notin

I would be very surprised if he did not try other angles. Hey, they don't always work...

Screw 2023. The time is 2022. I would not worry about making up 8 games, as that is an impossible target, given that Tampa is also going to make offseason moves out of my control. First off, I keep Bogaerts. In fact, I try to extend him. I ignore the SS free agent market, because Lindor signed an extension all of them will be benchmarking. It's a waste of resources. In free agency, the focus should be on RP and 2B and Kyle Schwarber. If JD opts out, he might be added to this list. If he does not, I will worry about where Schwarber plays later. My irst thought was Chris Taylor for 2B, but some points about his weaknesses have been made. One intriguing free agent is Eduardo Escobar, whose defensive metrics at 2B are actually fairly good, but are also in limited action. If the focus is straight up defense, metrics say the best options are Joe Panik and Yollmer Sanchez. Another option worth exploring might be a trad with San Diego for Adam Frazier (since the Padres still need to find a place for CJ Abrams to play). Frazier might make about $6mill or so next season, but can hit and field pretty well and has just the solitary season of control left. His BTV trade value of $0.8mill makes him available for a lot of individual Sox prospects, and the best fit might be Durban Feltman ($0.5mill). Keep both Houck and Whitlock in the bullpen. I like the idea of making as many games as possible 6 innings long for the opposing team. Support them with Taylor, Barnes, Braiser, Valdez, Davis and (if he is not traded) Darwinzon Hernandez I try to upgrade the starting pitching via trade with my first call being Oakland and using Jarren Duran as the centerpiece of my trade package. All other prospects are in play except Casas and Mayer. Montas is my top target, but I have my doubts. I also want to acquire their arb-eligible closer Lou Trivino. If Oakland is not amenable, I turn to Detroit, who has lots of young pitching and no young hitting. ERod gets a QO. And extension talks, if he refuses it. Along with Sale, Pivetta, and Eovaldi and whoever comes via trade, And then I attack the pitching depth with lots and lots of MiLB deals...

Exactly. And stop pretending this kind of thing is not done in other sports. Now, if someone has an instance of how one aspect of officiating was done in another sport, and it did not work out or it made matters worse, that would be a good counterpoint...

And "enabling", while rarely a good thing, is not exactly an easy decision. People often do it out of fear of what will happen if they don't help out. It's not on par with being a co-conspirator and it absolutely doesn't mean you condone the other person's actions...

This was further shown by the fact that by the time the season ended, people were impressed with Chris Mazza...

And if all he did was pay the bills for his own son, I have no problem with that. In fact, I don't even see the problem there. In that same situation, I do the same thing...

Jimenez is a long shot to be taken, but I’m not sure there is a GM with the necessary combination of patience and stupidity to take Thad Ward. I could at least see someone looking at Jimenez and thinking “he’s this year’s Baddoo!!”

So replacing Xander AND Renfroe with Correa (and no one?) will make 8 games? Maybe I shouldn’t be the one you fired

They did stop using Ryan Weber as the #3 starter…

Both. Robots criticizing robots.

I think a lot of you are robot critics with programming to highlight the improper calls of the lousier umpires...

With all these 300 IP seasons being mentioned on this thread, are people advocating for robot pitchers?

An obvious Spider Tacker...

Plawecki is really the only non-tender candidate on the Sox, now that they have DFA'd Franchy Cordero and Yacksel Rios...

Potts won't be missed. And it won'r be too hard to find better options from just about any other organzation. Rosario might be more intriguing because his calling card is his defense, and he could slide into a 4th outfielder role for a number of teams. Is he really any worse than, say, Connor Joe?

Not too much of a difference, as we are apart by about 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 chance. But if either is not back, Plawecki is more likely. Backup catcher do play more than other bench players (assuming no injuries), but I doubt Bloom willfully overhauls the starting lineup of the American League runner-ups all that much...

In 1973 and 1974, Nolan Ryan combined for over 650 innings and over 700 strikeouts and didn't throw any knuckleballs...

I'd put the chances at the catchers in 2022 being Vazquez and Plawecki at close to 90%. If anything, maybe the Sox non-tender Plawecki, which might save $2.5-$3mill, minus the cost of his replacement (which might be a minimum wage Wong)...

Nearly all pitchers who threw that many IP threw underhand (up until 1884). The purpose of the pitcher back then was to start the play, not get hitters out. In the Dead Ball Era (1900-1919), only a handful of pitchers topped 400 IP...

Ah, Bid McPhee. Passed away 80 years ago and still tweeting...

If Gurriel made the last out, Baker was going to take out Greinke and let the new pitcher lead off the next inning? Or pinch hit for that pitcher and go through his bullpen even faster?

He could select Jimenez in the draft and then trade him. However, Jimenez' status as a Rule 5 player would follow him to his new team...

Not only did it take the bat out of the hands of the AL batting champ, it also lead to Greinke’s early removal, since he was pinch hit for with two men on base…

Bronson Arroyo needed this advice 15 years ago…

Rest in Peace #2