moonslav59

The only thing about moving Mayer is that out of all the everyday positions we have, middle infield looks not only the weakest, but also lacks in quality depth. While corner infield lacks more in depth, Devers and Casas look so entrenched, that area seems like the one we don't need much depth, except to cover for injuries. (Maybe Meidroth is enough.) While the Rafaela-DHam-Romy-Sogard combo has brought some stability to the middle infield, while Story has been on the IL more often than not, and those higher on the depth chart to start the season (Grissom, Reyes, EValdez) all flopped, they should not be viewed as long time solutions to the SS and 2B slots. Rafaela belongs in CF, despite the OF bottleneck of talent and minor league depth. A DHam-Romy platoon at 2B is not bad, but I do not like thinking that should be the plan for 2025 and beyond. (Sogard should only be viewed as decent minor league emergency depth.) Now, maybe Campbell can play 2B well enough to fill that need, but with Story's injury history, who can we count on to play decent SS? Not DHam. Not Romy. Not Sogard for any long term role. It basically has to be Mayer, until Arias arrives. While I like Anthony much more than Mayer, our OF is all set, and if Campbell looks better in CF/LF than 2B, we have an even bigger bottleneck in the OF. LF: Duran, Abreu/Ref platoon, EValdez/Yoshida in a pinch (Campbell, Jh Garcia, Cespedes) CF: Rafaela, Duran, Anthony (Campbell, Jh Garcia, Bleis, Cespedes) RF: Abreu-Ref platoon (Anthony replacing Ref for 2026, but is a lefty bat, too) (Bleis, Campbell, Jh Garcia, Cespedes) To me, it makes more sense to go for broke on the best, young SP'ers we can trade for- a guy with 3+ years of team control. A guy that will demand a stiff return package, headlined by Anthony.

Teel's sample size in AAA is growing, but it is still rather small (51 ABs.) It is concerning, no doubt, but let's see how he finishes. I agree that Anthony and Campbell are now our clear 1-2 in the rankings, but that is more about their great play than Mayer's injury or struggles. Mayer has looked fine, when playing. I'm really liking our next tier of rising prospects, more and more: Arias, Jh Garcia and despite the injuries: Cespedes & Jo Garcia. Even Bleis is starting to make some noise. I don't know enough about Montgomery to have a strong opinion, but the talk is, he's a keeper. Meidroth might be the sleeper guy. Our pitchers have not jumped the rankings, all that much, but we seem to have a growing quantity of promising pitchers to hope that some will, eventually. The problem is, the close to the bigs ones have not been too impressive (Priester, Fitts, Sandlin.) Dobbins has done the best, but not many view him as having a high ceiling.

I agree, although I never felt it was a "slam dunk" good deal for the Sox. Initially, I questioned it, but then it kinda made sense, but I based that on the idea that we'd spend the savings pitching. No, I do not view adding Gio as that "replacement." We ended up cutting the budget, so I see it as not using the "savings." I liked the idea of making a strong effort to fix 2B, once and for all. That part failed miserably, for 2024, anyway. When we added Gio, I felt the innings eater would be an improvement over Sale, but I expected another SP'er addition. No Criswell, Anderson and Uwasawa were not ones I felt was what we needed. Had we added someone else, like Lugo, Imanaga or Flaherty, and Gio was able to give us 30 GS ate even a 4.10 ERA, we'd have been able to stomach the Grissom flop. Nothing could help us stomach the resurrection of Sale.

Sadly, I think this is the truth. One could even argue 2027, when the kids are more established.

