moonslav59

Agreed, but I'm not done "eying" the division lead.

Sweep the Rays, and it's easy.

I was big on getting KMarte. I'm glad Brez got Willson and missed out on Bregman.

Pass Yanks for Second Then on to passing the Rays Add another ring

I don't get hung up on things like 3-7. How about the 35-12 record? We repeat that and we're in bid-ness.

We shouldn't have had to add a pitcher at the deadline with all the focus put on building up the pitching staff, but it is what it is. We lost 5 guys, counting Belloyippo to the pen.

Can we get back to the topic of music?

I've agreed all along we shoulda gotten a SP'er at the deadline. I'm arguing your point that Brez slacked on rotation depth by trading away too many starters. The rate of immediate success from those starters is not good, and the best one of the group, Early, has yet to pitch for his new team and may not all year. The amount of quality pitchers on the 26 and 40 improved. The amount of quality depth on the 40 improved. You've been ily critical of Brez not addin enough dept, wen e mit have led all GMs in additions. (My keyboard is missin some letters....)

DET still holds the 2nd spot in the AL run differential lead, despite being in a 3-way tie for the 7th best record in the AL. +91 BOS +86 DET +85 NYY +53 TBR +45 NYY ...big gap to -23 SEA and -27 BAL The Sox remain 8.5 GB TBR and 2.5 behind NYY. BAL, TEX and DET are all 61-64 and tied for the last WC slot. That's on pace for a 79 win season! Remember, someone projected us to win 90 games and miss the WC.

Remaining Games: BOS: 2 AZ, 3SFG, 3 at MIA, 4 at NYY, 3 SEA, 4 at BAL, 3 LAA, 3 KCR, 3 at TX, 3 at TBR, 3 CLE, 3 CHC NYY: 3 at BAL, 3 TOR, 4 HOU, 4BOS, 3 at LAA, 3 at SDP, 3 COL, 3 NYM, 3 at MIN, 3 at AZ, 4 TBR, 3BAL TBR: 3TOR, 3at BAL, 3 at DET, 3 SDP, 3 NYM, 4 at TEX, 3 at ATL, 3 HOU, 3 ATH, 3 BOS, 4 at NYY, 3 at PHI The Rays have a few tough stretches and only 2 easy series. They end with 4 v BOS 3 at NYY and 3 at PHI. They better be up 3-4 by then. I'd say the Yanks have 3 easy series. BOS 2 easy and 1-2 kinda easy.

There is an off topic page for this sort of post. 🫣

I'm still eying the division win.

I'm actually okay with Story at 2B, but I'm not sure he has a second half surge like 2025 in him at his age. He led the team in HRs, RBI and SBs, last year after a bad start. His D sucks but so does Monasterio's. What's better D? SS Monasterio & 2B Story SS Story & 2B Monasterio/Seigler/Sogard I'm not sure the first is much better. With Yoshida out, Romy can move to DH v R, so no need for him to enter the 2B mix. To me, Arias might offer the most hope for a late season spark. Campbell could DH w Romy, maybe.

Imposters! Great ones, though.

Bennet's surgery was 2023, so I'm not sure he's toast. Harrison is 2 years younger than Drohan and the same age as Bennett. I'm not so sure Harrison is ready to be a horse. He was jerked to the pen and back a lot. He's gone between 76 and 124 IP the last 3 years, combining farm and MLB. He's at 93, so he should be okay for 30-40 more IP, but a deep playoff run?

2026 SP'ers Brez Acquired: Crochet (trade) 6 GS Gray (trade) 23 Suarez (FA) 21 Tolle (draftee) 20 Bennett (trade) 14 Sandoval (FA) 7 Oviedo (trade) 0 Rivera 3 (Holobetz & Ziel in AAA) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Inherited: Early 17 Bello 8 Houck 0 Crawford 0 (Paez & Wehunt in AAA) __________________ 2025 Brez: Crochet 32, Giolito 26, Buehler 22, Fitts 10, Newcomb5, DMay 5, Tolle 3, Harrison 2, Criswell & De Leon 1 Inherited: Bello 28, Dobbins 11, Houck 9, Early 4 __________________________ Pitcher moves (signings, tradings, waivers, drafted, rule 5) I left off several minor league adds. Starting Pitchers Acquired: Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Tolle, Bennett, Sandoval, Rivera, Buehler, D May/- Holobetz, Ziehl, Valera, Delzine, Phillips, D Brown, LaFavor, Finley, Davenport, Lanman, Adetuyl, Jose Bello SP'ers Acquired then traded: Harrison, Fitts, Priester, Newcomb, Criswell, Sandlin, Hicks/ -Eyanson, Whitherspoon, Clarke, Fajardo, Aita SP'er lost and reacquired: Paez SP'ers Traded away: Early (IL,) Drohan, Dobbins/ -Perales, Travieso, Uberstine, Ingrassia Not every one of these moves was a win, but I think it is clear we added more quality and more quality depth under Brez. The state of the pitching on the farm has been hurt, recently, but due more to promotions than trades of top prospects- other than Eyanson. These were the top pitching prospects in fall 2023: 7 Perales (>Bennett) 9 Wikelman (> small part of Crochet add) 15 Drohan (>part of Durbin & Co adds) 20 Monegro 23 Dobbins (>part of Contreras add) 24 ERC (>Narvaez trade) 27 Mata I'm not sure it's worse now than ten.

