moonslav59

I think it's all about Mayer's health. If he's fine in ST'ing, he has at least an equal shot at winning the SS/2B job as DHam, Grissom, Romy and Campbell have, right now. I did say I think Anthony is the most likely guy to be called up first, unless Mayer wins the job in ST'ing. Both could start on the 26 opening day, but I think we'd have to trade Abreu (for pitching) to make it worth it. I think there is no chance, unless Story is hurt on opening day, that Mayer AND Campbell start the year in Boston. I think Teel will be held off the 40 man until September, at the earliest. He's not even Rule 5 until 2026. We may wait until next year to add him. (Campbell is 2026, too, but you can't keep him down, if he hits like this to start 2025.) If I had to guess: 1 makes the opening day roster (Anthony or Mayer) 1-2 get called up before Sept. 1-2 get called up Sept 1st. Only 3 total, at most, see action w BOS in 2025. If I had to be on how many play before Sept 1st, I'd go with 2, but 3 is a close call.

From soxprospects.com... Isaac Coffey continued his sensational run since the month of August began. In five starts since then, he has posted a 1.73 ERA in 26 innings. He has gone at least five innings in all five starts. Overall, he has a 3.33 ERA in 23 games with 138 strikeouts in 108 innings pitched. He has 9 Ks in 4 of those 5 starts.

I wonder if you despise 99% of corporate leaders as much as JH.

Fitts turns 25 in December, and he will surely be added to the 40 to protect from Rule 5. I kinda like our rotation depth of Criswell, Fitts, Priester and maybe even Dobbins, if he can take a step up. To me, they key is not counting on Crawford as the 5, Bello as the 4, Gio as the 2 and Houck as the 1, with us adding just a #3 type SP'er. I hope we sign 2 SP'ers - maybe a 1 & 3 or 2 twos, so Crawford can be in the pen with Whitlock. Our pen needs help, too. I never get my wishes.

Shaw was my "sleeper prospect" way back in the day. (The BDC days.) As he played more and more, I no longer thought he had the skills he showed after the trade. I remember like MVP, that Dubon was the one that might come back to haunt us. I remember thinking Thornburg was a good get.

Not surprising, but looks stunning in the graphic.

Thanks. Did they used to not count Sept?

We get 1 everyday player callup on Sept 1st. I'm not sure if those call-ups "start the service time clock" anymore, but my guess is one will get the call, then. I think Mayer will be given every opportunity to win the SS or 2B job in ST'ing. I'm not sure he's given a tie-breaker status with DHam and Grissom, but maybe Grissom, yes. I think Anthony is the most ML ready, but with an OF of Duran-Rafaela-Abreu, I'm not sure they feel a need to rush him up and start the clock. He bats LH'd, and the 3rd best overall OF'er is the RHB Rafaela. If refsnyder does not retire, we'll have to trade someone, or play Rafaela at middle IF to make room for Anthony. That being said, I think he'll make the ML team by June or July, unless there is an injury to him or another OF'er. I think Campbell has looked incredibly "ready," but he just got promoted to AAA and has not mastered a position. If Mayer and Story play 2B/SS and Anthony squeezes into the OF mix, where does Campbell play? To me, either he or Mayer will stay in AAA, until Sept. Teel can wait. We will sign a defensive catcher to a min deal, or just go with Heineman. Maybe Teel gets called up Sept 1st, maybe not till next year. I'm not sure on this. Some say he is the most ML ready, but catchers take time to develop and be "ready" to handle a staff. The guy nobody is talking about is Meidroth, who offers decent back-up options at 3B and maybe SS/2B. Not sure about 1B. With DHam, Romy (who can play 1B), Grissom and EValdez, I'm not sure Meidroth can win a slot, unless we trade someone, or we have 2-3 injuries. I think the top brass will figure it out, this winter, or maybe set up a couple either or chocies for ST'ing: Mayer or Campbell. Anthony, if we trade Abreu. Teel, if we think he's better than a cheap back-up and we don't care about his clock. Remember, catchers often mature at 29 or 30, some at 31-32, so starting his clock early might not be a great idea. We have many moving parts, and a deep bench, as it is. If everyone is healthy, including Story, and Ref does not retire, we'll have some tough choices to make, even without the big 4 knocking on the opening day door. I think we will delay some choices to keep the 40 man stocked up, until we know more. None of the 4 are even Rule 5, yet. I'm not sure when the last time we jumped the Rule 5 clock on a prospect, but none will be added to the 40, unless we feel like they will be playing nearly FT on the big club. We will NOT start their clock to have them in a utility role, unless they can get 450+ PAs in that role. You got 1400 PAs at SS/2B and 2100 PAs for the OF. Assuming 100% health, I see: 650 Duran 600 Rafaela, Story and Mayer or Campbell (not both on the 40) 500 Abreu (sits vs most LHPs) That's 2950 out of 3500, and is enough to give Anthony 550, if we play Rafaela at MI for 200 PAs out of his 600 total, or just give him 550 total. How do start Teel 100-115 games? We can't play Wong at 2B. Maybe we try to trade Yoshida. Now my head is spinning from all the movable and moving parts.

I think our 13 everyday players are pretty good. I’m not sure all 4 are called up before Sept 1. i think the years of service matters

There should be room for him in Woo, especially if Anthony gets an early call-up.

Yes, all 4 might be ML ready at some point in 2025. A couple might be held back until 2026, but yes! Too bad, none are pitchers. Time to trade bats for arms.