Atlanta also "could afford" to trade Grissom without hurting their roster, even if Grissom turned out to be very good. The Sox gave up on a great pitcher who had let us down for 4-5 years. There really should be no shame in that, but for hindsight lamenting, after Sale's spectacular comeback. On the flip side, Grissom's spectacular flop only made matters worse, although he did show signs of disappointment the year before. On the extension given by Atlanta, Brez would have been roasted alive had he given that to Sale before the season began. We had been hearing the choir of discontent over his last contract for 4 years. Atlanta took a chance. The Sox paying a major chunk of the 2024 salary made it worth it to them. They must have felt his 2023 glimpse of hope was worthy of an extension, and now they look like geniuses, while we look like idiots. I totally get the points made about why we would trade away pitching (and pay the team to take it from us,) when that was clearly our biggest weak area. That point cannot be refuted, even if it could be viewed as just a hope for pitching, as in hoping Sale could go even 120 IP. The trade flopped, horribly. No doubt. Had we had Sale, this year, and knew than a DHam-Romy-Rafaela middle infield would be decent enough and take over for Story and Grissom, we would not have felt as strong a drive to fix the 2B position that has ranked 28th-30th for 4-5 seasons, combined. In short, on paper, the deal made some sense, if Grissom had worked out and Gio did not get hurt, but that is two "ifs." I guess there were two "ifs" on the flip side, too: Sale resurrecting himself and Grissom being a huge negative in every aspect of his play in 2024. Brez lost this trade. He did do well in the O'Neill trade, and Verdugo has done very little to call that trade a flop, before we can see the return from the young pitchers we got in return. Brez did sign Criswell and put his faith in Houck, Crawford and others, where many of us were scratching our heads. Basically, the thought of where we'd be right now with Sale, instead of Grissom is all that matters to most fans. We'd clearly be in a playoff slot, if he repeated what he has done with ATL, with us. That is the bottom line for many, and it is how GMs are graded out: hindsight. Fairly or not.

Gotta love the rebound by Houck and some other starters. We need them to be solid, going forward. Duran is really on fire! good to see Wong have a nice night. good game!

Current fWAR Leaders 9.8 Judge 9.4 Witt 7.4 Soto 6.7 Lindor 6.6 Duran & Gunner 6.3 Ohtani 5.8 de la Cruz 5.6 Sale 5.4 K Marte 5.0 J Ramirez 4.8 Skubal 4.5 Devers & Ozuna Other Sox fWARs 3.4 Houck 2.8 Abreu 2.0 O'Neill 1.7 Crawford 1.6 DHam 1.5 Bello 1.3 Pivetta, Slaten, Jansen 1.1 Criswell & Ref 0.9 Rafaela & Yoshida 0.8 Booser 0.7 Casas 0.6 Wong

The worst troll we have now is MADSTORK, but compared to some I've seen here and at the old BDC site, he's pretty tame (qand lame.) I don't think many posters have been banned in the last couple years. All I can think of is Swihart's Ghost, but I'm probably forgetting some.

This would be a nice weekend to pick up some ground. We play at DET (We are better on the road.) KCR is at HOU, a hot team. MIN plays TOR, who we just helped get kinda hot. BAL is at COL and NYY hosts STL. We are 3.5 behind MIN, 5.5 behind KCR and 7.5 from BAL.

He had 189 GS in the 6 years from 2010-2015, before we signed him. That's over 31 per season. He had 1300 IP, which was 216 per season. 2.97 ERA (130 ERA+) 3.05 FIP and 1.11 WHIP (4 K/BB) If he had an after 30 career like Scherzer or Verlander, he'd be a cinch. BTW, Scherzer from 2010-2015: 32 GS/yr and 207 IP/yr 3.38 ERA/ 3.22 FIP/ 1.15 WHIP and 4 K/BB Is Scherzer HOF?

And that doesn't always work out, either (see Price.)

The DSL Sox lost 2-0, today, in the championship series. It's their first playoff loss. Next game decides the champs.

Nailed it. Apparently being mildly in the race near the end of August is now called "competitive."

Yup. While some want to minimize the defensive aspect of runs allowed, here is something to ponder: Our staff is... 10th in xFIP at 4.03- just 0.01 from HOU and 0.03 from STL. 13th in ERA- at 96- just 1 behind CLE and 2 behind 4 teams for 8th place. (Note: I'm not praising our pitching or saying they are not a big part of our current standing, but our D has sucked, badly.)

