moonslav59

So, maybe... (assuming Casas trade) 1B: Devers (Romy) 2B: Story (DHam-Grissom/Romy) SS: Mayer (Story/Romy-DHam) 3B: Grissom (Devers/Romy/Meidroth)

I only mentioned Rafaela's offense may still need more evaluation. I didn't come close to writing him off. (He's one of my favorite players and reminds me of a previous fave of mine, JBJ.) I'd say our rotation is more like this for 2025: SP1_____ SP2_____ SP3 Houck SP4 Bello SP5 Giolito SP6 Crawford SP6 Criswell SP7 Whitlock/Wink/Fitts/Dobbins

Hardly any players on the Sox were around in 2020 or even 2021. Only a few were here in 2022. SEA has made more trades than any team in MLB. I'm not sure why it matters what the records were from 2020-2023. The Sox have several everyday players that are better than yours. If you think only Casas offers and upgrade, I'd say you are selling Sox player short. I do realize it is not all about being better on offense. Better D is part of the reason your team has a better record than us, over the years- that and better pitching, but let's look at fWAR, which measures O + D: OF: (I think SEA would love to add Duran, Rafaela, Abreu or maybe even Ref.) 5.5 Duran 2.5 Abreu 2.2 O'Neill (FA after '24) 2.0 Julio Rodriguez 1.5 Dylan Moore (UT) 1.4 Refsnyder 1.2 Arozarena (2 teams) 1.2 Raley 0.9 Rafaela -0.5 Haniger (371 PAs) Corner IF (There will be no Devers to SEA trade.) 4.5 Devers 1.6 Rojas 0,4 Casas (Ty France>Justin Turner) Casas would be a big upgrade at 1B. Middle IF (I doubt SEA wants DHam, granted.) 1.6 DHam 1.4 Crawford 0.3 Romy C (No match for trade here) 3.5 Raleigh 0.9 Wong DH (Maybe Yoshida+ cash would work out.) 1.1 Yoshida -0.5 Garver (371 PAs)

He thinks every Mariner everyday player is better than every Sox player. Maybe not Devers, but he's not available. Out of the top 11 batters by PAs on the Mariners, only 2 have an OPS above .690, and none are above .737! Conversely, out of the top 11 Sox batters, none are below .682. The top 10 are all above .699. Seven of our batters have a higher OPS than SEA's top batter's .747: .966 Devers .884 O'Neill .863 Refsnyder .845 Duran .836 Abreu .826 Yoshida .775 Wong DHam's .723 would place 3rd. (THis isn't even counting Casas .816 or Romy .760.)

Could be, or we could wait on starting the service time clocks on Mayer, Anthony, Teel, Fitts and others. I'm not sure how much more we have to "find out" about our everyday players, except maybe Rafaela's bat and if 2024 was a fluke by Wong. The pitching staff is mostly a mess, although putting a few guys into different roles could help, but that would take adding 4-5 pitchers into the top of the rotation and pen slots, from outside the organization. I don't see that happening, so it won't matter much how well the everyday players do.

The Sox rank 30th in OAA (-14) at SS and 29th in DRS (-12) and 28th in UZR/150 at -8.5. Fixing this problem with Mayer or Story at SS would be a big improvement. Also, the team is last in 2B OAA (-9), so moving Story to 2B would give us a double boost at 2 key positions. Moving Rafaela to FT CF helps, too. He is +9 DRS in CF and +4 OAA. Up the middle D is most essential. Duran in LF and CF is a plus. Abreu has looked inconsistent in RF but has put up good numbers (5th in RF OAA at +2 and 4th in DRS at +6.) Devers and Casas give us subpar D, but at least they are at positions of lower importance for D. Our catchers rank near the bottom on D.

RF in Fenway is a big challenge, but if Campbell could pull it off, then yes. I like the idea of eventually having Mayer at SS and Story at 2B. That improves the middle IF defense, a lot. Forcing Rafaela to FT CF improves the D, a lot, as well. We can do a lot to improve our D without any additions or hurting the offense by benching better batters. Abreu-Ref in RF is not great. Devers at 3B is who he is. Casas is no wonder on D. Wong is still learning, but we could see a big improvement on D, next year with Story at middle IF and Rafaela in CF FT. Mayer should be better than DHam-Romy-Sogard-Grissom on D. I'm not sure Campbell is, but he has time to work on it.

