moonslav59

The thing with rafaela at SS is that it goes beyond too many errors. He has also failed to turn several double plays that do not get counted as errors. His range at SS makes up for a lot of the mistakes, but I do not see it as making up for all of them. The numbers support my observations: +2.5 Range Factor in UZR/150 (career) -9 Outs Above Average (career) -6 Defensive Runs saved Now, this might still be better than some other SSs we have seen, recently, and his .700+ OPS has been better or way better than several other SSs, even Story. The guy is a great CF'er. We need to set up the 2025 roster to make sure that happens 98% or more of the time. (I'd prefer 100%, but mid game moves or 2-3 injuries at the same time, could create a situation where it's the better idea- like it happened, this year. Rafaela in CF improves two "up-the-middle" positions with one slot change. I really like this core of defenders: SS: Story or Mayer 2B: Story or Mayer (DHam is not bad) LF: Duran/Refsnyder/Abreu CF: Rafaela/Duran/Anthony RF: Abreu/Refsnyder/Anthony We might only be weak at: C: Wong & ____ (Teel?) 1B: Casas 3B: Devers If we traded Casas or Yoshida, we could improve our D and O (depending on who we get to play 3B) by moving Devers to 1B and Casas to DH or another team. We can improve our D without making the team any worse on O.

Except, the excrement is not what was intended to not come out.

I think I read that Cora is planning on playing him.

Yes, which he might or might not have allowed to score, himself. I do think leaving with bases loaded and no outs is much different than the same with 2 outs. ERA also does not factor in non error mistakes made by the D, mistakes made by the scorekeeper, park factors and strength of opponents. It's not a bad stat, but many are better.

Good one.

If you have to choose between being grammatically correct or blocking your colon, the choice is a no brainer.

Danny Jansen will become the first player in the history of MLB to play for two teams in the same game, when we make up the suspended game vs TOR.

Post of the Month

JH spent $100M on Yoshida. The highest paid pitcher before $38.5/3 for Gio as for a closer, Jansen at $36M/2. Both combined plus Martin's $17.5M/2 comes close to Yoshi. 3 top pitching signings = Yoshida.

He often does not replace the big contracts we lose, so spending big might actually still be cutting from the previous year's payroll, but when you look at just the payroll with no context, there has not been a steady decline in spending. We saw a massive peak in spending in 2018 and 2019, and many ups and downs before and after. We are looking at just 2 straight years of decline after a pretty big jump up in 2022, so I'm not seeing this idea that JH RED= $5M+ drop BLUE= $5M+ gain Opening Day 26 Man Payroll 99.9 '03 127 '04 124 '05 120 '06 (down $7M over 2 seasons) 143 '07 133 '08 122 '09 (down $21M over 2 seasons 168 '10 163 '11 175 '12 155 '13 156 '14 (down $19M in 2 seasons) 184 '15 197 '16 234 '17 The unprecedented 3 straight years of big jumps 234 '18 236 '19 2020 180 '21 The unprecedented drop of $56M in 2 seasons 206 '22 181 '23 171 '24 Another major drop. $35M in 2 seasons being so close to the $56M drop from 2019 to 2021 certainly shows a break from the earlier pattern. However, there was a season of a jump in spending, not too long ago. End of year 40 man 105 '03 130 117 137 155 147 '08 140 171 174 169 176 '13 168 186 201 189 231 '18 228 2020 187 217 203 Again, the gain years are by much more than the drop years, and the bigger drop years are recently, but 2022 was a decent gain year. One can see it as barely getting back near where were were after the big drops in 20202 and 2021. I get it.

That's the 40-80 million dollar question. Nobody know. Maybe even JH has not decided, yet.

I get your point. I will not atall be surprised if JH spend big, this winter, but that is not to say I expect it. While this might be an abnormally long period of not spending, he has had "lulls," before.

He has spent a lot of money on non pitchers (Devers, Yoshi, Story) and RP'ers (Jansen, Martin, Barnes,) and very little on SP'ers.

