moonslav59

What a major clustergame. Series. Road trip.

LOL. Good one!

Not sure why you continuously poo-poo Ref. Besides, I did not expect to get much for McGuire, and not a ton for Ref.

IDK or care.

I hope we buy (with Abreu and/or prospects ranked 10-30,) but if we don't, I'd prefer selling than doing nothing or next to nothing. (Jansen, O'Neill, Pivetta, Martin, Anderson and maybe McGuire or Ref (w 1 year left.)

Do we know how serious?

I never said "Bad." I added that his sample size is not large enough to know about his 2B defense. I'm not taking the hit over your "confusion" or misquoting text.

You know my position on this. 1. Calling the right pitches. 2. Getting your pitcher in his comfort zone. 3. Providing a stationary target with your glove. 4. Being able to calm a pitcher down, when rattled. 5. Being a pitcher's binky. Yes, those other things matter, and maybe more than this, but many pitchers credit who is catching them with their success, and might not be all that good at blocking, framing or throwing.

Sox & Cora have discussed contract extension: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/07/red-sox-alex-cora-have-recently-discussed-contract-extension.html

They both have done pretty well with getting the most from the pitching staff. 2022-2024 Statcast Throwing (63 catchers qualify) 13. Wong +4 (top 25%) 31. McGuire +1 (about average) Blocking: (72 catchers) 44. McGuire -3 70. Wong -20 No 3 year period combined is offered Framing: 2022: McGuire 15th out of 60, Wong N/A. 2023: McGuire 32nd, Wong 52ns out of 63 2024: McGuire 22nd, Wong 58th out of 59 Looks like Wong is near worst and McGuire better than average, here.

Our defense has hurt the team, a lot, for sure. Here is a look at runs scored vs earned runs allowed: +159 PHI 406-347 + 146 NYY 510-364 +131 LAD 507-376 +127 BAL 496-369 +106 CLE 469-363 +105 BOS 473-368 +102 KCR 471-369 +100 MIL 484-374 +80 ATL 418-338 +78 MIN 484-406 +68 HOU 470-402 +64 NYM 481-417 +48 ARI 501-453 +42 SEA 389-347 6th best differential (just 1 from 5th best), not counting unearned runs allowed vs 10th best overall record in MLB. It's not our baserunning. It's not our offense. It's not our pitching, until recently. It's the D that is mainly responsible for our lower place in the standings.

Wrong. I said his "issues" are defense (thinking 2B not 3B) and whether he can carry over his OBP, if he can't prove he can hit MLB pitching. I then said, "Is his sample size big enough" at 2B? I still wonder. Being better than Campbell and Valdez and maybe Yorke, too does not mean defense is not an issue. To me, his 2B is largely unknown, but is probably adequate to decent. You really know how to twist things.

Expect some draftee signings, soon. Slot $$$ 5.5M Montgomery 1.9M Tolle 878K Neely 631K Erhard 458 Clarke 351 B Alta 275 Turner 220 Carson (may get significantly more than slot) 195 White 183 Futrell

Top Prospects by Position: C: 3Teel, 18 Jo Garcia (DH), 33Hickey (DH,) 40Brannon (DH) 1B: 19Jordan, Kavadas 2B: 5Campbell, (see top 3 SS and Meidroth,) 12Yorke, 26Romero, 28 Coffey SS: 2Mayer, 7 Cespedes, 10 Zanetello, 26Romero, 28Coffey 3B: 11Meidroth, 15 Paulino, 28Coffey LF: 5Campbell, 7 Cespedes, 12 Yorke, 13 Lugo, 17 Castro CF: 1Anthony, 5Bleis RF: 1Anthony, 5Bleis, 23 Jh Garcia DH: Campbell, Yorke, Lugo, Meidroth, Hickey, Kavadas SP: 6Perales, 8Fitts, 9Sandlin, 16 E R-C, 21Dobbins, 20 Wikelman, 22Penrod, 24Early, 29Portes 27Mullins, Bastardo, Paez, Gambrell, Wehunt, Ryes, Dean RP: 30Guerrero, Murphy, Horn, Mata, Zeferjahn. Hoppe, Walter MLB 2025 Depth Chart C: Wong/McGuire 1B: Casas (Dalbec: non tendered?) 2B: DHam, Grissom, Valdez, Romy, Westbrook (Non tendered?) SS: Story (DHam/Romy) 3B: Devers (Romy) LF: Duran/Refsnyder (Yoshida/Valdez) CF: Rafaela/Duran RF: Abreu/Refsnyder DH: Yoshida/Refsnyder/Valdez SP: Houck, Crawford, Giolito, Bello, Criswell (Wink RP) RP: Hendriks, Slaten, Kelly, Bernardino, Fulmer, Weissert, Wink Booser, ICampbell, Murphy, Horn, Speas/Wingenter/Walter (trade/non tendered?)

