moonslav59

I was responding to the "not much power" comment, and I think 27 HRs per 162 is quite a bit of power. Devers has topped 27 HRs 3 times in 7 years (6 not counting 2020, when he was on pace for 26.)

"Moot" is the Sox word for the winter.

I've heard he is plas on D, but that might just be the biased media, down here in Houston. Metrics show clear plus, but not great on D. "Not much power?" He hit 31 bombs in 2023 and averaged 27 per 162 games from '23-'24. His .244 BA is not ideal, but he's walked enough to have a near .350 OBP, in the past 2 years. That would have placed second on the Sox in 2024. Plus D, Plus Power and Plus OB skills.

I already responded to this point, and I suggested a lesser offer. I also included 1 year Cartini coming back to us.

Yup, but they won't come out and just say it. "If the right guy comes along, we'll pay..." What BS.

See what happens when the NFL feels the pressure to let the refs call a clean game?

More of the disconnect being exposed. I have hard time thinking Brez keeps slamming on the breaks and deeming this or that guy, too expensive for his liking. I can't believe Brez chose to leave money on the table out of some sense of not overpaying anyone.

It should not have been "the plan," but it sure looks like it is. Ideally, you don't count on the kids, until they've shown something or actually won the job, the year before.

No, but O'Neall might be one of the hardest to project. STEAMERS projected 111 games, a .749 OPS and 1.8 WAR. .232 23 67 for old schoolers Other projections: K Campbell .266 10 43 (.768 OPS and 2.0 WAR) 96 gms Anthony .244 8 38 (.724 OPS) 0.8 WAR in 91 gms Maybe, they did "replace" him.

Plus, keeping O'Neall is hardly a sure bet we would have been keeping the 2024 O'Neall.

Didn't say bust. While Buehler and Sandoval may "work well for us," eventually, they have yet to do so, and they were part of my claim on saying getting 1 or 2 pitchers for $108M/5 might have worked better than splitting it up among 5-6 guys.

I know we have beaten this issue to death, but these one and done or two year pitcher deals on guys recovering from recent injuries have not worked out well for us. $10M Richards '21 $10M Paxton '22 (really a 2 year deal) $10M Kluber '23 $39M/2 Giolito '24 $21M Buehler '25 $18M/2 Sandoval '25 This has basically amounted to $108M/5 (6 years, if you count Sandoval as a 2026 deal.) I hate pulling out the hindsight card, but here are some deals similar to 108/5 or $108/6 we have seen since 2021: $110M/5 Gausman '22 $56M/4 Jon Gray $63M/3 Bassitt '23 $53M/4 Imanaga '24 $44M/4 Lugo '24 $75M/5 Senga '24 $75M/3 Gray '24 $75M/3 Nate '25 Of course, one could point to Robbie Ray at $115M/5 in '22. Handpicking the best might have been to sign Gausman back in '22 at the same money we spent, of signing 2 from Bassitt, Lugo and Imanaga.

I doubt we'd have kept O'Neill and then spent that much on Buehler. O'Neill over Sandoval would have cost more, but maybe could have been managed. (Maybe no Chapman, too?)

Let's compare the Sox rotation to the Yankees. fangraphs has the Sox rotation projected as #1 in the AL (#4 in MLB) and the NYY at #6 (3rd in the AL, behind BOS & SEA.) We all know there are way to many questions concerning the Sox rotation that we'd like, but maybe we don't realize how many questions surround the Yankee rotation, too. The Sox: 4.5 Crochet- questions about durability as a SP'er are legit. 2.9 Houck- can he repeat 2024 and maybe give more IP? 2.6 Bello- can he improve on 2023, as 2024 was worse? 1.8 Buehler- health, health, health? 1.6 Crawford- another guy who was better in '23, but showed durability in '23. 1.2 Giolito- the Sox are the only team with 6 guys at 1.2 plus. (Sandoval, Fitts, Criswell, Priester, Dobbins and Fulmer offer nice depth.) The Yanks 3.4 Fried: just turned 31 and has 5 straight seasons of excellent pitching (151 ERA+) and 112 GS out of a possible 140-142ish. Not really an injury concern, but maybe his age will start showing, soon. 3.0 Cole: He was one of the most dependable SP'ers from 2017-2023, averaging about as many starts as possible, every year. He was also about as close to the best from 2018-2023 as can be with a 146 ERA+. He and Fried offer a very formidable 1-2 punch. The only real questions is about 2024 and his age. He turns 35 in September and missed half the 2024 season with injury. His 121 ERA+ was still very good, but was a big drop from his league-leading 165 in 2023. 2.6 Rodon: nobody can claim he is not a huge question mark. This guy only started 33 out of about 76 starts from 2019-2021, then went 31>14>32 in the last 3 seasons- a clear step up, but not really heart-warming dependability. His ERA+ in the past 3 seasons have been about as unpredictable as anyone in MLB: 137>63>104 (103 combined is nothing to get jacked up over.) His 116 ERA+ since 2021 is something to like, though. 1.7 Gil: This 26 year old has enormous promise, no doubt, and he started 29 games in 2024 with a 117 ERA+. His lack of GS'd before last year is the big issue: 20 in 2021 (6 in MLB) and 7 in '23 (1 in MLB) While he certainly looks better than Bello & Crawford, is he more reliable? (Bello had a 107 ERA+ in '23 and Crawford's was 113- not too far from Gil's 2024 number.) Gil's 4.6 BB/9 in 2024 is also a major concern. 1.7 Schmidt: He turns 29, soon, so is in peak prime. He had an excellent 2024 season, in terms of pitching well (146 ERA+,) but the 16 GS was his issue. He did start 62 games from '22-'23, so maybe, missing time is not a major concern. He has a 109 ERA+ over the past 3 seasons, but 106 over the past 2 seasons. Crawford's is 104 and Bello's is 101. He looks better than Bello and Crawford, but it is no sure bet he out pitches them in '25. 0.9 Stroman: He is reportedly being shopped, so maybe he won't even be on their 26 to start the season. To me, he is about equal to Giolito, in terms of production. Gio missed 2024, but Stroman started just 11 games from 2019-2020 out of 45. (Brubaker, Warren & Hampston as so-so depth) I'll take our depth over this, 7 days a week. If the Yanks trade Stroman, they could be one injury away from something awful.