The only "low risk" about them is the fact that we only "risk" losing $1 to $10M and for only 1 year. To me, low risk means there is smaller risk of failure and no signs of injury. The short term contracts are "lower risk," too.

True. We are 7 more losses away from being bottom tier. I do think we have a top 5 starting 9 line-up and 4 subs going into 2025. Our pitching/defense prevents us from being top 5 overall.

Sing to the choir director! I do expect that to be significantly improved, next year, even without any roster additions. Our corner IF and Catcher positions will still be weak, but we should be plus or PLUS at the other 5 positions. Going even further ahead, all of our top 3 prospects plus Meidroth, the next ML-ready prospect are thought to be plus on D.

Domers don't have these issues.

That 5.1 might equal all our FA SP'er signings total, over the last 2-4 years.

I actually think they are trying to win... on a lower budget. The guy did just start paying Devers the largest contract in Sox history by over $90M (Price.) He paid over $100M for Yoshida, the year before and $140M to Story, the year before that. We actually do spend enough or near enough to win, but we just won't spend on top pitchers. And, when we do, we swing and miss or spend on the pen, not the rotation. Largest pitching contracts since the Sale and Nate deals: $55.0/6 Bello (extension) $38.5/2 Gio $36.0/3 Jansen $18.9/2 Barnes (extension) $18.8/4 Whitlock (extension) $17.5/2 Martin $10.0/1 Kluber $10.0/1 Richards $10.0/2 Paxton $8M/2 Diekman Add all these together and barely equal what we paid Story+Yoshi.

We sign HIGH RISK pitchers to LOW CONTRACTS. That's the true "motto," but of course, these guys are the masters of doublespeak, distraction and diversion.

I'm not sure this will last years and years, but I've given up expecting it will end, anytime soon. (Expectations are different from hopes.)

I think the single A teams end their seasons around Sept 8th, while the Sea Dogs ends Sept 15th. Woo ends the 22nd of September. Of course, there are fall leagues and winter leagues, but the minor league season is winding down. All-in-all, I think our minor leagues did pretty well. We seem to have more pitchers with some sort of promise than before. Some of our top prospects have not disappointed. Some of our mid tier prospects have started knocking, loudly on the top tier door. We've also seen many 18-19 year olds show some very exciting skillsets. It's been a long time since I have been this pumped up over our farm, and what makes this even more powerful, is that we just recently graduated a pretty large bunch of rising young stars. I realize I'm a homer, through and through, but I think we are a lot closer to glory than it seems many think we are. We only have 7 more losses than the best team in MLB, right now, and that is after a pretty bad, recent stretch. To me, we are just a few really good pitchers away from being right there with the "big boys." It may very well take trading away some of these prospects I've been drooling over for years, but the time is now. Just get it done, JH, Brez & Co.

When you look at the league, these days, no team really jumps out as a clear favorite. The top 10 teams all have between 71 and 76 wins. Although the Sox look "middle of the pack," and have the 13th best record in MLB, we only have 7 more losses than the best team in MLB. Think about that... just 7 losses. Just a few breaks here and there, maybe just maybe... I'm not going to whine and cry about injuries or missed opportunities or recent botched trades and signings, right now. I've done some before and may yet, again, but right now, no. When I think about just 7 losses, it makes me think just how close we are and CAN BE, going forward. Every baseball fan with half a brain or more knows what this team needs. The time is here. We need to fix the problem, or at least do everything we can possibly do to try and fix it. We have not seen that since the Price signing and Sale/Nate trades. It's been too long. Way too long.

Priester ended up going 4.2 IP w 5 hits, 3ER, 2BB and 5Ks. Dalbec 3-4 w BB, 2B & HR Meidroth 1-4 w 3B & BB Anthony 1-5 Grissom 0-5 I Coffey... 5IP 4H 0ER 0BB 11 Ks Jh Garcia 2-4 w HR GRE still playing. Wehunt 4 IP 1 ER Bleis 1-2 w BB

Why make everyday players the focus of the draft, IFA and FA signings?