moonslav59

I know a guy who knows a guy...

I'm not expecting a Joe Ryan or Keller. I'm not even expecting a Cease or M Kelly type. My point is that I think we'd be significant contenders if we added a Ryan, a solid RP'er and a decent LH'd 1Bman to platoon with Romy. I agree on what you think Brez will do. He may step it up, slightly. While Paxton, Danny Jansen, Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims might not have worked out real well, they were fairly decent attempts at striking gold (or maybe bronze.) Brez traded far away hopefuls: Moises Bolivar, Y Vargas, Bautista & Ovis Portes and Rule 5/borderline prospects like M Lugo, Paulino, Coffey, Kavadas, Zeferjahn, He also traded Yorke for Quinn Priester- sort of a sideways move. That's 10 prospects traded in just a week. Yorke was ranked 12th, Lugo 13th, Paulino 15th (overrated) Coffey 28th and falling and Portes 29th, perhaps rising. The rest were below 30th. If we traded the same ranked players, it might be: 12 Romero (Sandlin is 11th/Early 10th) 13 Bleis 16 Cespedes (15th is J Gonzales) 28th Ehrhard 29th Hector Ramos This year, I could see us trading #4 Arias or #6 Jh Garcia, but I would not bet on it. Maybe... 7 Tibbs 10 Early 11 Sandlin 12 Romero, 13 Bleis 16 Cespedes, 17 Paez, 19 Jordan, 21 Uberstine 23 Mullins, 24 Castro, 25 Wehunt, 31 Monegro I'm not sure trading away Rule 5 guys with no chance of being selected makes them more likely to be traded.

The Sox are likely talking to many teams about a SP'er, pen arm and an inexpensive short term 1B fix.

Earlier, this year, almost everyone felt the Sox were not close to the Yanks, in terms of being a top competitor. Now, it looks the the Jays and a couple NL teams look too hard to beat. I'm not going to claim going 3-3 vs those two NL teams proves anything, but adding 2 key pieces would certainly put us close enough to have a legit chance. Granted, those two teams may also add 1-2 key pieces, as well. While I do not think we should sell out the majority of the farm to go for it in 2025 (with mostly rentals,) I do think we can make a couple strategic moves without killing our future and make a serious run in '25.

You don't trade 3 years of Duran for 2 months of a struggling, but very good SP'er. The top 30 prospect does make a huge difference, but we have a top 10 catcher, already. I hope it was just hyperbole when suggesting Brez pack his bags for saying no. Trading Duran (plus others) for Joe Ryan or Mitch Keller makes way more sense. 2 month pitchers do not.

I don't want to trade Duran: we need to trade an OF'er. It should not be Anthony, but I'd trade him for the right piece. It probably shouldn't be Rafaela, due to his defense and flexibility, plus the longer team control at a reasonable cost. That leaves GG RF'er and team HR leader Abreu vs Duran. Nobody wants to hand Duran away. Nobody thinks he's not a very good or even great offensive weapon. Some like the idea of selling high not low. Some see his defense as the worst of the 4. Some worry about his emotional instability or whatever you want to call it. Some see his splits vs LHPs as just marginally better than Abreu's, especially of late. JH Garcia offers a very promising look at OF depth and a Yoshida-Ref platoon in LF offers and emergency depth plan. It's not an easy choice to make, but Rafaela should be playing CF and Anthony needs to play everyday. Those are the two foundational aspects of our loaded OF, as of now and probably for many years to come.

Yes, and Cora is the same manager when winning and losing. When his mostly good choices work- silence. When his mostly good choices fail- he's the bum.

When we win, the Cora bashing lessens, slightly.

"Can" and MUST! I'd be fine with overpaying for a controlled pitcher, but with rentals, keep the returns within reason. I'm not sure what sort of trade value these guys have, but some packaged together might net a nice rental: Casas, Kelly, Guerrero, Winckowski, Grissom, DHam, Eaton, Sogard Romero or Arias can be included for a top end rental type, but it better be a good one. Rule 5's: Sandlin, Jordan, Bleis, Cespedes, Monegro, Mullins, Paez and Castro, ICoffey, Drohan, Hickey, Rosier, Uberstine

Not much Cora is a bum talk, recently.

