moonslav59

I'm a big fan of Abreus, but Mayer should be 5, and where is Houck?

If we end up trading Mayer for Crochet, our SS depth (after the fragile Story) leaves something to be desires, at least in terms of defense: Rafaela Romy-Sogard DHam-Grissom Campbell- Meidroth Romero (2026) Crochet is not enough. We'd still need to sign Fried or Burnes for it to work. Even those two are not enough. We could still use Hoffman or Estevez and a decent defensive catcher. Add that to a returning Whitlock and full, healthy seasons from Story, Devers, Casas, Slaten, Giolito, Hendriks and Fulmer, and maybe- just maybe....

With costs for good players going through the roof, maybe this now makes sense... MLBTR reports: MLBNetwork’s Jon Morosi reported this evening that a Crochet deal coming together during the Winter Meetings this week is “increasingly possible.” What’s more, Morosi suggests that the Red Sox are “more willing” to listen on top shortstop prospect Marcelo Mayer than previously believed and could become a more significant factor in Crochet’s trade market if they make him available in trade talks with the White Sox.

It means to me, that no one GM ever gets all the prizes. That does not excuse us missing out on all of them. I've laid down what I think is the minimum we need to do to feel like we can be relevant, again, and hope we can go a step or two above that suggestion. With 5-10 other teams in on the same guys we want, it's not easy. Why should we think JH can outbid other equally rich owners? Here is my minimum list: 1 from Fried or Burnes 1 from Bregman, Teoscar, Scott, Flaherty or Eovaldi Carson Kelly or the like. One step better: 2 from the second group or 1 plus Hoffman, Estevez, Santander or Walker/Alfonso or same as minimum, but trade for Crochet, Lopez or someone similar. Two steps better: 1 from Fried, Burnes and 1 from Bregman & Scott. A trade for someone like Crochet, plus Scott or Hoffman. (This ain't happening.)

With today's contract costs, he's now a bargain, at his age.

JH can "afford" to sign the top remaining 5 FAs, but what does that mean when several other owners can, too?

He has said he wants to play with the Dodgers, and it's hard to imagine us throwing that much more money at him to et him to choose Boston. If we miss out on Soto, who is left? Bregman? (Devers to 1B- Casas to DH or another team?) Teoscar? Santander? Walker or Alfonso? (Trade Casas and keep Devers at 3B?) It has to be pitching, pitching pitching, but I doubt we get 2 out of these three: Fried, Burnes and Scott. Maybe one plus Nate or Hoffman. Maybe one, plus a trade for another. Is just Fried, Hoffman and Carson Kelly enough? (Not for me.)

Replace Wikelman with Crochet, Kelly with Hoffman, is the idea. Then, the bottom of the 40 is better off, as well.

I thought I read he was okay moving to 1B. Report says we are interested in Teoscar.

This is how they ranked the teams (not seed.) 1. Oregon 13-0 2. Georgia 11-2 3. Texas 11-2 4. Penn St 11-2 5. Notre Dame 11-1 (dropped one slot by not playing) 6. Ohio St 10-2 7. Tennessee 10-2 8. Indiana 11-1 9. Boise St. 12-1 10. SMU 11-2 11. Alabama 9-3 (left out) 12. AZ St 11-2 13. Miami 10-2 14. Ole Miss 9-3 15. So Carolina 9-3 16. Clemson 10-3 (They moved up only 1 slot) 17. BYU 10-2 18. IA St 10-3 19, Missouri 9-3 20. Illinois 9-3 21. Syracuse 9-3 22. Army 11-1 23. Colorado 9-3 24. UNLV 10-3 25. Memphis 10-2

The final selections are in... I think ND was unfairly placed 7th, behind 2 loss Penn St and Texas, but I guess they felt a team should not be penalized for playing in a conference championship game. Alabama is OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!! Hurray! 1. Oregon 13-0 (plays winner of 8 Ohio St.- 9 Tennessee) 2. Georgia 11-2 (plays winner of 7 Notre Dame- 10 Indiana) 3. Boise St 12-1 (palys winner of 6 Penn St-11 SMU) 4. AZ St 11-2 (plays winner of 5 Texas-12 Clemson) Penn St and Texas get rewarded by facing scrub conference winners in round 2, instead of Oregon or Georgia. While Texas played in the SEC, they did not face Alabama, Ole Miss, So Carolina and Tennessee. They played two tough SEC teams (Georgia, twice, and lost both games.) They beat no top 25 teams. (A & M was ranked top 25, at one time.) ND beat A&M, too, at College Station. We lost to No Illinois, early on, and theyw ere ranked top 25, at one point. We beat Louisville, once a top 25 team, and a tough GA Tech team on the road. (GA lost to Tech.) We also handed Army their only loss of the season and beat USC away and killed a pretty good Navy team. I can understand Penn ST ahead of us, but not Texas.

