moonslav59

I think it was the CC signing that Theo was talking about, when he said they got away from their own philosophy. I did not like the signing. CC was a glorified platoon bat, as I called him, then.

...and might be in the majors, by now.

I think he viewed CC as excessive and going away from "the plan." I'm not sure he pulls off the Dodger dump trade, and who knows where we'd have been without it.

He's copying what I said about Cespedes as maybe being the best since Devers.

They need to cut Kennedy out of the decision loop. If they replace him with Theo, in that regard, it should help, but we still have too many hands on the handle stirring the pot.

Theo, later admitted that he and the organization had gotten away from their philosophy and were relying too much on FAs and trading prospects, his last 1-2 years. I'm not sure, if he realized that after leaving, of if he knew it, at the time. Also, what would he have done about it? He did leave a very nice core, so had he stayed, I can't imagine him doing any worse than Ben. I doubt he'd have pulled out all the stops, like DD. It appears I am not the only one doing some "what ifs..."

Too bad his D is unimpressive.

51 Casas 48 Bello 45 Mayer 42 Anthony 34 Duran 24 Crawford 22 Bleis 20 Teel 17 Rafaela 17 Grissom 13 Yorke 9 Wink 8 E Valdez & Abreu 7 Cespedes 6 Wikelman 4 Walter, Romero, Zanetello & Perales 3 Bernardino, Meirdroth, Alcantara 2 Paulino, Jordan, Bastardo, Monegro, Fitts, Brannon, Anderson, Jo Garcia, Jimenez, I Campbell, Murphy, DHam, Bonaci, Hickey, Dobbins, Castro 1 Guerrero, Wong, Rogers, Lugo, Kavadas, E R-C, F Valdez, Slaten, Kelly, K Campbell, Weissert, Mata, Broadway, Chacon, G Gambrell, Song, Liu, Politi, Marcano, McDonough, Binelas, Ferguson, Rosier, Lira, F Encarnacion, Dearden, J Encarnacion, C Coffey, R Fernandez

Yes, once you get past the top 4-5 prospects, there is a lot of room for moving prospects up or down. I agree with the 4 you mentioned. I would not have Hamilton as high as 19th. The more I think about it, the more I like Abreu 5th.

To me, "ripping the band aid off" means having a fire sale and maybe tanking a year or two. The drafting and developing of pitchers has been a long-standing issue that has yet to be fixed, unless if has begun under Brez, and we have years to wait.

I agree with everything, except I'd point out, there was no talk of sustainability, as far as I remember, during the heavy trading period under DD (year 1-3.)

All good points, and I have not given up on him. I just like quite a few propsects better.

It's good to know someone else thinks we have decent (not great) depth beyond the top 4-5. Good to see Abreu up so high. He could be a real eye-opener. I've very high on Cespedes breaking out, this year. It's weird how so many are still so high on Jordan. I'm not. Our top pitchers are still way down the list, and maybe Fitts, a Brez addition passes Wikelman & Perales, this year. 12. Wikelman 13. Perales 14. Fitts 20. Rogers 23. Monegro 24. Walter 27. Bastardo 30, Slaten 33. Mata 34. I Coffey

I think the Fulmer signing has a better chance at making a difference, granted not until 2025, than the Luetge signing.

I also believe that most Sox fans only care about the here and now, but next year and the year after will soon be the "here and now," again. Building a sustainable system is the best way to keep fans happy for as much and as long as possible. I also agree with Bell that Sox fans are capable of going through a couple bad seasons, here and there, especially if they feel like the future looks brighter. This team has tried to walk the line between rebuilding for tomorrow while trying to make it look like we can compete, each year (in the here and now.) The 2021 season convinced some fans, but more destructively, it convinced management, it could be done. In many ways, a complete teardown is a more effective way to rebuild, but the trade off can mean 2-3 (or more) seasons of really bad here and nows. Trying to avoid this just extended the rebuilding and suffering by the fans. While I do feel like the future looks brighter, these guys have left such a nasty taste in my mouth with all the lies and shams, that it no longer puts a dent in my frustration and feeling of hopelessness. It's not like our roster sucks. It doesn't. In some ways, that's what makes sitting on our hands winter after winter, more painful. I understand the theory of waiting for the best time to pounce on spending large and long on a SP'er, or two. I can see why thinking 2025 or 2026 looks like a better year than now, but had we held a major fire sale in the summer of 2022, I firmly believe that time to "pounce" would have or could have been now. I still think two major SP'er additions makes us a strong WC competitor, and we could have designed those two additions to be projected as still worthy in 2025 and 2026, as well, but now it looks like we will be sitting in limbo for 1-2 or maybe even 3 more years. I'd rather have had 2-3 seasons of 60-65 wins than 6-7 of 75-80 wins.

