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Experience in a pennant race and subsequent playoffs means something.

Bad expectations is a crazy statement. If we weren't to expect anything, why did they trade for them in the first place?

4 Starts. Handled Cincy. 2 games - Boston and the Cubs, two very good offenses (Red Sox on a historical tear) - 4 and 4.2 innings. Got clobbered by the Mets. They picked him up as a project. We'll see how the changes they're making take over a few more starts.

Such a common misconception that someone once made a stat just to refute it: HRs account for a higher percentage of scoring in the postseason than they do in the regular season, so "live and die by the HR" offenses retain more production than "get 'em over, get 'em in" lineups. Hitting more HRs than your opponent is one of the stronger win predictors in general, and even more so in October.

Bad expectations that just one of the four players he acquired would play better with the Sox than their previous team? Wow…

He'd better not be. Skubal is almost certainly staying with the Dodgers (unless they can't afford him given their recent money and legal woes), but even if not I doubt the Sox would pay him 50+ mil/yr or whatever he'll get. The second tier has some guys worth considering though, like Michael King (opt out), Jose Berrios, Casey Mize and Shota Imanaga. Then grab a reclamation project or two and I'd feel pretty good.

Dominguez for Castillo was the trade. Seattle had been trying to dump Castillo for months. What is Getz trading for pitchers with 5+ERAs and sub .600 OPS for anyway? Getz really needs an experienced assistant to deal with these GMs; he's consistently overpaying for these waiver-wire talents that the other GMs are overtly trying to dump

I tend to agree given the labor uncertainty and all the unknowns for next year. Plus we know JR's philosophy towards pitching.

Also helps when almost everyone in your bullpen has a career year.

Castillo is their big add

Oh come on. The Sox even said Castillo was brought in due to his ability to provide innings as a starter, yet 3 of his 4 starts have been short.

Yeah, if anything that's what I take issue with on the Sox. Maybe it's hard to be good at both (Cleveland is obviously amazing at pitching development and pretty awful at hitting), but Oppor cratering, McDougal and Schultz looking awful in the majors plus Hagen Smith's control issues really hurts the pitching depth. I'd expect them to be aggressive in FA and trades this offseason to get more pitching. Hopefully Castillo doesn't limit their budget here. Lord knows they SHOULD have payroll room given how they cleaned house this offseason.

As I've posted in the past, the Sox had great balance that season. They could beat you with a blast, a bloop, a bunt or a stolen base.

Bad expectations.

I'll add this since I just brought this up before I saw it. For the sake of discussion I guess.

Great post…the poor development of so many of the pitching prospects really tied Getz’s hands at the deadline.

Someone here said buying at the deadline is a sucker's bet and I think that's true. There's too much variance in ~60 games to bet on rentals unless they're absolute studs like Skubal. And even then if he has a couple bad starts it looks like a bad move. I can see the vision behind buying "low" at the deadline on guys with control and having a full offseason with them. It's what they did with Vargas. Not that Doyle is gonna turn into him all of a sudden, but I do want to see what they can do with him after working with him for that long. Castillo I'm less enthused about. I think he is what he is at this point. I think with him they had some financial flexibility, wanted to get rid of Dominguez, and didn't value Boston Smith that highly internally. Maybe he dead cat bounces and they get a couple more serviceable starts out of him - I'd bet on that being more likely than Mason Adams doing the same. I also think it's a clear sign that the Sox want to be cautious to not over index on this year being an all in opportunity. Trading guys they felt had a good shot to be integral pieces in the future would be a mistake to them, and I can't blame them for that approach. The minor league system needs a talent infusion to continue to be competitive, and the guys they'd have to trade to acquire true impact talent - likely one or more of Bonemer, Carlson, Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz or Braden Montgomery - seems too expensive for a team in their position. They also don't have the quality of mid-ranked farm talent (besides Smith and Adams) that teams wanted at this deadline.

Ha yes

I think the issue is that general managers don't want to trade real prospects anymore without getting back premium, controllable talent. You have the lockout situation and the uncertainty of the new CBA that play a part as well. We would all be up in arms if somebody like Bonemer was sent out for Deitmers. The other thing is the third wild card: although bring more teams into the fold, it definitely makes it a sellers' market. If there were two wild cards, you may have teams like the Twins, Mariners, Rangers, Reds, and Pirates more willing to sell. However, It's hard to trade your average players for average prospects if you feel there is a chance. So what you have is a bunch of "maybe he will better for you trades".

You mean Giants? He barely pitched when he was in Texas and his numbers when he did are actually good there.

Jeff asks some good questions, makes some good points and is brutally honest about Mulligan and Haugh (and Payton): "Which begs the question: Why not replace “Mully and Haugh” completely? The Score made the right move in finally ending Mulligan’s reign of revolting radio – meandering questions, unfinished thoughts, inaudible words. Why not blow it up and start over?" https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports-media/2026/08/24/jarrett-payton-david-haugh-the-score-sports-radio-chicago-morning-show-mike-mulligan-brian-hanley-dan-bernstein-danny-parkins-jason-goff-patrick-kane-caleb-wilson

Yeah they’re not eating that contract. I did say when they acquired him that it wouldn’t shock me if we start seeing “DFA Castillo” threads starting around May of next year.

During Braves game last night, announcers said Braves wanted Mahle because they saw improvements in his fastball the last few starts before the deadline, and they implied the Rangers catchers stink.

Castillo is teetering on the brink. Pitching well once every 4 starts might get a guy released depending on the circumstances. My opinion is they could have made the trade with a lesser prospect. BTW Smith is still crushing it.

Does anyone think they may try to add someone who is waived prior to Sept 1? Like how we saw some guys move at the very end of August the last couple of years. Would probably be higher salary, soon to be free-agent (but not QO potential) type arms.