moonslav59

I've been talking up the vast difference Story makes our defense. Not only is plus SS defense a huge part of a team's defense, he improves 2B and the OF by forcing Rafaela to CF and the SS pretenders to 2B. (Duran from CF to LF, improves LF D, too.) It is not a ripple affect, it's a cascade.

Sox Pitchers on the Farm with 98+ IP/ OPS Against: .611 Dobbins (before tonight) AA/AAA .624 Cohen (Salem) .632 Early (A+/AA) .642 Duffy (Salem) .670 I Coffey (AA) 75-97 IP .552 Dean A-/A+ .580 E R-c A-/A+ .596 Monegro FCL/A+ .597 Wehunt 3 teams .619 Wikelman AA .674 Mullins A+ .675 Paez A-/A+ Other Notables: .411 Valera 63 IP FCL/A- .506 Y Ruiz 46 IP DSL .529 Ingrassia 58 IP A-

At bare minimum, IMO, for us to have a legit shot at some serious competition in 2025, we need to add ... #1 SP'er Closer LH RP'er (or solid #3 SP) BARE MINIMUM! Even with Miser Henry keeping things tight, we should be able to sign 2 of the 3 and trade for the other. (Why do I keep doing this to myself?)

To me, Yoshi's deal isn't even the 2nd worst on the team, and was 3rd worst, last year, too. 2024: worst is Story, 2nd is Gio, 3rd is Yoshi. (I can see making Yoshi 2nd if looking at full term.) 2023: worst was Story, 2nd was Sale, and 3rd was Yoshi (Maybe Sale was worst at full term.) Kike $10M/1 and Kluber $10M/1 were pretty terrible, too.

Our batters do not look all that focused, and maybe "checked out" was a bad choice of words, but this has gone on for a long time for an offense with our kind of numbers. Recent runs score: (in reverse time) 2 win 3 loss 2 loss 7 win 4 loss 1 loss 5 win 3 loss 12 win 2 loss 7 win 3 loss 2 loss 1 loss 1 loss 1 loss (AUG 31st) Last 17 games: 6-11 (56 runs scored or 3.3 runs/game with 12 in one game.) Before these 17 fames, we were 9-13. It's not just the bats that have let us down. The pen has been horrible and the D almost as horrific. Only the SP'ers have done okay.

10 games to go: 1 @ TBR, 3 vs MIN, 3 @ TOR, 3 v TBR We are +2 on TBR and +3.5 on TOR. We are -4 on MIN (see next series) We are -3 on the surging Tigers (led by AJ Hinch) We are -1.5 on SEA (playing tonight) It's still not impossible to make the playoffs or finish in last place in the ALE. What a weird season.

Anthony with another good night. 1-3 w 2B, BB and 2 rbi. Teel 2-4, but woe on his D (see below.) Dobbins has to be raising some eyebrows: 5 IP, 2H, 0ER, 2BB, 6K (2.61 ERA) How is this for a way to lose the game 4-3 by allowing 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th: HBP then Passed Ball (Teel) Single Fielder's choice with dropped catch by Dalbec (SS) Batter reaches on catcher interference (Teel) Loads the bases. Strike out (2nd out) Passed Ball (Teel) winning run scores. Yikes, 2 passed balls and a catcher interference in one inning!

Just think... if we get 79, this year, we can push for 80, next year and reach .500 in 2026. Set the bar high, my man!

2 runs and 6 hits proves they have not "checked out." Got it. Houck looked real good. Our pen did the job, for once. I'm one of the few holding onto a sliver of hope, yet you single me out. Fine.

There is a team that can be worse than us on a given night. Nice to know. Maybe 79 wins is attainable.

Or the guys with bats in their hands.

Wow, Story is over .700! He and O'Neill are the only two without a K, tonight.

14 Ks in 7 IP. Our hitters have checked out for the season.

Plus D. Very good hitter. 5 years of control. Why undervalue him?

0 innings at 2B in 2023. 147 at SS. It was just 2022, when Bogey was still here, when he played 2B and only 2B.

