moonslav59

That's the 40-80 million dollar question. Nobody know. Maybe even JH has not decided, yet.

I get your point. I will not atall be surprised if JH spend big, this winter, but that is not to say I expect it. While this might be an abnormally long period of not spending, he has had "lulls," before.

He has spent a lot of money on non pitchers (Devers, Yoshi, Story) and RP'ers (Jansen, Martin, Barnes,) and very little on SP'ers.

The only "low risk" about them is the fact that we only "risk" losing $1 to $10M and for only 1 year. To me, low risk means there is smaller risk of failure and no signs of injury. The short term contracts are "lower risk," too.

True. We are 7 more losses away from being bottom tier. I do think we have a top 5 starting 9 line-up and 4 subs going into 2025. Our pitching/defense prevents us from being top 5 overall.

Sing to the choir director! I do expect that to be significantly improved, next year, even without any roster additions. Our corner IF and Catcher positions will still be weak, but we should be plus or PLUS at the other 5 positions. Going even further ahead, all of our top 3 prospects plus Meidroth, the next ML-ready prospect are thought to be plus on D.

Domers don't have these issues.

That 5.1 might equal all our FA SP'er signings total, over the last 2-4 years.

I actually think they are trying to win... on a lower budget. The guy did just start paying Devers the largest contract in Sox history by over $90M (Price.) He paid over $100M for Yoshida, the year before and $140M to Story, the year before that. We actually do spend enough or near enough to win, but we just won't spend on top pitchers. And, when we do, we swing and miss or spend on the pen, not the rotation. Largest pitching contracts since the Sale and Nate deals: $55.0/6 Bello (extension) $38.5/2 Gio $36.0/3 Jansen $18.9/2 Barnes (extension) $18.8/4 Whitlock (extension) $17.5/2 Martin $10.0/1 Kluber $10.0/1 Richards $10.0/2 Paxton $8M/2 Diekman Add all these together and barely equal what we paid Story+Yoshi.

We sign HIGH RISK pitchers to LOW CONTRACTS. That's the true "motto," but of course, these guys are the masters of doublespeak, distraction and diversion.

I'm not sure this will last years and years, but I've given up expecting it will end, anytime soon. (Expectations are different from hopes.)

I think the single A teams end their seasons around Sept 8th, while the Sea Dogs ends Sept 15th. Woo ends the 22nd of September. Of course, there are fall leagues and winter leagues, but the minor league season is winding down. All-in-all, I think our minor leagues did pretty well. We seem to have more pitchers with some sort of promise than before. Some of our top prospects have not disappointed. Some of our mid tier prospects have started knocking, loudly on the top tier door. We've also seen many 18-19 year olds show some very exciting skillsets. It's been a long time since I have been this pumped up over our farm, and what makes this even more powerful, is that we just recently graduated a pretty large bunch of rising young stars. I realize I'm a homer, through and through, but I think we are a lot closer to glory than it seems many think we are. We only have 7 more losses than the best team in MLB, right now, and that is after a pretty bad, recent stretch. To me, we are just a few really good pitchers away from being right there with the "big boys." It may very well take trading away some of these prospects I've been drooling over for years, but the time is now. Just get it done, JH, Brez & Co.

When you look at the league, these days, no team really jumps out as a clear favorite. The top 10 teams all have between 71 and 76 wins. Although the Sox look "middle of the pack," and have the 13th best record in MLB, we only have 7 more losses than the best team in MLB. Think about that... just 7 losses. Just a few breaks here and there, maybe just maybe... I'm not going to whine and cry about injuries or missed opportunities or recent botched trades and signings, right now. I've done some before and may yet, again, but right now, no. When I think about just 7 losses, it makes me think just how close we are and CAN BE, going forward. Every baseball fan with half a brain or more knows what this team needs. The time is here. We need to fix the problem, or at least do everything we can possibly do to try and fix it. We have not seen that since the Price signing and Sale/Nate trades. It's been too long. Way too long.

Priester ended up going 4.2 IP w 5 hits, 3ER, 2BB and 5Ks. Dalbec 3-4 w BB, 2B & HR Meidroth 1-4 w 3B & BB Anthony 1-5 Grissom 0-5 I Coffey... 5IP 4H 0ER 0BB 11 Ks Jh Garcia 2-4 w HR GRE still playing. Wehunt 4 IP 1 ER Bleis 1-2 w BB

Why make everyday players the focus of the draft, IFA and FA signings?

Devers > Casas on O and D at 1B Casas> Yoshi on O at DH The question becomes who plays 3rd and how do they compare on O to Yoshi and D to Devers. If it's Mayer or Campbell, what say you?

We could improve the defense without parting with a bat.

I doubt we add any big bats, this winter. I could see us swapping a LHB like Abreu for his clone who bats RH'd, but even that is a long shot. (Better to trade for pitching, anyway.)

I wonder why the talk of SEA trading a top pitcher ever gets started, but it seems to happen every year. Maybe the fact that their GM makes 365 trades a year has something to do with it. Could they trade Castillo and sign Snell?

No Bobby DEE!

Then, trade a mess of prospects for a mess of sightly above average pitchers known for eating innings.

We will miss the RHB, but maybe Story can make some of that up. Casas does okay vs RHPs, so he will help, too. Mayer, Anthony and Teel will not help our RHB issue.

Mayer's injury history might be just as frightening. I actually like the DHam-Romy 2B platoon, and Romy can back up 1B, in a pinch. If grissom beats out Romy, fine. What might work is if Mayer and Story time their injuries just right and we never go a game without one being healthy. That would probably be all we need. Sad, but true.

Just do it before Jan 1st!

6.0 to 4.3 on fangraphs. Duran, Duran.