moonslav59

I never had much faith in TOR playing nearly that well again, this year. I also thought the Yanks would be worse or the same, depending on injuries. The Rays are a big surprise, and maybe they have a come-down-to-earth stretch coming up, soon. (Maybe when we play them.) SEA, CLE, TEX, MIN? I don't see them as being better than we are. To me the AL is wide open, unless the Rays never let up.

Spot on. I will say that far-away prospects like Rivas, Delzine, Primera and Soto do not have as much trade value as in the "old days." Teams want more proven prospects or ones that are ML ready or nearly there.

Yup. If we do buy Witherspoon or Phillips and Gonzalez, at most. (Add mid levels, if needed.)

We will get "blown away" offers and no, you don't get Adell or Ward for 2 month rentals. Newsflash: we suck at middle infield, and you want to trade Arias. A big NO on that idea. Gray is a FA and Crochet, Houck, Crawford remain big question marks, so a BIG NO on trading Eyanson, too. Anyone else, maybe.

I agree, although Lindor's "decline" is more recent and may be just a blip. He turns 33, soon, so he looks like a future deadweight contract. The Mets wont take back Story and Yoshida, so nope on him, too.

I am still for selling, and not because I think we have an under 50% chance of making the playoffs. I think we will. I think we will end up 6-12 games over .500. My reason is this: We'd need to be mega buyers to have a really good chance at a ring. I'm not a "playoffs are a crapshoot" guy. I do think with a couple moderate adds we could be competitive with all other AL teams- hell we are now, but those NL teams look unbeatable, to me. Why cash in the future for a big playoff letdown? I know to some, making the WS would be worthy trade-off. Not me. This team is fragile enough, as it is, and we will be needing farm infusions for years to come, because it seems obvious to many (I know you and I for sure) that JH is not going to spend like the Mets and Dodgers, Even the Yanks, Philly, TOR and SDP are likely far out of reach on team spending budgets going forward. I like that JH has upped the winter spending budgets and ridding ourselves of the Devers contract bodes well, going forward, but we are and will continue to be limited (handcuffed) by our "new spending" budget, and the farm is our major resource to combat that. We can hope the Brez makes more trades like last winter, but we've seen enough trades like Sale, Harrison and others go south to know we can't count on 75% genius moves, which is what we'd need if we trade away Arias, Eyanson, Witherspoon & Gonzales. There is still time for my mind to be changed, but as of now, I'm ranking our deadline chices as such: 1. SELL only free agents to be and if we get something very nice for Chapman, do it. I'd include Duran, Story, Yoshida and maybe Whitlock, but the first 3 have next to zero trade value or worse. 2. Buy mildly by trading only prospects at or below Phillips (Holobetz, Cespedes and the like) for the best RHB we can find for that value. Maybe add a RP'er, but deadline overpays are usually not worth it for pen arms. I doubt we get anyone much better than the guy we just cut- the .629 OPSA Coulombe. 3. Buy a little bit more than mildly by adding Witherspoon, Azocar, Godbout and Valera to the #2 listmentioned. Get a better RHB or two (DH + middle infielder) 4. Do nothing or close to it. 5. All in buy. The Don'ts: 1. No top prospects for rentals. 2. No taking on long and expensive contracts, unless some significant money is added, or they take back Story or Yoshida to help balance our future budgets. 3. NO BICHETTE!!!!

They "dumped" a bunch of players that are doing worse, now and a couple doing better. Did you want DMay, Matz and Toro back? Okay, seriously, now, Bregman, Ref, Giolito, DHam, Perales, Clarke, Jh Garcia and on and on? The only ones doing better are Harrison, Drohan and N Lowe a little bit. I'm glad we replaced them with Contreras, Gray, Suarez and Bennett. Seigler> DHam. (Hell, Monasterio is, too.) Durbin => Bregman (at a tiny fraction of the cost) Contreras> Toro, Lowe & Co at 1B Bennett> Perales & DMay Gray> Giolito Suarez > everyone else We lost too many games due to sticking with everyday vets- some nearing or in prime and Story exiting prime. We lost too many games due to a collective team slump and some injuries that are not really more than the average, but even with DH depth, we sucked there. We did cover the SP'er depth more than well enough, however.

