moonslav59

I included the Bogey's extension, which with the opt-opt was really a 2 year add on control, but since I also counted Gio's, it seemed legit. Both were not major signings like Sale, Nate, Yoshi & Story, and the success rate on those is no where near the league average. Had we just hit on Sale (4-5 seasons like he's doing now, we'd have been a much better team with a possible ring in '21. IMO, we are oh for 4 on our top 4, but Nate was not bad. From JH's point of view, perhaps this is why he wants to avoid more like them.

It is very rare for free swingers to do well for a long career. He does have some power at about 20 HRs and 30 2B+3B per 650, but his .244 OBP (.254 career) is what hurts even more than all the Ks. 8 walks in 64 games is really, really bad. His defense is spectacular, but he seems to lose focus and bumble plays, too often. I think that will improve, over time. I'm not sure the OBP can or will.

Ref has been hitting out of his mind, but we can't count on him for too much longer as our DH. The return of Casas will help, but the middle infield (D & O) has hurt us, once again. The rotation is regressing to the norm, but as of yet, nobody deserves a demotion. ERA last 24 days: 1.38 Houck (actually getting better) .449 OPS Against 3.29 Pivetta (looking in form, again) .561 6.25 Bello .831 6.43 Crawford .787 6.45 Criswell .818 This looks like 3 holes in the making. The pen has done its job, well.

I'm more than fine with extensions like these. In hindsight, I wish we had extended Houck, but yes, we need to start hitting on some of our FA signings. 13/10 Devers (results pending but off to a good start) 145/5 Sale (bust) 140/6 Story (bust with a chance to change to just a bad signing) 90/5 Yoshida (see Story) 68/4 Nate (meh) 60/3 Bogey (good but opted out) 39/2 Giolito (bust) Had we hit on 3 or 4 of these 7, we likely would not have had so many last place finishes. (3 of the top 4 have been failures)

Yes, that was the obvious save money option. Even the Gio signing was financed, mostly on money saved by dumping Sale, Urias and Dugo.

In all fairness, though, we would not have all these last place finishes, if we hadn't swung and missed at such a high rate on our largest signings and extensions since Sale/Nate. I know you think our miss rate is close to the league average, but I disagree. I'm not defending JH by saying this. He can and should have at least spent to just below the tax line. He may be looking at the high failure rate on signings and think, "Why bother?"

Indeed. In the past, some/most did expect him to spend more after the dip in 2020, but now, we expect that he can spend more money but chooses not to. That is not unrealistic. We look at a pretty solid core of young players and expect that a caring owner might want to do something about filling some gaps by throwing money at them, but we know our owner is choosing stingy greed, instead. I still hope he spends more, this winter or next, not I'm not hopeful.

He's not known for his defense and does not have a GG like O'Neill. O'Neill also has an OPS+ of 137 in 189 PAs (6th on the Sox.) Teoscar has 90 more PAs (4th on his team,) which of course has enormous value. We knew we were rolling the dice on O'Neill's health. He's played in just over 2/3 of the team's games. If Ref wasn't doing so well, it would have hurt more than it has, but we do need O'Neill's RHB in the line-up, along with Refs. Had the savings of adding O'Neill over Teoscar been actually used on adding someone else- like Imanaga instead of Gio or Gio and Flaherty, then it would be more understandable, but sadly we stay way under the tax line.

YES! And statements like "full throttle" and others before that, were reasons why some fans had high or higher expectations than we should have.

We finally have RHB looking good, on the farm.

how about 2 of 4?

RBI + Runs- HR 61 Duran 59 Rafaela 54 Devers 42 Abreu 39 O'Neill 37 Wong

Games like this are a real kick in the you-know-what. When Bobby Dee accounts for your only run, you know your offense is having a bad day.

