moonslav59

We ended up adding a lot of pitchers after opening day and used 32 plus D Smith and Reyes. Besides Paxton, Hill, Garcia and Sims, we also picked up Y Ramirez, Wingenter, Priester and Horn. This year, we may not have to go outside the system, as much, but we may end up cycling through 25-30 pitchers to find the right 13, or to fill injury openings. Here is how I see the depth chart: 13 SP'ers MLB: Crochet, Houck, Bello, Buehler, Giolito, Crawford AAA: Criswell, Fitts, Priester, Dobbins (not on 40: Fulmer, Gambrell, Drohan) 22+ RP'ers MLB: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Winckowski, Wilson, Weissert AAA: Guerrero, Bernardino, A Adams, Penrod, Kelly (not on 40: Mata, I Campbell, J Moran, W Mills, N Davis, R Stock, S Newcomb, B Van Belle, H Harris, plus B Cellucci, W Olds, J Adames) Maybe we add someone, at the deadline, if we are in the race, but I doubt we add 6-7, like '24.

2023-2024 bWAR 3.4 Robertson (turns 40 in April) 3.4 Yates (turns 38 in March) 2.1 Jansen (turns 38 in Sept.)\ 1.9 Finnegan (turns 34 in Sept)

I'm not wild about a 40 year old with the same 2 year bWAR as Yates being much better.

I see them as pretty close, and have no strong preference.

Why only 19 IP from '19-'21?

Pete Rose should have used a friend.

Fair enough. I do see Robertson and yates as about even. I was not high on Buehler or Sandoval.

Isn't a soon to be 40 year old RP'er, who had 19 IP from 2019 to 2021, somewhat of a wild card, too? Yes, he has had three straight good seasons to two by Yates. Okay, Yates had a "career year" in '24, but he was as good as Robertson in '23.

If Robertson is seeking a ring on a 1 year deal, he won't sign with BOS. That leaves precious little else: Jansen? Finnegan? (I'd be okay with either, as we'd be better with one than without.) I still want Grichuk, or maybe Laureano to shut us up about using Ref vs RAF in RF.

Even if Cora uses offense as the major priority when making out his line-up, he will still have the ability to play players where he can maximize the defensive achievements. When he gets stuck playing Arroyo in RF, Dalbec at SS and other whacky placements, that is one thing, but when he is presented with a situation like an OF that will be Ref-Duran-Rafaela, due to sitting Abreu vs a LHP, he has shown that he will adjust the players accordingly to maximize the defense. While Rafaela has barely played RF, that does not mean he can't, this year. We used him a lot at SS, last year, and that may not be needed in '25. We also had O'Neill to play corner OF in '24, so that has changed. Nobody know how Cora will deal with the defensive alignment. He may just roll the dice with Abreu beginning the season as the FT RF'er with no platoon. Ref could platoon with Yoshida at DH, until we know more about Yoshida's health and performance level and how well Abreu can hit lefties. He may use Ref in Fenway's RF, but he has shown he tries to avoid that. To me, if this OF is set for a game vs a lefty, I prefer Cora go with Ref in LF, Duran ib CF and Rafaela in RF. I do not think this goes against anything Cora has shown in the past, except the part where Rafaela has only played RF 3 innings in MLB and 6 innings in the minors. By playing Arroyo in RF, I don't see how Rafaela playing there is some kind of convoluted idea. If and when Anthony gets the call, things could radically change. If Story is healthy and playing well, and whatever vets we have playing 2B are doing really well, we may even consider Campbell in CF or RF, at least vs LHPs (and maybe 2B v RHPs, if DHam is sucking.) If and hopefully when Campbell and Anthony have won FT positions, Cora will have some very nice choices to make- assuming both are doing well. We could see this: vs RHP 1. L Duran LF/CF 2. R Campbell 2B 3. L Casas 1B 4. L Devers 3B 5. L Yoshida DH 6. R Story SS 7. L Abreu RF 8. L Anthony CF (or LF w Duran in CF) 9. R Wong Bench: Rafaela, Narvaez, Refsnyder, DHam/Grissom/Romy (1) vs LHP 1. L Duran LF 2. R Campbell 2B 3. R Refsnyder DH 4. L Devers 3B 5. L Casas 1B 6. R Story SS 7. L Anthony RF 8. R Wong C 9. R Rafaela CF Bench: Abreu, narvaez, Yoshida, DHam/Grissom/Romy (1) This looks damn good, to me, but it assumes the kids hit the ground running.

Gotta figure this goes on much more than we know.

MLBTR on major Sox injuries: Sandoval had internal brace surgery in June of last year and should miss the first half of the season. Whitlock had the same surgery in May, so he could have a bit of a better chance to return in the first 60 days of the season. Murphy underwent a fully Tommy John surgery in April and will certainly miss the beginning of the upcoming season. Another possibility is Lucas Giolito, who had internal brace surgery in March, though he expects to be ready by Opening Day.

MLBTR lists players who might be added to the 60 Day IL, but neglected to say Perales. They mentioned Sandoval, Murphy and Whitlock as possibles.

