moonslav59

And the DEN- KC game, too.

Those are all the one year guys with Hendriks having an option for '26. Whitlock is out of our control after 2016. Not many of these will bring back something great, unless they are having a great season. I think it might be too early to think about this.

Reading the MBTR chat and they talked about PHI trading Bohm, if they could get someone to take Castellanos (owed $20M x 2) or T Walker (owed $18M x 2.) Can't think of anything, and DD does not want Yoshida, unless we took both of them. I should just give up looking. The chat also had the host saying a Devers trade would be his choice as a shocker, so ... Devers & Yoshida for Bohm & Castellanos (They may insist we take Walker, too.)

I'd be fine starting the year with a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B, until Campbell gets a shot.

When the pen looks so sketchy, why not do something major about it? RP'ers don't cost $200M/7. They should be JH's friends. Go get one Brez!

I'll see them play here in Houston in August. I'd love to see us play the Cubs at Wrigley Field- the site of my first live baseball game.

A look at the AL rotations (top 6) by Steamer projections; 14.5 BOS: 4.8 Crochet, 2.8 Houck, 2.5 Bello, 1.8 Crawford, 1.4 Buehler, 1.2 Giolito 13.6 NYY: 3.3 Fried, 3.1 Cole, 2.8 Rodon, 1.8 Gil, 1.8 Schmidt, 0.8 Stroman 14.0 SEA: 3.5 Gilbert, 3.3 Kirby, 2.8 Castillo, 1.9 Miller, 1.7 Woo, 0.8 Munoz 13.9 TEX: 5.2 deGrom, 2.9 Eovaldi, 1.9 Rocker, 1.8 J Gray, 1.4 Mahle, 0.7 Leiter/Bradford 13.0 MIN: 3.6 Lopez, 3.2 Ryan, 2.5 Ober, 1.5 Festa, 1.4 Paddack, 1.1 Matthews 12.9 KCR: 3.6 Ragans, 2.8 Lugo, 2.3 Wacha, 1.4 Marsh, 1.4 Wright, 1.4 Bubic 12.5 TBR: 3.2 McClanahan, 2.4 Bradley, 2.2 Pepiot, 2.0 Rasmussen, 1.5 Baz, 1.2 Litell 11.9 HOU: 3.7 Valdez, 3.2 Brown, 1.7 Blanco, 1.2 Garcia & Arrighetti, 0.9 McCullers 11.5 DET: 5.0 Skubal, 2.2 Olson, 2.0 Cobb, 1.6 Mize, 0.5 Montero, 0.2 Jobe 10.1 TOR: 2.9 Gausman, 2.1 Bassitt, 1.9 Berrios, 1.6 Francis, 1.3 Y Rod, 0.3 Bloss 9.6 LAA: 3.1 Kikuchi, 2.1 Soriano, 1.7 Detmers, 1.1 T Anderson, 0.9 K Hendricks, 0.7 Koch. 8.9 BAL: 2.6 Eflin, 2.5 Rodriguez, 1.4 Morton, 1.1 Kremer, 0.8 Povich, 0.5 T Rogers 7.9 CLE: 2.5 Bibee, 1.6 G Williams, 1.5 Bieber, 0.8 Cantillo, 0.7 Lively, 0.6 L Ortiz 7.6 OAK: 2.2 Springs, 2.0 Severino, 1.4 Sears, 1.0 Spence, 0.6 Ginn, 0.4 Estes 5.4 CWS: 1.3 Martin, 1.0 Burke & Cannon, 0.9 Schults & Thorpe, 0.3 B Wilson Notes: Only BOS & TBR have a 6th starter with a value as high as 1.2 (Gio & Litell.) Best 2 SP: 8.1 TEX (counting on deGrom,) 7.6 BOS, 7.2 DET, 6.9 HOU, 6.8 SEA & MIN Best 3 SP: 10.0 TEX, 9.6 SEA, 9.3 MIN, 9.2 DET, 9.1 BOS, 8.7 KCR, 8.6 HOU Maybe we won't be as bad as some of think we will be.

Would this work? Casas to SEA Castillo (maybe a little cash) to ATL Murphy to BOS Then, we make the Arenado trade.

