Nick

Not really directed at you. I am just tired of rehashing both Betts and Xander departures. I just want to focus on 2024.

Give me a break with this constant Monday am quarterbacking. I seem to recall 90% of this board thinking Xander was subpar defensive shortstop Moon himself often said just to sign a defensive shortstop and move Xander to another position. Of course he will say he never said it. Make up yor f***ing minds. Betts is gone. Xander is gone. Xander got exactly what he wanted. He took the $$$$ and ran. Quit living in a dream land. There is no such thing as hometown discount. What I want Bloom to do this winter in to spend real money to sign real starters. Not guys coming off injury. Paxton experiment has run its course. He is broken down. Quit wasting $10M on utility player such as Kike. We have several young talent on the cheap on our roster. It's time to spend $25M on 3 starting pitchers. We at leat have a good defensive shortstop. Yep I think Bloom overpaid but it's a done deal. 2024 should be Sale's last year. His money will come off in 2025. Essentially we'll have one year overlap with 3 new, well paid starters. Make a trade if we must. I am not sure if that is doable without opening up a hole in our current lineup. Stay focused. 3 solid starters will give us chance to make the playoffs. We actually lose close to $50M between Sale, Jansen and Martin after 2024.KMaybe Houck Whitlock Kutter can man the 7-9 innings. Bloim has done a good job having young core position players in place. We have 3 big contracts in Devers Yoshida and Story. Others come cheap. We can spend the money elsewhere. The biggest mistake we made in 2023 was thinking Kluber was a serviceable starter and Kike can be a shortstop.

Would everyone here be bitching about Nathan Eovaldi being hurt after starting 19 games of at least 5 innings pitched? Kluber goes 2-6 while Nathan was 9-3 before the 9/5 fiasco.

Just think having Vaz and his 3 year deal. We dodged a bullet. Or having a 5 year $75M deal for Beni. Hopefully we don't bring back Kike under any circumstances. 9 more years of Xander? No thanks.

Now there’s a 21-year-old right-handed prospect in Portland who has been up to 99 mph with his four-seamer and considers his changeup (with fade) his best secondary pitch. Do the Red Sox have another Bello-like talent in Wikelman Gonzalez? Gonzalez dominated again Saturday, not allowing a hit until the sixth inning in Portland’s 5-1 win over Somerset. He fired 6 shutout innings to improve to 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in eight starts with the Sea Dogs since being promoted from High-A Greenville on Aug. 8. Opponents are batting just .147 against him and he’s averaging 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings (Bello averaged 12.0 strikeouts per nine innings with Portland). The Red Sox undoubtedly will select Gonzalez to their 40-man roster this November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. Next February will be his first big league spring training camp. Help is on the way.....

3. Ceddanne Rafaela’s defense Manager Alex Cora has mentioned the potential of the 22-year-old receiving some reps at second base. Rafaela already has Gold Glove potential in center field. Looks to me like Bloom is looking to improve internally at 2B. Crowded outfield maybe?

2. Wilyer Abreu’s plate discipline Wilyer Abreu has a chase percentage of just 8.5% in the first 113 pitches he has seen. On average, major leaguers have a 28.4% chase rate this year. Abreu’s chase rate is bound to rise as his sample size grows. But it certainly is a glimpse of his plate discipline. He had an impressive 16.3% walk percentage for Triple-A Worcester this season after walking in 19.7% of his plate appearances last year. He was one of only five minor leaguers in all of affiliated ball in 2022 to finish with 100 or more walks when he walked 114 times. Abreu is unofficially auditioning for a spot on the 2024 team. You can't ignore this guy.

Bloom and Cora are high on Abreu. He has done nothing to indicate he can't play in the majors. I would trade Verdugo first. Contractually Verdugo does not fit into our plan. I don't see us extending him based on some of the things that transpired this year. I certaintly wouldn't lose any sleep over him leaving. Just my opinion.

Texas 2 vs Astros 3 vs Athletics 4 vs Blue Jays 3 vs Guardians 3 vs Red Sox 3 vs Angels 4 vs Mariners Blue Jays 2 vs A's 3 vs Royals 4 vs Rangers 3 vs Red Sox 6 vs Yankees 6 vs Rays Astros 2 vs Rangers 3 vs Padres 3 vs Athletics 6 vs Royals 3 vs Orioles 3 vs Mariners 3 vs D-backs

Great interview by Casas after the game. He is very well spoken. Very thoughtful and analytical with his responses. Pretty amazing young man. He is only 23.

That leaves 1B and catcher, where I have to think improvement on D should come with more experience, and the O could improve, too. No cost and possibly better O and D. I'm confused. I thought Wong was one the best defensive catchers.

