moonslav59

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.

I know. I was responding to a point made about nothing to be happy about on this team. I think Duran is, along with a few others like Houck, Abreu, DHam, Yoshi, Jansen and Devers.

So much for Bello finding his way back, but then again, some better D would help.

You mentioned the stat, not me. RBIs are RBIs. He's gotten his share, this season, after a slow start planted it in many fans' minds.

Knowing him, he'd sell them to a miser.

Not Duran?

Maybe you think the MLB Power Rankings are a joke, or worse, but here is an interesting tidbit of information that highlights how bad many of the best teams in MLB have looked at some point this season. Lowest season rankings of the top 10 teams, right now: 1. LAD 6th 2. NYY 7th 3. PHI 8th 4. MIL 19th 5 . BAL 5th (most consistent) 6. HOU 26th!!! 7. AZ 8th (pretty consistent) 8. CLE 21st 9. SDP 9th (consistent) 10. KCR 24th 11. MIN 23rd 5 of the top 11 teams were once viewed as 19th best or worse, at some point. If KCR or MIN play like they are 24th going forward, maybe we'll have a shot.

You keep repeating this about Devers, when he is very near his career RBI/PA norm. O'Neill has as many RBI per PA as the rest of the team. You guys get bummed that too many are from solo blasts.

Salem scored 5 in the bottom of the 9th to win 8-7. Happy Labor Day!

Fitts pitched well, today: 6 IP, 2H, 0ER, 0BB, 5 K (55 of 77 pitches were strikes.) Westbrook had another monster game, going 2-4 w a 2B & HR. Campbell went 1-3 w BB, Teel 2-3 w BB and Anthony 1-4 w 2B. Arias is 2-4 late in their game.

This has been the main reason I thought the Sox had a legit chance to make the dance. Hell, we were a decent season by Gio from still being in the division hunt.

I do think spending on extensions and arb raises is key, but most of our current players are already locked up or are pre-arb. The few that are arbs are 1st year ones that wont cost much. We have a window opening. We can say it starts in 2025 or 2026, but even if it's determined to be 2026, we can add a multiple year SP'er, this winter to help us have a chance in 2025, and still help in 2026 and beyond. We don't need another David Price, but we can do better than Gio, Kluber, Richards and all. Maybe last year was a bit lucky with the mid range SP'ers, but we missed many good chances at strengthening our rotation at moderate prices.

Yes, we were number 1 in spending in 2019, when the decline began. We were 3rd in that horrific 202o season, when the writing on the wall became clear to even the non-believers. The 2021 brought some hope the decline would be short, and we were still 3rd in spending..yes, just 3 years ago. We went from $180M to $195M, but dropped from 3rd to 6th, as several teams made huge spending leaps: +86M NYM +49M NYY +48M PHI +42M LAD +37M SDP By 2023, the big spending team got way out of hand, led by the Mets adding $93M more than the $86M in '23. No doubt, JH could have spent more, but keeping up with some of these wild spenders seems like a lot to ask. Had we stayed the same from '23 to '24, we'd have been 9th not 13th.

About as many exceptions as the "rule."

ND could move up to #6 or 7, since they were the only top team to beat a tough opponent. The ND schedule, this year, is easier than other years, so maybe this could be the season we finish in the top 2 or 3. 9/7 No. Illi 9/14 @ Purdue 9/21 MIA OH 9/28 Louisville Off 10/12 Stanford 10/19 @ GA Tech 10/26 @ Navy Off *** 11/9 FLA St (currently #10) 11/16 VA 11/23 at Army ***11/30 @ USC (currently #23, but will move up) Just two tough games, left.

Nobody has more PAs and a higher OPS than Duran. (Only Lindor has more PAs, so that is a major reason, but still...)

Maybe by a tiny bit, but there are 8 teams within 5 games of the best record, and some of them played tougher schedules than LAD. When you factor in all teh times the Dodgers have come up short, despite having the best record, if looks to me, like a toss up between LAD, PHI (-1,) MIL (-2,) NYY (-3,) and BAL (-3.5.) I see CLE (-4) and AZ/SDP (-5) as next tier. I might add HOU (-7) to the second tier. Maybe, I'm short-changing AZ & SDP, too. Best records since June 19th (last 64-66 games) 42-22 HOU 41-21 SDP 42-23 AZ 37-27 MIL 36-26 LAD 36-27 CHC 36-29 DET How about this? 32-32 PHI, 32-34 BAL, 31-32 BOS, 28-34 NYY Vegas agrees with you: +320 LAD +460 PH +600 NYY, +700 BAL, +750 HOU, +1600 SDP

We hear the same when suggesting we trade Anthony or Mayer in a package for an ace. To me, it's not giving up on them or valuing them less than those who say they ar untouchables. To me, getting an ace with 3+ years of control for one plus other pieces is showing I value them, greatly. BTW, I really liked the article and enjoy the back and forth, too.

We were at the top in spending in 2018 and 2019, and we had several big stars coming up on their big paydays. Our farm appeared more empty than it turned out to be, but the years going forward was going to cost a lot more than an already league leading point. Many of us felt a downturn was coming. I don't think anyone felt it would be so sudden and steep. JH's near complete divestment, which started slowly in 2019, when we let Kimbrell and Kelly go without replacing them in even half-kind. The rumor that DD nearly traded Betts in 2019 is more evidence that the budget cuts were coming, and comin sooner rather than later. Surely, it's easy to sit back and say, "JH can afford to spend more and should have done it," and that is totally true, but can't just about every fan of a cost limited team say the same? Maybe some owners aren't as rich as JH, and their revenue streams are smaller, but all owners are rich enough to spend significantly more, if they wanted to do it. In that context, why do we "deserve" it more? If anything, we could claim we were extremely lucky to have an owner that did fork over hundreds of millions of dollars that could have lined his pockets to bring us 4 rings. I've shown that JH has not really cut spending as much as him being passed by several owners going nutty with spending. I'm not sure how fair it is to think he should have gotten that "nutty," too. Now, spending up to the tax line should be easy for him, and I agree that there is no excuse for not doing, at least that, but I'm eternally grateful to JH for doing what he did. There were many times, in my life, I fully believed I'd never see the promise land. I've seen it 4 times. I don't really feel entitled to 5.

I don't see it as "giving up." Thornburg was damn good. If anything, it showed just how much they valued Shaw to insist on getting a top quality pitcher for a guy who didn't really have a FT position locked up, that year. Trading someone does not mean you gave up on the guy, especially when you get what was thought to be top quality in return. We tarded a very good player for another very good player. It just did not work out, due to Thornburg's injury and failure to recover from it.

The same guy who criticizes Cora more than anyone else, also quotes him as if he speaks the Gospel truth on the only importance being October.

DD made very few bad trades, and this one made sense, when made. We needed pen help, and Thornburg was good one, until he joined the Sox.

I'm feeling the least optimistic since March and before the season began. We simply had to beat Detroit, and we failed. Yes, we can now beat tougher teams, including some we need to pass, but we may need some sweeps to make that happen. We've backed ourselves into a very dark corner. There are enough games to still be mathematically in it, but the more we play, the more we seem to show we don't have it in us, anymore. First and foremost, we need our pen to turn it around, and NOW! I have faith our bats can do better. Our SP'ers have shown some improvement, already. The pen and D have been killing us, this past 5-6 weeks.