Look how much finishing worst kept Sox fans bitching for years. Nobody likes hearing how much they suck, so yes, they play to win.

I just think he needs to stay healthy and he can hit near 40 Hrs and maybe .850-.875.

1. Point well-taken. Call those two signings a wash. 2. I get the point about Kluber on a 1 year deal, but go ahead and count Kluber+Richards+ Paxton as a $30M/3 signing. Now that is still less than Nat'es $17M x 4, but Nate did pretty well. The Price signing has no match with Bloom, and in some ways, it forced the Betts trade, as well as lessened the return on the Betts trade- a double whammy. The Kimbrell, JD, Pearce and Pom Pom deals might balance out the Price deal, which ended up costing us a lot, although not $210M/7. (Was it more like $150M/3?) The thing working in DD's favor is the fact that so many of the top prospects' traded away did not meet expectations- some fell way short. Moncada, Margot, Dubon did okay, but the gains we made were astounding. The Price signing sucked. The Sale extension sucked, but would have been a little redeemed had Sale had the 2024 season with us. The Nate signing was so-so. JD and Bogey deals worked well. Overall, the signings were a negative, but the trades were a big plus. I can twist and turn and wiggle and worm, but I can't make Bloom's moves even 50-50.

I like our rotation depth, without Giolito than our catching situation, that's how. I was not aware of ATL's rotation depth, but I read they were looking for a SP'er.

I think we need Casas in the line-up. He is one of our best LHBs vs LHPs. I do think he needs to end up at DH, eventually, but his bat is too essential to our outlook. Moving Devers to 1B, DH or some sort of time share makes some sense, but then a Yoshida dump needs to happen, unless we try a Yoshida-Ref platoon in LF, until Anthony wins a FT OF job. LF: Yoshida-Ref platoon CF: Duran (Rafaela) RF: Abreu-Rafaela platoon While the OF D declines due to LF, the CF and RF slots remain very strong, if not GGesque. (The pressumes a Bregman or Arenado addition at 3B.)

They lost 59 starts from Fried & Morton, and need Sale to stay healthy, too.

DD hit big on the Sale trade, but I failed to identify the failed extension. The Nate extension was so-so. The Price signing was an overall failure, but he did okay for the first couple years. Sale's last season w ATL was still under DD's deal, so that looks better, now, than it did, last winter. Overall, that $320M was not well spent, but did it outweigh all the good major deals and signings? If you discount the Story failure due to injury, then discount Sale and Nate, too. JD was a good signing. The Bogey extension was good. The Sale and Kimbrell trades worked very well. If you stretch to say DD was at 50%, that still beats the hell out of Bloom's major deals- granted the Bloom "major deals" were at lower costs than DD's.

soxprospects.com's podcast spoke about the immense focus on pitching on the farm, and the fact that we traded both of our last 2 first draft picks, who were everyday players (Montgomery & Teel) for a pitcher. They talked about all the holes in the AAA everyday roster slots, and how we've really only been adding pitchers. We did add Zavala and Eaton, but we lost Gasper & Meidroth, too. Trading Gasper for Moran pretty much replaced Booser with an equal or better LHP who does not need to be on the 40. Booser got us a far-away pitcher ranked 35th by soxprospects.com and is projected to be in FCL. We also added Austin Adams, Jose Adames, Hobie Harris, Joe Vogatsky (for EValdez) and Noah Davis. In theory, it seems the FO got our memo on improving the pitching throughout the whole system and using everyday prospects to "balance" things out. At the MLB level, we added Crochet, Buehler, Sandoval, Chapman, Wilson and in a sense Giolito, Fulmer & Hendriks, while losing Pivetta, Jansen & Martin plus some scrubs. Over the 2024 season, we also added Priester for Yorke, and over the last winter: Slaten, Fitts, Weissert, Sandlin, I Campbell and others. Later, they spoke of how little 1Bmen are valued, these days. They cited the Nate Lowe & Naylor and trades bring so little back, and Walker not getting huge money and Alonso still not signed. Keeping Casas makes too much sense, since his trade value is probably low. They wondered why SEA would say no to Casas + Yoshida for Castillo with no money, involved. They made me more optimistic about the team's direction.