We need pitchers ready for day one, or I'm with MVP: we might as well just plan for 2026.

Yes, that was a big part of the Vaz trade criticism, but some were pissed that it sent a message to the team, we were punting, despite taking two forks, at once. It was mostly the "must win now" crowd. All-in-all, McGuire and Pham did okay to good, and Abreu was a great get. EValdez may someday be a decent MLB hitter, but a platoon DH does not have much of a future. The year Bloom traded for Schwarber and added Robles, Davis, Iggy and Shaw was a very good mid season job. IMO, Bloom did not do enough in the mid-season, either buying or selling, but he did fine in 2020 (Pivetta), 2021 (Schwarber, Robles, Iggy & Shaw,) okay in '22 (Abreu) and nothing in '23. Brez has had a terrible deadline record in his one try (Jansen being the only good move.) He did okay getting Dom Smith, mid season.

Top Farm OPS (200+ PAs) 1.017 Gasper AA>AAA 1.014 Campbell A+>AA>AAA .918 Jh Garcia A->A+.AA .895 Arias FCL>A- .886 Anthony AA>AAA .876 Meidroth AAA .852 Westbrook AAA .850 Mayer AA>AAA (IL) .835 Sogard AAA .835 Romero FCL>>A+>AA .827 B Gonzalez A+ .804 Dalbec AAA .801 E Alvarez AAA .801 Binelas AA .793 Teel AA>AAA Notables: .769 Castro A+>AA .699 Jordan AA .557 Zanetello A- Under 200 PAs .913 Drew Ehhard A+>AA .908 Ju. Gonzalez DSL .904 F Jimenez FCL .834 Asencio FCL .811 Brito DSL .800 Pinto DSL .798 Bolivar DSL

I was shocked we got anybody to take Diekman off our hands with no cash involved. Getting McGuire, who actually played very well for us, that year, was the best move for that year. The deal that got the most criticism was the best one: Vas for Abreu & EValdez.

Maybe, our best hope id they alternate time on the IL, and never are hurt, at the same time.

I'm only talking about how I viewed the trades. Also, I actually liked Max Fergusen more than Hosmer, in that trade. We needed a 1Bman from May on, that year. I think that was why he "talked up" Hosmer. I don't think a single person here fell for it.

Brez is going to have to connect on his winter moves. No more Gios. He'll have to do better on his deadline deals, if he doesn't, and again, no more Paxton Sims & Garcias. He did well with O'Neall and Criswell, and maybe the Dugo trade, but we need a real good success rate, especially if JH if tight-fisted, again.

I'm not for trading Rafaela.

Gio was the one guy we signed without an injury history, but it made little difference. I do admire the effort.

Bieber may get back to Cy Young form, and being only 29 is nice. His Cy Young season was his 12 start 2020 season. He placed 4th in the voting in 2019 and 7th in 2022. That's an impressive 4 year stretch: 2.91 ERA/ 2.95 FIP (149 ERA+ and 1.05 WHIP with 11Ks to 2 BB per 9) 92 GS out of maybe 110 available starts is a decent 84% mark, but not great. He's had 23 GS out of 65 in the last 2 years. This worries me to no end. I'm worn out looking at our long pitching IL list, every year.

I don't like to have to always keep an eye on the budget, whenever suggesting moves to improve the team. I agree, we should not have to be this restrictive, but facts are facts. Of course, if JH is going to pocket the "saving" we might get by trading Yoshida for someone like Taylor, then I'm firmly against the idea. If Brez is handed a budget and told, if he cuts here, and can spend that much there, then I'm looking at ways to improve pitching without taking a big bite out of the O. If we can replace Yoshida's bat with Anthony or Campbell, and play Abreu-Ref at DH and 4th OF, there is a chance the O improves or stays even.