moonslav59

Would this make most of us happy? Sign: Nick Martinez, Tanner Scott and Aroldis Chapman Trade: Abreu, Wong, Crawford & Dobbins For: RHP Bailey Ober (pre-arb, then 3 arbs) and C Ryan Jeffers (3rd arb of 3.) Jeffers is a good power bat and bats RH's. He can be a bridge to Teel. Jeffer and 4 years of Ober at a low cost is worth giving up Abreu, Crawford, Wong and Dobbins. C: Jeffers & Gasper (Teel in late '25 or '26) 1B: Casas (Romy) 2B: Campbell (DHam-Grissom) SS: Story & Mayer (Romy) 3B: Devers (Meidroth) LF: Abreu/Duran (E Valdez) CF: Duran/Rafaela (Anthony/Campbell) RF: Anthony (Abreu) DH: Yoshida-Refsnyder (Hickey) SP: Houck, Martinez, Ober, Bello, Giolito (Fitts, Criswell, Priester) RP: Scott, Chapman, Hendriks, Slaten, Whitlock, Criswell, Fitts, Fulmer (Wink, Bernardino, Guerrero, Mata, Penrod, Kelly, Weissert, I Campbell, Shugart, Booser

A Yoshida-Refsnyder platoon might be the plan for 2025. Ref is no good in the OF, and we will likely be adding Anthony and maybe Campbell to the OF mix, while losing O'Neill. We could see... LF: Duran CF: Anthony v R/ Rafaela v L RF: Anthony v L/ Abreu v R or LF: Duran v R/ Abreu v L CF: Duran v L/ Rafaela v R RF: Anthony

Sale was great in 2017, too. He even led the league in IP and Ks. (FIP, too.) Remember, Schilling got an extension, and barely pitched that year. Beckett got an extension and was later traded.

I think we are stuck with hoping Yoshida does better.

Pretty close to my estimate of $3-6M x 3 years

The word was Houck replaced Gio. (He was likely the odd man out.) That would mean Criswell (the team went 12-6 in his 18 starts and Fitts (team went 0-4, despite his 1.74 ERA.) The pitching depth of Houck, Criswell and Fitts were not the main issue: it was defense, the pen (including Martin's minor meltdown) and the other 3-4 SP'ers (Bello, Crawford and Pivetta.) My point is, we don't have great pen depth, as we sit now, unless we add 3 solid RP'ers, then our 6-7-8 guys get pushed to AAA depth, and our AAA depth becomes farther away AAA depth. I'm also fine with Fitts, Criswell, Priester and Dobbings as our AAA depth, but not our 5th SP'er going into 2025. If I had my way, they be our 7-8-9-10 starters with Crawford as our #6/ long man.

soxprospects.com projects these guys will start the year here: 1. Ingrassia A+ 2. Dobbins AAA 3. Duffy A+ 4. Monegro AA I Coffey AAA Paez A+ Wehunt AA Early AA E Rodriguez A+ Cohen A- (Pen) Fitts MLB It's interesting to note, that we have several other pitchers on the farm that may be better that these guys or will pass them, next summer. Maybe some will end up in the pen, as will a few from this awarded group of young pitchers. Priester is not a prospect, but he could be a force, as soon as 2025. Here are the highest ranked pitchers not listed above: 6. Perales 21 IL (AA/AAA) - Probably our best minor league pitcher. 11. Sandlin 23 AA- may end up in the pen. Has serious upside. 13. Tolle 21 A+ mostly unkown 19. Penrod 27 AAA/MLB (Pen) up their in age. 20. Wikelman 22 AAA- make or break year & may be bubble on 40 man 23. Cason 18 A- mostly unknown 24. Valera 18 A- could have made the top list for 2024. 26. Mullins 24 AA- let's see how he does in '25. 27. Guerrero 24 MLB (Pen)- could be a force in the '25 MLB pen. 31. Reyes FCL (Pen)- hope to see him shine in '25 33. Neely A+ mostly unknown 35. Bastardo, 39. B Clarke A- 40. Tygart A-, 41. Dean A+ (Pen), 42, Carlson A+ (Pen), 46. Gambrell AAA, 48. Bonnin AA (Pen), 49. G Jackson AA (Pen), 51. Mata (out of options), 56. Hoppe AA (Pen), 59. Rogers A+ (Pen), 60. Sena AA (Pen) Not Ranked: S Drohan AAA, Uberstine AA, Ehrlicher A-, Judice A-

Big win for the PACK! Great game, too. Heard this was the first time the Lions beat an undefeated team, this late in a season in over 50 years. (DET>MIN) No NFC North team is worse than 4-2! No NFC West team is better than 4-3. 6 teams have 5 wins: 3 are in the NFC North.

