moonslav59

Grissom with a 2 of 3 and 1 BB night, so far. He's up to .786. Makes me wonder, if he gets a call-up when Woo's season ends on Sun the 22nd... Maybe earlier.

When I suggested Mayer to SEA, you acted like they had no need for a middle infielder.

This isn't the Realistic thread, so here it goes... To SEA: 4 yrs of Casas, E R-C and Yoshida (no money, but we pay CWS a lot to take Haniger and Garver off the books for SEA.) To BOS: 2 yrs of Crochet and 5 yrs of Bryce Miller To CWS: M Mayer (Prospect,) DHam and 1 yr of Mitch Haniger ($15.5M) plus 1 yr of Mitch Garver ($12.5M) and $20M from BOS to pay for these two. CWS pay each $3M for the year.

Why not? Maybe for Chris Sale! LOL

Do you see them as #3's? Because, if they are, then you now think he's worth more than many #3's. Remember, I did not include some I felt were much better and would not be traded for Abreu. The contract, age and years of service make other deals a mismatch, but the concept of 5 years of Abreu for cheap for a #3 with 3 years of control and a moderate or cheap cost seems doable, in theory. How about one of these deals: 5 yrs of Abreu for... 3 years of arbs on Nick Lodolo 5 years of S Woods-Richardson (doubt Min even answers the phone, but he's a #3 type.) Same with Bryan Woo w SEA. 5 years of Ronel Blanco 4 years of Ryan Feltner or 4 years of Bailey Falter (more like a #4's) I'm sure there are more.

Fully realizing baseball is not all about stats, it is interesting to see how many highly ranked batters the Sox have, right now. If you set the bar at 300 PAs to get near 9 players per 30 teams and a sample size near 270, here are our rankings: 15. O'Neill .897 (just below Harper, henderson & Betts) Only 13 batters have a better OPS and more PAs than Tyler. 17. Devers .887 (Only 8 batters have more PAs and a higher OPS.) 24. Duran .845 (Nobody has more PAs than Duran, so you know where I'm going.) 31. Refsnyder.833 (His 306 PAs barely qualifies him for my list.) 37. Abreu .818 (Only 28 players have more PAs and a higher OPS.) 66. Yoshida .779 (376 PAs) 67. Wong .778 (49 batters have more PAs & a higher OPS.) That's 7 pretty good bats.

I could see that being the case, and it is a good way to add quality pitching to the big club, over the long haul, but I hope to God, this is not the plan. 1, Houck 2, Giolito 3. Crawford 4. Bello 5. Fitts, Priester, Criswell (Whitlock) If we just add a #3, I'll be steaming pissed. Even if we add a solid #3, a top closer and decent set-up man, I'll be upset. To think we can bring back the same staff with these differences only and be much better is lunacy: Pivetta> Gio Jansen> Hendriks Martin> Fulmer Plus Fitts, Priester and more from Whit & Slaten.

I totally get it. It's a business. I have said, for a while, I do not expect JH to open his wallet, this winter, and maybe never again, like he did before. I do think he had a history of spending more than he needed to spend to make money or more money, and that winning might have mattered more to him, then than now, but who knows what he's thinking. He may be looking at the farm infusion we have had and are about to have and decide it is splurge time, but again, I do not know, nor do I expect it to happen. If I had to guess on the best splurge year for maximizing ring potential, I might say before 2026. I just hope he spends up close to the line, at this point, but anywhere from $10-30M under would not surprise me. $30-40M under would be a mild surprise and tick me off. I'm not sure how much they have their finger on the pulse of Sox Nation, or even if it matters to them, but I think a big chunk is on to the scam, and will be watching closely, this winter. Just my take.

Here are some big differences between 2024 and 2023: Pitching and D: 2024: 4.13 ERA (105 ERA+) but 90 unearned runs allowed (99 per 162) 105 errors counted 2023: 4.52 ERA (100 ERA+) but only 58 unearned runs allowed in 15 more games. (102 erros counted) _________________________________________ Timely Hitting: OPS RISP/ Men on Base/RBI RISP 2024: .755/ 475 in 1493 PAs (would be 528 over 1661 PAs) 2023: .767/ 553 in 1661 PAs ________________________________________ Together, these add up to 41 more unearned runs allowed and 23 less runs batted it, for a total of 64 runs.

Last season, we were 73-72 before splitting a doubleheader with the Yanks on Sept 14th. (74-73) We ended the season going 4-11. In 2022, we won 6 of our last 9, but were out of it by then at 72-81 after 153 games. (We lost 6 in a row, just before that stretch.) We went 9-12 after Sept 13th.