We know we won't be signing Chapman to play 3B. Does Campbell have the arm for 3B?

Oh, trust me, that is my expectation. Don't forget Henriks and Fulmer. My ideas I'm posting here, are hopes not expectations or predictions. I have not totally given up on the idea that one day JH will open his wallet, but I'm not going to expect it. I'll believe it when I see it, and I could understand the logic that if big spending is in the future plans, 2026 looks more likely. (That's what scares me the most: I'm sick of waiting until next year.)

I can certainly see the Sox thinking, let's allow all these kids to come up and give us many inexpensive years. It makes a lot of sense, especially to an owner turned miser. I just don't see how we will fit them all on the 13 everyday player roster. We simply have to trade someone for a pitcher. Maybe, it's Abreu or Casas, and not a big 3 or 4 prospect. Maybe we find a taker for Story or Yoshida to make room for some kids. We aren't getting a top pitcher for Abreu, so I'm not sure that works, unless we decide to spend big on FA pitchers and trade Abreu for a #3 SP'er or top set-up man.

I'm surprised it's that many!

Trading Casas only makes sense, if we move Devers to 1B. Do we then look to have Mater at 3B and Campbell at 2B by 2026? I think trading Anthony, Mayer or Teel as part of a major package makes more sense.

You never like Sox players. No Sox players are better than Mariners, at any position, yet look at the team records.

I'm just not sure we can count on Story for 140+ games. I like Mayer, a lot, but our OF is proven.

He could probably be okay in LF, but we have enough of those, already. Maybe CF? I'm not sure he can be a plus at 2B.

Agreed, but only if it doesn't mean we spend much less on pitching.

Games up to Sept 8th: BOS: 3@HOU, 3 v ARI, 5 v TOR, 3@DET, 3@NYM, 2vCWS KCR: 3vLAA, 3 v PHI, 4@CLE, 4@HOU, 3vCLE. 3 v MIN MIN: 3@SDP, 3vSTL, 3v ATL, 3v TOR, 4@TBR, 3@KCR It could very well be "now or never."

Maybe he brings back Danny Jansen on a 1 year deal. I think he'll just sign 1-2 minor league deals with Catchers having MLB experience. No need to even be on the 40, except for who will be Wong's back-up.

The 2025 Woo line-up looks pretty good! 1. Mayer S 2. Campbell CF 3. Anthony RF 4. Teel C 5. Meidroth 3B 6. Valdez 2B 7. Gasper/Hickey DH 8. Jordan 1B 9. Sogard/Rosier LF (Maybe Jh Garcia by the end of 2025.)

It's not just New England pumping up our top 3-4 prospects, but I agree on the timetable being slow to develop. I think the idea of replacing Sale with Gio was that we would not need as much depth, as Gio was projected to make 27-32 starts, while Sale's could be anywhere from 0- 27.

Woo-Hoo!

We have not lost 5 straight, either. We've lost 4 in a row- 3 times. We've lost 3 in a row- 3 times. We've had these winning streaks: 5 twice 4 twice 3 twice

I like Anthony more than Mayer, too, but I think that is who SEA would insist on getting. I also think our middle IF is weaker than our OF (esp LHB OF'ers.) I think the Sox farm matches up with SEA's needs, nicely.

It's hard to know what SP'ers might be on the block, this winter, and most will likely be too high-priced for JH's liking, but I will look through some teams that might be regrouping and come up with some names, later today. Who might those teams be? TOR CWS LAA DET MIA COL OAK WSH ??? TBR CIN SFG CHC TEX

I'm super high on Campbell, and his RHB is needed, but you have to give to get, and I want to hold onto mayer and Teel. I think having Jh Garcia lessens the blow of losing Campbell. I think Cespedes and Arias are too far away to have great trade value. Bleis maye, as well, and I doubt SEA wants 2 OF'ers for a TOTR SP.