The old conference system has been shattered. It's hard to know what is to come. Maybe 4 or 5 mega 16 team conferences.

Love the article and the general positive vibe on our farm pitching. I know many are "far away." and we seem to have more "quantity" than top "quality," but I'm hopeful we have turned the corner on poor pitching development on our farm. We've already seen an uptick at the ML level with Houck, Bello, Crawford, Whitlock, Slaten, Fitts and others. That's the best 5 or 6 pitchers we've seen in a long time.

Speaking of undefeated teams, with a 12 team playoffs, you have to think, no matter how bad a schedule a team has, if they run the table, they will be in the 12. Here are the remaining schedules for all the undefeated teams: (current rank- before yesterday) 2. Oregon: IL, at MI, MD, at WI, Wash (one, maybe two tough games) 3. Penn St.: at WI, Ohio St, Wash, at Purdue, at Minn, MD (one) 6. Mia FL: FL St, Duke, at GA Tech, WF, at Syracuse (NONE) 9. IA St.: TX Tech, at KA, Cincy, at UT, KA St (one) 13. BYU: at UCF, at UT, Kansas, at AZ St, Houston (NONE) 16. IN: Wash, at MI St, MI, at Ohio St, Purdue (two) 20 Pitt: Syracuse, at SMU, VA, Clemson, at Louisville, at BC (one) 23. Army: Air Force, at No. TX, at ND, UTSA, Navy (two) 25. Navy: ND, at Rice, at So FL, Tulane, at E Car, at Army (two) (Liberty at 5-0 might be the exception.) MIA and Pitt have the easiest road to undefeated.

As much as I really love watching Devers hit, I'm true to my word on being willing to trade anybody and everybody, if I think the return is better and helpful, or equal but addresses a greater need. I also look at who we have to replace the guy(s) we trade and weigh the "step down" vs the "step up" at the position we obtained a new player. One issue with trading Devers is who plays 3B? I've suggested Campbell or Mayer. notin suggested Grissom with Campbell at 2B. Meidroth might be an option, but for now, he looks like just decent non-40 man roster depth. Another issue is the contract. My guess is, 20 teams would not be able to pay his deal, so we'd be down to about 7-9 teams. How many need a 3Bman? How many even view him as a long term 3Bman, or do they see him as a DH, 1Bman or maybe a LF'er- long term? Suggest a trade, and I'll respond. I like the idea of trading Casas and moving Devers to 1B more, and with Casas being lower cots, we might get a better return. (It doesn't bother me that Devers swings at bad pitches. It works for him.)

I agree, nobody thought he was a $3-4M player, when we signed him, That wasn't the point I was making. My point is, what 3 year offer would he get, if he was a FA this winter. I think we can assume that is probably his "real value" and we'd have to pay off the difference to trade him to that GM- just to get nothing in return. What do you think he'd be signed for on a 3 year deal? $9M/3? $12M/4? $15M/3? $18M/3? More? I'm not sure anyone would pay him $20M/3. If he comes back and looks healthy in April, maybe close to that, but I can't see more than that. I'd say $15M/3 is likely the limit. Just my opinion. He's not worthless, but his contract is under water.

I'll knock him every year. He sucks. Even Jacko knows it. (Yes, big boo-boo on thinking the series was still 3-1.)

I was thinking it was 3-1. LOL. Yes, getting Soto made a big difference, but adding one more big bat would have gave them a much better shot. Counting on Stanton is a risky thing to do.

