drewski6

Fair

He's not 5'11. ARias is 5'11. Durbin is 5'6

I meant Sogard as backup/rotation.

I didnt mean Sogard starting.

Yes if we are adding Tatis and Suzuki, I can live with Mead/Durbin/Story/Sogard

Fine trade Abreu, Bennett and Arias for Tatis, sign Suzuki for corner OF. Roman at DH.

I thought he played left. Weird to go from SS to RF. Usually they stay on the same side, but 2 gold gloves speak for themslves. I still see Roman as a DH though. But easier to plug and play a LF than a RF for sure.

Im including him for his trade value and because he is undersized on a team that needs to add xtra base hitting. I see him having a solid career in SD. But I think we need stars. Im open to keeping him and inserting Abreu into the trade.

Yes I think they would prefer Durbin to Albert and Bennet. I didnt know Albert was Abreu when I said we'll need to add Durbin.

So if its Durbin and Abreu - does it look like this: Anthony - DH Suzuki - 2b Tatis - LF Contreras - 1b Owen Hull - RF Mead - 3b Adley - C Cedanne - CF Story - SS Supersub: Durbin. Or maybe sign Aroz over Suzuki, so you can start Durbin and Aroz takes RF? I would prefer Roman slated for DH over OF, because I expect him to get hurt, and Gasper to take his job. I dont think Gasper can play RF.

I assumed Albert was like our fifth RP prospect cuz I never heard of him ,so your package felt light. Abreu changes things. Id do it, but Im not sure I want to see Anthony in right field next year.

I think that SD would prefer Durbin and Arias, and I think you may have to do that. Then sign Suzuki. Anthony - DH Suzuki - 2b Tatis - LF Contreras - 1b Abreu - RF Mead - 3b Adley - C Cedanne - CF Story - SS Remmber when I was talking about how we need to be dangerous 1 though 9 - there it is. That team can even lose one to three of these bats and still not be overmatched vs Fried.

Generally for a super star you need a cheap regular and a superstar prospect. Who is Albert?

I dont think Im overrating offense. I think that its half the game. Joe Brady told us starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching....But its going to keep getting injured at a high clip, and the nerfed version of it that makes the playoffs - is just going to wind up getting pulld after 4 2/3. To win games with run prevention, you need amazing sp, rp, defense. To win games with run creasion, you need hitting. My thesis is that run creation (offense) and run prevention (starting pitching, relief pitching, defense) are equally important. I dont think thats wild.

Then you package up Durbin.

Not enough scary bats. Breslow did a lot of work turning this from a team that looked like a good bet to make the playoffs and lose in the first round, into a team that looked like a good bet to make the playoffs and lose in the first round. If you want to go further, you dont look around the edges on where you can make minor upgrades. Not when you just got creamed. And noodlebatted 2 years in a row. And have 0 playoff series wins last 5 years.

