moonslav59

This probably what matters most: League vs RHP: .711/ Sox .747 (+37) League vs LHP: .711/ Sox .728 (+17) No park factors included, here. But these numbers are interesting: League RHB v RHP .691/ Sox .646 (-45) League RHB v LHP .728/ Sox .815 (+87) League LHB v RHP .734/ Sox .813 (+79) League LHB v LHP .668/ Sox .628 (-40) We never hear about our RHBs vs RHPs, which is our worst split and it happens more often than any other split.

There still is a little bit of "is this guy for real" aspect to KC, but I think he is.

Yes, and ... 37. Rivas 38. Ramos 39. Delzine It looks like these guys are ranked higher than previous years' IFAs. (Narvaez is ranked 28th and Yhoiker Fajardo, the guy we got from the CWS for Bosser is ranked 36th.)

The NCAA has to schedule their playoff games better, next year. Some were during NFL games, including the U of Texas game during the Texans game. I'm glad they kept Alabama out of the playoffs rather than bow to the pressure. The system is flawed, but it's better than the ones they had before. I don't think it's fair to give the top 4 seeds only to the big 5 conference winners, but I see the reasoning behind it. Some teams, like ND did not have to win an "extra game" with a conference championship game. Maybe ND joins a conference, at some point. The AAC looks like an easier one to win, and we are part of the AAC for basketball.

That's always your excuse when a team you think is not good, does better than you expected: "It must be the other teams weren't very good." Georgia was a damn good team. Penn St, too. Indiana might not have been as good as their record indicated, but they were no slouch. Army won their bowl game, as did USC over a decent A&M team we beat. Navy, MIA OH, No. Illi and Louisville all won their bowl games, too. GA Tech and A&M lost theirs. I think only 2 teams we played did not make a bowl game. We played 5 ranked teams, during the season and went 5-0. So, Alabama was not "Alabama," this year. That does not mean the rets of the NCAA was watered down.

You certainly win the "Gloater of the Year Award." You were dead right about the Domers from day one. (sarcasm alert.)

Wong actually has career reverse splits, and there are lefties that hit lefties better than he does. (.686/.727) 2023-2024 OPS vs LHPs (Returning players only) .886 Refsnyder .879 Romy (may start in AAA) .794 Casas (talk of trading him) .749 Devers .721 Wong **** NEWSFLASH: Here is where Bregman places at .704 **** .680 Duran (YIKES! Our leadoff hitter!) .669 Yoshida (the guy we designate as a hitter) **** 2nd NEWSFLASH: Arenado at .654 **** .610 Rafaela (also reverse career splits) .573 Story (one guy we hope might be the savior) .539 DHam (should never start vs a LHP) .514 Abreu (see DHam comment)

Of course that is at least half of the issue, but if we really chose someone else over Story, Yoshida or maybe Bregman, we could have chosen to "do what it takes" to land him. Instead we outbid everyone for Story & Yoshida, and now, maybe Bregman. Yes, it's kinda like War Games, where our objective is "not to play the game," but it is also making poor choices on the games (guys) we do choose to play. We are plating tic-tac-toe, while others are playing 3D chess.

It's not worry: it's wonderment. Of course, I'd be happy to see us fix two of what I view as out top 5-6 high need areas, assuming he starts at 3B. I just wonder, "why him?" Because he's the last decent FA remaining? Because maybe his price will fall into JH's range? Because they don't think they have shammed the fans into enough interest to turn a big buck? We will, indeed, be much better with Bregman than without. That's a good thing, but we all know one thing for sure: a dollar spent by JH< now, will be a dollar not spent tomorrow. It's always an either/or situation, and signing Bregman, now, mean not filling a need that develops, later- maybe 2 or 3 needs. We can also look at just this winter and ask, was this the best way to spend the winter budget handed to Brez? Assuming Bregman gets $160M/7, we could have gotten Scott & Teoscar for less, "in theory," (I'm sure we could come up with other combos of 2-3 others. I get the sense that the Sox upper brass is not feeling the level of angst fro Sox Nation, perhaps they should. The whole Dodger situation has made many MLB fans throw their arms in the air and think there is no hope our team can compete with that. We stick with our one and done deals and make a splashy trade for a 2 year deal. Whoop-Deee- Freakin'- Dooooo! But hey, they tell us, "We have a bunch of injured players returning," like this is something new and promising.

You crack me up. I'm just hoping a top 2-3 group of SP'ers will carry us into the playoffs, where I've often heard, "all bets are off."

Dodgers to sign Yates, right after the Scott deal. There goes the one area of weakness they had. This is worse than the Yankee reign of financial dominance.