Maybe including Crawford to get Paredes and Cartini is an overpay, but I am super high on Paredes and maybe lower than most on Crawford. I'm not sure HOU takes Abreu, Fitts or Priester and Cespedes for Paredes and Cartini.

Kind of an encouraging video. They call our 1-6 line-up maybe the top in the ALE, without even mentioning Refsnyder. If you count Wong in the 1-7, who had a plus wRC+ in 2024, maybe it stretches to 1-7. (Our #8-9 do not look awful, either.) They spoke of how "atrocious" our defense is, and all the missed winter opportunities to improve it- most notably on Bregman or Arenado. They do not even discuss Yoshida/Ref to LF. They see trading Casas as the only option, if we add a 3Bman, or adding a prospect to Yoshida to trade him. They even suggested sending Casas or Yoshida to AAA, until an injury happens. They spoke of Bregman at 2B, since he had the weakest 3B arm in 2024. As expected, they spoke of the youth that can fill in at our highest need areas: 2B, SS and maybe OF. Having Mayer at SS and Story or Campbell at 2B would "greatly improve" the team defense. We have to fix the lefty unbalance in the line-up, "at some point." They feel Buehler being projected as our 5th best SP'er is wrong. They think he's our #2. They still think the Yanks rotation is better. (I'll write about this, soon.) They "feel good" about the pen, but not great. Good AAA depth. Overall, they say we have strengths on offense, the rotation and the pen, and our only weakness is the defense. Injuries has been our "issue," recently. They speak of the Yanks having less depth, in case of major injuries. The Sox are better equipped to handle any injury, except Devers. They need "health on their side." One guy questions Cora's quality.

I don't see HOU doing this deal. They need offense. They have SP'ers, although they have more battling recent injuries than we do, which is not easy. We can afford to lose Crawford, and if we add the RHB Paredes, we can also afford to part with a LHB that HOU desperately needs in Abreu. It's not my favorite plan to start the season with a Yoshida-Ref platoon in LF, but they would likely combined for an .800+ OPS. Duran can play CF, well and Anthony/Campbell could play RF, if Rafaela stumbles. 1. L Duran CF 2. L Devers 1B/DH 3. R Paredes 3B 4. L Casas DH/1B 5. L Yoshida/R Refsnyder LF 6. R Story SS 7. L Anthony RF/ R Campbell RF/2B (choose one: no platoon) 8. R Campbell 2B or R Rafaela CF or L DHam- R Romy platoon at 2B 9. R Cartini/ RWong C I like this line-up better than 2024's. The D is better at 3B and C and worse in LF

If you count Gio and Hendriks as 2025 additions, Brez has done a lot to bolster the pitching staff, but he's left the other half of the roster up to the kids, and the kids alone. Stop with the "not putting pressure" on them. This is precisely what he did. He replaced McGuire with Narvaez, and that is it on everyday players. Pitching add-ons: Crochet. Buehler, Giolito, Sandoval (Damn! 4 meaningful SP'er additions!) Plus, Criswell, Fulmer, Fitts & Priester from 2024. Hendriks, Chapman, Wilson do not really replace Jansen & Martin, but we also lost some pretty bad RP'ers, so maybe call it even. (Brez added Slaten, Weissert, I Campbell and in 2024.) Great job on the rotation, which needed help, but maybe not this much. Meh on the pen. Nothing on everyday players with no O'Neill replacement. Nothing on improving the defense, beyond hoping for less injuries. Okay, in one area we "took steps," forward. In others, we stood still or took steps backwards. Once, again, it comes down to Story's health & production level, general team health and the kids.

We need actionS- not talk. The worst part is, a couple more minor to moderate additions were all we really need to be pretty strong contenders for 2nd place.

One area we have actually done pretty well on is these one and done OF deals: Renfroe (coulda kept longer than 1)>Duvall> O'Neill.

This is my main beef. If we end up doing something equal or better, in the next few weeks, fine, but I'm not holding my breath. We could have signed Grichuk or Laureano and a pen arm, while still remaining way below the tax line. No excuses, unless we see something else. Not much is less, unless there is a trade. (Bregman and or Robertson?) Arenado? (Yikes!) We have been backed into a corner, where just about the only reasonable available player left is Robertson, (other than a trade) and I seriously doubt we get him.

Paredes is no give away. You are not getting Paredes for Crawford, straight up.

True, but Sale was a walking injury waiting to happen. Arenado is in a 2 year decline.

Crawford, Kelly and Abreu for Paredes and Cartini