moonslav59

Assuming no second trade or no injury to Anthony and no Eaton/Ward, instead.

What do these ex Sox players have in common? .422 Refsnyder .587 Blaze Jordan .651 DHam ,676 Meidroth ('25 to '26) 0-0 Quinn Priester 0-0 Luis Perales 4.50 Sandlin 6.28 S Matz

They and a couple more teams would, a couple more might, but the return will be lessened by the money.

The AL WC seems much more in reach, now. 10-2 can do that. Updated standings: 47-46 CLE (WC2) 46-46 TEX (WC3) -0.5 MIN 46-47 (-1 loss column) -1.5 HOU 46-49 (-3 loss column) -2.5 TOR 44-49 (-3 loss column) -3.0 BOS 42-48 (-2 loss column) -4.0 DET 42-50 (-4 loss column) -4.5 BAL 42-51 (-5) -5.0 A's 41-51 (-5) -

TEX lost, too. CLE lost/MIN won.

Yanks lost. SEA lost. BAL lost. HOU lost. CLE or MIN has to lose (tied 5-5, now.)

Bennett is close to leading the rotation in ERA!

Too bad Brez can't find gems like Bennett... errr.... ahh.... ummm.....

We are still 28th in runs scored and are... 10 runs from 25th 20 runs from 20th 40 runs from 17th 50 runs from 15th 60 runs from 12th 70 runs from T9th (NYY) ______________ We are 23rd in OPS. .010 from 19th .020 from 16th .030 from 12th .040 from T6th ________________ We are 4th in fewest runs allowed (pitching & defense) and 6th in ERs allowed. 5th in ERA- and 5th xFIP 6th in FIP 7th in ERA and WHIP

Some fWAR numbers of interest: 9 Arraez 3.4 18 Rafaela 2.9 21 Contreras 2.8 29 B Lowe & Schwarber 2.6 38 Abrams 2.5 45 K Marte 2.2 46 Judge & Chisholm 2.1 51 Murakami 2.0 57 Alonso, Paredes & Okamoto 1.9 63 Neto 1.8, Abreu & Wm Contreras 1.8 90 Bregman, Bogey, Meidroth 1.5 105 Hoerner 1.4 113 Horwitz 1.3 121 Betts, Bichette 1.2 131 O'Hearn, K Tucker 1.1 145 Devers, Durbin, Arenado, G Torres 1.0 171 Vladdy, Teoscar 0.8 200 Realmuto 0.5 210 Duran 0.4 217 DHam, B Matthews 0.2 230 N Lowe, V Grissom, Narvaez 0.1 250 A Riley 0.0 260 Yoshida, Mayer -0.1 280 T Gray -0.3 281 O'Neill -0.4 290 Story -0.5 300 E Suarez, Ozuna -0.8 303 Vientos, S Perez -1.1

Whodathunk Contreras would be ranked 7th in OPS, this late in the season. He's just below Schwarber and above Kurtz, Caminero & PC-A. Rafaela is ranked 63 out of 133 batters wit 300+ PAs. Abreu is ranked 76th.

Tolle will not be traded, so it is a fantasy (to some, I guess.) I'm not for trading him, but as far as 2026 is concerned, he's not giving us 180 IP. His value is more in the future. Other players in MLB have more 2026 value. That's not fantasy.

Weirdest movies to me? (I'm sure I'm forgetting too many) A Clockwork Orange Pulp Fiction, Blue Velvet, Natural Born Killers (The Rodney Dangerfield scene is whacko) 2001: A Space Odyssey, No Country for Old Men, The Joker Fargo, Beetlejuice, Eraserhead, Vanilla Sky, Brazil, Jacob's Ladder

The only "way" is that his return cost has cratered. HOU needs and OF'er and a LHB, badly. They probably like other players more than Duran, but 24 teams are still within 5 games of the WC, so some bidding wars will occur, and with so few teams selling, this could get crazy.

Angel and Nats fans are saying the same about Neto and Abrams. There was a time where Early was mentioned as being as or more untouchable than Tolle. Nobody viewed Bennett as a big asset- just like Priester and Harrison before their blast-offs. I don't disagree with you on Tolle. He is about as big a "keeper" as a teamc an ever have, IMO, but to me, anyone and everyone is on the table, as long a the return has more value.

