moonslav59

I do hindsight judgments, too, but I try to avoid them or lessen their impact on my grading a GM. In my own mind, I'd feel like a hypocrite, if I counted the Sale trade as a major deduction, when I liked the trade a couple days after thinking about it. Ultimately, he deserves a ding for that one, but I don't think I ding him as much as others for that reason. Of course, the bad deals get discussed more than the good ones, and sometimes trades and signings start off looking bad (Durbin, Giolito and to a lesser extent Sandoval and others) and turn out okay or even good, and sometimes the opposite happens. Honestly, I thought Brez did a very good job last winter, despite not finding another big bat, but the Suarez signing and Durbin trade we done to offset that "miss" (Bregman.) I thought we'd do better than last year, and last year was not bad. When we lost so many games, I resisted blaming it on Brez, and often I asked, why not blame the players. I even got more critical of Cora than ever before, but that actually started with his avoidance of doing his job on talking to Devers. The team we had on opening day was basically the same team Brez put together over 3 winters and two deadlines. The only real change was the players doing better, a new manager and Brez's bench guys stepping up bigtime. I remember some poster complaining about our lack of depth back before opening day. I realize the bottom line is wins and losses, but some serious introspection should be taking place by those who live and die by it. How can they reconcile thinking Brez sucked two months ago and now praising him. It's the same team. Maybe cut these GMs some slack and realize that baseball is not so easily predictable and so GMs should not be so quickly judged. At least couch your criticisms with, "So far, it sure looks like Brez goofed on ____," or "That decision sure looks bad SO FAR." Players and teams can turn on a dime. I'm not sure Brez deserved all the bashing two months deserve as much praise as he's getting, now. I've praised him a lot, because I liked almost all his deals when they occurred. (I'm not sold on the Mayer trade, but it's probably minor.) I was okay with the Durbin trade 2 months ago, too, and argued about who here cried about Harrison before he did well? Posters were bashing him for being "all we got for Devers." Same with Priester, and I'm still hopeful someone from that trade comes through. The Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler trade now looks like a win, while a month ago it looked like a clear loss. Brez has been decisive. He focused on fixing the pitching pipeline and acquisition formulas, and so far it seems to be working very well. He hasn't hoarded prospects or babied vets. Things past GM were criticized for. He's made many very bold trades and signings, and most have worked (so far) or are still TBD. He hasn't added any long term contract issues, although the Campbell and maybe Bello extensions look sketchy, but neither are like Story or Yoshida deals. We have a young core of SP'ers with some vets on the right side of 31. We have a young core of everyday players with 2-3 or more control years at arb or lower cost. Our pen has Chapman as an old man, but Brez has had 3 straight pens that overachieved any of our expectations, so I'm willing to say he knows more than I do on pen building. He's fixed our defense in a major way. There seems to be less base-running blunders, and even when we were losing in April and May. (Less SBs, too, for some reason, but it's working.) It's hard for me to point at one thing and say Brez sucks at ________. I don't care if he was the 12th pick. I don't get the Bres-LOW nickname. I'm not slamming anyone for thinking this was not the year. I got on the top of the fence and even went over to the "Sell, sell, sell" side for a few days, myself. I do think some went overboard on attacking Brez's body of work and focusing only on wins and losses. We have gotten a lesson on that, this year. We all learned something.

Wasn't there a Fire Cora Thread every year?

Last 82 games of 2025: .292 15 58 (.838 OPS) That's good enough to DH!

So, it's 3872 to 2, now? 😛

Wow, I never thought that thread went on that long.

The "but others thought the same thing" angle never has worked for me. (I'm a teacher, so I hear that 50 times a day.)

I was thinking he should have played FT earlier and instead of Duran, but Duran had that bust-out 2024 season, so it's understandable. Wilyer's offense is not much better, or wasn't until last night's stats were added, and the uptick in WAR is mostly playing time fueled, especially the dWAR. Even after last night... 2023-2025> 2026 BA: .256>251 OBP: .326>.324 SLG: .465>.452 OPS: .791> .775 OPS+ 118>119 HRs per 650: 28>27

And they knew he wouldn't switch?

