Nick

It's interesting how Sox fans has flipped on DD. I was a staunch supporter of DD from get go. Many here thought he was going for a quick fix. My argument was always that in heels of 3 last places out of 4 seasons, he had a mandate to do whatever means to fix that. You never know what you are missing until you get the next guy.

Few things have come to fruition. 1 Let Rafaela bat 9th and ket him figure our. His defense is as spectacular as advertised. 2 Cora was right about Abreu. He can hit. And he has shown that he can play defense. 3 Duran has proven that he is everyday player. We need our 3 best bats to come from 3B 1B and DH. Unfortunately one spot is injured and other spot needs to be aquired for.....it ain't Yoshida. To think many here wanted Houck in the pen. I didn't have crystal ball. Just that we gave everyone an opportunity to start.

They have a rookie of the year candidate. They have a dynamic defensive player who must learn the strike zone. They have another athletic OF who is much improved dorm a year ago. They have a second year catcher who is omproving.How is this team under achieving? Devers?

This team sure would look different with Story, Casas and Yoshida in the lineup.

Yep. He is better than our two 1B playing DH.

Well I love watching our 3 amigos in OF. They can all run and play good defense. That's 17 years of team control out there.

Sometime a fatigue sits in when a player is injured often. I think that was the case for Red Sox when it came to Sale. One more arm injury to Whitlock say in 2025 and he becomes Chris Sale #2.

I agree with you. Smith and Cooper are veterans are they not. This is the year of discovery. Nothing will come out of Coop and Smith in terms if future. Why not give young guys the chance. I don't see us making the playoffs. We just don't have enough.

To Moon. I am hoping Slaten Whitlick and Liam H can replace Jansen/Martin.

I remember his final college game. Unbelievable talent.

I can't stress enough how little value we are getting from our 'luxury tax payroll' in terms of non-productive payroll. We need to look at actual cash basis payroll to appreciate our record. Cot's has us little under $20M in cap space. We have two players, Bello and Rafaela whose contracts are back loaded to create reducing cap space in early years. Cash layouts are $1.167M and $1.250 for Bello and Rafaela. But the straight line tax payroll burden is $9.167M and $6.250M for the two respectively. That creates fictitious payroll expense of $13M for 2024 between the two players. Obviously we all know about Sale's $17M, Turner's $4.15M and recently DFA's Joely's $2M (Bres and/or Bailey missed on him sending Bernardino to the minors). Throw in wasted year from Giolino ($19.250M) and now Whitlock ($4.688M). Of course there's Trevor Story's $23.333M and I'm not sure what to make of Yoshida and his $18M anymore. Look at another way, current 'playing' roster on cash basis and not on luxury tax basis, has a combined payroll of $90M with 5 players making $66M of it. (Devers, Jansen, Martin, Pivetta and O'Neill) That $90M payroll is NOT that far removed from Oakland A's $60M. I think we'll playing pretty damn well with our 26 man roster based on their payroll. Do you follow me, Moon? This is why I'm not disappointed in this team.

I don't believe Cooper is better option than Abreu at DH at this point. Ugh..

Do we extend Houck now? His Arb1-Arb3 starts next year. He has had 9 quality starts. His 3 pitch mix is working.

If I'm JH i'd be wondering 1) why the guy we signed for 5 yrs @$90M was not in the lineup everyday before he got hurt 2) the guy that was signed for $23M per year as an insurance for Xander has been out of the line and NOT hitting ever since he was signed 3) the young pitcher that was extended early jas had trouble mot being on the IL 4) why we gave a win win contract to Giolito....and the list goes on.

Nah, had he stayed with the Sox, he'd be hurt.

Slaten looks like a closer to me for 2025. Abreu has better rookie numbers than everyone's favorite Cowser.

Zach Penrod promoted to Worcester. A lefty, 53 K's in 35+ innings. Expect him to get to the majors by year end.

We the fans are focused Who is going to join the futures team with Devers, Wong, Casas, Duran, Rafaela and Abreu?

Everything I read from Atlanta papers was how bad he was at shortstop. Look I am NOT married to anyone. I don't care who takes control of 2B. At some point he has to produce or he should be sent down to work on his game. You have to give him a path to succeed.

We are the only team with a winning record not to be in the playoffs if the season ended last night. Really a good job by Cora and his staff directing this group. We can compete as long as our starting pitching stays effective. The biggest 'acquisition' would be the return of Casas.

Yes! Instead of focusing on the past (Betts, Xander, Sale) we should focus on the player we have in our organization. They ain't coming back.

Sale trade was made to get rid of the stench he was leaving in the dougout. It was the death stench. He can throw perfect games for Atlanta for all I care. He didn't earn his extension $$$$. Quit defending him. His stench was so bad we paid him $17M to leave the park.

I agree.

I'm happy watching our athletic trio in OF. We are building a contender the right way. Sale wouldn't be in my future plans.

He is a 4 year arbitration guy. So the Sox has another 4 years of team control. He has improved his defense immensely. I believe the management loves his athleticism. He has shown he can play everyday. He may not be 'young' but having control of his 29-32 years mean he should be at the top of his game. I would not trade him.