moonslav59

Some wanted a near total teardown roster do-over. A lot was based on the notion that the record is all that counts, and those trying to say we weren't "that bad" were kidding ourselves. Some said our goal should be .500 and anything more was a pipedream or worse. Some were shocked that it seemed like we improved on a decent 2025 team, but were doing so poorly that our record was near the worst in MLB after a somewhat decent sample size. Pythagorean kept saying we were not a horrible team. Of course, none of us expected to see the team start playing like the best team in MLB, and we probably will not continue like this, but this is a pretty damn good team and not many changes have been made, except replacing injured players with subs. Since June 25th: 26-5 BOS 20-12 TBR 19-11 CHC 19-12 MIL Since June 1st (2 months) This is about half the season to date! 33-18 BOS 33-20 MIL 31-20 LAD 30-20 DET & CHC 30-21 MIA I think you can go back to May 27th and still show the Sox with the best record. We've been the best team in MLB for longer than being near the worst. Is it safe to believe, now?

High quality rental pitchers are very costly. Imagine the price for a controlled pitcher.

It's truly stunning what those three have done, and while DHam has not done all that badly, his OPS is .639. (1.2 bWAR in 256 PAs comes to about 2.6 in 600. His 0.3 fWAR seems more believable, to me.) Harrison & Drohan are doing very well, but we needed infield depth, and we now have 3 infield full timers.

Sounds like a Leonard Cohen song.

Singer's 5.17 FIP Singer: 4.35 ERA/5.17 FIP Dustin May at the 2025 deadline: 4.85/4.79 I'm not dead against someone like Singer, but we'd essentially need him to improve for him to be much help. Of course, he'll cost less because he is not doing all that great.

It's very hard to put total trust in Monasterio, and to a lesser extent Siegler- only because Monasterio is the only real SS on the 26. Okay, Sogard can play SS, but in no way does any of us feel Sogard will lead us to a ring. Middle infield has been such a major nightmare for a very long time. We've seen so many players come and go, and several had some decent but all-to-short stretches, before falling off the radar. I'm not convinced that either or both are the answers to those problems, but man, they have looked real good for a couple weeks, anyway. From 2018 to 2026, we've had 42 players play 2B. Here are but a few with innings: 1248 Arroyo, 914 Holt, 832 Nunez, 825 EValdez, 813 Story, 679 DHam, 584 Kike, 556 Chavis, 471 KC &418 Romy. Nobody else had more than 300 innings! The fact that Valdez places 4th and KC places 9th on this list pretty much says it all. SS is a bit better, as Bogey held down the fort for many years- not great on D but very good overall. 5408 Bogey, 1913 Story, 692 Rafaela, 592 DHam, 566 Kike with nobody else over 300 innings. (Chang, Reyes, Holt and Lin over 175)

I did feel like I was run over by a train over a month ago.

Agree. Narvaez is the remaining black hole still playing. At least Duran bats in some runs.

Monasterio & Seigler have been big parts of our recent success. The sample size is small, but so were the Harrison on Drohan samples. One start taints these numbers, but Harrison has a 6.15 ERA and 4.50 FIP in his last 6 starts- near the same time Durbin and them Monasterio & Seigler started coming alive Drohan is 4.00/2.88 in last 6 GS but also 4.81/2.60 in last 4. We could sure use both those arms, right now, but I like the trade. The Priester trade is also very much TBD.

I’d rather get Dustin May than Scherzer, and that’s no feather in May’s cap.

I’m not against this idea, although I do not have an optimistic view on the start of his MLB career smack in the peak of a run at a ring. Monasterio is doing what I hope Arias can do, so I’m not sure now is the time to promote Arias. I know this sounds contradictory, since I’ve been putting the SS in the top 2-3 high needs list, but this whole season seems to be contradictory to everything logical and sensible, right? ,

Trial and error has ended up sorta working. Demoting Duran was a big first step.

This team is for real. period.

Abrams is my new KMarte.

Not at all. He's trolling for someone to bite at the bait of doom and gloom.

Yes. I was NOT predicting it.

I've been high on Moran since we traded for him. He's done very well this year, but you can't make a pitch like that to Ohtani. Bummer.

The price for long term Catchers is probably way too high. It's too high in the winter, too, but now would likely be foolishly too high. I get that. I've been talking up Jeffers as a Catcher/DH rental, but his cost may be too high, too, and he doesn't add much power. I'm also thinking a LHB might be better than a RHB, so maybe two strikes on Jeffers might be enough to say no. Francisco Alvarez seems ideal, but with so many years of control, the Mets would want a mega-haul. Goodman turns 27, soon, so he is peak prime, but he K's a lot. His OBP is around .320-.325, so to me that kinda evens out the high Ks, but if he's more of a DH, that's 2-3 strikes and a no for me. Liam Hicks might be the best choice, but why would MIA trade a 27 year old pre-arb catcher? They do DH Hicks a lot, so I worry about his defense. The price for SSs is about as high as it gets. Waiting for the winter or Arias might be the best option there, too. Abrams is a game-changer on offense, but again, at what mid-season cost? Maybe our best options might be... 1 or 2 from: P Mize (Gausman, Holmes, Wacha, Lugo) 2B Arraez/G Torres C Jeffers (T Stephenson) LHB Nate Lowe DH/1B (Springer?)

I fully agree. We cannot trade for a pitcher having a bad year and hope they turn it around post trade.

Could all this major pissed of Sox Nation at Duran be what he needed to snap out of it? Not doubt, the guy has some real talent. With Duran the Yogism shifts from "baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical" to "baseball is 90 percent emotional. The other half is mental."

I used to suggest getting Singer or Mitch Keller, but Singer's boat has passed. 5.17 FIP is a big YIKES!

Yes, I'd give... Arias or Eyanson (not both) Witherspoon or Gonzalez (maybe both) Maybe add Godbout/Phillips/Holobetz if one and one from above.

Abrams would be a massive boost to the offense. If Arias becomes who many think he may become, Abrams could slide to 2B and Mead to DH or 1B, once Willson's days are done. I've kinda soured on Neto due to his defense and high K rate. He'd still help our offense and power, but at too high a cost?

I'm all for adding a pitcher- even an older one or expensive one or both. I just want one who is pitching well. I don't want to trade for someone we need to hope he turns around his 2026 season post-trade. I'm tired of DMay, Paxton & Brad Peacock.

Romy was on the IL almost all year, so I'll cut him some more slack, but this is a ring run we are in, so he better start hitting soon, or he might get demoted for IKF. Seigler has been earning a FT job and is a switch hitter, but let's be fair. If we are going to put Romy on notice for his splits, we need to be honest about Seigler, too: .652 v L in 2026 (.691 career) Romy is at ,618, now, but his last few years should carry some weight. (Romy even did pretty well vs RHPs, last year. .718 in 198 PAs Seigler is .647 career vs RHPs (159 PAs) and not much better than Romy's 2025 number vs RHPs: .743 to .718. I love Seigler's defense. I'm liking what I see and would keep rolling with him FT at 2B for a while. A FT DH add might force Romy to 2B vs LHPs, but it would still be Seigler starting about 70% of the games and coming in on D or to PH.