Been hearing a lot about Devers and O'Neill not getting enough RBIs, but these are some interesting numbers... 2024 RBI/ABs .171 Devers (better than his career .170) .158 Abreu .153 Yoshida .146 O'Neill (So what, if his RBIS are mostly solo blasts) .132 Rafaela .131 Ref .124 Duran (lead off hitter) .122 Wong Now, BA w RISP does also tell a story, but sometimes batters walk, a lot, and that does not show up in BA. BA w RISP (75+ ABs): .316 Yoshida .309 Abreu .305 Wong .300 Duran .258 Rafaela .250 Ref .241 O'Neill .237 S Smith .226 Devers (115 ABs is less than Duran and Rafaela!, surprisingly.) Devers is worst on the team, while being 2nd in RBIS w RISP. Devers also has a .922 OPS with men on base, including 12 HRS and 23 2B+3Bs for a team leading 64 RBI. His BA is .289 with men on. (.372 OBP reflects the 34 BBs, which is 14 more than the next guy- Duran with 20.) I can see why some are frustrated that Devers does not have more RBI, sand he started off very slowly in this area. His last 40 ABs have not helped, either, but he is on the same pace of his career, and nobody felt like he was too low in RBI, before, this year. Alot has to do with opportunity. PAs w men on base: 269 (34 BBs and just 229 ABs w 64 RBI) 2023: 319 PAs (39 BB and 270 ABs w 82 RBI) 2022: 271 (30BB and 235 ABs w 76 RBI) PAs with RISP: 146 (26 BB and just 115 ABs w 48 RBI) 2023: 190 PAs (31 BB and 152 ABs w 64 RBI) 2022: 154 (24 BBs and 125 ABs w 55 RBI) Interesting debate.

The other two sucked on D: Story has been great on D, but yes, he has been a failure, so far.

Nice! I wasn't expecting Arias until next year's rankings. Campbell passing Teel is telling.

Nice catch. I was going to list option players, later and forgot. That brings out total to about $180M counting all the player benefits and scrubs/arbs.

There are even mediocre teams fighting for divisional crowns. Nobody looks dominating. Most of the best record teams, are playing poorly over the last few weeks, too.

Had we worked hard to replace Mookie, Porcello, ERod, Nate, Bogey and others, we'd be closer to being in competition. We replaced these guys with scraps and hope & prayer players coming off injuries or trying to regain some form from long ago (at a lower cost.) We paid large & long to keep only Devers. We spent significantly on Story and Yoshida. Jansen cost a lot for a closer, but that's about it for 5 years. That comes up way short, in light of who we lost over the last 4 years.

This is a key point. It is better to add too much in the winter, and deal some away at the deadline, than continuously having to overpay every deadline. This year, we did trade some prospects, of which maybe Portes was the only one worthy of keeping. I doubt we protected M Lugo, so I don't see him as being a big loss. Yorke could do well in the bigs, so maybe it's 2.

We lost a great chance at passing someone.

Yes. He's been a 3-5 before this year, a 1-2 over the first 6 weeks and a #3 since. I'd say 3 is the safe slot.

I think we did get some questions answered, this year of discovery. Even with our pitching: I think we found out... Houck should be viewed as a #3. Bello & Gio should be slotted #4 & 5, and no higher. Crawford, Wink and Whitlock should be the mid/long men, but they probably will slot Crawford in the 4/5 slot and move others up one notch. :( Slaten and Hendriks should be viewed as set-up me, and nothing more. Guys like Weissert, Booser, Kelly, Bernardino, I Campbell and others should be viewed as the 6-8 slot RP'er, maybe one could win the 5 slot. If Slaten, Hendriks, Whitlock, Crawford and Wink hold the 2 to 6 slots, we should be okay with adding a top closer. Maybe Criswell can take Crawford's slot, if we start KC. I'd like to see us add 2 solid SP'ers, a closer and decent set up man. That is just 4 guys, but they will not come cheaply. To me, we look set at all of the everyday positions, but if Ref retires, we should trade a lefty bat (Abreu) for an equally good RF'er who bats RH'd.

Hopes and Prayers in this team's motto.

Even when he tried over-resting player over the first few months, they fell apart, got hurt and declined over the last 2 months. Even in 2021, we went 29-27 from AUG>Oct (29-30 from JUL 29>>>) 27-32 in '22 (30-41 from JUL 16>>>) 22-34 in '23 (22-37 from JUL 29th>>>) 13-17, so far in 2024 (17-24 from JUL 19th>>>) We weren't all that bad, each year, up until the last 2.5 months of the year.

100%. It didn't help that the largest contract handed out to a pitcher, since Sale & Nate back on 2019, missed the whole season due to injury. You get what you pay for, and we paid only small to near mid-level prices, and that's what we got- or worse. $38.5M/2 Giolito $32M/2 Jansen (Closer) $17.5M/2 Martin (RP) $10M/1 Richards $10M/1 Kluber $10M/2 Paxton $10M/2 Hendriks (RP) $8M/2 Diekman (RP, later dumped) $7M/1 Wacha $6M/1 Perez I $5M/1 Perez II $5M/1 R Hill $3M/1 Strahm (RP) Extensions: $55M/6 Bello $18.75M/2 Barnes (RP, later traded) $18.75M/4 Whitlock Traded for Salary: $8M/1 Ottavino (RP) Mid Season: Luis Garcia, Lucas Sims, Robles and others

I agree. Spending more and spending way more increases the chances of winning. When you look at the list of teams that win consistently, as in regular season records, most also have a pretty constant flow of farm help that supports the players added by free agency or trading for expensive players. I'm a little hopeful JH recognizes this and is planning on spending big, again, once the farm influx is in full scale mode, which is basically now or over the next year or two. Only time will tell. I'm not going to expect it, but I won't be surprised, if he goes all out, again.