Revisit this thread!

He didn't say "used to be...?" Major gaffe!

No more waiver wire trades allowed, so some heads will be rolling.

Kleyver Salazar won Player of the Month for July (with Eyanson) and hit a 2 run jack, last night. He will certainly jump into the rankings, soon.

They need to start soon on innings limits, no matter how they decide to do it. We need to also plan on saving some innings for October, of hope Crochet, Houck, Crawford or Oviedo can be in form by then and step in. Of course, only 3.5 to 4 SP'ers are needed for the playoffs, so that can help.

At the start of the season, I felt this could be Abreu's "break out season," and he's kinda been a little bit of a let down. Maybe he'll end up making a big difference over the next 2 months and into the playoffs. Remember someone said earlier, "The PLAYOFFS? We need to look at .500 as the goal."

Of course how well Monasterio, Seigler and Sogard are doing will be a factor. I'm a huge Romy fan, but I was encouraged to see the management decide to keep the hotter players on the 26 and not the vet. I'm really not sure we need 5 OF'ers plus Yoshida on the 26, but having 4 middle infielders seems too much as well. We could DFA White or Jones (both RHBs out of options) or demote Duran. Since LHB Yoshida could play LF, demoting Duran might be the best roster choice, but that is pretty radical. I'd prefer IDK over Story, but Story might have one more stretch of good batting in him. I just don't want him playing SS. The return of Mead would nix any idea of Story on the 26, IMO, but that's radicaL, TOO.

That Sox methodology has proven it does not work... until now.

Next series (weekend) ATH at BOS (then at TOR) ATL at NYY (then day off and v SEA) TBR at SEA (then at ATH) HOU at SDP (then at SFG) CLE at CWS MIN at MIL BAL at TEX DET at SFG

Damn Rays scored 2 in the 9th and 2 in the 11th to beat the Rockies! Yanks won. Astros beat the Jays. Tigers beat the M's. TEX won and MIN lost. CLE and of course the CWS lost. _____________________ The Sox are just 11 runs from leading the AL in run differential. -5.5 GB TBR -2.0 NYY +2.5 CWS +3.5 HOU +5.0 CLE + 6.0 MIN & TEX BAL, DET & SEA hanging around. ___________________ Still 7th in MLB in winning % (6th in run diff) Loss column: -1 NYY -2 CHC -5 TBR -6 ATL & LAD -8 MIL

The Yanks shoulda sold.

So many were not expected to be out this long. Hell Crawford was supposed to return last fall. How many times have our players on IL sustained another injury? Casas, like 3 times. Crawford twice?

I wonder what thread was the longest.

Sox batters since June 25th: (before tonight) 1.467 Jones (15 PAs) 1.039 Contreras (not slowing down) 2-4 tonight .970 Monasterio (BAM! DHAM Who?) 2-4 tonight .885 Yoshida (building back value) 2-4 tonight .845 Durbin (the catalyst) 2-3 w HR maybe to .875. .843 Rafaela (steady as can be) 1-3 tonight Nobody for 162 points! .694 Abreu (2 dingers probably jumps him to .740.) ,681 Seigler (0-1 tonight) .636 Wong (0-4 tonight) .568 Sogard (but 2-4 tonight) .541 Duran (now that Narvaez is gone...) 2-4 tonight

His best season for the Sox by far was not that long ago. It was more recent than 2022, 2023, and 2024. He started slowly in 2025, so his best Sox stretch was about a year ago. That being said, I want nothing more to do with him. At most, he can be given a chance to win the 2B job, next spring, assuming we can use Mead at DH or LF.

Arias is making a case for a promotion. 3 for 5 tonight (.864 at AAA.) POR lost 6-4 GRE won big. Hull 2-5 w homer. Gonzales 2-4 w 4 rbi. SAL won big. Godbout and Primera walked 3 times each! Both went 1-2. Andujar homered and Salazar. went 2-4 w BB

If I pinch myself one more time, I'll die of internal bleeding.