Nick

Good news is that all five have the "stuff" to be successful. Who knows how it will all turn out. But we have a succession plan in place with our younger pitchers. Is it too far fetched to think Kutter will take Paxton"s spot next year?

We have proven it's easier to build a bullpen. When you have young talent that may have the ability to start then you go with it. I will freakin' guarantee you that management did not extend Whitlock to be a middle reliever. So you guys rather watch Kluber and Pivetta pitch today and tomorrow? I can hear the TV sets going off. Get real.

My top 10 players who have not met their ceiling. 1 Devers 2 Bello 3 Casas 4 Houck 5 Whitlock 6 Duran 7 Wong 8 Valdez 9 Verdugo 10 Yoshida

We have veterans in Devers, Yoshida, Turner, Duvall (I know he's hurt), Story, Verdugo, Kike and Story (also hurt). It's a veteran group. We have a young catcher who appears to be ready defensively in the majors. Anything he gives us offensively is a big plus. His back up possess some offense. We have enough offense to carry Casas. Or should I say we should what with all the veterans we have on our roster. What would be an alternative? Send him back down to AAA? To do what? Isn't it better at this stage for Casas to be surrounded by plethora of baseball people to work on his hitting, mechanically and approach wise? We have the ability to shield him somewhat by playing Turner against lefties and move Yoshida as DH. We have Refsnyder and Tapia to fill in when needed. Plus Duvall is set to come back. Maybe he spends his first week just as a DH. Further down the road, Story will come back. This will allow Kike to play some outfield. Again, we can protect Casas if need be...... He's our future. We base our decisions here on board by the last series or last twenty at bats. I'm perfectly happy to have Casas on our roster of 26. We have control of his baseball life for five plus years. He has more upside than anyone other than Devers, positionally.

I'm not sure if the Padres can afford Soto with other contracts. He's the type I would throw money at. Turner will be gone after 2024 when Soto becomes FA. Yoshida appears destined for DH role. Position players are not as high risk.

He's s keeper. I'm sure he will have his ups and downs but I got to think his ceiling is high. He will always be a better hitter than Duran. And I like Duran

I like having the option of Ref and Tapia in the outfield. Tapia gives us athleticism that we lack. Speed kills.

That's the Casas we've been waiting for...looks like a rock star.

I bet our highest trade chip is Bello right now. 5 more years of team control?

I think we are committed to Bello Whit and Houck. We are not giving up high level prospects to get someone who has higher ceiling than the three. It would cost too much.

Any interest in picking up E Rod if he opts out with the Tigers? He's having a good year and I bet he opts out to recoup some of the money he lost last year.

Interesting article on MassLive about how the Sox dodged a bullett on Jose Abreau, who spurned Sox offer and signed with the Astros for close to $60M over 3 years. Now it's possible he will turn things around but that signing may have been Bllom' s last failure with the Sox had the deal consummated. Bloom scares me sometimes.

Marcelo Mayer records two more hits Red Sox top prospect Marcelo Mayer stayed hot in Greenville’s win. He went 2-for-5 with one double, three RBIs and one walk. The 20-year-old left-handed hitting shortstop is batting .299 with a .370 on-base percentage, .547 slugging percentage, .917 OPS, seven homers, 11 doubles, one triple, 23 runs, 32 RBIs, 15 walks and 36 strikeouts in 33 games. I'd like to see him move up to AA before the year is out....

Future Second baseman is back on track it seems. Yorke’s homer was his sixth. The 21-year-old is batting .269 with a .395 on-base percentage, .478 slugging percentage, .873 OPS, six homers, six doubles, two triples, 33 runs, 17 RBIs, 26 walks and 38 strikeouts in 35 games.

I'm not talking about 2023. You do know that Paxton is a free agent after this year? He will need to be replaced. Has nothing to do with his performance. I like him.

This is pretty much the current core group I have going forward... Big question mark.. 1 Casas...will his #'s improve? A premium offensive position. We continue to underperform.I want it to be Casas but... 2 Will Duran maintain his new found offense? Not as much pressure offensively as 1B but he can't be JBJ 3 A right handed power bat ....can use Turner at multiple positions Need to sign an impact player somewhere.... Prefer a #1 to replace Paxton I do expect us to blow past the tax limit in 2025 when I believe we will be closer to world series title chase.

Posting on another thread, I agree with Red about Kike. It's my hope that we move away from Kike and his $10M contract in 2024. Thinking like a CPA, this is one bean counter's recommendation. We have to come up with $12M or so to take care of Dever's new contract. The tax limit increases by $4M. Matt Barnes dead money of $5.6M also goes away. I'll just add Mondesi's $3M to the pot. Hey Bloom, that takes care of Dever's money. I'll lump together Kluber's $10M, Kike's $10M and Pivetta's $5.3M, total of $25.3M and go buy me an ace. We still are left with Duvall's $7. I would WAIT until the season is over to decide on Verdugo. I still need to see where he ends up production wise. I believe the time to extend players are before the start of 3rd full season. Something similar to what we did with Whitlock. Verdugo is in his fifth year. I would simply pay him market value next year. I think it's too late to extend him and get a favorable contract. It maybe too expensive at this point and the Sox take all the RISK with any type of extension. Bloom, please work on extending Houck and Bello.

I hope we move from Kike for 2024. We can put $10M to better use. Use Pivetta's $6.3M, Kluber's $10M and Kike's $10M and go get an ace.

Pivetta He has been sub par since last June. We did get some quality innings out of him when you look at what little we gave up to acquire him. But what more can be done to take him up another notch? Where is his ceiling? Where is it compared not only to Bello, Houck and Whitlock, but to Kutter and Winckowski? I think I prefer the latter two over rehabilitating Pivetta. He's got year and a half of team control. Trade him in July. Surely he has some value to a team such as Oakland or Reds if we pay his salary for the remainder of 2023. (although I doubt they would pay him for 2024) If a starter or two goes down at this point, the season is over anyway. All of our chips are in play (healthy ones anyway). This team will not get better by starting a Pivetta.

We do have some easy games coming up. But As of yesterday, Tampa has played the most divisional games at 21, they are +5 against the rest of AL East. 21 Tampa 13-8 +5 17 Baltimore 10-7 +3 19 New York 10-9 +1 14 Boston 7-7 E 21 Toronto 6-15 -9 As you can see Blue Jays have taken a beating so far in AL East. But they are still 26-25, going 20-5 against non AL East teams. Boston still has 38 games within the division. The good news is that we are beginning to get healthy. Our rotation is pretty well set. Good or bad, baseball operations people have the five they want going forward. It would be nice if we're at full strength when we start playing our division rivals. I believe this team is stronger with Story at short and Duvall in the lineup full time, I don't care what position he's playing. I'd still want to see couple of additions in the pen at the All Star break. (see what we can get for Kluber and Pivetta).

I'd love to have Soto.....along with a top of the line starter. Sale's days are numbered. He may get the option year but nothing after that.....

Wouldn't it be funny if Cora is actually playing Duran for his defensive prowess and not his bat?

Cora has this team set up the way I had hoped recently. Pivetta is not starting. Kluber is not starting. I get to watch 3 of my favorite players Bello, Houck and Whitlock start. Next up is for Story or Mondesi to play short and Kike to platoon at second vs lefties and play some outfield. I really don't have any complaints. It's now up to the players to perform. It's on them!

Thanks for saying that. You're right. I don't remember anyone stating that we'd do better than getting into the playoffs.

6 worst records are owned by the Reds, the White Sox, the Rockies, the Royals, the Nationals and the A's. We have not played a single game vs any of them.