moonslav59

He was pretty good, last year and excellent for the first month or two after his call-up. It seems like something is wrong. I doubt about a year of pitching well was all luck.

and a sweep by the Dodgers. We were 24-11 vs all others, including some very good teams!

We have a platoon for Abreu: Ref (LF) and O'Neill to RF. We have a platoon for Yoshida (Refsyner, who is better than Canha and Rengifo. A RHB at 1B makes sense, but only as a rental, and Romy is okay as a platoon with Smith, for now. If Casas returns, we don't need a 1Bman. That leaves... SS (or 2B) If we get a RHB for SS or 2B, Rafaela moves to CF FT, and we have to play Ref at DH or LF. I prefer SS, as our defense and depth is lacking there. A DHam-Romy platoon at 2B is more than decent.

Team Records since May 31 32-15 NYM 29-19 ARI 29-17 HOU 27-18 BOS 26-23 BAL 26-20 MIN 26-21 CIN, LAD, MIL, PIT, SDP 26-23 STL 25-21 PHI (Maybe not so invincible) Worst 8: 12-37 CWS 18-31 COL 18-29 MIA 20-28 OAK 21-27 SFG, CHC, TOR 21-26 NYY (KCR are 22-24) 25-22 CLE If we take the next two from the Yanks, they might be the 5th worst team in MLB since May 31st!!!

Since May 3st, the Sox have the second best OPS (.819) and wOBA (.352) to the NYM. 1.030 Devers .979 Duran .973 Valdez (AAA) .946 O'Neill .825 Rafaela .806 Smith .803 Refsnyder .794 Romy .780 Wong .718 Abreu .702 Hamilton .702 Yoshida .628 Westbrook .402 McGuire ERA- since May 31 43 Booser 65 Kelly 68 Jansen 75 Wink 79 Crawford 88 Criswell (do NOT demote him to the pen) 89 Houck 100 Keller 101 Pivetta 113 Anderson 146 Bello 149 Horn 153 Weissert 186 Bernardino (What happened?)

I'm hoping to start an optimistic Part III thread after the deadline. Let's go Brez: show your stuff!

The Yankees have some very serious problems. Just a 2 man offense with no depth. If Judge or Soto get hurt, they might be the worst team in the AL East. With Stanton out, Austin Wells is their 3rd best hitter. Volpe (.689) and Torres (.681) are their 4th and 5th best. The rest are near .650 or under. Cole is not the same. Gil and Stroman have done well, but Cortes and Rodon are both above 4.12. SP FIPs: 3.52 Gil 3.99 Cortes 4.56 Rodon 5.14 Stroman 5.52 Cole The pen has some nice season stats but is struggling, badly. I'm not sure their farm offers much future hope, either.

As we near the deadline at 6pm on July 30th, the list of sure sellers has not really grown. The list of buyers and tire-kickers is probably the longest in MLB history, which could mean the auctions get heated and expensive. So far, it does not seem like teams are giving up the world for some decent players. The sellers: CWS: Crochet (2 arbs remaining) might be the biggest target next to Skubal. Fedde (1 more year at $7.5M) is aging but a low risk, at that cost. Roberts Jr. ($15M in '25 w 2 option years at $20M w $2M buyouts) He is a RHB, but we seem set in the OF for many years to come. DeJong (FA to be) costs only about $600K but may not be an upgrade OAK Mason Miller (prearb) just went on the IL. He could replace jansen, next year, but will be very costly and I'm not sure about his status for the rest of '24. Brent Rooker (3 arbs left) is having a great year and is a RHB. We don't really need a DH, since we have Yoshida and a Ref/Valdez platoon would be fine, too. MIA Tanner Scott (FA) is getting a lot of attention COL Cal Quantrill & Austin Gomber both have 1 arb year left, but may not be much of an upgrade. Brenton Doyle (prearb) is a RHB CF'er who might be a nice swap for one of our LHB prospects or Abreu plus prospects. Ezequiel Tovar (RHB SS) is locked up at $63.5M/7 starting this year. I doubt he is on the block. TBR (has already been selling) Taj Bradley is not on the block. Zack Littell (1 arb) Pete Fairbanks ($3.7M in '25 w $7M option for '26 ($1M buyout) Jason Adam (2 arbs) RP Kevin Kelly (prearb) RP Yandy Diaz ($10M w club option for '26) is a RHB corner IF'er who turns 33, soon TOR Bassitt ($22M for '25) might be too costly for JH, but just 1 year left. Gausman ($22M x 2 more years) His contract might lessen the return needed. Berrios ($18.7M AAV through '28) might be more of a "dump." Kikuchi (FA) Owed about $4M and may be affordable Trevor Richards (FA) RP'er doing okay Chad Green ($10.5M in '25) is having a good year, but likely too expensive for JH. Guerrero (1 big arb year left) RHB at 1B/DH (not really a fit for '25) J Turner (FA) RHB at 1B/3B (2B in a pinch) and likes Boston LAA T Anderson ($13M in '25) LHP might be one of our best options Carlos Estevez (FA) very good RP H Strickland (prearb) not likely available Luis Garica (FA) Might be affordable Rengifo is not someone I want, and Pillar might be a RHB fix, but we are loaded at OF. DET Skubal (2 arbs left!!!) LHP might be the top prize available Flaherty (FA) maybe the best rental out there Tyler Holton (prearb) LHRP Shelby Miller (owed $1M for '24 with $4.25M option for '25) RP Jason Foley (3 arbs) RP Wil Vest (3 arbs) RP Mark Canha RHB I'm not interested in SFG Jordan Hicks ($12M x 3 more years) SP Not much of an upgrade, but he eats innings Ryan Walker RP (prearb) Tyler Rogers RP (1 arb) Taylor Rogers ($12M in '25 might be worth it) LHRP (Chapman at 1B does not seem like an option) Maybe? TEX CHC CIN

The Rays have also shown a willingness to trade to teams in their own division. I wish we had gotten Eflin, but there seems like there are a few 1.3 year-remaining pitchers on the block, and maybe we shock the nation by trading for a longer controlled TOTR SP'er or a couple of quality RP'ers.

