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Yeah, I'm in the 80-84 win camp, although I could see this team winning more only because the rest of the non-New York AL East teams have just as many questions with their pitching staffs. The Yankees have a lot too, after Cole, especialyl when you consider that 4 of their SPs combined for 45 IP last season, but their depth might be a little better. (Tampa has the most depth, but their upfront rotation has as many questions as Boston's.) Second place in the AL East might come down to what teams simply have the most break right for them...

Although next winter lacks some potential impact players the Sox might find useful outside of the shortstop position. Even with Bogaerts opt out, the Sox are better off extending him over pursuing the bigger names at that postion for a cuple reasons. Like signing Correa/Story and trying to trade Bogaerts seems counterproductive, since Bogaerts trade value for only one potential year of control while Correa, Story, Seager and possibly Lindor (unless the Mets extend him) are all available seems like poor timing. If you look at what the Guardians got for Lindor (and Correa), it's not exactly a game changing package. And Bogaerts is not likely to be worth more. The pitching available next seasons isn't as impressive, either. There is no equivalent to Trevor Bauer equivalent unless Bauer himself opts out (which is certainly possible). The bigger names are all getting up thee in years, with Kershaw (34) and Scherzer (37) looking well into their post-prime years. Lance McCullers might be the most intriguing name, but he is not exactly the most reliable arm. And pitching will be their biggest need, like it will be for most teams. Are there any outfielders comparable to even Springer? Most of the better ones will be in their mid to late 30's and any deal will have questions from the onset. The best outfielders under 32 might be Schwarber, Pederson, Rosario and Castellanos. And three of them were available this off-season via free agency (and all got one year deals) and the 4th was an easy trade acquisition from a salary dumping team, and still had no takers...

Exactly. They offloaded Betts to reset. They reset so they could add some stars at a lesser or no penalty. And now, despite the lack of penalty, they really didn’t add anyone. I do suspect if Sale was healthy, the strategy would have been different...

I’m not surprised. I’m a little disappointed that the Sox chose to stay under the tax limit after resetting. I do think that if Sale was healthy, they would have gone over to build a potential champ. But with Sale out for the majority of the season anyway, maybe their chances were just not good enough to justify going for it?

To NOT make you look easily deceived and gullible?

Maybe THAT is where the irony is...

For the record, this comeback might not have had the desired effect....

Well, George Will has taught us all the beauty of pessimism...

No, the point was that having three mediocre outfielders did not bring the team down even in games Pedro did not pitch...

They've played two games...

Given your opinion voiced in your posts, all surprises should be pleasant surprises...

Hey your state is now the home of our nation's newest superhero - Florida Man!!!

A lot of pitchers lost velo last year, which might have been a result of a truncated spring training with limited work followed by regular season with limited appearances...

Yes, he very likely will. As will a few other AAAA arms. The actual prospects who se time will come from a very limited set that includes (but is not necessarily limited to) Houck, Mata, Seabold, Bazardo, and Feltman...

There is some irony in that you are just catching this multi-post drift...

Thee may be some irony in finding a full 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife. But this is more likely a case of an excessively large and inadequately supplied silverware drawer. And that is just not a very good song title or topic...

If the song had been called "bad luck and/or poor timing", it would be a lot less ironic...

And instead of walks, will they allow coach pitch for 3 pitches?

He will only help out more there by artificially inflating the statistics of opposing prospects...

There is something ironic about the fact that that song contains no true examples of irony...

Not to mention, the 2020 staff won't be needed to compensate for this outfield, as they have been disbanded and replaced by the 2021 staff...

Agreed on helping the bullpen. As for his pitching acumen, there is no real correlation between being a great player and being a great mentor. Ever notice most hitting coaches were lousy hitters? It's just as easily defensible that Saberhagen or Avery were as/more effective in this regard. And as for instilling confidence in his teammates, that is a case-by-case argument. I assume they still worry about their own individual performances. You're theory operates on the assumption that all everyone cares about is the team performance, but I have my doubts about how true that really is. After all, not one of them was going to get their next contract based on being Pedro's teammate...

Pivetta through age 27: 406 IP, 5.40 ERA, 79 ERA+ Jake Arrieta through AGE 27: 409.2 IP, 5.23 ERA, 80 ERA+ Both pitchers were traded in July of their age 27 seasons. Out of nowhere, Arrieta then put up the following number in his next 4 seasons: 751.1 IP, 2.67 ERA, 151 ERA+ Now expecting that kind of turnaround from Pivetta is certainly a bit much, but there are a lot of similarities between the two, and Arrieta has certainly shown that it's all possible. Like Arrieta, Pivetta is one of those arsenal pitchers than teams covet bcause he has the talent to be a very good pitcher. Apparently Bloom is not the only one to think so, as Tampa was also trying to acquire him, thinking he could be the next Glasnow. Now of course, the opposite could also happen. As the immortal Boof Bonser (391 IP, 5.12 ERA, 84 ERA+) also had similar numbers through his age 27 season. Boof would go on to throw only 25 innings for the rest of his career due to some injury issues. So is Pivetta another Arrieta or Bonser or, more likely, somewhwere in between? And if so, which one is he closer to and how far away?

Really there are a lot of rather mundane players who just had good seasons. But that can happen to any team. Having Pedro was a huge advantage, and havig Vaughn and Nomar was also a big deal. But this team in non-Pedro games was on a pace for a 88-74 season with a bunch of starters no different that the staff on the current team. Is there any reason the Sox cannot get Vaugh/Garciaparra type production out of Devers and Bogaerts, get good seasons out of a few others, and then put together an 88 win season? Can we really make the argument that it's impossible because this team has no one as good as Damon Buford?

And only 1 blown save. Plus one awful one in the ALDS against Cleveland...