moonslav59

Who said we should expect average results? I expect a ring more than 1 in 30 years. I expect the playoffs more than 2 in 7 years or 9 in 37 years. I think we all do. For a team spending 6th in AAV and 9th in payroll, we should make the playoffs half the time. We should spend more and make the playoffs maybe more than 2 in 3 years, IMO. When have I ever even hinted at the idea that we should not spend more? Last place sucks, and it's more embarrassing when we finish last while spending 8th to 15th most, depending on what budget you use. I place a big chunk of the blame on ownership's lack of spending. They have spent more recently, post Devers extension, but it hasn't been enough. Contracts like Buehler, Sandoval, Hendriks and even Giolito creates a situation where the GM shares part of the blame, too. The players not improving as they near their prime years deserves some blame, too.

Actually, it lasted a bit longer. He hit a decent .792 in 2021 (453 PAs) but did poorly in those playoff games. He was still at .821 after 558 MLB PAs- a much larger sample size than Jordan. By 581 PAs, he was under .800 and never got any better.

YUP! Had we advanced in the 2025 playoffs, the Matz trade would not be criticized, unless he melted down and cost us a playoff game.

Great post, Hugh. I counted the DD trades once and found he traded over 20 prospects that were once ranked in the top 20 on soxprospects,com. That's not meant to be a knock on him, and I always pushed back on statements like, "He emptied the farm" or "left the farm barren." He did trade away many highly ranked/rated prospects who mostly did squat after the trades. That was "lucky" but one can also view that as him thinking they were not worth what other thought they were. The ones he kept did much better, but they were mostly unknowns or low-ranked during his era. The highest ranked prospects he kept were: end of 2019 sps.com's rankings 1. Casas 2. Mata 3. Groome 4. Jimenez 5. Dalbec 6. Duran 7. Houck 8. Song Others: 10 Ward, 12 A Ramirez (Bloom traded for Schwarber) 13 Chris Murphy, 17 Bello, 19 Rafaela Pre-2019 prospects not traded (ranking when DD took over listed): 2 Devers, 8 Brian Johnson, 11 Chavis Notable others from 2016-2018: 1 Beni, 8 Scherff, 9 Feltman & 17 TBall DD did very well in trades and signings.

Yes, I understood and agreed with your point. (Add Springs and a few others to your list.) Maybe Priester, Harrison and or Jordan go on to greatness. Maybe someone as yet to be mentioned does. It happens. Much of the criticism of Brez has been his failure to make in season moves that make a difference, but when he does, we hear about how we let someone like these guys get away. Nobody talked up these three before the trades. Hardly anyone mentioned they hated giving them up, at the time of the trade. (Maybe Priester had some posts expressing minimal worry.) I guess it's natural to second guess. We all do it. It's fine to point out how a trade is looking at the start of the after trade period, but I feel we should qualify these criticisms with the words "so far," instead of sounding like the we have already lost the trade based on 31 PAs, a half season or even a full season.

It doesn't at all. It didn't help for over the 3 decades up to 2004 that the Sox won several rings 50 years earlier. either. In theory, winning 1 ring every 30 years is average. You'd like to see way less last place finishes than we've seen, recently, and starting in 1967, we did not finish last, too often, until 2012. 1 last place from 1967 to 2011 (1992.) We did finish 6th out of 7 teams in 1983, Since 2012 (14 seasons) we've finished 5th out of 5 teams SIX TIMES! We are on pace for 7 in 15 seasons! Looking at these 15 seasons: 2 rings and 4 other playoff chances still beats any 15 year periods before 2004 and after 1918. It still sucks that we've only made the playoffs twice since 2018. However, 2 in 7 years is about the same as 1967 to 2003: nine times in 37 years, but the playoffs were much more restrictive in numbers those years. This is not fun for any of us.

Here is how soxprospects.com projects some prospects' placements for 2027. I'll start with the 2026, 2027 and 2028 ETAs to the bigs, knowing full well, only a few will get the call, barring many injuries. 2026: 4. Bennett, 15. E Rivera, 16. Uberstine Early 2027: 1. Arias, 19. Romero Mid/Late 2027: 2. Eyanson, 3. Witherspoon, 12. Holobetz, 14. Cespedes, 20. Bastardo, 21. Paez, 22. Mullins, 30. Castro (33. Brannon, 34. Garcia, 51 Rogers) 2028: 6. Godbout, 10. Phillips, 26. Monegro, 27. M White, 28. Finley Those who do not make the big club will likely be placed in AAA, with a few at AA. Here are their projected opening day 2027 farm rosters: AAA: SP-Bennett, Eyanson, Uberstine, Wehunt, Holobetz, Anderson/ RP-Samaniego, Rivera, Mullins, Song, Paez, Rogers, Zeihl, Gamboa (? Monegro/ Wu-Yelland?)/ C-Nate Baez, H White (No Garcia)/ 1B Brannon/ 2B B Rodgers, Seigler/ SS Sogard, Ferguson/ 3B Romero/ OF Castro, Ward, Campbell. Turner AA: Witherspoon, Phillips, Brown, Ingrassia, Futrell, Bouchard/ Sprague, Brooks, Adams, Carlson, Bolden, Vogatasky, McShane, Bickerstaff/ Jo Garcia, GRod/ Encarnacion, RMartinez/ Cespedes, Alcantara/ Godbout/Winnay, CRose/ YRod, IJackson, Gonzales, N GTaylor/ MWhite

