moonslav59

I do wonder how much SEA still values Castillo. Kicking the tires makes sense, there. If we can somehow include Yoshida, it's break my toe kicking that tire.

It's easy to foresee a situation, where when all are healthy (yeah, right) the utility role will be very minimal. C: Teel could play as much as most catchers can play: Wong plays the rest. 1B: Casas, if healthy, can max out at 1B and maybe play some DH on "rest days." 2B: Campbell or Story can fill this need, FT. SS: Story or Mayer can fill this need, FT, but health seems to be sketchy. 3B: Devers is FT. LF: Duran is FT and can play CF, when the CF'er is resting. CF: Rafaela and Duran cover this 162 games. RF: Anthony and Abreu is actually an overload, here. (Abreu could DH or play LF.) DH: Yoshida is FT, but this could become a catch-all slot, if he gets traded. To me, if Ref does not retire he should play vs every LH'd SP, somewhere- somehow. That limits any utility player's time. A D-Ham and Grissom/Romy platoon works well for 2B, so I'm not sure Wong is any better, there. Our need for depth is at SS, especially if Mayer or Story are hurt, 1B and 3B. Romy and Wong can play 1B, so maybe ditch Romy, if he's out of options. Devers could maybe learn 1B, soon, even if just to sub. Who is the 3B sub? Romy? Story> perhaps, it could be Meidroth. Campbell has played some 3B, but many seem to think his arm is too weak for many games, there. Down the road... C: Jo Garcia (Musett, Brannon) 1B: B Gonzales/Ju Gonzalez (Jordan) 2B: Cespedes (Alcantara) SS: Arias, Riemer 3B: Romero, Nunez LF: Castro, Asencio/Brito CF: Jh Garcia, Bleis RF: B. Montgomery, Yuten

49 innings at 1B and 19 at 2B. If Teel is the real deal, Wong may be riding the bench more or find other ways to get into the line-up, assuming he can stay near .770.

Radical.

How about Mayer at 2B (or 3B?)

Yes, make some serious efforts and hope we get it right, for once... not that other efforts were "serious."

Monty might claim CF.

Agreed. Hey, Grissom actually homered, twice!

True, but to make the deal happen, I'd give a side piece worth $4M.

Makes sense. You know SEA's needs more than I do. Sounds like you need a taker for Haniger and or Garver. Would Mayer make sense w SEA? I'm thinking Casas + Mayer for a better SP'er than Miller (Gilbert or Kirby). Casas, Mayer & Yoshi for Kirby or Gilbert plus Garver or Haniger

This guy seems like the real deal. The past Sox #1's, Beni and Dice-Ks were srt of letdowns. Our OF is strong and deep, so I think someone will be traded, but maybe not.

I don't really want Haniger and or Garver, but getting Miller and unloading Yoshi would make them acceptable budget offsets, even if we cut them both. It would be nice to count on Garver as the #2 catcher, but I think those days are past. Haniger might be okay as a DH, and maybe could stay healthy and provide RH'd power.

This makes a lot of sense. If SEA insisted on a player worth neat $4M, we could probably find someone (40 man roster or not.) I was thinking maybe Wink, Weissert, Kelly or Wikelman, if they are okay with adding to their 40, otherwise, maybe Castro, Zanetello or Hickey.

Wouldn't trading haniger create a need for Abreu? Even with haniger, Abreu would fit w SEA.

I'd say almost any bat is trade fodder, but I pointed out that the drawback to choosing Campbell is that he is the only one that bats RH'd. L Anthony L Casas L Mayer L Teel (Even Duran & Devers bat LH'd- Abreu, too.) I get the fact that trading Casas makes Campbell the hardest one to fit into the infield, but we could play Story or mayer at 3B and the other at SS. Both would be better on D at 3B than Devers. I also think Devers would end up better on D than Casas. I'm also thinking we should not have to trade 2 out of Casas, Anthony, Mayer and Campbell. We can trade for one SP and sign 2-3 other pitchers as FAs. IMO, if we don't trade Casas, Mayer would be my second choice, although middle infield is a bigger need than OF. In terms of need areas, trading Anthony makes the most sense, but he looks scary good. Scary good gets us a better pitcher, but I keep coming back to starting the package with casas and Abreu, so we can keep Anthony, Campbell and Teel. If a second deal is needed, make it Mayer not Campbell, despite Campbell's worse D at SS. Just my take. I can understand choosing Campbell over mayer due to our lack of a decent SS, if Story gets hurt. I do NOT want Rafaela at SS in 2025.

Why would SEA want Baty over Abreu?

He's the one RHB, though... and a good one, at that!

Maybe Mayer can play 3B, Story SS and Campbell 2B.

4-3 and a sweep of MIN, while not likely, is not impossible. I doubt it happens, but I'm not giving up, yet. Close, but not yet. (It's not like the Yanks are playing real well, too.) 22-28 NYY since June 19th 16-22 TBR since July 31st. 19-22 MIN since July 29th, including 4 of last 5, 6 of last 8. 4-9 TOR since Aug 27th and 18-20 since July 30th. Granted, we have sucked since the ASB, but we are playing teams that are not doing well. That keeps a sliver of hope alive.

That is the most likely scenario, assuming we are intent on trading him. Anthony in RF with Abreu-Ref at DH and 4th OF makes a ton of sense. Anthony may improve on Yoshida's bat right out of the gate, and at no cost! If we actually spent the "savings" on a Yoshida trade on better or more pitching, it would be a net win-win. If we can work Campbell into the 2B mix, we could improve again, at no cost. A healthy Story would, as well. (Mayer would be gravy.) Trading Casas with others for a very good pitcher and moving Devers to 1B and Campbell to 3B could improve the D without hurting the O, plus gain bigly on pitching. Lot's of roads to take, this winter.

I totally agree on not spending enough, and in some ways the Story and Yoshida signings did not even come close to replacing who we lost beforehand and afterwards. My point was that we spent on batting not pitching. It was not to imply we have spent enough. I disagree on the Devers signing "not counting." His contract was nearly 50% higher than any other one ever handed out by the Sox, and it marked a radical change from choices to trade Betts and ley Bogey walk. Had we let Devers walk and signed a $300M pitcher, it might have made a bigger difference. Hell, we could have signed two $155M pitchers with his money. That blows away the $39M/2 deal handed to Gio. Three major points: 1. When we spend big, it is on batters. 2. When we spend on pitching, we swing and miss badly, most of the time. 3. We spent $36M/2 on Jansen, $18.75M/2 on Barnes, $17.5M/2 on Martin- all RP'ers. These total costs are 3 of the highest 4 contracts given to pitchers since Nate & Sale back before 2019. We have not focused on the rotation for 5 years. It shows.

We have done better on the road, so maybe that helps. I do admit, it's hard to see us going 5-2 on this trip. 4-3 might be asking too much.

We have given out contracts that could have netted very good to great pitchers (Devers, Story & Yoshida's,) but instead we spent it on batters. We paid Gio almost $19M a year, which is nearly as much as the highest two combined, from 2020-2023. There are signs of spending- just not on pitching, and when we have spent on pitching, we have swung and missed, badly. Will that change? Who knows?

They may not view Yoshi as a big plus batter. They may not like the fact that Abreu looks like a platoon batter, right now. They may not like taking on salary, when they could just sign a batter. They may value Miller more than we think. The 4/5 slot pitcher still starts as many games as the #1.

What player will we offer a QO to? Jansen? It won't be Martin, O'Neill or Pivetta.