drewski6

"Yeah, he's a great player, but at the end of the day, it's how many guys, 26? That’s just one guy, so we’ve got 25 other guys that were pulling the same line to win those series, not just one." - Jarren Duran I dont think Duran said anything off-base here, but theres an opening here that Devers could have used to throw his team under the bus, such as: "I was a lot more important to that team than just 1 of 26" My only point that I was making before (and I was agreeing wiht you) that I woudlnt consider what Devers said/did to be throwing his teammates under the bus. I think he was kind of done talking and over it once he went to SFG. I think it was kind of old news when the trade happened. We were starting to win and winning cures. But grudge holding Breslows ego was bruised and theres no coming back from that. Like when Bregman had the gall to tell Breslow that his offer wasnt the only one in town and Breslow said "youre a liar, that offer is fake, I double dog dare you to take it. Im that confident your offer is fake" (narrator voice: but the offer was not fake, and now we're stuck with Ian Kinslers Falafel)

You know how you are always like we need 10 pitchers because half will get hurt? I think similar rate of injury to position players. So when I see 4 plus hitters, I assume 2 will get hurt, and I dont think a team this lacking in firepower wins 50%. Im also seeing the orioles get better. Im also exaggerating when I say 78 wins, but right now, unless there are more moves or a big bat breakout, I think we'll be desperate for offense and Bres doesnt have a great track record of trading for it mid-season. You point to things that were unlucky last year, and sure, there were areas where we had bad luck. But there was some good luck too. Toro/Lowe were huge for us even if they ran out of usefulness, they covered a lot of games unexpectedly. Crochet and Chapman stayed healthy. I would rather lose Gray, Ranger, Oviedo, Bello to injury (all 4) than just Crochet. I believe in sophmore slumps , so im not sure anthony wont have some growing pains. Mayer too. We dont have Bregman, we dont have devers. I can see us stepping back this year. Im not sure about it, and I can see it going the other way too (positive season due to positive developments).

20 WAR DH to boot

I wouldnt let you. I mean, I dont have the power to actually not let you, but I would never ask you to do any kind of boycott and Id try to talk you out of it. You are a good person and I want you to do what makes you happy, and the sox are pretty f'ing important to you , obviously. Me, I live for food and non-white women - and I would never boycott either of them

Wait, what? Bro, one of Abreu/Duran/Anthony will get hurt. One of STory/Mayer will get hurt. And we'll prob lose a third quality bat too to injury. Im calling 78 wins. Get Brent Rooker and it jumps to 98.

I guess its not really a boycott, when I will decline all my chances to go to Fenway this year because the team is a snooze. I guess a boycott would be wanting to go but not going to send a message. Not whats happening with me. I just got more fun things to do.

Ive boycotted

Tolles upside is Crochet. I do #1 if we can extend.

I dont think its that hard....Ian Kinsler Falafel

running for post of the year. The pettiness is real and Im (obviously) not above it myself. When Moon starts liking my enemy's posts, I cozy right up to Ole Red myself. BATTLE LINES HAVE BEEN DRAWN LOLOLOL 🙈

no mokey with the hands over his eyes emoji?

classic

well I have high high hopes for a living

"throw teammates under the bus" expression usually is an explicit blaming of teammates, but I dont want to pile on I dont need to involve myself here. My feelings on Devers are different in the fact that my burning question isnt "whose fault" was it, my burning concern was "could the relationship have been salvaged" Very often things get testy/uncomfortable then get resolved, especially in sports. I blame Devers some, I blame Breslow some for the breakdown, but more than anything I wonder if the trade needed to happen. When we traded Devers he was hitting and we were winning. Its not like we had lost 9 of the last 10 and needed to fix the locker room ASAP. Time is the best healer and I wonder if we just gave it a month, it would have all been "water under the bridge"

But I didnt hear anything from Devers disparaging towards his former teammates, even after I heard his former teammates say things like "at least now, we have 26 guys pulling in the same direction" My only point is that I dont think I heard any fire towards his teammates after he was moved, not to imply that civility and professionalism cant be a front.

Im not trying to get an average hitter who can play an elite 2b, Im trying to get an elite hitter, and I do not feel like I have the luxury of caring about where they play.

Isnt "100" league average?

I think the only second baseman who could come close to fixing the offense is marte. Paredes helps, but he doesnt instantly alleviate my worries about the offense. Hoerner is a glove first player and people like Baty and Vientos because they think theyd be easy to acquire and cheap. Not to imply Im dead set against any of these acquisitions. The names that I would prefer to go after are like Rooker, Seager, Jose Ramirez, Juner Caminero, James Wood, Alvarez, Devers (lol) I just looked at a fantasy baseball average draft place (and I know fantasy isnt a great reflection, but I think this is telling): Anthony - seventh round (assuming 10 team league) Duran - ninth round Story - twelfth round Cedanne - thirteenth round Contreras - 19th round Abreu - 23rd round Our highest ranked bat is Anthony in the 60s.

I like Crochet, Gray, Suarez, Bello, Tolle, Early, Crawford, Oviedo....Not as much Sandoval or Harrison but it doesnt mean I dont think they cant be #5 starters. If you can keep this intact and fix the offense great , but 1. I dont think Paredes alone is enough, certainly not if its one of our best 4 bats going the other way 2. Im expecting injuries and even fully healthy our offense looks shaky 3. Im not sure Breslow can jsut go get paredes for prospects at any given time. The astros have to say yes, and I dont think they are willing to give you paredes for prospects

Im not sure it makes the pitching much better. I think we went from A+ rotation to A+ rotation. I have more faith in both Tolle and Early than I do in Mayer. Cuz Mayer hasnt put the work in at the gym and its been a problem. He says hes open to it this year, but for everyone that goes to the gym in January (all the new years resolution people), by March only a fraction of them are still going.

Cant say Tolle 4 cleanup hasnt crossed my mind.

I would use the word capable over willing, but yeah.

Im sure this is just in my head, but boy does it sometimes feel like when we are trying to trade for a pitcher the team selling the pitcher is in the drivers seat (for example, deadline last year - Joe Ryan) but it feels like when we are trying to trade a pitcher for a position player, suddenly it feels like the inverse (for example, trying to line up a trade for Marte or Paredes using primarily young pitching). Im sure its just in my head kind of like a "you always find [whatever] when you arent looking for it" type thing.

Good post. I use to be a fan of developing pitching/signing hitters for a few reasons - some of which have changed (e.g. pitching going higher in draft these days) and Im more flexible about it these days whether the bats come from development or free agency. Generally I dont like counting on internal free agent bats until they prove that you can (that doesnt mean I dont work them in, it just means that I dont count on them for big offense until they prove it). Roman has, so Im obviously fine with him hitting top 3, Mayer has not, so Im hesitant to be like "offense will come from mayer", not ruling it out, but Im uncomfortable how much we need Mayers bat to step forward.

Its also because teams that have bad offenses struggle to come back when they fall behind.