The Braves could use pitching. I know notin suggested a Story for Murphy deal and roll the dice with Mayer, but how about Giolito for Murphy and roll the dice with Crawford/Criswell/Fitts/Priester/Dobbins for the 5 slot and depth in the rotation? Murphy is owed $15M x 4 with a $15M club option with no buyout. He just turned 30. His contract ends at 33 or 34 w option. His tax hit is just over $12M per year, which fits the Sox budget, well. I'm not sure who says "no." Maybe ATL wants more... like a Cespedes or some non 40 man guy.

3 left coast road trip with just one with all left coast teams. Although the A's are no longer a big push-over, we play them twice in Sept, and we end the season at Detroit. In some ways, Sept looks easier than I can remember: We end August w 3 at home vs PIT, then SEP start w 3 vs CLE at home (not easy.) Then at AZ 3 & OAK 3, Home for 3 v NYY & OAK, at TBR 3 & TOR 3 and home for DET for 3. Season ends Sept 28. We open the season with 4 at TEX and 3 BAL to end March & start APR. Our home opener is vs STL followed by 4 v TOR. We play 7 games vs CWS in April. May has 12 gms vs the NL (6 ATL, 3 NYM and 3 MIL)

I doubt HOU would do this, but they are desperate for an OF'er, and maybe they could stomach Yoshida in LF. Yoshida ($18M x 3) plus $12.5M in '26 and $12.5M in '27 and Kelly or Cespedes/Jh Garcia for Pressley ($14M x 1) and Caratini ($6M x 1) The Astros save $2M in '25 and pay $5.5M x 2 for Yoshida in '26 and '27. We get a good defensive catcher for a season and a decent RP'er and save $9M over 3 years.

I'm going with the, "this is a face-saving, knee jerk reaction move." (If it happens.)

0 chance we sign Scott 0 chance of Hoffman, as he wants to be a starter Yates is likely to get just one year, so that is something you'd think the Sox would be all over, but I've heard no rumors of interest. (Not that "interest" matters much with the Sox.) Estevez or Finnegan might be the best we can hope for. Some of the others don't get me all that excited, but they may be better than Guerrero or Wilson, our current #7 and 8 men in the pen. Upgrading our 8th man in the pen does not do it for me.)

It's hard to make it sound like Bloom was equal to Dombro. His sample size is too small to know. He struck out with Story and Yoshida, so I'd say his major talent spots has a record of 0-2. Dombro was 4-0-1 or 4-1, at worst 3-2 with his major additions (Sale, JD, Nate, Kimbrell & Price.) Bloom did okay with lower level additions, but swung and missed on his higher level one year deals, like Richards, Kluber, Kike II and the Barnes extension. DD did okay on some mid-level guys like Pearce, but not very well on others.