If we are going to be buyers, let this be the golden rule. Cheap rentals, okay or maybe, but don't get dumb from wide-eyes.

2 games below .500 is "well below?"

...has fallen is more like it.

The fact that colleges can pay players adds a wrinkle to this while bonus thing.

So, it's the ASB and we are nearing the big choice on August 3rd: 1. Sell: trade Gray, IKF, Sandoval and maybe Chapman. (Duran or Oviedo and maybe Whitlock?) 2. Buy: trade mid level prospects for a better bat and a RP'er. 3. Buy more: maybe go as high as Witherspoon, Valera, Gonzales and or Godbout/Phillips plus mid level. Get a real bat and a higher quality RPer or another bat. 4. Do barely nothing. Maybe trade a Rule 5 prospect, Sandoval and Cespedes for one improvement. 5. Do nothing at all. (I don't see a milder version of selling as a choice. If we sell, sell.)

I'm not buying it. You shoulda just stuck with calling us "flops" and beyond any hopes of midseason turnarounds, by saying "even with 2-3 additions."

Our draft pick rankings: 1-20: Jake Schaffner, SS (BA: 98; MLB: 75; ESPN: 51) CP-67: Owen Hull, OF (BA: 60; MLB: 67; ESPN: 62 3-96: Jace Mataczynski, SS (BA: 102; MLB: 131; ESPN: 77) 6-185: Brett Lanman, LHP (BA: 307) 7-214: Kide Adetuyi, LHP (BA: 442) 9-274: Martin Shelar, OF (BA: 125; MLB: 175; ESPN: 80) 10-304: Kaleb LaFavor, RHP (BA: 461; ESPN: 171) 18-544: Ethan Offing, OF (BA: 377) If you go by the highest, we had... 51, 60, 77, 80, 171, 307, 377, 442 4 in the top 80 is not bad, when you have such a late pick and forfeited 2nd and 4th rounders. Here is a link to soxprospects.com on the signing period, which ends July 27th: https://news.soxprospects.com/2026/07/welcome-to-2025-draft-signing-period.html

TOR lost. How far they have sunk. I guess we aren't the only first to last team around.

I think Shelar is the overslot guy they wanted. LsFavor might get a little bit overslot.

We aren't getting 2 controlled bats at the deadline. Thats not what all in is.

My post was based on your point about no demoting Rivera, but then you demote him, here and Sandoval. (I'd keep both over Watson.)

Having all in second doesnt make sense, if we are as bad as you think.

Just admit we aren't close to being good enough to go "all in." If you can't, then all your talk of us being flops was in jest.

I'm not sure we have a 40 man roster crunch, this winter involving R5 prospects, but sure.

Yes, but I think Romero is falling.

I mentioned the 3 and 4 mid to lower level prospect trades for Luis Garcia and Danny Jansen trades as the types we might see, this deadline. I'm thinking #13 and over.... Holobetz, Cespedes or Romero Wehunt, Paez or Uberstine Mullins, Bastardo or Monegro Gerardo Rodriguez or Luke Heyman Winnay or Mason White Brannon or Jo Garcia Castro or Bleis We should not expect great returns. We should not expect higher prospects traded, either, but maybe the pressure builds. The days of Aldo Ramirez, who I think was our #8 prospect, for Schwarber are over.Would we trade ... 3 Witherspoon? 5 Gonzales? 6 Azocar? 8 Godbout 9 Valera 12 Phillips (He is borderline for my first list.) I skipped the really young prospects, as they are no longer valued highly in trades.

I'm hearing Martin Shelar might be very special. He's just 18 and already had 115 exit velocity. BA had him at #125 and at #49 among HS players. That's not bad for a 9th rounder. BP had him at #13! He led all high schoolers with 19 in 33 games! BA says he has a "chance for 70-grade raw power." Apparently, LaFavor might get an overslot bonus, too.

I'd give Watson back, but make no mistake, Rivera is going back when Early or Suarez come off the IL. I guess they could send Moran down, but he's tied with Bennett for the team lead in OPS Against at .550. I think Weissert has an option left, but we will need to demote 2 guys, when Early & Suarez return. What two do you choose?