moonslav59

I would not give more than Abreu & DHam for Crochet. Okay, maybe I'd add Wink.

Woo over Crochet is a no-brainer. 3 more years of control Better 2023-2024 I'd give Casas + Wink for Woo.

15 years goes to age 40. Maybe the last 2-3 years will be a burden- maybe not. If it takess 15: do it.

Pivetta will be 32 when the season starts. I think he gets $57M/3 or $46M/2

Ages 23-26: Manny .957 OPS (143 OPS+) Soto .926 OPS (160 OPS+) Ages 27-37: Manny 1.026 OPS (162 OPS+) Soto: if he signs with us, I hope he ends up like Manny's 27-37 years.

Right. I only meant as a player.

My end of season rankings: 1. Anthony 2. Campbell 3. Mayer 4. Teel 5. Montgomery 6. Arias 7. Perales 8. Cespedes 9. Bleis 10. Meidroth 11. Jh Garcia 12. Fitts 13. Sandlin 14. Dobbins 15. Tolle 16. Jo Garcia 17. Romero 18. Cason 19. Early 20. Valera 21. E Rod 22. Monegro 23. D Reyes 24. Paez 25. Mullins 26. Wehunt 27. Riemer 28. Ingrassia 29. Neely 30. Clarke 31. Guerrero 32. Ju Gonzales 33. Taylor 34. Castro 35. Penrod, & Wikelman

I think Manny is a better comp than Papi, except for the L-R thing.

soxprospects.com posted their final 2024 rankings: no big surprises. Anthony remains #1. Campbell went from #22 in April to #2. Mayer went from 3 to 2, more out of Campbell's shocking success, than anything bad he did. Teel from 3 to 4, also to make way for KC. Braden Montgomery at #5 surprises nobody. Perales remained at #6, despite the major injury. Arias jumped about as far as Campbell did from April (#25>#7.) Chase Meidroth keeps creeping up (#14> #11 summer> #8, now.) Bleis fell from 5 to 9 and Cespedes from 6 to 10, but both can still move back up, next year. Dobbins jumped up, a lot this year: 24>21>11. Fitts comes in at 12th, which is a drop from 9 and 8, earlier in the season. Tolle grabs the 13th slot with Sandlin and Jh Garcia finishing up the top 15. Mikey Romero jumped from 27 to 16th, thanks to a healthy season, and Early is 17th. I guess my big surprises is Wikelman at #18. I'd have him near #30. Jo Garcia is 19th and Cason is 20th. 21. Guerrero, 22. Castro, 23. Valera, 24. Penrod, 25. E Rodriguez, 26. Monegro, 27. D Reyes, 28. Paez, 29. Mullins, 30. Ju Gonzales. Prospects that graduated, this year: Sogard, Booser, Slaten, DHam, Abreu & Rafaela. 2023: Casas, Kelly, Murphy, Valdez & Bernardino. Prospects who dropped out of the top 30 in April: 13> 35 Zanetello, 16> 32 Jordan, 17> 49 Hickey, 26>45, A Anderson, 29> 39 Bastardo Other draftees: 36 Neely, 37 Clarke, 38 Tygart, 40 Ehrhard. 52 Turner

It's been so long on seeing us make the best offer on a real stud. I'll believe it, when I see it.

I like our MI depth. I think a Grissom-DHam platoon at 2B could be okay. Romy has some promise of improving. Campbell and Mayer may be the MI of the future. Story needs a healthy season to salvage a tiny bit of respect. Our deeper minor MI depth is formidable.

Unless Yoshida is part of an Arenado trade, no thanks.

I can see moving Devers to 1B. I've thought on that for a long time, but yes, I agree. Why spend big on Adames or trade for Arenado?

In the context of signing Soto to 12-14 years, I do not think the ARod comp is a good one. I'd hope we get more than 5-6 really good years.

The playoffs are starting to take shape, but an upset or two could shuffle everything. The top 4 get a bye, and the next 4 host the first round games. Here is a breakdown based on AP rankings 1. Oregon 11-0 plays Wash, then the conference championship game vs Ohio St (if they beat MI) or Penn St. They are no slam dunk for #1. 2. Ohio St 10-1 plays Michigan (win and they play ORE in conf gm) 3. Texas 10-1 plays at #15 TX A&M (winner plays GA) 4. Penn St. 10-1 plays MD. (need OSU to lose to make conf gm) 5. Notre Dame 10-1 plays at USC as last game. Ohio St may play ORE for Big Ten Championship. It's possible ND is ranked top 4 in the AP. but cannot be top 4 in the playoff structure. Sad, 6. Miami 10-1 plays at Syracuse. A win & they play SMU 7. Georgia 9-2 plays GA Tech and then SEC champion gm (vs TX or TX A&M) 8. Tennessee 9-2 plays at Vandy (no conf gm possible) 9. SMU 10-1 plays CA and ACC championship gm vs Clem or MIA 10. Indiana 10-1 plays Purdue. A win gets them in. 11. Boise St 10-1 plays ORE St. Win this and conf game & in. 12. Clemson 9-2 plays #18 S Carolina 13. Alabama 8-3 plays Auburn and might need someone to lose to make the top 12. 14. Ole Miss 8-3 & 15. S Carolina 8-3 16. Arizona St 9-2 plays at AZ and may play a conf championship game to sneak in. I think they may have better odds than Ole Miss and S Carolina

I really like Mayer, a lot. My biggest worry is about his health, not his bat and splits. His defense should be fine, and he can always be moved to 2B or 3B, if needed.

Missing the playoffs by a half game was a killer. Not sure that ever happened before of afterwards.

We heard the same thing before the 2024 season. Duvall (.834) was 3rd in OPS (8th in PAs) Turner (.800) was 5th (2nd in PAs) Verdugo (.745) was 7th (3rd in PAs) A healthy Casas and Story could easily make up for O'Neill, and so many of our players are pre-prime or peak prime. Honestly, I'd be okay, if we add nobody to the offense, except a defensive catcher. Soto would be great, and his addition would allow for an OF'er to be traded for pitching.

If and until Campbell wins 2B, I'm thinking a DHam-Grissom platoon at 2B will do pretty well. (The other is decent depth for that game.) I don't think we add Meidroth to the 40, unless Devers goes down for a long time.

Easier said than done.

My biggest "letdowns" were 1975, 1978, 1986 and 2003- all while in Maine.

MVP mentioned the Buch comp, and I wanted to remind us how great Buch could be, but never for 30 starts for many years in a row.

I should have included Meidroth, despite not being on the 40, but I still think Grissom's name at 3B should be included.

I'm too sick of being let downs to go there.

That is the perfect comp. Over the last 30 years (170+ IP) Buch had the 30th best ERA- in 2010 at 54. Only Pedro (4 times) and Clemens (1 time) beat that number for the Sox. Go to 108+ IP: 35 Pedro in 2000 37 Maddux '94 39 Maddux '95 42 Buch '13, Pedro '99 and Kershw '16