Good points, and most of the players on the Woo team do look like ML depth, but I do think a player or two is 2-3 players away from a call-up. I think we will trade Wong this summer, but we wont call up a catcher, so promoting Jo Garcia to AAA might wait until 2027. Llyod as the back-up 1Bman probably would never get a call, as others can play 1B. If Romy gets the call when healthy, maybe he adds the depth that makes cutting Lloyd doable. Brannon may be "ready," even without Romy making the roster.There is also room at AAA DH for Brannon or Garcia to get FT play between C/1B and DH. McDonough or Ferguson could probably be let go, so Arias can get the promotion, but no hurry, I guess. The AAA OF depth is thin. As you know, I'm no Castro fan, but no AA OF'er looks all that deserving.

Looks that way. I doubt it is a sign they all have a a "good eye."

There has been increased spending- just not on big bats. The Suarez, Gray and Contreras adds were the biggest spending this winter, and all have done well on paper. The next biggest spending in the last 2 years was Crochet, and he's done nada in 2026. When you put 3 of your top 4 eggs into the rotation, you are kinda betting on them all staying healthy and making up for the lack of focus on hitting. I think Brez & Co fell into the trap of taking for granted the foundation of everyday players was solid enough, deep enough and at the age where improvement usually takes place. On paper, the loss of Bregman and gain of Contreras looks close to a push, but just about everyone not named Rafaela has gotten worse or injured. I'm not sure signing even Schwarber over Suarez would have made a big difference, and I'm not sure he'd have signed with BOS, even if we offered a couple $M more.

At this point, the reason for falling off a cliff doesn't matter much, unless it holds the key to working on an issue. He's clearly lost something. It could just be his quick minor league success was just a mirage. It wouldn't be the first or last time. The longer this struggle goes on, the more likely it gets inside his head, if it hasn't already done so and destroyed his confidence forever. I'm thinking notin is right. They are coaching him and trying to make him focus on one thing at a time. What that is, we may never know. Maybe I'm giving our minor league coaches too much credit. Maybe not. Nothing seems to be working, and he's been demoted for about a year, now. He's still too young to write off, but sometimes players can regain or turn it around. I'm hoping he can, but a sign would be nice.

Clearly you were not making excuses, but the resident clown sees any disagreement as an excuse or apology.

Was DD a genius because our farm was over-rated? Hardly anyone did well. No, he was genius because almost every big signing worked, almost every trade worked, and the prospects he kept were largely unknowns who ended up being better than many highly ranked prospects he dealt. No, comparing Brez and DD is pointless.

Sometimes I think they believe themselves, but clearly some years they knew damn well we would not be competitive.

You are seriously using the Celtics make the playoffs more as a point? 20 out of 30 teams make it every year. Why not use the NHL? Look, I agree JH should spend more and value money-making more than winning, but welcome to the real world. It's a business for every major sports team.

Wouldn't doing well or bad as a prospect both be "suspect?" LMAO.

One step up and two steps back.

He might, but his profile is much like hundreds and probably thousands who have failed. He spent 6 seasons in the minors and never impressed many people. He did well in A+ then kinda meh. 73 HRs in 2367 PAs (24 in 620 at AAA.) That's not bad, but he's a longshot.

I'd venture to guess that over 90% of all teams prioritize profit over winning. You should boycott all money-making sports.

It is a useful tool in a limited sense. BTW, you do not know we are currently 23rd. I think we all agree, we can and should be spending more.

Capra homered in WOOs win. Delay had 3 hits. Thaiss, Hickey, Ward & Capra had 2. POR lost 6-4, but Eyanson went 4 scoreless innings (3H, 1BB, 5K) Arias is heating back up (3-5 w HR) Liendo homered, too. GRE lost 7-6 as Phillips went 4.1 (7H, 3ER, 1BB, 5K) Gonzales (.780), Cespedes & Jackson (.749) homered, Cespedes went 3-3 (.862) SAL is playing very badly. They lost 3-0.

Maybe the one bright spot of the Sox team, beyond Willson, is how well the SP'ers have done without Crochet (#1) Houck (Maybe #4-5) Crawford (Maybe #5-6) Sandoval (Maybe #6-7) and Oviedo (Maybe #8.) That's 5 of the top 8 SP'ers out. (One could argue Tolle & Early were top 8, but I think they would probably be behind these other had they been healthy.) 2.93 Suarez (.607 OPS Against) 2.93 Tolle (.615) 3.12 Gray (.709) 3.64 Early (.732) (4.79 Bennett .695)

It's downright silly.

Give up. It's pointless.

Yup. Here are the AL OPS numbers of the top 135 batters by PAs (9 players x 15 teams) Top 15: .854-1.054 2nd 15: .801-.845 3rd 15: .774-.800 (Top tier .800+) 4th 15: .745-.770 Mid 15: .724-.743 6th 15: .695-723 (Middle tier can be under .700!!!) 7th 15: .659-.691 8th 15: .613-.658 9th 15: .486-.609 The lowest 30 AL batters are under .660. The lowest 1/3 are under .690!