We don't have another Betts or Bogey to trade. Maybe Devers?

We finally made a huge move: Sox sign 37 y/o Lucas Luetge!

He's better but more fragile. Monty at 35 could still be good. If he's not, one bad year would still make the deal worth it. 2 might not.

We all go through times where we just want this all to stop. It never will.

Paxton & Ort from last season.

Monty & King Whitlock Kelly German Fitts Weissert Judice Who am I missing? (Ort is gone.)

I'm not high on Duran, and never have been, but 5 years of Duran can certainly be viewed as close to the same value as 2 years of King. King is better, but maybe not by a 5:2 ratio, right?

He's not getting 6-7 years. 5 is too much, but you always have to give 1-2 more years than wanted. I'd try hard for an overpay on 3 years, but if 4 years brings down the AAV, fine. I'd go 5, if the price was right- like $110M/5 or even $115-maybe $120. BTW, he just turned 31. He has not had a long career of maxing out on IP, so he is not an early breakdown candidate. 5 years bring shim to 35 for his final year.

soxprospects.com still has us acquiring a SP'er and RF'er, but I have my doubts. Maybe we add a cheap OF'er, but the talk of Soler, Pham and even Duvall don't seem to fit, unless we move O'Neill to RF. I doubt we add any SP'er, but I must admit, I still have hopes. Here is the 26, as I see it, right now- with no more additions: SP: Giolito, Bello, Pivetta, Crawford, Houck RP: Jansen, Martin, Whitlock, Winckowski, Schreiber, Bernardino, Slaten (Rule 5) & Mata (out-of-options) C: Wong & McGuire 1B: Casas (with not known emergency game day back-up) 2B: Grissom & Reyes 3B: Devers SS: Story (Rafaela) LF: O'Neill & Refsnyder (Duran) CF: Duran & Rafaela RF: Abreu (O'Neill) DH: Yoshida Possible line-up: 1. L Duran 2. L Devers 3. R Story 4. L Casas 5. R O'Neill 6. L Yoshida 7. R Grissom 8. L Abreu/ R Rafaela 9. R Wong/ L McGuire We need a whole lot to go right for this to be a WC team, but there is a lot of talent and potential talent, here. Adding a pitcher like Monty would be a huge step forward. Adding Clevinger, instead, would be a nice step. Adding both seems impossible. Adding an OF'er makes sense, but not another LF'er, PLEASE! Even if trading Duran, I'd still prefer a RF'er or CF'er, but if Duran lands us a solid SP'er, it would be a step forward, hopefully.

I've tried to play around on BTV with 3 way deals involving BOS- SDP- MIA, but I can't seem to give other teams what they need. Duran & Jansen + $ to SDP Garrett or Luzardo to BOS ??? (from SDP) to MIA (I doubt MIA takes pitching prospects) Trying to work PHI into the trade would likely need Abel going to MIA. I'm not sure PHI wants to part with him, or if MIA wants a pitching prospect. In terms of BTV values given, which I assume are too high, if we could work in trading Yorke and or E Valdez as part of the value going out, it would be ideal, but SDP and MIA already have 2Bmen. There has been some talk of SDP trading Kim, but now that involves another team. Here is one: To MIA: Mayer & Campusano To SDP: Duran, Jansen & McGuire To BOS: Luzardo, Puk, Av Garcia (+$19M) and pitching prospect rated higher than Wikelman & Perales, Matt Waldron.