moonslav59

Sounds about right. I'm heading to Portland, Saturday. I hope to catch a game or two.

This is the same guy that was playing with scissors, but did not get hurt. What changed?

Is Mayer getting close to a promotion? Which of the big 3 looks most ready for a promotion? I'd order them: Mayer> Anthony> Teel (more difficult position)

Not so much Ben (CC dump.)

You reversed jinxed him!

MVCY Most Valuable Chain Yanker

We are 28-28. For what it's worth BR has our Pythagorean W-L at 31-25, which would be 1/2 ahead of MIN fo the last slot, instead of 2.5 behind. In team stats, we place... 2nd in fWAR pitching (4th SP/ 2nd RP) 10th Earned Runs Allowed (4th in ERA) 18th Runs Allowed 18th in fWAR everyday players. 9th in OPS (12th in OBP/9th in SLG) 13th in runs scored 22nd in OAA Our 28-28 record is 13th best in MLB. 0.5 behind 11th (SDP & SFG) 2.5 behind 9th (MIN & SEA) 4.5 behind 7th (ATL & MIL) On the flip side, we are tied for 13th best w CHC & STL. We are 0.5 ahead of #16 DET (bottom half of MLB) 1.0 ahead of #17 & 18 (TBR & TEX) 1.5 ahead of #19 TOR 2.0 ahead of #20 & 21 PIT & WASH for bottom third tier.

We could just take the short cut by flying Jamaica Planes Airways to Also-Ran Land.

Our "Schwarber" might have to be Casas. This reminds me of another pattern us fans have been going through for years: waiting for IL players (mostly SP'ers) to return and "save the day," and it never happened. There was ... Sale & Bogey in '21 Sale & Nate, Wacha, Hill, Story in '22 Sale & Paxton, Bello, Houck, Whitlock in '23 and now... Casas & O'Neill, Hendriks and after already waiting for all SP'ers not named Houck & Crawford to return. (The 2024 wait on Gio, Story & Whitlock is over.)

A poster, whose name rhymes with mold dead asked why we wanted to watch him kick the ball around RF, after like his 3rd game of the year.

...and Story doesn't?

Post of the Week.

More like two distinct mega-drops. 2019>2020 and 2022>2023>2024. We increased from '20>'21 and '21>'22. CB Tax line: '18 $239M '19 $244M +5M '20 $185M -59M '21 $208M +23M '22 $236M +18M '23 $225M -11M '24 ~$209M -16M 2 year stretches: '18-'20: -54M '20-'22: +51M '22-'24: -27M

We've fallen into a pattern of allowing one big inning, early in the game, then shut them down, while we remain shut down, all game long. If we are to make a move to try and go for it, this year, it's going to have to be Schwarberesque. Maybe 2 X Schwarb-types.

Can we give him a 1Bman's mitt? I think I'd prefer O'Neill over DHam. (Rafaela at SS)

Understandable. I thought you meant top to bottom.

Last thread of respect just tore loose.

Meh. moonslav indulged in hyperbole, but it's lovely hyperbole. If he doesn't understand the concept of a "suggestion" vs a prediction, he won't know what hyperbole means. And who gives a rat's ass about the Celtics and Bruins? Auerbach, Cousy, Russell, and Larry Bird are long gone, and hockey is strictly for white guys. Oh, and, last time I checked, this website is called Talksox. True nuff. I didn't know what to expect this season, so I voted for 81-81, and that's where the Sox are (plus one) one third through the season. But this team is way more complex and interesting than 50-50. Sounds about right, and for a team that was supposed to be worse than last year, what's the beef? For starters, the Sox are paying Sale $17M, Story $22.5M, Giolito $18M, Yoshida $18.6M, Turner $6.7M, and Whitlock $3.5M--and none of them are playing for the Sox. That's over half the $182M payroll shot to hell. That's why the current rotation is being paid $15M total, $1M less than closer Jansen, who has pitched 17.2 innings to date--which is absolutely insane. True, but you have reached the broken record point. And it's that rotation that enables the Sox to have the 3d best ERA in MLB--which is amazing for a team that rarely has excellent pitching. It's a shame to see such good pitching fetch a .500 record. The current Sox lineup has exactly one experienced everyday MLB player, Devers, who is paid more, $29M, than the other 12 lineup players combined. How about that, sports fans? Thus are they inconsistent. That's why all the errors and unearned runs (plus, as moonslav points out, other "earned" runs that are really also unearned runs). That's why weak RISP hitting. Yup, no timely hitting and too many gifts handed to opps. You know, when you figure all the extra outs we gave our opps, and how many extra outs our staff needed to get, our staff is even better than it looks on paper. On the other hand, sometimes these guys come through when you don't expect it--like sweeping Tampa @ Tampa a week ago. Plus we can already see good things in Abreu, Duran, and Rafaela in the outfield, Casas at 1b (actually, it's his bat, not glove). I've seen some heart and soul in this team, but it is not always on display. And don't forget Hamilton, the guy we wanted to kill last season. His total WAR is +0.7 for 30 games played. Last year Story's total WAR for 43 games was +0.8. So who needs freaking Story, who dove for a grounder and is out for the season? I'd prefer Story. Plus I like Wong/McGuire behind the plate. So right now, honestly, just 2 real weak spots, 2b and 1b. But Casas could be back by June 21, and maybe Grissom is only mostly dead at 2b. This lineup just might be good enough if they believe in themselves. I'm still holding out hope for the O. For confirmation, just look right above at moonslav's latest stats on lineup players, starters, and relievers. This team is actually better than .500. Who needs Yoshida when Ref is hitting so well? Who needs Story when Hamilton is outplaying him? DHam has more to prove, especially on D and especially at SS.

