moonslav59

Rafaela crosses MLB's new Mendoza line (.500 OPS.)

I remember talking about how much the Sox had built up the deeper depth on the 40 and the farm from how bad it was in 2020. It seemed building up the bottom of the 40 was at the expense of the top of the 40, but that's already been hashed and rehashed. Now, I'm not so sure the bottom 40 improvement trend has continued. I liked some of Brez's additions, but some like Campbell have not looked good, in a very short sample size. Here is the bottom of the 40, in reverse order of seniority on it: Booser (MiLFA signing, just added to replace Jacques. He's 32.) Gutierrez (Cash trade and just a placeholder.) Uwasawa (Trade, and not anything special or promising.) Joely (MiLFA and off to a really bad start.) Anderson (FA and nothing special) Hendriks (FA, signed for the future- on the 60 IL) Heineman (Trade, kinda like a AAAA Catcher) Romy G (Waiver, you get what you pay for. On IL.) Giolito (Not signed for the bottom of the 40. On the 60 IL) Grissom (Not bottom of the 40 and on the IL) Criswell (looks good, so far) O'Neill (looks great- not for bottom 40) Slaten (looks great) Weissert & Campbell (TBD) 1-27 are holdovers.

Abreu quietly nearing the .700 mark.

Jose Awfulman

Jacques DFA'd. See, there is a difference between Bloom & Brez.

That's a big leep or speculation. (I was going to say "Heep.")

The OOooo.

All 5 of our starters have some really good stuff, and have had very long stretches (plural) of doing well. It's really not a question of "pitching over their heads." The question is about doing it for a full season. Pivetta and Whitlock have already gone down with injuries- maybe just for a bit, and maybe the others will, too, but these guys can pitch. I'm not projecting the all keep doing this well, even if healthy, but they do have the talent.

Valdez is such an awful fielder. He's worse than Reyes and DHam at 2B and can't play SS or 3B. I think Reyes and DHam are about equally awful in all areas of the game.

Yup, and we knew we needed a lot of luck to stay healthy.

Governments.

Optioned to Woo. Not DFA'd.

I saw he's expected back in early May. They could "milk it" to 60 days.

Ref should only be platooned, and since he is one of the few Sox players who hits LHPs, well. We should be able to work it out. Assuming Rafaela at SS, at least vs LHPs... vs LHP: LF Ref CF Duran RF O'Neill vs RHP: LF Duran CF Rafaela/Abreu (DHam at SS and bats left-handed) RF O'Neill

Probably. Jacques is too beloved.

Bastardo is not really top 20, but he's top 30 and has a .444 OPS Against. Others: .408 Early .365 Kelly .392 Benitez (may move up, at some point) .561 Guerrero .419 Troye, .635 Dobbins & .511 Rogers (all SSS)

None are on the 40, so why not just add Kevin Smith?

I used fangraphs, which may not be updated from yesterday.

Yes, MLBTRs says Story was moved to the 60 Day IL to make room for Gutierrez. Another move is needed for Booser (it probably won't be Jacques.)

We all have seen how many runs the Sox have allowed, due to poor defense that has not been called an error, such as failures to turn easy DPs, off line throws, throwing to the wrong guy, failure to make tricky plays and other botches, but look at just the Runs Allowed vs UnEarned Runs Allowed numbers for the top 10 teams in least Earned Runs allowed: KCR 52 ER/ 52 Runs (No, this is not a typo!) NO unearned runs allowed! BOS 56/81 (No, not a typo!) 25 Unearned runs allowed in 20 games! NYM 57/73 (Pretty bad at 16 Unearned but not close to 25) NYY 59/70 (11 UnER) CLE 60/65 (Just 5) DET 63/75 (12) MIL 67/77 (10) PHI 64/78 (14) MIN 70/78 (8) The CWS have 14 Unearned runs allowed. Nobody else comes close! xFIP vs ERA 3.29/3.61 (0.32) PHI (.294 BAbip) 3.48/2.75 (0.73) BOS (.279 BAbip) 3.50/3.68 (0.18) BAL (.290 BAbip) 3.57/3.93 (0.36) SEA (.305 BAbip)

You have no argument from me on Dalbec (or Jacques.) I guess they viewed him as a better option than Kavadas or Meidroth, and to be honest, neither of them are clear choices. The Jacques choice is worse, to me.

Woo rained out. POR wins Penrod 5.1 IP, 1H, 3BB, 6K 0 ER Anthony 2-3 w BB Teel 1-4 Paulino 1-2 w 2BB Lugo 1-3 w BB and 2 RBI

They wait until a decision HAS to be made, because anything can happen between choices. They never had someone not on the 40 that they preferred, until now. Also, with ready to DFA guys like Dalbec and Jacques, it's easy to add another 1-2 guys, at min,

I'd DFA Jacques and acquire Kevin Smith (released by NYY.) Place Story on the 60 Day IL to add Booser. DFA Dalbec and add Fitts or Guerrero.

Maybe Story to 60 Day IL>