Why wouldn't Harrison and Drohan hit a wall by September? Only our young pitchers suffer from that malody? Had we just has one less injury, or maybe even Bello not getting the yips, the young pitchers would not have pitched as much. While that might be a good thing for them being ready for the show, we kinds needed their results to get us to the show.

I agree, despite Monasterio being no defensive whiz. I'm not sure I'd bench Seigler & Sogard for Story to play 2B, either.

What's with this whole pull rate craze? I still think going oppo is a good thing. Speaking of which, who are the Sox leaders in going oppo? 160+ PAs 32% Rafaela 28% Abreu & Monasterio 23% Wong & Yoshida 22% Duran 20% Story 18% Contreras & Durbin

I'll do a deep dive on Brez's starting pitchers added and subtracted after this more simple look: Let's not argue about who was our #1-2-3...but here is a rough estimate of what we have lost to injury from just the rotation: #1 Crochet (started 6 of 33 GS) #2 Suarez (started 21 of 23 GS) #4-5 Houck (0 of 32- knew was out all year) #5-6 Crawford (0-32) #6-7 Oviedo (0 -??? GS) #7-8 Sandoval (started 7 of 23, so far,) #8-9 Early (started 17 of 23 before going on IL then was traded) Plus, Bello gets the starter yips and starts only 8 games. You can argue Tolle was the #5, but if everyone was healthy he would not have been top 5 or even 6. In fact Early got the call before him, and since Early, Tolle and Bennett were rookies, we'd likely want to avoid starting them in April. The fact is, we lost our ace after April 25th, Bello got the yips, and we have basically gone most of the season wit the rotational depth filling 3 of 5 slots. What results would be expected of a rotation under these circumstances? This? 6th ib FWAR 4th in FIP 7th in ERA- (10th in ERA) For the life of me, I will never understand anyone saying the team weakness was a lack of rotational depth. Even more stunning are these numbers after Crochet went on the IL: 2nd fWAR 1st FIP 4th ERA- (4th ERA) We had to go to the rookies too early, and 1-2 might be running out of steam, but let's get real, here. One of the top strengths of this team were starter quality and starter depth. Nobody can convince me otherwise. I'd rather have Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler than Harrison, Drohan and DHam. Dobbins is doing okay, but anyone want to give Contreras back for him? Priester and Early are on the IL, with Priester being full season. This is not to say Brez made no mistakes or is 100% on all trades, signings, draft picks and roster decisions, but building up the staff has not been a weak area. One might argue he's given up too much prospect SP'ers, but all the additions but Gray have many years of control and they look very high quality. Specific adds and subtractions to come...

I think we let those guys go, because we added Gray, Suarez & Bennett. They DID replace Fitts, Clarke, Perales, and on and on. We also added Oviedo, who got hurt, but it was an add. Holobetz is probably the next SP'er called up, with Ziehl maybe 2nd or 3rd. Both were traded for. Look at all Brez's trades: they involved getting and giving up starters. The only ones that count for the remainder of 2026 are Harrison and Drohan- not Priester or likely no Early. The adds were Gray, Suarez, Bennet (yes, they count) plus Sandoval, Tolle (Brez draftee) Holobetz, Ziehl. Okay, Bennett may not be a playoff pitcher, but why is Drohan or Harrison one? You can't change the criteria on who counts as an add or what makes someone playoff available.

He will be the 29th pitcher used this year. 13 man staff... WOW! Can we hit 39 (3 x 13?) Probably not.

We learned that vets can be suspects, too.

How about our best 2 of 3 pitchers? Gray & Suarez. Factoring in the idea that we lost our ace (Crochet,) our #3/4 (Houck- known) and #5/7 (Crawford) and #6/8 (Oviedo) and #7/9 Early. I think he did fine. Our staff looked way better on opening day than the one on the playoff 2025 team. Quality and quantity. To me, the improvement is clear. The injuries hurt, but he planned on enough to keep us in it, despite losing 5-6 of our top 9-11 pitchers. The top 3 plan was way better (playoffs) Crochet got hurt, The 4-6 were way better, but too bad we needed to go to Tolle, Early & Bennett earlier than we hoped. The 7-10 were way better, and we needed them all, since 3 (Houck, Crawford & Oviedo) have yet to start a game, and Crochet has missed most of the year. Bello developed the yips, but I can't see blaming Brez for that. Our starter depth is why we are still in the race. Tolle, Bennett, Sandoval and Early were depth.

We traded Early while he was on the IL and he has not come back, so we did not trade away pitching depth on that trade.. While Brez did trades away many pitchers, he added many, too. We heard about priester, last summer, but he's not pitching now. Do you wish we had not traded him? Harrison and Drohan are doing well, but Brez added Gray, Suarez & Bennett. Oviedo was added too but has been hurt. He also added Sandoval, last year, and he's been good in 5 of 7 starts this year. Add all the pitchers he traded away and compare to those he added, and tell me which way the balance has swung. Earlier, this season, most of the criticism was that Brez put too many eggs in the pitching basket and neglected the bat basket. Fred & others ae still claiming that.