Woo won 8-2 Alexander 6 IP 2H 0ER 2BB 4K Sogard and Yorke homered and had 2 hits, each. Kavadas and Meidroth got their daily BB. Yoshida 1-4 in rehab POR is losing 5-4 Perales 2.1 IP 2H 1ER 1BB 3K K Campbell 1-2 w 2BB and 2B Anthony, Mayer and Teel on base once each. GRE was smoked 12-1, with aa runs allowed in the 7th and 8th. Paez 5 IP 2H 1ER 0BB 8K Monegro 2IP 5H 9runs 4ER 4BB 2K SAL scored 3 in the 8th to go up 7-4, but now are down 8-7 Zanetello 0-5 w 4Ks Cespedes 2-3 (1.009 OPS) in an FCL win.

Why? Because one bad third of a season? vs L .887 in '21 .896 in '22 .710 in '23 .571 in 45 ABs

We may lose 3!

So, your plan is to bench Wong, so Teel plays, bench RBI leader Rafaela, so Anthony can play and call up Yorke, who is slipping in the rankings, to replace DHam at 2B? (Mayer at SS makes some sense.)

Bello's last 9 starts: IP/ ER 5.1/ 1 5.1/ 2 6.0/ 0 5.0/ 2 4.2/ 5 6.0/ 3 5.0/ 3 6.1/ 4 (2 ER after 5) 4.2/ 5 (0 after 4.2 IP)

Bello is looking like the Houck of old. He looks good through the first 2 ABs vs a line-up, then BAM!

Bobby Dee to save the day!

Agreed. The Pham, McGuire and Hosmer deals were pretty insignificant. I remember thinking it was a wishy-washy deadline, as Bloom tried to make it look like he was trying to improve the team and the future.

OK. You said we did nothing.

The last 2 seasons includes 2022. I wouldn't call it "nothing." BTW, we also got McGuire, which was not really a buy or sell type trade. We also were "buyers" on the Northcut for Tommy Pham trade in '22. Bloom was busy, but nothing really major, except maybe the Vaz for Abreu & Valdez deal. I do agree on adding Urias for Blaylock counts as nothing ('23.) Same with Kike for Robertson & Hagenman not counting as a sell, but rather a nothing deal. In '21, we added Schwarber, Robles and Austin Davis. Later, we added Iggy and T Shaw. That was significant "buying." I think Brez goes full sell on all free agents-to be, regardless of what the return might be. Unlike Bloom, he will just take the best offer out there. I could see him also making a surprise trade of someone who does not fit into his plan for the future or someone that might not be his type of player. This is pure speculation, but he has had time to get a read on many players, and my guess is those reads are not all good to him. I've mentioned McGuire, due to Teel knocking on the door. Depending on how the view Anthony's ETA, maybe we deal an OF'er, despite how well all 3 are doing. I don't think Mayer's addition to the middle infield mix means we can afford to trade someone. Story and Grissom are still question marks. Yorke is falling, and DHam and Romy should not be viewed as FT options. EValdez is in the mix and has looked better on D, this year. I think we trade: Pivetta Jansen Martin, if back O'Neill, if healthy Anderson, if anyone wants him I'm not projecting great returns, but Pivetta and Jansen look to have more trade value than Vaz did in '22.

Availability is always an issue with some teams more than others. Part of our issues with this is based on us signing so many players with recent injury histories and the 4 year drama with Sale. This year, the O'Neill's issues are not surprising, and I guess Whitlock's, too. Giolito was surprising. Casas has been hurt, before, but this time was rather freakish. I don't blame a SS for diving for a ball. It's instinct, but yes, even if he got the ball, uninjured, the guy is still safe at 1B. With how well Ref is doing, the Yoshida injury is not a concern. We sure could use a healthy O'Neill, Casas, Abreu, Martin and continued good health from Pivetta & others. I'd mention Grissom's return, but I'm not sure he can improve on DHam and Romy.

I thought you mentioned Severino or Montas, but maybe it was someone else. I really thought Imanaga and Lugo were worthy gambles. I felt if Yamo was worth what he was getting, Imanaga was worth a shot, despite being older. The Lugo never pitching many innings was overblown, IMO. I saw it as a plus, as his arm was not overworked for his age. I like Sonny Gray, because I thought he'd take a shorter term deal, which JH might be attracted to. I liked Monty, more when he was the last man standing. I was 50-50 on Stroman vs Gio, but neither were high on my list. I did not want Snell.