Again, I meant to say in the AL. I said rotation, only. I said some think they are the best in the AL. I think we are top 3-5. Our pen is probably 11-15 in MLB and 6-10 in AL. Our bats might be close to top 10, but more likely 11-15. Our D might still be bottom 5, unless Story stays healthy and gets us near #20.

It's easy to focus on the negative, and certainly several teams have better rotations than ours, although maybe not in the AL, but I think more easily overlook some serious questions about SP'ers on other teams. Yamo started just 18 games in 2024. The Dodgers have a better rotation, but Ohtani is not pitching until May, They lost Buehler. Yamo started just 18 games, and Glasnow is literally made of glass. Susaki was the apple of everyone's eye, but he has never thrown a pitch in MLB. May has a ton of talent but is rehabbing. Stone started 25 games in 2024 and might have been their most reliable guy, in '24 and is out the whole '25 season. The Yanks added Fried- someone I really wished we signed, but they also lost Cortes. Cole missed almost half a season in '24. Rodon was healthy but has an injury history that looks a lot like Buehler's. They are shopping their 29 GS'er Stroman. Gil & Schmidt are a couple nice younger SP'ers. Philly has Wheeler, Nola, Suarez, Luzardo & Sanchez. Only Luzardo has big Qs. ATL lost Fried and has the big Q for the previous 5 years in Sale, but damn, they have some nice starters: Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, Schwellenbauch & Elder. Strider did miss some time, but still...

That's not the Dodgers.

I will say, I do think our rotation has a lot of upside potential and depth. Some major questions remain, but every team has major questions about several of their starters. I'm thinking this might be the best Sox rotation, on paper in February, since 2019. We all know how that turned out, so "on paper" means just that: paper. We have a decent core of somewhat younger SP'ers returning: Houck, Bello & Crawford. We have some decent depth in Criswell, Fitts, priester and Dobbins, although some are untested. We've added some pitchers with with some very nice histories- some recent (Crochet,) some not too long ago (Buehler & Sandoval) and one a few years back (Giolito.) Add them all together, and it's hard to know what we have, but there is some promise mixed in with all the question marks.

Tommy John was a Dodger. Hey, I already admitted I meant to say "some" have us with the best rotation in the AL. No way, we are better than this. (A couple other NL teams look better, too.)

I meant to say the AL. My bad. We are being picked to finish 12th out of 15 in the AL, while fangraphs projects our rotation to be the best: Projected fWAR 15.0 BOS 13.9 NYY & SEA 13.8 DET & MIN As for the deepest, fangraphs projects only the Sox with 6 pitchers over a 1.1 fWAR. MIN & CIN have their 6th pitcher at 1.1. (Gio is 1.2) ZIPS has this, but I did not check what other teams have for depth... (They assume these guys play the full season) 5: Crochet 4.0, Houck 2.8, Bello 2.5, Buehler 2.0, Sandoval 1.8 Depth: Crawford 1.6, Gio & Priester 1.5, Whitlock 1.3 (11 GS), Fitts & Wink 1.2 and Criswell 1.1 Certainly, some others do not have our rotation #1, and it is very debatable, for sure. The Yanks could easily best the Sox rotation. They added Fried but also lost Cortes (31 GS 3.77 ERA). I'd say we should be top 3-4 in the AL and maybe top 10 in MLB, unless we have way more injuries than others. We finished 7th in 2024. We lost Pivetta (26 GS 4.14 ERA) We added Crochet (32 GS 3.58) Buehler (12 GS 4.02) and Sandoval (28 GS 4.11 in 2023) Giolito (33 GS 4.88 in 2023) Hard to predict, but somebody likes our rotation.

This is the most shocking trade since Jabbar to the Lakers in the 70's.

I was just thinking this. Before 2013, I thought we were a year or two away, and that we had "played it halfway" with all the trades. I never expected 2021 to happen, after that dreadful 2020 season, and getting next to nothing from Sale and additions like Richards. On the flip side, I felt better about 2019 than 2021 and 2022 than 2024.

I guess it's a done deal: we will suck in 2025, despite having what some consider the best and deepest rotation in MLB. Guess the band... (No googling) I wore my teeth in my hand so I could mess the hair of the night Hey, well I'm beginning to see the light...

I have to do the grunt work? First of all, we started off with the dreaded 10 game west coast trip and went 7-3. We then got swept by BAL and went 3-4 vs LAA & CLE, at home. We then went on teh road against hot PIT & CLE, going 4-2, then went home to take 2 of 3 vs the Cubs. We beat SFG in the final game in APR. 17-13 against only great teams! LOL

I would try very hard to have Ref be in every line-up vs LHPs. He is a top 20 batter vs LHPs since 2022. When and if Anthony is called up, I'd platoon Ref with Yoshida at DH. If Anthony is the FT RF'er, or splits time between CF and RF, so Abreu can play RF vs LHPs, I'd prefer Ref platoon with Yoshida at than Duran in LF. (And, no: I am not suggesting we platoon Duran.)

I don't see Grissom ever playing 3B, even with an injury. Campbell might, since he'd probably be better on D than Grissom, DHam or Mayer/Story. Romy might be okay on D at 3B, but he's not a full season guy, there.