Playing in hitter friendly parks of AL East forces you to have some offensive production. Good pitching can limit the damage of bad defense. Good defense will not help horrible pitching.

Untouchables? Top 10 Prospects per SoxProspects. SS Marcel Mayer 20 ETA Late 2024 (move to 2B?) CF Roman Anthony 19 ETA Late 2025 CF Miguel Bleis 19 ETA Late 2026 CF Rafaela 22 ETA 2024 CC Kyle Teel 21 ETA Mid 2025 (seems to be on a fast track) 2B Nick Yorke 21 Late 2024 SP Luis Perales 20 2026 SP Wikelman Gonzalez 21 Mid 2025 SS/CF Nazzan Zanetello 19 Late 2027 SS/2B Mickey Romero 19 2026 Not many pitchers on this list. Breaking News: Both Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel has been promoted to AA Portland.

Breaking a wrist seems like a freak accident. Really an unfortunate blow to Duvall and the team. I was not on his bandwagon but I've come around. He's a perfect fit for Fenway.

If we assume the development time is 4-5 years including for position players, and following core players are locked up for 4+ years, Wong, Casas, Story, Devers, Yoshida, Duran along with Rafaela, Abreu among others. Is it time to trade off some of our farm talent for starting pitching assuming we have 4-5 years of core, position players good enough to chase championships?

OPS leaders (AL for Qualified Players) .850 1st 3B Devers .812 1st LF Yoshida .862 2nd 1B Casas .836 2nd DH Turner .790 4th RF Verdugo Story's career OPS of .840 would place him 2nd at very competitive SS position. We'll see. Basically we're looking for help at 2B and CF (someone that can stay healthy would be nice). Again looks to me like starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching.

So we can quit bitching about our outfield defense? I'm good with that.

It's unbelievable to me that Casas is not getting more 'love' on this board after the year he's had, especially considering his slow start. As a first year player, Casas' OPS, now at .862 ranks second in AL by a wide margin. Third place is Nathan Lowe of Texas at .817. Only 3 players are above .800, Diaz of Rays leading the pact at .900. He maybe another player in addition to Bello that Sox should consider locking up. I'd expect him to move up in the lineup next year for more RBI opportunities. He has one more HR than what's his name from the Jays. He has the second most HR for that matter.

I was simply responding to a poster who uses "unproven" frequently. I believe it's okay to pencil in one player each year that is 'unproven'. Defensively, you don't become a bad center fielder after being spectacular in AAA. It's often said that Rafaela is a gold glove center fielder, period. He looks to me much like Mookie Betts defensively. Maybe his offense will take off, soon.

Is it wise to give a 39 year old a 2 year deal and a raise when you have another DH in waiting in Yoshida? At some point, Tuner will break down physically. I rather have DH position open for Yoshida, Devers, Casas and any other guys that need a scheduled day off. Rafaela maybe the super utility guy that can play all 3 outfield positions and 2 infield positions. He needs to be in the lineup. Yeah he's unproven. At some point, so were Devers, Casas, etc. You become proven AFTER you get a chance to play.

This is why you don't bring back Turner or we may have to trade Yoshida and eat half of his contract. It's tough to carry the two if you want better defense. What do we do if Turner accepts the option year because he likes Boston?

This board is fickle. Are we now regretting giving Devers the contract that many clamored for here? Same goes for Yoshida now? Offensively he may get better next year after spending a year on the 'state side'. It appears Paxton is gassed. It's a good thing we didn't do anything silly like extending him. I'm not the GM. Bloom can not go into 2024 wishing we have enough starting arms. He has to go get them this winter. Please, no one coming off an injury. Quit looking at the bargain bin. Go spend some money. I don't have full understanding of what's available other than THAT Japanese pitcher. Can we package anything with Yoshida and trade with Seattle? Japanese players enjoy the west coast it seems. What can we get for Yoshida and Casas?

Donaldson was released by the Yankees earlier this week after a failed stint in New York. He appeared in just 33 games for the Yankees this season, batting .142 (15-for-106) during that stretch. All told, Donaldson appeared in 165 games for New York and batted .207 with 25 home runs and 77 RBI. He also struck out 180 times. This didn't go well for the Yanks.

I really don't know how to address the BIG elephant in the room question (starting pitching) but I did like the two year deals on Jansen and Martin. I'd like to target maybe another set up guy to a two year deal. 2023 definitely showed the value of being able to protect leads in the last two innings.

I myself would not know definitively what to do with Verdugo this winter with pending FA looming. I go back and forth on him.