SCCWS

I would agree that he has the potential to be a 2. But this year( granted only 60% of season) he has been one of the top pitchers in baseball. I am not sure heaviest fastball determines being an ace. I think the real aces have a combination of control and a variety of pitches. When I think of aces, Lester has been an ace in the past and Verlander still may be. But they wouldn't be found in a list of top 50 hardest throwers although Verlander can hit 100 in some instances. Sale would be in the list and he certainly has control and variety. But when we talk post season, he seems to break down late in the year and is not as effective in October as he is during the season.

This is a big game for TB. They are trailing in WC after the solid start they had.

I don't think they will. They have a few options at IB so they may offer a salary dump but hopefully Hahn doesn't go in that direction.

Boston is 3 games back in WC with 1 team in front of them. We are 9 back w 4 teams in front. Love to see Boston miss out especially to an AL Central team. But they have more home games( where they have struggled) than any team in MLB left.

https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2019/07/boston-red-sox-trade-rumors-jose-abreus-availability-being-monitored-by-boston-a-few-other-clubs-report.html

You left out the year in the middle. His BA is trending up after last year and he is on pace to hit 37 HR( as of today). That would be a career high. He also could end up w a career year in stolen bases. He only needs 2 more. Hopefully RR will give him more green lights.

I agree that 81 wins-500 should be the goal next year. But that would not be contending for a WC. Probably 92-94 would be WC territory.

McCann may be having a career year. But he averaged .248 for 5 years in Detroit. He only hit .220 his last year. So something happened over the winter thru ST to turn his hitting totally around.

I only named Moncada and Anderson because they are the first 2 pieces of the rebuild. McCann has made as great an improvement as almost anyone in baseball. Leury is having a career year and Abreu is having a solid season. It is too soon to judge Eloy. I would assume they are the only positional players on this roster with the talent to survive the rebuild. Maybe I missed someone but I think it is hard to say from a talent standpoint that any of the rest should be performing better Many of them would be AAA talent on other teams. Overall, I think our batters strike out( 11 in MLB) too much and don't walk(30th) enough. That I would put on Severson. Moncada, McCann and Anderson's BA are all up 50 points. I got to think that is more than just a good morning.

In fairness, two key rebuild pieces, Moncada and Anderson, have shown progress under Steverson. We can't blame him for failing w some of the players he has been handed.

Houston had 6 sub-500 years. The Sox have had 6 sub-500 years and this could be 7. So Houston was smarter by realizing they needed to rebuild.

I posted a while back that I hope the FO is researching for who they would want to be the next manager. But having said that, lack of fundamentals 'should be a mark against the minor league system. Every team makes stupid plays. The question really is do the Sox make more than most. Using FPCT( limited stat) which measures error % the Sox are 29 of 30. But fans who watch most games have a feel for other things like range, throws, cut-offs etc. We are a rebuilding team but fundamentals should not be skewed by youth. It would be by guys playing out of position. or w a team with poor overall athleticism.

We hope................

Why??? So far he is hitting .353. So while he is hot, it gives Eloy RBI chances. Once he cools off, then they can move him out of that spot.

It should be noted that in his last 10 games in Charlotte before being called up he hit .200. So he was slumping at AAA and then got called up. He had a real solid April but May and June ....not so much. He will be back In fairness to the kid, 50 games in AAA is just getting your feet wet for many.