moonslav59

I doubt we bring him back, despite the need for a big RHB. if we do, Abreu is a sure goner. (he might be anyway.)

I could see us hoping tge return of Story and Grissom plus maybe the Campbell arrival does the trick. i could see us trading Aubrey and DHam for a RHB or pitching

They have not cut tge budget, every winter.

That might mean adding 3 RPers!

Maybe not, but I counted everyone as being healthy, and nobody can go on the 60 Day Il until opening day. I doubt Gio starts on tge 60 but Perales probably will

I’m higher on Weissert than some. He ended the season doing okay and has better overall numbers than most of the others

I don’t think further reductions in the budget will go unchallenged by the fans and media. It might not matter at all but I think the pushback will be fierce and unending, this time. im not sure if the uproar might open up a willingness to make a big and bold trade. I really doubt they care much at all, unless they see unexpected drops in season ticket and NESN sales. im not optimistic on being bold but I’m also not without hope. as much as I love the incoming farm infusion, I do t think Gio, Hendricks and Fulmer make up for losing Pivetta, Jansen, Martin, O’Neill and others. Counting on Story and others to be healthy and produce more is neglecting the probability of new injuries and unexpected declines.

I’m actually more worried about our bottom 4 pen guys and not the top 4 and how they are positioned into roles.

Nobody knows. a big question is the budget and willingness to make a bold trade

Another "wait till next year" offseason for Sox fans. For many fans, there is not enough hope for having those sentiments, and for good reason. Here is a breakdown of what I see might be the 26 and 40 man roster, including Rule 5 protectees and the projected CB Tax budget. I will not project who we might sign or trade for, right now. This is just the template we have to work with. 8 Players out of team control: Jansen, Pivetta, O'Neill, Martin, Jansen, Garcia, Sims & Paxton. No Additions 26 Man Roster with AAV (14 players with no money listed= minimum/pre-arb): SP: Houck ~$6 arb 1, Bello $9, Giolito $19, Crawford ~$3M arb 1, Fitts RP: Hendriks $5, Slaten, Whitlock $5, Fulmer, Criswell, Wink, Guerrero, Penrod C: Wong, Gasper (Hieneman?) 1B: Casas 2B: Grissom, DHam SS: Story $23, Romy 3B: Devers $29 LF: Duran ~6M arb 1, Refsnyder $2 CF: Rafaela $6 RF: Abreu DH: Yoshida $18 Projected 40 Man Roster players beginning the season in the minors. (I am not adding non Rule 5 players like Anthony, Campbell, Mayer, Teel and Meidroth. I think we add them after opening day, maybe when we place a player or more on the 60 Day IL to make roster space for them.) Priester, Weissert, I Campbell, Bernardino, Kelly, E Valdez, Sogard, Perales (to 60 Day IL- day one) Dobbins (Rule 5,) JH Garcia (Rule 5,) Monegro (Rule 5,) 3 Bubble players to choose: Wikelman, Booser, Horn, Shugart, Mata (out of options) Rule 5 Bubbles: Sikes, Gambrell, Castro, B Gonzalez, Hickey, Jordan, Liu Once FAs or trade players are added, I expect the bubble players to be DFA'd Budget: 11 players under contract w options accepted is $130M. Add 14 players making MLB minimum and it's about $11M more plus another $8M for 14 minor leaguers on the 40. Add about $19M for player benefits and the bonus pool, and our CB Tax number starts at about $168M. The CB Tax Line #1 is $241M. That puts us about $72 M under. I'm sure the winter spending budget will be a hot topic, so I'll leave that for later. To me, our greatest need areas are: # 1 or 2 SP Closer or solid #2 RP LH'd RP RHB (maybe swap Abreu and or DHam for a RHB) Back-up Catcher to bridget to Teel

Yup, and Yoshida will be the DH.... not Casas. There are just too many benefits to trading Yoshida and moving Casas to DH (some 1B, when Devers needs rest) and Devers to 1B (some DH, when resting.) 1. Improved 3B defense. 2. Improved 1B defense. 3. Fragile Casas at DH minimizes injury, although his last one was from swinging the bat. 4. More PAs from Casas. 5. More PAs from Devers, as his "rest days" could be 10 as the DH, instead of 5 on the bench. 6. Any "savings" from the Yoshida trade could be added to the meager winter spending budget, if JH allows it to be. 7. It opens up a slot for a middle infielder to play 3B and gives Meidroth a clearer path to getting a chance, someday. We could try: Campbell at 3B, Story/Mayer at SS and Mayer/DHam-Grissom at 2B or Mayer or Story at 3B, Campbell at 2B and Mayer or Story at SS. Id Meidroth should so happen to jump another level and win the job, then our middle infield becomes stronger and deeper. I know it won't happen, but I like the idea.