Teams out of it (sellers) -29.5 CWS -16.5 MIA -16.0 COL -15.0 OAK -11.5 LAA -10.0 TOR Borderline -6.0 DET -5.5 WSH -5.0 SFG -4.5 TBR (always a possible seller) Maybe... -4.5 CIN -4.5 CHC Not likely sellers: -3.5 SEA (Tied with HOU for ALW) -6.5 TEX (-3.0 ALW) -1.5 PIT

And since DHam bats LH'd, playing Rafaela at SS allows for DHam and Romy to platoon at 2B, where their splits help our 2B position to not be the auto out it has been for a long time. (Not horrible on D either.) Next year should see Rafaela back in CF. I doubt it happens, this year, unless we trade Abreu and go with O'Neill/Ref in RF.

You know errors does not tell the whole story, but when every metric shows he is a significant minus on D at SS, I agree. He should be our CF'er and maybe emergency MI'er. His time at 2B has been very limited, but his metrics there are from zero (OAA and DRS) to plus on UZR/150 (+6.3.)

Agreed, but it still is a plus that he can play MI, when needed. I think he might improve, overtime, there, but I hope we never need him there, longterm, again. 2016-2024 OAA -35 Bogey -12 Kike -9 Rafaela -7 Lin -5 DHam

Did not answer the question. Meidroth GS by positions: 89 3B 59 2B 52 SS (indicates he can't be all that bad on D) 13 DH (102 MI/ 102 3B/DH) 50% (29% at 2B) Campbell 47 2B 22 CF 8 SS 4 LF 2 RF (55 MI/28 OF) 66% (57% at 2B) Meidroth would probably be better on D at 2B than Campbell and maybe even Yorke, but I'm not sure he can even top .333 in OBP in the bigs. He has to be able to hit, in order to draw walks.

Noted. Done. I'm not used to winning w the game post.

Pivetta vs a RHP (finally) Quantrill 1. Duran LF 2. Abreu RF 3. Yoshida DH 4. Devers 3B 5. Smith 1B 6. Romy 2B 7. McGuire C 8. DHam SS 9. Rafaela CF No red hot O'Neill, but going with the lefties makes some sense. Only 6 Romy and 9 Rafaela bat RH'd. Go SOX!

He's a better defender, too, and his ability to play SS and 2B make him way better than Dugo. The money saved on Dugo could be justification for the O'Neill trade, but that is not really a fact. Whether Weissert of Fitts amount to anything, I like these two deals, combined: Dugo, Robertson & Santos for O'Neill, Weissert, Fitts (8th ranked soxprospect.com) and Judice

Has he played enough 2B to know enough?

We were up in game 1 vs LAD into the 8th and lost. We were up in game 2 in the 9th and 10th, and lost. We did not deserve to win game 3, despite being up 2-0 in the 1st w Crawford on the mound. We were up 2 in the 10th and up 1 in the 12th vs COL, game 1, and lost. No 4 game stretch like that should be definitive.

Max, you often cite how things can change so quickly after 1-2 games, so heed your own words. It's a 162 game season for a reason. We can split with the CWS and not suck, and we can get swept by the Dodgers and not suck. We can also have nice winning stretches vs very good teams and not be great. We are a top 10 offense (top 5 after May 15th) We are a top 10 pitching team (bottom 10 after May 15th) We are a bottom 10 defensive team (close to middle 10 since May 15th) We have been a top 10 baserunning team, all year. Together, we should be a playoff team, or a PO contender, at worst. If we can get some pitching help in the next week, we should be a make the playoff favorite.