I could see the Sox signing Yates, since he turns 38 before opening day and would take a one year deal. Jansen turns 38 in September, so maybe he could still be a late signee on a one year deal. I'm not sure how much either of these two would move the needle, but at least both have experience as closers, and pitched, last year. We probably will not be adding a RHB, unless it's someone like Grichuk, but we already have Refsnyder. Could it be Yates and call it a day? (Could it be we are done with any meaningful additions?)

We came a lot closer than we have in decades, but OSU was just too talented to overcome. I'm excited about our coaching, and maybe getting this far will help with recruiting, going forward. The 2025 schedule: at Miami FL Texas A&M Purdue at Arkansas Boise St USC Navy at PItt at B C N Carolina Syracuse Not an easy schedule, but not super difficult.

I'm thinking STL is so desperate to dump Arenado, maybe we end up getting him, and we end up getting a second piece to sweeten the deal. (Helsley, Herrera or Contreras?) Or, we just get them to pay a big chunk or take back Yoshida, and we pay some, but not as much as we would trading him by himself. I have no idea who STL wants, and I'm sure they don't want Yoshida. Getting someone like Helsley, Herrera or Contreras won't be cheap. Contreras makes $18M x 3 (same as Yoshida,) so maybe Arenado & Contreras for Yoshida, Fitts, Cespedes & Valera. Maybe, no money changes hands, so basically Yoshida cancels Contreras, but maybe STL would still pay some. I'm not a fan of Arenado, but dumping Yoshida and getting Contreras, Herrera or Helsley could be a difference maker, and our D would improve.

That has been the story since letting Kimbrel and Kelly go after 2018, and doing nothing to replace them. They also came close to trading Betts during 2019, and it's not changed since then. Counting 2025, we are now 7 years running on this top priority.

Many viewed Houck as the 6th starter, until Gio went down. Criswell might have been viewed as the 4th starter in AAA by soxprospects.com, behind Gambrell, Van Belle and Alexander. I do think our depth for the rotation is one of our pluses. First, we may start with a 6 man rotation, and then we have Criswell, Fitts, Priester, Dobbins and Fulmer. That's 11 guys with some promise. Maybe we can use some of them to beef up the pen.

I'm not asking anyone to go back and Monday morning QB this thing, but just think about all the players who were FAs, and who the Sox ended up identifying and going after strong enough to be the highest bidder or the team the FA chose to sign with. We signed Price to a huge deal in 2016 and then JD to $110M/5 in 2018, then the only big deal guy we got was Story and the next might be Bregman. (Count Nate as a FS, if you must, but he was at half the money Story got, anyway.) 7 winters: Story and maybe Bregman. Those are the two "guys" we chose to target and make it happen. This is not about sour grapes on Story. I saw the value in the signing, but still, that's it? Just one guy and that "guy" is Story, and now the next one might be "Bregman?" I get that part of it is just being too cheap to pay more and get Semien or the like, instead of Story or someone like Fried, Burnes or FAs from the last few years vs Bregman. Another part is just getting the mid and lower mid range signings wrong way more than right, and that is a bit of hindsight judging, but also you get what you pay for when you go for bargain deals.

It was Criswell.

So, it's more about the 4 years than the age, as mentioned, before. Scott will be younger at the end of year 4 than Jansen and Martin were, when they started their duo two year deals.

No, I say he's not the kind of guy I think we should have spent large & long on. The Sox might very well do it. They did on Story, too. This is not about hindsight evaluations, but these are the only FA signings, after JD over $39M: ***$140 Story $68M Nate (nore like an extension) ***$90M Yoshida If you are going to spend like this, would you pick these 2*** over a 7 year period? Or make Bregman #3?

You think otherwise? It looks like another "play if halfway" or try and give the perception we are trying to compete, while falling short of being a true competitor. My point about Grichuk and then trading Abreu to fill another need was not a tank move, unless he was traded for prospects, which I did give as one of 3 options. (We could also flip the prospects from Abreu for a catcher or RP'er) I'm not for tanking, this year. My position has been clear as day: The window should begin in 2025. We should not wait until even 2026.

I mentioned a few in the Story-Bregman range, which are not "cheap" deals. Maybe the Yoshida deal can be included and JD, if you go back to 2018. Just 4 FA deals over $40M since Price: $140M Story, $110M JD, $90M Yoshida & $68M Nate (more like an extension) It's 3 after JD and two, if you don't count Nate. It's one, if you set the filter over $90M. This is clear evidence of going cheap, but it also highlights what a bold move it would be to break protocol for a guy like Bregman. Again, I ask "Why Bregman?"

I also think that we could do and could have done better with the mid range deal of Story ($140M/6) or whatever Bregman gets ($85M/3 to $190M/6ish) I just don't see these two guys as the "ones we should have targeted" to spend the most money on since Price's contract in 2016. That's not to say the Story signing had no logic to it, or that a Bregman signing wouldn't help us, now. I just think these two would not be who I pick as "the guys."

I'm surprised Dubon still has one arb year left. That trade seems so long ago,