All 4 of those players are better than 5-10 on the CWS (for Crochet.)

Maybe Campbell moves to the OF, if we sign Bregman.

Either one would be fine: both if the return was better. Throw in Wikelman and Kelly, too. We need roster space for Fried, Bregman and Hoffman.

We should know that Casas has been our best left batter vs LHPs since 2022 (180+ PAs) .772 Casas .746 Devers Only Refsnyder (.910) hit lefties better on our whole roster. If you lower the PAs to 100: .910 Ref .879 Romy .772 Casas .746 Devers .743 Story .694 Wong 2024 only: 1.179 O'Neill .941 Ref .879 Romy .877 Wong .772 Jansen .758 Casas .687 Devers .665 Duran .603 Rafaela (reverse splits) .565 Yoshida (did much better in '23) .532 Abreu and DHam (Both should platoon until they prove themselves.)

That was a damn good trade Brez made. He kept up the Bloom tradition of one and done OF additions- Pillar, Renfroe, Duvall...

Teams often say that, days before a trade, but there are other pitchers out there.

I agree, and as much as I'd like to keep Casas, since he is our best lefty bat vs LHPs, I can't see us playing Yoshida in LF, so Casas can share DH duty with Devers. Casas should also help us get a very good pitcher, without giving up a top 5 prospect. Maybe Casas, Abreu & Fitts for ______.

...and it took 4 additions to get there: Fried, Crochet, Hoffman & Chapman. (I'm counting Wilson as depth.)

I've pretty much moved on fro Soto. The only way he comes to BOS, id if he takes less, and maybe the taxes and cost of living factor in. We aren't signing Fried and Burnes, and as much as I am leery of signing Bregman. I think we could salvage the winter by signing Fried, Bregman, Hoffman and Carson Kelly, then trade for another quality SP (Lopez, Crochet...) I'd like to keep Casas, but moving Devers to 1B/DH and Casas to DH/1B squeezes Yoshida to LF, the bench of a complete salary dump trade. (I doubt that can be pulled off, at least this winter.)

Ole Miss is 9-3, too. They beat GA and killed So Carolina 27-3. I do think both teams, maybe even 9-3 Missouri are better than SMU and MIA, but records should count, and losing 3 games is not good. MIA lost to GA Tech, same as GA, but that loss to SYR hurt. SMU makes the playoffs, if they didn't have to play a conference game (like AL, MIA and Ole Miss & others.) Their only loss before that nail-biter, last night was to an 11-2 BYU team, who could argue they belong over ALA. This playoff system sure generated some late season buzz, and it's better to be arguing over who is better, a #11 and #12 teams vs a #13 and #14 team than leaving out a #2, 3 or 4 team.

As much as I was getting pumped up on the idea of Soto on the Sox, I'm thinking that we know JH will get cheap, again, at some point, so $700M+ would likely put a lot of pressure on our farm to fill many slots for min wage.

Wow, $21M to BorA$$!

Word is out, the Sox may be shopping Casas. (I'm guessing for Crochet?) We also tried to get Bieber, and word was he took less to play with CLE. We may have been in on Holmes, who may or may not have been used as a SP'er. I'm wondering if plan B is this, assuming we lose out on Soto: Sign Bregman, Fried, Hoffman and Carson Kelly Trade: Casas, Rafaela & Fitts for Crochet SP: Fried, Crochet, Houck, Giolito, Bello RP: Chapman, Hoffman, Hendriks, Slaten, Whitlock, Crawford, Winckoski, Wilson 1. Duran LF/CF 2. Bregman 3B 3. Devers 1B 4. Story SS 5. Yoshida/ Refsnyder DH platoon 6. Anthony CF 7. Abreu RF/Campbell RF/2B (Abreu-Grissom platoon) 8. Campbell 2B/Grissom 2B 9. Wong/Kelly C Utility: DHam

Close call, but I think Boise St gets the #3 slot and AZ St gets the #4 slot (bye) over Clemson. Here would be my rankings: 1. Oregon 13-0 2. Georgia 11-2 3. Boise St 12-1 4. AZ St 11-2 ______________________ 5. Notre Dame 11-1 vs 12. SMU 11-2 (They may pick 9-3 Alabama) 6. Texas 11-2 vs 11. Clemson 11-2 7. Penn St 11-2 vs 10. Indiana 11-1 8. Ohio St. 10-2 vs Tennessee 10-2 ________________________ 13. Alabama 9-3 14. Miami 10-2 15. Ole Miss 9-3 16. So Carolina 9-3 17. BYU 11-2 18. Missouri 9-3 19. Army 12-1 20. Memphis 10-2 (Illinois & Syracuse 9-3)