The 4th Amigo, Refsnyder, is making a name for himself, now too.

You know the old saying about SP'ers, "You're only as good as your last start." While that is not entirely true, it does have a grain of truth in it. We need Crawford to make us forget about his last start. Speaking of which... Bello 3ER in 5IP Criswell 6ER in 4IP (Houck is the outlier: 1ER in 6IP) Pivetta 5ER in 3.1 IP Crawford 6ER in 4.1 IP ERA on May 23rd and now 1.94 >1.90 Houck 2.17> 2.89 Crawford 2.86> 3.96 Criswell 3.04> 4.20 Pivetta 4.04> 4.18 Bello

Rough night for wins on the farm. Woo lost 9-4 as Uwasawa got rocked. I Campbell worked a scoreless inning (0H, 1BB, 1K) The 8-9-1 hitters provided most of the O, except Dalbec went 1-3 w 2BB and an rbi.Meidroth 3-4, Contreras 3-4 w HR and Rosier with a solo blast & BB. Kavadas 0-4 w 1K POR lost 6-4 as Wikelman got rocked. Teel homered and walked. Mayer 1-4 Paulino 1-4 w 2B Lugo 0-4 (still at 1.047) GRE lost 9-0 as Rogers and everyone let up runs. SAL just scored 2 in the 9th to tie it 4-4, as Dean pitched well. 4IP 1H 1ER 0BB 5K Bleis 2-4 and Taylor tied it w a 2 run HR in 9th. FCL got bombed 10-2 Judice went 2 IP 1H 1ER 0BB 2K

Updated Sox OPS .984 Refsnyder (earned a FT role, at least for a while) .928 Devers (career high OPS & OPS+, so far) .870 Abreu (let's start talking Abreu extension) .857 Casas (could use his bat back) .843 O'Neill (slumping. badly) .836 Wong (still making key plays) .776 Duran (fWAR leader on the team) .743 DHam (went from near the top of the DFA list to near Romy on utility list) .736 Yoshida (take your time on the IL) .688 Romy (doing the little things right) .684 McGuire (helping the staff, a lot.) .617 Story (should stop even listing him) .602 Rafaela (over the modern Mendoza Line) .546 Smith, .532 Cooper & .377 Dalbec (just pathetic) .453 Valdez & .451 Reyes (may not see again in '24) .352 Grissom (in his own category, by himself) ERA Leaders SP'ers 1.90 Houck (11 GS and early Cy Young candidate) 1.96 Whitlock (4 out for season) 2.89 Crawford (11 dropped a lot after bad start) 3.96 Criswell (8 got drilled, last start) 4.18 Bello (9 looked good, tonight, after 1st IP) 4.20 Pivetta (6 up & down) Pen ERA WHIP 0.78 Bernardino 0.83 2.01 Weissert 1.15 2.16 Z Kelly 1.26 (back in AAA) 2.25 Uwasawa 1.00 (in AAA) 2.89 Slaten 0.96 3.06 Jansen 1.25 3.10 Martin 0.93 3.33 Wink 1.56 (in AAA) 3.38 Booser 1.07 4.56 Anderson 1.29

They sure look solid. Don't look now, but Rafaela is heating up a bit, if you can consider .650 to .750 heating up. .651 since May 2nd (80 PAs) .759 since May 20th (26 PAs) Not counting tonight's decent game at 1 for 3 w BB

Can we all agree: Ref needs to play FT (DH and a little LF or RF, if the shorter one?)

When in Rome, do as Romy does!