It seems like several posters left the game post, in disgust. With a team like ours, in a league that has no clear great teams and versus a team in free fall, I watch to the end.

He also jokes around, a lot and often furthers unserious pots.

I'm really loving the progress so many of our lower prospects are showing, even some pitchers! I expect to see some pitchers jump into the top 20 and 30. Early & Dobbins into the top 20. (Maybe Wikelman moves below 20th.) Maybe Valera, Ruiz, Dean and Wehunt jump into or get close to top 30. OPS Against 30+ IP, unless noted: .360 D Reyes (16 IP) DSL .384 Valera FCL/Salem .402 Y Ruiz DSL .526 Dean SAL .538 Wehunt SAL/GRE .545 Portes FCL/SAL .548 Ingrassia SAL .553 Kirwin SAL .557 E R-C SAL/GRE .593 Penrod POR/WOR .596 J Paez SAL/GRE Notables: .624 Dobbins POR .632 Luetge WOR .644 Mullins GRE .675 Wikelman POR .683 I Coffey POR .684 Rogers GRE .685 Bastardo POR .713 Gambrell WOR .789 Sandlin GRE .815 Fitts WOR

All these guys are back, next year, except O'Neill- our best RHB. We can afford to trade from our everyday strength to get pitching and a RHB, not just for 2024, but beyond, as well.

We could start a team with all 9 over the league average .709, if Casas returns (or 8 over with the .698 Rafaela in the line-up.) 1. Duran .859 CF 2. Devers .969 3B 3. O'Neill .890 LF 4. Casas .857 1B 5. Abreu .804 RF 6. Wong .802 C 7. Refsnyder .866 DH (7 straight over .800!) 8. DHam .716 SS 9. Romy .741 2B PH Yoshi .716 We could do it without Casas, if we played Romy at 1B and Duran at 2B, but that would be silly. (Yoshi DH and Ref in LF, Abreu CF and O'Neill in RF) We really have a nice balanced line-up, except when we face LHPs. (Also, Smith is not far from that .709 mark (.690,) and a Smith-Romy platoon rates to be over .710.)

Can we expect anything else?

Eflin is controlled through 2025. BAL made a smart move. There are a few others with one more year. Maybe we make a try for one of them.

As badly as we have been playing, the rest of the league has not done much better. 50 games to go, and the Sox have a better record than ATL, HOU, SDP and AZ. We have the 9th best record in MLB and are tied for 8th with the lowest loss total. We are 2 losses from the 6th best team in MLB (NYY & MIN.)

The Mets just passed the Braves for the #1 WC slot.

HOU is about to beat LAD and stay in the lead for the ALW crown. They have 2 more losses than the Sox. SEA is the team right behind the Sox in the WC race, and they have 4 more losses. In terms of losses, the Sox are... 5 behind BAL for the ALE crown. (playing SDP) 3 behind NYY for the top WC slot. 2 behind MIN for the #2 WC slot. (playing MIN) 1 behind KCR for the #3 WC slot. (playing the Cubs)

Speaking of pitching on the farm: AA: Early 5IP 1H 0E 2BB 5K POR won 3-0 as the team allowed just 3 Hits Campbell 2-4, Teel 1-3 w BB, Anthony 0-3 w BB, McDonogh 3-4 w HR) A+: Monegro 5IP 4H 0ER 1BB 5K GRE won 10-0 (6 hitter) Bleis 2-4 w HR & BB. GRE scored 10 on 5 hits and 11 BBs! A-: Salem lost 9-3 as Arias homered (2-3 w BB) His OPS at SAL is 1.783. DSL: Ruiz 6IP 2H 0ER 0BB 9Ks (Team 4 hitter ans 1ER allowed.)

Some huge hits, all night. We got over the non-crooked number innings in a big way: 2 in the 7th and 3 in the 8th. Every slot got a hit, except the 9 slot (Westbrook & Smith.) Yoshida with 3 RBI! Ref and Devers on base 4 times! Wong on base 3 times. Hope we got that spunky spark back, tonight.

These Yanks are very "watchable!" As a Sox fan!

Remember, the Yanks have been one of baseballs 3 worst teams the last 3-4 weeks.

To BAL: Zach Eflin (RHP) To TBR: Matthew Etzel (OF,) Jackson Baumeister (RHP,) and Mac Horvath (UT) To PHI: Austin Hays (OF) To BAL: S Dominguez (RHP) & C Pache (OF) To BOS: James Paxton To LAD: Moises Bolivar (IF on DSL Blue) To AZ: AJ Puk To Mia: Deybison De Los Santos, Andrew Pintar To SEA: Randy Arozarena (OF) a RHB To TBR: Brody Hopkins (single A RHP) and Aidan Smith (OF) + PTBNL To SEA: Yimi Garcia To TOR: Jonatan Clase (OF) To NYM: Ryne Stanek (RP) To SEA: Rhylam Thomas (OF) 3 of the 7 involve SEA.

Just had the feeling, right?