I'm still glad we won. I know being .500 is no great achievement, but having losing records suck more.

MLB OPS Leaders w 300+ PAs 1.159 Judge (over 120 pts ahead of #2) 1.036 Ohtani (First to ever hit 50+ HRs and 50+ SBs) .993 Tucker .988 Soto .977 Witt (40+ 2B, 30+ HR & SB, 10+ 3Bs) .959 Alvarez .940 Guerrero .933 Ozuna .932 K Marte .927 Rooker .910 Yelich .908 Pederson .905 Correa 17. Devers .870 19. Betts .863 22. Schwarber .851 25. O'Neill .847 30. Duran .834 (40+ 2B, 30+ SB, 20+ HR, 10+ 3B) 34. Refsnyder .830 62. Abreo .781

IMO, there is more chance Mayer or Campbell play 3B for the Sox in 2025 than Bregman. Both are super longshots.

13th pick, as I understand. We missed being tied for 11th with SFG & TBR by one loss. We'd have had to lose 3 more to tie with TEX for #10. 4 more for #9 (CIN) We missed being a top 10 team by 8 games. We missed top 11 by 5 wins (DET & KCR) Also, the last WC slot. We missed top tier (15th) by 2 wins.

Final ERAs 2.93 Slaten(55 IP) 3.12 Houck (179) 3.13 Weissert (63) 3.29 Jansen (55) 3.38 Booser (43) 3.45 Martin (44) 3,97 Kelly (57) 4.06 Bernardino (51) 4.08 Criswell (99) 4.09 Paxton (11) 4.14 Pivetta (146) 4.14 Wink (76) 4.36 Crawford (184) 4.49 Bello (162) 4.85 Anderson (52) Under 20 IP 0.00 Guerrero (10 IP) 1.74 Fitts (21 IP) 1.80 Priester (5) 1.96 Whitlock (18) 2.25 Penrod (4)

How fitting we end up 81-81. Final 2024 OPS .870 Devers .847 O'Neill .834 Duran .830 Refsnyder .799 Casas .781 Abreu .764 Yoshida .758 Wong .734 Story (.790 Sept) .723 Romy .707 D Smith .698 DHam .664 Rafaela .651 Sogard .633 Valdez .623 Jansen .575 McGuire .465 Grissom (.787 Sept)

I do think picking 9th vs 12th makes a difference, but maybe not all that much. (Maybe, it does.)

DD did use Ben's top prospects in trade, but you are correct. It's not really all that "interesting" that most of Bloom's recent additions were Rule 5 or trade pick-ups (Whitlock, Wink, Wong & DHam,) since Bloom drafted many HS players and later, college players, whose time in the minors is just coming to an end. All these guys are Bloomers: Anthony, Mayer, Campbell, Teel, Arias Bleis, Meidroth, Cespedes, Romero & Jo Garcia Let's give a little more time.

I'm with you on expectations, although I still have some hope. I also think we are finally at a place where we may be able to significantly improve without major spending. That has not been the case since DD left, and actually since DD's last season, when we refused to pay for Kimbrell and Kelly or spend to replace them with anywhere near the same skill level pitchers. 6 years of restricted spending has take its toll, but the farm has finally reached a point where we can get help, outside of free agency or mega extensions to our stars at FA time. Not only did we lose Kimbrell & Kelly, but then Betts, ERod & Porcello, Nate & JD, Bogey and Sale, but here are the impact farm players we promoted since Devers in teh summer of 2017... 2018: none 2019: none 2020: none 2021: Houck, Whitlock (not really our farm product) and Dalbec 2022: Duran, Bello, Crawford, Wong & Wink 2023: Casas 2024: Slaten (not really our farm product) Abreu, Rafaela & DHam Those 3 years from Devers to Houck took its toll. We are starting to see some results from the farm additions from 2021-2024, and the next infusion promises to be even more impactful in a shorter window.

Not sure how to find that number, but both had a Call Strike percent between 29-30% on all stikes.

Agreed. I think Brez shows more "boldness" in 4 months than Bloom showed in 4 years. Several bold moves did not work out, but at least he tried. Of course, his winter budget will be a big factor on just how bold he can get, and there may even be directives about not trading away top prospects, so it might be interesting to see how he handles that, or what he does with very few restrictions.

Not sure why the formatting is messed up on this reply, but... I wish we had traded for AJ Puk, at the deadline. I think he has 2 arbs left.

I could see us doing just that: Pivetta, Martin and a cheap LH'd RP'er. Maybe trade Abreu & DHam for a RP and back-up C. Call it a day and pocket more money.

Famous last words by a GM. He will take an offer that returns greater value. He could trade Castillo for a bat and then also sign another bat or pitcher with the money saved.