The Yanks have done so poorly in the playoffs, since 2009, that I almost, yes ALMOST, forgot how much I hate seeing them win. GO GUARDIANS! Stanton has woke up the echoes, for sure, and it just goes to show you how Cashman is such an idiot to not provide a couple more real good bats to t his line-up, day one. I've said it before, but here it is again, "Cashman is the best GM the Sox have ever had."

Dipoto will listen to any trade offer. I admit my list is rather arbitrary. I chose teams that might have a surplus of pitchers or are rebuilding, plus free agents to be.

Yes, I meant to write 2023-2024.

IA St almost lost to UCF. GA beat #1 Texas at Austin. My top 20: 1. Oregon vs #22 Illinois 2. Penn St at Wisconsin 3. Georgia (1 loss) 4. Miami vs FLA St 5. Ohia St (1 loss) vs Nebraska 6. Texas (1 loss) at Vandy 7. LSU (1 loss) at Texas A & M 8. IA St OFF week 9. Tenn (1 loss) OFF week 10. Clemson (1 loss) 11. Notre Dame (1 loss) at #25 Navy 12. BYU at UCF 13. Indiana vs Wash 14. Alabama (2 losses) vs #19 MO 15. Texas A & M (1 loss) v LSU 16, Pittsburgh (no losses) vs Syracuse 17. Kansas St (1 loss) v Kansas 18, Navy (no losses) vs ND 19. Illinois (1 loss) at #2 Oregon 20. Army (no losses)

Here is a list of the top fWAR SP'ers I think might be available by trade or FA signing: 3. Sonny Gray 9.2 STL 6. George Kirby 8.5 SEA 9. Kevin Gausman 8.0 TOR 11. Pablo Lopez 7.8 MIN T16. Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell 7.2 FAs 19. Logan Gilbert 7.1 SEA 23. Tanner Bibee 6.3 CLE 25. Yusei Kikuchi 6.0 FA 28. Luis Castillo 5.7 SEA 30. Mitch Keller 5.5 PIT T31: Joe RYan and Bailey Ober 5.4 MIN 35. Max Fried 5.2 FA 38. Nate 5.1 FA 39. Mikolas 5.0 STL 40. Flaherty 4.9 FA & Monty 4.9 AZ 43. Bryce Miller 4.7 SEA 44. Garrett Crochet 4.6 CWS 45. Chris Bassitt 4.5 TOR

PIT may be looking to retool, but I'm not sure they want to trade another high upside, young SP'er. If they deal anyone, if might be Mitch Keller, and he might be a nice fit for the Sox. He's only 28 and is signed for 4 more years. His Lux Tax hit is only $15.4M, but PIT might look to trade him before his costs go up: $15.4>$16.9>$18.4>$20.4 by 2028.) That is cheaper than the Sox would have to pay for a top 30 or 40 pitcher. Here are some of his numbers, since 2022 (3 seasons) 225 pitchers with 180+ IP 14th in GS (92) and IP (531) T33 in fWAR (7.5) w Joe Ryan & Shane Bieber and within 0.1 of Monty, Darvish, Wacha & Bassitt 140 Pitchers with 250+ IP, he places... 70th in ERA- (96) 58th in xFIP at 3.92 (just above Bello, Stroman, Monty, Bibee and Manaea) 69th K-BB% at 15.2 83rd in ERA at 4.13. I'm not sure what it would take to get him, but maybe Casas for Keller and the slumping Bednar, who has one arb left. Maybe Abreu, DHam and Dobbins for Keller.

Gotta love seeing ALA lose to Tenn and Texas about to go down to GA. With 2 losses, I think ALA drops from the top 12, but they could get back in by running the table. The undefeated teams outside the top 12, right now, have to think they have a shot, if they win out. Some have rather easy schedules left to go. ND got a nice win. They play a ranked Navy team, next week.

Depth is very important, and our 2024 depth almost got us to the dance. (Houck, Craiswell & Fitts did a great job replacing Gio and Whitlock.) IMO, if we add 1 top SP'er and 3 solid RP'er, our depth will become a strength. We already have 16-17 everyday players for 13 slots, on that side of the game.

Not sure about that. He played much of his career in pitcher's parks.

No, the shoulder issue won't help, and waiting until he shows he's healthy might be the choice, but he'll take up a roster slot until then.