Cora can and does PH for off-handed batters, when the moment seems right. Ideally, we have 9 players that hit lefties and righties, well, but I'm fine with a couple platoons, here and there. I'd love to see an Abreu-Ref DH platoon, with the other being the 4th OF'er or PH'er. The DHam-Romy platoon stabilized 2B to some degree- something we have not had since 2018, except for Story's brief stint at 2B. Everyone else does not have major career L-R splits. Duran used to, but he's near okay vs LHPs, now (.665 is the new low norm, these days.) I know our O has come up short during this collapse, but our O is not a top priority to me, especially with our top 5 ML ready prospects all being non-pitchers.

Throw in Cespedes... LOL!

I'm glad we never re-signed him, although we could not have really done much worse than what we did without him.

Since when is this the determining factor for the Sox FO? I will also add this: we don't know if any of the 3 or 4 can or would project to outplay who we have already in the first 3-4 weeks of the 2025 season. They very well might, and if the player who starts on the 26 instead of one of these kids sucks in that time frame, then the "missed the playoff by 1-2 games" argument would be front and center, yes. We'd also need to see whoever was in question have a good year once called up. This is a lot of things that need to go as such for this to become an overriding factor over gaining a prime year of a player. Having one more year of Bogey, Betts and others would have been very nice and very fan friendly. I really want us to win in 2025 and do think putting the best players on the 26 as much of the year as possible makes a ton of sense. I totally get your point, but I also want to see us have a better chance 5-6 years from now, too. I know most fans don't think like that, but I'd prefer another year of Anthony, Campbell, Mayer and Teel at an age of 26, 27 or 28 than get 3-4 more weeks of them at age 22-24. Maybe I have more patience than the average fan, and please don't take that as me bragging or thinking I'm better or smarter than anyone else. For one thing, I'm not even sure 3 or 4 of these guys would make the 26 on opening day, even if there was no service time issue involved. I don't think Teel would. Mayer's health might make a difference, next April, so this could just be about Anthony and Campbell. My opinion does not matter, but I'd say Anthony is ready, right now. Campbell looks ready, too, with the bat, but I think he needs time to learn a position, first. That being said, I'd also be happy seeing him as our starting 2Bman in 2026. Although this is not a unique situation in MLB, having 3-4 players that don't even need 40 man protection from Rule 5 (4-5 if you count Meidroth) is a bit of an issue. It means we have to trade away or DFA players with ML experience to add these guys not just to the 40, but to the 26. It's not worth adding them to the 40, until the day we want them on the 26. That causes tough choices to be made before they really need to be made, and we cannot open a slot for them by putting someone on the 60 day IL, until after opening day. Maybe we do that: we add one or two to the 40 on day 2, once we put whatever new pitcher we acquire on the 60 day IL (like we did with Gio & Hendriks in 2024.)

Mayer, Abreu and Priester for Crochet and Banks

He'd be the 12th best player on their 26.

It's doubtful, but I'm not sure I'd say "No way." Maybe we could add Abreu and DHam.

Then, a big fat NO, even if they pay half his contract.

If he agreed to DH only, maybe he'd play more games. We'd need LAA to kick in some serious money for me to be okay with that trade. Even Story + Yoshida would not be enough- moneywise. No way JH takes on that full salary.

They might be one team interested in "far away" prospects," but I think they can and will rightfully demand a top 4 prospect from us. I think I'd rather have 5 years of Bryce Miller than 2 of Crochet, but if he would agree to a reasonable extension, I'd think more about him. He's only 25, so giving him a long extension might work out well. Anything we do involves a big risk. Parting with a big 4 prospect is very risky. Campbell is the only RHB of the 4 and is very athletic. He has not proven he is a plus defender at any position, but he should be able to at 2B, CF or RF- maybe 3B. To me, he is second to... Anthony is the cream of the cream. He seems like the no-brainer "keeper," but he is also the one guy nobody else can top with a better headliner. You get what you pay for, and he should get the best of the best. Mayer plays a position we have had issues with since Bogey bolted, and we haven't had a plus defender at SS since pre-Bogey, unless you count the ever-absent Story. To me, he may be the best choice to trade, despite our higher need for middle infield than CF/RF (Anthony.) Teel looks to be a plus defensive catcher who may also be a good hitter. Those are too hard to find to part with very easily. With Wong's defense seemingly not improving, he may be deemed a "keeper." Keeping all 4 does allow us to trade Abreu and DHam, but what do they bring us back? A package of Arias, Montgomery, Abreu and DHam might be good enough. Who knows?