If you lose your leading scorer who is a power forward to free agency, you are first and foremost worried about who is going to pick up the scoring, not who is going to occupy the PF position. Striving to be adequate and covered at all positions - you will continue to be above average but struggle against the teams that have the elite hitters. It is not feasible that we will have 8 aces, lose a bunch to attrition, and still have enough to give 4 2/3 inning shutouts , get pulled and replaced by middle relief guys, who will also need to be excellent (against playoff lineups) because we strive to win games 2-1. Its just not feasible. Starting pitching is 1/3 of half the game, relief pitching is 1/3 of half the game, and defense is 1/3 of half the game. Offense is half the game. Right now, I dont think we have those superstar bats. Contreras maybe , but hes running his mouth, and hes so crazy. And he will be 35. So I dont think a position by position lens is the right approach. Sure, if you want to continue to be like 11th in hitting, 1st in defense, adn top 5 in pitching.....But that team just got absolutely embarassed by our chief rival - who had the hitting to sustain 2 huge injuries to their batters and still lap you again and again in runs. Building a team , trying to be adequate at each position, is just building a team that is going to win 60% , make the playoffs, but then look overmatched. Like weve done last 2 years. Yes, we can and should upgrade Durbin. And hping the 5'11 Arias is going to save you or that Roman will figure it out - dont be surprised if again you are reporting live from groundhog day. Have we forgotten the goal is championships. You dont beat Jordans Bulls by being defensively sound at all 5 positions. When you need a star, you try to get a star....You dont worry about what position they play. We need a Jordan Walker or a James Wood or a Corbin Carroll or an Elly De La Cruz. When I say we put too much faith in Roman , Im talking to the people who told me Roman would be this guy. Hes not and neither is a 35 yr old Contreras. We need to go get real stars. Because they tend to rack up the championships. And if you say, well because our holes are 2b and dh, we need to only look at those positions , you are getting in your own way of going and getting what we need. Which is dangerous bats, up and down the lineup. Because you need 8 good bats for the same reason you need 8 good starting pitchers, because it turns into 4-5 by the end. You need Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger, and their rookie star SS to compliment Judge and Stanton so you can lose 2 and still compete. From that lens, Durban is great as a next man up role. A super sub. But you dont marry that, and if you can package him with 3 more glove first guys to get like a real difference maker - you do it. The results speak for themselves. The stars are stacking the championships. And its too much to ask to do it through the runs prevented side, even though, of course, MVP is right that you need to be good there too. I think the bench can be Durban, Sogard, Gasper, Duran/White. Hopefully Gasper can work on his arm in the offseason. And I do think that its 80% chance that Durban will be starting by the playoffs. Mead at 2b/3b, Anthony at DH (most likely). So get 2 big bats one for LF and one for 2b/3b, whichever one Mead doesnt play. Im not saying Durbin is bad or cant start on a decent team. Im saying we need to add a lot of firepower to keep up with how top heavy the league has become. The Yankees are going to keep adding. And clearly, they are pretty far in front of us.

You had me until the end there. Casas cannot be counted on for anything and if they dont go get a power bat then I see no reason to not expect more of the same if not worse.

The Red Sox need to build the team through the bats. We need to be top 3 in hitting or we are just unserious.

Worried about the budget 4 years from now when weve won one playoff series since 2018 ended. Letting Bregman go was the worst mistake since we let Schwarber go. Bregman had like 65 extra base hits. He would have been huge. And here we are, another frustrating season. If you want to compete today, you have to be willing to sign contracts that will be scary on the back end. Because the Yankees do and the Dodgers do. With average hitting, cheap fill ins like Durbin, we just cant keep pace. SP isnt what it use to be because we are not going to stop pulling starters after 4 2/3 in the playoffs. Plus, its just not realistic to think you can have shut down relievers in the fifth inning. Plus, the Red Sox were actually a good BB/K team with the bats. We had plenty of walks, singles, OBP. Our K rate wasnt that bad. But what we missed was guys who can drive the ball. Extra base hits. Keep wanting these king of decisions , keep being one and done or not even making the playoffs.

THe problem isnt Roman, its thinking that because you have Roman - you dont need 2 of Devers, Alonso, Bregman

We also got rid of Romans mentor in Bregman.

Im not saying dont break them in. Im saying dont spend 4 years prepping for their big arrival (Bloom) and then when they arrive, assume you are good to not retain/go-after talent to put around them. We argued all offseason if Roman should hit first or third. Thats not how you break in a youngster.

Probably because without Contreras we are the worst hitting team the Red Sox have put forth in a very long time, so we put up with a lot with Contreras. But we all know hes a time bomb.

They have been painful for 5-8 years, and part of that was because they thought when the big 3 of KC, Mayer, Anthony arrived - these guys would be great. Bloom even said it in his years. Just you wait till my prospects show up. Fans here were quick to point to Roman as the guy who will carry the offense. As I said to Notin, real depth is having good players 1-8. So if some struggle or get hurt, you have other guys to pick up the pieces. Not positionally, but thump wise. Thinking we didnt need 2 of Devers, Bregman and Alonso was putting too much faith in Roman and Mayer. Ben Rice is Judges backup, as feared thumper. And thats more important than who plays what position.