to be going cheap, there too.

You did not mention Buehler or Sandoval in your "additions." You also did not count Gio and Hendriks, which is somewhat understandable, since theyw ere added, last winter.

It seems logical to weigh what was added vs what was subtracted. To me, the NYY lost more than they added. We added more than we lost. The spending is another issue, and yes, we all seem in agreement on that. We could and should spend more. I know every team has players returning from injury, but I view players who never played for the Sox in 2024 as "additions," so I count Hendriks and Giolito as additions. The pen additions vs subtractions favors the Yanks (Holmes, Kahlne & Trivino for D Williams) vs BOS (Jansen, Martin, Anderson and others for Hendriks, Chapman & Wilson,) but I don't see it as a massive differential. The Yanks added Fried and lost Cortes. We added Crochet, Buehler, Giolito and Sandoval and lost Pivetta) We lost O'Neill and gained nothing on O. The Yanks lost more than they gained, here. This has to be a given.

I expect all of them, as a group, to improve, too> I never even hinted, otherwise. On the other end... 32-34: Story (just turned 32) and Refsnyder (our platoon DH/LF'er) Over 35: Hendriks, Chapman & Wilson SEA: 32-35: Luis Castillo, Mitch Garver, Mitch Haniger, Dylan Moore Over 35: Solano

This is all mere speculation, and we could easily decline in some areas from 2024 (like SS and C OPS,) but to me, here are some slots we could see improvement: 1B .734 OPS in 2024> Casas has an .830 career OPS and just turned 25. 2B .533 OPS in 2024> DHam and Romy splits from 2024 look promising. DH .742 OPS in 2024> Yoshida hi .765 in '24, and if Ref platoons, we could see an .800+ OPS at DH. 2B & SS Defense: We'd need a healthy season from Story and most of the innings at 2B to be from Campbell, DHam and Romy. (EValdez & Reyes are gone.) Rotation: ERA as SP'er in 2024 (listed in order of most IP) 4.36 Crawford (4.04 in '23 as SP & RP) 3.12 Houck 4.49 Bello (4.24 in 2023) 4.19 Pivetta (FA) > Replaced by Crochet (3.58 ERA in '24) 3.49 Criswell> Replaced by Buehler (3.27 career) 2.42 Wink> Replaced by Giolito (4.43 career) 1.74 Fitts, 1.96 Whitlock, 4.09 Paxton, 1.80 Priester

The 1B trade and FA market seems to have cratered. I think it best we keep him.

I doubt we end up needing to go that deep, this year.

There are very few sure bet SP'ers in MLB, and the ones that have gone 25+ GS for 3+ years in a row are often over 31 or 32. Bello has 58 GS over the past 2 years. Crawford has 56. Houck seemed to prove he can be a full season SP'er, but with a past back injury, all bets are off. Crochet has a well documented history of being a RP'er only with a major injury added to the mix. Buehler is close to Chris Sale II, but without the long stretch of great pitching and durability beforehand. Giolito was viewed as "durable" and dependable, before 2024. Now, all bets are off on him, too. Wink and Whitlock should not start, again, unless as an opener. Criswell, Fitts, priester and Dobbins might produce a decent 7th and 8th starter. If we need to go 9 deep, we are probably toast.

I do worry about Story, a lot. I worry more about Casas than Devers, and the fact that Devers was on pace to beat his career high OPS in mid August makes me feel a little better about him than Casas. I have no elevated concerns about any other everyday players and injuries. I am very concerned about Buehler, Giolito, Crochet, Whitlock and Hendriks and have some concern about Houck, Slaten and Chapman due mostly to his age. We've gotten accustomed to dealing with no Story, although we have added no SS, this winter. Rafaela offered some stability to the position and could in 2025, aagin. Mayer seems closer to being ML ready as ever and is also an injury concern. We have nobody to replace Devers, unless we think Campbell or Grissom can do the job. (Story or Mayer?) We have nobody at 1B, unless you think Romy, Ref and Wong can piece together a decent fill-in. Most likely, we'd need to add another D Smith type. At least with the pitching, we can probably navigate one or two longer term injuries, and maybe Sandoval can be ready, if one goes down after July. We look to be starting the year with a 6 man rotation, so if one goes down, we just move to 5. If two go down, we add the better of Criswell, Fitts, Priester or Dobbins, which is not ideal, buts till better than what we have for depth at corner IF. Our pen is nothing, except for a ton of depth. Not great depth, but numerous promising pitchers at AAA, including a conversion of a SP'er to a MLB pen role.