I get the stockpiling philosophy, but the Dodgers also have a solid 9 starters, most do not have a glaring weakness or two like ours do. Good bat/horrible D: Devers, Casas, Wong, Ref & Yoshida Good D/ Bad or questionable bat: Story, Rafaela, Abreu (v L) All around good or better: Duran Injury concerns: Story, Casas, Yoshida We do have the "luxury" of having extended depth off the 40 man roster with Campbell, Anthony and Mayer. Except for catcher, we have pretty good depth and a few players that can play many positions well or pretty well, namely Rafaela and Romy. Having 2 pretty much DH only players, like Yoshida and Ref restrict the flexibility and creates a 26 roster crunch, but we need Refs RHB and Yoshida is untradeable and still offers some hope as a good-hitting DH and emergency LF'er. At some point, especially when we start adding our top 3 prospects to the 40 and 26, we will have to trade someone. Sure, we can "stockpile" in AAA guys like Romy, Grissom and DHam, but why not seek to turn a flawed position into an all around good player? Adding Bregman, and to a lesser extent Arenado would do that to 3B, but it complicates other roster slots. Either we dump Yoshida or Casas or force Yoshida-Ref to play a LF platoon and maybe squeeze the OF or trade Abreu and or Rafaela. I know Rafaela is paid too much to be a "super utility" guy, but he could probably get a lot of PAs in the OF, and at 2B or even SS in an emergency. He could play RF vs LHPs (platoon with Abreu) and 2B vs RHPs, if we stash DHam in AAA. (Grissom or Romy could play 2B vs LHPs, until Campbell wins the position, outright. We won't add Campbell to the 40 and 26 to be a platoon or back-up. (Same with Anthony & Mayer.) I know teams are not looking to make 2 for 1 trades, right now, as they all face 40 man roster crunches to varying degrees, but there are a few teams, like OAK, PIT, CWS and maybe a couple others, where guys we may be looking to stash at AAA would be starters on their team, or certainly better than their #39 and 40 man roster players. I would also not rule out adding a good prospect or two to make a deal happen, where we fill our closer need, add a power RHB and or fix a defensive issue at C, 3B or 1B with an all around player or two. I really like Abreu and seem to value him more highly than some, here, but I think he'd fetch a decent closer, catcher or just a duplicate of himself, but RH'd. Casas does not seem to have the trade value that equals what I think he can do for us with the bat, in the next few years. Ideally, he would DH, but a timeshare at 1B/DH w Devers would work, for me. I tend to think DHam has more trade value than others, too and fWAR agrees with me. Speed is a bigger value, these days, and he showed he can play plus 2B defense, too. His bat vs LHPs is lacking, but many teams have a platoon partner already in their system. I think Casas & DHam for Miller might be accepted. Maybe we add Kelly or Penrod. I'm not sure about Abreo to OAK. If we traded for Arenado and traded Casas + for Miller, our roster would look much better. Improved R-L balance (Casas>Arenado). Improved 3B defense (Arenado). Possible improved 1B defense (Devers.) No DH squeeze on Yoshida-Ref with Casas gone. No need to have Yoshida-Ref play LF, unless in an emergency or after a PH situation, late in a game. The closer position not only filled for years, but filled very nicely. Not needing Chapman, Hendriks and Slaten to close better defines their roles and improves the whole pen by moving everyone down one notch on the high leverage scale of useage. These aren't earth-shattering moves. Depending of what we give STL or how much they pay on Arenado's deal, it could be cheaper and shorter term than signing Breg.

I'm on the plus side with Brez. The one really botched move was Sale, but I still think there was a solid reason for making that trade. His deadline moves backfired, except for Jansen, and the Gio injury made him look bad, but the Crochet, O'Neill, Fitts/Weissert, Slaten, Sandlin and Priester deals looks pretty good, but much is speculative on these deals.

I agree, and last year, I think I came up with a list of 30-35 "what ifs" or "if this goes right" scenarios and said that we didn't need all to go right but maybe half or two-thirds. We probably have close to that again, but to me, maybe they don't seem so far-fetched. A few what ifs look a lot better, this year, than last, especially Houck and Duran. Here is a rough list, as of now... Just stay healthy: Story, Casas, Devers, Buehler, Giolito, Whitlock, Hendriks, Yoshida and Sandoval (July-Aug?) Just don't decline: Crochet, Houck, Duran, Chapman, Slaten, Ref, DHam, Abreu (maybe get better v LHPs) and those on the "stay healthy list could be here, too. (guys like Gio, Buehler and Hendriks have more than just injury questions.) The more specific questionables: Crawford- get the HRs under control (He seemed to answer the IP question in '24.) Bello- did not improve in 2024, but still has a lot of potential, IMO. Winckowski- seems like a bit of a wildcard. Criswell- was 2024 a fluke? Priester, Fitts & Dobbins- we may just need 1 to do well, maybe two. Guerrero, Kelly, Weissert, Bernardino, Penrod & Shugart- all on the 40 and have some level of promise or decent ceilings. We might need a few of these guys to rise up and do well. We may not have the luxury of cycling through 3-4 of these guys doing poorly, before we find one or two that do well. Fulmer, I Campbell, Mata, A Adames, Gambrell, Drohan and others are not on the 40, but may be added, if injuries or DFAs occur. Wong- improve the D, dude! (He seemed to answer the O questions in '24.) Grissom- more questions now than last winter. Rafaela (no SS, please)- needs to improve on O and stop making easy out errors Narvaez- Looks good on D, so I've been told, but is he a true MLB catcher, yet? Romy- may not be needed to improve or stay the same. Anthony, Campbell & Mayer are all very promising but unknowns. Sogard & Jh Garcia (on the 40) and Zavala, Eaton and Hickey (not on the 40) could be used, at some point.