moonslav59

It can be a list longer than the amount of years we have followed the Sox.

I totally agree, despite the fact that .690 seems like the new .725. MLB hit .711 in 2024. (.243 BA and .312 OBP) Out of the top 270 batters by PAs in 2024, JD Martinez was at 135 with a .725 OPS. That is not the mean. The middle third tier (90 to 180) has a range of .690 to .760. .690 is truly the cutoff to the bottom third tier in MLB, now. If you are GG quality on D and bat in the middle third tier, should you really be considered unacceptable? The bottom third tier is divided about like this: .655-.689 3rd worst group of 30 batters .625-.650 2nd worst group of 30 .573-.650 worst 30 batters in MLB (bottom 1/9th)

I'm not so sure the "swing and miss" on pitching development was and is as bad as many seem to think it was/is. While Bloom did not acquire Houck, Crawford, Bello and Perales, his guys did help with "development," and those 4 are the best 4 we've seen in a very long time, come out of our farm. Wink is not anyone to write home about, but getting Whitlock was a nice move. (Getting vets like and younguns like Wacha, Jansen, Martin, Strahm, Pivetta, Schreiber, Kelly and Bernardino was okay.) All-in-all, I agree. He did not seem to move the organization forward on pitching. We did well with what he started with, and the amount of useful pitchers he added in 4 years was underwhelming, to say the least. His pitchers on the farm are largely TBD, but none have jumped up the rankings, all that much. Brez actually has more top pitchers than Bloom's 4 years combined: 8. Perales DD 11. Sandlin Brez 12. Fitts Brez 13. Tolle Brez 19. Penrod Bloom 20. Wikelman DD Bloom: 20 E R-C, 22 Monegro, 24 Valera, 25 Early, 26 Mullins, 27 Guerrero, 29 Paez, 31 D Reyes, 34 Wehunt, 41 Dean (Ingrassia) Brez: (Slaten- graduated) 23 Carson (SS, too), 33 Neely, 39 Clarke, 40 Tygart, 42 Carlson (Judice)

I'd be "happy" at .690-.720, every year, and he may end up as our 4th OF'er or platoon with Abreu, anyway. I'm not sure he can maintain even .690, so I'm not "expecting" it, but he might find a way to stay there.

I don't disagree, and Bloom was hired 5 years ago. The wait has been long and painful. I think 2021 gave JH some more "playtime," but the time is up, now, IMO. We do seem pretty well set for a 5-6 year window, but some big gaps remain and need to be filled from outside the organization. Either JH has to step it up, or Brez has to be a mastermind- something we haven't seen our GM/CBO do in a very long time.

Sadly, it does seem to be "the way of the world." The blame game is as old as mankind. 1978: Mike Torrez & Bucky Freakin' Dent 1986: McNamara leaving Buckner in 2003: Grady (Did you watch the Netflix series, where Theo said, "Can we fire him, now?") 2012: Bobby V & Beergate 2015: Ben signing Pablito & HRam (not Scherzer) 2019: Restgate These are but a few from many...

Nice recall. Butch Hobson also came up briefly in '75 (4 PAs)

Good stuff! It's nice seeing so many pitchers on the rise!

If these two can come close to the Lynn-Rice production in '75, we will be looking real good! Wasn't Evans a rookie in '74, or was it earlier?

NFC Records: 6-1 DET 6-2 GB 6-2 WASH 5-2 MIN 5-2 PHI 5-3 ATL 4-3 CHI 4-4 STL & SEA (lead NFC West) AFC 7-0 KC 6-2 TEX 6-2 BUF 5-2 PITT 5-3 BAL 5-3 DEN 4-3 LAC

Very true, and so far Grissom has been a big whiff. We've been trying for 6 years to fill 2B. I actually like a DHam-Grissom platoon better than anyone else we've had at 2B in 6 years, except for the brief time Story was at 2B. fWAR rankings 22nd 2017 27th 2018 25th 2019 30th 2020 13th 2021 (Kike, Arroyo & Iggy were all plus) 10th 2022 (Story & Co.) 28th 2023 30th 2024 2017 to 2024: 29th (27th in OAA) The worst thing is, Grissom may never get a chance to win the 2B job with Campbell, Mayer and Story all crowding up the middle IF for the next few years.

LOL, all I can say is that there are a group of 5-6 all bunched together. This damn board parity thing!!!

Why not? If he's not traded, he's at 1B. (I guess they could DH him and move Devers to 1B, but that is a longshot.

I don't have BTV access, but my top 10, in terms of trade value, which takes into acct money owed and years of team control: 1. Anthony 2. Duran 3. Houck 4. Mayer 5. Campbell 6. Teel 7. Slaten 8. Crawford 9. Abreu 10. Bello Honorable mention: Casas, Montgomery or Arias

How many teams go this far by using 17 pitchers starting a game? This is not even counting the fact that Ohtani, May and Gonsolin never started a game. 10 pitchers have started 6 or more games. 8 have started 10 or more. Only 2 have over 18 GS and both are out until 2025 (Glasnow & Stone.) With the Sox, there has usually been a strong correlation between having 4-5 SP'ers with a lot of GS and ring seasons.

He's always good for a hearty laugh.

Certainly, this makes a lot of sense. This is the management team that has gone out of it's way to gamble on injured pitchers coming back, from Richards & Kluber to Paxton, Hendriks and Fulmer, and what do they do? Give up on the best of them all: Sale. They guessed wrongly, like they have a lot, lately. They tried to fix the 2B issue and gave up on hopes of Sale returning after a half decade of letdowns. It's not like it made zero sense, but they sure know how to swing and miss.

Browns upset the Ravens- showing just how much Watson sucks. My Pack pulled out a win. Lions are rolling. Texas with a big win.

Wow, the AP moved ND up to 8th after their top 25 win at Navy. 1. ORE, 2, GA, 3. Penn St, 4. Ohio St, 5. MIA, 6, TEX, 7. TN 8. ND 9. BYU 8-0, 10, TEX A&M 7-1, T11 Clem 6-1 & IA St 7-0 13. IN 8-0 14. AL 6-2, 15. Boise St 6-1, LSU 6-2, K St 7-1 18. PITT 7-0, 19. Ole Miss 6-2, 20. SMU 7-1 21. Army 7-0 The Coaches have Clem 8th, ND 9th and PIT 17th

two of my favorites. You are obviously one of my 3 or 4 tops.

The silly contortions continue. ATL not only "knew something," but they had "evidence." What a complete joke.

A decent attempt to fix the Sox worst position for 6 years!

Agreed, even with a limited budget. He can sign one really good pitcher or two decent ones and trade Abreu, DHam and Wink for two more, or one with a catcher. That's minumum.

I'm watching the series, now.

What baffles me about all this is that notin and Bell are two of my favorite posters, and I feel like I agree with both of them most of the time. I don't understand why you two are always at each others' throats. How can I mostly agree with two posters who never agree with each other?