Going into the trade deadline, here are the match-ups: BOS: 3 @MIN/ v HOU NYY: 4 v TBR SEA: 3 @OAK/ v TEX TEX: 3 @LAA/ @SEA TBR: 4 @NYY WC Race 57-48 NYY +1.5 57-50 BOS +0.5 (We hold the #2 WC slot, now.) 56-50 SEA & TEX -0.5

What a nice win!

Some of the best Sox 4 SP'ers in a given season that maybe nobody will mention: 1975: Tiant 4.02, Lee 3.95, Wise 3.95, Moret 3.60 1978 (5) : Tiant 3.31, Torrez 3.96, Eckersley 2.99, Lee 3.46, Wright 3.57 1986: Clemens 2.48, Seaver 3.80, Hurst 2.99, Boyd 3.78 1990: Clemens 1.93, Boddiker 3.36, Bolton 3.38, Harris 4.00 2002: Pedro 2.26, Lowe 2.58, Wake 2.81 & Fossum 3.46 The 1981 rotation did not have great numbers, but wow: Eck, Torrez, Tanana, Tudor, Ojeda

2-0 in last 2 and 3-1 in last 4 vs top teams. If anyone wants to sell, now, when should we ever be buyers?

Agreed, but why say pick 1-5 vs 150-155? That's not what a losing season vs a winning one creates.

Grissom homered, yet again! Campbell had 3 hits for the second straight day. He also homered. Harrison struggled with control- walking 3 in 3.2 IP. SAL lost 6-5, as Gonzales had 3 hits and Cespedes & Nunez had 2.

notin, meet Sigmund.

Since Mayer can play 3B or 2B, if Arias makes it and sticks in the bigs, we'll be looking good.

One idea would be to sell every asset that is a FA after this year. Surely, that would add to a better outlook for 2026 and beyond. Unless we spend the money saved with the Devers trade and departing contracts, it would all be for nothing. (Note: I am not for selling, but if we did, we'd likely be a top contender in 2026, if we just spent to the tax line, without going over. Assuming we have a success rate like last winter.)

1. Other top teams have more than 3 holes. 2. If we cant fill 3 big holes and a back-up catcher (You missed closer), while losing the Devers contract, all I can say is "Wow!" 3. Last offseason, we filled over 6 big holes, not counting some filled by prospects: Ace: Crochet 3B & RHB: Bregman Closer: Chapman Catcher: Narvaez (was supposed to be the back-up) LHP/Set Up man: Wilson #2/3 SP: Buehler (has not worked out well, so far) (We also signed Sandoval & Toro.) We lose a lot of contracts, this winter. Your outlook is overly bleak.

Updated Sox OPS .906 Bregman .861 Romy .834 Refsnyder .808 Abreu .791 Anthony .778 Narvaez .768 Duran .762 Rafaela .723 Toro .695 Story .674 Mayer .664 Campbell .581 Yoshida .505 DHam .392 Wong Before tonight's game- last 52 games (half our games played) .920 Romy .879 Rafaela .789 Story ,764 Duran .760 Abreu .758 Anthony .744 Ref & Toro .726 Narvaez

Sox are 4th in wins in the AL (T6th in fewest losses.) 56-48 NYY 55-49 SEA 56-50 BOS (1GB NYY and T w SEA) 55-50 TEX (-0.5 GB SEA & BOS from WC)

I like the $12M club option on Yandy for '26. Maybe we could pry Garrett Clevinger from the Rays in the deal. (He has 2 arbs left and is a nice lefty RP'er.) What would it take to get Diaz & Clevinger? I doubt they want Casas (to DH) and would likely hang up, if at least Campbell is not headlining the package. Maybe Campbell, Bleis, Cespedes & Sandlin?

All teams have holes to fill, and at least 20 have more than we do. We have a solid core of young to very young players, with mostly low cost salaries and several years of control. Even our weakest everyday positions have some hopes: 1B: Casas, Campbell-Romy 2B: Mayer, Campbell-Romy (Assuming Bregman returns) We will need to fill the Chapman, Wilson & Gio holes, but we should have the money, and 4-5 holes is not as bad as you seem to think it is. How many holes will the Yanks, Astors, Tigers and Jays have, this winter? (4-5 minimum.)

Maintain value, yes, but not as high as it looked when he was over .800.