Yes, and our spending went up- not down. Our ranking went down, yes, but not spending.

Do you have the name or link? I googled it and got nothing.

He's "athletic" enough, but I'm not sure how close to decent ot plus he is at any one position.

I have no idea what team would do it, but I count pitchers ranked from about #61 to 90 as #3 SP'ers. These might be pitchers like these: by fWAR (1.7 to 2.0): jake irvin, J Tailon, Nick Pivetta, R Blanco, K Crawford by ERA (3.85 to 4.25) Mitch keller, A healey, K Crawford, Gausman, jake Irvin, Bassitt by xFIP (4.05 to 4.25:) Heaney, Bassitt, Taillon, Wacha, Blanco, Gausman Some names are on 2 or 3 lists. You think Pivetta is better than Abreu? (Now, the Sox need pitching, so we would probably not trade 3 years of Pivetta for 5 years of Abreu, and the gae and years of control matter, too, but I think many names I listed seem about even in value. I did lis those who look much better or worse, but look for yourself: https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&type=8&season=2024&season1=2024&ind=0&pageitems=100&month=0&sortcol=19&sortdir=default&qual=80&pagenum=1

I can't remember who said it, but it was just recently. He said it was reported by some paper. Was it Randy?

I don't either, but it would not surprise me to see further budget cuts.

One could claim they spent the $10M saved on Sale on Hendriks and O'Neill.

The payroll went up by $20-30M from 2021 to 2022, depending on looking at the start or end of the year totals. Others passed us, so yes, we kept dropping in ranking, steadily, but not because we have always cut salary. We also spent more in '23 than '21.

If the team keeps losing, JH does not look like the smartest guy in the room. He can't be so self-absorbed to not see that. He may just be a greedy guy, but no way does he think people are watching the last 5 years of Sox baseball and calling him smart. If that is what he was trying to do, his time is up. He could gain some cred by winning and staying under the tax line by $1-5M, but no way he cons anyone by spending at $200M and losing, again.

I like the trade, a lot. I also think Fitts can be good. I just hope JH isn't thinking they can fill slots instead of adding a quality SP'er.

I agree. I didn't say he (they) knew what they were doing, but JH & Co. did cut salary from 2023 while claiming were were going to be competitive.

How much value do we place on these guys returning from major injuries? Story seems like the most important returning player. His health is essential to improving the defense at 2-3 positions, and his offense could give a big boost from the right side of the plate. Giolito had issues of concern before he got hurt and may start the season on the IL. Hendriks was just slowed down in his attempt to return by the end of the 2024 season. Whitlock looked real good in 4 starts, but many feel he should go and stay in the pen. Fulmer seems like one giant question mark, but he does have some upside potential. I Campbell showed some promise with SEA in 2023, but is also a question mark. Murphy may not help, even if he's 100% healthy. Players who missed significant time or played hurt, a lot: Devers, Slaten, Yoshida and Criswell. Personally, I'm getting tired of hoping on hope we get something from returning injured players. I'm not saying I have no hope, but counting on most of these top list guys to help is asking for a letdown.

Unless he felt Gio was the cheapest way to keep us just barely "competitive."

Actually, Houck, Crawford and Bello were all DD additions. Pivetta was Bloom. Criswell was Brez. Those are our top IP pitchers for 2024. Next up... IP 67 Wink- Bloom, 57 Kelly- Bloom, 54 Weissert- Brez, 52 Anderson- Brez (DFA'd,) 52 Jansen- Bloom, 51 Bernardino- Bloom, 50 Slaten- Brez, 42 Bosser- Bloom, 39 Martin- Bloom Maybe estimates for the 2025 IP list might look like this: 185 Houck- DD 175 Crawford- DD 170 Giolito- Brez 165 Bello- DD 120 Criswell & Priester- Brez & Brez RP 70 Whit & Wink; Bloom & Bloom 60 Slaten- Brez 50 Hendriks- Brez

Agreed. Lugo might not have even been protected for Rule 5. No way paulino would have been. Ovis Portes may amount to something special, but when? 2029? Even if Yorke outshines Priester, I like the effort to improve pitching by trading bats. All-in-all, the only significant deadline moves we made after Nate & Pearce in 2018 have been: Pivetta '19 (Workman & Hembree) Schwarber '21 (Aldo Ramirez) Abreu & Valdez '22 (Vaz) 2 sells and 1 buy