His issues often seem self inflicted or mental/emotional, but it's hard to know the reason or reasons. He was a great offensive weapon 2 years ago, and still pretty damn good just last year. He's not past prime, so I do still see some hope for a rebound. I also think Masa can hit over .750 or even .780 going forward. (Not a prediction.) I wish I could feel some optimism towards Narvaez, but he looks totally lost at the plate. Good thing Wong is doing what Narvaez did last year. Hoping for returning IL players seems like a lost cause for Sox fans, but Anthony, Mayer, Story and maybe even IKF could add a spark or two. More likely, we are stick hoping for Seigler, Monasterio and Cheng to do "just good enough," and others with better histories to pull up the slack. I'm still waiting for Abreu to have a career year. I'm not sure how long Rafaela can keep improving, and 34 year old Contreras can keep up the Dwight Evans late career boom. Hope seems to be all we have.

It has been extremely disappointing, and I have felt bitter, too. I've gone through phases like many have and are now, so I meant the apology for sounding acusatory. I was one who was expecting a "cliff," but then 2021 tricked me into thinking maybe we could be like the Rays but with rings. Nobody can pull that off consistently. I shoulda known better. 2025 got my hopes up again, and I'm starting to see the team I hoped we could be, this year, but we dug such a hole, I'm not sure if this is yet another mirage.

I'm thinking Brez sees the need to move the focus to hitting. Hey, the new soxprospects,com rankings are out, and the everyday players have made some big jumps. Note: #1 Tolle, #3 Early, #19 Samaniego and #30 Watson all graduated, there were still some big jumps: Gonzales 8>5 (really just +1, since 2 graduated above him) Azocar 15>6 Pimera 36>7 Godbout 11>8 & Rivas 18>15(really just +1, too.) Cespedes 34>14 GRod 29>22 & Heyman 31>23 Winnay NR>25 & Mason White 38>27 Jo Garcia 51>34, Brannon 53>36 & YRod 55>43 Andujar NR>48, JRod NR>54, Brito NR>55

How long can Seigler keep this up? (I hope for 3 more months or more!) Tracy has Yoshida 5th and Duran 7th. (How far Duran has sunk!) The bottom 5 are all under .700, the bottom 4 under .665, the bottom 3 under .625 and the bottom 2 under .530.

Big game for Bennett and the Sox- a team teetering on the buy/sell fence.

BTV gives Gray and Chapman pretty high value. They just subtract what is owed, and it looks like they say they suck. The fact is, many teams in the race and needing a SP or closer, won't even call the Sox, because they won't pay even their pro-rated shares.

If we think our rotation has been beset with injuries: the Astros have done this every year for a decade. Somehow they are just 1.5 GB the WC and have a -41 run diff. Oh wait, I know why: they are 5-1 vs the Sox. (+19 run diff at 33-14.)

You could fast like at the Monasterio, and we'd be no skinnier.

Do we really expect all GM acquisitions and holdovers to have plus WARs every year? That's the mark? The W-L record is really all that matters? Recent results are all that matters? To those who answer yes to the last two, what's to say about 9-2 in the last 11? Brez sucks because his utility depth has negative WARs? LMAO. Because he played the $140M guy who hit well, last year and the $90M guy who has like the 3rd or 4th best OPS on the tea over the last 3 years? He was supposed to trade them? LMAO. For what? Because he kept Duran, when 75% of this board was screaming how stupid it would be to trade our "best" or "top 3 offensive weapon, when our weakness is offense?" Again, LMAO! No doubt, Brez has made mistakes, and some like missing out on Brez ended up working out well. Some mistakes looked reasonable at the time, but backfired. Such is the fate or every GM to varying degrees. You ask a GM to make moves and additions that improve the roster. You judge them, when they happen and again in hindsight. Such is the fate of all GMs. IMO, Brez fixed the decades long problem with the team- the pitching pipeline to the farm. Much is still TBD, but IMO, it's improved vastly. He's also added an ungodly amount of quality SP'ers to the 26, that I'm not sure any Sox GM has ever done, and he's only been the GM for 3 winters and 2 deadlines. Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Bennett & Tolle. What do we hear, instead? "OMG- HE TRADED HARRISON!!!" This was the same guy the same people bitched about him trading Devers for. The comedy never ends, here. Yes, he botched a major are of need, last winter- the big bat. The pen was also neglected, but hey- newsflash- The budget is not unlimited, and he's traded more prospects than DD. You wanted more than what was possible. Okay, no Suarez or Gray and yes another bat. That would have changed everything? Sorry for the ramble, the hyperbole & the insinuations that may come across as personal or finger pointing away from myself. I share in much of what I just ranted about and against. I suggested many winter moves that turned out worse than what Brez ended up doing. I'm no better than anyone here: I just felt the need to vent. We are finally winning and looking like the team some or many of us thought we might be, this year, but damn, Monasterio has a negative WAR. The world is ending!

That was what I was thinking and hoping continues. Maybe Tracy is making a mark, after some time.